Quartet
The polar bears are waiting for well-done.
Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go.
— Hamlet
13-Sure
2 Replies
18-JUN
Consternation
One night, I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil for my soul.
I gave him my violin to see if he could play.
How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy.
I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and I awoke.
–Tartini’s Dream by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1824)
17-JUN
Deliberate
Be not merciful unto them that offend of malicious wickedness. They grin like a dog and run about through the city. But thou, O Lord, shalt have them in derision. Thou shalt laugh all the heathen to scorn.
–Psalm 59
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
–FrederickDouglass
16-JUN
Going
Non-stop flight from London to San Francisco shows up as a curve on a Mercator Projection map of the Northern Hemisphere. The trip takes 11 hours at 36,000 feet altitude in the cramped fuselage of the Boing 777 jet airliner traveling up to 590 mph.
Return flight over Greenland across Hudson Bay into Manitoba, exposed scenes of boundless, deathly, frozen landscape.
15-JUN
Questioning
We’re not changing the damn world. Have you seen the world? I promise you, if you think that I’m on some kind of agenda, then I’m really shitty at it because nothing has gone in the direction that I had hoped. I mean, nothing for 25 years. And if people think that there is some other agenda going on, all the more reason to stick to that first principle that we started with, which is: What’s funny about this?
Stephen Colbert
Civil and Political Rights:
- Freedom of speech, assembly, and religion
- Right to a fair trial and political participation
- Protection from arbitrary detention or torture
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights:
- Right to education, healthcare, and adequate standard of living
- Right to work and fair wages
- Cultural participation and intellectual property
Collective Rights:
- Rights to self-determination and environmental protection
14-JUN
Significant
This was a three hour dirt-ride into the Inyo National Forest off of Death Valley Road east of Big Pine.
There was a moment when I felt there was no return.
13-JUN
Specialized
He learnt to communicate with birds and discovered that their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with wind speed, wingspans, power-to-weight ratios, and a fair bit about berries.
Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
12-JUN
Consternation
Fear is a dark room where negatives get developed.