Roger Altman

  • Joy of randomness

    We move between chaos and control. For those who experience Saigon traffic, the dance takes it to another level: randomness. A tour bus made its final stop in front of a hotel. Tourists stepped down, immediately, with cameras (little did they know, traffic like this is all too common). Rain and randomness. Control and chaos, coexist. That’s just one aspect…

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  • Flaubert et moi

    Actually this is about the redemptive aspect of literature. Set in 1843, Flaubert‘s character rode the psycho-somatic roller-coaster. The result: Madame Bovary set him apart from his Romantic contemporaries. He started the school of Realism even though he never admitted it. Bovary got married, Bovary got bored, Bovary had an affair and a brush with death but…

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  • BYOD

    The Economist Christmas Special was about America, a Ponzi scheme that works. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15108634&source=hptextfeature It projects 1 Billion Americans by 2100. With its many niches, America seems to offer a bit of everything, for everybody: hunting, boozing, gambling, church-going and freedom to protest. I remember my first Christmas, living humbly in a cold basement. But I…

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