Nov 23, 2003. The other day I looked straight up in the sky, at the zenith or apex, where there were wispy clouds. And there was a rainbow visible on the clouds, though not on the blue. This wasn’t your usual rainbow. As for the mice problem, I set up a trap. I set forth a large bucket of water, and broke styrofoam, and placed the tiny fragments of the styrofoam on the surface of the waters. The styrofoam covered the water. The styrofoam was small enough that a mouse could not stand or jump, but would slip into the water. I put some bread on top of the styrofoam and other delectables. This caught one mouse. There may still be a mouse in the house, but he is staying out of the kitchen, and as long as he does not bother me too much, I will let live.

October 25, 2003. My work progress on translating the “Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy” from Polish to English. Almost finished the letter “A”. Meanwhile, a mouse or mice have come into the house for the winter, and I am beginning an intensive campaign to convince them that they are unwanted. Part of the campaign consists in a propaganda poster, shown below:

It has been so long now that I forgot I was keeping this weblog. Here in Niagara Falls Canada for some reason we were not affected by the blackouts. However, businesses have been told to limit their use of electricity so that when all the generators are turned back on, they won't be overloaded. But stupidity still prevails. I was at both Walmart and Zehrs trying to get some film developed at their 1-hour booths. They were not developing film to save electricity. Yet the air-conditioning was on full blast. What are they thinking? The air-conditioning is a big drain on power, and unnecessary. We can, and should, put up with some discomfort. Here in Ontario, the provincial government runs the liquor stores, beer stores, and libraries. The liquor stores and beer stores were open, the libraries were closed. There are answers and solutions to the problems that caused the blackout in the libraries. There is also an answer of sorts in the beer and liquor store—just get very drunk and the problem will go away.

I am feeling much better, thank you. Probably it is the vitamins most of all that help. I eat about four tablets every morning. I am still eating no red meat, but coffee does not seem to affect me.

For several weeks my left leg has been hurting, and hard bumps have been making their way upward from the knee. Now the hurting has stopped somewhat. Perhaps a thrombosis is finally on its way to central organs. So, I must get my work done so no loose ends are left. Anyway, I stopped eating red meat, coffee, and am avoiding some particularly annoying people, and this may be helping.

About drawing and painting. Today I did a picture using water-color pencils, and then water. It was on a regular piece of paper, which I glued to a piece of cardboard from a cereal box. I used rubber cement. The rubber cement did not make the paper stretch, buckle, or crinkle, and even later when I used water for paitning, it remained flat and the glue held. The cardboard also seemed unaffected, since I probably used enough rubber cement to seal it from water coming through to it.

There was a picture of a two headed turtle in the news. Other turtle stuff. Tortioses are omnivorous when young, but as they mature they become strictly vegetarian. Captain Cook gave a gift of a tortiose to a chief on an island (maybe in the 1770s). The turtle was still alive as of a couple of years ago, and we really don’ know how old it was when it was given. How can tortioses catch crickets and other prey that are too agile for humans to catch? Although they walk slowly, the tortiose has a very fast neck motion. The neck comes out of the shell and down in a flash, and the tortiose snaps up its prey.

Tomorrow is Victoria Day, the day we in Canada remember the “Great White Mother”. It is an hour before midnight, but I can hear fireworks everywhere. Around 10 pm there was a very loud fireworks display at the waterfalls (the Falls, as we call it), about 4 miles or 6 kilometres away. And yes, although this is a city with highways and other noise, on many nights we can hear the roar of the falling water from here.

A saying: “Man is the only animal with an opposable tongue.”

Another thought. If instead of posing as a mighty and morally pure savior, the President of the USA said—“We have done wrong, and we must spill our blood and treasure to make it right. We have collaborated to keep Saddam in power to oppress his own people. We have betrayed the people in 1991 when we incited them to rise up and then did nothing when they were crushed. So we have been evil-doers, and we must make amends by getting rid of Saddam.” Who could have argued with such a reason for going to war?

I have played this scenario in my mind often: suppose not the USA, but Russia proclaimed it would overthrow Saddam. It would claim that Saddam had, would, will, or could assist the Chechnyan guerillas. Such a claim would be believable, since (unlike the USA) Russia has had a hot war on its own territory, and the Chechnyan guerrilas and Osama’s people are almost the same organization. But no one would support such a move by Russia, and everyone would condemn it.

I have gotten in a few heated discussions about the Iraq War (or is it a battle, part of a bigger war, like WW 4). First, was it justified? The only justification one sovereign nation has for attacking another, is that it has been attacked, or is very certain that an attack is imminent. It is not enough that an attack is probable. Was Iraq planning to attack the USA? No one claimed this. The reasons presented kept changing. To free the Iraqi people. To prevent Saddam from giving Osama Weapons of Mass Destruction. For OUR FREEDOM (this was more the slogan of the pro-war media and those who demonstrated in favor of the war). Then the domestic campaign—now that the war is started, even if it is unjustified, we must not criticize it, but must support our troops. (I am not an American, but live a mile from the border, and so get American TV). All these reasons seem very strange. Why has the freedom of Iraqis become so important now, when even during the decade of sanctions the policy of the Coalition or Alliance has been to keep Saddam in power? If Saddam were intent upon giving Osama Weapons of Mass Destruction, would he not have done this long ago? Was Saddam a threat to domestic freedom in the USA?

Suddenly it occurred to me. The war was not to eliminate Saddam’s regime, but to prevent a loose-cannon regime from replacing the Baath regime. Perhaps it was known that Saddam’s regime would inevitably fall, and this would happen soon. Who would take its place? The only way to make sure was to move in before a regime change. In other words, this was not about causing a regime change, but about managing a regime change.

A few weeks ago, here in Canada, in Queenston Park (where brave General Isaac Brock fought off an American Invasion force and died in the arms of my ancestor, John McDonald) Canadians and Americans got together to support the war. They appeared on the television, and Canadians were saying things like “we must support the troops, the president, for our freedom…”. The troops are not our troops, the president is not our president, and this is not a question of our freedom. I recalled an episode from the History of Persia. In the 1950s there was an elected government, but it chose to nationalize the oil in that country. The agents of Britain and the USA manufactured bogus protests to make it appear that the people were opposed to the elected government, and this led to a manufactured revolution. The result was that the Shah replaced the democracy. That, of course, led to further problems. The people hated the Shah, and overthrew him. The Ayotollahs replaced the Shah, and the Ayotollahs hated America. So when Saddam attacked the country of the Ayotollahs, and gassed their soldiers, the Americans supported Saddam. So, how credible is the claim that this is all about bringing democracy? The whole involvement is precisely because the Americans overthrew a democracy. And what of Canada? I cannot believe that a real Canadian would speak of supporting the head of state of another country as if it were his own country. The whole Queenston event, and other parallel events, smack of the same sort of manufactured demonstrations (brought to us by the same people) which brought down the elected government of Iran so many years ago.

Just war is a hard thing to do. In any conflict at least one party is wrong, which means that the odds are that if your country is involved in a war, there is a 50 percent chance that your country is in the wrong from the outset. Furthermore, in some conflicts both parties may be wrong. So up the odds that your country is in the wrong to 60 percent. Furthermore, it is not enough to have a just reason for going to war, you must also use just means, and this is very very hard. So up the odds to 70 percent. Furthermore, even if your reason is just, you may have ulterior motives, which can make the thing bad. So up the odds to 80 percent. So, pacificists are wrong in principle, but for the most part right in practice. They are wrong in principle because if it is wrong to make an aggressive attack, then the defender must have a right to defend himself. So at least the defender has the right to wage war. They are right for the most part in practice, because the chances are that if your country is going to war, it is most likely wrong.

In my translating work today, I came across a Polish phrase sztuka sowizdrzalska—“soveezdzhalska art”. It referred to a genre of art, literature and performance that flourish in Poland maybe around 1600. Since it was a Polish form, there was no English translation, though I thought of “mummery”. The thematic material consisted of the actions and misadventures of low-born people, rogues, ne’re do wells, scatterbrains. Finally, I found a German site that referred to this word, since the art-form was also related to something in Germany. And the German site used a word that led me to the English word “picaresque” (from picaro, Spanish for “rogue”. So the translation is “picaresque art”. Translation is more of art than science.

Dies XIV Mai MMII

Hodie incipio blog. Benevolens lector, ut certiorem te facias qui sim, ite ad http://www.vaxxine.com/hyoomik. Videtis illic icones, picturas, illustrationes, et articulos de philosophia.

(English) Among other occupations, I am trying to make my own “Wasli” paper. This is many sheets of paper glued together and polish until smooth, used in India and Pakistan for painting miniatures. A friend who has learned this process will show me soon. Meanwhile, I am staying at home because of a mysterious influenza and prefer not to see visitors, and so I am doing my own experiments. Different kinds of paper. Different kinds of glue (rabbit skin, wall-paper paste, flour, white glue). Different ways of stretching paper. Wet paper, dry paper. Pressing the paper as it dries. Et cetera.