A Bookish Life, Politics and Philosophy, Miscellany.

[tcpip]

On the topic of books, I'm well into the second chapter of writing the OpenFOAM book, although it will be about a week late. At around seven and a half-thousand words per chapter, it probably doesn't bode as well in sheer quantity as my friends participating in NaNoWriMo who have happily composed one hundred thousand words, this month. At the other end of the extreme visited a "book" launch last Sunday were the author's contribution was around fourteen thousand, and a good third of that as quotes. For reading material over the past week have compled Dostoyevsky's The Idiot (yes, amused that the main character is a philosopher named Lev, whose "idiocy" is not being interested in societal machinations) and Andrew Lang's Custom and Myth and the first volume of Myth, Ritual, and Religion. This is a fascinating collection of myths and writen in at the time of a disciplinary change from philology to structural anthropology where synchronic and diachronic analysis becomes paramount.

Isocracy Network last Sunday had a fair turnout, a great talk by Race Matthews and excellent dinner and drinks afterwards. Most recent post on the website is Syria: Peace with Justice, which looks at why some of the progressive left are more than a little wrong in supporting Assad's fascist government (mind you, this probably has a lot to do with the issue of left wing fascism). On a similar manner, very interested in Dean Edward's contribution to the Unitarian Philosophy Forum this Sunday on "Sexuality and Philosophy". In January will be presenting on the contribution of Unitarian-Universalists to Isocracy (yes, there is a contribution worth noting). On a related note, attended St Michael's on Sunday to hear Dr. McNab speak on having a "flourishing life"; also discovered that my joining "ceremony" at said institution has found its way to Youtube.

In animal life, Furfur the emo guinea pig has lost a lot of weight, due to a malocclusion. A visit to the excellent Dr Jack Zaks has set us back a tidy sum. In other animal improvements, have introduced an aquarium to the workspace I share with imajica_lj; with club chairs and a plasma lamp already in place, the cocktail bar can't be too far behind. Last Sunday played another session of Dark Heresy, although Redmond informs us that campaign is coming to an end, as is Michael's GURPS China/Korea, leaving us with consideration of "what's next?". I am tempted to run Earthdawn or Twilight 2000 (from the perspective of anarcho-syndicalists), however would like to finish the current Call of Cthulhu and/or Pendragon games that I'm running first.

Comments

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

My definition of socialism is "The public ownership AND DEMOCRATIC CONTROL of the means of production,distribution and exchange".
: )

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Ah well, that would be democratic socialism, as opposed to the other varieties :)

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

With extreme reluctance I suppose I must concede your point , as I myself have been a member of the Communist Party and a Trotskyist outfit .
I forgot to mention the very important Anarcha-Feminism among the 57 varieties of
(A)narchism.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I understand your reluctance, and certainly I approach it with the same feeling. However, when viewed dispassionately, any form of public ownership (whether by the state, government, or cooperatives) is a form of "socialism", and this must include the "national collective" (e.g., Volksgemeinschaft) variety, as well as the democratic, libertarian, and internationalist. Which is why I rate political rights as having priority over economic models, and ensure to prefix the socialism I support with those labels, rather than "generic" socialism.

Although, the latter - as we've looked at in this conversation - can be analysed independently.

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

Yes , I take your point , though none of the several books on fascism that I'm currently reading concede it .