Diaries of a Madman

Gogol's Memoirs of a Madman

Lu Xun's A Madman's Diary

In Lu Xun's work, the first entry is remarked upon by Yu Hua as being the first time he realised the subtlety of Lu Xun's work. He quotes

何以看我兩眼呢？

The literal interpretation of the phrase goes "Otherwise why should that dog at the Zhao house have looked at me twice?"

The Lyell  translation (1990) states "Otherwise, how do you explain those dirty looks the Zhao family's dog gave me"

Yu Hua translates this as 'otherwise, why would Zhao's dog look at me that way."

Ultimately the Yu Hua translation works best. If the purpose of the line is to establish the mental instability of the madman, who is attributing anthropomorphic intent to a dog, then it is tricky for a translation to ascribe the same intent. As there is really no equivalent in English to the Chinese idiom 'looked at me twice', meaning 'a weird look', a literal interpolation falls short of the meaning of the original. The Lyell translation's attempt to use the adjective 'dirty' is too specific. It is telling not showing. Yu Hua's 'that way' however encapsulates the weirdness and ambiguity of the line.

See the essay on Lu Xun and modernism here

Good enough for Papa, good enough for me

surface tension

Today my History class took a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance. Its a museum showing kids not to be prejudiced and all that good stuff. Anyways, one exhibit is two doors next to each other. One door has a sign hanging over it saying "Those with prejudice walk through this door" The other door's sign said "Those without prejudice walk through this door". Obviously the door for people without prejudice isn't openable because as the tour guide says "Everyone has prejudice". So, I start tugging on the door and say "What the hell is wrong with this damn door, did some damn Jew make this?" and the tour guide kicked me out and I had to sit in the bus for 15 minutes (the rest of the trip). When we get back my history teacher found out what I did and had a fit and I get suspended. What a fucking way to end a week




I understand that Scissors can beat Paper, and I get how Rock can beat Scissors, but there's no fucking way Paper can beat Rock. Paper is supposed to magically wrap around Rock leaving it immobile? Why the hell can't paper do this to scissors? Screw scissors, why can't paper do this to people? Why aren't sheets of college ruled notebook paper constantly suffocating student as they attempt to take notes in class? I'll tell you why, because paper can't beat anybody, a rock would tear that shit up in 2 seconds. When I play rock/ paper/ scissors, I always choose rock. Then when somebody claims to have beaten me with their paper I can punch them in the face with my already clenched fist and say, oh shit, I'm sorry, I thought paper would protect you, you asshole.




If a lion could speak french we still wouldn't understand it, unless you knew french.

Kinryo Sake

I thought Planck would be shorter

Christoph Niemann

Ghost Ghost Rider

I wish every day was Captain Picard day

You want to talk about a new iPhone?

I'm out of here

Return to Shanghai

Our American Cousin

http://blogs.suntimes.com/shinyobjects/2009/05/5-questions-with-christian-verdun---how-did-he-create-his-lincoln-assassination-image.html

Black Mesa

Morse code

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/01/20/remembering-john-thaw-and-insp

Kelly!

Step

- You fuckin' asshole. 

- What a fuckin' dick. What the fuck did you want me to do, back down? He called me a bitch. We kept our rep, bro. 

- Fuck rep, man. I got a callback tomorrow. 

- Yeah, I gotta get up early tomorrow. What the fuck are you carrying a gun for? In case somebody steps to you, Snoop Dogg? 

- Hey, man, you're not from here. You don't know how it is. I grew up in L.A. 

- Anaheim. 

- Whatever, man. It's different out here. It's not like New York, Mikey. 

- Fuckin' A right, it's not like New York. Out here you can avoid trouble. It's not like you live in Compton, Sue, with bullets whizzing by your head. You live in a good neighborhood, man. In New York trouble finds you. 

 - People get carjacked. 

- Oh, man, who would ever carjack your fuckin' K car? He's right, Sue. You don't need to carry a gat. 

- Just 'cause I had the balls to stand up to these guys... 

- Like fuckin' House of Pain was gonna do anything?

Contra-Positive

In logic, if a statement is true, then the contra-positive is also true.

Eg “if p, then q” implies contra-positively “If not q, then not p.”

So is it really true that “If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it”? One way to test your answer is to ask whether the contra-positive is true: “If you shouldn’t have put a ring on it, then you didn’t like it.”

Of course, there are many possible meanings of “liked it,” but arguably neither the statement nor its contra-positive are true (because you might have “liked it” but learned that the other person was married). However, a majority of people would think that the inverse of the song’s claim is true: If you did not like it, then you shouldn’t have put a ring on it. And we know that the contra-positive of the statement must also have the same truth value. So we must also believe “If you should’ve put a ring on it, then you liked it.” (The inverse and converse of an original statement are contra-positives of each other!)

The power to tax

It was Joel from accounts who solved the problem of death.

“And you’re sure this will work? We don’t want auditors snooping around here asking to see the corpse.”

“Won’t happen Mr Abernathy. I ticked yes for the box marked ‘have you disposed of his/her corpse’. You’ll see it on page 3, about halfway down there. See, question 47.”

“Oh, yes, then I see. And you’re sure the department has the power to do this?”

“The section is quite clear - 155G2 dash K relies on section 7889 subsection QQ of the Act. It’s been around for a while now. Basically the section says that, on application, directives may be issued on a private ruling that treat a particular event that actually happened, as not having happened. “

“Not having happened, right”

“For tax purposes”

“Oh of course, for tax purposes. It’s just that, well, if the application goes ahead, then technically the, ah, event, shall we say, never happened, and he is still alive. Is that right? What do we do, keep his office?”

“Well I’m afraid that’s a small quirk of the law. You see, if it is decided that an event hasn’t happened, and you act as though it has happened, then the event that hasn’t happened will be taken to have happened. After all, you can’t very well have something that happened and didn’t happen at the same time can you, that would be pretty silly’

‘Very silly I agree'

'Basically just avoid anything that may invalidate the status of it not having happened. They look at that stuff you see.”

“ who looks at it?”

“The auditors of course”

“You said there were no auditors”

“No I said they wouldn’t ask about a body. But they will want to see that their ruling is being upheld. If it isn’t then, well, there could be, ah, complications”

“What complications?”

“Sanctions”

“Oh. That’s not what I want at all. So how do we uphold the ruling?”

“Well it’s not too difficult, just leave his office as it is, maybe transfer some of the extra filing cabinets in there from the room next to the photocopier. Minute him attending the odd meeting and it’s all done. Abernathy and Pendleton stays as Abernathy and Pendleton. You don’t lose your partnership rating and stay registered.”

“Well, I suppose so. Funny to think that he’s not dead.”

“For tax purposes.”

“For tax purposes. Right.”

Obey

Better Stronger

White to move and win

An interesting position that arose in my game. The white queen is under attack, but should it be defended?



a5 x b6!

then if ... BxQ, b7+ Kxb7, c8 and queen leads to mate.

One Position, Two Moves

No Hot Water

Order of Wes Anderson Movies from Best to Not Quite As Best

1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. Rushmore
4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
5. Bottle Rocket
6. The Fantastic Mr Fox
7. The Darjeeling Limited

anyone lived in a pretty how town

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

 Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

 someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

 one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

e e cummings

J'Accuse...!