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One of the many heralded concepts we hear in economics is that laziness drives all progress. Laziness, described as an impulse to avoid work, is present in each one of us. It is said to be an evolutionary trait whose purpose is to optimize resources and save us from wear and tear. From the dishwashing machine in our kitchens to the computer in our desks, through minor and not so obvious things like the cruise control in our cars or the auto redial feature in our mobile phones, evidence of that saying is present in every inch and at every second of our modern life. And progress, in turn, spearheaded by technology, drives more laziness.

Jag sover i dig
Det kan du inte veta
Nära födelsen sover jag
Och nära det förtrollande

Du vänder dig i sängen
Som en havande val
Som ett plankton med stora ögon
Slumrar jag i dig

Jag älskar dig
Det får du aldrig veta
Nära döden sover jag
Och spränger mina skal

(Lars Forssell ur En kärleksdikt, 1960)

The Washington Post has an article from Patrick Moore, a Greenpeace founder, stating the reasons for his change of mind when it comes to nuclear power. Nothing that hasn’t been said before by other authorities in the matter, but that adds a rewarding finishing touch to the pro-nuclear current of opinion.

Spot the message in this location at Google Maps. More than with the person who wrote it, I am curious about the person that deserved it.

Pysanky eggs are Ukrainian Easter eggs, and making them is a form of art. Each takes several hours of delicate work using a special tool, the kistka. Layers of dye and wax are deposed on the egg and left to dry. If everything goes well – and you have talented hands – you get one like these.

Just saw this in the Evil pundit of doom! blog (link in your right side). Next time you think you’re on top of the situation and you just know everything, consider one of these bad predictions about the future. And not all are from men or women relegated by History to anonymity.

My pick of the crop:

«It will be years – not in my time – before a woman will become Prime Minister.»
Margaret Thatcher, future Prime Minister, October 26th, 1969.

«We will bury you.»
Nikita Krushchev, Soviet Premier, predicting Soviet communism will win over U.S. capitalism, 1958.

«Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?»
H. M. Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers, 1927.

Have you forgotten how one Summer night
   We wandered forth together with the moon,
   While warm winds hummed to us a sleepy tune?
Have you forgotten how you praised both light
And darkness; not embarrassed yet not quite
   At ease? and how you said the glare of noon
   Less pleased you than the stars? but very soon
You blushed, and seemed to doubt if you were right.
We wandered far and took no note of time;
   Till on the air there came the distant call
Of church bells: we turned hastily, and yet
Ere we reached home sounded a second chime.
   But what; have you indeed forgotten all?
Ah how then is it I cannot forget?

(Christina Rossetti)

PS: Thank you Carla for introducing me to Christina Rossetti’s work.

Research on the novels that mean the most to men highlight the divide between sexes when it comes to reading habits. From this article in the Guardian, men prefer reading on indifference, alienation and angst. The idea of “aloneness” against the world also figures highly in their reading habits. Women, on the other hand, go for deeply held feelings and the struggle to overcome passion and circumstances.

Curiously (or maybe not) from the full list of books men consider a milestone in their lives, mine is included, One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Marquez. I just don’t know if I should rejoice for owning thirteen more of those books.

The full list:

The Outsider by Albert Camus
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Ulysses by James Joyce
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
1984 by George Orwell
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Salon has a clever piece on electronic trash entitled “Where computers go to die — and kill“. This comes in the footsteps of my previous post on the subject. It serves as a reminder on the cost of progress, and of who is paying the bill for our privilege.