31–40 of 218 posts
And all this striving towards Chekhov's idea of cultured allows one to achieve what? I'd venture that for most it would amount to smugly patting themselves on the back for having achieved such a fine state of serenity. If this version of cultured means just another way to feel superior to others, I'm happy to be uncultured.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Everything in a person should be excellent Probably nitpicking, but I'd translate "прекрасно" as "beautiful" here.
I think "exellent" is an excellent choice of the word (beautiful ≈ красиво).
I think "beautiful" is more subtle (less banal, if you will) than "красивый". And so is "прекрасный".
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And all this striving towards Chekhov's idea of cultured allows one to achieve what? I'd venture that for most it would amount to smugly patting themselves on the back for having achieved such a fine state of serenity. If this version of cultured means just another way to feel superior to others, I'm happy to be uncultured.
It allows one to achieve a view where they don't judge others in an attempt to speak for them as you have done here. While you can imagine someone patting themselves on the back for being aesthetic, the reality is that is only occurring vividly in your own mind, and not out here. If someone was indeed patting themselves on the back out here for these things, that is a separate problem created of their own judgement.…
If a software module is producing faulty output, you have to fix the problem on the inside rather than simply rejecting all of the output. People are the same, except you can't directly inspect or modify their internals; you have to rely on message passing and observation, which is way more difficult. The way to make this more efficient, IMO, is to give people the tools to identify and resolve the underlying bugs in their own perception. But that's a different topic altogether.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I personally saw it and even touched his nose. Did it work?
Well, there's no possiblity of doing A/B testing. I can't go back and live an alternate life where I didn't touch his nose. So there's no way to know. But I'm enjoying my life, and I'm happy with the life in which I did touch his nose.
This letter appears to be a drawn out detailed set of insults to his older brother. Maybe cultured isn't the best translation. Is this what we in the US would have called "classy" back then?
http://allowe.com/laughs/book/When%20Insults%20Had%20Class.h... - just a quick hit on "classy insults" that seems to fit what I'm saying here.
And all this striving towards Chekhov's idea of cultured allows one to achieve what? I'd venture that for most it would amount to smugly patting themselves on the back for having achieved such a fine state of serenity. If this version of cultured means just another way to feel superior to others, I'm happy to be uncultured.
1. Let go of small things.
2. Have sympathy for the people around you.
3. Repay your debts.
4. Don't lie, don't brag, and don't gossip.
5. Don't disparage yourself to fish for pity.
6. Be humble. Let your talents prove themselves.
7. Spend time on the things that matter to you.
8. Long list of stuff that's generally about living in moderation and maintaining your body and environment.
There isn't much here to be smug about.
Dunno. I'm reading Chekhov's letters and it doesn't look to me he was up to his own standards.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the thing about russians and noses? The naval academy also has a statute with a lucky nose. In other cultures people want to touch the hands or feet of statues, but in russia it seems to be the nose.
> What's the thing about russians and noses? Well. https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/gogol/nikolai/g61n/