After how the tables have turned since January, he feels more entitled than ever to claim that the whole of Ukraine is Russian. If you have an old man in the White House saying similar statements like "the Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America" or threatening Denmark to make Greenland part of the USA. Well, it is not strange that Putin would follow a similar tune.

Cărtărescu's Blinding trilogy.

Karl Stone — Hanover

Understandable. I think we all expected this sorrowful end. Don't you?

Honestly, I believe that @karl stone was like a preacher in the desert. His ideas are good and revolutionary, but I think he is sending the message to the incorrect audience. If I were him, I would have already started a campaign. But, for unclear reasons, he decided to share his ideas with us. The first time is nice, but the rest can be unbearable, and I guess this is what caused the banning of @karl stone. Whenever we ignored (or even criticised) his 'Magma Forever' theory, he took it personally.

Instead of redeeming himself, he kept the same attitude. Now, I would like to ask @karl stone: Who is the shepherd and who is the lamb? This can answer many questions. He either felt like the shepherd or the lamb.

Descanse en Paz. A really picturesque member.

Inquisiciones by Jorge Luis Borges.

I don't understand the chart, and the tulip seems to be lagging. I would like to recommend you to use ChatGPT as a prompt too. It will plummet sooner or later, as well as tulips back in the 17th century.

Do you have political aspirations, at this stage in your life? — kazan

No, not really; I lost confidence in politics because it always ended up disappointing me. It is difficult to keep an idea for years in this very volatile world. My motto is 'live and let live'. Don't treat people badly.

But politics is a game played by snakes. I am already happy if I am a good citizen, neighbour or friend. We have to be better than the people who are in power, the ones who pull the strings.

Australian smile.

When it comes to friends and family, getting them to listen is more important than understanding. If they are listening, they can understand within 1 minute or 50 years. There is no such thing as a conversation anyone would understand without listening. — Cobra

This is what I was about to post. It is not possible to understand someone without the act of listening carefully. Well, language also plays an important factor. Imagine two persons listening to each other, but they don't share a common language. Here, the act of understanding would be in trouble.

Who cares who rules, it's how they rule and the outcomes. — kazan

I agree Kazan, good point.

Don't you ever think of getting involved in Australian politics actively? I believe you and @Banno would be good Leaders of the House.

You don’t understand the move because you wouldn’t do this. — Tom Storm

Exactly.

Members cannot delete their own posts. They can edit them, so they can replace the entire text of a post with a single character, which is what happened in this case. — Jamal

Yes, yes. I know. We are only able to edit the posts, not to erase them. The same happens to discussions. I remember asking fdrake to erase a thread I started because I wasn't able to do it by myself.

I believe he couldn't have erased more than 9K posts, but as pointed out, he may have had a new view on everything, and then puff, vanished into thin air.

:up:

I am surprised it is allowed; — unenlightened

Me too. I thought the site owned our posts and threads and they couldn't be deleted.

Our past ideas can be embarrassing, no doubt. But not forgetting (or erasing in this case) the past can help us to understand how we are in the present and how we would look like to be in the future. I have changed during these four years in the forum. But I don't regret any of my 6,291 posts. Each post represents a footprint of my existence here. From now on, how can a new member ever know that tim wood existed here? :sad:

If they would like to join again, they can send an email to infoatthephilosophyforumdotcom. — Jamal

But everything he posted with his old user profile is now permanently deleted, right?

Exactly.

The solution is to not post for a period of time and have a break from the Internet or the forum. According to the explanation of events by , he started to self-erase. I believe he did it in a state of anger, and his emotions were out of control. Deleting the posts is an extreme option, indeed. Imagine everything you posted for years vanishing like the smoke in the air.

Forgive me, but I think I will avoid Kundera. — jgill

Give him a try. You will not get disappointed. Trust me, jgill. :wink:

I want to believe there is a place to return, but whether I could be capable of approaching it is what scares me the most.

I understand the utility of a preface. It can help the reader to begin with an introduction and basic points of what the work will be about. But this is the precise reason I want to skip them. I'm afraid that the preface will give me one interesting idea, and I'll end up with a completely different one. The only time I read a very well-written, interesting preface was in Gasset's The Revolt of the Masses.

He wrote a preface to French readers and an epilogue to British readers (or the other way around; I don't quite remember). I think that was clever because the 'mass-man' was focused on a Spanish context, but Gasset was aware that his essay would only have success if it ended up being read by French and British philosophers.

I wasn’t aware that anyone had ever actually read the preface to any book. — T Clark

I haven't read any preface ever. I tend to avoid them as much as I avoid introductions; I would rather not get affected by opinions before I start the book. I want to get mine when I finish it.

Blinding, Book Three: The Right Wing by Mircea Cărtărescu.

The last volume of this excellent trilogy. Mircea has become one of the best authors I have read for the past years. I am looking forward to reading other works of his, but I will do a pause after finishing this one.

Oh! Hello @Book273, nice to see you posting here again.

China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty — Maw

It sounds pretty interesting. Any thoughts on it?

Yep, I agree.

I believe we get to the same conclusion: the problem is the people in power and not the set of laws or rules. Some countries are lucky that they can combine both: good laws and honest people.

I understand. But I was not thinking about the US administration. I was thinking of other countries where politics are not very relevant and the judiciary system is more used to being independent. It is hard to find out which one, but I guess Finland, Ireland, the UK, Japan, or Germany may be good examples. I wish we (Spanish-speaking nations) had a better procedure against corruption, but the system became a full-blown septicaemia, I suppose.

I will not give up, though. I still believe there are honest judges that work under a lot of pressure from corrupt politicians and agencies. Not all of the system is already dead.

Because his corporate sponsor or political patron wants the bad law implemented. — Vera Mont

True.

This is why I propose a 'code of conduct' for those people and situations.

There could be a process where the corrupt get summoned to testify in court. But who could be the one who writes the subpoena, and what could be the correct process?

I see a light in the dark tunnel: only judges can control other judges through the code of conduct. It is not necessary to concede too much power to Supreme Court judges; and these could be controlled by ordinary ones in a courtroom similar to a disciplinary process.

Then the problem is the corruption of some judges or attorneys, right? I mean, the existence of the law (from an objective perspective) is not the main issue here; we can even have correct or good laws but corrupt judges. So, the problem is the person and not the nature of the law.

However, judges alone have the authority to interpret and apply the law. Why wouldn't a judge apply good law? :chin:

If law enforcement is not working against those guilty of breaking them, then we should look at what is making this flawed situation. Instead of focusing on the law, I believe we should try to figure out why the judiciary system is getting more rotten than ever. The problem is not the written law but those who don't want to apply it.

Cumbias villeras -- @Arcane Sandwich

Welcome to the forum.

Carl Sagan was a great thinker. I have another book titled 'Cosmos'. I remember it had interesting points, but it was tough to follow as I am not very proficient in science.

Un campeón desparejo (translated into English as "An Uneven Champion") by Adolfo Bioy Casares.

We've been moved to the Lounge. — Banno

It lasted a lot on the main page. Don't be depresso; I will still be reading the updates on Australian politics. :smile:

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

and I particularly like his emphasis on poetry. — Baden

:up: :up:

I read on Google that readers appreciate how he deals with the topic of poetry, precisely.

The title definitely catches my attention. I imagine you are indeed enjoying the parts that are actually very good. Most works tend to be uneven; it is difficult to find a symmetrical book (or author).

:up: :up:

Truth and Predication. Donald Davidson 's last book. — Banno

Interesting.

What is really interesting (more than probably the book you are currently reading) is that this could be the first time I see you posting in this thread; cool! It is good to know what Banno is reading.

@Noble Dust

I saw it at number one on a "greatest books of all time" list recently, which did puzzle me. — Baden

I believe that "greatest books of all time" lists are dependent upon the language of the editor or publisher. I have never seen The Great Gatsby ranked number one here because our literary critics are likely to choose Cervantes or Borges. Sinchōsa (a very important Japanese editorial) usually ranks Tanizaki, Kawabata or Kenzaburo Oe as their number ones, and I hardly remember a Western author.

Hello Jan and welcome to the forum.

As pointed out, details depend upon the topic. I think arts, philosophy of art, or aesthetics are good examples of studying with more detail the details. When we read poetry or listen to music, I believe we pay attention to the details, and this makes our experience more complete. Furthermore, if we want to make a critical reflection on a piece of art, we should focus on the details, too. But I guess you should tell us what kind of topic you were thinking of. Since that's the answer given by Copilot, I think you asked the AI about art, but I am not really sure.

I think the best I could do is put my jacket on, go to my local supermarket, buy a large jar of marmalade and enjoy a big toast for merienda.

The Village of Stepanchikovo by Fyodor Dostoevsky.