Tales of English justice

"[I]n 1746 the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas gave judgment for £1000 damages in favour of a Lieutenant Frye against the president of a court martial which had wronged him, and then encouraged Frye to sue the other members. When they protested through the Lords of the Admiralty to the King, the Chief Justice had the whole lot of them arrested for contempt and released them, when they apologised, with the warning: ‘Whosoever set themselves up in opposition to the law or think themselves above the law will find themselves mistaken.’"

Above it all

Wir sind die Nacht 我们是夜晚

From a 'language learning' site:




"Wenn du wüsstest , dass

如果你知道

es auf dieser Welt nur einen einzigen Menschen gibt ,

在这个世界上只存在唯一一个

Der dich glücklich macht , 

能让你幸福的人

Der für dich bestimmt ist , 

为你注定的人

Was würdest du opfern , um ihn zu finden? 


为了找到他你会舍弃什么

Wie viele Jahrhunderte würdest du nach ihm suchen?

你是否会用几百年去寻找他

Und wenn du ihn dann gefunden hättest ,

然后当你找到他之后

würdest du ihn je wieder gehen lassen?

你会让他再次离开你吗


Würdest du ihn nicht auch mit


你是不是也会

beiden Armen so fest umklammern , wie du nur kannst , 

紧紧地把他拥在怀里

und ihn nie , nie , nie wieder loslassen? "

绝对绝对绝不会再放手

Dumpfe Träume

Kalte
Kalte
Nächte
Nächte
Lass deine Augen leuchten...
Dumpfe
Dumpfe
Träume
Träume
Und meine Seele fordert...

Kalte
Kalte
Nächte
Nächte
Lass deine Augen leuchten...
Dumpfe
Dumpfe
Träume
Träume
Und meine Seele fordert...

Schneller
Schneller
Atmen
Atmen
Unsere Körper beben...
Leises
Leises
Zittern
Zittern
Und meine Seele lodert...

Süsse Bisse
Kaltes Schaudern...
Und meine Seele lodert...
Kalte
Kalte
Nächte
Nächte
Lass deine Augen leuchten...
Dumpfe
Dumpfe
Träume
Träume
Und meine Seele fordert...

Who judges the judges?

‘His Majesty’s Judges are satisfied with the almost universal admiration in which they are held.’

‘Her Majesty’s judges have a greater understanding of human nature than any other body of men in the world.’ 

Above it all

Configuration of international justice

From Sedley, Stephen. Ashes and Sparks: Essays on Law and Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 15-16. 

In speaking of a 'consensus [that] is eroding the old impunities afforded by statehood and state office':

"If this epoch-making jurisdiction is not simply to degenerate into the twenty-first century's version of victor's justice, into a regime in which the war criminals of the lesser nations get their deserts while nationals of the greatest power are shielded from all process except that which their own state elects to deploy against them, the long arm of international law has to be able to reach everyone against whom there is a triable case, and the mailed fist has to be there to punish those who are found guilty by due process. A system which replicates the very insolence of office from which human rights abuses spring cannot properly call itself a system of justice. One law for the powerful and another for the weak is no law at all."

It is unclear...

"whether internationals criminal jurisdiction is instead to slide back into its ambivalent twentieth century role as a secondary and localised manifestation of military and political power."

Some reflections

Perhaps what makes ABCs successful is their ability to focus on an artificial goal that is set in front of them and pursue it with great focus and drive. Even if that goal doesn't turn out to be particularly useful, having some direction is better than flailing around.

Success doesn't bring them any particular joy or happiness. The unlucky ones, After realizing that the goal is not what they want,  take it to mean that it has all been in vain and are set adrift. The lucky ones are able to switch the goal with some other.

Walking on light

Operación Masacre

"The city (like the country) can be loved as long as the light is fading and there aren’t any people in the view..."


- Operation Massacre

Betrayal (Sorcerer Theme)

GRAVITY, Soyuz & Shenzhou

It is interesting if you think about why the Soyuz and the Shenzhou would be similar: consumer electronics differ greatly between manufacturers, and cars and planes do, too. But there's enormous value to actually simplifying and unifying the control schemes for these spaceships. One can interpret the comment that the two are similar as a testament to the impressive engineering that goes into spaceflight. That we have these totally distinct bespoke creations, but that the creators expended enormous effort to unify their control mechanisms as a result of an actual, practical need. And that this practical need is precisely what we see in this movie.

Even if Shenzhou were an exact copy of Soyuz, the control schemes are actually unlikely to be similar without a lot of effort involved. These control schemes were so precisely thought out that a pilot with familiarity with only one of them could pilot both, even when the pilot could not understand either language. This is one area where this movie excelled. It entertained complexity.

Further reading: GE Apollo D-2 vs Soyuz vs Shenzhou
GE Apollo D-2 vs Soyuz vs Shenzhou (cached link)

Rent seeking

"No one believes [The big French, German and British energy companies who sell Britons their gas and electricity] compete with each other: the test of that is that they are unable to demonstrate, in a way anyone can understand, that they do. They are more like farmers who have acquired land on which to grow crops in perpetuity... the land they own is us, their customers, and the crop is our bills."

Energy Tax

Presumed Music

The White Queen

Wars of the Roses 

Richard the Third

Bauklötze

Tiny Times

I'm somewhat removed from Chinese popular culture, and from popular culture in general. But I was intrigued by this movie. Partly because the critics' voices were so boisterous, their farts so loud, that I can't help but feel that I need to find out what the stink is all about. Well, I watched the movie and thought that it was not bad.

From the vantage point of a viewer living in a society of abundance, the movie doesn't seem extraordinary. The shots are glossy, but nobody would mistake the set for the level of luxury that one would find in places without so much fanfare in the U.S.

But there is a very simple premise from the movie: Chinese people want what everybody else want, mainly love and money. Is this too much to ask? Would it be so out of place to suggest that the pursue of wealth and prosperity should be the governing mission of mankind?

I find that this normality, this baseline familiarity, may itself be significant. I once thought to myself that the day when movies coming out of China are no longer considered exotic or 'auteur', only then would China truly have arrived in the international stage in a more significant sense, because it would then have arrived culturally. I think those days may be starting.

This movie is in many ways limited, but I think it would be a mistake to wait for a more grant debut to realize what is happening. Ultimately, to have Chinese culture walk out of the alley of history and speak more about the universal present, to have an entirely different society with the critical mass to ponder the expanding possibilities of reality: that would be exciting. That would be electrifying.


The movie will be remembered as a signifier of the continuing normalization of China. I am happy to see such signs, because what Chinese culture has come to mean to me is the continued improvement and actualization of a people. It has, in some ways, come to meant progress itself.

The Politics of Relationships

V
So I ran across a photo album of a girl I knew at college
She got fat

me
oh?

V
Yeah
Got fat
Well, I think I know why, too
My theory is that... 

me
that she ate too much?


V
Well...

Awkward conversations

FT: The Great Pornwall of Britain


Sit back and take a moment to imagine what the future might sound like.

“Hello, you’re through to BT. This call may be recorded for training purposes. How may I help you, Mr Smith?”

“Uhhh, I, errr… filters… ummm…”

“Would you like to view adult content, Mr Smith?”

“Oh uh, no! I mean, I think it’s blocking some educational material, you see I…”

“Sure, Mr Smith. Do you have the approval of the other account holder, Mrs Smith?”

Click!

Photos of Texas in the 1970s

Texas in the 1970s

The Legend of Korra Book 2

Really excited.

The reason? Because the previous shows were so good: "The show's internal consistency, long story arcs, and inventiveness with its basic premise illustrate a lot of love and care on the part of its creators. They cared enough to pay this kind of attention to detail."

Efficiency at the wrong end

V
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6051041

me
so, what do you make of it?

V
It's great link bait for the HN crowd
It's a tough choice, though
On the one hand, you can be a robot, working 12 and 14 hour days at your iBanking job, slaving away at the system making a 250k$ pittance
Or you can be one of the free thinkers, working your part-time Starbucks job for 10$/hr between house parties, oh, and, by the way, no health insurance

V
The speech is actually quite self-aggrandising
It hints at all these truths we know but won't admit
Like how the slackers who lived a better life probably are mostly losers and only 1% hidden geniuses

me
I think the original intent was to question the industrial process of education

V
But clearly the industrial process reflects an industrial thinking about society
This is the thinking that the people who will love this speech will also espouse
The utilitarian approach

me
it may be questioning the efficacy of this process, after all, there's only one valedictorian
the industrial education process may or may not be dehumanizing, but the larger problem is that it is actually incredibly inefficient

V
How do we improve efficiency?

me
I don't know, but I think that is where a lot of the angst is really coming from

V
But the HN appeal seems to show that the angst is at efficiency at the wrong end
Who cares if the gifted & talented are underserved by the system?
They'll probably succeed anyway
The slightly gifted may be left behind
But they're really not as special as they want us to think
But at the other end, you have direr situation, and there seems to be less focus or interest on what to do about them