... Reasons to think. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The more we are able to engage the world with our whole selves -- reason, imagination, feeling and sensation -- the more likely we are to encounter truth.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Bullshit alert ...
... Did early hunters cause climate change?
The operative word is could.When hunters arrived in North America and drove mammoths and other large mammals to extinction, the methane balance of the atmosphere could have changed as a result, triggering the global cool spell that followed.
"It is conceivable that this drop in methane contributed to the Younger Dryas cooling episode," says Smith.
The operative word is conceivable. Is this the sort of crap that science has become? The reason it's called prehistory is because there was no one at the time around capable of recording what wass going on -- lack of writing, etc. Which of course leaves it open to all sorts of speculation, including this sort. Editorial standards need to be raised. I know, I sound petulant. But this kind of stuff is really becoming tiresome. Or maybe just ts being taken seriously is.
Uh-oh ...
... e-books are different from traditional books: Further Thoughts of a Novice E-Reader. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Imagine ...
... John Lennon Poetry Competition to be judged by Poet Laureate. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Table talk ...
... Nassim at Lunch. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
See also Hopper Lives. (The Iggy Pop bit reminds me of what Dock Elllis said when asked how he could have pitched a no-hitter on acid: "Wasn't easy." And, speaking of pitchers, congratulations to Roy Halladay.)
See also Hopper Lives. (The Iggy Pop bit reminds me of what Dock Elllis said when asked how he could have pitched a no-hitter on acid: "Wasn't easy." And, speaking of pitchers, congratulations to Roy Halladay.)
Thought for the day ...
There is no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinable which we call 'the breaks.' In order for a writer to succeed, I suggest three things - read and write - and wait.- Countee Cullen, born on this date in 1903
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Memorial Day Weekend ...
We will be in and out today - I just came from produce shopping, which followed a sung Mass at St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi Church, the oldest Italian church in the country. More about that later.
Amyway, blogging will reflect the holiday irregularities.
Amyway, blogging will reflect the holiday irregularities.
Take that ...
... Publishing’s Not Dead: The Industry Responds to Garrison Keillor. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Screwtape would understand ...
... Spirituality Without Spirits. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Debbie and I went to see Anthony Lawton's excellent stage adaptation of C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters at the Lantern Theater last night. Highly recommended. Lawton is superb, and so is Kim Carson as his infernal assistant.
Thought for the day ...
Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.- G.K. Chesterton, born on this date in 1874
Friday, May 28, 2010
So is the present ...
... The past is a foreign country; they write poems differently there. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The question, I suppose, is who is facing reality more honestly, those who spurn or those who embrace sentiment?
The question, I suppose, is who is facing reality more honestly, those who spurn or those who embrace sentiment?
Hear, hear ...
... About Stefan Zweig & Michael Hofmann- a riposte. (Via Philosophy, lit, etc.)
I recently read Zweig's book about Verlaine. I thought it wonderful.
I recently read Zweig's book about Verlaine. I thought it wonderful.
Lots of good stuff ...
... Martin Gardner, a 'whys' man.
... More philosophy bits (including Nick Lowe).
... Morley Callaghan interview (1977)
... More philosophy bits (including Nick Lowe).
... Morley Callaghan interview (1977)
Very interesting ...
... Guardian Says It Needs to Become an Open Platform. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
This certainly bears watching. I hope it works.
This certainly bears watching. I hope it works.
Thought for the day ...
The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.- Walker Percy, born on this date in 1916
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Buzz ...
... The Metaphysics of The Fly. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I'm not sure about whether or not dogs (or cats) can reason. When I found my late cat Pandora, she was a kitten and I was house-sitting for a friend who was a ballet director. In the living room of his house was a large ballet mirror. One day, soon after she moved in, Pandora noticed a cat image in the mirror. She scratched at the glass with her paw, then went into the next room (the door to which was right beside the mirror) to determine if the cat she saw was in the other room. Having determined that whatever it was she was seeing was no real cat, she never looked in the mirror again. Seemed pretty reasonable to me.
I'm not sure about whether or not dogs (or cats) can reason. When I found my late cat Pandora, she was a kitten and I was house-sitting for a friend who was a ballet director. In the living room of his house was a large ballet mirror. One day, soon after she moved in, Pandora noticed a cat image in the mirror. She scratched at the glass with her paw, then went into the next room (the door to which was right beside the mirror) to determine if the cat she saw was in the other room. Having determined that whatever it was she was seeing was no real cat, she never looked in the mirror again. Seemed pretty reasonable to me.
On the one hand ...
... and on the other: Vetting Tariq Ramadan.
As far as Ramadan's being "ambiguous" regarding the stoning of adulteresses, in the debate with Sarkozy, he refused to condemn the practice, but did call for a "moratorium" so that Muslims could debate the matter. Would have been nice -- and far less ambiguous -- if he had let on what his position in such a debate would be. According to Bruce Bawer's Surrender, Caroline Fourest's Frere Tariq, uses Ramadan's own words to demonstrate that he is "a habitual practitioner of the Islamic art of taqiyya - whoch essentially means saying one thing in Arabic and another thing in English or French."
Of time and a timepiece ...
... 'Ava and Hemingway' exhibit extended six months. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Thought for the day ...
Some people think that all the equipment you need to discuss religion is a mouth.- Herman Wouk, born on this date in 1915
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The candidates speak ...
... sort of: Oxford Professor of Poetry Candidate statements. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I could never be a candidate for this position, but if I were I would submit no statement. Read the poems.
I could never be a candidate for this position, but if I were I would submit no statement. Read the poems.
Aidan Higgins
Published in 1972, but long out of print in the United States, Aidan Higgins's Balcony of Europe is a masterpiece - a long, complex, modernist masterpiece. Never mind the reviews or the complaints regarding its form, this novel is worth the price of admission. I've just finished it - and can't say enough for its rhythmic qualities, its thoughtful insights. Nearest literary neighbors: Banville, Durrell, Djuna Barnes, and, in its attention to the expatriate life in Spain, Hemingway.
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: The future of the humanities, Unfashionable Toynbee, Missing Eliot, and more!
Hmm ...
... Committing savage satire, respecting readers and finding the odd in sex: Colin Marshall talks to Alexander Theroux, author of Laura Warholic: Or, The Sexual Intellectual. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Sounds a tad delusional to me, given how fashionable Israel-bashing has become in certain circles, mostly the circles Theroux moves in.
I find the world monstrous. Just in the news, that Israel won't let eight Palestinian Fulbrights — and the way the United States has cravenly rolled over and let Israel dictate whether these eight scholars, high-minded people, can't even get out of that horrible place in Gaza to come to the United States to be Fulbrights — that's the kind of thing I'm attacking. That's the kind of pain I'm inflicting. That's the kind of no-punch-pulling, unsparing, pitiless, even cruel attitude that I try to launch in the book.
Thought for the day ...
The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us then ten-thousand truths.- Alexander Pushkin, born on this date in 1799
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Too busy to blog just now ...
... but here's some very nice music (God I loved Harry James when I was a little kid).
Hmm ...
... Search for a New Poetics Yields This: 'Kitty Goes Postal/Wants Pizza'. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Professors emeriti, however, are not usually the best judges of hip.
"Flarf is a hip, digital reaction to the kind of boring, genteel poetry" popular with everyday readers, says Marjorie Perloff, a poetry critic and professor emeritus of English at Stanford University. "You used to find it only in alternative spaces, but it has now moved into the art mainstream."
Professors emeriti, however, are not usually the best judges of hip.
Like to travel?
... well, here's a site you might want to bookmark: Chris Around the World.
Chris is a former colleague. I just ran into her this morning in what turned out to be an impromptu reunion of liberated Inquirer employees. I hadn't known of her website, but it sure looks neat to me.
Hear, hear ...
... Living in denial: Questioning science isn't blasphemy. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
As philosopher Edward Skidelsky of the University of Exeter, UK, has argued, crying denialism is a form of ad hominem argument: "the aim is not so much to refute your opponent as to discredit his motives". The expanding deployment of the concept, he argues, threatens to reverse one of the great achievements of the Enlightenment - "the liberation of historical and scientific inquiry from dogma".
As philosopher Edward Skidelsky of the University of Exeter, UK, has argued, crying denialism is a form of ad hominem argument: "the aim is not so much to refute your opponent as to discredit his motives". The expanding deployment of the concept, he argues, threatens to reverse one of the great achievements of the Enlightenment - "the liberation of historical and scientific inquiry from dogma".
Thought for the day ...
The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.- Edward Bulwer-Lytton, born on this date in 1803
Monday, May 24, 2010
I have to agree ...
... No Museum Left Behind: The relocation of the Barnes Foundation to downtown Philadelphia is fueled by ignorance and avarice, not altruism.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
For Pentecost ...
... the conclusion of the first movement of Mahler's eighth symphony, whoich is a setting of the Medieval hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus." Methinks you will find the conclusion quite impressive. Rattle takes it at a pretty fast clip, and it ain't Jascha Horenstein, but it works.
Well woth a listen ...
... Richard Rodriguez on Catholic Church Embroiled in Scandal. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Not new ...
... but worth reading anyway:
Lynne says that's the kind of reader she is and suspects I am. Well, that's me all right. Between 8 and 11 most nights, anyway.
By readers, I don't mean people who pick up a book, once in a while. By readers, I mean people who when they are at work during the day think that after dinner tonight and after the kids are in bed, I'm going to read for two hours. That's what I mean. No. 2, these people do it three or four nights a week for two and half, three hours, and while they do it they don't watch television or answer the phone.'
Lynne says that's the kind of reader she is and suspects I am. Well, that's me all right. Between 8 and 11 most nights, anyway.
Over at Bryan's ...
... much that is interesting:
Henrietta Lacks.
Venter’s Bugs (in which Bryan poses a very good question: Why is it that biology brings out this anti-religious mania in people?")
Emailing Steve. (You may want to as well.)
Henrietta Lacks.
Venter’s Bugs (in which Bryan poses a very good question: Why is it that biology brings out this anti-religious mania in people?")
Emailing Steve. (You may want to as well.)
Today's Inquirer reviews ...
... John Timpane on A satisfying final part of 'Girl' trilogy.
... Yours truly A riveting whodunit from Tolkien's grandson.
... A look at the Social costs of antiterror moves.
... And A dark look at Irish political history.
... Yours truly A riveting whodunit from Tolkien's grandson.
... A look at the Social costs of antiterror moves.
... And A dark look at Irish political history.
Thought for the day ...
Art can only be truly art by presenting an adequate outward symbol of some fact in the interior life.- Margaret Fuller, born on this date in 1810
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Here we go again ...
... Humans: Why They Triumphed. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Is it really the answer, or just a proposed answer couched in terms of a popular frame of reference?
The answer lies in a new idea, borrowed from economics, known as collective intelligence: the notion that what determines the inventiveness and rate of cultural change of a population is the amount of interaction between individuals. Even as it explains very old patterns in prehistory, this idea holds out hope that the human race will prosper mightily in the years ahead—because ideas are having sex with each other as never before.
Is it really the answer, or just a proposed answer couched in terms of a popular frame of reference?
Late with this ...
... A Poem to Die For. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Rus also sent along this: Abducted Kurdish Writer Is Found Dead in Iraq.
All proudly "transgressive" artists "speaking truth to power" take note.
Rus also sent along this: Abducted Kurdish Writer Is Found Dead in Iraq.
All proudly "transgressive" artists "speaking truth to power" take note.
Thought for the day ...
When the soul drifts uncertainly between life and the dream, between the mind's disorder and the return to cool reflection, it is in religious thought that we should seek consolation.- Gerard de Nerval, born on this date in 1808
Friday, May 21, 2010
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: The future of the humanities, Pushkin's last, Manhattan rents, and more!
Something different ...
... Desperate science fiction author offers cash for readers. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe, who correctly describes it as "a novel approach.")
Quite a debate ...
... sparked by this: Platonism. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Luckily for Plato, he was not a Platonist. He says in one of his letters that no one will ever know what his views are.
Luckily for Plato, he was not a Platonist. He says in one of his letters that no one will ever know what his views are.
Where we will be tomorrow ...
...an Open House at:
Ironstone Sculpture Garden
This 4.5 acre sculpture garden, with its wild grasses, trees and shrubs features works by Daniel Gantenbein, Mitsuo Kikuchi, Casey Schwarz, and David Tothero.
218 Commissioners Pike, Woodstown, NJ 08098.
More here: In rural Alloway, sculpture blooms.
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