Mental graffiti [wk 16]

Tales of Mere Existence

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Fruitsapjes

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Titivillus

Gefundenes Fressen op Wikipedia: Titivillus is de demon die spelfouten veroorzaakt. Hij wordt kennelijk voor het eerst genoemd in een Tractatus de Penitentia van John of Wales (13de eeuw). Ene Timothy DeVinney citeert:

Fragmina verborum titivillus colligit horum
Quibus die mille vicibus se sarcinat ille.

Wikipedia citeert verder een anoniem vijftiende-eeuws werk, de Myroure of Oure Ladye:

I am a poure dyuel, and my name ys Tytyvyllus ... I muste eche day ... brynge my master a thousande pokes full of faylynges, and of neglygences in syllables and wordes

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William S. Burroughs - Ah Pook is Here

(geregisseerd door Philip Hunt,
tekst & stem Burroughs, van het album Dead City Radio)

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The Dark Side of Dubai

Een fascinerend artikel in The Independent over de vrije val waar Dubai door de financiële crisis in is geraakt. Not that it had much to keep it airborne in the first place, kennelijk. Onder andere wordt een Britse vrouw geinterviewed wiens echtgenoot (vanwege een hersentumor blijkt later) in de schulden raakt en zijn baan verliest.

[Daniel] knew he was guaranteed a pay-off when he resigned, so we said – right, let's take the pay-off, clear the debt, and go." So Daniel resigned – but he was given a lower pay-off than his contract suggested. The debt remained. As soon as you quit your job in Dubai, your employer has to inform your bank. If you have any outstanding debts that aren't covered by your savings, then all your accounts are frozen, and you are forbidden to leave the country.

"Suddenly our cards stopped working. We had nothing. We were thrown out of our apartment." Karen can't speak about what happened next for a long time; she is shaking.

En schulden zijn strafbaar...

Daniel was sentenced to six months' imprisonment at a trial he couldn't understand. It was in Arabic, and there was no translation. "Now I'm here illegally, too," Karen says I've got no money, nothing. I have to last nine months until he's out, somehow." Looking away, almost paralysed with embarrassment, she asks if I could buy her a meal.

She is not alone. All over the city, there are maxed-out expats sleeping secretly in the sand-dunes or the airport or in their cars.

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En ach, het is tenslotte tweede Paasdag...

(Gloomy Bear)