Feb 13, 2006

No Deadline for the Dying

Ok, no deadlines for me this week, so...anyone?

Amorphis - Better Unborn

Better it would be for me
And better it would have been
Had I not been born, not grown
Not been brought into the world
Not had to come to this earth
Not been suckled for the world

If I'd died a three-night-old
Been lost in my swaddling band
I'd have needed but a span of cloth
A span more of wood,
But a cubit of good earth
Two words from the priest
Three verses from the cantor
One clang from the bell


On topic, or not quite:
how Japanese tackle the life-is-too-much-to-bear issue.

Even more on topic, and closing the circle with a quote:

"Finland's suicide rate is comparable to Japan's, but you wouldn't know it based on media coverage - I don't recall seeing any news stories on Slashdot about those crazy, depressed Finns."

But we know ;)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those statics sites always try to manipulate you, don't they? The real data you actually need is a list of countries, sorted by total number of suicides, not that alphabetical bullshit. So, a couple of quick excel tricks, et voila ;)

Saint Vincent and the grenadines? Mmm, sounds yummy ;)

(Suicide Rates per 100000)
Total Country
---------------
91.70 LITHUANIA
82.50 RUSSIAN FEDERATION
73.10 BELARUS
68.50 LATVIA
62.10 UKRAINE
61.40 SRI LANKA
60.70 SLOVENIA
60.10 HUNGARY
57.70 ESTONIA
55.00 KAZAKHSTAN
50.60 JAPAN
45.50 FINLAND
43.20 CROATIA
40.10 BELGIUM
37.10 AUSTRIA
36.50 CUBA
36.50 SWITZERLAND
35.50 FRANCE
34.60 LUXEMBOURG
34.30 BULGARIA
32.70 CZECH REPUBLIC
30.80 YUGOSLAVIA
30.80 POLAND
30.80 REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
30.60 MAURITIUS
30.60 NEW ZEALAND
29.00 DENMARK
27.80 CHINA (Selected rural & urban areas)
27.70 SWEDEN
27.50 GERMANY
27.50 SLOVAKIA
27.10 REPUBLIC OF KOREA
26.50 CHINA (Hong Kong SAR)
26.30 NORWAY
26.30 AUSTRALIA
24.70 ROMANIA
24.60 CANADA
24.30 ICELAND
23.80 SURINAME
23.60 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
23.30 KYRGYZSTAN
22.70 IRELAND
22.40 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
21.70 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
21.30 INDIA
21.10 GUYANA
20.80 URUGUAY
19.30 NETHERLANDS
18.90 SINGAPORE
17.90 PUERTO RICO
17.30 TURKMENISTAN
16.40 SPAIN
15.90 EL SALVADOR
15.80 ZIMBABWE
15.10 SAINT LUCIA
15.10 UNITED KINGDOM
14.80 TFYR MACEDONIA
14.50 ITALY
14.30 MALTA
13.60 UZBEKISTAN
13.30 BARBADOS
13.10 ISRAEL
13.00 BELIZE
12.90 ARGENTINA
11.80 COSTA RICA
11.60 CHILE
10.50 PORTUGAL
10.20 VENEZUELA
9.60 ECUADOR
9.10 SEYCHELLES
8.40 BRAZIL
8.00 THAILAND
7.50 PANAMA
7.30 GREECE
7.00 COLOMBIA
6.90 NICARAGUA
6.40 MEXICO
6.00 GEORGIA
5.80 TAJIKISTAN
5.40 BAHRAIN
4.60 PARAGUAY
4.20 PHILIPPINES
3.60 ALBANIA
3.20 ARMENIA
3.20 KUWAIT
2.20 BAHAMAS
1.80 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
1.60 AZERBAIJAN
1.00 GUATEMALA
1.00 PERU
0.70 JAMAICA
0.40 IRAN
0.20 SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
0.10 EGYPT
0.00 ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
0.00 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
0.00 HONDURAS
0.00 JORDAN
0.00 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
0.00 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

hazel said...

Well, Bulgaria is higher in the list than the following Scandinavian countries: Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark. And they are notorious for their depressive moods. Conclusion?

Btw, I'm making a collection of progressive rock bands from all over Europe. Lithuania looks promising on top of this list;)

Anonymous said...

LOL, I love your band-picking method ;)
---------
(там трябва да е swaddling band)
Сричките са напасвани с чистите вокали, при другите и без тва няма значение какво се пее ;)
Държа да подчертая умелата употреба (алитеративна алюзия към нашия аноним имаме тук:) на глагола "требвам". Не успях обаче да употребя "нежели", а много исках :)

За мен било би по-добре,
така бих искал аз,
Да не бях роден, ни расъл
ни донесен в този свят.
Пръкнат не на таз земя,
ни откърмен тук.

Ако бях след нощи три
изгубен в пелени,
Бих требвал само педя плат,
и още педя дърво,
лакът праведна пръст,
две думи от поп,
три строфи от псалтира,
един звън от камбаната.

Да бях умрял, да бях не-роден...

Anonymous said...

"Those statics sites always try to manipulate you"

Now statistics don't manipulate, people do. Like in the following case:)

"Well, Bulgaria is higher in the list than the following Scandinavian countries: Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark. And they are notorious for their depressive moods. Conclusion?"

As for the translation:

Да бях умрял, да бях не-роден...

Не съм сигурна, че тази форма се употребява в българския език, особено този, на който са се правели народните песни, какъвто ефект се цели от превода. И ми боде очите. Може би "да не бех се раждал" или нещо такова.

Frostie