Archives for category: world

My writing partner Ed Burns said it best: “When the economy shrugs, it throws more people onto the corners.” It’s simple as that. Addiction is a growth industry in America. Not just in black America, but all across the country. Look at methamphetamine. Ultimately, because the drug trade is in part an economic imperative, meaning it’s the only factory still working in parts of America and therefore it is a viable employer where no other viable employer exists, it’s going to have its own fundamental lure. But it actually goes beyond money in this sense. People are defined by what they do in this culture. I think it’s the human condition. I don’t think it’s any different from any other time in history. You are what you do. You are your profession. You are your trade.

– David Simon, el creador de The Wire, una de las pocas series de televisión que me han descuadrado la vida. Le hicieron una entrevista extensa en Vice.

I Love xkcd from NoamR on Vimeo.

Everything in the Balkans is political, including the language. If one tries to point out that even today the official languages in Croatia and Bosnia have about 80% (if not more) in common with Serbian, that’s an automatic accusation of “Greater Serbian nationalism and imperialist chauvinism” with charges of “aggression” and “genocide” soon to follow.

Del blog de Gray Falcon en respuesta a un artículo de Daily Kos que acusa de “genocidio lingüístico” a unos arreglos a las lenguas balcanes del Wiktionary.

“The one square foot block [OF FROZEN URINE] crashed into their house in Hartberg, Austria, before shattering on the ground. Now Hans and Irene Schueler have demanded air traffic control chiefs hand over details of flight movements over their home so they can claim compensation from the airline responsible.” (via Sun)

“Lin Zongxiu, from the southwestern province of Sichuan, heard in 2008 that soup made with a man’s head could help cure her daughter who had suffered from psychiatric problems for years… Lin and her husband decided to enlist the help of a man in December who knocked unconscious a drunk 76-year-old passer-by before beheading him. The couple then gave their 25-year-old daughter soup made from the man’s head, and duck.” (via London Telegraph)

“The strange occurrence that was revealed in a State Government Budget Estimates hearing, has also solved what some growers say has spurred a campfire legend about mysterious crop circles that appear in northern Tasmania’s poppy paddocks. The drugged out wallabies had been found hopping around in circles squashing the poppies, creating the formations… Tasmania is the world’s largest producer of legally grown opium for the pharmaceutical market.” (via News Corporation)

“A motorcycle accident almost killed David 21 years ago. At the time he might have wished he was dead. “I asked my doctor, ‘Sir what happened? I can’t feel my legs’,” said David. Ever since, David’s been relying on his wheelchair to get around. Then the spider bite. A Brown Recluse sent him to the hospital, then to rehab for eight months.” (via CBS 13)

“A six-year-old boy has died in a freak backyard accident involving a clothes line and trampoline… New Norfolk police, in southern Tasmania, say he was jumping on a trampoline beneath the clothes line, when the strap on his helmet appears to have become caught on the line, accidentally hanging him. His father found him a short time later.” (via Australian Broadcasting)

No hemos de apresurarnos demasiado en idealizar la situación de los escritores de Londres en el siglo XVIII. Un grupo de ellos, conocidos colectivamente como «Grub street» por la zona de Londres donde vivían, se esforzaban para no gastar más de lo que que ganaban, como antes los grupos de Amsterdam y Venecia. Lo mismo que en Amsterdam, este grupo incluía una cantidad de protestantes franceses emigrados y particularmente activos en el periodismo. Incluso para los más exitosos, la nueva libertad tenía su precio. [Dr.] Johnson probablemente habría preferido escribir sus libros que compilar un diccionario, y [Alexander] Pope trabajar en sus poemas a traducir a Homero. [David] Hume escribió sobre historia porque venía mejor que la filosofía, y si regresara a la Tierra y consultara el catálogo de la Biblioteca Británica, probablemente se ofendería al verse mencionado como «David Hume, historiador».

– Briggs, Asa y Peter Burke. De Gutenberg a Internet: Una historia social de los medios de comunicación. Taurus, 2006. p. 75.