Lars P. Syll

Sail on silver girl [embedded content] Still — after 50 years — I hold this for being the most beautiful pop song ever written.

 [embedded content]Invisible Heroes tells the heroic tale of young Finnish diplomats in Chile during the infamous military coup. The diplomats helped over 2000 Chileans escape Pinochet’s junta. The Finns acted without official authorization while Swedish ambassador Harald Edelstam was the most visible defendant of human rights with the backing of Sweden’s Prime Minister, Olof Palme. Finns were the invisible heroes.

Poem of the atoms  [embedded content]  O day, arise! The atoms are dancing. Thanks to Him the universe is dancing. The souls are dancing, overcome with ecstasy. I’ll whisper in your ear where their dance is taking them. All the atoms in the air and in the desert know well, they seem insane. Every single atom, happy or miserable, Becomes enamoured of the sun, of which nothing can be said. Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273)

The other day, on the way home after having attended an economics conference, yours truly tried to beguile the way by listening to a podcast of EconTalk where Garett Jones of George Mason University talked with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas of Irving Fisher on debt and deflation. Jones’s thoughts on Fisher were thought-provoking and interesting, but in the middle of the discussion Roberts started to ask questions on the relation between Fisher’s ideas and those of...

 [embedded content] In loving memory of my brother Peter ‘Uncas’ Pålsson — truly ‘a red man deep inside.’

 [embedded content] Graham Bonnet’s vocal performance is just awesome — it still gives me goose pimples every time I listen to it.

Rethinking economics in Copenhagen

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In der vordigitalen Zeit konnten die Einzelnen in vielen Streitfällen als Staatsbürger auftreten, geschützt von der klar umrissenen Rolle. Jetzt schwindet dieser Schutz. Jetzt soll ein jeder mit sich selbst identisch sein – und ist entsprechend verletzlich … Die einzelnen Subjekte werden greifbarer, weil sie ihr Ich veröffentlichen. Ungreifbarer wird hingegen die Öffentlichkeit, in der sich die entblößten Subjekte darbieten. Die Sichtbarkeit nimmt zu, die Unsichtbarkeit ebenso...

Vad ska vi ha skolan till? Skolpedagogiska reformimpulser borde så småningom sluta att förlita sig på sjuttiotalets motiv, innebörder och semantik. Annars går det som när en orkester orubbligt fortsätter att spela de gamla välkända melodierna utan att bry sig om att publiken för länge sedan har lämnat salen. Det är på tiden att spela något nytt, man borde våga en ny början. Farväl till sjuttiotalet!                                    Thomas Ziehe, ”Adjö...