Bang. Splat. (See previous entry.) Click for larger version. -- Source: The Nation online, Robert Scheer column of Feb. 3, 2004 containing movie ad of Sept. 30, 2005 "This place ain't doing me any good. I'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood." -- Dylan, "Things Have Changed" Posted 9/30/2005 at 11:28 AM |
Bang Splat "'He's still a great songwriter,' Aimee Mann says. The sentiments
in 'Things Have Changed,' from last year's 'Wonder Boys' soundtrack,
are 'brutal, relevant, and literally spine-tingling.'"
"Statistical Control: A new division of the U.S. Air Force that
came into existence in 1942. Statistical Control Officers were trained
at Harvard Business School and then assigned to every Air Force command
where [they] worked to apply standardized procedures to statistical reporting
and analysis. They served to organize the movement of men, planes, and
materiel, as well as provide statistical analysis of bombing missions.
This data was used by Air Force commanders... as an essential factor in
planning and the quantitative measure of achievement. Robert McNamara
was one the original faculty members of the Statistical Control School
at Harvard...."
-- "The Fog of War" Glossary From today's Harvard Crimson: Former House Master Dead at 89 "Andrews discovered Harvard while studying at the Army Air Force’s Statistical Control School, which was held at HBS and taught by HBS faculty. Having completed his Air Force service
in 1946, Andrews joined a multidisciplinary teaching group at HBS to
develop a new course called Administrative Practices."
"All the truth in the world -- Dylan, "Things Have Changed"
To St. Michael on his day (9/29) in the spirit of St. Cecilia's Eve (11/21): And Hennessey Tennessee tootles the flute, And the music is somethin' grand; A credit to old Ireland is McNamara's band. Click on picture for details. Posted 9/29/2005 at 6:00 AM |
Mathematical Narrative, continued: There is a pleasantly discursive treatment of Pontius Pilate's unanswered question "What is truth?" -- H. S. M. Coxeter, introduction to Richard J. Trudeau's The Non-Euclidean Revolution "People have always longed for truths about the world -- not logical truths, for all their utility; or even probable truths, without which daily life would be impossible; but informative, certain truths, the only 'truths' strictly worthy of the name. Such truths I will call 'diamonds'; they are highly desirable but hard to find....The happy metaphor is Morris Kline's in Mathematics in Western Culture (Oxford, 1953), p. 430."
-- Richard J. Trudeau, "A new epistemology is emerging to replace the Diamond Theory of truth. I will call it the 'Story Theory' of truth: There are no diamonds. People make up stories about what they experience. Stories that catch on are called 'true.' The Story Theory of truth is itself a story that is catching on. It is being told and retold, with increasing frequency, by thinkers of many stripes.... My own viewpoint is the Story Theory.... I concluded long ago that each enterprise contains only stories (which the scientists call 'models of reality'). I had started by hunting diamonds; I did find dazzlingly beautiful jewels, but always of human manufacture."
-- Richard J. Trudeau, An example of Actress Gwyneth Paltrow ("Proof") was apparently born on either Sept. 27, 1972, or Sept. 28, 1972. Google searches yield "about 193" results for the 27th and "about 610" for the 28th. Those who believe in the "story theory" of truth may therefore want to wish her a happy birthday today. Those who do not may prefer the contents of yesterday's entry, from Paltrow's other birthday. Posted 9/28/2005 at 4:26 AM |
Mathematical Narrative
Gwyneth Paltrow is said to be 33 today.
Posted 9/27/2005 at 6:23 AM |
Hint
Yesterday was F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday. (See previous entry.) "There is a place for a hint somewhere of a big agent to complete the picture." -- Notes for an unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon Posted 9/25/2005 at 9:15 AM |
Parable From this week's New Yorker and from Eight is a Gate:
Related material: Posted 9/24/2005 at 11:02 PM |
For Serge Lang
"Get the aggressively mediocre Yale Daily News obituary here ('he is remembered for his significant academic contributions'?? give me a break...)" -- Tom So far, the Yale Daily News obit is the only one showing up on a Google News search. Probably the New York Times will get around to Lang eventually. In the meantime, here's what an online newspaper and some blogs have to say. The New Haven Independent Obituary for Serge Lang Weblog Entries on Serge Lang's Death Peter Woit's weblog New AIDS Review Locana Weapon of Class Instruction Dingodonkey Abiola Lapite Moebius Stripper Simon's Rock College's Journal Update of Sept. 24, 2004, 9:25 PM: The New York Times now has an obituary. Posted 9/22/2005 at 11:01 PM |
Google News this afternoon: Posted 9/21/2005 at 12:53 PM |
The Randomness In yesterday's New York Times, science writer George Johnson quoted a Buddhist: "Though he professes to accept evolutionary theory, he recoils at one of its most basic tenets: that the mutations that provide the raw material for natural selection occur at random. Look deeply enough, he suggests, and the randomness will turn out to be complexity in disguise-- 'hidden causality,' the Buddha's smile. There you have it, Eastern religion's version of intelligent design." -- "The Universe in a Single Atom": Reason and Faith God's Sermon:
The Randomness
Gamblers, religious zealots, and the insane may interpret the above as utterances of Lady Luck, God, or The Conspiracy. A Christian interpretation for the home state of Grace Kelly:
999 = "fullness," 709 = 7/09 = "multitude," with "fullness" and "multitude" as in the Log24 entry of St. Luke's Day, 2004. See also the previous entry, Barging In. Update of 7:11 PM EDT: Barging In, Part II is on Turner Movie Classics at 8 PM EDT. Posted 9/19/2005 at 2:00 PM |
Barging In "It's been a brutal season in the culture wars...." -- George Johnson in today's New York Times "Some fearless outside referee had to barge in and try to adjudicate the culture wars...." -- Frank Rich in today's New York Times On this date 100 years ago, Greta Garbo was born. For Frank Rich, who wrote a review of a new novel, On Beauty For George Johnson, who wrote... "Look deeply enough, he suggests, and the randomness will turn out to be complexity in disguise - 'hidden causality,' the Buddha's smile. There you have it...."
Posted 9/18/2005 at 2:45 AM |
From Matt Glaser, Satchmo, the Philosopher: "... the luminosity and perpetual freshness of Armstrong's music. These qualities, as well as his essentially abstract ability to affect our perception of time, link him with the other artistic and scientific revolutionaries of the first half of the 20th century. Recently I had a very public fantasy (in Ken Burns's Jazz) in which Werner Heisenberg attends a Louis Armstrong concert in Copenhagen, in 1933. Did I go too far? Actually, I didn't go far enough." That Log24 entries connect both these dates to Louis Armstrong is, of course, purely coincidental. Posted 9/17/2005 at 1:06 PM |
From www.ams.org:Serge Lang, 1927-2005"Serge Lang passed away on September 12 at the age of 78. Lang was a professor at Yale University from 1972 to 2005. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1951 under the direction of Emil Artin. Lang was awarded the Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Algebra in 1960 and the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition in 1999. He was well known for his mathematics texts and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. [Item posted 9/15/05]"From a review of one of Lang's books, Challenges: "Again and again, Lang has caught powerful academics and journalists at evasions, stonewalling, and intimidation. It's cost him considerable time, effort, and money; it's also made him a lot of enemies. It should be mentioned here that Professor Lang is also a productive researcher in mathematics and a prolific author of books of mathematics. I literally don't know how he does it. He must have absolutely no life outside his office. OK, sure, Lang is a crank. He's also a national treasure. His commitment to the ethic of honesty and plain speaking should be an example to us all." Serge Lang, Posted 9/17/2005 at 1:09 AM |
Square Wheel,
continued For director Robert Wise, who died yesterday on The Feast of The Holy Cross: The Maltese Cross
Posted 9/15/2005 at 12:00 PM |
Multimedia "... the quality of life as of death and of light as of darkness is one..." -- Robinson Jeffers (See previous two entries and Dante, Paradiso, 25.054.) Posted 9/15/2005 at 2:45 AM |
Lutheran Rhythm, continued: Square-Wheel Rhythm
"This is a sane and sensible interpretation, deeply musicianly and
devoid of eccentricity. Her attitude, rather like Toscanini’s, is to
accept the text com’ e scritto (for example, she adopts the
'square-wheel' rhythm of the E minor Gigue) and then to make legitimate
adjustments...."(See previous entry.) Posted 9/14/2005 at 11:59 PM |
Holy Cross Day The Cross and the Wheel: "... the quality of life as of death and of light as of darkness is one, one beauty, the rhythm of that Wheel, and who can behold it is happy and will praise it to the people." -- Robinson Jeffers, "Point Pinos and Point Lobos," quoted at the end of The Cosmic Code by Heinz Pagels, Simon & Schuster, 1982 Posted 9/14/2005 at 4:04 PM |
Lutheran Rhythm,
continued: Death on 9/11 Al Casey Dies at 89; Early Jazz Guitarist By THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 Al Casey, a guitarist whose playful acoustic rhythms and solos were a defining feature of Fats Waller's band in the 1930's and 1940's, died on Sunday [9/11] in Manhattan. He was 89.... Mr. Casey played and recorded with Louis Armstrong in 1944 when both were recognized as leading jazz musicians in the Esquire magazine readers' poll.... A 90th birthday celebration for Mr. Casey, scheduled for Thursday evening at St. Peter's Church, 54th Street and Lexington Avenue, will now be his musical memorial service, open to the public. Posted 9/13/2005 at 3:00 AM |
Final arrangements, continued: Justice at Heaven's Gate
"Gate --- Early term for a Jazz musician. "Armstrong is also frequently cited as the main source or
popularizer of words like scat, gate (a greeting among jazz musicians
that became a popular WWII term for a buddy or pal)² ² The term apparently goes back to Louis’s own adolescent nickname, 'Gatemouth.'" Posted 9/12/2005 at 2:29 PM |
x
Related material: Nine Gates to the Temple of Poetry and Law Day 2001: The Devil and Wallace Stevens Posted 9/10/2005 at 8:23 PM |
Rhythm of the Saints, continued:
"When asked which words in the English language are the most difficult to define precisely, a lexicographer would surely mention funky." -- Answers.com Lutheran Rhythm, continued:
Funk, Wagnalls, and Company*
"Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk, a Lutheran minister who in 1876 began editing and publishing two magazines, The Homiletic Review and The Voice, the latter for the Prohibition Party. Unfortunately, neither magazine paid its way. The following year he teamed with [one of his classmates at Wittenberg College] A.W. Wagnalls, a lawyer and accountant, who got Funk on sounder financial footing. They began by publishing pamphlets and booklets for the clergy, mostly commentaries on the Bible." -- Major American Publishers and Wikipedia * Company: "The Grateful Dead"-- "a name chosen at random from a dictionary-- some claim it was a Funk & Wagnalls, others an Oxford Dictionary-- by Jerry Garcia" -- Wikipedia Posted 9/10/2005 at 3:00 PM |
Rhythm of the Saints
(Background: the two previous entries.) Alicia Keys and Paul Simon on last night's Katrina telethon Related material: Readings for St. Patrick's Day, Log24.net, March 17, 2005, featuring Conrad's Under Western Eyes. Reading for the Saints of 9/11, New York Times of Sunday, 9/11, 2005: "The True Classic of Terrorism," Conrad's Under Western Eyes. And for some comic relief, Harvard's President on St. Patrick's Day: Professor Matory is "a renowned expert on Brazil and on the Yoruba civilization of West Africa, which is world famous for its religious complexity and artistic creativity. He is equally noted for his study of such Latin American religions as Haitian 'Vodu,' Brazilian Candomblé, and Cuban Santería...." Play that funky music, white boy.Posted 9/10/2005 at 4:11 AM |
Photo Finish Why is this man smiling? R. W. Funk From today's New York Times: Robert W. Funk, founder of the Jesus Seminar... died on Sept. 3... From the First Amendment Center: Chief Justice William Rehnquist died on Sept. 3... For the answer to the above question, see the previous entry-- Lutheran Rhythm-- and Funk's Hier Stehe Ich. Posted 9/10/2005 at 2:00 AM |
Lutheran Rhythm
"A family of musicians took shelter for the night In the little harbor church of St. Cecilia" -- Paul Simon, Rhythm of the Saints "The canonized go on." -- Philip Roth in today's New York Times, "Why Is This Man Smiling?" St. William Rehnquist "Have the ensemble clap the rhythm of the first four treble clef bars of Bach's Minuet in G, and then play it with correct pitches or in a unison single pitch. Next, have them clap the bass clef rhythm and play it either in unison or with correct pitches. Finally, have one group play the treble part while the other group claps the bass part, and then reverse roles as above." Posted 9/4/2005 at 2:00 PM |
Posted 9/2/2005 at 3:57 PM |
Soap
Faith Faith is an island in the setting sun But proof, yes Proof is the bottom line for everyone -- Paul Simon, "Proof"
This morning's bottom line:
From Polya-Burnside Counting (pdf), from today's New York Times, and from "related topics" in article on Symmetry in Wikipedia:
Raise your weary wings against the rain, my baby Wash your tangled curls with gambler's soap -- Paul Simon, "Proof" Lottery numbers for Pennsylvania, Sept. 1, 2005: "Proof is the bottom line for everyone"-- Day = 120 "Faith is an island in the setting sun"-- Evening = 511 See also Giving the Devil His Due. Posted 9/2/2005 at 9:57 AM |