mjklin

Surprisingly, when he arrives at the WWI period in that book Barzun leaves his historian’s voice and talks about being in Paris under bombardment from Big Bertha. Kind of a shock but also very humanizing.

The critic’s lament: describe the situation in mild terms, the public concludes it’s not a big deal and takes no action; describe it in stark terms, the public concludes there’s nothing to be done and takes no action

“Look at the happy moron, he doesn’t give a damn. I wish I was a moron - my God, perhaps I am!”

It’s about what people notice. In town governments I’ve heard of cutting popular programs that will provoke an outcry only to get credit for reinstating them, while possibly smuggling through other actions that are necessary but unpopular.

He used that line as an album title too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Like_the_Sun_(album)

“Everyone has a mass of bad work in him which he will have to work off and get rid of before he can do better– and indeed, the more lasting a man's ultimate good work is, the more sure he is to pass through a time, and perhaps a very long one, in which there seems very little hope for him at all. We must all sow our spiritual wild oats.”

Samuel Butler, English (1835-1902)

“One of the best descriptions of this political culture came from A.J. Liebling, who called Louisiana "the westernmost of the Arab states" and observed that its politics "is of an intensity and complexity that are matched, in my experience, only in the Republic of Lebanon. Louisiana is part of the Hellenistic—Mediterranean littoral—sensual, seductive, speculative, devious."

- The Book of America, Hagstrom and Peirce

Reading Lin as a teenager made me want to visit China, where I met my wife. Thanks Lin!

Don’t forget Al Franken’s Supply Side Jesus! https://youtu.be/X8xU-gKK17A?si=bjUAQafNZmz0R7Zs

“Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read” - Chinese proverb

In his Essays, Michel de Montaigne had a neighbor whose doctor told him not to eat a certain dish. When Montaigne asked him why he ate it anyway, he said he needed something to curse at.

If Books Could Kill did a podcast on “The Four-Hour Workweek” and pointed out he explains the scam he’s running on his own readers. I guess he figures the smart (?) ones can recreate it and the rest just follow the herd.

It’s a joke inspired by Mr Bean: https://youtu.be/EiZoSuNej5U?si=wpOzf7C-X2NvhRDd. It would take care of any cameras but I doubt the owners would be too pleased!

Explode a paint bomb in the center of the room that applies an even coat to everything. It’s the only way to be sure.

The ones I’m talking about were only subtly different, like 22 oz vs 24 oz. To me it was obvious what they were doing, shoppers couldn’t compare same-size units and they could have more freedom with prices.

The sizes were requested by the companies, the tour guide pointed this out in answer to questions.

My local hummus factory puts the product destined for Costco into a different sized tub than the one destined for Walmart. Companies want to make it hard for the consumer to compare.

Indeed. I wish I had been able to see this when I was taking high school Latin in the 90s, at least the school-friendly version (if it exists)

As Ross and Carrie of ONRAC used to say, “cure-alls cure nothing.”

“A tendency to superstition is of the very essence of humanity and, when we think we have completely extinguished it, we shall find it retreating into the strangest nooks and corners, that it may issue out thence on the first occasion it can do with safety.”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Lord Coke gravely informs us that corporations cannot be excommunicated, because they have no souls, and they appear to be as destitute of every feeling as if they had also no bowels.... There is in truth but one point through which they are vulnerable, and that is the keyhole of the cash box.” - Hugo Grotius, Dutch (1583—1645)

[The Empire Never Ended](https://www.splicetoday.com/writing/the-empire-never-ended)

One theory for how wolves became domesticated is that certain of them had a condition like Williams that made them friendly to humans, who became the ancestors of modern dogs. It was mentioned on the Ologies podcast that covered canines I believe.

SNL had that idea: the “all drug Olympics”

https://youtu.be/jAdG-iTilWU?si=25YzT63fNu_dCIq4

The only real giveaway to me that Trailer Park Boys is Canadian is how they pronounce the word “sorry”. Like SOW-ry rather than SOH-ry.

Save me some of those sweet empowered chicken things https://youtu.be/Jfq3c4Cf1Fs?si=pl5Q0Q1bJb8rP2br

Among magazine staff there’s a saying about “senior editors”: senior to whom, editor of what?

“The reason the gentleman is called worthy is not that he is able to do everything that the most skillful man can do. The reason the gentleman is called wise is not because he knows everything that the wise man knows. When he is called discriminating, this does not mean that he is able to split hairs so exhaustively as the sophists. That he is called an investigator does not mean that he is able to examine exhaustively into everything that an investigator may examine. He has his limit.

In observing high and low lands, in judging whether fields are poor or fertile, and in deciding where the various grains should be planted, the gentleman is not as capable as a farmer. When it is a matter of understanding commodities and determining their quality and value, the gentleman cannot vie with a merchant. As regards skill in the use of the compass, square, plumb line, and other tools, he is less able than an artisan. In disregarding right and wrong, truth and falsehood, but manipulating them so that they seem to change places and shame each other, the gentleman cannot compare with Hui Shih and Teng Hsi.

However, if it is a question of ranking men according to their virtue; if offices are to be bestowed according to ability; if both the worthy and the unworthy are to be put in their proper places… if all things and events are to be dealt with properly; if the charter of Shen Tzu and Mo Tzu are to be suppressed; if Hui Shih and Teng Hsi are not to dare to put forth their arguments; if speech is always to accord with the truth and affairs are always to be properly managed — it is in these matters that the gentleman excels.”

— Hsun-tzu, Chinese (300–235 B.C.)

Something I’ve noticed that I’ve never seen remarked on: English has weird pairs of opposite where only one is Germanic/Nordic and the other one is “made up” or otherwise unclear.

Examples:

German: man

Unclear: woman (not frau or kvinna)

German: white (weiss/vit/etc)

Unclear: black (bläck means ink in Swedish but?)

Swedish: up

Unclear: down (not undan or ner)

German: full (voll)

Unclear: empty (not leer or tom)