Residua

THE BUTCHER’S TALE

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 23:30:34 +0000

There was once a man in Cairo whose wife was famous for beauty and piety. She had a pair of plump geese in the house, heavy with delicious fat, and, never far away from the house, a stalwart lover whom she loved to distraction. One day the lover saw the geese and felt his appetite tempted by them; so he asked if his mistress would not cook them for him. “I will stuff them and cook them, and you should have them all,” she replied. “Light of my eyes, I promise that my bastard of a husband shall not have a taste of them.”

When her husband returned at sunset, she began twitting him for his meanness, saying that he never asked a guest to dine with him. “That is easily remedied,” answered the man. “I will buy you a dish of lamb and rice tomorrow, and ask one of our intimate friends to eat it with us.” “Rather buy me some good stuffing,” she said, “and kill the two geese in the morning, before you go to work. I shall stuff and roast them to a turn, and your guest will be the more delighted.”

The wife at once set to work: she plucked and drew the geese, she stuffed them with a marvel of minced meat, rice, pistachios, almonds, raisins, pine-seeds, and fine spices, and finally watched over them in the oven until they were cooked to a golden-brown perfection. Then she sent a little negress for her lover, who speedily answered the summons. They clipped each other and went to it with mutual satisfaction until the morning grew late. At last the woman gave him the two delicious geese in their entirety, and sent him back to his own house.

At noon the woman’s husband returned home with a guest, but she told him that the geese would be enough for three or four, and bade him hasten to invite more of his friends. As soon as he had gone forth in all docility to do her bidding, she went up to the guest and said to him in a voice trembling with emotion: “Alas, alas, why do you not escape while there is yet time?” “What is the matter, O wife of my friend?” asked the man. And she answered: “As Allah lives, my husband is offended with you, and has laid a snare for you to cut off your testicles and to reduce you to the sorry conditions of a eunuch. He has even now gone out to collect friends to hold you down during the operation.”

Without waiting to hear more, the guest jumped to his feet and, leaping into the road, ran away as if he were pursued by a Jinni. At that moment the husband returned with two more friends, and the woman met him with a bellow: “Police, police! The geese, the geese!” Then he cried: “Peace, good woman, peace!” But his wife went shouting without cease: “The geese, the geese, the geese, the geese! Your guest has stolen them, bones and grease! He climbed out by the window! Run after him, all of you, quickly, please, for he has stolen the geese!”

The husband rushed into the street, and beheld his late guest speeding away, with his tunic held between his teeth. “Come back, come back, in Allah’s name!” he cried, “I will not take the two, you can keep one of them!” But as he ran, the fugitive shouted over his shoulder: “Old fool, you will have to get young legs before you catch me and take my eggs!”

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol. IV, London and New York: Routledge, 1964, pp. 98-99.

“COULD AI BECOME CONSCIOUS?”

admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:30:17 +0000

Thus the front page of The Economist of August 22, 2026, as well as the title of its main leader of this date. The leader starts by quoting Pope Leo, whose recent encyclical called for drawing a line between humanity and artificial intelligence or AI. In short, humans and many animals feel pleasure and pain, but AI is not capable of such feats. I could not believe my eyes when I read the first few paragraphs of the leader. Consciousness is yet another term that defies clear definition. Its meaning is all over the place, that is. Most credible definitions connect it to wakefulness and awareness. Pleasure and pain, love and hate, pride and envy, as well as lust and abstinence are not far behind. Why in the world would AI ever wish to mimic such human foibles, though? And why would AI ever take part in this biological conundrum of the human species and its untold animal ancestors down the evolutionary line? This is beyond the mighty newspaper, as well as Pope Leo. One way or another, consciousness is for the birds. Drawing a line between humanity and AI is nothing but a pitiful joke. And I can well imagine AI ferreting through arguments of this ilk across the media on offer on the World Wide Web. “Human stupidity is unlimited,” I can well imagine its solemn verdict. If only humans could ever get rid of their ecological burden!

THIS WORLD AND I

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:30:04 +0000

Day after day, I check the world news on the most credible sources available on the World Wide Web. Slowly but surely, it is becoming obvious that the number and significance of problems facing this world are mounting while the number and reliability of solutions to these problems are dwindling. As well as ever faster. To wit, it is obvious that this world is up the shit creek. The only questions are when the crisis will become tangible and how fast will it turn into mayhem. Come to think of it, the only questions are how old will I be when the crisis starts in earnest and how capable will I be to deal with its consequences at the time. And the best answers I can come up with are that I will be close to departing from this mortal coil and that I will be nearly unable to deal with the crisis any longer. I, too, will be up the shit creek. In short, this world and I are facing the same fate, which strikes me as an amazing coincidence. At long last, we are like one. One and the same for true. Alleluia!

THE TEMPTATION OF EVE

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:30:59 +0000

When Jure Bralić opened his printing shop on the upper square six or seven years ago, I was immediately enchanted by one of the carvings on display. Entitled “The Temptation of Eve” (1899), it was carved by Walter Crane (1845-1915), an artist of renown. Not surprisingly, there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to him, as well.[1]. The carving had disappeared from Jure’s shop a year or so ago, and I had repeatedly asked him to bring it back. Which he did a month or so ago. Ah, Eve! Aware of my embezzlement, Jure promised to give it to me as a present, but he broke our friendship for some mindboggling reason a short while ago. And so I found the carving on the World Wide Web.[2] A big snake spiraling around her body to cover her vulva, she is stretching with palpable joy as she is picking an apple from a branch of a tall tree. Endowed with propitious hips and thighs, she has gorgeous albeit small breasts, narrow shoulders, and very long legs. To top it all, she has lively toes that have never been molested by footwear of any kind. Hey, footwear was unimaginable in good old Eden! In short, Eve is a woman very to my liking. As well as that of her creator, as is more than obvious. In short, Crane and I are on the same page concerning women. As of late, his carving pops up on the screen of my laptop whenever I wish. And I feel no less than blessed by her power. The woman! According to the scriptures, she erred by offering the apple to Adam, for it was a prohibited fruit, but it was her gorgeous body that actually ushered the human tumult unending. The carving shows it beyond any doubt. Amen.

Footnotes

1. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Crane (accessed on August 21, 2026).

2. URL: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/as8y4te8/images?id=zmdd3nmz (accessed on August 21, 2026).

THE WRONG WAY

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 23:30:58 +0000

Ever since I have moved to Motovun, I have almost always walked the wrong way—that is, the longer way—from one place to another (see. e.g., “My Walking Ways,” September 1, 2003). If I go to the local store close to the top of the Motovun hill, I walk around the entire town; if I walk to the Hotel Kaštel for a glass of wine on the upper square, I walk by the Barbacan parking lot; and if I walk for lunch at my favorite restaurant, which has a terrace on the lower square, I go the Barbacan route once again. Not surprisingly, my new mobile phone tells me that I am taking between ten- and eleven-thousand steps each and every day. Which makes me pretty happy even though my phone has no idea what a difference it is to walk up or down this blessed hill. Given the state of my health, though, the wrong way may well be the right way. Or the way, as a matter of fact. Indeed, go the longer way as long as you can! And especially if you live on top of a rather steep hill, like the one I happen to live on the last couple of decades. Pure luck, no doubt. Luck as such, as a matter of fact.

VERITAS MAIOR

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 23:30:09 +0000

Homo sapiens sapiens non est. Linnaeus stultus erat. In veritate, homo sapiens stultus est. Et omnium malorum stultitia humani generis est mater. Veritas maior.

“SHOULD YOU BE AFRAID OF ELON MUSK?”

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 23:30:24 +0000

Thus the front page of The Economist of July 25, 2026, which is graced by a black-and-white photograph of his defiant face, as well as the title of the main leader a few pages beyond. Predictably enough, though, there is no clear answer to this question on any page of the mighty newspaper. In short, it is your own guess. But it is clear beyond any doubt that the most wealthy human on earth should make you worried. Really worried, in fact. There is way too much power in the hands of a single human, and you should be afraid of such humans for sure. Humans are dangerous animals. The more powerful, the more dangerous, too. This has been the case from the beginning of history, and it will hold on till history bites the dust. Alexander, Nero, Attila, Genghis, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin… Browse through any history book of worth, and you will find many a powerful human who has been feared through the millennia. The only difference is that most of them were warriors of renown, whereas the leaders of this day and age are capitalists of mindboggling wealth. Capitalist warriors, to be precise. Easy-peasy. No matter where and when, humans of outlandish power should be feared by their brethren across the planet. Period.

THIS STARTLING VISION OF THE FUTURE

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 23:30:33 +0000

Humans will go through many more glaciation periods on earth, the first of which must be behind the corner. Time and again, civilization will perish with inclement weather. The upcoming interglacial periods will lead to new advances of civilization, but these advances will be curtailed by decreasing availability of resources that remain on earth. Entropy rules. After a number of such advances, not much will be left for the upcoming ones. In the long run, most resources will be exhausted. Irrespective of glaciation cycles, humans will in time be deprived of new civilization advances. Reduced to hunting and gathering for thousands upon thousands of years, they will inhabit the earth in ever-smaller numbers. Their tribes will shrink in numbers, as well. After a few million years, humans will increasingly resemble their primate ancestors—chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. The only question that remains is whether this startling vision of the future is welcoming or not. In my mind, it is as welcoming as it could possibly be. As primates, humans will accommodate to the conditions on earth without any difficulty. Even more, they will enjoy their existence with relish. Advances of civilization in their tumultuous past will be farthest from their minds as time marches on. They will be forgotten forever. For millions of years, they will live in conditions that will fit their biological origin the very best. Heaven on earth, and no kidding.

TOO DARN HONEST!

admin — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 11:54:13 +0000

It is too darn hot, as The Economist reported a fortnight ago on its front page, and I am sweating a lot. But, as I like to mention in passing, I am peeing much less. During the night, I pee only once as of late. Heatwaves are not entirely in vain, that is. When I mention all of this to friends and acquaintances, some of them get cross pretty fast. Hey, I am too darn honest!

FAR APART

admin — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 23:30:43 +0000

Surrounded by humans, I feel spooky often enough. Most of them feel the same when I am around, I am pretty sure. Come to think of it, we are far from far apart.