Notes From a Discrete Continent

'Ah, dejame entrar, dejame ver algún día como ven tus ojos'
Editor’s Pick
MAY 21, 2012 11:48AM

Greece’s Second Chance

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

The results of the Greek election on 6 May 2012 proved more confusing than most observers expected. The two previously dominant, centrist, pro-European parties—New Democrats (ND) and PASOK—received a slightly smaller share of the vote (32%) than pr… Read full post »

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APRIL 11, 2012 9:59PM

May 6: A Greek Reckoning?

 [Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

Greece is to hold elections 6 May 2012, for the first time since the start of the Greek crisis—and in the midst of the most destructive austerity ever imposed on the Greek people. The ‘markets’ are apparently ‘unhappy’, sinc… Read full post »

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JANUARY 25, 2012 10:27PM

‘Naturally, we were all there…’

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog] 

It was enough for her to say, at a certain moment: “Oh, if I only had some room, how I’d like to make some tagliatelle for you boys!” And in that moment we all thought of the space that her

… Read full post »
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JANUARY 25, 2012 9:50PM

‘I am NOT SOCIALIST’: Obama, ‘Liberals’ and Socialism

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

What makes a socialist a socialist in the 21st century? I owe it to myself one day to provide an answer to that question. As Owen Jones has argued over at his blog:

There are issues that the left must be at the

… Read full post »
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JANUARY 25, 2012 7:52PM

No Judgements, Only Prayers

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

Sin necesidad de dramatizar, la más modesta objetividad era una apertura en absurdo de París, de la vida gregaria. Puesto que había pensado en los poetas era fácil acordarse de todos los que habían denunciado la soledad de

… Read full post »
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JANUARY 25, 2012 7:49PM

Finishing Where We Will

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

Some late-night reflections on life and life’s choices by Tony Judt, just months before succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s disease:

I have never thought of myself as a rooted person. We are born by chance in one town rather than another and pass

… Read full post »
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JANUARY 25, 2012 7:45PM

On Longing–Desiring the Gleam

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

He saw the lightning in the east and longed for the east,
but if it had flashed in the west he would have longed for the west.
My desire is for the lightning and its gleam, not for the places and the earth.

– Ibn

… Read full post »
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JANUARY 25, 2012 7:44PM

On Passion: ‘Is it not enough?’

[Originally posted on my Wordpess blog]

They journeyed when the darkness of night had let down her curtain; and I said to her: ‘Pity a passionate lover, outcast and distraught,
Whom desires eagerly encompass, and at whom speeding arrows are aimed wheresoever he bends his course.’

She displ

… Read full post »
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DECEMBER 28, 2011 12:01AM

The House Party Is Over…Or Is It?

For the uninitiated, this video needs some explaining. It’s the very end of the night at our house party, but that stops no-one ’round here. Joining in on Rebecca’s infamous-silly-times dance, Kyle, Courtney and JOE–all very inebriated–dance to Janelle Monáe’s … Read full post »

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DECEMBER 1, 2011 8:33PM

Finishing Where We Will

Some late-night reflections on life and life’s choices by Tony Judt, just months before succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s disease:

I have never thought of myself as a rooted person. We are born by chance in one town rather than another and pass through various temporary homes in the course of ou

… Read full post »
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OCTOBER 24, 2011 7:56PM

‘Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end?’

[Originally posted on my Wordpress blog]
'The recovery has finished, we are now contracting.’
– Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit (22 September 2011)

I’ve never liked Niall Ferguson. You see, Ferguson has always struck me as a stereotypical English academic–arrogant… Read full post »

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OCTOBER 12, 2011 11:55AM

Britain in Recession: A Snapshot

[Originally posted on my Wordpress blog]

A talented graphic artist friend over at Accuracast came up with this neat little infographic for AlertMe. I wanted to post it here so you can all see some interesting facts about the average British household, which is currently facing an unprecedented incom… Read full post »

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OCTOBER 4, 2011 10:17AM

Learning from History–Ancient Greek Style

[Originally posted on my Wordpress blog]

ON DEBT REDUCTION: Ancient solutions to age-old problems
From the Financial Times’ letters section, 30 September 2011

Sir, History offers a useful guide to resolving the Greek sovereign debt crisis. As recently as 173BC, Livy tells us: “The Aetolian… Read full post »

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FEBRUARY 24, 2011 9:01PM

That Word

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

-- Martin Luther King

 

Ignorance is a spectacular thing. My grandfather (predictably enough) used to say that it is the single-most dangerous thing of all. But I've/…

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JUNE 8, 2010 9:29AM

Unnatural Sympathies: On Bias and American Self-Regard

I have managed not to blog at all for so long, I've almost forgotten what counts as an actual blog post. And so it is here; this isn't a complete post, but rather an off-the-cuff response to a long-winded, and ultimately ridiculous, post by Sgt. Mom. on why Americans continue to… Read full post »

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NOVEMBER 11, 2009 5:07PM

Blogging 2.0

To past and future readers: Welcome.

I have been blogging for some years now—most recently here on Blogger and Open Salon. And though I haven always enjoyed the experience, I haven't always found the energy to keep constant blog posts coming.

This is an attempt to rectify… Read full post »

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