Types of Ambiguity
1. Oscar: military phonetic for the letter 'O'
2. "... this symbol among the Greeks was more circle than dot, but
among those in India, more dot than circle."
-- Robert Kaplan, The Nothing That Is…
Vita Brevis
"In many ways, the arts are the highest achievements of man."
-- Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers, Feb. 26, 2004 ''We
intensively train children in the Arts and ritual because deep down we
know t…
Inner Truthand Outer Style
Inner Truth:
Outer Style:
Joan Didion
"Everything I learned,I learned at Vogue."
-- Joan Didion, Nov. 2001 interviewwith Amy Spindler.
Spindler died on Friday, Feb. 27, 2004.
For relat…
Truth and Style
From today's New York Times obituary for Amy M. Spindler, former
fashion critic of The New York Times and style editor of its magazine,
who died yesterday at 40:
"Anna Wintour, the editor in chief of Vo…
ART WARS at Harvard
From today's Harvard Crimson:
"The VES [Visual and Environmental Studies] department is still
recovering, both internally and in public perception, from the firing
of former chair Ellen Phelan in sp…
The Oscar for best picture goes to...
The Best Picture
Aldous Huxley, 1925
"... And when at last one has arrived at San Sepolcro, what is there to
be seen? A little town surrounded by walls, set in a broad flat va…
Modernism as a Religion
In light of the controversy over Mel Gibson's bloody passion play that
opens today, some more restrained theological remarks seem in order.
Fortunately, Yale University Press has provided a fram…
The Crimson Passion
Solving for X
Frederick Morganin 2001
On the Hudson Review, whose longtime editor Frederick Morgan died on
Friday, Feb. 20, 2004:
"The first issue featured... poetry by Wallace Stevens...." -- NY Times
2/23/04
A sear…
Invariants
"What modern painters are trying to do,if they only knew it, is paint
invariants."-- James J. Gibson in Leonardo (Vol. 11, pp.
227-235.Pergamon Press Ltd., 1978)
Those who have clickedon the title abovemay …
Finite Relativity
Today is the 18th birthday of my note
"The Relativity Problem in Finite Geometry."
That note begins with a quotation from Weyl:
"This is the relativity problem: to fix objectively a class of equival…
The Da Vinci Codeand Symbology at Harvard
The protagonist of the recent bestseller The Da Vinci Code is Robert
Langdon, "a professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University." A
prominent part in the novel is playe…
What is Poetry, Part II --Gombrich vs.
Gadamer
Excerpts fromTetsuhiro Kato on
Gombrich and theHermeneutics of Art
Kato on Gombrich
"... according to Gombrich, an image is susceptible to become a target
for 'symbol de…
Five Easy Piecesfor Lee Marvin's Birthday
1.
"EVERYTHING'S a story.You are a story-- I am a story."-- Frances
Hodgson Burnett,A Little Princess
2.
"You see that sign, sir?"[Pointing to a notice demandin…
Diamonds and Whirls New applets have
rotating 3D versions of the diamond and whirl cubes in Block Designs.
Story
"Oh, Sara!" she whispered joyfully. "It is like a story!" "It IS a
story," said Sara. "EVERYTHING'S a story. You are a story-- I am a
story."
-- Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess
For further detail…
Hard Core, Part II:Star of Africa
In memory of St. Katharine Hepburn,who died on St. Peter's Day,
2003:"Although the greater saintsare more acceptable to Godthan the
lesser,it is sometimes profitableto p…
Hard Core
From USATODAY.com, Posted 2/16/2004 11:16 PM
Diamond at heart of staroutweighs any on EarthAstronomers announced
Friday that a white dwarf star they've been studying is a chunk of
crystallized carbon that wei…
Black History Month
Gestalt Update
Updated Block Designs page with material on Gestalt aesthetics and the
work of James J. Gibson.
Export Janet.
"... on behalf of theEntertainment Industry Coalitionfor Free Trade
(EIC),we appreciate the opportunityto appear before you...."--
Testimony before theU. S. InternationalTrade Commissionat mpaa.org
From…
Profile in Courage:
Bush Distances Himself from Aideon Exporting Jobs
Thursday, February 12, 2004 1:23 PM ET By Adam Entous HARRISBURG, Pa.
(Reuters) - Under pressure from fellow Republicans, Presiden…
The Smoking Stovepipe
"What appears to have happened is this. Sometime soon after 9-11, the
neocons persuaded the president that invading Iraq was the next crucial
step in winning the war on terror and evil in which Div…
On Exporting Jobs
The liberal view:
"Outsourcing raises American productivity, gives our economy a boost,
increases foreign demand for U.S. products and leaves us better off."
-- Nicholas D. Kristof in today's New Y…
George W. Bush,Liberal!
Part I: 2:09 PM PST, February 9, 2004
President's Economic ReportEndorses Export of Jobs
By Warren Vieth and Edwin Chen,Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — The movement …
Hermes and Folded Time
Yesterday's entry on painter Ward Jackson and the philosopher Gadamer
involved what is called hermeneutics, or the art of interpretation.
Gadamer was a leader in this field. The following passag…
The Quality of Diamond
On February 3, 2004, archivist and abstract painter Ward Jackson died
at 75. From today's New York Times:
"Inspired by painters like Piet Mondrian and Josef Albers, Mr. Jackson
made austere, har…
Attack Ad
Scholarship vs. Bullshit
"Examples are the stained-glass windows of knowledge." -- Vladimir
Nabokov
An example of scholarship:
Paul Friedlander.
An example of bullshit:
Leo Strauss.
Further background:
Noble lies …
Government by Crackpots
Morning briefing:
Paul Krugman on Laurie Mylroie in today's New York Times...
Get Me Rewrite!, Peter Bergen in the Washington Monthly...
Laurie Mylroie: The Neocons'Favorite Conspiracy Theor…
Quantum Logic:
A memorial to the late Alan Bullock,founding master of St. Catherine's
College,Oxford, and historian of the Third Reich.
Bullock died on Groundhog Day.
From an obituary:
"Hitler: a Study in Tyranny was…
Affirmation of Place and Time:East Coker and
Grand Rapids
This morning's meditation:
"Let us talk together with the courage, humor, and ardor of Socrates.
In that long conversation, we may find ourselves considering s…
Retiring Faculty
The following is related totoday's previous four log24 entries.
From my paper journal, a Xeroxed note, composed entirely of cut
copiesof various documents,from July 11, 1990....
Harvard Alum…
Theory of Design
For an introduction, see
Pattern in Islamic Art, by David Wade.
For a deeper look that is related to the previous three log24 entries,
see Goppold's
Prolegomena to an Art Theory.
Lila
Robert M. Pirsig, Lila, 1991 Bantam hardcover, p. 111:
"... Quality 'is' morality. Make no mistake about it. They're
'identical.' And if Quality is the primary reality of the world then
that means morality is als…
Speaking Globally
On Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl:
"I don’t expect much but I am hoping that the whole episode rekindles a
discussion in the country about the incredible double standard there is
in the popular cultu…
The Quality with No Name
And what is good, Phædrus,and what is not good...Need we ask
anyone to tell us these things?
-- Epigraph to Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance
Brad Appleton discusses a p…