Arab Spring and another wisdom

The still continuing 'Arab spring' shouts loudly 'al shaab yureed asqat al nitham', or in English 'the people want collapse of the system' or something like that.

Perhaps they get it and more permanently than intended; this 2012 is, after all, the last year in history (according to some interpretations of Mayan wisdom).

A Twenties Memory

Not my memory, mind you. But a short story by Woody Allen, "A Twenties Memory" in his 1971 book "Getting Even", turns into "Midnight in Paris" in mere 40 years.

The "Midnight", his best picture for quite a while, might still rescue Allen's battered reputation from the gutters. I loved it.

The linked article, "Woody Allen's First Stab at 'Midnight in Paris': A 1971 Short Story", is from The Odds by Steve Pond.

Would you rather be hanged than stoned?

Islam is such a sensible and lenient religion, isn't it. How about all us gentle-hearts come out in chorus and excuse Islam because 'all this is part of their cultural heritage' and we should, naturally, embrace multiculturalism with all our hearts.

Read this article Iran says woman's stoning case might change to hanging in Reuters.

IBM bares the Future

IBM, who first estimated that the world needs about six computers and then that nobody would want a personal computer, now says that we'll be carrying mind-reading phones by 2016. Oh well...

Havel and Kim Jong Il

It's easy to say that all Nations get political leaders they deserve. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Maybe a people that has no desire to better its lot would get what the history lobs at it. It is difficult to say why the Czechs and Slovaks deserved an imperfect humanist like Vaclav Havel and the Koreans a perfect tyrant like Kim Jong Il as their leaders. The answer may lurk in history and time, and Nation's soul, or somewhere.

Well, hopefully they'll not issue a...a...Hey, what's fatwa in Korean? While you think that you may want to read the article Kim Jong Il Might Be Gone, But the Satire Will Live Forever in The Atlantic.

The Turkish version of the nations' destinies goes like this: 'It is not only the fault of the axe but the tree as well'. Somehow 'Cometh the hour, cometh the man' sounds more optimistic and kindly. Perhaps both influenced by their environments?

The Hand of God and Januszczak's foreskins

Dear Reader, I'm almost sure that spiritually you reside somewhere between Christopher Hitchens and Jesus of Nasareth. If so, it may be of interest to read Waldemar Januszczak's take on the Christ's foreskin and that sorts of thing, in case you find them palatable in the countdown to Christmas, the highlight of the Christians' annual calendar of commerce and overeating. The article is called The Hand of God.