Re: History, Barack said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

1

those young people look so mature and accomplished, Keira Knithley for example i thought she is already around 30
i have this 'theory' of mine like why in history there were made like very abrupt progresses in technology or political thought or arts etc
which involves mass reincarnations, so there were 3-4 or more very great cataclisms which resulted in that, coz violent death may lead to that, premature departure of 'soul' and reincarnation and result in very prematurely mature and accomplished souls producing geniuses or just the general level of consciousness gets more like self-aware or purposeful
like after the Black death there was Renaissance or after wwii f.e computer era etc
if one dies peacefully reincarnations still could like occur but it'd be just ordinary reincarnations with forgetting everything in the previous life and getting all rewards or punishments according to one's karma


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:21 PM
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When I was a freshman at NYU I used that Portrait of an Artist quote as the epigraph to a sundry essay about James Baldwin and racial identity.

For reasons still unclear to me the TA insisted on mocking me for it in front of the entire class. To this day I can't read the word "smithy" without being overcome by shame.

Similarly the phrase "agenbite of inwit" sends shivers down my spine.


Posted by: bend | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:23 PM
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#20, Saoirse (pronounced "George")

I think you'll find it's pronounced "Sadhbh", except when it's "Ailbhe" or possibly "Caoilfhionn", "Ealadha" or "Maeleachlainn".


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:46 PM
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What Gonerill doesn't mention is that all of those are also pronounced "George".


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:47 PM
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Iarfhlaith, Toirdhealbhach and Muircheartach are also regional variants.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:49 PM
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Well, my telephone rang it would not stop,
It's President Kennedy callin' me up.
He said, "My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?"
I said, "My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot"


Posted by: Otto von Bisquick | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:49 PM
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Iarfhlaith, Toirdhealbhach and Muircheartach are also regional variants.

These would be the regions where the Elder Gods hold sway, then?


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:51 PM
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I know an Iarfhlaith and a Muircheartach, as it happens. Toirdhealbhach is these days only seen, if at all, in its Anglicization "Turlough".

"Saoirse", by the way, is not traditionally a name at all but instead means "Freedom", which immediately makes me suspicious of the parents.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 3:53 PM
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Something about this post reads, to me, as somewhat Holbonian. Someday such ghostwriting will be the downfall of Ben's nascent political career.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:06 PM
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What the hell? Wasn't Dakota Fanning just, like, 5, a year or two ago?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:12 PM
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8: I've heard of Saoirse being used by Irish-American* attempts to be more traditional/ethnic. ("What, like Mary and Angela?" "Shhh.")

*in the green beer sense


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:22 PM
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They mean "hot" as in "hot property", surely? Even if not, I'm more disturbed that Keira Knightley is still under-25.


Posted by: RobDP | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:23 PM
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10: See Baseball's Herbage Directive # 1.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:25 PM
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link direct

Link directly, young Ben.


Posted by: Tiny Hermaphrodite | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:26 PM
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And 1 is the best argument for genocide I've ever heard.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:26 PM
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Link directly, young Ben.

I wrote what I wrote on purpose.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:28 PM
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re: 9

Do you suspect they have watched that film with Mel Gibson in the blue face paint once too often? The one filmed in Ireland but set ... elsewhere?


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 4:45 PM
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had been copped from Laurence Cooper's fine mind.

Another lazy sunday afternoon troll?

I still haven't read it--the Commentary piece, I mean--but if it's anything like its representation in die Welt it probably isn't worth the time.

To help make sense of the Die Welt article, I actually read the Commentary article [*], so let me translate:

"Dude! That was the greatest shit evar. OMFG! I smoked that shit... Whoa. Dizzy. And wow, I was in a coma for three months... but dig it! This is the best part: I'm still high! I'm so very very very very very... Huh? Umm... yeah. Really high! Um... wheee! Clowns! Ceiling! I turned on Fox and there's still an election! How cool is... huh... so like they wanted ME to write SOMETHING, and I'm all like, 'I'm high! I'm so very high!'
So uh, basically, like McCain is totally this war hero dude, like his ghostwriter says, and like... IF he was president, and like Godzilla came... DUDE! GODZILLA! so like Godzilla is all STOMPITY-STOMPITY and McCain would totally like, go down to Tokyo Stompers, Ltd. and get all up in the G-dude's corporate face and then like, rip his heart out WITH HIS BARE HANDS! Awesome. No, Godzilla's heart! But I bet McCain would rip his own... WOW. HIGH... rip his own heart with his bare hands because uh, Georgia! FREEBIRD! WOOOOOO!
So... like... um, wait is it over? No. Yeah, so still electiondinging. I mean, McCain is like Plato. He's like just this one thing. And this other guy, the black guy, if Godzilla came over to his house and raped his wife. Godzilla's wife. No, wait wait! Oh, so AWESOMELY HIGH! Godzilla. House. The black dude's. House. If he. Godzilla! Came over and raped THE BLACK DUDE'S wife, the black dude, would all be all unity and, he would like hug him and squeeze him and call him George.
Godzilla. George Godzilla. Of the Jungle. Man, I loved that show. Can you imagine swinging through trees like that? And it wouldn't hurt if you got like really really high first! The drawers dude, they should totally get George some grass. So like this black dude is pretty cool, I mean besides BEING TOTALLY WRONG about Berlin. You know. Berlin. Hitler. Dude. They totally airlifted Hitler out of Berlin. Seriously! YES! He's like in Argentina. And he's probably getting high RIGHT NOW, just like me! So cool! I smoked Hitler!
Well. I would smoke him. Wouldn't you smoke Hitler? Then you could tell everyone you smoked Hitler. DUDE! So like the Obama would totally unify Hitler and dope, which would be really cool. Heh. Uh, but not as cool as .... uh... hrmmm... not as hot as this Fox chick man. Yeah, so McCain would like smoke Hitler and then rip Godzilla's heart out, but... Ohama? Alabama? FREEBYRD! Whooooooooooooooo! FRRRREEEEEEEBIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRDDDDDDD! So it's uh, Osama, yeah, that's the black dude's name! Osama would like negotiate with Godzilla. Hopefully for some free weed, but probably not.
So there you go. McCain. Isama. Two guys. Two not-high guys. I mean, they aren't high, so something will happen. And... And... one of them will.... WHOA. YEAH! One of them will be the one to negotiate if Godzilla shows up, but McCain totally won't. But uh... I'm not sure what's going to happen, except, FU---CUK, I have got to get me some more of this shit. OOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo. Jeez. This magazine is just so awesome when I'm high. So, yeah. I gotta say something about... I forgot. Shut up, man, I'm trying to concentrate and finish this. I was gonna say something... all dizzy and shit. So. McCain. Osama. McCain. Osama. Not much difference there, except one of them is a war hero and the other guy is black. Oh, shit. Unity! That's it! Unity. So like, Osama is all saying how he's going to have unity and free dope, but if he wins, McCain is going to go up there and rip Osama's heart out when he tries to negotiate with Godzilla, so like, you know... it's a WIN-WIN! Yay! All done! Cooooolllll.
Whew. So so so so so so... so so so so so so so... so so so so... .... ... so .... .... .... .... high."

Thanks to you, young Ben, I now have a contact hangover. GRR!

max
['Do not pass go, do not collect 200$.']

[*] Stupid, I know. A mistake. It's Commentary. I'm old, I should know better.


Posted by: max | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:07 PM
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I see that you have a fine mind as well, max.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:09 PM
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I always thought that "Saoirse" as a name smacked a bit too much of Sinn Feinism but I think it has now become one of the standard yuppie names.

Presumably ben is actually referring obliquely to the fact that the name Seoirse is an actual traditional-ish name and is the Irish translation for George.


Posted by: emir | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:11 PM
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I always thought that "Saoirse" as a name smacked a bit too much of Sinn Feinism but I think it has now become one of the standard yuppie names.

Presumably ben is actually referring obliquely to the fact that the name Seoirse is an actual traditional-ish name and is the Irish translation for George.


Posted by: emir | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:11 PM
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Oops.


Posted by: emir | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:12 PM
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Presumably.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:13 PM
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Genghis Khan had a Christian grandson named George.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:44 PM
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Help-Chalk or anyone else in Ohio, has anybody seen the conservative group's Rev. Wright ad?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 5:55 PM
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"History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake" is the only true statement about history ever uttered. Marx' "The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living" is also true, but clearly a special case of the first quote.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:04 PM
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Sen. Inouye (supposedly Democrat) of Hawaii endorsed Ted Stevens which prompted Harry Reid to say that he'd be expelled.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:07 PM
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Help-Chalk or anyone else in Ohio, has anybody seen the conservative group's Rev. Wright ad?

Not I, but we're not the most plugged in ad audience ever, in this house.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:08 PM
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"Hi, I'm George Khan. I fucking dare you to say something."


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:10 PM
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I think of history as a horrible reality that won't let me sleep soundly.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:10 PM
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"Hi, I'm George Khan. Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?"


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:12 PM
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You couldn't link to an account of Bardot's comments in French, could you?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:14 PM
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BG You mean that Reid said that Stevens will be expelled no matter what, yes?


Posted by: Tiny Hermaphrodite | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:19 PM
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I don't know French, BG. If you do, you're probably in a better position than I am to find such an account.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:22 PM
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I hope that's not an Ayn Rand quote on Megan Fox's shoulder.


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:22 PM
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33: So says the HuffPo, but then that might mean that Stevens would get re-elected so that the Republican Governor can appoint his successor. Can you imagine if Palin were to appoint herself?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:27 PM
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26: isn't it the other way 'round? Trying to awaken from the nightmare is a specialization of simply having it.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:28 PM
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37: You've declared War on Metaphor, haven't you.

I was just rereading the 18th Brumaire, and it saddens me to report that Marx is not completely politically correct: "Nations and women are not forgiven the unguarded hour in which the first adventurer who came along could violate them."


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:33 PM
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Nor curfews: a curfew violated is [something something something mumble mumble.....]


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:36 PM
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+g
can't say anything silly, sigh
not for genocide, just one like possible explanation of great leaps in history kind of silly thought
i think i read before about wealth accumulation, or more free time allocation etc in that sense
but maybe i used the 'mass reincarnation' concept like for the first time in history :) coz google did not show anything with those words going together
i'm glad
sure whether reincarnations are possible is unknown and very questionable of course just i'm kinda suspicious of young prodigies how their brains get developed that quickly
or f.e i imagine 'souls' to be something like aromas with neurotransmitter properties where all the chemical components are like chained invisibly together into some unique essences for every soul and the brain entered gets like an instant stimulation for that, full functioning, sci-fiishly


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:36 PM
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36: IIRC the replacement is chosen by special election and not by appointment in Alaska.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:39 PM
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42: YRC


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:39 PM
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42: Would Gov. Palin run? Also: who's lined up to replace Obama in Illinois?


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:41 PM
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43: The supposed front-runner is Jesse Jackson Jr.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:46 PM
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44: I hope Alan Keyes maintains Illinois residency. That could be a fun one!


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 6:59 PM
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one of the so-called 25 hottest stars under 25 is all of fourteen years old

Two of them, actually.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 7:36 PM
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Emerson's 30 is clearly better and more accurate than the original, ballyhooed "history is a nightmare" quote, which rests on the silly conceit that the natural, waking state of man is peaceful and untroubled.

Yet Emerson will get no credit and never be widely quoted, providing yet another small bit of evidence that reality sucks and we'd be better off sleeping through it.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 7:42 PM
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Wrong again, PGD. You're a recidivist.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 7:55 PM
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25: Help-Chalk or anyone else in Ohio, has anybody seen the conservative group's Rev. Wright ad?

Don't know if it is the one you are talking about but just got a Rev. Wright one here in Western PA a few minutes ago. I can't recall the group exactly, "GOP" was in it's title.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 10:07 PM
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Wrong again, PGD. You're a recidivist.

you mean I'm wrong that Emerson will never be widely quoted?


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 11- 2-08 10:54 PM
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I know an Iarfhlaith and a Muircheartach

pronounced "awfully" and "muckety" respectively.


Posted by: dsquared | Link to this comment | 11- 3-08 12:48 AM
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Even your interpretation of why you are wrong is wrong. I have no choice now but to cast my vote for John McCain.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 11- 3-08 7:26 AM
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