Aleksey Polukeyev
@alp
Aleksey Polukeyev
... See moreLast July I read a book about the Great Depression. In it they described a carnival tent, kept at arm's length from the others, where men would gather at night. And they would peer through a gauzy curtain to watch a woman lie on a fainting couch and await the coming dawn. The men could not make out her face, or even if she was truly beautiful, but
The whole area needed to be re-planned. The buildings intended for the cemetery needed another slot in the plan; perhaps the density of the campus as a whole needed to change. To correct for these changes properly, it would have been necessary to draw an entirely new master plan. But of course a new plan was not drawn. There was neither money nor e
... See more"The Big Bang may have been a large cosmic rebound (or "Big Bounce"), in which a contracting universe reaches the maximum density allowed by the quanta, then rebounds and begins to expand. In the case of a black hole, it is just the star rather than the entire universe that bounces, but the physics is similar: at extremely high density the quanta a
... See more“When the thistle blooms and the chirping cicada sits on trees and pours down shrill song from frenziedly quivering wings in the toilsome summer, then goats are fatter than ever and wine is at its best; women’s lust knows no bounds and men are all dried up, because the dog star parches their heads and knees and the heat sears their skin.”
Anaximand
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“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
Asimov
Adaptive life re-enters the building when it becomes too cheap for speculation. Turnover refreshes, but it also erases.
Being aware that we may be wrong is different from claiming that it is senseless to speak of right and wrong. Recognizing diversity and taking seriously ideas that diverge from our own is different from claiming that all ideas are equally worthy. Knowing that a given judgement is born within a complex cultural context and is related to many others
... See moreEverything about money and buildings says they are expected to live only a brief time, typically 30 years. Most mortgages go for just 25 or 30 years, and so the asset life comes to match the finance period. Just when you own it, you have to replace it.