( Against Happiness )

( Congressional Record 11/20/03; Expansion of National Security Letter Authority in Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 )

How to make a ronyona
Ingredients:

1 part success

1 part self-sufficiency

5 parts leadership
Method:
Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little lovability if desired!

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

I think the answer is belied by the fact that I actually fucking took a stupid quiz... ( Read more... )

The three typical categories of response I get when I tell people I'm going to be teaching a beginning guitar class ( Read more... )

I really believe that art takes place during an active exchange of ideas. That's very pat, though, isn't it? But true. And I worry that I'm too self-involved sometimes to allow it to happen when it comes to playing with others. Argh ( Read more... )

A generalized tolerance will be best acheived if we leave undistrubed whatever it is which constitutes the special character of particular individuals and peoples, whilst at the same time we retain the conviction that the distinctive worth of anything with true merit lies in its belonging to all humanity. (Goethe ( Read more... )

Yes, it is true. I am a genius. My geniousity is confirmed. How? Well you may ask..

I could have taken a job that pays about twice as much, with benefits, working for a bit corporation. But no! Part-time not-for-profit employment is the life for me!

Hah-hah!

Genius!

"We have a gutful of fast art and fast food. What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water: art that grows out of modes of perception and whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn't merely sensational, that doesn't get its message across in 10 seconds, that isn't falsely iconic, that hooks onto ( Read more... )

It is possible to lead astray an entire generation, to strike it blind, to drive it insane, to direct it towards a false goal. Napoleon proved this. (Alexander Herzen)

There are many great authors of the past who have survived centuries of oblivion and neglect, but it is still an open question whether they will be able to survive an entertaining version of what they have to say. (Hannah Arendt ( Read more... )