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]

I thought you named yourself "Lev" after Trotsky. Left wing fascism ? I don't see how that bastard in Syria could be considered "left wing" . To me he's just a fascist - period ! After all , Hitler claimed to be a national socialist. The world financial crisis bears remblances to the Wall Street crash that produced Hitler , Mussolini, the aborted Mosley,Miss Linton-Orman and Leese inter alia . At present I'm reading lots of books on the subject: the short but excellent "Hitler and Nazism" by Louis L. Snyder, "Hitler"in the "Le temps qui court"series and now the huge, legalistic "Behemoth" by Franz Neumann . It's the Left Book Club Edition which , it says ,"is not for sale to the public"(?). As Marx said,"History repeats itself first as tragedy and then as farce" - although the English Defence League and that Norwegian psychopath are by no means a farce. How about Australia?

[wylde-writer.livejournal.com]

That work by Andrew Lang sounds like something I must read. Very relevant to some stuff I'm working on right now. Is that not the same Andrew Lang who authored the ever so delightful Blue Fairy book, and it's related 'colored fairy' books?

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

Please forgive this afterthought . Wouldn't it be possible to use my definition of Socialism i.e. couple social ownership with democratic control for socialism in contrast to authoritarian state dictatorship ?Morover, it seems to me that almost no so-called Socialist parties worldwide actually ever bring it about . - the post -war Labour government of Clement Attlee , who led a brigade in the Spanish Civil War ,being at least partially an exception .The rapist ex-leader of the Parti Socialiste in France can , under no circumstances ,be considered a socialist .Incidentally, here is my tentative definition of Anarchism -
The fundamentals of (A)narchism-direct action for a stateless society,based on decentralization and federation,common ownership and self-management,where all will be free and equal.This entails direct,participatory democracy by all-inclusive workers' councils in administering the social ownership and control of the means of production,distribution and exchange.

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

To come full circle - hardly had I turned on Aljazeera just now than there was a report on the horrifying growth of Golden Dawn and the massive support and collaboration of the Greek Police . I started reading my books on fascism because the crisis in the Euro-zone closely resembles the conditions in the thirties ....