
A painter promised us a picture.
Here in New England, having learned of his death, I felt once again the sadness of recognizing that we are but shapes of a dream. I thought about the man and the picture, both lost.
(Only the gods can make promises, for they are deathless.)
I thought about the place, chosen in advance, where the canvas will not hang.
Later, I thought: if it were there, wouldn’t it in time become one thing more–an object, another of the vanities or habits of the house? Now the picture is limitless, unending, capable of taking any form or colour and bound to none.
In some way, it exists. It will live and grow, like music, and will remain with me to the end. Thank you, Jorge Larco.
(Also men can make promises, too,
for in a promise there is something that does not die).
From Jorge Luis Borges, “Elogio de la sombra“.

LATEX also has some disadvantages, and I guess it’s a bit difficult for me to find any sensible ones, though I am sure other people can tell you hundreds
- LATEX does not work well for people who have sold their souls . . .
- Although some parameters can be adjusted within a predefined document layout, the design of a whole new layout is difficult and takes a lot of time.
- It is very hard to write unstructured and disorganized documents.
- Your hamster might, despite some encouraging first steps, never be able to fully grasp the concept of Logical Markup.
From the “The Not So Short Introduction to LATEX“
Quella che mi coglie all’improvviso quando canticchio tra me e me:
E il sistema sicuro è pigliarti per fame
nei tuoi figli in tua moglie che ormai ti disprezza,
perciò chiusi in bottiglia quei fiori di neve,
l’etichetta diceva: elisir di giovinezza.
e mi accorgo della bellezza dell’immagine dei fiori di neve, ancor più bella di quanto pensassi prima quando capisco che quei fiori sono la truffa, il falso, il nulla.
A seguire il video e il testo.
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