Pretending

I seem to be one of very few people who think that pretending (in the imitative sense - to put it very loosely) poses a serious problem for the success of the private language argument. Cue much inexplicit argument with people who think I'm talking even more rubbish than usual. This one could run and run.

Here's a lucid piece by Paul Boghossian in the New Republic in 2001, on why pragmatism 'doesn't work in practice', to slightly misquote Sidney Morgenbesser.

UPDATE. a distressed liberal writes, Falluja pictures.

kilio cha haki

SAINT OF THE DAY is the Blessed John Duns Scotus [c.1265-1308], the 'subtle doctor' and the last of the three preeminent medieval philosopher/theologians.

TAX AMNESTY ends 31st December 2004. Calling all plutocrats, wannabe-plutocrats, Moi-era survivors, and all other holders of ill-gotten wealth, the Kenya Revenue Authority tax amnesty is still on.

KILIO CHA HAKI or, the Guardian discovers Kenyan hiphop:

.At night, when the rubbish is burnt, the smoke fills Dandora's streets like fog. "People in Dandora don't live," says rapper Githinji "G-Ronji" Gicharu. "They survive."

..Earlier this year, a 26-year-old Dutch woman called Nynke Nauta brought over some producers from Amsterdam and installed a makeshift studio in a two-bedroom apartment in the relatively salubrious slum of Umoja, using mattresses to sleep on at night and to soundproof the walls during the day. Thirty-eight rappers from across the Eastlands came by to record tracks, and the result is the album Kilio Cha Haki:
A Cry for Justice...

Fortitude

will be necessary to get through these next four years. All the same, this election has cured me of my pro-Americanism. How this nation that seemed to stand as a constant reminder of the power of hope has allowed itself to act in this fearful way is difficult to understand. Anyway, as churchill said, Americans always do the right thing in the end, so here's hoping.

ST MARTIN DE PORRES. Yesterday, but that hasn't stopped me from being thankful and remembering him today.

Continium42 and the experientialist are now on board with the whole blogging thing. Pay them a visit while you're here ...