Mental Health Month, Day 28:
The Eightfold Way andSolomon's Seal
For a continuation of the mathematical and religious themes in
yesterday's entry, click on the figure below.
Mental Health Month, Day 27:
Conspiracy Theory andSolomon's Seal
In our journey through Mental Health Month, we have now arrived at day
27. This number, the number of lines on a non-singular cubic surface in
complex pr…
Mental Health Month, Day 26:
Many Dimensions,Part III — Why 26?
At first blush, it seems unlikely that the number 26=2x13, as a product
of only two small primes (and those distinct) has any purely
mathematical properti…
Mental Health Month, Day 26:
Many Dimensions,Part II — The Blue Matrix But seriously...
John Baez in July 1999:
"...it's really the fact that the Leech lattice is 24-dimensional that
lets us compactify 26-dimensiona…
Mental Health Month, Day 26:
Many Dimensions
John Baez on why bosonic string theory is said to require 26 dimensions
--
"By now, if you're a rigorous sort of pure mathematician, you must be
suffering from grave doubts…
STAR WARS opened on this date in 1977.
From the web page Amande:
Le Christ et la Vierge apparurent souvent entourés d'une
auréole en forme d'amande: la mandorle.
Étymologiquement, le mot amande est une altération de…
— ART WARS —
Mental Health Month, Day 25:
Matrix of the Death God
Having dealt yesterday with the Death Goddess Sarah, we turn today to
the Death God Abraham. (See Jacques Derrida, The Gift of Death,
University of Ch…
Mental Health Month, Day 24:
The Sacred Day ofKali, the Dark Lady
On this day, Gypsies from all over Europe gather in Provence for the
sacred day of St. Sarah, also known as Kali.
Various representations of Kali exist…
Mental Health Month, Day 23:
The Prime Cut Gospel
On Christmas Day, 1949, Mary Elizabeth Spacek was born in Texas.
Lee Marvin, Sissy Spacek in "Prime Cut"
Exercises for Mental Health Month:
Read this discussion of…
Götterdämmerung
As our celebration of Wagner's May 22 birthday draws to a close, let us
recall that on this date in 1966 the Beatles released "Paperback
Writer" in the US. Perhaps our most notable paperback writer is …
Seek and Ye Shall Find:
On the Mystical Propertiesof the Number 162
On this date in history:
May 22, 1942: Unabomber Theodore John Kaczynski is born in the Chicago
suburb of Evergreen Park, Ill., to Wanda Kaczynski a…
Mental Health Month:Springtime for Wagner
"And now what you've all been waiting for... Wagner!"
-- Colin Hay as Zac in the film "Cosi"
"When I sought those who would sympathize with my plans, I had only
you, the fri…
The 401 Club: Commentary onyesterday's "The
Lottery Covenant"and Monday's "A Mighty Wind" "There are dark comedies.
There are screwball comedies. But there aren't many dark screwball
comedies. And if Nora Ephron's Lu…
Mental Health Month:The Lottery Covenant
Here are the evening lottery numbers for Pennsylvania, the Keystone
state, drawn on Monday, May 19, 2003:
401 and 1993.
This, by the sort of logic beloved of theologians, sugge…
Raiders of the Lost Matrix
"In general, a matrix... is something that provides support or
structure, especially in the sense of surrounding and/or shaping. It
comes from the Latin word for 'womb,' itself derived from th…
DAY OF THE MOTHER SHIPPart II: A Mighty Wind
I just saw the John Travolta film "Phenomenon" for the first time. (It
was on the ABC Family Channel from 8 to 11.)
Why is it that tellers of uplifting stories (like Zenna …
Phaedrus Lives!
Fans of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance may recall that it is
a sort of elegy for an earlier self named Phaedrus who vanished with
the recovery of mental health. Since this is Mental Health Mo…
Highballs
"If you can bounce high,bounce for her too...." – F. Scott Fitzgerald,
epigraph toThe Great Gatsby
Magazine purchased atnewsstand May 14, 2003:
A Whiff of Camelotas 'West Wing'Ends an Era
– New York Times…
EnoughCommentary on the May 15 death of June
Carter Cash, which I
learned of at the New York Times site at about 2:10 AM today:Jesus
CollegeIn light of yesterday's Jesus College entry("The Only Pretty
Ring Time," M…
The Only Pretty Ring Time
On May 14 five years ago, the night Sinatra died, the Pennsylvania
(State of Grace) lottery evening number was 256: see my note,
Symmetries, of April 2, 2003.
On May 14 this year, the Pennsyl…
Birthday Present
Today is the birthday of Emile Mathieu.Here is a present.
Well Done
"So tell me about the matrix reloaded... and what it's like to finish a
job well done."
-- Weblog entry by Harvard student, May 15, 2003
The matrix reloaded: See chapter VII, "Composition," in Chinese Cal…
Common Sense
On the mathematician Kolmogorov:
"It turns out that he DID prove one basic theorem that I take for
granted, that a compact hausdorff space is determined by its ring of
continuous functions (this ring being…
Cubist Catechism
For the birthday of Georges Braque
From A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle:
"Now we will tesser, we will wrinkle again. Do you understand?"
"No," Meg said flatly....
"Oh, dear," Meg sighed. "I …
Operation Playmate:
11:01 AM
On this date in 1938, Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded "When
the Saints Go Marching In."
On this date in 1961, Saint Gary Cooper died.
From my Jan. 2, 2003, entry:
Faces of the…
The Tony Nominations
Dannie Abse quoting Robert Penn Warren:
"The name of the story will be Time,But you must not pronounce its
name.Tell me a story of deep delight." Dannie Abse
Abse deserves a Tony Smith award¹ …
Epiphany 1941:Why We Fought
Jan. 6, 1941
Hepburn's father was disgusted and heartsick over her decision to
become an actor. He thought it was a silly profession, closely allied
to street walking.-- Heathe…
Death and Truth
Material related to my May 9, 2003, notes:
Pilate, Truth, and Friday the Thirteenth The Diamond Theory of Truth
Understanding
Day of the Mother Ship:
A Close Encounter of the Third Level
Level 1: Religions in General --adherents.com Level 2: Religions in
Literature --adherents.com/lit/ Level 3: Zenna and Her People
--adherents.com/…
ART WARS:The Religion of Cubism
In the dome of the Capitol at Washington, DC, a painting depicts The
Apotheosis of Washington. Personally, I prefer the following pair of
pictures, which might be titled Apotheosis of th…
ART WARS
The Rhetoric of Power:A meditation for Mental Health Month
From "Secondary Structures," by Tom Moody, Sculpture Magazine, June
2000:
"By the early ’90s, the perception of Minimalism as a 'pure' art
untouched …
ART WARS:Invitation to the Dance
While checking the claim of art historian Anna Chave that "the veil is
an age-old metaphor used from Plato through Hegel and Heidegger for the
concept of truth as aletheia or unveiling,"…
ART WARS:
The following flashback to March 2002 seems a suitable entry for May,
which is Mental Health Month.
Zen and Language Games
by Steven H. Cullinaneon March First, 2002
Two Experts Speak --
A Jew on Languag…
Rhymes with Puck
Readings for May Day, also known as Beltane. I. The Playboy of the
Western World
Operation Playmate Puck Fair Playboy Magazine, June 2003:See cover
headline at top left. II. Beltane
St. …