The Virtual Stoa

Pablo Neruda, poet, born Parral, 12 July 1904, died of leukemia in Santiago, 23 September 1973.

A bit out of focus, I know, but probably the closest I’ll get to an action-shot:

Who do you think the world’s “top thinker” is? Is it Robert Cooper? Christopher Hitchens? Yusuf al-Qaradawi? Naomi Klein? Tom Friedman? Anthony Giddens? Bernard Lewis, perhaps?

Go over here, goggle a bit at the names on the list, giggle a bit at the mind-set of the people who produced the list (Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines), and, if you have a mind, cast your vote…

I seem to have ignored the Lib Dems’ conference almost completely. If anything interesting and/or important happened there that I should know about, please tell me in the Comments.

My brother Michael will be on Radio Three’s Night Waves tonight at 9.30pm talking about a Russian film that everyone’s talking about, apparently. Tune in, and help to treble the usual audience for late-night worthy talk-radio arts programming.

Overseas viewers — you can get it on the web for the next week or so.

He’s trying to persuade me to listen by telling me that the previous item will have something to do with Rousseau. I’m persuaded.

See above.

Dorothy Emmet, philosopher, born 29 September 1904, died 20 September 2000.

Apologies for forgetting to Talk Like A Pirate yesterday, on international Talk Like A Pirate day. I won’t do that again.

Duncan Hallas, Socialist Worker, born 23 December 1925, died 19 September 2002.

Friends of the Republican Calendar: note that we’re cycling through the end-of-year holidays prior to Year CCXIV beginning on (Gregorian) 22 September.

Over here, with a very fine photograph.

UPDATE [11.30pm]: This is almost too exciting: from the Daily Pilot:

NEWPORT BEACH — The harbor commission voted Wednesday to suspend the mooring permit for a barge used to raise white sea bass in Newport Harbor.During the same meeting, the board voted to move forward with new rules designed to discourage sea lions from living in the harbor. The commission considered ordinances that would make it illegal to feed wild animals, such as sea lions and to discard items, especially fish remains, into the harbor.

Harbor resources supervisor Chris Miller said the commission favored additional provisions to the rules pertaining to fishing vessels. Harbor commissioners Tim Collins, Seymour Beek and Ralph Rodheim are set to meet next week to fine tune the ordinances before they are considered by the City Council…

I was wondering whether he’d get a proper job.

Livio Maitan, Italian revolutionary socialist, born 1 April 1923, died 16 September 2004, one year ago today.

Victor Jara, Chilean socialist songman, born 23 September 1932, murdered about 16 September 1973 in the repression following the coup of 11 September.

Finally, the military brought Victor Jara and other political prisoners to the Stadium of Chile, the place where the concert for Allende has previously been held. There the military men tortured and killed many people. They broke Victor Jara’s hands … so that he couldn’t play his guitar, and then taunted him to try and sing and play his songs. Even under these horrible tortures, Victor Jara magnificently sang a portion of the song of the Popular Unity party. After this, he received many brutal blows, and finally was brutally killed with a machine gun and carried to a mass grave.

There’s more on his songs here.

Osugi Sakae, Japanese anarchist, born 17 January 1885, killed by police after the Great Kanto Earthquake, 16 September 1923.

Also Ito Noe, Japanese anarchist and feminist, born 21 January 1895, killed by police after the Great Kanto Earthquake, 16 September 1923.

I like living with kittens. Like many of the finest things, they make life more serious and more frivolous at the same time, which is a tremendous double-action. Anyway: here’s Andromache, taking an interest in books:

And here’s Enkidu, lord of all he surveys, thinking about whether to learn a major European language:

I’m still hoping to get a good Andromache-up-a-tree photo, but it’s raining outside, and I don’t want to get wet.

The post below reminds me on an encounter I had almost exactly ten years ago, shortly after moving to the US. I was sitting on the T in Boston reading a copy of the Federalist, and a man in a hat turned and said to me, “Federalist Ten, Madison on faction — that’s my favourite,” and I thought what a great republic this is, where people exchange the numbers of their favourite Federalist Papers on the subway.