A Conversation with Borges

Jennifer Acker's newly translated 'Conversation with Borges.'
Inspiring and gripping, much like Borges himself.
Read full text here.
A highlight from the Conversation:

'STUDENT: You said that in your life that you’ve been thankful for happiness, just as you’ve been thankful for pain, and you justified the inclusion of blindness. Why are you thankful for pain and blindness?

Because for an artist, and I try to be one, everything that happens is material for your work; sometimes it’s very difficult. Happiness doesn’t require anything more; it’s an end in itself. Unhappiness has to be transformed into something else; it has to be elevated to beauty. For an artist everything that happens to him has to be clay for his mold, and he must try to feel things this way, even if these gifts might be atrocities.'
graph per habitus

One Can Pay With Euros in NYC

Hat tip to Richard over at creative classroom for the pointer.

One can purchase merchandise with euros in New York City. Just what is it that this might mean? My Europe-based friends and family tell me that they are happy with this new development as they don't have to deal with exchange rates or waste valuable time going to exchange places.
What else could this shift reveal, though?
This just in from Reuters.
'In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television.

The increasingly weak U.S. dollar, once considered the king among currencies, has brought waves of European tourists to New York with money to burn and looking to take advantage of hugely favorable exchange rates.

"We didn't realize we would take so much in and there were that many people traveling or having euros to bring in. But some days, you'd be surprised at how many euros you get," Chu said.

"Now we have to get familiar with other currencies and the (British) pound and the Canadian dollars we take," he said.'
graph per reuters

We're Friends Though, Right?

Ah, life was good back in the good ol' days of 2001.
The sun was shining, the game was strong, and Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte had a ball paling around and hitting balls in practice.
This is how life was for these ballplayers back in 2001.
Fast forward to 2008 and these athletes are finding themselves dancing unwillingly before Congress.
The sun is not shining so much anymore and in a few days the two pals will be forced to discuss the now-ubiquitous topic of drugs and professional sports.
Today's NY Times article on the recent Roger Clemens performance-enhancing drugs talk, was one of the best I have read on the subject. It's penned by Mireya Navarro who asks the following question, "When do you take one for your buddy?"
This sports drama revolves around Roger Clemens, who was accused by his trainer Brian McNamee, of getting injected with performance-enhancing drugs from 1998 to 2001. The plot thickens when Clemens' pal, Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, gets involved. Pettitte has already admitted that McNamee injected him with human growth hormone. Now all three men have dates to testify on the matter before Congress.
The question most everyone is asking is: 'Just what will Andy Pettitte say?'
As the article observes:

'The pressure to be “one of the guys” is powerful, said Jackson Katz, an author on issues of masculinity. He said before acting men often weigh the risk of ostracism and loss of status. “Guys make calculations all the time that it’s not worth it,” he said. Men “have this notion that you try to prove yourself as a man.”
Women do seem to have a different notion of friendship. In the research literature, their bonds are described as “face to face,” meaning they share feelings more intensely. Male relationships are “side by side,” less touchy-feely and built around activities like sports or work.
But some experts noted that when it comes to loyalty, men and women are not as sharply divided as they once were. In institutions like the police and military, the same code of behavior rules over both sexes, as the torture scandal in Abu Ghraib prison showed.
And, of course, women are capable of betraying confidences, and men are capable of extremely generous and selfless acts. The former Dallas Cowboys star Everson Walls, for instance, donated a kidney last year to a former teammate, Ron Springs.
Peter M. Nardi, a professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., who has written about heterosexual and gay male friendships, said the nature of bonds could also vary depending on ethnicity, sexual orientation and social class. Gay men, for example, share issues of identity and disclose more to each other than heterosexual men do.'

This new situation in which Roger Clemens finds himself is yet another example of people learning how to navigate the uncertain waters of intimacy and professionalism. We'll see what kind of tune these chums will be dancing to this coming Wednesday. I am intrigued.
Read full article here.

The World's Ugliest Building?

Tyler Cowan over at Marginal Revolution made me aware of this.
Eva Hagberg's Esquire article observes:

'A picture doesn't lie -- the one-hundred-and-five-story Ryugyong Hotel is hideous, dominating the Pyongyang skyline like some twisted North Korean version of Cinderella's castle. Not that you would be able to tell from the official government photos of the North Korean capital -- the hotel is such an eyesore, the Communist regime routinely covers it up, airbrushing it to make it look like it's open -- or Photoshopping or cropping it out of pictures completely.'

The structure makes me think of a couple of things.
What say ye?