Bertrand Russell's Ten Commandments

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worthwhile to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it is from your family, endeavour to overcome it with argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that is happiness.

The Observer | Travel | How to play the French service game ... and win

The French have a saying 'le client est roi' - the customer is king. But we all know what they did to their royal family. The guillotined head of Louis XVI bounced across the Place de la Concorde as a few thousand Parisians laughed at it - and those chuckling spectators were the ancestors of today's French waiters.

Am I geek enough? NO, compared to the ones sneaking into Apple to volunteer a canceld project.

The Graphing Calculator Story

David Brooks has selected (Part I|Part II) what he thinks to be the best essays that were written this year. Here is the list reproduced, thanks to Patio Pundit:

Part I


"When Islam Breaks Down" by Theodore Dalrymple; City Journal.

"The Other Sixties" by Bruce Bawer; The Wilson Quarterly.

"Faculty Clubs and Church Pews" by William J. Stuntz; Tech Central Station.

"Blind Into Baghdad" by James Fallows; The Atlantic Monthly.

Seymour Hersh's work on Abu Ghraib: ; The New Yorker


"The Global Baby Bust" by Phillip Longman; Foreign Affairs.

"Power and Population in Asia" by Nicholas Eberstadt; Policy Review.

Part II

"Holland Daze" by Christopher Caldwell; The Weekly Standard

"Victory in Defeat" by Neal Ascherson; The London Review of Books.


"High Prices: How to Think About Prescription Drugs" by Malcolm Gladwell; The New Yorker

"World War IV" by Norman Podhoretz; Commentary

"A Fighting Faith: An Argument for a New Liberalism" by Peter Beinart; The New Republic

Charles Krauthammer, The National Interest | Francis Fukuyama, The National Interest

It is always tempting to make a great story, though it may be bad history.

Books | Leaps in the Dark: The Making of Scientific ReputationsThe falling apple that supposedly inspired the theory of gravitation was a myth. As Waller points out, the devious Newton probably used it as a ploy to avoid acknowledging any of his contemporaries. Such moments make a great story, but are bad history.

In war, as in life, there are plenty of opportunities to see the full spectrum of good and evil that people are capable of. As journalists, it is our job is to report both - though neither may be fully representative of those people on whom we're reporting.
...
I interviewed your commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Willy Buhl, before the battle for Falluja began. He said something very powerful at the time - something that now seems prophetic. It was this:

"We're the good guys. We are Americans. We are fighting a gentleman's war here - because we don't behead people, we don't come down to the same level of the people we're combating.

"That's a very difficult thing for a young 18-year-old marine who's been trained to locate, close with and destroy the enemy with fire and close combat. That's a very difficult thing for a 42-year-old lieutenant colonel with 23 years experience in the service who was trained to do the same thing once upon a time, and who now has a thousand-plus men to lead, guide, coach, mentor - and ensure we remain the good guys and keep the moral high ground." I listened carefully when he said those words. I believed them.

So here, ultimately, is how it all plays out: when the Iraqi man in the mosque posed a threat, he was your enemy; when he was subdued he was your responsibility; when he was killed in front of my eyes and my camera - the story of his death became my responsibility.

Guardian | 'Something was not right': "Other foreign networks made different decisions, and because of that, I
have become the conflicted conduit who has brought this to the world."

The "strong opposition" in North Korea? Maybe not strong at all.

Print - North Korea: Joyful Dancing - DER SPIEGEL - SPIEGEL ONLINE: "The people of North Korea are not as submissive as they appear to be. Unnoticed by the outside world, strong opposition to the regime of dictator Kim Jong Il is beginning to appear. "