In 1903 Bertrand Russell published a statement of sorts that confused a lot of mathematicians and really pissed off a colleague. It was the Paradox of Sets and goes something like...
Say there are all these numbers and these numbers can each belong to a certain set. Now for all the numbers that do not belong to a set make them a member of this new set of numbers which do not have a set. But if these numbers then are a set of these numbers which themselves have no set, aren't they now members of a set? Which in turn means that they can't be of this set which is a set set aside for numbers to which have no set. Yet since these numbers are no longer members of a set they must be members of this set of numbers to which there is no set.
As the paradox shows, there was a reason Russell was hated by a growing number in the mathematician fraternity.
Ethan Switch - Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Terminal 3 of San Francisco domestic airport, ground floor. Not far from Two Wings for Wall and Person by Vito Acconci, an etching in 12 parts wasting away some minutes of time. Dropping $20 into a machine spits out an international prepaid phone card from Exactta Communications. Nearby, cattle of wayward luggage and suitcases idle next to the bank of phone booths and empty carousels.
Between escaping the card dispenser and making use of the face value credit, a long wait with minutes pass en masse. An hour at least. Calling into the customer service department, their help is with an accent Hispanic, and not anywhere near the sub-continent.
Read the rest of Exactta international prepaid phone card review
Ethan Switch - Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Don't go watching a French film with subtitles on the morning after the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Just don't.
Read the rest of Claude Chabrol's A Comedy of Power - Palace Academy Twin Cinemas - 04/03/07 review
Ethan Switch - Friday, July 28, 2006
Vultures, the lot of them. Rabid packs of high school students on one of the cheapest and lamest excursions imaginable run the floor of the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Barging and bumping over each other, no sense of order and talking like the drunks ambling out of last night's gig.
At least five sets of blazer colours are on the run and they hamper the flow of traffic by camping out in the entrance. If not setting non-existent camp fires, they clump together like sweat down the back of a nice pure cotton T-shirt.
Read the rest of Sydney Morning Herald Careers and Employment Expo freebies review
Ethan Switch - Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Database error: Please bake some more brownies.
Such a beautiful production. Shame about all the patrons making off with all of the cough drops. Pity the coughers.
Read the rest of Giselle - Australian Ballet - Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House - 08/05/06 review
Ethan Switch - Thursday, December 8, 2005
To at least one man standing on the corner of the Eastern Distributor and Oxford Street in Paddington, the area knows well the actions and activity of gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexuals alike. Those looking for a simple stroll along a street famous for its annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras may find personal lap dogs eager to please or kidnap the unsuspecting participant.
Operating within close walking distance to the main artery of Oxford Street, one may possibly find themselves with an invitation to abandon sense and ritual.
Read the rest of Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) - Palace Verona, 17 Oxford Street, Paddington review
Ethan Switch - Monday, February 7, 2005
Bondi Beach. Sand envelopes the entire place. Pot plants, inside the lifts, the counter top. Hell, even the showers scatter the grains of sand across the floor. Damn sand is everywhere. Lizette Montepelier knows of this observation's existence from a train and bus ride away. Daylight is unkind toward the Bondi Pavilion on Campbell Drive. Seat colours take up a lot of the ugly. Arriving with enough lead time, the cinemagoers find their mingling taking place on the balcony behind and in front of the pavilion. A paradox of locational streams.
Behind pale blue eyes a French accent shoots from the lips of a girl with frizzy hair and a sweater with one shoulder. Affecting this steely glare of loopiness, her voice is distant and her directions a little misleading. Vague gestures direct the feet straight into the turtle room; wherein dancers are dancing socks amast across the floorboards. Doubling back, the popcorn stand is where the purple banding action lies. This is where the food also resides.
Read the rest of The Dreamers at Bondi Open Air Cinema - Bondi Beach Pavilion - 03/02/05 review
Jimmy Weasel - Wednesday, December 1, 2004
These gloves are designed with a single purpose - prevention of blisters while pumping the iron. They are not intended for any other task. They will not make you run faster, lift more, or appear larger. They are not to be used when challenging someone to a duel or even demanding satisfaction from all who serve to insult you.
They will not work well in the batting cages to deaden the shock of a ball flying onto your bat at 75 miles/hour. This is because the finger of the glove extends only to the first knuckle. As a result, dull shock may/will occur.
Read the rest of Weight-lifting Gloves (Clara Trading Company - Product #CTC-275) review
Jimmy Weasel - Sunday, November 14, 2004
The sachets that were delivered say "combat stimulant," which lead me to believe that Ethan had somehow managed to get his fingers upon some kind of military supply box that managed to fall from a truck. Further investigation revealed some kind of crazy cross-marketing scheme between Octane and Sony, for the launch of the game Killzone.
"In a drawn out fire-fight, fatigue is a soldier's worst enemy. If you feel tired or run down, maintain peak mental and physical performance levels by applying Octane stimulant immediately."
Read the rest of Octane Energising Gel - invigorating & avoiding eye contact review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Saturday, November 13, 2004
As always, when all good things are said and done, they must inevitably come to an end. After all, the movie was over and so was our reason for being together.
And so it came to be that four young men, satiated for the time being at least, found themselves lost on the streets of a city known only to fashion conscious 16-year old girls, purveyors of religions wacky and weird, and, of course, the ubiquitous poverty stricken.
Read the rest of Bad Santa - George St Cinemas 10 November 2004 review
Ethan Switch - Friday, November 12, 2004
Peak hour bums around the clock, slicked guys and busted girls at the Greater Union Hoyts Village complex on George Street stand in a thick depressing queue transplanted from the banks not open during the night. Taking the usual wear of sweat and dead skin, that creepy guy tries to sell a wristband to the homeless man with a photo of the Virgin Mary smoking a cigarette.
Words in the digital stream signal free passes to Bad Santa waiting at the box office for collection. Minutes are spent standing wondering whether or not wipe-on goo-invigorate sends a shock to the digestive system. Jimmy fronts the counter and walks away empty handed, ushered to the usher ushering at the first entry usher point of the cinemas. Waving through with nary a check, the double pass seems to be a figment of decisive understudy. Atop the escalator, ahead of cinema 9 are two more girls, one in a popcorn uniform, the other with a wad of passes and sheets of type.
Read the rest of Bad Santa - George St Cinemas 10 November 2004 review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Monday, August 2, 2004
wonderful, yes
This review was written in spurts over the period of a week, if it doesn't flow well, that is why.
Read the rest of Confessions of a Misspent Weekend - Splendour in the Grass - 2004 review
Ethan Switch - Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Skulled under cover of hair usually left unshaven, a pinkish-to-red welt sits just left on top of the scalp. Sitting below the skin on the left shoulder, a scarlet spider. An ear lobe split, now healed. Broken skin rips the fists with spotted crimson remnants. One hit the left leg, as two stained the right and a mark makes itself home on the left pectoral. Topping it all off, a glorious spatter of six shot dead on the back. Breathing deep is hard, moving in any direction or steam proving to be even more of a challenge.
"Pain is just a state of mind."
Read the rest of Skirmish - Action Paintball, Rouse Hill - 25/07/04 review
Ethan Switch - Sunday, June 20, 2004
Black humour when the deceased is known to those in the vehicle hurtling at the speed limit falls to an awkward reception. Hurtling down the freeway with time already having escaped one party and soon to bypass another. Scheduled for a one p.m. service, traffic and an ear full of soapy lather in a library of incense added much to the urgency. The premise of dying on the way to a memorial service never really entered into the minds of the occupants of that car. With fifteen minutes into the proceedings, the nondescript Macarthur Christian Life Centre was spotted and in entered four more known to the deceased.
Upon the stage the pastor or such halted for a second to register the latecomers. Many seats of the auditorium were filled with friends and family, the inner section mostly with those under thirty and the flanks with those over. Projected up there on the screen, right of the stage, Joseph Flores, Jr., the Marine. American Joe to some, Joey Joe Joe to others. Other names ever more so. Joe dead body was nowhere in sight. An expectation of an affair similar to a wake leading to that assumption. On a table just beside the steps to the stage were a few mementos, a Letterman jacket, an American flag and a Pizza Hut uniform among others.
Flick through all the other paradox of sets reviews ever written at The Wax Conspiracy.
»1« 2
Lick the red box and keep a fresh and up-to-date eyeball on our latest reviews, articles and filthy somesuch. Or kiss it.
class=etc
class=grimm
class=grimm
id=vonnegut
For lovers of reviews on music, books and theatre with advice and fiction on life and evolution.
Nipple protection from the elements?
Armpit hair needs a lair?
Bellybutton catching too many flies?
Then grab this comfy chest covering and other kinds of T-shirts at The Wax Sweatshop.