Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
It is Never Clever to cure a Fever with a Lever
How do you pronounce "Sever Hall?"
According to this web page it rhymes with "clever."
The page also cites a certain VISU professor as one of its sources.
I guess the way to solve the problem would be to ask any extant members of the Sever family how they pronounce their name (and verify the campus tour story).
According to this web page it rhymes with "clever."
The page also cites a certain VISU professor as one of its sources.
I guess the way to solve the problem would be to ask any extant members of the Sever family how they pronounce their name (and verify the campus tour story).
I'm not a doubter, I'm a skeptic.
It's not my intention to casually offend anyone. I don't doubt or disbelieve out of hand. In fact, I may very much believe others' claims and statements; but sometimes I just like to see for myself.
I believe in skepticism and possibility.
I believe in skepticism and possibility.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Non-Obsolescence through Adaptability
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
- Darwin
This is a picture of the Richardson and Boynton steam boiler that heats my apartment (its twin sits nearby and heats our neighbors). Both boilers still occupy the spaces where they were originally set in 1914. Coal is what they first ate, but now they burn gas. In about five years they will have been performing that job for century.
On the other hand my flat screen monitor needs to be replaced, not all my cellphone functions work anymore, and my DVD player is just plain broke. All three of these devices are only two - or less - years old. To repair my DVD player would cost more than it would to buy a new one, or even more than what I paid for it in the first place.
Admittedly, electronics are usually made of lighter materials than cast iron, plastic breaks; but my VCR is twenty years old. An aunt's hand-me-down still going strong. The VHS tapes it plays will quit before it does.
Ever increasing miniaturization and complexity imbue our devices with a valid delicacy. Portability brings destructibility as we move, drop, and spill on our tiny engines. Though I can't help thinking that when modernity equates progress, and the sum becomes synonymous with fashion; modernity and progress become co-opted and corrupted and mutually exclusive of durability. If popular trends were decoupled from the machine, we could be decoupled from the machine; and the machine and we would function better for it. And we would last.
- Darwin
This is a picture of the Richardson and Boynton steam boiler that heats my apartment (its twin sits nearby and heats our neighbors). Both boilers still occupy the spaces where they were originally set in 1914. Coal is what they first ate, but now they burn gas. In about five years they will have been performing that job for century.
On the other hand my flat screen monitor needs to be replaced, not all my cellphone functions work anymore, and my DVD player is just plain broke. All three of these devices are only two - or less - years old. To repair my DVD player would cost more than it would to buy a new one, or even more than what I paid for it in the first place.
Admittedly, electronics are usually made of lighter materials than cast iron, plastic breaks; but my VCR is twenty years old. An aunt's hand-me-down still going strong. The VHS tapes it plays will quit before it does.
Ever increasing miniaturization and complexity imbue our devices with a valid delicacy. Portability brings destructibility as we move, drop, and spill on our tiny engines. Though I can't help thinking that when modernity equates progress, and the sum becomes synonymous with fashion; modernity and progress become co-opted and corrupted and mutually exclusive of durability. If popular trends were decoupled from the machine, we could be decoupled from the machine; and the machine and we would function better for it. And we would last.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
For all Things there is an Hora
Celebrity. I too have pondered it, discussed it, and participated in it (but as the celebrator and not the celebrant). What do the fans of Twilight, Sports, Sherlock Holmes, Science Fiction, and Michael Jackson have in common?
Greg Nagy teaches a class at Harvard about the concept of "The Hero" in Hellenic Greece. His research started me thinking about Western Civilization and what subtle influences have descended down the generations. Things separate from pilasters, pediments, and politics. Detached even from the words they helped to spawn. These influences are Concepts. Not the kind learned in a book or a civics class, but traits that are almost subconscious and maybe even ancestral. The Hero.
"Hero Worship" is literally worship. In ancient Greece, those who excelled in both military and athletic abilities were dubbed "heroes" and celebrated as such. The games helped to hone martial prowess, yes; but they were also sacred. Athletics in Ancient Greece were not only endorsed by religion, they were part of the religion. Heroes who had passed from this life were prayed to as the gods were prayed to. Shrines were built in their honor, as celebrities who pass now are honored.
I find also parallels between those that worship the famous, and those who participate obsessively in a specific hobby or activity. In the past I have often found such behavior mystifying (especially in myself), but in the last two years new information has come to my attention that builds on what I learned about Greg Nagy's work. Recent studies have shown that humans may be programmed for religion. Not for a specific religion but for anything and everything that fits the parameters of religion, at least from the brain's point of view.
The Red Sox, Star Trek, American Idol, and Fly Fishing are religions. Celebrating celebrity is nothing less than deification. Some say the word "fan" is short for "fanatic."
Evidence:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/07/06/ca.im.image.in.tree.kovr
Further Reading:
Fame Junkies by Jake Halpern. The concept of "addiction" works as well as "religion" when applied to celebrity obsession. Professor Stilgoe, I can't guarantee you will enjoy this book as it has been likened to Blink.
Full Disclosure: The author of this blog is a devotee to several religions per the above criteria.
Greg Nagy teaches a class at Harvard about the concept of "The Hero" in Hellenic Greece. His research started me thinking about Western Civilization and what subtle influences have descended down the generations. Things separate from pilasters, pediments, and politics. Detached even from the words they helped to spawn. These influences are Concepts. Not the kind learned in a book or a civics class, but traits that are almost subconscious and maybe even ancestral. The Hero.
"Hero Worship" is literally worship. In ancient Greece, those who excelled in both military and athletic abilities were dubbed "heroes" and celebrated as such. The games helped to hone martial prowess, yes; but they were also sacred. Athletics in Ancient Greece were not only endorsed by religion, they were part of the religion. Heroes who had passed from this life were prayed to as the gods were prayed to. Shrines were built in their honor, as celebrities who pass now are honored.
I find also parallels between those that worship the famous, and those who participate obsessively in a specific hobby or activity. In the past I have often found such behavior mystifying (especially in myself), but in the last two years new information has come to my attention that builds on what I learned about Greg Nagy's work. Recent studies have shown that humans may be programmed for religion. Not for a specific religion but for anything and everything that fits the parameters of religion, at least from the brain's point of view.
The Red Sox, Star Trek, American Idol, and Fly Fishing are religions. Celebrating celebrity is nothing less than deification. Some say the word "fan" is short for "fanatic."
Evidence:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/07/06/ca.im.image.in.tree.kovr
Further Reading:
Fame Junkies by Jake Halpern. The concept of "addiction" works as well as "religion" when applied to celebrity obsession. Professor Stilgoe, I can't guarantee you will enjoy this book as it has been likened to Blink.
Full Disclosure: The author of this blog is a devotee to several religions per the above criteria.
Friday, July 3, 2009
VISU-S-160 Abides...
Stilgoe, John R. VISU-S-160
Answer:
Reflections - A mirror can reverse image top-to-bottom if its shape is concave.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/lightandcolor/reflection.html
Responses:
Liberal Arts - In class we discussed the value of a Liberal Arts Education. I find myself in general agreement with the opinions volunteered by my classmates. I failed to articulate, in explicit terms, my own point of view; I support the concept of a Liberal Arts Education, it's in the practice that I have problems.
The Liberal Arts movement was designed to give a student a well-rounded education, unfortunately those who get Liberal Arts Educations often receive degrees in an over-specialized major. This defeats the purpose of Liberal Arts Education. The student has essentially gone to a trade-school and become well apprenticed, for example, in British Literature from 1805-1810. Those that receive a B.A. in a more general field of study are no better off. It is surprising to me how many College Educated people I meet who are not educated.
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2008/04/the_mfa_is_the_new_mba.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/opinion/27mon2.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V122ICNS8_0
Solar Storms - I have been thinking a lot about your idea that the Carrington Super Flare caused mutations that are only now presenting as cognitive/learning disorders. While ADD/ADHD may be both over-diagnosed, and misdiagnosed (it shares symptoms with other disorders, as well as stages of normal development), true cases exist. There is evidence now that the condition may also be hereditary, and could the aforementioned "shared symptoms" be a tell-tale also?
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/complete-index.shtml#pub3
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Could_ADHD_Be/
Solar Storm Warning for July 7th, 2009!
Pseudoscience....we hope:
http://io9.com/5306026/did-this-jellyfish-crop-circle-accurately-predict-a-solar-storm
Answer:
Reflections - A mirror can reverse image top-to-bottom if its shape is concave.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/lightandcolor/reflection.html
Responses:
Liberal Arts - In class we discussed the value of a Liberal Arts Education. I find myself in general agreement with the opinions volunteered by my classmates. I failed to articulate, in explicit terms, my own point of view; I support the concept of a Liberal Arts Education, it's in the practice that I have problems.
The Liberal Arts movement was designed to give a student a well-rounded education, unfortunately those who get Liberal Arts Educations often receive degrees in an over-specialized major. This defeats the purpose of Liberal Arts Education. The student has essentially gone to a trade-school and become well apprenticed, for example, in British Literature from 1805-1810. Those that receive a B.A. in a more general field of study are no better off. It is surprising to me how many College Educated people I meet who are not educated.
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2008/04/the_mfa_is_the_new_mba.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/opinion/27mon2.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V122ICNS8_0
Solar Storms - I have been thinking a lot about your idea that the Carrington Super Flare caused mutations that are only now presenting as cognitive/learning disorders. While ADD/ADHD may be both over-diagnosed, and misdiagnosed (it shares symptoms with other disorders, as well as stages of normal development), true cases exist. There is evidence now that the condition may also be hereditary, and could the aforementioned "shared symptoms" be a tell-tale also?
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/complete-index.shtml#pub3
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Could_ADHD_Be/
Solar Storm Warning for July 7th, 2009!
Pseudoscience....we hope:
http://io9.com/5306026/did-this-jellyfish-crop-circle-accurately-predict-a-solar-storm
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
For Professor John Stilgoe to Consider...
Value
Broken thumbs lead to new customer base.
Scaffold Nails into Swords.
Connotation
In the 1950 census, it led all the states in income per acre of land in farms.
Western Reserve Lands and Westmoreland County
(Denotation)
http://www.thevendingcorporation.com/products/900.htm
http://www.theautomat.com/
Encode/Decode
Broken thumbs lead to new customer base.
Scaffold Nails into Swords.
Connotation
In the 1950 census, it led all the states in income per acre of land in farms.
Western Reserve Lands and Westmoreland County
(Denotation)
http://www.thevendingcorporation.com/products/900.htm
http://www.theautomat.com/
Encode/Decode
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