words, words, words

Wow. I just finished “Heart of Darkness” (#67) by Joseph Conrad. Incredible. I think I have read it a few times, but this is certainly the first time that I have “gotten it”. Sailors are sitting on a ship moored in the river Thames and one of them says: “And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth.”
This begins a kind of ghost story.
Prima facie it appears to be a simple story. Guy 1 goes up an African river to get Guy 2. Guy 2 dies on the way down the river and Guy 1 takes Guy 2’s stuff to his intended bride.
That’s it really.
This story is stretched, without any effort, into an epic.
It is about colonialism, the nature of existence and the decay of the world. Dust. It is about trying to “civilize” people and the barbarity (horror) of being.
I had a hard time reading the last 10 pages because it was causing me some kind of pain in my chest. It is a very intense book. This book deserves to be higher up the list.

I just had a word pop into my head during dinner: solipsism.
I couldn’t remember what it was, so I looked it up.

This is from Wikipedia, like most things these days:
The word solipsism (Latin: solus, alone + ipse, self) is used for two
related yet distinct concepts:

* An epistemological position that one’s own perceptions are the
only things that can be known with certainty. The nature of the
external world — that is, the source of one’s perceptions — therefore
cannot be conclusively known; it may not even exist. This is also
called external world skepticism.
* A metaphysical belief that the universe is entirely the
creation of one’s own mind. Thus, in a sense, the belief that nothing
‘exists’ outside of one’s own mind.

That is kind of spooky.

This is a picture of Blair’s forehead.

In other news, George W Bush has a missile on his forehead.

There is this new fad in London, something having to do with London Fashion Week and selling newspapers, to ban thin models. There are headlines screaming about 7 year old girls on diets, etc. etc. The evils of being thin are being touted all over the place.
First, it is discriminatory to ban a model for being thin. It is discrimination.
Secondly, they aren’t having too much influence if people are becoming fatter every year.
Banning thin models isn’t going to do as much for the worlds’ health as banning McDonalds.
It is enabling the fattening of society.

We just went to the nicest party I have ever been to.
There was a live band, samba dancers, incredible food, a bouncy castle.
Clowns.
All sorts of things.
It was great!

I just finished reading “A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce (#3).  I may be considered a philistine, but I find Joyce incredibly taxing to read.  He is great, don’t get me wrong, but I tend to plod through his books.  It is an exsquisite torture. (That sounds like something he would have wrote.)  I can see why the book is genius and I can appreciate it.  However, I am going to save the rest of the Joyce books for the end of my quest.  Plus, I have already read “Ulysses”.  

English toilets have great names.
“Armitage Shanks”
and
“Royal Dalton”
I have decided to use the first one as my nome d’plume. Or maybe just
a good name for marketing companies.

This may be the dumbest thing I have ever read. Fears of revenge attacks on stingrays over Irwin death - World - Times Online
Although my heart goes out to Irwin’s family; before you go out and maim stingrays, heed this warning. If you mess with animals your entire life, eventually one of them will hurt you. Maybe even kill you, and it could even be a fish.

I heard someone call the new Mac an “Intelitosh”. They are a lot faster
than the old Macs.

They had a piece on SecondLife this morning on the BBC. I am going to check it out (from a purely academic standpoint). Sounds interesting. Basically, it is a virtual life for people.