Log24

Related material:

Frank J. Prial on the late singer Tony Martin—

— and, on Jan. 1, 2005, on beverage marketing:

Every picture tells a story.

Happy birthday to Hilary Swank.

"There is no question about what arithmetic is for
or why it is supported. Society cannot proceed
without it. Addition, subtraction, multiplication,
division, percentages: though not all citizens can
deal fluently with all of them, we make the
assumption that they can when necessary.
Those who cannot are sometimes at a disadvantage.

Algebra, though, is another matter."

— Underwood Dudley in the Notices of the
American Mathematical Society, May 2010:
"What Is Mathematics For?" 

A less nuanced remark from the American
Mathematical Society (AMS) today—

"The answer to the recent Op-Ed piece
in The New York Times  entitled
'Is Algebra Necessary?'
is resoundingly YES!"

— Eric Friedlander, AMS president

* A review of philosophical terminology—

"The distinction between necessary truth
and contingent truth is a version of Leibniz 's 
distinction between truths of reason and truths
of fact. A necessary truth must be true and
could not be false, whatever way the world is. 
It is true in itself. A contingent truth, on the other 
hand, depends upon the empirical world and might 
have been false had the world been different." 

— The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy

The end of the beginning of the London Games 
suggests other games —

Shadows (July 14) —

A Game of Shadows — "You know my methods."

Related religious material —

The Feast of Saint  Jude,  2011.

(Continued from July 22)

Manhattan, July 22, 2012 — "Once upon a time, in a quiet corner
of the Middle East, there lived a shepherd named Gyges.  Despite
the hardships in his life Gyges was relatively satisfied with his meager
existence. Then, one day, he found a ring buried in a nearby cave."
Read more…

"I want you on the Swansea lathe today."
— Boss of the Christ figure in "The Machinist" (2004)

Related material in this journal—

Dylan Thomas and Modern Times—

IMDb trivia page on "The Machinist" (2004)—

"The time of 1:30 AM is significant throughout the movie.
Trevor often notices something out of the ordinary at this time.
During the 1 hour 30 minute mark in the movie,
the major plot twist is revealed."

As for the date  1/30… See Tolkien on telepathy.

(Backstory: The Gospel According to Father Hardon )

(Continued)

Part I:

Christian Bale as a Spanish Christ-parody in "The Machinist" (2004)

Part II:

"The expression 'the devil is in the details'
is turned on its head in the exhibit 'The Sacred Made Real'
at Washington's National Gallery of Art…." 
— Catholic News Service, 2010

Part III:

Tonight's New York Times  obituaries

Part IV:

"My goodness, there must be a hole in this glass."
— Maria in "The Machinist" (2004)

Wilson Pickett and the Holy…

L'Chaim

For those who like puzzles—

What film's page at IMDb recommends
the following "also liked" choices?

The Interpreter (2005), Identity (2003), The Game (1997),
The Ghost Writer (2010), The Machinist (2004), The Number 23 (2007)

A similar puzzle: Related Books

"Always with a little humor"
— Manchurian Candidate

"Sound of a Theorem"

In Memoriam

Ding

"One ring to bring them all…"
— J. R. R. Tolkien, Catholic author

Today in History, July 22, by The Associated Press—

"In 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death
by federal agents outside Chicago's Biograph Theater,
where he had just seen the Clark Gable movie
'Manhattan Melodrama.'"

From a  Manhattan Melodrama—

"Follow the Ring" 

Piatigorsky died on Sunday, July 15. Notes in this  journal from that date—

• A July 15 update within a post of Sunday, July 8, and
• Converse.

Backstory—

• The Purloined Diamond,
• July 16 , and
• Lozengy Argent and Gules.

Colin Moynihan on the late Alexander Cockburn—

"His attachment to left-wing journalism— and controversy—
was forged very early on. His father, Claud Cockburn, while
covering the Spanish Civil War for The Daily Worker , joined
the Republican forces fighting the rebellion of Francisco
Franco. (Claud Cockburn, under a pseudonym, also wrote
novels, including Beat the Devil , which was made into a
film with Humphrey Bogart and which his son used as the
title of his column in The Nation .)"

A video linked to in this evening's earlier post suggests
an antidote to the film oeuvre  of Guillermo del Toro—
in particular, to Pan's Labyrinth.

For a leftist who wrote well—

Here's your ticket, pack your bags,
            time for jumpin' overboard 
Transportation is here 

—Talking Heads lyric

The New York Times  online front page
update of 10:11 this morning provides
a sort of antidote to Saturday morning
cartoons.

The update's time suggests a check
of this  journal's most recent post
with the date  10/11. It turns out
to be a meditation on art and
the speed of perception.

Related material:

A linked-to post, Twenty-Four.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/
la-pn-romney-colorado-shooting-is-
unspeakable-tragedy-20120720,0,1226295.story 

Romney: Colorado shooting is 'unspeakable tragedy'

By Seema Mehta 
July 20, 2012, 11:15 a.m.


BOW, N.H.—Hours after a shooter killed a dozen people
in a Colorado cinema, Mitt Romney scrubbed a scheduled
campaign rally Friday and instead offered his somber
condolences and prayers to the victims and their 
families.

“Our hearts break with the sadness of this unspeakable
tragedy. Ann and I join the president and first lady
and all Americans in offering our deepest condolences
to those whose lives were shattered in a few moments, 
a few moments of evil in Colorado,” Romney told a few
hundred people gathered at a lumber yard here.

“I stand before you today not as a man running for 
office but as a father and grandfather, a husband, an
American. This is a time for each of us to look into 
our hearts and remember how much we love one another 
and how much we love and how much we care for our great
country. There’s so much love and goodness in the heart
of America.”

Romney, wearing a navy blue suit and blue tie, spoke
for four minutes. The trademark campaign banners with
slogans such as “Believe in America” or “Obama’s Upside-
Down Economy” were gone, leaving a handful of American
flags as the backdrop. Before Romney spoke, Father 
Christian Tutor, an Anglican Catholic priest, led a 
prayer. ...

Caped Crusader

See also related juvenile humor, as well as Aurora in this  journal.

For those who prefer fiction:

"Many Dimensions  (1931) — An evil antiquarian illegally purchases
the fabled Stone of Suleiman (Williams uses this Muslim form
rather than the more familiar King Solomon) from its Islamic guardian
in Baghdad and returns to England to discover not only that the Stone
can multiply itself infinitely without diminishing the original, but that it
also allows its possessor to transcend the barriers of space and time."

— Wikipedia article on the author Charles Williams