Saturday Soiree

Santiago, Chile. AP photo, posted at the eveningstandard.com:

No kiddin’. Headline from nypost.com: “US taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing idiotic college extremism.” Funding idiocy is a large part of what government does.

From NYP: “As IQ scores decline in the US, experts blame the rise of tech — how stupid is your state?” According to the article by David Landsel, it’s the first time this has ever happened, the average falling from 100 to 98. New Hampshire ranked first, 103.2, New Mexico last, 95. NY is in the bottom half, 98.4.

Headline from newsmax.com: “Study: Abortion Linked to Heart Disease in Women.” According to the article by Fran Beyer, the same is true for stillbirths.

From NM: “How AI Is Outsmarting Green Energy, Zero Carbon Fantasies.” According to the article by Larry Bell, alternatives do not produce nearly enough juice to power the boom. This is a problem for all those companies that flout their greenness and at the same time are in big on AI. LOL.

Born in a rural area of Abruzzo, Secondino Tranquilli was a multiple Nobel prize literature nominee, writing under the pseudonym Ignazio Silone. He was a staunch anti-fascist and spent many years in exile. He was among the founders of the Italy’s Communist party in 1921 but was dispelled because of anti-Stalinist views. He became a socialist. He left Italy in 1927 and his work was more popular abroad than in his homeland. He returned in ’44, went into politics and lasted until ’53, fed up. He began writing full time. I just finished one of his early works, Bread and Wine, first published in ’36, revised in ’55. I read the latter, a 277-page Signet paperback. It is the story of a young socialist who returns in secret to Italy on the eve of the country’s invasion of Abyssinia/Ethiopia. He hides out in a rural area, dressed as a priest, though he is not religious. As an unrepentant capitalist, I didn’t care for the politics, but I found the portrayal of the peasants and others, even the totalitarian brutes, fascinating. The novel works far better as an examination of the human condition, especially the impoverished, than as a screed. A segment wherein the protagonist discusses socialism with peasants is very amusing, although I suspect the author did not intend it as humor. There is a brief sojourn in Rome. Here are excerpts: “…to be a good socialist you have to be a millionaire…” (Doesn’t that resonate these days?); “…we have to adapt for now, and even humiliate ourselves, but all this is temporary…”; “…you can’t beg your freedom from someone. You have to seize it…”; and wisdom from a peasant who lived awhile in NYC and picked up a nickname based on “shut up”: “Things always go their own way,” said Sciatap, “whether you understand them or not.” I hated the ending, although it is not implausible. I’m sure Silone meant it as anti-capitalist symbolism. Let’s not forget that Mao, Stalin and Hitler were socialists who perverted doctrine, murdering millions, to pursue their agendas, just as thieves pervert capitalism to attain riches. The translation by Harvey Fergusson II is solid. In all Silone published nine novels, essays, poetry and plays. His first novel, Fontamara, was adapted to the big screen in ’77. He died in Geneva in ’78, apparently as restless a soul as the main character of his most famous work. Facts from Wiki, photo from Google Images:

Not much action at the Anti-Inflation Book Shop on this raw day. My thanks to Frankie, who bought Shaolin vs. Ninja (1983) on DVD, and to the women who, respectively, purchased a Danielle Steel and Nicholas Sparks translation in Russia; and to the gentleman who took home a James Renbourn CD; and to the woman who selected The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child.

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