‘Cada vez que la izquierda se aproximó al poder, fuese por vías democráticas o revolucionarias, demostró su incapacidad para gobernar, sus taras ideológicas y su tendencia hacia la corrupción. Acaso la derecha no sea mejor _ de hecho, es mucho peor_ , pero al menos no intenta engatusarnos con sus baños de pureza’ Jorge Volpi, El fin de la locura (Seix Barral) p.449
¡Begoña Gómez fía su defensa frente a las acusaciones por corrupción en su opinión personal sobre los acusadores. "Solo tienen que fijarse en la lista de denunciantes", dijo ayer en la comisión de investigación de la Asamblea de Madrid. Esta comisión se ha montado para tratar de responder a dos preguntas: 1. ¿Por qué la mujer del presidente del gobierno dirigía una cátedra para la que no estaba capacitada? y 2. ¿Por qué privatizó y puso a su nombre una herramienta de software propiedad de la Complutense? La mujer del presidente, que se acogió a su derecho a parecer culpable callando antes que a demostrarlo hablando, limitó su exposición ante los diputados allí presentes a denunciar una conspiración para derribarla por ser quién es por parte de unos denunciantes que son quienes son.
El socialismo, como cualquier otro movimiento revolucionario, basa su éxito en la caricatura del adversario político, en un maquillaje que hace aparecer como demonios a aquellos que van a permitir a los revolucionarios presentarse como ángeles. En el mundo creado por la izquierda basta con declarse socialista para ser inocente y sentir que, como ha dicho Begoña "más pronto que tarde la verdad pondrá las cosas en su sitio". Hace unas semanas, cuando Pedro Sánchez declaró ante los medios acerca de los progreso de la investigación sobre su mujer, el presidente utilizó una construcción muy parecida: "El tiempo", sentenció, "pondrá las cosas en su sitio". El "tiempo" invocado por Sánchez lo ha venido a transformar Gómez en "verdad", que es como los socialistas llaman a sus opiniones del mismo modo que llaman "derechos" a sus propuestas legislativas, "bulos" a la realidad fáctica, "máquina del fango" a la libertad de prensa o "redistribución" al robo.
El truco que se esconde detrás de esta ilusión semántica no es otra que la práctica socialista, que históricamente ha consistido en tratar de resolver los problemas intentando transformar nuestra percepción sobre los mismos, de ahí que tantos socialistas sean incapaces de percibir la corrupción de los suyos sin evitar pensar en la bendición que les supondrá votar al PSOE en las próximas elecciones.'
I'm usually reluctant to make predictions about technology, but I feel fairly confident about this one: in a couple decades there won't be many people who can write.
One of the strangest things you learn if you're a writer is how many people have trouble writing. Doctors know how many people have a mole they're worried about; people who are good at setting up computers know how many people aren't; writers know how many people need help writing.
The reason so many people have trouble writing is that it's fundamentally difficult. To write well you have to think clearly, and thinking clearly is hard.
And yet writing pervades many jobs, and the more prestigious the job, the more writing it tends to require.
These two powerful opposing forces, the pervasive expectation of writing and the irreducible difficulty of doing it, create enormous pressure. This is why eminent professors often turn out to have resorted to plagiarism. The most striking thing to me about these cases is the pettiness of the thefts. The stuff they steal is usually the most mundane boilerplate — the sort of thing that anyone who was even halfway decent at writing could turn out with no effort at all. Which means they're not even halfway decent at writing.
Till recently there was no convenient escape valve for the pressure created by these opposing forces. You could pay someone to write for you, like JFK, or plagiarize, like MLK, but if you couldn't buy or steal words, you had to write them yourself. And as a result nearly everyone who was expected to write had to learn how.
Not anymore. AI has blown this world open. Almost all pressure to write has dissipated. You can have AI do it for you, both in school and at work.
The result will be a world divided into writes and write-nots. There will still be some people who can write. Some of us like it. But the middle ground between those who are good at writing and those who can't write at all will disappear. Instead of good writers, ok writers, and people who can't write, there will just be good writers and people who can't write.
Is that so bad? Isn't it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren't many blacksmiths left, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Yes, it's bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: writing is thinking. In fact there's a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing. You can't make this point better than Leslie Lamport did:
If you're thinking without writing, you only think you're thinking.
So a world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds. It will be a world of thinks and think-nots. I know which half I want to be in, and I bet you do too.
This situation is not unprecedented. In preindustrial times most people's jobs made them strong. Now if you want to be strong, you work out. So there are still strong people, but only those who choose to be.
It will be the same with writing. There will still be smart people, but only those who choose to be.
__
Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Ben Miller, and Robert Morris for reading drafts of this.
Christmas is Britain's most popular holiday. Its traditions and early ceremonies were rooted in pagan beliefs and date back hundreds of years. They are still part of contemporary Christmas celebrations.
The Druids, for example, honoured the mistletoe in their religion and sacrificial rites. The red berry of the holly was believed to protect one against witchcraft. Ivy symbolised immortality. The Vikings introduced the Yule log which used to be burnt in honour of God Thor. The English adapted this practice for Christmas and today's (electric) Christmas candle is a holdover from baronial days.
The custom of sending Christmas cards to friends and family originated in Britain, too. In 1843 John Calcott Horsley designed the first one for Sir Henry Cole. Thus began a real spread of sending Christmas cards and this practice soon became an established traditon. Favoured designs were Christmas feasts, church bells, plum and turkey as well as religious themes. Every year more than a billion Christmas cards are now sent in the United Kingdom. Many of them are sold in aid for charities.
Since 1840 the decorated and illuminated Christmas tree has gained popularity in England. Prince Albert brought this rite over from Germany. In 1848 the Illustrated London News published a picture of the Royal Family around one. The English families followed the Royal example and it can truly be called a Victorian innovation. Each year a giant Christmas tree is set up and decorated near the statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square. It commemorates Anglo-Norwegian cooperation during World War II.
On Christmas Eve carols are often sung by groups of singers walking from house to house, and children hang a stocking on the fireplace or at the foot of their bed for Father Christmas to fill. Caroling dates back to the Middle Ages when beggars were seeking for money, food or drink wandering the streets singing holiday songs.
On Christmas Day gifts are opened in the morning. Later the family will gather for the traditional Christmas dinner consisting of Brussels sprouts, fried potatoes with roast turkey, roast beef or goose. Sweet mince pie or Christmas pudding is served for dessert.
The pudding might contain coins or lucky charms for children. For afternoon tea Christmas cake is offered. It is rich baked fruit cake with marzipan and icing. A party favourite are Christmas crackers. There will be one to each plate on the Christmas dinner table. A Christmas cracker is a brightly coloured paper tube, twisted on both ends and filled with a party hat, a riddle and a toy.
The annual broadcasting of the Queen's Christmas Message is on Christmas Day afternoon. In 1932 King George brought this custom into being.
Boxing Day is on December 26th. This day takes its name from a former custom giving a Christmas box to delivery men and trades people called regularly through the year. Nowadays dustmen, milkmen, or postmen get a tip for a good service at Christmas time.
To keep texts (books, writings or documents) safe one can use physical devices such as USB or External Hard Disks, tablets, ebooks, laptops, paper books, PDF booklets, and notebooks / blocs.
On the other hand, it is not a bad idea to keep copies in online safes such as Box, Dropbox, G-Drive or even blogs. Moreover, there are plenty of platforms to save links to important websites, namely Instapaper.
If one writes a document that needs to be kept urgently in a secure place, it is a good idea to send an email to your own email account. Use 2 different email addresses as recipients. ___ E. Fouz.-17.04.2020 PhD.-sophomore
