Yesterday, while taking a shower, I had this cool idea: wouldn’t it be great to have a mobile device that would store all the information on wikipedia on it? I already have a local version of wikipedia on my laptop, but I don’t carry the laptop around all the time: it is too big. That device would have to be small and light, should fit in my pocket. Just like some other famous guides to the universe…

Today I stumbled upon the ipodlinux and encyclopodia projects and I realized that, actually, I was carying around that device with me all the time… And then, I installed linux and a wikipedia reader on my ipod mini!

It is a funny feeling when you see that something which you considered as being a cool idea is already out there. And a similar funny feeling is when you consult wikipedia on your ipod :)

Repent Harlequin Said The Ticktockman

(1993), by Cristopher Browning

In one of the most shocking books I have ever read, Christopher Browning follows the evolution of a german reserve police batallion during the second world war, battalion which is involved in making several districts in poland “judenfrei” - free of jewish people. The book follows the psychological evolution of the members of the battalion from “ordinary men” to … masacre machines.

I tried to think about what is it that makes this book so powerful. I first thought that it might be the atrocities that are related. And indeed, some of the related things are terrible. On the other hand, I have read other books on the holocaust, and although they are all dark books, they were not this scary. Maybe the others I have read were written as memoirs and in that they had a small glimpse of optimism: at least the author survived.

I think it is something else that makes this book particularily powerful, and I think it is the abundant quotations from the people who participated in the massacres. The author gathered the quotations from the transcripts of many trials in which members of the battalion 101 were involved. The quotations are the proof that the things which are related are truly real. They are witnesses of how low can the human degradation go. They make all the related events and characters so real. And they follow the evolution of the actors from the people who shade a tear when they hear the first order of killing people to the people who in the end enjoy making jokes about a hard day’s demon’s work.

The last drip of bitterness in the book is the final part in which the author attempts to discover what was special about the people in reserve police battalion 101 that made them able to perform the atrocities that they did. After all there had to be something about them that made them prone to becoming killer machines… The surprise is in fact that they were not special at all, they were just… ordinary men. Ordinary men like me and you, who listened to authority and preferred to go with the flow.

If in a dark book like this there is any trace of hope, it is in seing that few (although much too few) of the many members of the reserve battalion 101 had the power to resist authority, peer pressure, propaganda, and had the courage to say no. I believe the world would be a better place if we all learnt to think for ourselves and had the courage to stand for what we think.

Shackleton - although tried several times, he never reached the south pole in his life. at least once he could have made it but did not want to risk. in fact, he never lost anybody from his crew in all his trips.

Scott - set up his base camp more to the north than initially planned. he added one man more to the expedition without increasing supplies. he continued to the south pole even if he realized that he can afford no margin of error on the return trip. he died on the way back together with all the members of his crew.

Amundsen - planned throughly the expedition. studied both Shackleton’s earlier attempts and innuit techniques. got to the south pole and returned back safe with his entire crew. in fact, some of the crew even gained weight during the return trip.