Dmitry Chernikov’s Blog

This is the one. Let’s sing something in celebration:

I promised her rings for her fingers,
Sparkling flowers for her flaxen hair;
I swore that I’d never set sail in foul weather,
But stay by her side at the shore.

Fare thee well, oh ye Barbary merchants,
Fare thee well to the Spanish blockade,
Fare thee well to the siege of Gibraltar,
And the treacherous seas of Cathay!

I gave her my word to be married,
And took her sweet vows in return;
I swore that I’d never set sail in foul weather,
But stay by her side at the shore.

Fare thee well, oh ye Barbary merchants,
Fare thee well to the Spanish blockade,
Fare thee well to the siege of Gibraltar,
And the treacherous seas of Cathay!

I built her a cottage in Chatham,
Gave her children to sit by the fire;
I swore that I’ll never set sail in foul weather,
But stay at her side at the shore.

Fare thee well, oh ye Barbary merchants,
Fare thee well to the Spanish blockade,
Fare thee well to the siege of Gibraltar,
And the treacherous seas of Cathay!

But our country’s too small for a sailor
Without the blue sea and the sky;
Though I swore that I’d never set sail in foul weather,
I left her behind at the shore.

Take me back, oh ye Barbary merchants,
Let me risk at the Spanish blockade,
Carry me to the siege of Gibraltar,
And the treacherous seas of Cathay!

May the Lord of blogs be with you always. (Reply: “And also with you”; that is, me.)

That’s exactly what that blog is. It’s not scholarship, it’s not apologetics, it’s not even debate; it consists of outrageous rants, often in response to other rants no less outrageous.

I was robbed of my childhood by being almost completely deprived of cartoons in the rotten old Soviet Union. When I moved to the US in 1993, I’d never miss what was called “Disney Afternoon” on TV. Some of the more recent cartoons I’ve found to my liking, alphabetically (I’m omitting the adult cartoons, such as The Simpsons, Futurama, etc.): Avatar: The Last Airbender, Dave the Barbarian, Hey, Arnold, Kim Possible.

Feel free to suggest additions to this list.

Happy independence/secession day to you and yours. Please comment “aye” if you would like the state you live in to secede from the United States.

In one episode Peter is filming a plastic bag being moved to and fro by the wind and saying that there’s so much beauty in the world, obviously in a reference to the movie American Beauty. Then there is a shot of God on a cloud yelling at him: “It’s just a piece of trash blowing in the wind! Do you have any idea how complex your circulatory system is?!”

Lew Rockwell asks, “why are the frightening calls for energy autarky — that is, destruction of part of the division of labor — by McCain and the other neocons — never even controversial?” I think it’s because the government can do anything to us. The only thing that limits the state these days is public opinion, and the mainstream media — the opinion-molders — is statist to the core. There is no realization that protectionism both impoverishes and is a prelude to war. As an old saying goes, if goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will.

What’s the point of getting angry if you can’t do anything? Influence folks a little bit, sure. But more than that? There is a comedy movie called Mystery Men about seven unlikely superheroes. One of them is Mr. Furious, played by Ben Stiller, whose superpower is that he gets angry. Real angry. But nothing happens. What are we supposed to do? “Stand on the hill with Lew Rockwell, dressed in black, waving the black flag, and saying ‘Smash the State’”? Now of course it is a gross misrepresentation to label Rockwell & Co. left sectarians. It is his accusers who have succumbed to right opportunism while doing the allegedly “responsible, respectable, important work.”

If the revolution comes, it won’t be because of any Fabian nudging. Ron Paul offered the public an opportunity to vote libertarian within the system, and look how far he got. (In terms of promoting ideas, quite far; in terms of political success, nowhere at all.) The revolution will come when no one expects it. It will be unpredictable, and it will indeed smash the state. Everybody knows that revolutions come when the state is in retreat. Success breeds audacity which causes further success, etc. We need a hook, an “objective” condition, which, as Rothbard writes, is “a ‘crisis situation’ in the existing system, a crisis stark enough to be generally perceived, and to be perceived as the fault of the system itself.” Our task is to prepare the public to choose wisely when it’s time to pick the direction of radical reform.

Here is the master himself:

Consequently, when man knows an effect, and knows that it has a cause, there naturally remains in the man the desire to know about the cause, “what it is.” And this desire is one of wonder, and causes inquiry… For instance, if a man, knowing the eclipse of the sun, consider that it must be due to some cause, and know not what that cause is, he wonders about it, and from wondering proceeds to inquire…

If therefore the human intellect, knowing the essence of some created effect, knows no more of God than “that He is”; the perfection of that intellect does not yet reach simply the First Cause, but there remains in it the natural desire to seek the cause. Wherefore it is not yet perfectly happy. Consequently, for perfect happiness the intellect needs to reach the very Essence of the First Cause. (ST, II-I, 3, 8)

So, the point of seeing God and His glory face-to-face is to… satisfy your curiosity? You just wonder how all things began and where everything is going and that’s why you want to see God? So that He would answer all your questions? Does all Aquinas want to know is the entirety of truth regarding God’s relationship with the actual world? Does he want to know God in His aspect as the first cause of the world, or does he want to find out (1) not merely what is actual but what is possible; and (2) not merely what is possible but God’s self-knowledge of His inner self, isolated from both the possible worlds and the actual world.

We go from the actual world to possible worlds to God’s essence; God goes from His essence to possible worlds to the actual world. I‘d like to meet God in His inner core, unless it is impossible. Is it?

Am I guilty of expatiating on the Absolute as if it were my pocket watch? Do I also fail to shrink from announcing eternal absolute values and from establishing moral codes unconditionally binding on all men?

Aeon has heard about Trevor’s new method for creating exact human duplicates…

Another example of superb dialog with voice acting to match. And that’s just the setup for this episode’s unique plot. Get this show!

Update. Watch it for free at Spike.com.

I used to like imaginative retellings of the story of creation and fall, and I think I still do. Here is one such, from Aeon Flux’s “Chronophasia”:

I recommend that brilliant series to everyone; just try to get the original versions, instead of the unfortunately altered director’s cuts presently being sold on DVDs.

“… is facing two counts of attempted aggravated murder of a police officer, two counts of felonious assault, … and drug abuse of marijuana.” (The Akron Beacon Journal, April 15th, 2008, B1)

Well, maybe we can forgive his shooting at cops but smoking marijuana?! String the monster overbearing up!

Doesn’t it sounds not a little obscene? It’s like they are going to strap electrodes to your genitals and stimulate them. Doesn’t matter how tired you are, you’re getting a hard-on and using it, too!

Here.

If Jesus was a jedi, what would He say?

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

“With the capture of the Elven Runestone, Gul’dan has been able to warp the power it contains to mutate an entire legion of his loyal and ruthless Ogres into wielders of arcane magiks. Along with this transformation these Ogre-Magi have been granted deadly magiks and a malicious cunning rivaling that of Gul’dan himself.”

(No matter how long ago you played that game, you just don’t forget scenario introductions like that one.)

With bony hands I hold my partner
On soulless feet we cross the floor.
The music stops as if to answer
An empty knocking at the door.
It seems his skin was sweet as mango
When last I held him to my breast.
But now we dance this grim fandango
And will four years before we rest.

– from Grim Fandango

A beautiful poem from a brilliant classic computer game. And I am not even in a grim mood! (The action takes place in the “Land of the Dead,” inspired by Mexican folklore; hence the references to bony hands, etc.)

A British tar is a soaring soul,
As free as a mountain bird.
His energetic fist should be ready to resist
A dictatorial word.

His nose should pant,
and his lip should curl.
His cheeks should flame,
and his brow should furl.
His bosom should heave,
and his heart should glow,
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow.

His eyes should flash with an inborn fire,
His brow with scorn be wrung.
He never should bow down to a domineering frown
Or the tang of a tyrant tongue.

His foot should stamp,
and his throat should growl.
His hair should twirl,
and his face should scowl.
His eyes should flash,
and his breast protrude,
And this should be his customary attitude.

– from H.M.S. Pinafore

Should we Americans rediscover this “customary attitude”? Vote Ron Paul, folks. He is the our first hope since the failed “Republican Revolution” in 1994, and we may not have another such for a long time should he fail to win.

So as you shiver in the cold and the dark,
Look into the fire and see in its spark –
My eye
Watching over you.

As you walk in the wind’s whistling claws,
Listen past the howling of the wolf’s jaws.
My song
Comes to you.

And when you’re lost in the trackless snow,
Look up high where the eagles go.
My star
Shines for you.

In deep, dark mine or on crumbling peak,
Hear the words of love I speak.
My thoughts
Are with you.

You are not forsaken.
You are not forgotten.
The North cannot swallow you.
The snows cannot bury you.
I will come for you.
Faerun will grow warmer,
And the gods will smile
But oh, my love, guard yourself well –
All this may not happen for a long, long while.

– from Neverwinter Nights

I finally decided to heed the advice of some of the respondents to my article on Star Trek and bought Firefly. Man, what a show! And they canceled it after only 9 episodes? Are they out of their minds? This is the most entertaining, well-made, and fun sci-fi series with razor-sharp dialog I have ever seen. There is no techno-babble nor the evil close-ups. I just fell in love with the characters. Some episodes stand out, like “Our Mrs. Reynolds”: I tell you, I did not see that coming (you’ll know what I’m talking about). “Ariel” advanced the plot by leaps and bounds, and the special effects were amazing. And “War Stories,” featuring the psychopathic Niska, was absolutely hilarious, torture notwithstanding.

All characters are Artisans, unlike the all-NT Star Trek which explains the show’s tactical cleverness. Jayne is a bit of a caricature of an ISTP but a deliberate one used for comic relief. (But something could have been made out of him had the show had a chance to progress.) There is not a trace of political correctness or of the momentary victim group obsessions of the political class. In other words, men are men, etc. (The economics of the show is not always up to par: in “Ariel” it is never explained why there is a black market in medicine. Are there price controls? Is the industry socialized? The hospital was strangely enough government-run, and we all know that government-run anything is useless and inconsistent with high civilization.)

The acting is exceptionally good, as well.

One of the coolest things is how each episode starts pretty much where the previous episode leaves off. References to earlier episodes are abundant and natural.

I recommend Firefly to anyone. It’s only $20 on Amazon.com. Get it and enjoy the ride.

NB: Click only if you know Russian.

А Ну Отдай Мой Каменный Топор

В Далёком Созвездие Тау-Кита

Диалог У Телевизора

Как Ныне Сбирается Вещий Олег
- It is interesting that in the Pushkin’s version of this poem Oleg asks the magus to reveal to him his destiny; In Vysotsky’s funnier version the magus or magi tell him “out of the blue” or “apropos of nothing.”

Лукоморья Больше Нет

Баллада О Брошенном Корабле