"Die Panne" from Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

After 15 years mind control I really enjoy reading some good literature without having a bad conscience as some bloody CAI booklist isn't yet fulfilled.

And I listen to Radiohead. There you go Lars.

Hi Carsten

Radiohead.....  not  quite my cup of tea, but  interesting  choice!   (Three cheers for  good literature!).

Anyway - bollocks  to the reading-list !
I have a huge pile of  books at my parents of a 'useless' theologically unsound nature!
I was  boing to sell them on ebay, but  rather progagate unsound  wisdom; as per a previous post I recently started, I think I;ll burn the whole lot the next time I am home.

Angelika - you seem to be  strong in your Faith still... 

I no longer have any, but this is no loss to me.  I "believed" before  joining the CAI.   I tried believing/keeping my faith afterwards,  but  main-stream  Christianity had become too foreign for me. I re-assessed.  Though fairly tolerant, I now have a healthy scepticism of  religous ideas and  belief in a diety.  The Bible may contain some 'inspirational' passages, but it is certainly not the only source of inspiration or truth.  The Biblical God for me  is cruel and  jealous.  Take care and all the best on your  path through this life.

Anyhow, all the best to all - have a good weekend.
 Anon1

reading "one minute manager" at the moment due to my job. Quite interesting to read the paralells of a "good manager" and chritian faith. However I still read christian books.

Don't sell the books. Please. I destroyed the books I had which are on the infamous book list. I don't want to encourage anyone to read the poison. Even the "nice" ones I have heard could be fictional re-writes, embellished to encourage the conviction of the reader. Like Scott's "miracles".
 
Who needs pretend and fabricated miracles? If I wanted to, I could get all the fiction I want from comics, with a lot more action and usually a happy ending.

In my quest to learn German, I come across books with titles like "German Made Easy" or "Learn German In 12 Weeks". I can't even trust language books! However, I suppose if someone wrote a truthful book like "I Bet You Can't Learn German in 50 Years" there would be few copies sold.

John

"...Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp. One is washed about in it, hither and thither, in the most helpless way; and when at last he thinks he has captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the ten parts of speech, he turns over the page and reads, "Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions." He runs his eye down and finds that there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it. So overboard he goes again, to hunt for another Ararat and find another quicksand. Such has been, and continues to be, my experience. Every time I think I have got one of these four confusing "cases" where I am master of it, a seemingly insignificant preposition intrudes itself into my sentence, clothed with an awful and unsuspected power, and crumbles the ground from under me. For instance, my book inquires after a certain bird -- (it is always inquiring after things which are of no sort of consequence to anybody): "Where is the bird?" Now the answer to this question -- according to the book -- is that the bird is waiting in the blacksmith shop on account of the rain. Of course no bird would do that, but then you must stick to the book. Very well, I begin to cipher out the German for that answer. I begin at the wrong end, necessarily, for that is the German idea. I say to myself, "Regen (rain) is masculine -- or maybe it is feminine -- or possibly neuter -- it is too much trouble to look now. Therefore, it is either der (the) Regen, or die (the) Regen, or das (the) Regen, according to which gender it may turn out to be when I look. In the interest of science, I will cipher it out on the hypothesis that it is masculine. Very well -- then the rain is der Regen, if it is simply in the quiescent state of being mentioned, without enlargement or discussion -- Nominative case; but if this rain is lying around, in a kind of a general way on the ground, it is then definitely located, it is doing something -- that is, resting (which is one of the German grammar's ideas of doing something), and this throws the rain into the Dative case, and makes it dem Regen. However, this rain is not resting, but is doing something actively, -- it is falling -- to interfere with the bird, likely -- and this indicates movement, which has the effect of sliding it into the Accusative case and changing dem Regen into den Regen." Having completed the grammatical horoscope of this matter, I answer up confidently and state in German that the bird is staying in the blacksmith shop "wegen (on account of) den Regen." Then the teacher lets me softly down with the remark that whenever the word "wegen" drops into a sentence, it always throws that subject into the Genitive case, regardless of consequences -- and that therefore this bird stayed in the blacksmith shop "wegen des Regens."

Mark Twain -> http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html

have fun!

and, btw - thanks a lot for your mail lately. Think we are basically pulling on the same string there.

"Ubrg. do all guys named Carsten have a brown nose ?"

Don't know. 

One thing's sure though: all AGLs are dickheads.

quod erat demonstrandum, as the French say...

anon1,

Foucault's pendulum is also a load of rubbish. but it's set up quite intelligently. :) 
And I guess Eco knows more about "the topic" as anybody. Apart from Wilson & Shea...

C.

 

Hi Ian Didaktikon

thanks -  hey I read fiction (The Bible) long enough and now know not to take it fiction too seriously, boom-boom...!  ....queue the humour:   boom-boom - a famous saying by stuffed animal (basil brush) on UK TV... used to end a joke/wise-crack.  Fiction - is for me is getting lost in an interesting/imaginative/thought provoking plot.   i.e. Eco could do the trick - but won#t  know till I findout  

I won't be looking  to divine too deeply for spiritual meaning and answers to life

Personal favourites for this sort of thing are the Douglas Adams 'Hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy" books or possibly a little bit of Terry Pratchet, though he gets a bit irratating after a while.   Great antidote to repressed cult  reading lists!

I can count on one hand those who I have met that exercise authority with any measure of righteousness. A favourite scripture of mine is "I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants in the earth" (Ecclesiastes 10:7). Funny how you say I have a problem, when bosses I have worked for have said the opposite and have promoted and rewarded me, beyond any expectation of mine, for loyalty and leadership. I would not be where I am now if it wasn't for five great men in particular, one being the greatest man I have ever known, my dad. I did and still do stand in awe of their leadership. At a guess I'd say more than half of my staff have been with me for over 6 or 7 years, with four being with me for over fifteen. They are either masochists or perhaps they like and trust me. However I don't suffer fools gladly and indeed do have a real problem with intractability. By the way I chose "mailboy" because of my business (data and mail processing et al), "mailman" had already been taken.

Yesterday my new estimator came to apologise for making a mistake that could have cost thousands of dollars. I started our discussion by describing some of my costly errors, to ease his distress. I said that errors are errors, it's what we do about endeavouring not to repeat them and caring that we have made them. I finished the discussion by telling him that our Sales Manager, his colleagues and I were very happy with his diligence to date, and that his error also highlighted OUR errors in the checking process. he gave me an undertaking to learn from the error.

You seem to see things as black or white, you certainly have no idea about me. But then again you haven't tried.

I think I have said this to you before, but nevertheless I will reiterate, you can crack a wallnut with a sledge hammer, but a nutcracker does a neater job.

I don't want to be like you Ian. Where did you get that idea? I wouldn't like you to be like me. One of me is enough for this world!

As to high thoughts of myself, my friends and colleagues tell me I'm too self-effacing. I guess that's why I am not interested in the "empires" some of my contemporaries in my line of business have built. My business is now in its 20th year. Again, I often quote Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood) "a mans got to know his limitations". Nevertheless by the grace of God, my cup runs over.

I am not trying to achieve anything Ian. As Gag Halfrunt said about Zaphod Beeblebrox in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".... "He's just zis guy, you know?" I am the quintessential "accidental tourist".

Maybe only one ex CAI person has asked for your treatise, because you openly, and sometimes with vitriol, show contempt for us. Jesus had compassion for lepers. You don't have to tell us we are offscouring, we already know that. Yes, I was tempted to ask you for a copy, but didn't want to feed your ego that is so prominent. You are very clever Ian. I struggle with German, but stubbornly persist. A mature teacher would not score points but try nurture. I did that with Roger my estimator yesterday.

I don't drink wine due to the effects of ulcerative colitis (and accursed cortizone overdoses) on my liver, so I don't know what a merlot tastes like. I will endeavour to sweeten my vinegar. Don't brush my exhortations aside. Examine yourself. I do. Satan would be delighted if we became reprobates.

John

"Notes From A Small Island" by Bill Bryson. It's one of the funniest books I have ever read.