Symmetry in Review "Put bluntly, who is kidding whom?" -- Anthony Judge, draft of "Potential Psychosocial Significance of Monstrous Moonshine: An Exceptional Form of Symmetry as a Rosetta Stone for Cognitive Frameworks," dated September 6, 2007. Good question. Also from September 6, 2007 -- the date of Madeleine L'Engle's death -- Related material: 1. The performance of a work by Richard Strauss, "Death and Transfiguration," (Tod und Verklärung, Opus 24) by the Chautauqua Symphony at Chautauqua Institution on July 24, 2008 2. Headline of a music review in today's New York Times: Welcoming a Fresh Season of Transformation and Death 3. The picture of the R. T. Curtis Miracle Octad Generator on the cover of the book Twelve Sporadic Groups: 4. Freeman Dyson's hope, quoted by Gorenstein in 1986, Ronan in 2006, and Judge in 2007, that the Monster group is "built in some way into the structure of the universe." 5. Symmetry from Plato to the Four-Color Conjecture 6. Geometry of the 4x4 Square 7. Yesterday's entry, "Theories of Everything" Coda: "There is such a thing as a tesseract." -- Madeleine L'Engle For a profile of L'Engle, click on the Easter eggs. Posted 7/31/2008 at 12:00 PM |
Theories of Everything Ashay Dharwadker now has a Theory of Everything. Like Garrett Lisi's, it is based on an unusual and highly symmetric mathematical structure. Lisi's approach is related to the exceptional simple Lie group E8.* Dharwadker uses a structure long associated with the sporadic simple Mathieu group M24.
* See, for instance, "The Scientific Promise of Perfect Symmetry" in The New York Times of March 20, 2007. Posted 7/30/2008 at 11:48 AM |
To Die For: Scenes from The Human Stain -- Menin, the word in Greek on the professor's blackboard, means "wrath"... "Objects in rear view mirror may be older than they appear." Posted 7/29/2008 at 10:31 AM |
Continued "There is a body on the cross in my church." -- Mary Karr, quoted here on July 10, 2007 From Jan. 20, 2004, opening day of the first Tennessee lottery-- Song of the Father "Gonna buy me a shotgun, long as I am tall, Buy me a shotgun, long as I am tall, Gonna shoot po' Thelma, just to see her jump and fall." -- Jimmie Rodgers, known as "the father of country music." Posted 7/28/2008 at 12:00 PM |
For Brother Taylor: Bobbie Gentry is 64 today. "It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day...." Third of June, 2007 Third of June, 2008 Posted 7/27/2008 at 10:04 AM |
From Josephine Klein, Jacob's Ladder: Essays on Experiences of the Ineffable in the Context of Contemporary Psychotherapy, London, Karnac Books, 2003-- Page 14 -- Gerard Manley Hopkins "Quiddity and haeccity were contentious topics in medieval discussions about the nature of reality, and the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins would have encountered these concepts during his Jesuit training. W. H. Gardner, who edited much of Hopkins's work, writes that in 1872, while studying medieval philosophy... Hopkins came across the writing of Duns Scotus, and in that subtle thinker's Principles of Individuation and Theory of Knowledge he discovered what seemed to be a philosophical corroboration of his own private theory of inscape and instress. [Gardner, Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and Prose, Penguin, 1953, p. xxiii]In this useful introduction to his selection of Hopkins's work, Gardner writes that Hopkins was always looking for the law or principle that gave an object 'its delicate and surprising uniqueness.' This was for Hopkins 'a fundamental beauty which is the active principle of all true being, the source of all true knowledge and delight.' Clive Bell called it 'significant form'; Hopkins called it 'inscape'-- 'the rich and revealing oneness of the natural object' (pp. xx-xxiv). In this chapter, I call it quiddity." Posted 7/26/2008 at 10:22 PM |
Tinker Shuffle Peter Seamus O'Toole, born Connemara, 1932 "O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?" -- William Butler Yeats "My little baby sister can do it with ease. It's easier to learn than those ABC's." -- Kylie Minogue Happy birthday, Kate Beckinsale Posted 7/26/2008 at 3:09 PM |
56 Triangles "This wonderful picture was drawn by Greg Egan with the help of ideas from Mike Stay and Gerard Westendorp. It's probably the best way for a nonmathematician to appreciate the symmetry of Klein's quartic. It's a 3-holed torus, but drawn in a way that emphasizes the tetrahedral symmetry lurking in this surface! You can see there are 56 triangles: 2 for each of the tetrahedron's 4 corners, and 8 for each of its 6 edges." Exercise: Click on image for further details. Note that if eight points are arranged in a cube (like the centers of the eight subcubes in the figure above), there are 56 triangles formed by the 8 points taken 3 at a time. Baez's discussion says that the Klein quartic's 56 triangles can be partitioned into 7 eight-triangle Egan "cubes" that correspond to the 7 points of the Fano plane in such a way that automorphisms of the Klein quartic correspond to automorphisms of the Fano plane. Show that the 56 triangles within the eightfold cube can also be partitioned into 7 eight-triangle sets that correspond to the 7 points of the Fano plane in such a way that (affine) transformations of the eightfold cube induce (projective) automorphisms of the Fano plane. Posted 7/25/2008 at 6:01 PM |
Tried out the new knol.google.com site with a copy of The Diamond Theorem. Posted 7/24/2008 at 8:24 AM |
"Hmm, next paper... maybe 'An Unusually Complicated Theory of Something.'" -- Garrett Lisi at Physics Forums, July 16 Something: From Friedrich Froebel, who invented kindergarten: Click on image for details. An Unusually Complicated Theory: From Christmas 2005: Click on image for details. For the eightfold cube as it relates to Klein's simple group, see "A Reflection Group of Order 168." For an even more complicated theory of Klein's simple group, see Click on image for details. Posted 7/21/2008 at 12:00 PM |
Bertram Kostant, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at MIT, on an object discussed in this week's New Yorker: "A word about E(8). In my opinion, and shared by others, E(8) is the most magnificent 'object' in all of mathematics. It is like a diamond with thousands of facets. Each facet offering a different view of its unbelievable intricate internal structure." Hermann Weyl on the hard core of objectivity: "Perhaps the philosophically most
relevant feature of modern science is the emergence of abstract
symbolic structures as the hard core of objectivity behind-- as
Eddington puts it-- the colorful tale of the subjective storyteller
mind." (Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science, Princeton, 1949, p. 237) Steven H. Cullinane on the symmetries of a 4x4 array of points:
The above group of automorphisms plays a role in what Weyl, following Eddington, called a "colorful tale"-- The Diamond 16 Puzzle This puzzle shows that the 4x4 array can also be viewed in thousands of ways. "You can make 322,560 pairs of patterns. Each pair pictures a different symmetry of the underlying 16-point space." -- Steven H. Cullinane, July 17, 2008 For other parts of the tale, see Ashay Dharwadker, the Four-Color Theorem, and Usenet Postings. Posted 7/19/2008 at 2:00 PM |
Hard Core David Corfield quotes Weyl in a weblog entry, "Hierarchy and Emergence," at the n-Category Cafe this morning: "Perhaps the philosophically most relevant feature of modern science is the emergence of abstract symbolic structures as the hard core of objectivity behind-- as Eddington puts it-- the colorful tale of the subjective storyteller mind." (Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science [Princeton, 1949], p. 237) For the same quotation in a combinatorial context, see the foreword by A. W. Tucker, "Combinatorial Problems," to a special issue of the IBM Journal of Research and Development, November 1960 (1-page pdf). See also yesterday's Log24 entry. Posted 7/18/2008 at 12:00 PM |
Continued from June 18. Jungian Symbols of the Self -- Compare and contrast: Jung's four-diamond figure from Aion -- a symbol of the self -- Jung's Map of the Soul, by Murray Stein: "... Jung thinks of the self as
undergoing continual transformation during the course of a lifetime.... At the
end of his late work Aion, Jung presents a diagram to illustrate the
dynamic movements of the self...." Posted 7/17/2008 at 4:28 PM |
My comment on a discussion of elliptic curves and modular forms at Secret Blogging Seminar, about 10 PM tonight: How does this affect popularized discussions of the Taniyama-Shimura
conjecture-- for instance, Ivars Peterson's, in "Curving Beyond Fermat,"
November 1999-- which claim, for instance, that "Elliptic curves and
modular forms are mathematically so different that mathematicians
initially [in the 1950's, the early days of the conjecture] couldn't
believe that the two are related."? Update of about 10:45 PM tonight: A reply by the author of the discussion, Scott Carnahan: I don’t think anyone doubted that there is a connection between elliptic curves and modular forms on the level I described above. However, the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture refers to a more advanced idea about a deeper connection. Carnahan then gives a one-paragraph summary, definitely not popularized, of the deeper connection.Posted 7/15/2008 at 10:10 PM |
The Drunkard's Walk is the title of a recent book by Leonard Mlodinow: Cover of British edition
C. P. Snow on G. H. Hardy: "... A Mathematician's Apology is, if read with the textual attention it deserves, a book of haunting sadness. Yes, it is witty and sharp with intellectual high spirits: yes, the crystalline clarity and candour are still there: yes, it is the testament of a creative artist. But it is also, in an understated stoical fashion, a passionate lament for creative powers that used to be and that will never come again."Perhaps in the afterlife Hardy, an expert on the theory of numbers, does again enjoy such powers. If so, his comments on the following would be of interest: New York Lottery today: Mid-day 006 (the first perfect number) Evening 568 (an apparently random number) Hardy, when taken to church as a child, passed the time by factorizing hymn numbers. This suggests we note that 568 equals 8 times 71. A check of Wikipedia on the prime number 71 reveals that it is related to 568 in another way: 568 is is the sum of the primes less than 71-- 2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + Clearly it is false that the sum of the primes less than a prime p is, in general, a multiple of p, since (2 + 3 + 5) is not a multiple of 7. The sum of primes less than an integer x is, however, of some interest. See The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, A046731, Sum of primes < 10^n, as well as A006880, Number of primes < 10^n. According to an amateur* mathematician named Cino Hilliard, "a very important relationship exists" between the sum of primes less than x and the prime counting function Pi(x) which is the number of primes less than x-- (Sum of primes less than x) ~ Pi(x^2). Whether this apparent relationship is, in fact, "very important," or merely a straightforward consequence of other number-theoretical facts, is not obvious (to those of us not expert in number theory) from Google searches. Perhaps Hardy can clear this question up for those who will, by luck or grace, meet him in the next world. * For some background, see a profile and user group messages here and here and here. Posted 7/13/2008 at 10:23 PM |
Indefinable? C. P. Snow on G. H. Hardy: From the Feast of the"This was 1931, and the phrase was not yet in English use, but in later days they would have said that in some indefinable way he had star quality." Transfiguration, 2007: Symmetry axes See also today's previous three entries. Happy birthday, Harrison Ford. Posted 7/13/2008 at 8:00 PM |
Christ's High Table C. P. Snow in A Mathematician's Apology: FOREWORD "It was a perfectly ordinary night at Christ's high table, except that Hardy was dining as a guest. He had just returned to Cambridge as Sadleirian professor, and I had heard something of him from young Cambridge mathematicians. They were delighted to have him back: he was a real mathematician, they said, not like those Diracs and Bohrs the physicists were always talking about: he was the purest of the pure. He was also unorthodox, eccentric, radical, ready to talk about anything. This was 1931, and the phrase was not yet in English use, but in later days they would have said that in some indefinable way he had star quality." Perhaps now also at Christ's high table-- Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister, Evelyn Keyes, who died on July 4, 2008: "... the memory of Evelyn Keyes looking at herself on the screen, exclaiming: 'There's star quality! Look at those tits!'" Evelyn Keyes in 99 River Street Posted 7/13/2008 at 12:24 PM |
Footprint
O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day, Posted 7/13/2008 at 12:06 PM |
Posted 7/13/2008 at 11:00 AM |
Advertisement "God is like Me, only more so." -- Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself Context: See also Context-Sensitive Theology. Posted 7/12/2008 at 10:31 AM |
Keyes Posted 7/12/2008 at 12:00 AM |
Ready When You Are, C. B. For related material, see "Goodbye and Hello" from 9/08, 2003 and "Requiem for a Storyteller" from 9/08, 2007, as well as "Raiders of the Lost Stone" from 6/23, 2007 and "George Carlin Dies" from 6/23, 2008. See also today's previous entries. Posted 7/11/2008 at 9:11 PM |
"I say high, you say low, you say why, and I say I don't know. Oh, no. You say goodbye and I say hello." -- Hello Goodbye * Thanks to NBC Nightly News tonight for a story on the following: Manhattanhenge is an evening when "the Sun sets in exact alignment with the Manhattan grid, fully illuminating every single cross-street...." Full Sun on grid: Friday, July 11-- 8:24 PM EDT Related material from the late Tom Disch on St. Sarah's Day:
* Stanley Cavell, in The Claim of Reason: Wittgenstein, Skepticism, Morality, and Tragedy, has a note on the song "Hello Goodbye"-- "189. The extra-long coda... was referred to as the 'Maori finale' from the start...." Posted 7/11/2008 at 7:11 PM |
Related material from the past --
Related material from today -- Escape from a cartoon graveyard: Posted 7/11/2008 at 1:00 PM |
LOGOS "Religions are hardy." -- TIME magazine, issue dated July 14 "I confess I do not believe in time." -- Vladimir Nabokov "I can hardly do better than go back to the Greeks." -- G. H. Hardy Figure 1: The Greeks Figure 2: The Irrational Posted 7/11/2008 at 9:00 AM |
Something From the current issue of TIME: "Religions are hardy. 'Many a time we have gotten all ready for the funeral' of one faith or another, 'and found it postponed again, on account of the weather or something.'" -- Mark Twain Twain was raised as a Presbyterian (the Calvinist tradition). This year's Twain award for humor went to George Carlin, raised in the Catholic tradition. On learning he had won the Twain award, Carlin said, "Thank you, Mr. Twain. Have your people call my people." Today's Birthdays: Born July 10, 1509 -- John Calvin His people: see The Authority of Narrative. Born July 10, 1984 -- Maria Julia Mantilla Her people: see Catholic Tastes. Posted 7/10/2008 at 12:00 PM |
Ah! Bright Wings A poem by the late Thomas Disch: Sundays at the Colosseum I think you always had to be a little juiced to enjoy the show. Or Jewish! I never attended without a flask of red, and would salute the dying singers-- martyrs they called themselves-- when the lions drew first blood. The songs went on until either terror or death had silenced the last of them. I doubt we would have gone so religiously if it weren't for the singing. Sometimes we'd even sing along. Circuses aren't the same these days. Pity. -- From Disch's weblog on Friday, May 23, 2008, at 8:26 AM Related material on a novel by Disch: "On Wings of Song, published in 1979, tells the story of a repressive Amesville, Iowa, in the 21st century. The main character, Daniel Weinreb, tries to master the art of song and flight, 'driven by the knowledge that some have attained flight, their spirits separated from their physical bodies and propelled on the waves of their own singing voices-- literally born on wings of song.'" -- Jocelyn Y. Stewart in a Los Angeles Times obituary of July 8, 2008 See also the Log24 entries for the date of Disch's poem-- St. Sarah's Eve-- and for the evening of July 8. Posted 7/9/2008 at 8:00 PM |
x Posted 7/9/2008 at 12:15 PM |
God, Time, Epiphany 8:28:32 AM Anthony Hopkins, from All Hallows' Eve last year: "For me time is God, God is time. It's an equation, like an Einstein equation." James Joyce, from June 26 (the day after Anti-Christmas) this year: "... he glanced up at the clock Ezra Pound (from a page From Epiphany 2008: An arrangement of planes: From May 10, 2008: A pattern of figures: See also Richard Wilhelm on "Duration is a state whose movement is not worn down by hindrances. It is not a state of rest, for mere standstill is regression. Duration is rather the self-contained and therefore self-renewing movement of an organized, firmly integrated whole, taking place in accordance with immutable laws and beginning anew at every ending. The end is reached by an inward movement, by inhalation, systole, contraction, and this movement turns into
Posted 7/9/2008 at 9:07 AM |
God, Time, Epiphany 8:28:32 AM Anthony Hopkins, from All Hallows' Eve last year: "For me time is God, God is time. It's an equation, like an Einstein equation." James Joyce, from June 26 (the day after Anti-Christmas) this year: "... he glanced up at the clock Ezra Pound (from a page From Epiphany 2008: An arrangement of planes: From May 10, 2008: A pattern of figures: See also Richard Wilhelm on "Duration
is a state whose movement is not worn down by hindrances. It is not a
state of rest, for mere standstill is regression. Duration is rather
the self-contained and therefore self-renewing movement of an
organized, firmly integrated whole, taking place in accordance with
immutable laws and beginning anew at every ending. The end is reached
by an inward movement, by inhalation, systole, contraction, and this
movement turns into a new beginning, in which the movement is directed
outward, in exhalation, diastole, expansion."
-- The Middle-English Harrowing of Hell... by Hulme, 1907, page 64 Posted 7/9/2008 at 9:06 AM |
God, Time, Epiphany 8:28:32 AM Anthony Hopkins, from All Hallows' Eve last year: "For me time is God, God is time. It's an equation, like an Einstein equation." James Joyce, from June 26 (the day after Anti-Christmas) this year: "... he glanced up at the clock Ezra Pound (from a page From Epiphany 2008: An arrangement of planes: From May 10, 2008: A pattern of figures: See also Richard Wilhelm on Hexagram 32 of the I Ching: "Duration
is a state whose movement is not worn down by hindrances. It is not a
state of rest, for mere standstill is regression. Duration is rather
the self-contained and therefore self-renewing movement of an
organized, firmly integrated whole, taking place in accordance with
immutable laws and beginning anew at every ending. The end is reached
by an inward movement, by inhalation, systole, contraction, and this
movement turns into a new beginning, in which the movement is directed
outward, in exhalation, diastole, expansion."
-- The Middle-English Harrowing of Hell... by Hulme, 1907, page 64 Posted 7/9/2008 at 8:28 AM |
Translation to a Higher Plane New York State Lottery this evening: 737. "Don't know when I'll be back again." -- Peter, Paul, and Mary -- the final hit Posted 7/8/2008 at 9:34 PM |
Posted 7/8/2008 at 3:17 PM |
New York Lottery mid-day today: 672 -- The Middle-English Harrowing of Hell... by Hulme, 1907, page 64 Posted 7/8/2008 at 1:14 PM |
Translation Yesterday's entry discussed T.E. Hulme-- a co-founder, with Ezra Pound, of the Imagist school of poetry. Recent entries on randomness, using the New York Lottery as a source of examples, together with Hulme's approach to poetry discussed yesterday, suggest the following meditation-- what Charles Cameron might call a "bead game."Part I: Ezra Pound on Imagism (from Gaudier-Brzeska,* 1916): Three years ago in Paris I got out of a "metro" train at La Concorde, and saw suddenly a beautiful face, and then another and another, and then a beautiful child’s face, and then another beautiful woman, and I tried all that day to find words for what this had meant to me, and I could not find any words that seemed to me worthy, or as lovely as that sudden emotion. [....]
Part II: "... all translations exist on an axis. Indeed, they exist in a manifold of many axes intersecting. One axis is that of foreignness and familiarity. One axis is that of structural mimicry, another of melodic mimicry. And one axis is that of semantic fidelity."Goodman's use of the word "manifold" here is of course poetic, not mathematical. Part III: New York Lottery, mid-day on July 7, 2008: 771. Part IV: A Google search on manifold 771 reveals that 771 is, according to Google's scanners, an alternate form (a "translation," via structural mimicry) of a script version of the letter M. (See Part V below.) Part V: Long version of a "Random apparition: This poem summarizes the [Such lines and planes have not -- Paul R. Halmos, Short version of the 771: * Gaudier-Brzeska created the artifact shown on the cover of Solid Objects, a work of literary theory by Douglas Mao. For more on that artifact and on the New York Lottery, see Sermon for St. Peter's Day. "It is not in the premise that reality/ Is a solid...." --Wallace Stevens † "I was like, Oh My God." --Poet Billy Collins at Chautauqua Institution, morning of July 7, 2008 Posted 7/8/2008 at 3:33 AM |
Classicism Last evening's entry referred to a 1961 essay by Iris Murdoch titled "Against Dryness." Murdoch's use of "dryness" as a literary term is taken from a 1911 essay by T. E. Hulme, "Romanticism and Classicism." Hulme says that"There is a general tendency to think that verse means little else than the expression of unsatisfied emotion. People say: 'But how can you have verse without sentiment?' You see what it is: the prospect alarms them. A classical revival to them would mean the prospect of an arid desert and the death of poetry as they understand it, and could only come to fill the gap caused by that death. Exactly why this dry classical spirit should have a positive and legitimate necessity to express itself in poetry is utterly inconceivable to them."Related philosophy from Hollywood:
Posted 7/7/2008 at 7:00 AM |
"Hancock" Powers to the Top of July Fourth Box Office -- This evening's online New York Times
Log24 3/07:
Log24 9/21:
Will Smith on Chess Will Smith "A devoted father, Smith passes on his philosophy of life to his children through chess, among other things. 'My father taught me how to play chess at seven and introduced beautiful concepts that I try to pass on to my kids. The elements and concepts of life are so perfectly illustrated on a chess board. The ability to accurately assess your position is the key to chess, which I also think is the key to life.' He pauses, searching for an example. 'Everything you do in your life is a move. You wake up in the morning, you strap on a gun, and you walk out on the street-- that's a move. You've made a move and the universe is going to respond with its move. 'Whatever move you're going to make in your life to be successful, you have to accurately access the next couple of moves-- like what's going to happen if you do this? Because once you've made your move, you can't take it back. The universe is going to respond.' Smith has just finished reading The Alchemist, by the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho: 'It says the entire world is contained in one grain of sand, and you can learn everything you need to learn about the entire universe from that one grain of sand. That is the kind of concept I'm teaching my kids.'" Posted 7/6/2008 at 9:00 PM |
The Pursuit of Happyness "Remember that we deal with Mary Chapin Carpenter -- cunning, baffling, and powerful." -- Saying adapted from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous "I'm Pabst Blue Ribbon, American." -- The Telegraph, May 7, 2008 Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms was city editor at the Raleigh Times. See the Fourth of July. See also last Thursday. Posted 7/6/2008 at 9:00 AM |
The Bacchae by Euripides New York Lottery on the Fourth of July: Mid-day 678 Evening 506 These numbers may be interpreted as references to a current Lincoln Center play -- The Bacchae, by Euripides. Line 678 of The Bacchae -- From a Brandeis class's translation (2006): Messenger: [677] Our feeding herds of cattle were just climbing Related review by Charles Isherwood in today's New York Times: "A god deserves a great entrance. And Dionysus, the god of wine and party boy of Mount Olympus, whose celebratory rituals got the whole drama thing rolling in the first place, surely merits a spectacular one...."Line 506 of The Bacchae -- From a 1988 translation (pdf) by Matthew A. Neuburg-- Dionysus: [506] You don’t know what you’re saying, what you’re doing, who you are. Translator's note: 506 The state of this line in the MSS has driven editors to despair; in particular, the first of the things Pentheus is said not to know is, in Greek, “what you are living,” which seems doubtful Greek. Many emendations have been proposed; I accept here DODDS’s emendation, but I have a feeling we’re missing something. AMEN. Posted 7/5/2008 at 8:00 AM |
In memory of Senator Jesse Helms, R-NC: "I'm a church beside the highway where the ditches never drain, I'm a Baptist like my daddy, and Jesus knows my name." -- Mary Chapin Carpenter Posted 7/4/2008 at 11:30 AM |
REDEMPTION "I need a photo-opportunity, I want a shot at redemption. Don't want to end up a cartoon In a cartoon graveyard." -- Paul Simon From Log24 on June 27, 2008, the day that comic-book artist Michael Turner died at 37 -- Van Gogh (by Ed Arno) in The Paradise of Childhood (by Edward Wiebé): For Turner's photo-opportunity, click on Lara. Posted 7/4/2008 at 8:00 AM |
De Haut en Bas "... this hard prize, Fully made, fully apparent, fully found" -- Wallace Stevens, "Credences of Summer" Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro in "The Score" The Prize: Posted 7/3/2008 at 7:11 PM |
Highs and Lows From today's New York Times: This week, we the people of North America are staging two celebrations. The Fourth of July is the 232nd birthday of the United States.... In Canada, today, another ceremony will mark the 400th anniversary of Quebec City, the first permanent settlement in New France. Paul Simon on religion: "I need a photo opportunity, I want a shot at redemption...." Log24 on August 8, 2002 -- The cast of "Some Girls," in a cartoon graveyard." Amen, sister. Posted 7/3/2008 at 11:00 AM |
Blasphemous Thoughts about Thor Commonweal on Gopnik on Chesterton: "Gopnik thinks Chesterton’s aphorisms are better than any but Oscar Wilde’s, and he describes some of them as 'genuine Catholic koans, pregnant and profound.' For example: 'Blasphemy depends on belief, and is fading with it. If anyone doubts this, let him sit down seriously and try to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor.'" Pregnant and Profound: Douglas Adams on Thor Kate felt quite dizzy. She didn't know exactly what it was that had just happened, but she felt pretty damn certain that it was the sort of experience that her mother would not have approved of on a first date. See also The Turning: "A theorem proposed betwen the two--" -- Wallace Stevens, "The Rock" From The History of Mathematics, by Roger Cooke "... point A In a perspective that begins again At B...." -- Wallace Stevens, "The Rock" Posted 7/3/2008 at 7:59 AM |
x Posted 7/3/2008 at 7:57 AM |
Let Noon Be Fair "The serpent's eyes shine As he wraps around the vine" -- "The Garden of Allah" A Good Year -- Last summer's journal Related material: Cover illustration: Spies returning from the land of Canaan with a cluster of grapes. Colored woodcut from Biblia Sacra Germanica, Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1483. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Posted 7/2/2008 at 12:00 PM |
Bull's-Eye On this date in 1961, Ernest Hemingway shot himself. The Talented Patricia Highsmith "Yes, oh, God, Robin was beautiful. [....] A sort of first position in attention, a face that will age only under the blows of perpetual childhood. The temples like those of young beasts cutting horns, as if they were sleeping eyes. And that look on a face we follow like a witch-fire." -- Djuna Barnes, Nightwood Related material: The Languages of Addiction, Ch. 13: The Barnes Complex See also The Garden of Eden. Posted 7/2/2008 at 8:28 AM |
Sacerdotal Jargon
Symbols of the thrice concentred self: The circular symbol is from July 1. The square symbol is from June 24, the date of death for the former first lady of Brazil. Wallace Stevens quotes Paul Klee: "'... what artist would not establish himself there where the organic center of all movement in time and space-- which he calls the mind or heart of creation-- determines every function.' Conceding that this sounds a bit like sacerdotal jargon, that is not too much to allow...." -- "The Relations between Poetry and Painting" in The Necessary Angel (Knopf, 1951) Posted 7/2/2008 at 3:33 AM |
x Posted 7/1/2008 at 7:20 PM |
THE USUAL SUSPECT Click image to enlarge. Related material: Log24 entries from the date of Macke's death Posted 7/1/2008 at 4:20 AM |
THE USUAL SUSPECT Click image to enlarge. Related material: The three Log24 entries from the date of Macke's death Posted 7/1/2008 at 3:33 AM |