yannis | Entries tagged with quote

Прочитал абсолютно гениальную статью, кратко и ёмко суммирующую историю этой страны за последние пятнадцать лет.

Статья, естественно, на английском языке (как будто бы на русском языке за последние десятилетия написано хоть что-нибудь, достойное прочтения), так что говноеды им не владеющие могут не беспокоиться, так как им всё равно не оценить красоту и мощь этого текста.

Потому что когда я пишу "абсолютно гениальная статья", я именно это и имею в виду, а не что-нибудь ещё: на русском языке статьи с такой эрудицией, с таким охватом материала, с таким уровнем аналитики, с такой красотой слога, с такой композицией не пишутся вообще, так как для говнорусских такой уровень попросту недостижим, но даже и на английском такие жемчужины - это именно жемчужины и они встречаются не часто.

Но всё же следовало бы сделать краткую выжимку на русском языке, для себя и для памяти, а вся статья в оригинале будет помещена под кат, для сохранности:

Итак, первые десять лет этого столетия в рашке царил припудренный деньгами фашизм, постмодернистическое идеологическое прикрытие которого было создано Сурковым. Суть его была в следующем: мы (население рашки) знаем, что живём при фашизме, но мы делаем вид что это такой юмористический фашизм понарошку, но в то же время мы знаем что на самом деле это всё серьёзно. Мы (население рашки) не суём нос в государственные дела, мы отстранены от управления государством, но взамен мы получаем право жить так как нам вздумается. Невинно подшучивать над этим фашизмом, заниматься "флешмобами" и прочей как бы западной хипстерской хуйнёй и всячески жить в своё удовольствие.

Это всё было очень мило и очень хорошо - нефть стоила дорого, в рашку инвестировали и благосостояние постоянно росло, так чего бы и не пожить при фашизме?

Однако во втором десятилетии ситуация радикально изменилась: в 2011 году прошли протесты (из-за того что все жили ожиданием того, что фашизм, пусть и юмористический, закончится, но в 2011 в связи с известными событиями стала понятна тщетность подобных надежд, как и надежд на то, что это государство станет нормальным европейским государством), а в 2014 внезапно кончились деньги - нефть упала, кредитование на Западе стало невозможным и пределы роста были достигнуты.

В результате юмористический фашизм пришлось срочно сворачивать, вместе со всеми его иллюзорными как-бы-свободами - на всё это банально перестало хватать денег, - и в рашке воцарился фашизм уже натуральный, ни разу не юмористический.

И настало время питаться не фалафелем, а духовностью, хахаха.

И стало окончательно ясно, что реальность - это вот эта самая духовность, патриотизм и историческая судьба рашки, а никак не эти ваши хиханьки-хаханьки в уютных бложиках, под старбаксовский кофеёк, между флешмобчиками и постмодернистическими подмигиваниями.

Весёлый карнавал оказался не карнавалом, а горячечным бредом, вызванным слишком большим количеством употреблённых нефтебаксов.

Ну а кто владеет английским и кому охота ознакомиться со всеми неописуемыми красотами данного материала во всех их полноте и великолепии - добро пожаловать под кат или ещё лучше по ссылке (там ведь и фото ещё замечательные, которых я копировать не стал), чтения там минимум на час, если читать вдумчиво и всё внимательно переваривать, а как по-другому-то обращаться с подобным шедевром?
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https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2015-04-20/putins-hard-turn

Гордеев зашел в кабинет, выстрелил в учителя географии Кириллова Андрея Николаевича несколько раз. Когда он увидел, что тот еще дышит, подошел к нему и добил его. Затем он наставил ружье на учеников и сказал: «Я не хочу никого из вас убивать». Ученики закричали: «Что ты сделал? Ты сошел с ума?» Гордеев ответил: «Я очень боюсь смерти. Я хотел посмотреть, как она выглядит».

За последние пятнадцать лет в Великобритании отмечены самые высокие продажи винила. Такую статистику привели компании "British Phonographic Industry" (BPI) и "Official Charts Company".

В 2013 году в Великобритании было продано чуть больше 780 000 виниловых пластинок. Это на 101% больше, чем в 2012 году. Больше винила было продано только в 1997 году, тогда продажи составили 817 000 альбомов.

Тем, что видят очевидное и могут его озвучить:

Один мой немецкий приятель вывел парадоксальную формулу: как город Москва вообще-то более безопасна, чем Париж или Нью-Йорк. Но зато здесь по-настоящему опасны полицейские.

Ты учишься подавлять свою мимику. Ты учишься наблюдать за окружающим миром боковым зрением и сразу оценивать, не наметил ли тебя кто-то в качестве добычи.

Лишь тот, кто ведет себя открыто и корректно, хотя бы примерно знает законы и держится так, будто ему абсолютно некуда спешить, имеет шанс быть отпущенным — поскольку время, которое придется затратить на такую жертву, непропорционально добыче.

Всякий, кто пытается зафиксировать российскую историю в соответствии с гегельянским мышлением как некое линейно развивающееся, поступательное действие, не понимает ее сути. Ни одна эпоха здесь не завершается, ни одна проблема не решается

Каким бы репрессивным ни был старый Советский Союз, в нем все же существовала вера в человека или в его «продуктивный потенциал». Уже само распространение массовой советской профессии «инженер» указывало на существование хотя бы теоретической веры в возможность создания хороших отечественных автомобилей, автобанов, строительных машин и так далее.

Например, во Франкфурте, напротив Старой оперы, есть чудесный маленький парк с небольшой колоннадой. Колонны вытесаны из простого известняка, но с таким ремесленным совершенством, что мое сердце согревается и даже взыгрывает от патриотических чувств! Как часто я думала об этом скромном шедевре, разглядывая тщательно отполированные, но грубо отесанные и криво положенные плиты московского мрамора — зрелище, от которого у меня почти наворачивались слезы на глаза. Я убеждена в том, что европейская демократия в целом и немецкая в особенности неразрывно связана с культурой работы, ремесла в широком смысле этого слова.

Россия с ее неприглаженностью порою напоминает мне зубра, который не дает молока и вообще смотрится как насмешка над любыми соображениями эффективности. Технологический модернизм лишь отравляет его. Он хронически болен. Возможно, неизлечимо. Он никогда не видел изнутри коровника другой супердержавы, а штормы истории по географически-климатическим причинам неизменно свирепствовали над ним особенно жестоко. Благодаря этому он развил дикую силу и тонкий нюх, не нужные его более высокоразвитым сородичам, с которыми судьба обошлась благосклоннее. В этой правде жизни заключается его неотразимый шарм.

В любой иерархической системе есть много ступенек и нужны люди, которые будут их занимать. И чем эта система более считается идиотской (макдак, армия, секта) - тем (сюрприз!) больше в ней идиотов, ниже конкуренция и более блестящие перспективы открываются для мозговитого сотрудника там.

Там, где в малом бизнесе его перспективы на уровне, скажем, нач. отдела - в армии он полковником может быть, в макдаке каким-нибудь региональным директором, а в секте - так и вообще, сыном божьим :-).

И кажется мне, что умные - это не те кто работают на "имиджевой" умной работе (НИИ там или хотя бы торговля хайтек техникой), а те, кто на работе с пусть даже "тупым" имиджем зарабатывают во много раз больше.

Мама, мамулечка! Я ухожу, чтобы не возвращаться предателем, опозорить всех, весь наш род. Так бывает, выдержи. Я прошу тебя. Я с тобой тот, что был раньше...

Что довело меня до бегства из России. Лень и разгильдяйство не дали изучить новые законы. Я предал честного человека, предал безопасность Родины...

Если это возможно отправьте мое тело в Россию.Верьте в Бога. Не слушайте всяких деятелей. Россия сильна как ни одна другая страна. И будет только сильней. Жизнь в России гораздо лучше, чем где бы то ни было

The Norwegian who dressed up as a policeman and allegedly gunned down at least 84 people at an idyllic summer camp in the island of Utoya grew up in the lap of luxury in a nation best known for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize and mediating in the Palestinian and other conflicts.

The darkly disturbing portrait of Anders Behring Breivik, 32 – the key suspect in twin attacks that has killed more than 90 people in twin attacks in a government-district explosion in Oslo and the bucolic youth camp – has left investigators with a puzzling profile: he appears to be a right-winger with anti-Muslim views but no known links to hardcore extremists.

The Norwegian daily Verdens Gang quoted a friend as saying Breivik became a right-wing extremist in his late 20s – expressing strong nationalistic views in online debates, and blasting the idea that people of different cultural backgrounds can live alongside each other.

"He just came out of nowhere," a police official told The Associated Press.

Norwegian news agency NTB said the blond and blue-eyed Breivik legally owned several firearms and belonged to a gun club. He ran an agricultural firm growing vegetables, an enterprise that could have helped him secure large amounts of fertilizer, a potential ingredient in bombs.

But he didn't belong to any known factions in Norway's small and splintered extreme right movement, and had no criminal record except for some minor offenses, the police official told AP. "He hasn't been on our radar, which he would have been if was active in the neo-Nazi groups in Norway," he said. "But he still could be inspired by their ideology."

Breivik lashed out at socialism for breaking down traditions, culture, national identity and other societal structures – blaming it for creating a society that was weak and confused.

On his Facebook page, Breivik listed his favourite books as "The Trial" by Franz Kafka and "1984" by George Orwell. A Twitter account under his name had only one tweet, on July 17, loosely citing English philosopher John Stuart Mill: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.”

He also expresses sympathies for Winston Churchill and Norwegian anti-Nazi World War II hero Max Manus on his alleged profile.

And he said his favorite television show was "Dexter," a series about a Miami police forensics expert who moonlights as a serial killer of criminals whom he believes have escaped justice. The Facebook site appeared to have been blocked by last night, but earlier it had listed interests including bodybuilding, conservative politics and freemasonry.

His earlier life was in stark contrast, The Times of London reported, saying his attended a middle-class secondary school in Oslo and lived with his mother in a wealthy neighborhood in the city. He'd set up his own business, Breivik Geofarm, and a month ago started to run an organic farm in Hedmark, in eastern Norway, where he reportedly produced and stored fertilizer.

Breivik's registered address is at a four-story apartment building in western Oslo. A police car was parked outside the brick building early Saturday, with officers protecting the entrance. National police chief Sveinung Sponheim told public broadcaster NRK that the gunman's Internet postings "suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but whether that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen."

"It's strange that he didn't kill himself, like the guys that have carried out school shootings," the police official told AP. "It's a good thing that he didn't because then we might get some answers pointing out his motivation."

Investigators said the Norwegian carried out both attacks — the blast at the prime minister's office in Oslo and the shooting spree at the left-wing Labor Party's youth camp — but didn't rule out that others were involved. But the police official said it wouldn't be impossible for one man to carry out the attacks on his own. "He's obviously cold as ice. But to get close to the government is easy. The streets are open in that area," he said.
A Wikipedia entry for Breivik says he was born on February 13, 1979 and is described as a one-time freemason.

At a hotel in the village of Sundvollen, where survivors of the summer camp shooting were taken, 21-year-old Dana Berzingi wore pants stained with blood. He said the fake police officer ordered people to come closer, then pulled weapons and ammunition from a bag and started shooting.

Several victims "had pretended as if they were dead to survive," Berzingi said. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said.

BLURT: Getting back to Harmonia, in July '73 you put NEU! on hiatus and moved from Düsseldorf to rural Forst to live with Roedelius and Moebius. Did the communal experience shape how you worked?

ROTHER: Well, we lived in one house and shared the same bathroom and the same kitchen. We had very little money. Harmonia, you will have heard maybe, was such a commercial disaster and people really hated us. I mean, hardly anyone wanted to hear Harmonia in the '70s and the sales were very poor and surviving on that little money was very difficult. But it was a very important period of my life, musically and living together with these people. Actually, I still live in the same house now.
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An exclusive, sprawling conversation with the legendary German guitarist in which he discusses Kraftwerk, NEU!, Harmonia & Eno, and more

BY WILSON NEATE

It's hard to overstate the importance of the '70s generation of experimentally minded German musicians like NEU!, Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Can and Faust, usually grouped under the dodgy term, Krautrock. Having come of age in the postwar period, many of these diverse artists shared a common bond of refusal, rejecting not only their country's troubled political and cultural past, but also the global hegemony of Anglo-American pop and rock. Ironically, despite distancing themselves from the musical mainstream, these bands would exert considerable sway over those traditions they'd rejected. The line of influence stretches from punk's smarter manifestations through the post-punk generation and Bowie's vital late-'70s work, to more recent rock of all stripes -- Sonic Youth, Tortoise, Stereolab, Radiohead, Primal Scream, Secret Machines, the list goes on and on. And beyond rock, the likes of Cluster, NEU!, Kraftwerk and Harmonia have also been perennial reference points on the continuum of electronic music from the late '70s to the present, from synth-pop to techno, as well as its more abstract, experimental variants.

Michael Rother's guitar minimalism is a connecting thread weaving through and between several of the most innovative of the '70s German bands. When Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider briefly separated in 1971, Rother joined Schneider in Kraftwerk. Also present, on drums, was the late Klaus Dinger, with whom Rother formed NEU! later the same year. Between NEU!'s second and third records, in 1973, Rother teamed up with Cluster's Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius as Harmonia, a project spawning two studio albums, Muzik von Harmonia and Deluxe, plus two posthumous releases: Live 1974 and a collaboration with Brian Eno, Tracks & Traces. By 1977, Rother had hooked up with Can's drummer Jaki Liebezeit and embarked on a solo career that continues today.

Despite solo success, particularly with his first three records, Rother is still most widely known for his work with Dinger in NEU! Immensely creative as an artistic unit, Rother and Dinger were never friends, and by the mid-'90s, with the band long dead and its three original albums out of print, the pair's relationship had been reduced to an exchange of fraught faxes after Dinger -- without Rother's approval -- began putting out unreleased NEU! material on a Japanese label. Thanks to Dinger's intransigence, the original NEU! albums remained legally unavailable until 2001, when Herbert Grönemeyer stepped in and brokered their release on his Grönland label, which later also issued Harmonia's archival Live 1974. The latter prompted renewed interest in Rother's recordings with Roedelius and Moebius, which in turn led to the reactivation of Harmonia for live performances from 2007 through early 2009.

Now, on the occasion of Grönland's expanded reissue of Harmonia and Eno's Tracks & Traces, Michael Rother looks back over a career of sometimes vexed but always groundbreaking creative partnerships.

***
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Безумец выстругал поделку.
То был его живой портрет.
Портрет тот двигал челюстями
И делал страшные глаза.

Бывало, спать пойдет Иваныч,
Да тут его и стукнет сон.

Был ласковым Иван Иваныч --
Носил с собою эректор.

В Армении закат багряный
Едва покрыл верхушки Альп.

В грязелечебнице ЧП вдруг:
Грязь хлынула к главврачу.
Главврач стоит, прижатый грязью
К другому главному врачу.

В зоологическом музее
Отпали яйца у слона.
Бегут смотрители с корзиной
И говорят: «Какой кошмар!»

В какой-то миг мой разум сдался,
И я понёсся во кусты.

В который раз, на звёзды глядя,
Он видел вместо звёзд пизду.
И так лежал он ночью в поле,
Дрочил свой хуй.

В медведе завелося нечто:
Поёт и целится в него.

В плену аборигенов стонет
Отважный Леонард Кокто:
Ему засовывают в ноздри
Пальто.

В поту проснулся Федр Игнатьич:
Приснилась жаба в гамаке,
С кальяном, в маминых серёжках
В ушах и в папином плаще.

В реакторе скончался техник,
Посаженный туда за то,
Что не хотел менять профессию
На обветшалое пальто.

В семье рабочего несчастье:
Родился новый пресс-папье.

В стогу сошлись бобер с енотом,
А два енота и бобер
В засаде были на енота,
А на бобра -- бобер и ёж.

Весной у Фёдора запоры
От свежих ягод и грибов.

Вот академик Васин спился,
Когда спиртное изучал.

Вот Александр Сергеич Пушкин
Срубает голову слону.

Вот в бане лопнули у Карла
Уж ягодицы от жары.

Вот в истребителе несётся
Медведь на вражеские пни.

Вот волосатые индейцы
Выходят, луки натянув.
Колумб им говорит: «Позвольте,
Хуи прикройте вы сперва».

Вот как устроен передатчик:
Иван Иваныч без штанов
Сидит; за ним Пётр Игнатьич,
А между ними лом висит.

Вот лётчик прыгнул с самолета,
Попал в болото нечистот.
Он думал, самолет в пожаре,
А самолет прекрасно сел.

Вот Менделеев вместо таблицы
Во сне увидел хуй во рту.

Вот написал донос на Бога
Медведь вонючий Спиридон.

Вот пробирается по лесу
Младая дева без штанов.
Из-за кустов за ней с улыбкой
Следит группа стариканов.
Та дева говорит: «Не надо!»
А старики: «Нет, надо, блядь!
Хотим твово мы винограду
Нарвать, нарвать, нарвать, нарвать!»

Вот стал медведь какой-то странный --
Не ходит больше по лесам,
Весь скорчился в пруду под ивой
И шерсть пускает по воде.

Все прихожане удивились:
Вместо распятья стоял танк,
А наверху сидел полковник-
Мутант.

Всё, для слонов Ивана нету.
Слоны Ивана в рот ебут.

Ежи набились в труп медведя.
«Поехали, -- кричат, -- медведь!»

Иван Иваныч обосрался
И говно матом обложил.

Качайтесь в танце, Пётр Игнатьич,
Виляйте бёдрами, как блядь.

Когда же в третий раз Иваныч
Над огородом поднялся,
Соседи выхватили ружья
И сбили мразь.

Коней Иваныч ненавидел.
Увидит, как коня ведут,
Пристроится тихонько сзади
И хуем по коню стучит.

«Куда ты лезешь, обезьяна?» --
Медведю говорит сова.

Любил Иваныч незабудки,
А помнил только о говне.

На операции врач пёрнул
В мошонку прямо медсестре.

Настолько Пётр был прекрасен,
Что сам кончал он от себя.
Поэтому старался на ночь
Держаться дальше от зеркал.

Не беспокойтесь, я в порядке.
А вот взгляните на него:
С чего бы это у здорового человека
Обезьянье лицо?

От нестареющего вальса
Примяло Марфу к мужикам.

Парад безумств открыл Егорыч
Бравурным маршем на хую.

Представьте, Пётр Ильич, вы -- суслик,
Сидите в норке день-деньской.
У вас в шерсти запутан галстук,
И ваш портфель набит травой.

Развесил в Рождество на ёлке
Медведь любимых егерей.

Развил в себе такую волю
Степан Игнатьевич Скворцов,
Что мог говно себе на шею
Класть без отрицательных эмоций.

Священник вместо «Боже правый»
Сказал случайно: «Ёб твою».
И вот с иконы полетели
В него очки и сапоги.

Такую страшную рассказку
Сказала бабушка внуку,
Что внук седой наутро вылез
И умер через два часа.

Учили милиционеров
Не реагировать на свист.
Однако два милиционера
От свиста клали во штаны.

Хотел художник на мольберте
Святого Павла рисовать.
Мазнул два раза -- блядь, да это
Какой-то глупый онанист!

...Я медведь старый, безобразный,
Отдайся мне, говно моё.

Высокий штиль: Пеотр Фадеич
Пеотра Палыча ебет.

"Киндер-сюрприз" Иван Иваныч
Придумал Вот какой и где:
Он вырыл яму у сарая,
Вбил кол и ветками прикрыл.

Иваныч от крамольных мыслей
Закрыл лицо пальтом своим.

Летать? А надо ли, Карл Фролыч?
По мне так лучше не летать,
А носом уж в говне копаться
И смрад зловонный испускать!

Блеснул Иван в кровавой драме
Зубами золотыми, блядь!

Раз в музыкальной школе Федор
Прижал тромбоном мать свою.

Иван Иваныч дом построил,
Огромный сумасшедший дом.

Иваныч главным был на фолоте
Инопланетных кораблей.
Сжимал он бластер в толстой жопе...

A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most other Drosophila developmental biologists – consult regularly. The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping).

I sent a screen capture to the author - who was appropriate amused and intrigued. But I doubt even he would argue the book is worth THAT much.

At first I thought it was a joke – a graduate student with too much time on their hands. But there were TWO new copies for sale, each be offered for well over a million dollars. And the two sellers seemed not only legit, but fairly big time (over 8,000 and 125,000 ratings in the last year respectively). The prices looked random – suggesting they were set by a computer. But how did they get so out of whack?

Amazingly, when I reloaded the page the next day, both priced had gone UP! Each was now nearly $2.8 million. And whereas previously the prices were $400,000 apart, they were now within $5,000 of each other. Now I was intrigued, and I started to follow the page incessantly. By the end of the day the higher priced copy had gone up again. This time to $3,536,675.57. And now a pattern was emerging.

On the day we discovered the million dollar prices, the copy offered by bordeebook was1.270589 times the price of the copy offered by profnath. And now the bordeebook copy was 1.270589 times profnath again. So clearly at least one of the sellers was setting their price algorithmically in response to changes in the other’s price. I continued to watch carefully and the full pattern emerged.

Once a day profnath set their price to be 0.9983 times bordeebook’s price. The prices would remain close for several hours, until bordeebook “noticed” profnath’s change and elevated their price to 1.270589 times profnath’s higher price. The pattern continued perfectly for the next week.

But two questions remained. Why were they doing this, and how long would it go on before they noticed? As I amusedly watched the price rise every day, I learned that Amazon retailers are increasingly using algorithmic pricing (something Amazon itself does on a large scale), with a number of companies offering pricing algorithms/services to retailers. Both profnath and bordeebook were clearly using automatic pricing – employing algorithms that didn’t have a built-in sanity check on the prices they produced. But the two retailers were clearly employing different strategies.

The behavior of profnath is easy to deconstruct. They presumably have a new copy of the book, and want to make sure theirs is the lowest priced – but only by a tiny bit ($9.98 compared to $10.00). Why though would bordeebook want to make sure theirs is always more expensive? Since the prices of all the sellers are posted, this would seem to guarantee they would get no sales. But maybe this isn’t right – they have a huge volume of positive feedback – far more than most others. And some buyers might choose to pay a few extra dollars for the level of confidence in the transaction this might impart. Nonetheless this seems like a fairly risky thing to rely on – most people probably don’t behave that way – and meanwhile you’ve got a book sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Unless, of course, you don’t actually have the book….

My preferred explanation for bordeebook’s pricing is that they do not actually possess the book. Rather, they noticed that someone else listed a copy for sale, and so they put it up as well – relying on their better feedback record to attract buyers. But, of course, if someone actually orders the book, they have to get it – so they have to set their price significantly higher – say 1.27059 times higher – than the price they’d have to pay to get the book elsewhere.

What’s fascinating about all this is both the seemingly endless possibilities for both chaos and mischief. It seems impossible that we stumbled onto the only example of this kind of upward pricing spiral – all it took were two sellers adjusting their prices in response to each other by factors whose products were greater than 1. And while it might have been more difficult to deconstruct, one can easily see how even more bizarre things could happen when more than two sellers are in the game. And as soon as it was clear what was going on here, I and the people I talked to about this couldn’t help but start thinking about ways to exploit our ability to predict how others would price their books down to the 5th significant digit – especially when they were clearly not paying careful attention to what their algorithms were doing.

But, alas, somebody ultimately noticed. The price peaked on April 18th, but on April 19th profnath’s price dropped to $106.23, and bordeebook soon followed suit to the predictable $106.23 * 1.27059 = $134.97. But Peter Lawrence can now comfortably boast that one of the biggest and most respected companies on Earth valued his great book at $23,698,655.93 (plus $3.99 shipping).

http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358

We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Not long ago, there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America’s finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, 'Mexifornia,' explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America.

The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States . He said, 'If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.''

'Here is how they do it,' Lamm said:

'First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country... History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, Corsicans and Muslims.'

Lamm went on:

'Second, to destroy America, invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal; that there are no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

'Third, we could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec ' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multi-ethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.' Lamm said, 'I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.'

'Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school.'

'My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology...' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.'

'My sixth plan for America’s downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precept. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together.. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games.. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. 'E. Pluribus Unum' -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will 'Balkanize' America as surely as Kosovo.'

'Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits. Make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bi-cultural country, having established multi-culturalism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.'

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, 'Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis' book 'Mexifornia.' His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America .. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book.'

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America. Take note of California and other states. To date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book '1984. ' In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: 'War is peace,' 'Freedom is slavery,' and 'Ignorance is strength..'

Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.

The first essay, The Fundamental Laws of Human Stupidity, explores the controversial subject of stupidity. Stupid people are seen as a group, more powerful by far than major organizations such as the Mafia and the industrial complex, which without regulations, leaders or manifesto nonetheless manages to operate to great effect and with incredible coordination.

These are Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:
Always and inevitably each of us underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
The probability that a given person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic possessed by that person.
A person is stupid if they cause damage to another person or group of people without experiencing personal gain, or even worse causing damage to themselves in the process.
Non-stupid people always underestimate the harmful potential of stupid people; they constantly forget that at any time anywhere, and in any circumstance, dealing with or associating themselves with stupid individuals invariably constitutes a costly error.
A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person there is.

As is evident from the third law, Cipolla identifies two factors to consider when exploring human behaviour:
Benefits and losses that an individual causes to him or herself.
Benefits and losses that an individual causes to others.

By creating a graph with the first factor on the x-axis and the second on the y-axis, we obtain four groups of people:
Intelligent people (top right)
Helpless / Naive people (top left)
Bandits (bottom right)
Stupid people (bottom left)

Cipolla further refines his definition of "Bandits" and "Helpless People" by noting that members of these groups can either add to or detract from the general welfare, depending on the relative gains (or losses) that they cause themselves and society. A bandit may enrich himself more or less than he impoverishes society, and a helpless person may enrich society more or less than he impoverishes himself. Graphically, this idea is represented by a line of slope -1, which bisects the second and fourth quadrants and intersects the y-axis at the origin. The helpless people and bandits to the left of this line are thus semi "stupid," because they represent a net drain of societal welfare.