"Let me introduce you to my friend; he edits one of the most prestigious art listings in Italy."

"There is green light and red light. Then there is black light, which is mostly danger."

With only a scant amount of daylight penetrating the tent, the works had developed an ethereal glow.

"Once I apply the violet pigments with a brush, the surface will become gold," he said, gazing intently at the 3- by-5-meter, or 10-by-16-foot, paintings resting on wooden sawhorses. "As the light reflects it, it will change color."

His dealer Gordon VeneKlasen, who represents him with Michael Werner, interjected, "Violet has had mystical properties since the Renaissance, which has always fascinated Sigmar."

Sigmar Polke: Inscrutable master of the unexpected, Carol Vogel - The New York Times, 27 May 2007.

Horn of Plenty

Photo by: Pam Kaminski

"What does disco do? It programs a random-access search for “origins” and incites in the reader a search for sources, which turn out to be hallucinations or echoes of sources. Such a programming language was once called literature (we have chosen to call it art history), though disco, of course, is not a literature at all; it merely simulates the effects of literature (as empty brand) with the uncanny precision of our era’s version of a lullaby: the remix. Disco is a programming language. It simulates the desire to remember when human remembering has become, from a technological standpoint, unnecessary or impossible. Disco thus proposes a solution to the vast volumes of distributed media (now databased on the Internet) that began in the nineteenth century and have snowballed of late—in the form of photographs, tape recordings, films, records, CDs, and hard drives. How in this morass of information, most of it noncontinuous (i.e., digitized and subject to random access memory) can anything be located? Disco proposes a radical minimalization in the accessing of voices, regarded as discrete and modular data.
For as we have seen, disco involved the systematic subtraction of extraneous information “tracks” and elevation of a percussion track into a remix having minimal harmonic or melodic progression, and grounded in repetition. This subtraction would be exploited in the late seventies and early eighties with Eurodisco, Italodisco, minimal ambient house musics; contemporary artist writing/distribution projects; and a host of disco-oriented stylistics and sampling/appropriation-based poetries.
Unlike the other arts that were bracketed by arts of long-term memory (ars longa, vita brevis), disco was keyed not to memory but to what human memory became with the advent of computerized data storage and accessing: a mood, understood as the by-product of an obsolescent human memory system. For this reason it is customary to say that one can “have” a memory but not a mood; it is more accurate to say that a mood overtakes one. Moods, which are not inherently subjective and do not differ significantly from person to person, are a waste product antithetical to precomputer memory and thus nostalgia. So moods are rightly understood as a mode of accessing data inaccessible to human memory. Before the DJ, moods were harder to come by, let alone produce systematically. This was mainly because moods were amorphous and believed to be subject to a certain “distillation.” But with the advent of large-scale computing, things began to change. The verb “to access” was coined in 1962 with respect to “large-capacity memory,” which was viewed as a kind of “happening.” It took less than seven years for a soft synaesthesia of music, lights, dance, and performance to congeal into a cultural format that reflected systemic changes in how collective memory gets processed. As Ebbinghaus says, “How does the disappearance of the ability to reproduce, forgetfulness, depend upon the length of time during which no repetitions have taken place?” (Kittler 1990, 207). Disco solved a crisis in the same way that the core memory inventor An Wang did, whose work in the early fifties on the write-after-read cycle paved the way for developments in magnetic core memory. Wang’s invention “solved the puzzle of how to use a storage medium in which the act of reading was also an act of erasure.” Disco functions as magnetic core memory does, where every act of reading or accessing material destroys the original source (i.e., clears the address to zero), which necessitates the continual repetition or rewriting (the write-after-read cycle) of data."
Tan Lin Disco As Operating System

This conceptual art piece has been patented but not yet produced

Totem und Tabu: Einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker

Dieter Rams Display

thanks to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/morfform/2568878806/

The authors of this Weblog would like to emphasise that they neither endorse nor condone the following remarks

Scams

Con artists are widespread in China. Ostensibly friendly types invite you for tea, then order food and say they have no money, leaving you to foot the bill, while practising their English on you.

Don’t leave any of your belongings with someone you do not know well. The opening economy in China has also spawned a plague of dishonest businesses and enterprises. The travel agent you phoned may just operate from a cigarette-smoke-filled hotel room.

Extracted from http://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/practical-information/health

Mimesis and Alterity

"The white man who made the pencil also made the eraser."
– Yoruba proverb

I saw Mike Kelley at LACMA looking at Martin Kippenbergers.

"Company; at table or table d'hôte.... Spinach is served. Mrs. E.L., sitting next to me, gives me her undivided attention, and places her hand familiarly upon my knee. In defence I remove her hand. Then she says: 'But you have always had such beautiful eyes.' ... I then distinctly see something like two eyes as a sketch or as the contour of a spectacle lens...."
This is the whole dream, or, at all events, all that I can remember. (...)
– Sigmund Freud On Dreams

"To be very, very, very rough: first of all the model of this friendship is a friendship between two young men, mortals, who have a contract according to which one will survive the other, one will be the heir of the other, and they will agree politically - I give a number of examples of this. Which excludes first of all friendship between a man and a woman, or between women, so women are totally excluded from this model of friendship: woman as the friend of a man or women as friends between themselves. Then the figure of the brother, of fraternity, is also at the centre of this canonical model. I show this of course through a number of texts and examples. Brotherhood, fraternity, is the figure of this canonical friendship. Of course this concept of brotherhood has a number of cultural and historical premises. It comes from Greece, but it also comes from the Christian model in which brotherhood or fraternity is essential. Men are all brothers because they are sons of God, and you can find the ethics of this concept in even an apparently secular concept of friendship and politics. In the French Revolution this is the foundation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Fraternity was the object of a terrible debate in France at the time, and fraternity appears, between equality and liberty, as one of the foundations of the republic. So, you have to deal here with what I would call a phallocentric or phallogocentric concept of friendship. Which doesn't of course mean to me that the hegemony of this concept was so powerful that what it excluded was effectively totally excluded. It doesn't mean that a woman couldn't have the experience of friendship with a man or with another woman. It means simply that within this culture, this society, by which this prevalent canon was considered legitimate, accredited, then there was no voice, no discourse, no possibility of acknowledging these excluded possibilities."
- Jacques Derrida Politics and Friendship: A Discussion with Jacques Derrida

Forced to Surf (at Gunpoint)

Sherbrooke Now

Knowles Eddy Knowles Chronomadjuster - Accurate as of March 17th 2009.

Hotel Aktion

"For consider this man's [Jimmy Swaggart's] television performance before his fall. Striding back and forth and back and forth across his stage, he was like an animal in heat. Strutting and shouting, he appeared in cheap-looking suits that weren't necessarily cheap (this man had money but he had to appeal to his mainly lower-middle-class constituents), with their fabric often drawn taut across his thighs and his crotch. A pimp for Jesus. A cock of the walk. A cock that walks and throbs and thrusts itself, again and again, across the stage. It shouts and moans and yells its incantations of sin and lust and god and hell, its moving, brutal mouth pulled wide open and snapping shut, again and again. But words are secondary here. What mesmerizes and what really counts is this motion, this ramming plunging power. More than the logic of the words, this motion is convincing – so powerful, so demanding, so essential."
– Carol Squiers At Their Mercy: A Reading of Pictures From 1988

Manifesto

seating for entertainment executives

Making It Work

Individualism vs. Collectivism
Defining Workplace Culture, Pt. 6
© Melissa Dylan

Apr 26, 2007
Do you value teamwork, or promote individuality?

(This is the sixth in a series of self-assessment articles on defining workplace culture. Click here to go to main article.)

A good mix of individuality and teamwork is imperative for most workplaces. But some function best with an emphasis on one or the other. Here are a few questions to help assess where your workplace stands.

This is another situation where there are no right or wrong answers—whatever works best for your business is acceptable. But with a clear idea of how your organization operates, you can attract people with a proclivity toward your atmosphere.

How much do your employees rely on one another? Is there a hierarchy of tasks to achieve a goal, and is each task assigned to a different person? Or is each employee self-sufficient? For instance, in a restaurant a busboy must clear and set the table before the hostess can seat the table before the waitress can take the order before the cook can make the meal, etc. In some restaurants the waitstaff does the bussing and seating themselves, making them largely self-reliant, with the exception of cooking. Is each waitperson responsible for their tables only? Or are they expected to keep an eye on all customers, regardless of designated “sections?”

Do they stick to assigned tasks? If Stella in marketing is swamped with a project, will Roger from IT lend a hand? Or will the rest of the team head home while Stella pulls an all-nighter? If there is a line out the front door, will the manager open a register and take orders? A true teamwork-oriented environment means the management team pitches in as well, taking on tables of their own when the restaurant is swamped, or grabbing a mop during a factory spill.

Is the staff encouraged to express themselves? Is there a specified sales pitch for all sales team members? Is the uniform inflexible, or more of a guideline? Really look at your policies and their implications. If you require 20 pieces of flare, is that really promoting individuality? Or giving your employees (and customers) a false sense of independence that is actually another thinly veiled regulation?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does your workplace value teamwork? Ten being everyone pitching in on every task with no assigned job titles, one being each person sticking to an area of expertise and focusing on their own list of duties.

Snowmen class struggle (Cold World)

Sphinx Productions

"In 1474, a chicken passing for a rooster laid an egg, and was prosecuted by law in the city of Basel. The animal was sentenced in a solemn judicial proceeding and condemned to be burned alive "for the heinous and unnatural crime of laying an egg." The execution took place "with as great solemnity as would have been observed in consigning a heretic to the flames, and was witnessed by an immense crowd of townsmen and peasants." The same kind of prosecution took place in Switzerland again as late as 1730."

– E.V. Walter Nature on Trial: The Case of the Rooster Who Laid an Egg

Homer's 'systematic soldiering'

“In his critique of the everyday, Lefebvre sought not simply "entertainment" or "relaxation" but the articulation of different forms of knowledge, knowledge that could aid in the potential and/or intermittent process of "dis-alienation." It is not in leisure as such where a critique of capitalism is to be found. Rather, a critique may emerge in those moments when the relations between elements of the everyday are made evident or challenged. Duchamp's presentation and arrangement of the readymades exhibit a desire to foil the functionality of these objects, whose usefulness resides in their ability to aid domestic and maintenance labor. Yet in foiling work, the readymades do not offer leisure as work's simple antithesis (nor do they offer art as pure leisure). Instead, their placement in the home/studio tangles the categories of both work and leisure. This presentation of nonwork and leisure has a social and historical context larger than Duchamp's studio, for Duchamp's refusal of work (both maintenance and traditional means of artistic labor) happened alongside one of the most profound shifts in twentieth-century conceptions of work: Taylorism.”
- Helen Molesworth, Work Avoidance: The Everyday Life of Marcel Duchamp's Readymades

“If it were not for quotations, conversations between gentlemen would be nothing but a succession of ‘What ho's’” - P.G. Wodehouse

Not Kool

Video by He Cong.

Reference Penitentiary

Video et Taceo (If you are not repulsed by this image, then it is time to investigate your subconscious)

If you are not repulsed by this image, then it is time to investigate your subconscious

A Chicken/Egg Enquiry

This Farmer Grows Robots
By Jia Hepeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-07 15:32

A month ago, Wu Yulu sold his "son" for 30,000 yuan (US$3,750).
Wu Laowu (the fifth son of the Wu family), is, well, a robot Wu made with his own hands 10 years earlier.
"I couldn't sleep well for several days after selling the child, but I had no other choice. I had to pay off my debts," said Wu, 44, a farmer from Mawu village in eastern Beijing.
On his TV screen, he plays a video of Wu Laowu, serving tea and lighting cigarettes.
In the past 26 years, Wu Yulu has made 25 robots, and "all of them were like my sons."
Wu had a way with machinery and mechanics from childhood.
"Sometimes when people passed by, I would think about the mechanical functions of walking," Wu recalled.
Unfortunately, he could not pursue his passion through textbooks. He was one of five children in the family, and his parents could not support his education after he graduated from primary school in the mid-1970s.
But a lack of formal education did not deter Wu from copying what he called "marvellous human motions."
"At that time, I didn't even know the term 'robot'," Wu said. "But in my spare time from farming, I tried to collect everything that could be used in those movable things.
"I loved to play with robots. The cleverer they became, the deeper the emotional link I felt to them. Later, I began to call them my sons."
The wire, metal, screws and nails he used came from rubbish sites, or sometimes used parts from farm machinery.
In the late '70s, Wu got a job at a farm machinery factory, and the small income helped him turn used sewing machine parts and some steel wire into his first robot.
"Until now, I don't know the theory of physics, but I knew that electricity can drive motors and power can be transferred to the robot's hands and legs with levers and wires," Wu said.
After his first robot turned out to be "disabled," Wu continued to experiment. In 1982, the first movable robot, Wu Laoda (the first son of the Wu), was born.
Another video shows Wu Laoda as a coarse combination of steel wires and sticks without head and skin. He was destroyed in a fire seven years ago.
Although Wu compensated for his lack of scientific knowledge with his talent and devotion, there were accidents, the first of which happened around 1995.
"I got a rechargeable battery-like tube for a very low price from a recycling shop, thinking I could save money," Wu said.
But he did not understand the English warning on the tube, and "when I tested the tube, it exploded in my hands. I remember a big fireball suddenly burst out, and I lost my memory."
Luckily, neighbours rushed him to hospital. His memory returned, but the scars on his hands and arms and the pain he frequently feels in his wrists will last forever.
Another fire broke out in 1999 when Wu left a transformer unattended to repair a piece of farm machinery.
"Just as I was enjoying the praise for my skills in repairing, someone rushed in and said: 'Wu, your home is on fire,'" he recalled.
It was too late. No one was injured, but all six rooms with his belongings, including some robots, were destroyed.
"I was left with nothing," Wu said.
Neighbours, and even strangers, gave him money to rebuild his house, with no mention of repayment. Three months later, Wu was in a new home, costing 90,000 yuan (US$11,250).
Wu was determined to repay them but his pursuit of building robots did not leave much savings.
His son Wu Hongfeng said: "With his skills, my father could have become rich by making more profitable tools, but after the fire, the whole family was preoccupied with repaying our debt."
Wu Yulu eventually decided to sell some of the robots that had been stored elsewhere.
"I felt terrible, but had no choice," he said.
An institute affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences bought one of the robots for "several thousand," Wu said, and a collector bought another.
Wu's perseverance finally began to pay off.
Feature stories on the "farmer inventor" began appearing in various media.
After one report on China Central Television (CCTV), its science channel hired Wu as a prop-maker, paying more than 3,000 yuan (US$375) a month.
Each week he goes to CCTV for orders and makes them at home.
Selling robot Wu Laowu helped speed the repayment of his loan. "The neighbours would not mention money, but I had to show them some consideration," he said.
Last month, Wu made the headlines again for a new invention, a robot able to pull a rickshaw one step every three or four seconds.
Sitting in the rickshaw, Wu said he has no plans to start a robot business.
"I can invent robots able to carry a sedan chair, and next I will make robots of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac.
"There are so many good things in life, and they become the basis for my robots."

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4LIThTB8Ww&feature=related

Condensation Piece

"You said you knew nothing about physics... Let's keep it that way."

With all due respect to those who think this blog is a work of art - IT IS NOT - it is real life

There is no Absolute Wrong context

"Maybe someone will think advertising for marriage is stupid and absurd. In Chinese, there is a word ¡°yuanfen Ôµ·Ö¡±. I believe ¡°yuanfen Ôµ·Ö¡± can lead me to meet right you. No matter where you are, who you are¡­"

Mothermen Underground

The beginning of history

Knowles Eddy Knowles have not spoken for 28 days

Slime Trails from the Academy

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Farting Santa 2009 Calendars Butt / Face Towel The Butt Bank - As Seen on CBS Money Toilet Paper Dog Poop Calendar Remote Control Fart Machine Liquid Ass – Howard Stern Obama Funny Money Fake Parking Tickets Canouflage Beer Can Wraps Prank TV Remote Control Shocking Pen Mooning Santa Perverted Holiday Elf Funny Stocking Stuffers Disgusting Talking Pens Snotty Nose Egg Separator Toilet Monster - Ultimate Prank Whatever Clock Fake Winning Lottery Tickets Get Off The Phone Machine Tattoo Sleeves

"The emblem, depicting the image of three people-you, me, him/her holding hands together, symbolizes the big family of mankind."

"In a group, the exchanges are always between the same people, whereas in collaborations, it's occasional: the associations are temporary and more diverse, they disappear and reappear, taking on new forms elsewhere, producing singular situations. Discussion has become an important moment in the constitution of a project; you can enter or leave it at any moment, which also affects the modes of production and allows you to escape a rigid and monomaniacal way of thinking. (...)
"We all have a relationship to the group that varies in intensity. It starts with the groups that form at school, the little gangs, then you never cease moving from group to group, and you keep fine-tuning your relationships with each one; that way you are paradoxically independent and attached at the same time. (...)
"[The group that I began working with in the '80s] didn't have so much to do with the ideological dimension [of the groups of the '70s] as with the dynamics. There were six or seven of us doing interventions in public space. It was a very short experience, but enough to see the limits of a collective, whereas with collaborations, a re-negotiation is always possible. It's a way to keep on learning. When you ground yourself in one form of knowledge, you domesticate it, you polish it. But knowledge should remain rough. To remain that way it has to be fed by a continuous dialogue."
- Pierre Huyghe, in Hans Ulrich Obrist Interviews Vol. 1.

Key words: analyst’s isolation, analytic silence, avoidance, countertransference, imagery, integrity, nourishing relationships,...

...professional equilibrium, selfobject.

phenomenology of happy faces

This song reminds me of my mam and dad spliting up and no-one giving a shit

Apparently M's dad is designing and building an artificial island

for ferrari off the coast of abu dhabi. Supposedly it will have a

shopping mall on it that will have a roof made of imitation metal

bamboo, printed to look like real bamboo. I may be conflating more

than one project here, but have been promised links. The intention was

to use real bamboo, only in the desert climate it would have dried out

and crumbled away, and also collected a 10cm layer of sand on top, and

to deal with this the owners would have had to employ workers to

constantly patrol the roof and sweep it away. Because the mall will

have enormous TV screens dangling inside displaying advertisements,

the roof has to be counterbalanced by having dangling sculptures

outside, hanging from the eaves. I think I suggested giant pandas

(maybe live ones in cages?) would be appropriate. but I'm not sure how

far this will penetrate the design process. I feel like I'm saying

this more than ever, but you really can't make this shit up. A baroque

acid dream indeed.

The Duck Prostitute

These two have been the principal companions of my enterprise, and the art is indefensible as a whole if it does not make clear the nature of my debt to them. In all those areas where our occupations have been distinguishable during the period in which the art was thought about and made, theirs has furnished my own with its most demanding context and its least uncertain purpose. In view of their close attention to the deficiencies of succeeding tests, I am confident that responsibility for the remaining failings rests with me.

Dawn in a Hungry City

Are you patronizing me when you use emoticons?

"You know, fame is fleeting, leaves you hungry, leaves you cold, leaves you tired. Fortune never comes with it." - Joe Wurzelbacher

You remind me of a younger version of myself

"Reader, you too are a butt-fucker. When you shit, your own crap fucks you."
-René Magritte, 1946.

Santoka's tooth dream

"Writing about the artist's state of mind when working, Ruskin asserts that there is an "uncontrolled " dimension tied to the phenomenon of inspiration. The vision of the artist does not come (solely) from within, but rather passes through like a wind, the divine breath or spirit, that at times seems to alter the mind, driving the artist toward madness. (...) Ruskin associates the vision of the inspired artist to a mirror onto which the divine truth is reflected while, at the same time, it is blurred, or agitated, by his fallen (human) soul. The grotesque emerges through this movement, between the elevated divine truth and the base, natural nature of the human realm."
- Caroline Dionne, Architectural Creativity in Lewis Carrol's The Vision of the Three T's, in Architecture and Authorship.

Retard from the Future

Seme della mela del Johnny

Under the 1977 Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol I) there is a specific prohibition on perfidy:

"Article 37.-Prohibition of perfidy 1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy: (a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict. 2. Ruses of war are not prohibited. Such ruses are acts which are intended to mislead an adversary or to induce him to act recklessly but which infringe no rule of international law applicable in armed conflict and which are not perfidious because they do not invite the confidence of an adversary with respect to protection under that law. The following are examples of such ruses: the use of camouflage, decoys, mock operations and misinformation."

Credit Crunch, Wheat Crunch, Oil Crunch...

For his first exhibition in a gallery, Pharrell Williams created some furniture with vibrant colors and slick surfaces. One chair with the legs of a man and a woman evokes a sexual intercourse. The chair is produced in four different colors, with a choice for the seat in leather, veal skin or velour leather. For this chair, Pharrell Williams diverted examples of classical furniture and updated it into his vision of style with intense colors and sensual material.

Pour sa première exposition en galerie, Pharrell Williams crée du mobilier au couleurs vives et aux surfaces lisses et brillantes. Une chaise avec les pieds d'un homme et d'une femme évoquant un acte intime. La chaise est déclinée en quatre couleurs, avec une assise en cuir, en peau ou en cuir velours. Pharrell détourne du mobilier classique, qui correspond à sa vision, avec des teintes vives et des matières sensuelles.

There is no friend as loyal as a book. Ernest Hemingway

"5. To know that one does not write for the other, to know that these things that I write will never cause me to be loved by the one I love (the other), to know that writing compensates for nothing, sublimates nothing, that it is precisely there where you are not - this is the beginning of writing."
R. Barthes

Our Vital Bodily Fluids (Land of Milk and Honey)

Letter: Andrew Lahde, Lahde Capital Management

By Andrew Lahde

Published: October 17 2008 19:09 Last updated: October 17 2008 19:09

October 17, 2008

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list of those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they lookforward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life – where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management – with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant – marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say goodbye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde


Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Maybe that's why curators find us so disgusting

"For Fritz, when he was writing, the lines meant roads and the letters ride on motor-bicycles - on the pen - upon them. For instance, 'i' and 'e' ride together on a motor-bicycle that is usually driven by the 'i' and they love one another with a tenderness that is quite unknown in the real world. Because they ride together there is hardly any difference between them, for the beginning and the end - he was talking of the small Latin alphabet - of 'i' and 'e' are the same, only in the middle the 'i' has a little stroke and the 'e' has a little hole. Concerning the Gothic letters 'i' and 'e', he explained that they also ride on a motor-bicycle, and that it is only a difference like another make of bicycle that the 'e' has a box instead of the hole in the Latin 'e'. The 'i's are skillful, distinguished and clever, have many pointed weapons, and live in caves, between which, however, there are also mountains, gardens and harbours. They represent the penis and their path coitus. On the other hand, the 'l's are represented as stupid, clumsy, lazy and dirty. They live in caves under the earth. In 'L'-town dirt and paper gather in the streets, in the little filthy houses they mix with water and dyestuff bought in 'I'-land and drink and sell this as wine. They cannot walk properly and cannot dig because they hold the spade upside down, etc. It became evident that the 'l's represented faeces. Numerous phantasies were concerned with other letters also."

-Melanie Klein "The Role of the School in the Libidinal Development of the Child," 

From a distance on a particular disastrous day, it looked like a rather easy climb.