tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34003332011-08-16T08:37:04.721ZA place for one random individual to rant about everything under the sun.Abiolanoreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-1156632774803622262006-08-26T22:51:00.000Z2006-08-26T22:52:54.810Z

 

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-1083802777468803742004-05-06T00:19:00.000Z2004-05-10T09:52:54.243Z

Andrew Black has a very interesting post up on Southern Cross, in which he outlines his own list of definitive works of South African literature, and also comments on the ways in which apartheid worked to warp the contributions of different groups in literary terms. I don't think Andrew's point about the stifling effects of the Afrikaners' identification with the goals of apartheid can seriously

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com89tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-1072959895749414582004-01-01T12:24:00.000Z2004-01-01T12:26:02.686Z

I just wanted to see how this would look on my weblog without actually doing any damage to the main one.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-921712832003-04-07T20:28:00.000Z2003-04-07T20:30:57.000Z

We've never had it so good - and it's all thanks to science Matt Ridley has a nice article in the Guardian about the benefits of scientific discovery, and the negative consequences of kneejerk European and environmentalist opposition to new technologies like genetically modified organisms. It's been, what, 8 months since I last updated this blog? Let's just say that I've had a lot more free

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-802560132002-08-15T01:59:00.000Z2002-08-15T02:01:56.000Z

Why SETI is a Waste of Time - Part II I have a question for those gullible enough to believe in "little green men" of the sort seen in Fox's Alien Autopsy - why would any reasonable person expect aliens to look like hairless, bipedal primates? This strains credibility, given that were it possible to run through the history of life on earth once more, the chances of creatures like ourselves

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-797574432002-08-03T01:45:00.000Z2002-08-03T01:45:09.710Z

The entry for monoamine oxidase a in the OMIM database seems to indicate a strong link between variation in this X-linked gene and violent behavior, and the recent news that a New Zealand study links a deficient form of the MOA-A gene to an increased risk of adult antisocial behavior in maltreated boys seems in accord with this information. Of course, one must be careful that this isn't a case of

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-786518742002-07-07T16:57:00.000Z2002-07-07T16:57:57.403Z

On Hume and the Problem of Induction We take it for granted that the sun will always rise and set with the same regularity that we have known all our lives, but there is no logical reason why this assumption should always hold. What if one day the sun were to suddenly go out like a light turned off at a switch, or, (worse yet?) exploded in a supernova, taking all of the planets with it? We say

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-784792882002-07-02T21:28:00.000Z2002-07-02T21:28:36.000Z

Proustian Insight at Work Here is a delightful quotation from Swann's Way: "Poor Swann," said the Mme des Laumes that night to her husband, "he's as charming as ever, but he does look so dreadfully unhappy. You'll see for yourself, as he has promised to dine with us one of these days. I do feels it's absurd that a man of his intelligence should let himself suffer for a woman of that sort, and

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-779764552002-06-20T12:37:00.000Z2002-06-20T12:52:02.000Z

What is it about the act of writing that empties one's mind of whatever it is one means to say? It is almost as if there were some sort of literary exclusion principle at work - one cannot both have something to say and be in a position to say it at the same time.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-775075622002-06-08T19:51:00.000Z2002-06-08T19:52:31.000Z

I'm still alive ... (rest of Pearl Jam refrain goes here) I've been inactive as of late, due to factors beyond my control, but I intend to return to active duty very soon.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-768790172002-05-23T11:54:00.000Z2002-05-23T11:59:49.000Z

Something seems to be wrong with Blogger. My last entry didn't get added to the published page for some reason. NB: Ah, now it's working ...

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-768448862002-05-22T16:27:00.000Z2002-05-22T16:29:04.000Z

Now here's a question: did Homo Erectus have a soul? Did Australopithecus Afarensis? If not, when did our ancestors begin to have souls? I only raise these questions because I all too often hear that "science and religion are not (or at least, need not be) in conflict," a notion that the recently deceased Stephen Jay Gould was fond of advancing, and one that I find disingenuous in the extreme.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-766607782002-05-17T15:28:00.000Z2002-05-17T15:31:42.000Z

I've recently begun re-reading Proust. Reading through "Swann in Love," what can I say, other than that Proust is right? "Love" (using the ironic phrasing of which Charles Swann was so fond) makes us ridiculous, drags us into preposterous situations, and is best to be avoided if at all possible.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-766600652002-05-17T15:08:00.000Z2002-05-17T15:13:03.000Z

I am Gregor Samsa. Often it takes a spell of adversity for one to appreciate the true value one holds in other's eyes. As the saying goes, "Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan," or to call upon yet another trite phrase (and a true one, for all its' triteness), "laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone." It is all too easy to buy into the sentimental notion that

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-766598092002-05-17T15:01:00.000Z2002-05-17T15:01:02.223Z

"Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard." - Ecclesiastes 9:16.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-763197262002-05-08T22:33:00.000Z2002-05-08T22:35:11.000Z

A study suggests that passive smoking can damage the IQ of children, even when the level of exposure is minute. Now, I am all for giving people the freedom to ingest whatever substances they desire without the interference of governments, but nobody should have the right to damage the health and prospects of a child in doing so. Children are not the personal property of their parents in the way

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-762819622002-05-07T23:52:00.000Z2002-05-07T23:54:41.000Z

As far as Pim Fortuyn's politics went, British foreign secretary Jack Straw, hardly a man of the right, apparently agrees with me when he says that Fortuyn was not "another Le Pen or Haider." If only the BBC staff could be as objective in their statements!

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-762815572002-05-07T23:40:00.000Z2002-05-07T23:44:21.000Z

I don't want to say too much about Pim Fortuyn's murder, as a lot of other people (the usual suspects ...) have said a great deal already, but whether or not one agrees with the policies he advocated, it is only to fair to say that he was not to be placed amongst the likes of Le Pen, Filip De Winter or Jörg Haider. In fact, one might say that it wasn't so much what Fortuyn had to say as how he

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-762811722002-05-07T23:29:00.000Z2002-05-07T23:29:52.110Z

Well, what do you know? The exit polls proved to be surprisingly accurate! Still, that nearly 1 in 5 French voters support a man like Le Pen is enough to give one pause.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-761932712002-05-05T20:36:00.000Z2002-05-05T20:36:57.103Z

I will admit to being pleasantly surprised by the scale of Jacques Chirac's victory over Jean-Marie Le Pen in the French presidential election. I'd expected the results to be much closer, with Le Pen obtaining upwards of 25 percent of the vote. Such an outcome would have been in keeping with my cynicism about human nature, as it seemed a certainty that many would-be backers of Le Pen would have

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-761929342002-05-05T20:25:00.000Z2002-05-05T20:30:30.000Z

Alone we come into the world, and alone we leave it. It is no more than an illusion to imagine that any such thing as a meeting of minds can exist between two people, other than on a rudimentary level; at best, such a state of affairs can occur when the two parties have little in the way of minds to begin with. Sensitivity and reflectiveness constitute impregnable barriers to mutual understanding.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-758071852002-04-25T13:20:00.000Z2002-04-25T13:20:07.363Z

It's been a while since I made any entries to this blog, partly for technical reasons, but also in part because I didn't feel like saying much. In any case, I expect to be a lot more active in the coming days.

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-113405822002-04-01T12:49:00.000Z2002-04-01T12:49:33.000Z

"German racists are young, uneducated losers, according to Reuters. I'm pretty sure that there are many German racists who don't fit this profile - and this is true for all western countries, not just Germany - but it comes as no surprise that those who would actually go to the trouble of personally torching refugee hostels and attacking "dark skinned" people should turn out to be the dregs of

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-113405102002-04-01T12:44:00.000Z2002-04-01T12:44:37.663Z

Seen in today's NYT: Implicating the United States in the captivity of Mr. Arafat, [Marwan Barghouti] said: "This aggression is by an American decision, and American weapons. America now is the one providing cover for terrorism and supporting terrorism." If the Palestinians think they can threaten the United States and get something out of it, they have completely lost touch with reality. The

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-113074152002-03-31T13:35:00.000Z2002-03-31T13:35:48.533Z

I'd been trying to read Heinz Magenheimer's "Hitler's War," but I've finally decided to give up. One would think that an Austrian writer, cognizant of the scepticism with which others are likely to view his opinions on the Third Reich's armed forces, would bend over backwards to be as detached and as critical of the "home team" as possible, yet Magenheimer raises the old canard of a supposedly "

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-113071042002-03-31T13:11:00.000Z2002-03-31T13:16:45.000Z

I recently finished Celine's "Journey to the End of Night," and I must say that it left me feeling rather depressed, even if Celine's cynicism is leavened throughout with quite a bit of humor. What makes the book so depressing is the way it nails the sheer pettiness and squalor of human nature at its' most typical. Man is the only animal capable of forgoing a moderate portion of happiness in the

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-113068372002-03-31T12:48:00.000Z2002-03-31T12:48:22.280Z

This is from an article in today's New York Times: A senior diplomat here explained the conviction among some Palestinians that only violence can work. This diplomat said he had tried for weeks to persuade Israel to cut down the number of military checkpoints in the West Bank that are "particularly humiliating to the Palestinians." "I wanted them to reduce the number by three, four, five," he

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-112573202002-03-29T20:35:00.000Z2002-03-31T12:53:09.000Z

A female suicide bomber strikes in Jerusalem - a 16 year old girl!

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-111726922002-03-27T14:18:00.000Z2002-03-31T12:50:55.000Z

More stupidity in the Middle East, as Ariel Sharon bans Yasser Arafat from attending the Arab League summit, despite American entreaties. I find it impossible to believe that Sharon did this for any reason other than to wreck the prospects of the summit's success. It appears that Sharon cares almost as little about Israeli suffering as does Arafat himself. It is tempting to argue that Ariel

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-109836872002-03-21T22:09:00.000Z2002-03-21T22:25:56.000Z

It is interesting to follow the ongoing "dialog" - if one can call it that - on the malign electoral effects of social conservatism, between Instapundit (see also here) and National Review's Corner. NR's Ramesh Ponnuru makes a decent stab at discrediting Glenn Reynold's arguments, but is ultimately unconvincing, as far as I'm concerned. There is a contradiction between social conservatism and

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3400333.post-108962442002-03-19T14:24:00.000Z2002-03-19T14:24:09.286Z

This is my first posting to what I hope will (eventually) become an avenue for me to put forth my views on various matters to the general public. Watch this space!

Abiolanoreply@blogger.com0