Category Archives: Politics

The Fog Of War

By terje | Published: July 18, 2009
Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara.
Also posted in American stuff, Awe, History, Movies, Recommendations, Review | 5 Comments

The friends you keep… — 2009-02-06

By terje | Published: February 6, 2009
“Socrates himself seems not to have been interested in any revolutionary implications of his discourse, but they were not lost on some of the young men who enjoyed watching him dissect the flawed logic of his interlocutors. (..) The most vicious of the self-styled Socratics was Critias, not only the leader of the oligarchs who seized control [...]
Also posted in Greek stuff, History, Literature, Quote of the day | 3 Comments

The Matrix

By terje | Published: November 20, 2008
Just watched The Matrix, but seeing as I’ve already reviewed this movie somewhere else on this blog, I’m going to limit myself to pointing out how much the whole Matrix/human batteries thing seems like something out of Marx. You’ve got your people, right, who can be likened to either the people in Marxist theory in general, [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Art, Awe, Bliss, Coincidents, Goosebumps!, Hodge-podge rambling, Karl Marx, Movies, Old Heroes, Pleasant surprises, Revelations, Review, Speculative fiction, Weird stuff, What I Learned Today, Whoa, Yay!, lol | 6 Comments

An English villager’s complaint

By terje | Published: October 15, 2008
Ye friends to truth, ye statesman who survey The rich man’s joys increase, the poor’s decay, ‘T is yours to judge how wide the limits stand Between a splendid and an happy land. Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore, And shouting Folly hails them from her shore; Hoards e’en beyond the miser’s wish abound, And rich men flock from [...]
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, Art, Awe, Education, English, Goosebumps!, History, Language, Literature, Nostalgia, Poetry, Quote of the day, Wistfulness | 4 Comments

The Economist Global Vote 2008

By terje | Published: October 1, 2008
The British weekly news magazine The Economist, one of the world’s most renowned news outlets, has set up a rather nifty site where people from all over the world can drop in and vote for their favourite candidate for the American presidential election this November. Go check it out; it has a lot of fun [...]
Also posted in Links, Recommendations | 1 Comment

The Punic Wars and Expansion — Lecture #2

By terje | Published: September 2, 2008
2nd lecture — The Punic Wars: From Village to Mediterranean Empire. (This post is based on a lecture held by Jan Frode Hatlen at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology on August 28 2008. However, any factual errors in the text is strictly my responsibility.)
Also posted in Education, Hist2125, History, Images, Links, Quotes, Roman stuff | 24 Comments

Introduction and Overview — Lecture #1

By terje | Published: September 2, 2008
Lecture #1 — A General Introduction and Overview. (This post is based on a lecture held by Jan Frode Hatlen at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, August 21 2008. However, any factual errors in the text is strictly my responsibility.) It is hard to be precise about what Rome was like before approximately 500 BCE, [...]
Also posted in Byzantium, Education, Hist2125, History, Roman stuff | 11 Comments

Inheritance

By terje | Published: June 7, 2008
“The nineteenth century’s legacy to the twentieth century’s social scientists resembles an old house inherited from a rich aunt: worn, overdecorated, cluttered, but probably salvageable.” — Charles Tilly, as quoted in Torbjørn L. Knutsen’s A History of International Relations Theory.
Also posted in History, POL 1000, Quote of the day | Leave a comment

A Plague! A Plague on Our Houses!

By terje | Published: May 24, 2008
In my Last.fm shoutbox, I was recently asked by one of my readers to post more frequently in my blog, and seeing as your whim is my law, I bring you this: an essay of sorts about the last topic you’d expected me to write about! One of the things you might not know [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Boredom, Conflicting emotions, Disappointment, Discomfort, Dumb luck, Evilness, Failed attempts at subtility, Family, Football, Forums, Glee, Gloating, Goosebumps!, Great Expectations, Grief, Hallucinations, Help!, History, Hope, Impressions, Irony, Language, Laziness, Links, Lists, Lotta, Media, Megalomania, Misery, Music, My microcosmos, Norse stuff, Norway, Nostalgia, Oh noes!, Opinions, Optimism, Pain, Panic, Paranoia, Pessimism, Pettiness, Pleasant surprises, Potential, Pride, Procrastination, Roman stuff, Scepticism, Speculations, TMI, Television stuff, This Blog, Various, Videos, Weird stuff, Whoa, Why do I think anyone cares?, Wistfulness, Words, Yay!, lol, meh. | 11 Comments

An elitist yet fascinating hypothesis

By terje | Published: January 6, 2008
“Medan [mannspanelet] drøftar feminiseringa av samfunnet over kaffikoppen, er ein type ung mann, som mannspanelet er kjemisk reinsa for, på full fart inn i sammfunnet. Han du ser med flagrande svart dress i Dagens Næringsliv, som raider på tysdagen, hedger på torsdagen, shorter på fredagen, snorter på laurdagen og speler poker på søndagen. Resten av [...]
Also posted in Norway, Quote of the day, Speculations | Leave a comment