Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Furchtbar Herzig
[Kurt] Gödel, who has often been called the greatest logician since Aristotle, was a strange and ultimately tragic man. Whereas Einstein was gregarious and full of laughter, Gödel was solemn, solitary, and pessimistic. Einstein, a passionate amateur violinist, loved Beethoven and Mozart. Gödel’s taste ran in another direction: his favorite movie was Walt Disney’s “Snow […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Yer Better Constants
I know, two quotations in a row from the same person who isn't even Bill Moyers, but there is a reason, mostly that I've been going through some of the archives at Slate and having an enjoyable time. For the last little while I've been looking at "Do The Math" articles by Jordan Ellenberg, whither […]
In: All, Laughing Matters
What Gödel Didn't Say
What is it about Gödel's theorem that so captures the imagination? Probably that its oversimplified plain-English form–"There are true things which cannot be proved"–is naturally appealing to anyone with a remotely romantic sensibility. Call it "the curse of the slogan": Any scientific result that can be approximated by an aphorism is ripe for misappropriation. The […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, The Art of Conversation
Why There is Something
Why is there Something rather than Nothing? Why, in other words, should anything exist at all? This is a question that has torn great minds asunder, from Leibniz to Wittgenstein. Philosophers seem to have given up on it. When I asked Arthur Danto why there was something rather than nothing, he irritably responded, "Who says […]
Who Makes What Most?
What in most fetuses turns either into a penis and scrotum or a clitoris and labia can also develop into something in between. And while most babies are born with either ovaries or testicles, some are born with both, or one of each. Many cultures have categories for such in-between people; in India, for instance, […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Moyers on Fundamentalist Facism
These are words from a speech given by Bill Moyers the week of 5 September 2005 at Union Theological Seminary. The speech was called "9/11 And The Sport of God". Before the main excerpt, here is a short quotation from near the end of the speech, a statement of the impediment that right-thinking Americans must […]
Truisms for Older Men
A few years ago, in a period of reading the excellent Saratoga mysteries by Stephen Dobyns, I read Saratoga Backtalk (finishing it on 17 April 2000, according to my database of books read for the year 2000). Since then, I've had occasion to retell as sage wisdom some advice for men past middle age that […]
In: All, Crime Fiction, Writing
White House Under Water
One of the creepier vanities of most political leaders is the private yearning to be tested on a historical scale. Bill Clinton used to confide that, no matter what else he did as President, without a major war to fight he could never join the ranks of Lincoln and F.D.R. During the Presidential debates in […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Trying to Learn a Lesson
Very popular this week has been remarking on the parallels between preparedness for large-scale natural disasters and preparedness for large-scale terrorists attacks, which finds people saying "if Katrina had been an actual terrorist attack" and this had been the response of the "we can keep you safer" Bush League, we'd be in deep water, just […]
Dressed for Success
I think y'all are being unfair about whether Michael Brown, the besieged head of FEMA, is qualified for his job. One should be careful to keep in mind the current set of standards that we use. You may recall that when the newly named Secretary of State Rice made her first official visit to Europe, […]
We'll Be Back
It's a shame that "Schwarzenegger" is so difficult to spell when he looks to be heading towards a significant spot in the history of impeding social progress. Tsk. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a profile in timidity this week when he vowed to veto a pioneering bill authorizing gay marriage in California. The bill, which both […]
In: All, Plus Ca Change..., Splenetics
Poor Oil Companies
It seems fitting to paraphrase Barbara Bush and say that things seem to be working out pretty well for the poor oil companies: Oil companies came under new fire yesterday when it emerged that ExxonMobil's profits are likely to soar above $10 billion this quarter on the back of the fuel crisis. That's $110 million […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Let Them Eat Cheap Cake Then!
On Aug. 30, the day after the hurricane hit, the Census Bureau released figures showing that the poor had increased by 1.1 million since 2003, to 12.7 percent of the population, the fourth annual increase, with blacks and Hispanics the poorest, and the South remaining the poorest region. Since Bush has been in office, poverty […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Did He or Didn't He?
Well, this is silly. Kartina made landfall on Monday, 29 August. The "enormous gay rights celebration", known as "Southern Decadence", takes place on Memorial-Day weekend, which is to say it didn't even get started until 5 days later. As I've pointed out before, if He was really so upset with New Oreans over the homo […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Well, It Did Happen
Maybe Mr. Bush will now also tell us: "It's not the government's hurricane – it's your hurricane." […] The Bush team has engaged in a tax giveaway since 9/11 that has had one underlying assumption: There will never be another rainy day. Just spend money. You knew that sooner or later there would be a […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
The Real Thing
Can y'all remember, back in those more prosperous, more productive, happier days of Democratic administrations, how whenever one correct-thinking individual would criticize some idiotic statement that came out of a regressive mouth, that said regressive would yell "Censorship! Censorship!" Remember? Anyway, we'd often pause, take a breath, and explain calmly that we were not indulging […]
Dean on Direction
The Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, said this [the evident ineptitude of the Administration to deal with the Katrina disaster] could be a transitional moment for his party. "The Democratic Party needs a new direction," he said. "And I think it's become clear what the direction is: restore a moral purpose to America. Rebuild […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Convergent Blame Gaming
Frank was late getting home from work and sat down immediately and a bit breathless to eat. Kenneth had prepared a late-summer favorite: a corn and tomato supper. Between urgent bites of corn off the cob, Frank said, "I had lunch with Tina today." Ken sliced a tomato. "Arch-conservative, Bush-can-do-no-wrong Tina?" "The same. Tina, it […]
In: All, Frank & Kenneth
We Love You Hans Haffmans!
As I type, I hear on the radio the brass fanfare from the beginning of the final movement of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, alerting us that it's 11pm and time for our weekly broadcast of "Live! at the Concertgebouw". It's a good program with varied programs beautifully played by different ensembles. But what we really […]
Herps, Gait, & the Invention of Clothes
Today's reading from Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2004) touches on several topics (as I catch a bit on the lunch-time notes). [Speaking of naming types of animals:] Yet another informal grade name, favoured by American zoologists, is 'herp'. Herpetology is the study of reptiles (except birds) and amphibians. 'Herp' is a […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, It's Only Rocket Science