Un nou hit Dj David & Dony - Nasty Dream ;-)

The absurd Brumby-Hitler “scandal” is of course just the latest example in a long, long line of “Reductio ad Hitlerum” arguments. Political philosopher Leo Strauss coined the term Reductio ad Hitlerum back in 1953, and it applies to any argument that attempts to discredit their opponent by associating them with Hitler and/or the Nazis.

This rhetorical technique of demonisation-by-association doesn't seem likely to end any time soon. For example, in 2006 Donald Rumsfeld compared Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Hitler; Chavez responded by saying Hitler “would be like a suckling baby” compared to George Bush.

Reductio ad Hitlerum is such a widespread phenomenon that in 1990 Mike Godwin, the general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation, formulated an adage about it. Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies states that as an internet discussion goes on and on, “the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”

However, this does not mean that such comparisons are invalid – or immoral. Instead, Godwin argues that “overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.” While slapping a toothbrush moustache and/or sloppy fringe onto an image of someone is almost always going to be bad taste, not all Hitler-comparisons are necessarily also “abhorrent”, “manipulative”, “debased” or “false”.

Neither, for that matter, are all pop-cultural representations of Hitler. I would like to take particular issue with Mr Abramovich's outrage over Hitler being “humanised” in feature films. As Dani Levy, director of Mein Fuehrer: the Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler, argues: “it is absurd to discuss whether [Hitler] can be shown as a human”. This is the central conundrum that our culture still needs to resolve: Hitler was a man, not an evil robot, a supernatural beast or demon. Hitler's evil was not otherworldly; and nor was it a peculiarly German cultural phenomenon. As Dani Levy's film shows, the Nazi Party “was a man-made system, created, thought out and carried out by human beings”.

For this very reason, Hitler and his followers need to be represented, understood, and discredited, so that our culture can heal and move forward. And regardless of what Mr Abramovich thinks of Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen, Levy and others, humour is regarded by many intelligent people as an effective way of achieving this goal.

As a postgraduate student, I have spent the past 20 months researching and writing an MA about the ethical implications of satirising Hitler. The subject is a minefield, but artists continue to use humour to come to terms with Germany's Nazi past, and for good reason.

Making fun of the Fuehrer – as Charlie Chaplin, Bertolt Brecht, and many other serious artists have done over the years – can provide a sense of catharsis, for Jew and Gentile alike. Laughter is one of humankind’s basic psychological coping mechanisms; it can make life seem bearable, even if it can’t make it better.

It is important to remember that films can be funny without sacrificing their serious intent. When Levy's Hitler says: “All the beatings that I got turned me into what I am today”, this is not a bad taste joke, or an immoral justification for Hitler's behaviour. It is a laudable, ethically engaged attempt to understand “the Hitler problem”.

Of course, not everyone sees the value of these attempts. In her book Evil in Modern Thought, moral philosopher Susan Nieman shows that there are two fundamentally opposed attitudes towards the problem of evil. One “insists that morality demands that we make evil intelligible. The other [...] insists that morality demands that we don’t.”

While both viewpoints have their respective theoretical merits, denying Hitler his innate humanity seems to me like the beginning of a slippery slope. The next “logical” step might be to deny all Nazis their humanity. And after that, all Nazi-sympathisers ... where do you draw the line? After Rwanda, President of Genocide Watch Gregory Stanton observed that “dehumanisation” is the third step in an eight-step process; a process that begins with “classification” and ends with “extermination”.

I am not making a “false equivalence” here between Nazi murderers and people who are offended by representations of Hitler's humanity. However, I am very concerned by the tendency to demonise artists and thinkers who try to comprehend the human face of evil. The most notable instance of this demonisation-by-association occurred when respected Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt was accused of being a Nazi after the publication of Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report into the banality of evil – a plainly absurd proposition, but one that made headlines nonetheless.

When Mr Abramovich implies that Dani Levy is immoral for showing Hitler playing with a toy battleship, it doesn't help us understand Hitler's immoral nature. All it does is transfers his existing outrage about Hitler's historical actions onto the person representing these actions. This is a sly version of the guilt-by-association fallacy, and not all that different from the Brumby-Hitler Reductio ad Hitlerum that Mr Abramovich (rightly) objects to.

When discussing something as important, traumatic and emotionally loaded as the legacy of Adolf Hitler, we do need to watch out for bad taste and bad morality. However, we also need to watch out for bad logic – and avoid it wherever possible.

Tom Doig is a postgraduate student at the University of Melbourne’s School of Culture and Communication. He is completing an MA on the ethical implications of satirising Hitler, and writing a satirical play about David Hasselhoff and Adolf Hitler entitled “Hitlerhoff”.

www.hitlerhoff.com

So, what am I up to. I will lift 3x/week, a single set to muscular fatigue of: leg press, leg curl, machine crunch, chest press, seated row, overhead seated press, cable pulldown, seated chest flyes, preacher biceps machine, triceps pushdown.  10 exercises, with three seconds of lifting and three seconds of lowering, for 8-12 reps each (increasing the weight when I can get over 12). After the initial workout or two, I will lift as many times as I can until fatigue even if it goes over 12 reps. Then I will increase the weight in the next workout.  Since I get hardly any activity outside of work and exercise, I will start each session with 5 mins on a bike, do my lifting, then return to the bike for whatever time makes it a 20 minute total session.  As long as my heart rate stays elevated, I will comply with the basic exercise recommendations of the AHA/ACSM.  Keep in mind that this is not what Dr. Darden would advise, based on my reading of his works.

Diet plan will be 1500 calories per day. Less than the 1900 in the Florida Dreamin' article, because I am older, fatter and less active.  It will be as follows:

Breakfast (400 calories): 2 large omega-3 eggs, 1 packet instant oatmeal (TJ's Heart Healthy flavored brand), 1 cup strawberries, coffee, 1/2 cup skim milk.  Alternative: 2 frozen TJ's blueberry waffles, 2 T maple syrup, 1 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup skim milk, coffee

Lunch (400 calories): 2 slices 100% whole wheat bread, 3 oz deli chicken/turkey, 1 oz slice Jarlsberg lite, 1 T sweet pickle relish, 1 T light mayo, 2 tomato slices.  Alternative: 2 slices whole wheat, 1 T light mayo, 1 T relish, 1/2 can tuna, 1/2 apple, 1/2 cup canned corn (recipie from Dr. Darden's site)

Dinner (400 calories): choice of frozen meal: for example TJ's Kung Pao Chicken Rice Bowl, or Lean Cusine Comfort Classics Chicken Parmesean + 1 1/2 slices whole wheat bread (to make the calories up to 400), etc. See this article by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for a list of better frozen meal options.  I realize this isn't for everyone, but for a time pressed bachelor it makes sense to enable having some variety and calorie control with no waste, cooking, cleaning, or time wasting.  I stole the idea from Dr. Darden's article.  It's hard to be too specific on the meals right now, depends on what's in the store or on sale.  Alternative if I want to cook: 1/2 cup dry whole what pasta, 3 oz grilled chicken, 1 cup broccoli, 1 t olive oil, 2-3 T pasta sauce.

Snacks (300 calories):  2 string cheese sticks, apple, orange.  May substitute in some almonds, yogurt, etc.  Right now I have some string cheese to use up.

Shortfalls?  Well, obviously there isn't enough vegetation.  It probably technically hits the 400 gram "five a day" standard but mostly because of fruit.  Right now I am going for convenience, and a way to avoid calorie bombs when I get home late and feel wiped out. Usually I order some take out, and have some beers. Frozen entrees are not necessarily health food, but I am looking for improvement not perfection. I will be looking to make it more healthy after I pick up some momentum.  

The other shortfall is so little exercise. We'll see how it goes. The scale and the mirror will tell the tale, and I can adapt from there.

(Ég és Föld)

My brother bounced off of another car yesterday. He does this a lot. He claims the car suddenly turned left, just in front of his bike, in order to snag a parking spot.  My brother already had his brakes on because he was going downhill so it wasn't high-speed or anything. 

The same thing happened a couple months ago (I told you it happens a lot) and my brother tried to lean away from the taxi and ended up getting a little damage on his bike (and 20$ from the guilt-ridden driver). So, with lesson learned, this time the boy genius decided to lean into the Ford Explorer and hold himself against it with his right shoulder and thigh to help him turn. 

But the car hit him regardless, and (pissed off as hell) my brother rode up onto the sidewalk, got off the bike and started walking toward the guy (I think he’s getting sick of getting hit) 

THE DRIVER: "Didn't you see my signal? I had it on!”

MY BROTHER: "Yeah...AFTER I was already passing you!"

THE DRIVER: "I didn't see you."

MY BROTHER: "No shit! I think that's the fucking problem!!"

Then the driver got out of his car and ended up being really nice.  He stood with his back to his car, facing my brother and apologizing profusely, telling him how he really does try to watch for cyclists, and how he really respects them, and that he has friends who are cyclists, etc, etc. Turns out the driver was really worried that my brother or his bike were damaged.

MY BROTHER: They weren't, thanks to my cat-like reflexes. (I think my brother is damaged…but for other reasons)

While the driver is apologizing and asking my brother if he is okay, my brother looks at the side of the car and sees a huge, round, knee-sized dent in the door where he “leaned” into it. 

THE DRIVER: Do you want my insurance card?”

MY BROTHER: No, no I'm fine, the bike's fine—let's call it good. 

By now my brother is just trying to leave before the driver notices the dent. They shook hands and my brother took off…quick. I think they ended up pretty even on that one.

The “Hit Man” email scam has resurfaced this summer with a new twist.

An alert from the FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), has reported two new versions of the scheme. One instructs the recipient to contact a telephone number contained in the email and the other version claims the recipient or a “loved one” would be kidnapped unless a ransom is paid.

Recipients of the kidnapping threat were told to respond via email within 48 hours. The victim was threatened with bodily harm if the ransom was not received within 30 minutes of the time frame given.

Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman, said the new twist is that the email comes personalized with the recipient's name, home address, and other information.

“The bad guys are using whatever they can to enhance the email,” Kolko told SCMagazineUS.com on Friday. “The information they use is pretty easy to find online.”

The email is meant to extort money from the recipient, which Mike Paquette, chief strategy officer of Top Layer Networks said is just another version of social engineering.

“From a technology perspective, there is nothing new with this spam,” Paquette said. “The real difference is that most social engineering is positive, while this spam is threatening.”

The FBI has received more than 5,000 complaints about the Hit Man email since 2006, with hundreds more arriving since its resurgence in July. Kolko said the FBI assures users that every complaint is taken seriously.

“There is no validity to this email,” he said. “Just don't respond to it and don't send money.”

ale powróćmy do głównego tematu ;) ponieważ wakacje trwają (dla wybranych :P ) to temat wakacyjnego 'hitu' jest nadal otwarty :) wiadomo nie od dziś że wakacyjny 'hicior' powinien być - lekki, łatwy i przyjemny w odbiorze :) kryterium - lekki - od razu dyskryminuje prawdziwego rocka (nie! 'twórczość' Dody to nie jest żaden kurwa rock! - co najwyżej 'pink pop' i WZK xD ) i również metal :( kryterium - łatwy - wskazuje preferowanie piosenek o nieskomplikowanym tekście (najlepiej jakby było go jak najmniej ;) ) i posiadające krótki, charakterystyczny i łatwo rozpoznawalny refren ;) kryterium - przyjemny w odbiorze - wskazuje iż idealna piosenka wakacyjna powinna łatwo wpadać w ucho i zbytnio go nie męczyć nawet po wielokrotnym przesłuchaniu (tu całkiem subiektywnie wyeliminowałbym Feel-a - w końcu ile razy można 'pokonać siebie'? - z drugiej jednak strony polskie stacje radiowe są ustawowo zobligowane do przeznaczenia co najmniej trzydziestu procent miesięcznego czasu antenowego na polskie piosenki - tylko kurwa czemu 29,9% tego czasu wypełnia Feel..? ) i ewentualnie do ogólnego obrazu hitu wakacji można by dodać jeszcze teledysk ;) przejdźmy do konkretów ;)

Mój główny faworyt w tym zestawieniu:

Morandi - Angels

a teraz reszta wyróżnionych przeze mnie ;)

R.I.O - Shine On

Eddy Wata - I Love My People

Guru Josh Project - Infinity 2008

David Guetta - Tomorrow Can Wait

Kleerup feat. Titiyo - Longing for Lullabies

Jakarta - One Desire

Matt Pokora - Catch Me If You Can

HA NOI — The Government’s efforts to restrict auto consumption have taken effect, helping the country see an eight-month record low in the imports of the commodity in August.

According to statistics from the General Statistics Office (GSO), in August the country imported only 1,700 CBU (completely-built unit) cars worth US$44 million. There were over 2,000 units totalling $51 million in July.

However, due to the sharp increase of vehicle imports in the first half of the year, the country in the first eight months still spent $843 million on the imports of more than 44,000 units.

In the wake of the Government’s restrictions on the consumption of luxury products including 4-9 seat cars, the number of imported cars has dropped sharply both in value and volume over the past few months, the GSO reported.

In the first quarter, the number of imported vehicles fluctuated around 10,000 units per month.

According to various analysts, the number of vehicles imported in August could be considered the absolute minimum, mainly because this month saw a large number of trucks and vehicles with 24 seats or more. The number of four seat cars, which are restricted by the Government, was insignificant.

Several auto dealers also affirmed that they stopped importing four seat cars in August as the market was frozen, adding that they would continue to cut down for the rest of the year, and to sell the stockpiles if the Law on Special Consumption Tax, which is drafted by the Ministry of Finance, is approved.

Under the draft law on Special Consumption Tax, which will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval in November with the aim of curbing the import of luxury goods, cars will be the most affected. This is due to the tax level levied on cars with 6-9 seats being raised from the 30 per cent to 50, 60 or 70 per cent, depending on their cylinder-capacity.

The finance ministry restrictions on the import of CBU cars still saw increases of 265 per cent in value and 290 per cent in quantity for the seven-month period, though much shallower in the second quarter of 2008 due to three consecutive tax rises from 60 per cent to 83 per cent.

According to economists, current tariffs on luxuries, already at a high level, have not been able to constrain the recent influx of these items – including 4-9 seat cars – into Viet Nam. In the first eight months of 2008, luxury imports helped bring import turnover to $59.3 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $16 billion. —