blessed britons

Five days after the British came, some looters came to the warehouse at midday. They had no guns, but they threatened us-they said they would beat us up, and if we opposed them they would return at night with guns. There were four British tanks on Sa'ad Square, so we went to the British to ask them to help us. We said there are looters inside the building, threatening us. We even had to lie to tell them that they had guns, so that maybe the British would come. But they didn't. So we returned to the building and saw that the looters were taking some stuff, and we eventually managed to chase them off... At 9:30 p.m., some other looters came by, in a stolen sanitation company car, and demanded fuel. They had a gun with them, so we were afraid... All the time, four British tanks were just sitting in the street.

— Muhammad Akhdar `Abbud

in HRW's report Basra

mad world

Brussels sprouts grown in Norfolk are harvested by machines with incredible wastage and efficiency, taken by lorry to a packing department in the Midlands, sent to a factory where they are washed, cleaned, sorted by size, packaged or frozen and finally sent back again to Norfolk to appear in the supermarkets, wrapped in cellophane or a dinky little net bag... A study conducted by the SAFE alliance in 1995 showed that food was travelling 50% further before it reached the supermarket than it did in the late 1970s.

— Michael Rowbotham

Grip of Death

plagiarism

where do they stand

Submitted by antarchi on April 28, 2007 - 16:56.

When a thing has been said and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.
Anatole France

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Albert Einstein

There is much difference between imitating a man and counterfeiting him.
Benjamin Franklin

He that readeth good writers and pickes out their flowres for his own nose, is lyke a foole.
Stephen Gosson

Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll, In pleasing memory of all he stole; How here he sipp'd, how there he plunder'd snug, And suck'd all o'er like an industrious bug.
Alexander Pope

He liked those literary cooks Who skim the cream of others' books; And ruin half an author's graces By plucking bon-mots from their places.
Hannah More

Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism.
George A. Moore

Away, ye imitators, servile herd!
Horace

The poet dare help himself wherever he lists, wherever he finds material suited to his work. He may even appropriate entire columns with their carved capitals, if the temple he thus supports be a beautiful one.
Heinrich Heine

Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement. Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author's phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces it with the right idea.
Guy Debord

Plagiarists are purloiners who filch the fruit that others have gathered, and then throw away the basket.
Horace Smith

bad arguments

Submitted by antarchi on February 25, 2007 - 01:03.

it's normal
everyone does it
you can't do everything
you can't change everyone
it's none of your business
it's better than... (dropping a bomb)
you'll only make things worse for yourself
you've done worse things than that yourself
don't rock the boat

good answers...???

... it shouldn't be (and only is because we let it)
... they shouldn't (and only do because we let them)
... but you might be able to do something
... but you don't have to 'change' yourself
... if we made more things our business they might not happen at all
...and worse than not doing it
...probably
... and should be judged for them (if I don't do so myself)
... I hate this boat

gumming together long strips of words

Submitted by antarchi on May 5, 2007 - 18:57.

modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.

— George Orwell

Politics and the English Language

antarchi's quotes

stolen words

Submitted by antarchi on January 7, 2007 - 02:17.

Modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.

George Orwell

So here are some good resources written by other people and gummed together antarchically. The humbug is of course on my part, not on theirs.

Add new comment