Non formosus erat, sed erat facundus Ulixes

Non formosus erat, sed erat facundus Ulixes,
et tamen aequoreas torsit amore Deas.

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 299
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

------------------------------------------------

'Ulysses was not handsome, but he was eloquent, and he caused the sea goddesses [Circe and Calypso] to be tormented with love.'

Cf. Ovid, Ars amandii, II, 123.

She must owe me nothing

She must owe me nothing, for she must be free; love exists only in freedom, only in freedom are there recreation and everlasting amusement.

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 299
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

Die eine is verliebt gar sehr

Die eine is verliebt gar sehr;
Die andre ware er gerne.

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 295
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

-------------------------------------------------

The one is madly in love;
The other would like to be.

From Joseph von Eichendorff's poem, 'Vor der Stadt'

What rejuvenating power a young girl has

What rejuvenating power a young girl has! Not the freshness of the morning air, not the soughing of the wind, not the coolness of the ocean, not the fragrance of wine and its delicious bouquet - nothing else in the world has this rejuvenating power.

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 291
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

dear Symparanekromenoi

" ... we who are not consonants sounding together in the noise of life, but soltary birds in the stillness of night, gathered together only now and then, to be edified by representations of life's misery, the length of the day, and the endless duration of time; we, dear Symparanekromenoi, who have no faith in the game of happiness or the fortune of fools, we who believe in nohing but misfortune."

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 212
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

the inquisitive rabble which as a rule is as dimwitted as it is inquisitive

"So everything is in order and she can reckon fairly safely on going through life without awakening any suspicion on the minds of the inquisitive rabble which as a rule is as dimwitted as it is inquisitive."

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 196
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

Life flies by

Life flies by
and we must stand still
to ingest time and matter and energy
for we are chaos


Thursday 15 December 2005 10:37am

nothing left but eyes blinded with tears

"In due course the writing became weaker and less distinct; finally the paper itself crumbled away and he had nothing left but eyes blinded with tears."

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 187
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

Secret Beckoning

"It is not the merry smile of happy maidens that moves us, but the secret beckoning of sorrow."

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 173
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

the rushing wind

"It is true men say the divine voice is not in the rushing wind but in the gentle breeze, but our ears are not made to pick up gentle breezes, only to gulp in the din of the elements. And why does it not break forth in still greater violence, making an end of life and the world and this brief speech, which at least has the supreme advantage that it is soon ended! Yes, let that vortex which is the innermost principle of the world, even though people are not aware of it but busily eat and drink and marry and propogate without a heed, let it break forth with the last terrible shriek, which more surely than the last trump proclaims the overthrow of everything, let it more and whirl away this naked cliff on which we stand, as easily as fluff before the breath of our nostrils."

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 168
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004

I am no friend of metaphors

"I am no friend of metaphors;
modern literature has given me a great aversion to them;
it has come almost to the point where, everytime I come upon a metaphor, I am seized by an involuntary fear that its true purposes is to conceal an obscurity in the thought."

Soren Kierkegaard
"Either/Or - A Fragment of Life"
p. 130
Penguin Classics, London, 1992, 2004



Sunday 11 December 2005 6:37am
(Waiting to fly to Singapore)

Avoiding Work

Then there are the people who not only never deliver anything but also actively avoid work (or actively avoid actually achieving anything, or committing to anything) by any means possible. The emply many strategems. Some of the more common include the following.

Spend as much time as possible talking to people and having meetings, in the name of people needing to communicate - without there being an actual reason for the communication or the need to talk or meet;

Find someone else or some other area which can be "blamed" or allocated o do the work which should be in one's area. This works particularly well if the areas al have to work together in some manner, and if there is some common or "higher" goal they all should work towards (and the more nebulous the goal the better);

Allocate work to other people but do nothing in relation to assisting or ensuring that it is done, or checking an understanding of what needs to be done, and then ensure that have many excuses for not having done the work - making sure the excuses are not to do with you.


Thursday 8 December 2005 5:23pm

Don Juan Reportage

Just skipping through some past material and noticed a recent entry that mentioned Don Juan from the Carlos Castenada series of books. Then - goodness - I am currently just reading about Don Juan / Don Giovanni (the tale and the Mozart opera) in "Either/Or - A Fragment of Life" by Soren Kierkegaard. They are 2 completely different characters / situations and absolutely no relation to each other apart from the same name - which is so common that it would be unlikely that one would not come across a potential coincidence like this. But, in an area so culturally and intellectually diverse and separate, it is interesting that I should have come across them, or written about the, in such a short space of time.

A little piece of reportage for what it is worth - fodder for later thought.


Thursday 8 December 2005 08:51am

The Joy of Programming

the pleasure of crafting something that is useful
"Crafting" through the centuries

creativity - in itself

the urge to create - from scratch
this mitigates against sharing and re-use

software as a "plastic" tool
(more than) chimps and other animals

The psychological urge
from early tool making by prehistoric ancestors
Prehistoric man made tools - it made his life easier and made him the pre-eminent "creature"
Tool making was individual - originally everyone did it
Tool making happened for millions of years - it became ingrained into the "genes" of the psyche
(but if so, why doesn't everyone do this ??)
Prehistoric man has always "created" too - in artistic and other manners

The "creative" urge manifests itself in myriad ways in modern man -not just "art" per se
Ditto for tool making
Much of science can be viewed as "tool making and creativity"
As can Engineering

So, for a subset of humanity, these 2 urges combine in terms of software development

Make the distinction about those in the ICT industries that have these 2 urges (tools and creativity) combined and present - versus those just working in the industry - managing, selling, etc.
Thus, for those who are "toolmakers" - which is many programmers (or even those who did program but no longer and just occasionally dabble), the "buzz" is the creation - from scratch, actually making the toll and seeing it used (even if only by themselves alone).
(Re)Using someone else's tool does not give this innate joy
Hence the persistent lack of re-use of/in software
Hence the constant change/movement - even progress - in software
Hence the difficulty in getting programmers to change their ways

The sense of achievement and forward progress is illusory

Sunday 4 December 2005 10:07am

The sense of achievement and forward progress is illusory. It is critically important for mental stability - or the impression of mental "health" (so to speak). Maybe it is just a "western" thing, and western in terms of capitalism and consumerism. Economic "health" depends on progress of purchasing - ever new items to buy - new and better and nicer and cooler and whatever it is that we desire (or require - although the latter is minimal and marginal - we barely require any small proportion of what we consume and what we desire to actually keep going for our allotted time).

It is not all capitalist conspiracy though. Actual progress - say in scientific, medical and engineereing terms - is made, which actually improves the general human lot in life. People live longer on average. They do not die of many causes common in previous generations. They are healthier and more active for longer. They live a more comfortable life and are able to do more "things" (at least this is true for a wide range of citizens of the "first world", even the "developing nations" - even if not true for millions upon millions in under-developed nations and the poor throughout the world. This is the case - they (the poor) do not enjoy the benefits being spoken about about - in virtually any ways at all. But simply because one whole group do not participate, or accord to the theory, this does not invalidate the theory in relation to the other group (who do participate) and the theory in general).

But for all the "real" progress, each person needs to "believe" that they, individually, have made forward progress, themselves - in whatever way is meaningful to them, at that point in time in their development or life. Part of the "belief" may relate to "meaningfulness" - progress made is the meaning of existence - or, more properly, the validation of the meaning which has been ascribed to that which is progressed.