Resignation from the RA

[Patroklus Murakami]

I understand that the Scientific Council will be meeting tomorrow to set dates for a by-election. Following the end of the merger with Al Andalus, one RA member does not have a CDS plot and so we will need a by-election to replace him.

I am finding it difficult to devote enough time to RA activities so would like to resign from the RA. My resignation will be effective from the day the polls open for the by-election (which can now be for two seats instead of one).

My reasons are that my RL partner and I recently bought a home and getting it set up right takes up a lot of my free time now. I will also be starting a new job (on promotion!) in mid-August and I expect that will mean even less time available for RA meetings and so on. I hope that resigning at this point causes less disruption than it would at another point in the term.

Best of luck to the remaining RA members and the new members who will shortly be elected.

[Pip Torok]

I understand that the Scientific Council will be meeting tomorrow to set dates for a by-election. Following the end of the merger with Al Andalus, one RA member does not have a CDS plot and so we will need a by-election to replace him.

I am finding it difficult to devote enough time to RA activities so would like to resign from the RA. My resignation will be effective from the day the polls open for the by-election (which can now be for two seats instead of one).

My reasons are that my RL partner and I recently bought a home and getting it set up right takes up a lot of my free time now. I will also be starting a new job (on promotion!) in mid-August and I expect that will mean even less time available for RA meetings and so on. I hope that resigning at this point causes less disruption than it would at another point in the term.

Best of luck to the remaining RA members and the new members who will shortly be elected.

Hi Pat,

I'm really sorry to hear that you're going. I wish you all the best in the onerous job that's facing you. Both a change of job and a change of location are, as you know, stress-inducing ... so I hope you'll take it easy.

And if you can find time to visit us, and, not least, to promote your blog, we'll be glad to see you.

Take care,

Pip Torok

[Kaseido_Quandry]

Congratulations on these exciting new turns in your life, and all the best of luck with them!

[Arria Perreault]

Pat,

I understand your reasons to resign. I would like to thank you sincerely for the time you have given to the community by being an active RA member for many years.
I wish you good luck for your new job.

[Robert Walpole]

Pat,

You are the spit-image British reincarnation of Pim Fortuyn! Men like you are dangerous in every walk of life -real or virtual. Congratulations on being promoted to your level of incompetence!

I wish you everything you deserve!

[Sonja Strom]

Robert, I can't believe you said that! And that came from someone who is not even a resident of the CDS...

Patroklus, congratulations on your new home and your new job! I understand the need to sometimes take care of things in RL, and wish you all the best! Thank you for all of your service in this community.

[Patroklus Murakami]

Pat,

You are the spit-image British reincarnation of Pim Fortuyn! Men like you are dangerous in every walk of life -real or virtual. Congratulations on being promoted to your level of incompetence!

I wish you everything you deserve!

LOL! Cheers Robert (alt of Michel Manen). I wish you love and light, love and light

[Pip Torok]

Pat,

You are the spit-image British reincarnation of Pim Fortuyn! Men like you are dangerous in every walk of life -real or virtual. Congratulations on being promoted to your level of incompetence!

I wish you everything you deserve!

LOL! Cheers Robert (alt of Michel Manen). I wish you love and light, love and light

In one of her books, Simone de Beauvoir mentioned that Nelson Algren had casually handed her the greatest accolade he could possibly have given her ....

In Nelson's view, Simone had made the right enemies.

I agree, as it happens. And if you do, you must be feeling particularly good this morning!

Take care,

'Don't you come that stuff, Jim Garland! We always
were English, and we always will be English, an' just
because we _are_ English, we're sticking up for our
right to be Burgundians!'

-- 'Passport to Pimlico' 1949

Pip Torok

[Pip Torok]

Pat,

You are the spit-image British reincarnation of Pim Fortuyn! Men like you are dangerous in every walk of life -real or virtual. Congratulations on being promoted to your level of incompetence!

I wish you everything you deserve!

Ah yes .... theRobert Walpole, otherwise known as Michel Manen ... we meet again.

You employ the sneer as a standard debating device, but here you've over-reached yourself.

Whenever anyone leaves, nearly all of us become mindful of Anthony's speech in Julius Caesar, and make an effort to say only good. You didn't, and I imagine that you'll not ever regret it. That behaviour may be what you are, your 'Ding An Sich', as Goethe would have put it. So be it.

But then you really blundered. You compared Patroklus Murakami to Pim Fortuyn. And that comparison has opened up the real and hidden heart of you.

For those unacquainted with Dutch politics, here is a vignette of the late Pim Fortuyn's thinking:

-- Stronger measures to fight crime
-- Less bureaucracy in government
-- Reduction of teacher shortages in schools
-- Shortening of waiting lists for hospital treatment
-- Repatriation of those immigrants who "won't integrate into Dutch society"

whereas Pat's own thinking could be summarised here:

"Your split between debate and community is yet another false dichotomy. We can have both. Political debate is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We need free and unrestricted speech in order to debate the issues and reach the right conclusions. We have a community. I think the distinction is between a closed society where certain topics are off limits, where the community maintains cohesion through repression, where, for example, people are 'discouraged' from free discussion on blogs and forums and told to 'keep it inworld'; and an open society where there are multiple sources of information, discussion and debate and freedom to say what you believe by the lights of your own conscience *even if that offends some people*. I think you favour a closed society, I think many other people in the CDS do. I favour the open society which the CDS was based on."

Can any reader think of a more profound contrast between Pim and Pat? I can't.

Now I, Pip Torok, am an advocate of Jung's idea of the "shadow". Google wikipedia for "Shadow (Psychology)" to get the background. It's naught for my comfort, so it may make uncomfortable reading for you too.

If it has validity, then you, Michel Manen, have marked yourself out as one of those "Men ... who are dangerous in every walk of life -- real or virtual". Hoist by your own petard.

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones;
so let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Caesar answered it."

-- Shakespeare, Julius Caesar III, 2

Pip Torok

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Great quotes, Pip

And we'll be missing you, Pat — but I'm sure you'll be able to return as soon as your RL move is completed! Even though that might take some time, I know...

Cheers!

[Carolyn Saarinen]

You employ the sneer as a standard debating device, but here you've over-reached yourself.

If Robert's comparison is over-reaching Pip, what can be said about yours: Pat as Julius Caesar? This is sycophancy gone too far even for you.
Unless you mean this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvs4bOMv5Xw

[Pip Torok]

You employ the sneer as a standard debating device, but here you've over-reached yourself.

If Robert's comparison is over-reaching Pip, what can be said about yours: Pat as Julius Caesar? This is sycophancy gone too far even for you.
Unless you mean this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvs4bOMv5Xw

Are you sitting comfortably, Carolyn? ... Then I'll begin:

When people at a leave-taking are "mindful" of some passage like this one, it very often means that it's only a small bit, or small bits, of a passage that they think of, not the whole chunk from "Friends ..." until "till it come back to me." Do you know anyone who can recite it through by heart, Carolyn?

Many people among those I'm acquainted with would have known this already. They would have gone to the first key "couplet" (= a set of two lines). And here is that "couplet":

"The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred in their graves; ..."

Now here's the hard part, Carolyn: Do you think the point of it is to encourage you to say good things at a "leave-taking", or else to say nothing? ....

Yes, I know. It is hard. But I hope you can answer it before your head starts hurting too much.

"I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son-of-a-bitch,
although he was, but that's not against the law for generals.
If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be
in gaol."

-- Harry S Truman (Plain Speaking)

Pip Torok

[Tor Karlsvalt]

Good Luck with your new home and promotion. I wish you the best.

Tor

[Carolyn Saarinen]

You employ the sneer as a standard debating device, but here you've over-reached yourself.

If Robert's comparison is over-reaching Pip, what can be said about yours: Pat as Julius Caesar? This is sycophancy gone too far even for you.
Unless you mean this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvs4bOMv5Xw

Are you sitting comfortably, Carolyn? ... Then I'll begin:

Patronising bleeder lately ain't cha? Go on

When people at a leave-taking are "mindful" of some passage like this one, it very often means that it's only a small bit, or small bits, of a passage that they think of, not the whole chunk from "Friends ..." until "till it come back to me." Do you know anyone who can recite it through by heart, Carolyn?

No, I don't, since I don't number RSC members among my acquaintance (I wish I did there might be cheap tickets in it).

Many people among those I'm acquainted with would have known this already. They would have gone to the first key "couplet" (= a set of two lines). And here is that "couplet":

"The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred in their graves; ..."

Yep yep, I know what a couplet is. I do believe my English Lit lecturers mentioned it. But first key couplet? Key is your reading. The definitely first couplet is:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

Rather more appropriate, in my view, but go on....

Now here's the hard part, Carolyn:

Braces herself.

Do you think the point of it is to encourage you to say good things at a "leave-taking", or else to say nothing? ....

That's a dichotomy you offer Pip. I'm not sure yours is the last word on Shakespeare's play. For myself, I'd hold to the notion that since Pat isn't dead and is/was certainly no Caesar, your quotation, with it's implied comparison, is a lot of pompous bollocks.

Still. Stand together, that's the main thing