Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-11-11 — 2007-04-11),
Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children's Crusade. A Duty-dance with
Death. Panther, 1978, sidan 132 (översättning Christer
Kiselman).
Det är kortare på turkiska: Her şey yolunda.
2. När är risken att dö störst?
Enligt vetenskap och statistik
är dödligheten störst under
det första levnadsåret.
Men för en enkel lekperson
är
den större under det sista.
Poul Thorsen, Averto (översättning Christer Kiselman).
3. Kan man vara upptagen utan att göra något?
Jag har en känsla av att vi har varit upptagna hela
tiden, samtidigt är det svårt att se att vi har gjort
någonting. Det är så underligt.
Kung Carl XVI Gustaf i Dagens Nyheter 2005-01-10, sidan 6.
4. Sanning och lögn eller tvärtom.
I
vår tid är trovärdiga lögner viktigare än
otroliga sanningar.
Christer Kiselman, brev 2003-08-13 till bja-listo (egen översättning).
5. Den bästa tryggheten ... eller kanske inte ...
I lögn
och ro.
Rubrik i Dagens Nyheter.
6. Vad händer i galaxens centrum?
Inne i galaxen skjuts
kaffekoppar över disken, [...]
Tomas Tranströmer (1931-04-15 — 2015-03-26), "Schubertiana" i Sanningsbarriären (1978).
7. Var finns makten?
En hjälm som bärs av ingen har tagit
makten.
Tomas Tranströmer, "Osäkerhets rike" i Sorgegondolen (1996).
8. Eva-Stina är beredd ... är du?
Jag har
gjort minutiösa förberedelser
inför ett svindlande
ögonblick
som aldrig skall komma
Eva-Stina Byggmästar, Nattmusik för dagsländor (2019:24).
9. Har du äntligen lärt dig?
Då har du
äntligen
lärt dig att älska
friheten
mer
än kärleken
Eva-Stina Byggmästar, Nattmusik för dagsländor (2019:93).
10. Tag det lugnt ...
Skjut inte upp till morgondagen
det du kan skjuta upp till i övermorgon.
Betänk dock
att om man kan vända tidens pil (se citat nummer 15 på
engelska nedan) så blir detta uppskjutande till i
övermorgon ett kraftfullt verktyg att få något gjort
i förrgår.
11. Vem korrekturläser regeringsformen?
I
Lag om ändring i regeringsformen, SFS 1979:933, lyder en
mening så här:
"Den får ej heller fatta beslut som avses i 11 § första stycket första punkten eller andra eller fjärde stycket." (13 kap. Krig och krigsfara, 3 §)
Men den elfte paragrafen har inga stycken, så syftningen till denna måste vara felaktig. Däremot är den tolfte paragrafen indelad i stycken. Felet förklaras av att en ny paragraf, nu den sjunde, har införts med denna förordning, vilket medfört att den gamla elfte paragrafen fått nummer tolv, vilket gjort syftningen i den tredje paragrafen felaktig. Slutsats: använd LaTeX!
I SFS 2018:1903 är felet rättat.
12. Wedberg—Kangers sats
I sin inträngande och briljanta minnestext över Stig Kanger
nämner Krister Segerberg (2001:7) Anders Wedbergs sats:
The Wedberg Theorem. Almost everything is trivial.
Senare lyckades Stig Kanger förbättra denna till den definitiva Wedberg—Kangers sats:
The Wedberg—Kanger Theorem. Everything is trivial.
Anders Wedberg (1913–1978) var under åren 1949–1978 professor i teoretisk filosofi vid Stockholms högskola / Stockholms universitet. Stig Kanger (1924–1988) var professor i teoretisk filosofi vid Uppsala universitet under åren 1968–1988.
Referens.
Segerberg, Krister. 2001. Stig Kanger
(1924–1988). I: Holmström-Hintikka, Ghita;
Lindström, Sten; Sliwinski, Rysiek, red. Collected Papers of
Stig Kanger with Essays on his Life and Work, Volume II,
pp. 3–9. Dortrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
13. Behöver du förstå?
Kunskapens träd bär frukt på ont och gott:
skilj mogna äpplen från den sura karten!
Förstår du ej, så låtsa du förstått!
Så går dig väl i livets kindergarten.
Hjalmar Gullberg (1898-05-30 — 1961-07-19)
"Kindergarten", Andliga övningar (1932).
14. Vem talar inte esperanto?
Ingen främling talar esperanto.
2. Vero kaj malvero aŭ inverse
En la nuna mondo pli
gravas kredindaj mensogoj ol nekredeblaj veroj.
Christer Kiselman,
letero 2003-08-13 al bja-listo.
3. Kiu ne parolas esperanton?
Neniu fremdulo parolas esperanton.
Ursula Kroeber LeGuin (1929 October 29 — 2018 January 22), The Left Hand of Darkness, Panther, 1977, page 55.
2. Kurt knows how it is
Everything is all
right, and everybody has to do exactly what he does.
Kurt
Vonnegut, Jr. (1922 November 11 — 2007 April 11),
Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children's Crusade. A Duty-dance with
Death. Panther, 1978, page 132.
It is shorter in Turkish:
Her şey yolunda.
3. Ursula on ethic
The identity of the words 'work' and
'play' in Pravic had of course, a strong ethical significance.
Ursula Kroeber LeGuin, The Dispossessed, Panther, 1976, page 225.
4. Kurt understands time
All moments, past, present
and future, always have existed, always will exist.
Kurt
Vonnegut, Jr.,
Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children's Crusade. A Duty-dance with
Death. Panther, 1978, page 25.
(However, in order to see all
these moments you have to be chrono-synclastically infibulated.)
5. Maybe you should know why you are doing what you are
doing
A number of years ago, the Dalai Lama visited the United
States. As part of his travels, he visited the headquarters in
Chicago of one of the great American news magazines. He was given the
Cook's tour, and then there was a grand formal lunch at which the
various executives of the enterprise pontificated ad nauseam.
The Dalai Lama—an elfin man—sat swathed in his saffron
robe, an inscrutable smile on his face, saying nothing. After about
an hour, the CEO of the publishing company turned to the Dalai Lama
and said, "Do you have any questions about our magazine, the nation's
premiere news magazine? Go ahead, ask us anything at all." The Dalai
Lama bowed his head for a moment, apparently deep in thought. Then he
looked up and said, "Why do you publish it?"
Steven Krantz, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 40 (2003), page 144.
6. Ursula's Duality
Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand
of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like
lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end
and the way.
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of
Darkness, Panther, 1977, page 159.
Also: An answer is the left
hand of a question.
7. As I just said, an answer is the left hand of a question
... but not always ...
'You don't see yet, Genry, why we
perfected and practice Foretelling?'
'No—'
'To exhibit
the perfect uselessness of knowing the answer to the wrong
question.'
Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness, Panther, 1977, page 54.
8. Only one tool?
"Ah," he said swallowing, "as they say:
to a man whose only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a
nail!"
Alex Kasman, "Unreasonable Effectiveness." In: Reality Conditions: Short Mathematical Fiction. Washington, DC: The Mathematical Association of America, 2005, page 4.
9. Pure mathematics is certainly useful. Do you know
why?
"My idea," she continued, "was that another good
explanation for why 'pure mathematical' research becomes useful some
time after its discovery is that the universe itself changes to fit
our mathematical discoveries."
Alex Kasman, "Unreasonable Effectiveness." In: Reality Conditions: Short Mathematical Fiction. Washington, DC: The Mathematical Association of America, 2005, page 4.
10. Do we have a free will?
We must believe in free
will—we have no other choice.
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991).
11. Materialism
To hold a materialistic viewpoint means to
stress the paramount importance of material conditions for human life.
So what is most important for the material conditions? By what
mechanism can they be changed?
What matters most is the
individual's idea of herself/himself, of the persons around him/her,
of his/her people, and of humanity.
What matters most are ideas.
Christer Kiselman, Brazil, 1975.
12. Is it at all possible to lead?
Leadership is the ability
to lead by being an example for others to follow.
Anonymous writing on a whiteboard in Addis Ababa, October 2007.
13. What happens in the center of the galaxy?
Within
the galaxy coffee-cups are pushed across the counter, [...]
Tomas Tranströmer (1931 April 15 — 2015 March 26), "Schubertiana" in Sanningsbarriären (1978).
14. Where is power located?
A helmet worn by no one
has taken power.
Tomas Tranströmer, "National Insecurity" in The Sorrow Gondola (1996).
15. The arrow of time
Due to unexpected visa problems,
the guest lecture announced for Thursday, April 21, Can the arrow
of time be reversed? by Hannah Beneb, Professor of MalayalaM,
cannot be held as planned. It has been moved to the previous week and
will take place instead on Tuesday, April 12, at 17:20. Venue: Room
20:17.
An announcent in Uppu University, Department of
Palindromy.
(The pair 17:20 — 20:17 expresses the symmetry
of time and space according to Viktor Palamodov, whose seminars at MGU
in 1983 started at 17:20 and were held in Room 20:17.)
16. The brain is not a camera
[...] we have learned that
the brain is not a camera but a Homeric storyteller [...]
Eric R. Kandel. 2012. The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present, page 351. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
17. Is anything at all true?
Maybe nothing is completely
true, and not even that.
Multatuli, pseudonym for Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820–1887); Ideeën.
17. Ursula defies Albert
The colonists' only
communications with Earth, with the Prime World Davenant, and the rest
of the League, was by the ansible, the instantaneous transmitter,
aboard their ship.
Ursula K. Le Guin. 1976. City of Illusions, page 97. Frogmore, St Albana, Herts: Panther. (First published in 1967.)
18. Cecilia on resilience
Stay strong
Have
patience
Be humble
Never give up
Be flexible
Stay
focused
Listen carefully
Cecilia Öman in a presentation, 2016 September 14.
19. The speed of time, or Hofstadter's Law
While the
speed of light is defined to be exactly 299,792,458 m/s, the speed of
time is defined by Hofstadter's Law, which contains a self-referencing
(and therefore infinite) recursion—which does not necessarily
converge:
Hofstadter's Law. It always takes longer than you think it will take, even if you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
Hofstadter, Douglas R. 1985. Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern, p. 47. New York, NY: Basic Books.
20. Who does not speak Esperanto?
No stranger speaks Esperanto.
2. N'écris pas trop ! (B)
Et i'espere que nos
neueux me sçauront gré, non seulement des choses que iay icy
expliquées; mais aussy de celles que iay omises volontairement, affin
de leur laisser le plaisir de les inuenter.
René Descartes,
La Géométrie, 1637, page 413.
3. Fais comme André Martineau !
Il posait
surtout des questions, ne se contentant jamais de réponses
incomplètes.
Laurent Schwartz dans la notice biographique
sur André Martineau (1930-05-14 — 1972-05-04), page
7, Œuvres de André Martineau (1977), 879 pp.
Paris : Éditions du Centre national de la Recherche
scientifique.
4. Qu'est-ce que se passe dans le centre de la
galaxie ?
Dans cette galaxie, on fait glisser les
tasses de café sur les comptoirs, [...]
Tomas Tranströmer (1931 avril 15 — 2015 mars 26), "Schubertiana" dans La barrière de vérité (1978).
5. Où est le pouvoir ?
Un casque, qui nul ne
porte, a saisi le pouvoir.
Tomas Tranströmer, "Au royaume de l'incertitude" dans Funeste gondole (1996).
Albert Einstein (1879–1955).
2. Die Wissenschaft
Doch die Wissenschaft, man weiss
es,
achtet nicht des Laienfleisses.
Christian Morgenstern, Palmström, "Die Wissenschaft". Insel-Verlag, 1952, S. 22.
3. Nicht so schnell
Korf erfindet eine Art von Witzen,
die erst viele Stunden später wirken.
Jeder hört sie an mit langer
Weile.
Doch als hätt ein Zunder still geglommen,
wird man nachts im
Bette plötzlich munter,
selig lächelnd wie ein satter
Säugling.
Christian Morgenstern, Palmström, "Korf erfindet eine Art von Witzen". Insel-Verlag, 1952, S. 53.
4. Wieviele Zehen?
Es kommen zu Palmström
heute
die wirklich praktischen Leute,
die wirklich auf allen zehn Zehen
im wirklichen Leben
stehen.
Christian Morgenstern, Palmström, "Die wirklich praktischen Leute". Insel-Verlag, 1952, S. 65.
5. Im Spiralnebel
Drinnen im Spiralnebel werden
Kaffeetassen über die Theke geschoben, [...]
Tomas Tranströmer (1931-04-15 — 2015-03-26), "Schubertiana", Die Wahrheitsbarriere (1978).
6. Wo ist die Macht?
Ein Helm, den Niemand trägt,
hat die Macht übernommen.
Tomas Tranströmer, "Das Reich der Unsicherheit", Die Trauergondel (1996).
Christer Kiselman. Senast ändrad 2022-02-27.