Halloween
Meditations
"They don't understand what it is to be awake,
To be living
on several planes at once
Though one cannot speak
with several voices at once."
-- T. S. Eliot,
The Family Reu…
Balance
"An asymmetrical balance is sought since it possesses more movement.
This is achieved by the imaginary plotting of the character upon a
nine-fold square, invented by some ingenious writer of the Tang
dy…
Recommended Reading
for Hogwarts Students
on Devil's Night:
Click on the above for details.
Aquarius Jazz
Adapted from Matisse
"The Jazz Age spirit flared
in the Age of Aquarius."
-- Maureen Dowd, essay
for Devil's Night, 2005: What's a Modern Girl to Do?
"I hope she'll be a fool …
Aion
From AP's "Today in History" for October 29:
On this date:
In 1967, the counter-culture musical "Hair" opened off-Broadway.
Related material:
Jung on Pisces and Aquarius in Aion The Da Vinci Code …
For Kate Jackson on her birthday: Drop-Dead
Gorgeous
I need a photo-opportunity I want a shot at redemption Don't want to
end up a cartoon In a cartoon graveyard -- …
Flux Redux
"I remember how the darkness doubled
I recall lightning struck itself
I was listening, listening to the rain
I was hearing, hearing something else
Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of de…
Skeptics' Anniversary
From AP's "Today in History" for Oct. 28:
"On this date:
In 1636, Harvard College was founded in Massachusetts."In the spring of
1960, Harvard sent to all
incoming freshmen a reading list cons…
Human Conflict
Number Five
(Album title, 10,000 Maniacs) This album contains
Planned Obsolescence: science is truth for life watch religion fall
obsolete …
Today's Birthday:
Natalie Merchant
From Wikipedia:
"Hope Chest:
The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983
is a 1990 album by 10,000 Maniacs.
It compiles tracks from their early releases
Human Conflict Number F…
And for the Halloween season...
Darkness Doubled
"The mixolydian mode is one of the authentic 'church modes' of the
Middle Ages.... On the white notes of a
piano, the mixolydian scale runs from G to G."
-…
Brightness Doubled
From Log24 on October 7, 2005,
the day that Dr. Michael Ward died:
Seven is Heaven
"Love is the shadow that ripens the vine. Set the controls for the
heart of the Sun. Wit…
North Country Outrage
In memory of Barrington Moore Jr.,
Harvard observer of social folly,
who died on Sunday, October 16
Barrington Moore Jr. in 1978 On Moral Outrage:
"People's organizations, loudspeakers, n…
North Country Flux "The story centers on
Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron),
the top operative in
the underground'Monican' rebellion-- led by The Handler (Frances
McDormand)."
-- http://www.aeonflux.com…
#
"Beauty therefore is a relation."
-- Gerard Manley Hopkins
Leo Bogart,
dead on Oct. 15.
No relation. See entry of 11 AM Sunday. “Leo Bogart is su…
11:07:16"Serious numbers
will always be heard."
-- Paul Simon (64 on Oct. 13)
"Her wallet's filled with pictures."
-- Chuck Berry (79 today)
Collegiate Church of
St. Mary Magdalene,
Atrani, Amalfi Coast, Italy…
Place
"Critics have compared Mr. Stone to Conrad, Faulkner, Hemingway, Graham
Greene, Malcolm Lowry, Nathanael West; all apt enough, but there's a
James T. Farrell, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett strain as well …
Philadelphia Stories for John O'Hara How
does one stand
To behold the sublime, To confront the mockers,
The mickey mockers
And plated pairs? -- Wallace Stevens, 1936
…
Canon
A brief note to place Edward Bennett Marks,
who died either on Saturday, October 8, 2005 (Washington Post), or on
Monday, October 10, 2005 (New York Times), in my personal canon of
saints. Today's New York Ti…
At Degreeless Noon:
A Still, Small Voice
(12:00:02 PM EDT Oct. 14, 2005)
For Richard Roth, senior United Nations correspondent for CNN, a card:
For the religious significance
of this bri…
Go to
Writings for Yom Kippur.
A Poem for PinterThe Guardian on Harold
Pinter, winner of this year's
Nobel Prize for Literature:"Earlier this year, he announced his
decision to retire from playwriting in favour of poetry,"Michael Muskal
in today's Los…
Don't Know Much About History Click to
enlarge. "My card." Sources: Today's online New York Times and Sean
Penn and Nicole Kidman in "The Interpreter" "Is Heart of Darkness
the story of Kurtz or the story of …
Storytellingand Game Theory Click on picture
for details. "Game theory is no doubt wonderful for telling stories.
However, it
flunks the main test of any scientific theory: The ability to make
empiricall…
Starflight
"The crème de la crèmeof the chess world in a
show with everything but Yul Brynner"
-- One Night in Bangkok Mate in 2, V. Nabokov, 1919,
"Starflight" theme Today is the feast…
Today's Sermon:
Magical Thinking
On this date-- "In 1936,
the first generator at Boulder
(later Hoover) Dam began
transmitting electricity to Los Angeles."
-- Today in History, Associated Press
"Brig…
News for Mina Le
Therefore Choose Life
Today's birthday: Matt Damon, 35.
In memory of Jacques Derrida, who died one
year ago today:
A History of Death
References:
1. Fire in the Lake, by Frances FitzGerald
2. A History of Violence, a film by David Cronenberg
3. The G…
Seven is Heaven
"Love is the shadow that ripens the vine. Set the controls for the
heart of the Sun. Witness the man who raves at the wall Making the
shape of his questions to Heaven. Knowi…
Oslo Connection
Today is the birthday of Oystein Ore
(1899-1968), Sterling Professor of Mathematics at Yale for 37 years,
who was born and died in Oslo, Norway. Ore is said to have coined the
term "Galois
connectio…
Freedom of the Press
From about 7:00 AM EDT today:
A Voice
In memory of Harold Leventhal, folk-music concert producer,
who died on Tuesday
(Rosh Hashana, 2005)
Leventhal recently appeared in the American Masters Bob Dylan
documentary on PBS. According t…
New Page for Harvard's President
From today's Harvard Crimson:
"University President Lawrence H. Summers said
yesterday that he will marry his longtime partner, Professor of English
Elisa New."
"I dwell in Pos…
New Page on Geometry
See Pattern Groups, which now has a link to an interesting Nov. 2003
preprint on A6.
Today is the birthday of Sir Thomas L. Heath, a saint of geometry whose
feast day is March 16.
On This Date
"In 1955, 50 years ago, 'Captain Kangaroo'
and 'The Mickey Mouse Club'
premiered on CBS and ABC, respectively."
-- Today in History, Associated Press
Part I
For a Christian meditation o…
Happy Birthday, Wallace Stevens
Readings for today:
At the Wallace Stevens online concordance, search for X and for
primitive.
In the e-book edition of Bester's The Deceivers, search for X. "We
seekNoth…