Monday, January 17, 2011
Thought for the day ...
Faith is an aptitude of the spirit. It is, in fact, a talent: you must be born with it.- Anton Chekhov, born on this date in 1860
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Some poems ...
... courtesy of Rus Bowden:
... Last Year, by James Cihlar.
... There's been a Death, in the Opposite House, by Emily Dickinson.
... After Our Wedding, by Yehoshua Nobember.
... Boy in Blue, by Kwame Dawes.
... Alla Breve Looving, by C.D. Wright.
... His Name Is John, by Ed Meek.
... Brand Loyalty, by Jeffery Bahr.
... the kitchen drawer, by J.B. Mulligan.
... Last Year, by James Cihlar.
... There's been a Death, in the Opposite House, by Emily Dickinson.
... After Our Wedding, by Yehoshua Nobember.
... Boy in Blue, by Kwame Dawes.
... Alla Breve Looving, by C.D. Wright.
... His Name Is John, by Ed Meek.
... Brand Loyalty, by Jeffery Bahr.
... the kitchen drawer, by J.B. Mulligan.
Hmm ...
... Send Huck Finn to College. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Maybe, better yet, we should simply outlaw the book altogether, so that you can only get it under the table in a plain brown wrapper. Plenty of people will want to read it then. Eventually, though, somebody will be busted, there will be a big court trial, some judge will position himself as a great hero of free expression and artistic values, the ban will be lifted, and the book will be a big bestseller, a la Lady Chatterley or Tropic of Cancer.
Concave and convex ....
... Antifragility — or— The Property Of Disorder-Loving Systems. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Doublethink ...
... Free speech can't exist unchained. US politics needs the tonic of order.
Free, but chained, eh? No thanks, Simon. You just stay where you are. We'll do quite well with you or your ilk.
Free, but chained, eh? No thanks, Simon. You just stay where you are. We'll do quite well with you or your ilk.
Thought for the day ...
There can be no literary equivalent to truth.- Laura Riding, born on this date in 1901
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Hmm ...
... Was modern physics born in the Inferno?
It was Galileo who conclusively swept away the idea that the sun revolved around the Earth, who dismantled the looming edifice of Aristotelian physics.
Au contraire. It was Johannes Kepler's first law of planetary motion, which established that planetary orbits are elliptical, that proved that Copernicus was right. Galileo, in fact, regarded as a "useless fiction" Kepler's (correct) assertion that the moon caused tides, and refused to accept Kepler's finding that planetary orbits were elliptical -- though Copernicus's theory is mathematically untenable unless they are, as Copernicus himself acknowledged.
About e-publishing ...
... The Rope Over The Lion Pit.
Making editors work for writers, instead of the other way around, not only will keep the power in the hands of the creators of the work (and, really, look, who else should have it?) but it will make any VERY GOOD free-lance editor incredibly sought after. Possibly leading to him/her making a good living AND improving the writer’s work permanently AND providing better reading for the consumer. Win. Win. And, oh, yeah, win.
When speaking truth to power ...
... comes with a price: A World Fiercely Observed. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
He was sentenced to five years of exile "with physical labor a condition of the sentence" and sent to a collective farm near the Arctic Circle. During the days, he sowed winter wheat, split wood, herded cows and patched roofs. At night, he lit a candle in a corner of a hut with no heat, electricity or plumbing and read, using a dictionary, an anthology of English and American poetry. He discovered the wonders of Auden, Frost and Donne, and he would remember those days and nights as among the "best times" of his life.
A rarity ...
... Joseph Conrad's science fiction novel. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Entitled The Inheritors, and written in collaboration with the almost-as-famous Ford Madox Ford, it concerns a scheme by a group of people from "the Fourth Dimension" to wipe away the current order on earth and set up their own morally dubious hegemony.
The way we live now ...
... How novels came to terms with the internet. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
It is what the internet lures out of us – hubris, daydreams, avarice, obsessions – that makes it so potent and so volatile. TV's power is serenely impervious; it does all the talking, and we can only listen or turn it off. But the internet is at least partly us; we write it as well as read it, perform for it as well as watch it, create it as well as consume it. Watching TV is a solitary activity that feels like a communal one, while the internet is a communal experience masquerading as solitude.
Thought for the day ...
If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well.- Moliere, born on this date in 1622
Friday, January 14, 2011
Little or no blogging ...
... for the time being. Debbie has now come down with whatever it is that is going around. I ignore, to the best of my ability, my own infirmities. I worry about my wife.
Oh., what the hell ......
... let's keep teasing people: Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Remember when protest was patriotic?
See also this.
This is becoming truly nuts. I'm just glad Sarah Palin didn't come out against bowdlerizing Huckleberry Finn. Otherwise ...
See also this.
This is becoming truly nuts. I'm just glad Sarah Palin didn't come out against bowdlerizing Huckleberry Finn. Otherwise ...
Medieval information management ...
... Looking it up, long before Britannica. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Imagine that ...
... 2010 saw a frenzy for fiction, led by Stieg Larsson's 'Girl' trilogy. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Tough question ...
... How Much Value Do You Attach to This Life?
I can't say I'd want to live an exact replica of my life. If all that immortality meant was rote repetition it would seem to have little value. I wouldn't want to play the same piece of music again in exactly the same way either. So if the choice were between exact repetition and annihilation, I think I'd opt for the latter. Otherwise, there really would never be any true cadence.
Creative reading ...
... Modern Haiku, Autumn, 2010.
I think reading is creative quite simply because the reader must use his imagination to actuate the potency of the words on the page.
See also: Seventeen-Syllable Sketches.
I think reading is creative quite simply because the reader must use his imagination to actuate the potency of the words on the page.
See also: Seventeen-Syllable Sketches.
About time ...
... someone did, and who better than Terry? The Case for Cab Calloway.
My mother and grandmother were both big Calloway fans.
My mother and grandmother were both big Calloway fans.
The dangers of categorism ...
... especially when it is faith-based: How the Media Botched the Arizona Shooting.
I rather doubt the shootings were as preventable as the author seems to think. Also, you could confiscate every legal firearm in the U.S. and there would be at least a quarter-billion others around. And it is easier to get a "piece" on the street than our sheltered chattering class apparently knows.
In their 1989 book How Do Journalists Think?, S. Holly Stocking and Paget H. Gross note that a typical reporter launches into a story with an investigative hypothesis, one that is often bolstered during the reporting process by “confirmation bias.” Only with great reluctance—in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary—is such a hypothesis normally discarded. Added to that is the weakness that competing hypotheses are tested one at a time, so that alternative explanations for the same data points are almost never considered simultaneously.
I rather doubt the shootings were as preventable as the author seems to think. Also, you could confiscate every legal firearm in the U.S. and there would be at least a quarter-billion others around. And it is easier to get a "piece" on the street than our sheltered chattering class apparently knows.
Heraclitean fire ...
... Greedy time: an interview with Patrick Lee Miller. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
... as I reworked the Heraclitean spirituality posts into a Heraclitus chapter, and thus came to understand this obscure philosopher better, I saw that his notion of reason—chiasmus, again—managed to synthesize immanence and transcendence. In this way, the book was no longer just about a rivalry between two irreconcilable options; it now argued for the superiority of the Heraclitean option because it sublated these antitheses.
Thought for the day ...
The mind cannot support moral chaos for long. Men are under as strong a compulsion to invent an ethical setting for their behavior as spiders are to weave themselves webs.- John Dos Passos, born on this date in 1896
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Another incomparable Max ...
... C. Max Magee: Appealing to the millions of book enthusiasts since 2003. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I'm not saying anything ...
... until I talk to my lawyer: Frank Wilson on the bus. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Actually, this guy is younger than I am, but looks older (if I do say so myself). Pretty tough dude, though.
Actually, this guy is younger than I am, but looks older (if I do say so myself). Pretty tough dude, though.
Happily ...
... you can still see it right here: Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" Ruled Too Offensive In Canada. Pathetic. The song's only been around for a quarter-century.
Changing times ...
... The New Haven Review and the making of a new generation of public intellectuals. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
America's greatest painter ...
... Any Excuse for a Venetian Picture.
Sargent could do it all, and always did it perfectly. And if you think he was only a society painter, check out this.
Sargent could do it all, and always did it perfectly. And if you think he was only a society painter, check out this.
RIP ...
... Actor David Nelson, the last surviving member of the wholesome television family portrayed in "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," has died at age 74, his spokesman said.
I'm old enough to remember when the show was on radio.
I'm old enough to remember when the show was on radio.
Thought for the day ...
The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes.- Paul Feyerabend, born on this date in 1924
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Noteworthy ...
... Fermor and 'Pips' Schey in The Hare With Amber Eyes.
Antonia Byatt spoke highly of the Fermor's book when I had dinner with her late last year.
Antonia Byatt spoke highly of the Fermor's book when I had dinner with her late last year.
Word from Australia ...
... What We Have Learned from the Queensland Floods and Same Again.
Those of us who pray should remember those affected by these floods in our prayers.
Those of us who pray should remember those affected by these floods in our prayers.
But not my generation ...
... Carpin' about my generation.
I was chatting on the phone with my brother yesterday. He turns 77 on Sunday (I turn 70 in October). We are both definitely pre-boomers. It explains a lot.
I was chatting on the phone with my brother yesterday. He turns 77 on Sunday (I turn 70 in October). We are both definitely pre-boomers. It explains a lot.
Some chuckles ...
... The 10 Funniest People, Videos and Things of the Coming Year. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Jenny Slate is Ron Slate's daughter.
Jenny Slate is Ron Slate's daughter.
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