| 100122 |
In his Parashat Sh'mot, שְׁמוֹת (Ex. 1:1-6;1), R. Wolf quotes Rabbi Alan Lew as saying that this passage
tells us more about Moses than about G-D:
R. Wolf explains:
Maybe the passage does tell us more about Moses than about G-D; this is indeed interesting—yes, as R. Wolf concludes, we should "redefine the present not as a time period, but a state of mind, and devote more of our time to updating our mindset rather than our Facebook status." But my attention was primarily on G-D—I didn't know that the name of G-D "is the only way to express present-tense being in the Hebrew language." While thinking about this a question asked by Heidegger in his Poetry, Language, Thought (The Origin of the Work of Art) popped into my mind:
Hmmm. Could the structure of "Yud Hey Vov Hey" be the mirror image of the structure of G-D? By "structure of G-D" I'm neither suggesting a structure of parts nor a structure of the being we conceptualize as G-D; I'm suggesting a structure to the conceptualization itself. Or could ... . Maybe this is confused. |
| 100119 |
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| 100118 ½ |
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| 100118 |
Carl Th. Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc will destroy you, and you'll thank it & him for it. It is simply the most powerful film I've seen. Renée Falconetti—Joan—deserves an altar sated with blood. The film was made in 1928 and lost until 1981, when—as the Introduction tells you—it was found "in perfect condition ... in a Norwegian mental institution." Richard Einhorn produced an astounding oratio, Voices of Light, to accompany the film. The result is excellent. I read the trial transcripts of Jeanne d'Arc (The Trial of Joan of Arc, trans. Daniel Hobbins) around the time I saw Dreyer's film. The timing was perfect. The transcripts portrayed a feisty Jeanne—e.g., at being urged to make another oath, during the 2nd session of the 1st interrogation held on 22 February 1431, Jeanne remarked that "I took an oath for you yesterday; that should be quite enough for you. You overburden me." The film portrayed a meek Joan. Together they added volume to the legend. I saw the film at 2 a.m., in the dark, and with my hand clasping an Argentinean Malbec. By 3 o'clock I was a whimpering child. |
| 100117 ½ |
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| 100117 |
Rabbi Shimon said:
A. Heschel adds: __________ 1 Genesis Rabba 8, 5. 2 Heschel, Abraham. A Passion for Truth. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1973. |
| 100116 |
In 206 B.C. the Roman general Scipio Africanus obliterated the Carthaginians in Spain. He would've been entitled to a triumphus procession had his political rank been that of Magistrate or superior. Instead, according to A. C. Grayling1, Scipio was given only an ovatio. He may or may not have considered this sufficient. But he may've had he known what we now know about his generalship.
A triumphus procession required the Senate to suspend the law for one day to allow the victorious general to enter Rome with his troops. This general would shout "Io triumphe!" as he rode to Jupiter Capitolinus via the Via Sacra to sacrifice an assortment of unfortunate animals against a backdrop of frenzied crowds. We'd think that he was the most important person in all this from all this. But he wasn't. Grayling tells us that the slave riding with this general was the most important person. His task was to dispell arrogance and megalomania by reminding him that he was still only human, and that
This sounds true enough. Scipio himself would've [probably] appreciated it still, being no news to him, to be sure. But to some measure it would've been superfluous; commanding Scipio Africanus never lost a battle. |
| 100114 |
On 20 February 1909 Le Figaro published Filippo T. Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism." It reads like a psychotic rant by a paraphiliac, gynophobic, and misogynistic dude. But there's a fury in it that I love. Here are his main points* (emphasis mine):
*Source: James Joll's Three Intellectuals in Politics. |
| 100111 ☆ |
There is no Lucifer. You won't find the word in the NIV. You'll find it once in the KJV (Is. 14:12). From this we've named the so-called prince of darkness Lucifer. You've shot yourself in the foot if you insist that the "Devil"* is named Lucifer. Here's why: Jerome's Isaias 14:12 reads: quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes which the KJV renders as:
Now, Jerome's II Petri 1:19 reads: et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem cui bene facitis adtendentes quasi lucernae lucenti in caliginoso loco donec dies inlucescat et lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris which the KJV renders as:
"[T]he day star" is commonly understood to refer to Jesus Christ. Hence Jerome calls Jesus Christ Lucifer. If you insist to call the "Devil" Lucifer, you must do the same to Jesus Christ if you wish to remain consistent. Don't shoot yourself in the foot. |
| 100111 : ) |
Many days ago Florencia sent me a picture that I really liked. Looking at all those greens reminded me of spring and the promise of all those supple things that sprout within it. But this mélange isn't its salient feature; Florencia's lips are.
"Many days ago" was around the time when I started playing with Wolfram Research's Mathematica—one of the most impressive softwares I've shed tears of joy over; you can almost do anything with it. After going through all the "demonstrations" in Wolfram blog, I decided to challenge myself and do something fun with what I'd learned. I decided to take Florencia's picture and find out its color distribution. I could see shades of greens, blues, reds, browns, &c, but now I could be rigorous about it and ascertain the exact palette [to the highest degree of resolution, differentiating between the subtlest shade variations—i.e.: "(Norm[# - #2] < 0.1)"]. The result is on pg. 7 in my image below. I then wanted to find out the palette of Florencia's lips and their immediate region. The result is on pg. 11. Truly, there's something about that palette that I really like, whether it's instantiated in lips or not. |
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| 100109 | Ashley, Owen, and I spent the entire day in Vancouver. Although the main purpose of the visit was to fetch my numerous almost-orphaned books, we also made a culinary—&c—experience of it. We ate at three of my favorite places, which I'll detail in the next three paragraphs, and browsed through INFORM*—a design shop principally focused on furniture and imported arch. / design books and magazines.
We first ate at Finch's, a small tea and coffe house where the people who make your baguettes and soups look like unemployed middle-class white folk from post-WWI and pre-WWII USA with a twist. Their menu is handwritten and listed across several chalkboards of different sizes. Their tiny corner-shop is filled with old wooden tables and chairs, art-deco lamps, &c. As for the food, I enjoy their tomato soup and baguettes—and I love that these latter are served on brow wax paper, and that they're brought to you suspended in the air, swinging about the fingers that pinch any two diagonally opposing corners of the paper. Here we all had baguettes—Ashley and Owen: blue brie, sliced pear, prosciutto, roasted walnuts, and lettuce; I: Gypsy salami, lettuce, tomato, pesto-mayo. La Taqueria is extremely small—it sits about 8-10 people, and you would miss it if it weren't for the colorful Virgin Mary painted in its storefront. Their business cards are facsimiles of Mexican Tarot cards, and it's great to read their names dramatically and aloud as you wait for your tacos—e.g.: "La Mueeeeeeerrrrte", "El Corazónnnnnnnnnnnnn", "La Calaveeeeeeeeeeera", &c. Here we shared eight tacos with different kinds of meat (pork cheek, cow tongue, steak, flank, &c) vegies, and spices. I licked my fingers frequently. Our last stop was The Salt Tasting Room, a place where you can enjoy an assortment of meats, cheeses, condiments, and wines. Their signature treat, I think, is the three meats / cheeses platter paired with three wines. Owen suggested that we get two of these and share, which meant that each of us tasted six different wines, six different condiments, three different meats, and three different cheeses. I wish I hadn't had my camera stolen in Quito, I would've loved to show you how these six differently colored wines shimmered together. Fortunately I know their names thanks to our waitress, who hand-wrote them—along with her suggested meat / cheese, condiment, and wine combinations—in small rectangular sheets, and I'll share them with you as soon as I borrow them from Ashley. While I get the names, let me just say that though our individual favorite combinations differed, we agreed that the Manchego, fig-bread, and Alvear's Amontillado (sherry) one was orgasmic. We returned to Victoria on the 9 o'clock ferry, satiated. |
| 100108 | (I'm back in Xanga. I'll design a proper site when I actually have time and money for it. Away with premature betas!) |
| 091126 |
M. Arch., finally. |
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| 091106 | There isn't much to Capuleto from the outside. But beyond its unwelcoming gates there's a charming patio with a sizeable bird-cage filled with chirping birds. It's best to go at night though there's less chirping then; at night there are more colors.
But I mislead you. This entry is not about Capuleto; it's about a waitress we (Yekaterina and I) met there—or, more accurately: about my impression of this waitress. How many ethnic-Georgian Russian teens do you know that wait at Italian restaurants in Quito, Ecuador? I knew of none before tonight. I asked about her reasons for leaving Mother Russia. "Life there is very hard," she said. There were two things that impressed me most. The first was her fluency in Spanish, which she'd been studying for only three years yet spoke it so well that it took me three visits to even notice foreign inflections. The second was that she managed to accomplish that much with very limited resources. Man, I wish I had her for a friend. |
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| 091016 | On 080201 I posted this reductio proof for de re ⊃ de dicto—Φ: (∀x)⟡Fx⊃⟡(∀x)Fx: [N.B.: ⟡=necessity, ◇=possibility // Firefox correctly renders necessity as a square and Safari, incorrectly, as a deflated diamond—I tell you, I worship Apple products and all but Safari has a special place in hell.] 1. ~((∀x)⟡Fx⊃⟡(∀x)Fx) (w) NTF 2. ~(~(∀x)⟡Fx v ⟡(∀x)Fx) (w) 1, Impl 3. ~~(∀x)⟡Fx & ~⟡(∀x)Fx (w) 2, DeM 4. (∀x)⟡Fx & ~⟡(∀x)Fx (w) 3, DN 5. (∀x)⟡Fx (w) 4, &Elim 6. ~⟡(∀x)Fx (w) 4, &Elim 7. ◇~(∀x)Fx (w) 6, MN 8. ~(∀x)Fx (w1) 7, ◇S5 9. (∃x)~Fx (w1) 8, QN 10. ~Fa (w1) 9, EE a 11. ⟡Fa (w) 5, UE a 12. Fa (w1) 11, ⟡S5 13. ⊥ (w1) 10, 12, ⊥ intro x I posted it at the time because I thought, as I still think, that quantified S5 notation is beautiful—indeed, this is true of most mathematical notations (even hellish Polish notation). I also posted it because of what it means, and that is even more beautiful. Actually, what I find even more beautiful is not just what it means, but what it and what its converse together mean. Let me explain. The formula above, Φ, is known as The Barcan Formula. Ψ: ⟡(∀x)Fx⊃(∀x)⟡Fx is its converse.1 Together they entail that if a thing could exist, not only does it indeed exist, but it exists necessarily. In other words: Harry Potter, the god of the Mormons, Bradamante, et al do exist. In other other words: everything that you can possibly imagine exists. I think that this is beautiful because I love mythology and Harry Potter—actually, I think Harry Potter is a punk; it's post-pubescent and over-18 Ginny Weasley whom I have the hots for. Thus ends my explanation. Let's now discuss the implications. I just proved to you that everything that could exist does necessarily. And here's where you should correct me: "No, Alexucho, Alexiño, Alexín, Alexuquini, ... , what you just proved is that everything that could exist does necessarily in quantified S5." True. This is one reason why some [boring] Logicians have a problem with S5. You could also provide me with this "counter-argument": "Alex, you acknowledge that you could have been born female"—here I'd nod—", and hence there could have been a female Alex, but where is she? She doesn't exist! So much for your could ⊃ does." Here's where I'd appeal to Linsky and Zalta ('In defense of the contingently nonconcrete', Philosophical Studies, 84, 283-94) and say: "Female Alex is an object that exists but is contingently non-concrete in this world." I'd elaborate in a way that I won't here, and if I still held your attention, I'd continue with a personal annotation: "When I die, I'll also be contingently non-concrete in this world." And then I'd invite you for a beer and a discussion about hot chicks, concrete and non-concrete. __________ 1Ψ: ⟡(∀x)Fx⊃(∀x)⟡Fx: 1. ~(⟡(∀x)Fx⊃(∀x)⟡Fx) (w) NTF 2. ~(~⟡(∀x)Fx v (∀x)⟡Fx) (w) 1, Impl 3. ~~⟡(∀x)Fx & ~(∀x)⟡Fx (w) 2, DeM 4. ⟡(∀x)Fx & ~(∀x)⟡Fx (w) 3, DN 5. ⟡(∀x)Fx (w) 4, &Elim 6. ~(∀x)⟡Fx (w) 4, &Elim 7. (∃x)~⟡Fx (w) 6, QN 8. ~⟡Fa (w) 7, EE a 9. ◇~Fa (w) 8, MN 10. ~Fa (w1) 9, ◇S5 11. (∀x)Fx (w1) 5, ⟡S5 12. Fa (w1) 11, UE a 13. ⊥ (w1) 10, 12, ⊥ intro x |
| 091012 | On 090204 I quoted an excerpt from D. C. Matt's annotated translation of the Zohar that detailed אֲדֹנָי's creation methodology. In this excerpt we're told that אֲדֹנָי chose ב (bet), one of the seven doubles (doubles, i.e., ב, ּבבּ), to begin creation with—bereshit bara Elohim ("In the beginning G-d created")—because bet leads Baruch, or "Blessed," and אֲדֹנָי wanted His creation to be just that. The Sages wondered why creation was not lead-off with א (aleph), the first and arguably most prominent letter. The Zohar answers that aleph was the one letter that did not dare to ask אֲדֹנָי for the privilege of leading-off creation—for this modesty, we're later told, אֲדֹנָי allowed aleph to represent His indivisible unity, and to lead-off the Ten Commandments. Even though aleph does not lead-off creation, there is an interesting relationship between bet and aleph, viz., one in which bet's duality—and hence creation's inherited duality—is seen in aleph. I.e.: This duality which not only allows for but causes said dialectic does not only govern the macrocosm within which Man exists, it also governs Man's microcosm—why a double helix; two genders; two eyes; two arms; two legs, &c?* Whatever the Sages were smoking / drinking / inhaling / injecting, I find their stories / explanations endearing and oddly profound. __________ * But what of: "one sexual organ, one mouth, one head"? Fear not, the Sages have got it covered by creating correspondences between these body-parts with synthesizing or balancing sephiroth (simpliciter: forces of emanation via which the abstract Will manifests tangibly)—e.g., the sexual organ is represented by the sephira of Yesod ("Foundation"), which balances the opposing forces of the sephira of Hod ("Glory"—surrender) and that of Netzach ("Victory"—will to overcome). Of course, this is not to say that the Sages suggested that everything exists / consists / subsists in multiples of twos—the prime numbers larger than 2, for e.g., don't (although consider that, by chance or not—and lest I be said to be confusing stupidity with profundity, let me say that I don't prefer either way—, all prime numbers have exactly two distinct divisors). |
| 091010 |
| 091009 | [Sefer Yetzirah ("Book of Creation"), said to be given by אֲדֹנָי to Abraham, is the earliest staple-text of Jewish mysticism.] According to the Talmud, R. Hanina and R. Hoshaiah created a calf via their knowledge and understanding of the Sefer Yetzirah (SY) and ate it on a Sabbath. How charming. OK, so the knowledge contained in the SY can be used to create. But it can also be used to destroy—Walls of Jericho anyone? This is a lot of power indeed, and so it's good that the SY is so freaking confusing. I'm getting a complete copy of it next week. I'll let you know, in about 987 years—plus or minus a couple thousand—, how my calves taste like—if like pork, oh oh.  |
| 090929 DREAM | At the onset I received a note from Εὐνίκη telling me to meet her at the waterfront. Her note included a photograph that bore three palm trees and one lodge. At the waterfront I received another message from the lips of an old fisherman. "Meet me at the lodge," said bearded she. The fisherman painted the interior of the lodge for me, that I would know exactly where to meet Εὐνίκη. At the lodge I found another note with another photograph. This time I was to meet her between the two snow-capped peaks of the cordillera. There I met a travel guide who bore yet another message for me from Εὐνίκη. As the chase progressed the notes grew longer, each one revealing something about Εὐνίκη. Towards the end of the dream I knew, or at any rate I felt that I knew, Εὐνίκη intimately—although this was probably an intended illusion of hers. Towards the end of the dream I knew that I would never actually meet with her but something kept me chasing. Towards the end of the dream the narrator, Εὐνίκη, showed me how close we came to actually meeting—e.g., at the lodge, while I studied two snow-capped peaks, she was in the floor above me sealing her next note. It is curious that the protagonist of my dream was the one person not seen in any scene, yet was everywhere, vicariously. |
| 090919 | Next to me are eight books that I take along whenever I travel. These are: (i) a Sidur [Bircat Shelomo]; (ii) Calvino's Las ciudades invisibles, (iii) If on a winter's night a traveler, (iv) Difficult Loves, (v) Marcovaldo; (vi) Haddawy's trans. of The Arabian Nights; (vii) Borges's Ficciones; (viii) Montaner's ed. of Cantar de Mio Cid.1 These days to look at them, and to consider my predilection towards their theme, makes me think that I'm running away from some -thing / -one. But I don't consciously know from what / whom. I have some reasonable guesses, and others that, if I were to detail, would make you think that all this is a nonsense made possible by the psyche of a person whom as a child his parents either hugged too much or too little. The reason why I think that I'm running away from some x is because to look at these books—or, more specifically, at what these books promise—makes me feel desperate, as if I were stuck in a badly situated bus station, staring at a poster of some nicer station where someone who looks like me is about to travel far and wide. A so-called reasonable guess as to what this badly situated bus station represents is this: MY PRESENT DISPOSITION TO ACT ON MY INCLINATION TOWARDS EVIL.2 __________ 1 If I were a bigger man with bigger arms and a bigger bag, I'd also take Lady Guest's trans. of The Mabinogion; Grimstad's ed. & trans. of the Volsunga saga; McCay's entire collection of Little Nemo strips. 2 Strictly speaking, yetser ha-ra' has to do with physical functions that can become evil. Here I'm referring to emotional functions, which I'll consider as extensions of the physical. |
| 090918 | For legal reasons I cannot reproduce the entire description of the city of Zobeida, from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities—or Las ciudades invisibles, the trans. that I'm currently reading. Instead, and however ineptly, I'll describe it to you. It is told that several men from diverse nations dreamt of seeing and chasing after a long-haired woman running naked at night in an unknown city. These men went in search of this city and not finding it they found one another instead. Together they decided to build Zobeida, the city of their dreams. After building it, each man traced the path that he took when he chased after the woman, and each made modifications that, had they existed in his dream, would have prevented the woman from escaping his grasp. But none of them saw the woman again. From other nations came other men who had the same dream about the same city and the same woman. These also made modifications, and also never saw the woman again. The founders of the city marveled at what drew men to Zobeida, «a esa ciudad fea, a esa trampa.»* __________ *i.e., "to that ugly city, to that trap." |
| 090915 A | Today I chanced upon two old IP and LC posters that I made for my comic. They were bad. I decided to re-design them. Here are the new ones. This first is an IP propaganda poster for an upcoming referendum (VOLKSBEGEHREN No. F.187765:AAßö—Æ). The IP party, which would make our right-wing parties look like all-embracing & all-accepting hippies, wishes all citizens—or at least their sensible (i.e., fascist) majority—to vote yes. If the referendum is successful, the CONSILIUM—which is like our Senate with the additional responsibility to safeguard Cæsar's* physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual well-being—would be reserved for Prætorians only. Traditionally the Legio Consiliari, whose members are regarded by the Prætorians as descended from a hominid species similar to our Homo neanderthalensis, has held ¼ of the seats in the CONSILIUM. __________ * N.B.: Cæsar is not only a person but the entire Empire. |
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| 090915 B | This second is an LC propaganda poster for another upcoming referendum (VOLKSBEGEHREN No. A.1U7D5:Vßö—πµø). It reads: "These ages, fertile in crime, first stained marriage, family and households; from this spring flowed the disaster which poured upon our country and people."—Horace, Odes iii.vi.17-20—"Rome, she had no idea what she was in for."—[Solution:]—"Citizenship for all!" [Notice that the IP's referendum would not be successful if every individual who lived and died under the Caesars, regardless of military service, race, creed, rank, class, wealth etc were given citizenship. But why would present citizens, the majority of which are fascists, vote to extend this privilege to all? Notice also that the LC's lion insignia is declawed. To the LC this represents their predilection for diplomacy; the IP, their predilection for cowardice.] |
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| 090912 | The Chagigah tells us that four saw the hidden wisdom of Jewish mysticism. Ben Azzai saw and died. Ben Zoma saw and lost his mind. Elisha ben Avuyah saw and became an atheist. Rabbi Akiva saw, understood, and lived happily as ever and after. Hmmm. |
| 090911 ☼ ☁ ☾ |
Oswaldo Guayasamín's oeuvre lives at «La Capilla del Hombre»—"The Chapel of Man". My favorite and, in my opinion, the most powerful painting in this chapel is «Lagrimas de sangre»—"Tears of blood". It makes me feel concussed and very sad, and I like to be made to feel this way for reasons that this entry is not about. Past noon I met with the sub-dean of the Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño, y Artes (FADA) at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) on my Arch. mentor's behalf to see about future international studio collaborations. This meeting was informal but fruitful, and peppered with interesting and idiosyncratic side-annotations. As I left FADA I noticed the usual clusters of students talking, laughing, moaning, flirting, &c. The female students in these clusters reminded me of charming polished apples, and the male students...well, who cares. I wondered if to their senses, just as to mine, they seemed to yield a certain subtle fragrance. I like to think that they didn't and generally don't. I like to think this because its charming when the charming doesn't recognize itself as such. |
| 090910 | This morning I took my giant A3 sketchbook, SKYY90 jasmine tea bottle, and two STAEDTLER MARS TECHNICO 2.0 mm lead-holders—4B & 2H—to Colonial Quito. I intended to draw the salient of historical buildings. But I couldn't find a place to sit, look, think, and draw without looking like a tourist sitting, looking, thinking, and drawing. I thought about what I intended to do while I looked for a place to do it at. And it occurred to me that drawing from sight, more so than but not excluding drawing from mind, could be understood in terms of linear transformations—assuming, of course, that f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y) and f(sx)=sf(x) for any x, y in A, and scalar s in F, where A and B are vector spaces over field F, and f : A → B. And I thought that comparing between A and B would tell me something about how my mind may sometimes work. For example, if I were to unintentionally but intuitively draw the orthogonal projection of a building, I'd see that the set of processes whatever that were involved in producing the drawing subsumed the function represented by this 3-D matrix:
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| 090908 ☾ |
| 090908 ☼ | Reading through the IAP I discovered a 'clause' that allows me to pursue another degree while meeting my Intern Architect requirements. Under Appendix A: Experience Area Description and Required Activities, Category E, I'm allowed to spend 1880 hours in 'Post Graduate Work / Teaching / Research'. This 'Post Graduate Work' must be related to my arch. interests. This means that Metaphysics is not an option, which sucks. But an M.Sc. in Computer Science is A-OK, which rocks. The DEUTSCHER AKADEMISCHER AUSTAUSCH DIENST (DAAD) offers full scholarships (i.e., stipend, fees, insurance, etc) to study in Germany. Universität Freiburg's Institut für Informatik's Angewandte Informatik M.Sc. program is taught in both English and German, which is perfect for those of us whose German is retarded but not entirely mythological. Granted, and as old Ecuadorian ladies like to say, «del dicho al hecho hay un gran trecho*». But hopefully by doing what I can with what I have, when I have it, where I have it, and how I have it, I'll manage to stick to this or a similar plan. And if things don't work out, well, there's always Vernunftehe (marriage of convenience) or narcoterrorism. __________ * Roughly: "From said to done there's much distance." |
| 090907 1 |
| 090907 ⅔ |
The INTERNSHIP IN ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM manual provides me with this de facto process overview: ☑ (i) Student at a school of architecture or in the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC) Syllabus or graduate from a school of architecture or the RAIC Syllabus; ☐ (ii) Apply for and obtain certificate from the Canadian Architecture Certification Board (CACB)—graduate only; (now) ☐ (iii) Contact provincial assoc. for Intern Architect Program (IAP) Application and for specific provincial registration / licensing requirements; ☐ (iv) Select a Mentor to advise and guide; ☐ (v) Submit an application to join the IAP; ☐ (vi) Start recording experience in the Canadian Experience Record Book (CERB); ☐ (vii) Obtain confirmation of eligibility from the provincial association and start writing the Arch. Registration Examination (ARE); ☐ (viii) Apply for registration / licence upon successful completion of national and provincial registration requirements (supplemental education, experience, examination); ♔ Congratulations! You are now an Architect! So you see, I'm a zygote. |
| 090907 ⅓ |
Disfarmer: 1939-1946 Heber Springs Portraits is beautiful. |
| 090906 ½– |
Tonight David Latorre, Silvy de Latorre, and I listened to the Youth Orchestra of Baden-Württemberg ( ) play at Casa de la Música. The most salient feature of this performance was the feistiness and energy of the players. There were two solid encores.We sat right at the center of the very front row. From this vantage point we could see every musical twitch. Bettina Kessler (violoncello) took most of my attention. Her body quivered with such confident and subtle emotion. I like to think that this confidence supervened upon music—I saw evidence for this when a sheepish smile replaced a confident gaze following Shostakovich's Dos tiempos del cuarteto para cuerdas No. 8, op. 110. That is, I like to think that music conjures the divine from man. After the concert the audience socialized with the musicians over wine and chocolate—Ferrero Rocher, no less! Well, the audience minus three—David and Silvy had an unmissable videoconference with some dudes in Spain, and I...well, I had some daydreaming to do. |
| 090906 ½+ |
This is cute. This morning I was at Librería Española browsing through Musil's Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (i.e., The Man without Qualities) when I overheard a four or five year-old girl solemnly tell her loquacious mother that «en las bibliotecas hay que guardar silencio1». Then, as her mother complained about the lack of illustrations in a so-called illustrated dictionary, the little girl said: «Mamá, ¿me podrías comprar la Biblia de Jesús? Es que tengo que leerla para aprender buenas cosas2.» The little girl's mother didn't seem to acknowledge her words—she was too busy looking for non-existent illustrations. __________ 1 "in libraries we must keep silent." 2 "Mama, could you buy me Jesus' Bible? It's just that I need to read it to learn good things." |
| 090905 ¾ |
My very funky old father invited the Chinese Ambassador, this latter's retinue, and other 'friends' to dine in celebration of my return. I was expected to give a speech, and this is what I said: "Dear everyone, I hope that you're well. Please excuse me, my Mandarin sucks. Thanks, and thanks for coming." I then spent the rest of the night wondering if I had brought shame to my family. |
| 090905 ¼ |
Stefanie Kloß singing „Denn es ist Zeit / Sich ein zugestehen, dass es nicht geht“ 1.5 minutes into «Symphonie» () is heaven. |
| 090904 | Tonight I tried to convince my brother that the reason why the subject of his affection is so exceptionally reserved is because she's really a dude. He didn't buy it. Then he showed me her picture. Man, she better not be a dude— «Haec cum femineo constitit in choro, / unius facies praenitet omnibus. / Sic cum sole perit sidereus decor, / et densi latitant Pleïadum greges, / cum Phoebe solidum lumine non suo / orbem, circuitis cornibus, alligat.*» (L. A. Seneca, Medea, I.ii.93-98.) __________ * «Cuando ella se presenta cercada de doncellas, / el fulgor de su rostro las oscurece a todas; / así, cuando el sol nace, las estrellas se apagan, / y se ocultan los densos rebaños de las Pléyades / cuando brilla la luna con esplendor no suyo, religando su mole con los cuernos en círculo.» (trans. V. G. Yebra.) |
| 090903 | ☿ | |||
| 090902 | «At last they decided to betray me and, tempted by the Devil, plotted to kill me. One night they waited until I was asleep beside my wife; then they carried the two of us and threw us into the sea. When we awoke, my wife turned into a she-demon and carried me out of the sea to an island. When it was morning, she said, "Husband, I have rewarded you by saving you from drowning, for I am one of the demons who believe in God. When I saw you by the seashore, I felt love for you and came to you in the guise in which you saw me, and when I expressed my love for you, you accepted me. Now I must kill your brothers.» (H. Haddawy, trans., The Second Old Man's Tale: The Seventh Night, The Arabian Nights.) Er, that's why I always—always, er—say: beware of pretty [beggar] lasses, and of your brothers, too. |
| 090831 PS |
[At IAH I finally found the corpulent and sensuous SKYY 90. I don't care much for the spirit; I love the glass bottle.] |
| 090831 | At 04:06 and 07:55 I kissed St. John's College and YVR good-bye. The flight to IAH was rough. The lady next to me moaned, cried, and clenched her fists often. I thought about doing the same but couldn't imagine myself moaning without affectation. So I thought about death and not thinking about death instead. And I thought about השם. Well, baruj atá Adonay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . בָּרוּךְ אַתָה יְיָ אֶלוֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הַעוֹלָם שֵהֵחְיָנוּ וְקִיְימָנוּ וְהִגִעָנוּ לַזְמַן הַזֶה׃ . . . . . . . . . |
| 090825 | [In Christian Clavier's and Jean-Marie Poiré's Les Visiteurs there is a colourful character named Jacquouille la Fripouille. He is the naïvely squalid and well-intentioned servant of Godefroy de Papincourt, 1re Comte de Montmirail. He marvels at the rich but does not forget his place. This entry is to be read in his voice.] Flying with my sister has many benefits. She's loads fun, and her special relationship with British Airways (BA) allows for obscene opulence. BA invited us to The Concorde Room at Heathrow's Terminal 5 on our way to Mauritius. In this 'room' everything was complementary, from the excellent food made to order to the endless flow of whites, reds, rosés, and sparklings. The pampering didn't end there. The seats on the airplane—i.e., aeroplane—were configurable to comfort, and they could even be flattened to a bed. We could choose from a wide selection of films to play, pause, and stop at whim. The...—well, &c. Today I fly to Vancouver. I tell myself that I'll taste every wine* in BA's First class gallery. But that won't happen; I already feel repugnantly sentimental after only three glasses. Or maybe I'll have a few more Over Nuuk, Grønland, the Inuit hear someone humming Celine Dion. __________ *— La Grande Année, Bollinger, 2000 & 1999 Noble Cuvée, Lanson, Brut Rose Château Trottevieille Saint-Émilion, Premiere Grand Cru Classé, 2002 Domaine Du Grand Tinel, Chateauneuf-Du-Pape Alexis Establet, 2004 Carneros, Pinot Noir, 2006 Intriga, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Los Carneros, Syrah, 2005 Cono Sur, Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 Pazo Señores, Albariño, 2007 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis, Premier Cru Vaillons, 2006 Hahn SLH, Pinot Gris, 2007 Amayna, Sauvignon Blanc, 2007 Chivite Coleccion 125, Vendimia Tardía, 2005. |
 THE CONCORDE ROOM'S BAR |
| 090823 ½ |
I dreamt about—but not with—Florencia / florencia. Her name was written with India ink on a turquoise sheet of paper. Whoever passed me the sheet wanted to know if I knew her. Her name was spelled with F at first glance, and with f on most—but not all—subsequent glances, of the one sheet. I couldn't answer. The inquirer saw one individual where I saw two. I didn't know which was which, but to me one was _lorenciac.o., a composite object, and the other _lorenciaa.s., an arrangement of simples. Both were perfectly normal and functional individuals. But I couldn't believe that they were the same—eliminativism about lorenciac.o. would entail the nonexistence of simples arranged to merely look like lorenciac.o. (i.e., lorenciaa.s.), if this were the case, and I like my simples. Or maybe Florencia / florencia were the same person, only with one whimsical and schizophrenic ontology. |
| 090823 | I saw Helen at Shakespeare's Globe today. Penny Downie, as the ginger protagonist, was very good. Granted, hers wasn't a face that could have "launched a thousand ships". But it nevertheless could and did incite a thousand emotions—give or take a couple hundred, uh. Afterward I visited the café in the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and The National Portrait Gallery. This latter was exceptional. At night my sister, two acquaintances, and I went to Belgo for supper. My Moules Blanches ("Mussels cooked in Brugs white beer with shallots, smoked bacon & parsley") rocked! |
| 090821 | Tonight I try to convince myself that visiting Port Louis instead of kayaking between Ile aux Cerfs and Ilot Mangénie was a good idea. Tonight I try. |
| 090820 ½ |
[The Talmudic Sage Abbaye interprets Isaiah 30:18 to mean: "Blessed are all who wait, [the] 36." I.e., Blessed are all those who wait for the Shechinah, the presence of השם, the ל"ו צדיקים (Lamed-Vav Tzadikim), on account of whom the world is preserved. Abbaye says that every generation has at least 36 righteous folk. The world—i.e., Creation—would cease to exist if this were not the case. These Tzadikim, who are not usually identified nor self-identified as such, are also known as Nistarim, "concealed ones."] I dreamt that השם would destroy the world in a certain number of hours unless (i) one of a certain number of us unlucky souls found a certain missing Nistarim and (ii) got him / her to reveal himself / herself to the world. But how do you find that which is intentionally concealed, even often to itself? In what sense, even, can the intentionally concealed be said to be missing? The entire dream happened underground, between subways stations and tunnels. I spent hours going to and fro, meeting hobos, thieves, and whores. I was to look for the supernatural and for traces thereof. Members of the celestial retinue helped me with menial tasks—e.g., buying the Metropass, etc—only. They didn't, couldn't, or wouldn't do much else. I found her eventually and accidentally—I found a teenage girl when looking for a bearded Sage. She threw a tantrum at first, and insisted that I was mistaken. Only seconds later she turned silent and composed, and I saw and understood the look on her face. This was righteousness: the destruction of Man. Her silence would be her last righteous act. |
| 090820 | The food is excellent at Safran. The teas, better—they do more with less. Vata tea is subtle to the palate. But drink it patiently and sense a strong sweetness build in your throat. It is poetic that something should reveal its sweetness only when you wait—vis-à-vis look—for it. |
| 090819 | Today I went deep-sea fishing. Today I learned that I'm no deep-sea fisher and scratched it off my list of supplemental professions. Today, exorcist, you've been promoted. |
| 090818 ½ |
Dream—Ĵ: "Ich will das du weißt / das es egal ist / welche Straße wir nehmen / Einer muss gehen." |
| 090818 | «Je suis persuadé que nous avons tâche urgente, et permanente, de dévisager ces deux mystères qui constituent les extrémités de l'univers vivant: d'un côté, le mal; de l'autre, la beauté.» ... «Que signifie l'existence de la beauté pour notre propre existence? Et en face du mal, que signifie la phrase de Dostoïevski: "La beauté sauvera le monde"? Le mal, la beauté, ce sont là les deux défis que nous devons relever. Ne nous échappe pas le fait que mal et beauté ne se situent pas seulement aux antipodes: ils sont parfois imbriqués. Car il n'est pas jusqu'à la beauté même que le mal ne puisse tourner en instrument de tromperie, de domination ou de mort. Une beauté qui ne serait pas fondée sur le bien est-elle encore "belle"?» (L'académicien François Cheng, 1re méditation, Cinq méditations sur la beauté.) |
| 090817 | I'm staring at the Indian ocean, at 4:43 a.m., armed with patience and a tripod, waiting to take pictures of an African sunrise. |
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| 090816 | The young girl struggled to serve herself a slice of crème caramel. I offered to hold her plate while she managed with both hands. She, nonplussed, hastily continued to butcher it with one. I said: "Maybe you misunderstand me; I'm not urging you along." She placed her plate on my extended palm, managed, and hurried away with a sheepish—but charming—"Merci." |
| 090815 ½— |
There's an old tree before the entrance to Le Touessrok. Empty wooden cages hang from its branches—empty, that is, until sunset. Warm light glimmers from them then. You smile at the sight of light, domesticated. |
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| 090815 ½+ |
Mauritius, oh Mauritius |       |
| 090811 | Love, love, love, love for Albert à la Victoria. |
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| 090810 | London—«I wander through each chartered street, / Near where the chartered Thames does flow, / And mark in every face I meet, / Marks of weakness, marks of woe.» (William Blake, Songs of Experience.) |
| 090809 | יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְפָנֶיךָ ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ וֵא-לֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶתּוֹלִיכֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם וְתַצְעִידֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם. וְתִסְמְכֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם. וְתַדְרִיכֵנוּ לְשָלוֹם. וְתַגִיעֵנוּ לִמְחוֹז חֶפְצֵנוּ לְחַיִּים וּלְשִמְחָה וּלְשָלוֹם וְתַצִּילֵנוּ מִכַּף כָּל אוֹיֵב וְאוֹרֵב וְלִסְטִים וְחַיּוֹת רָעוֹת בַדֶּרֶךְ וּמִכָּל מִינֵי פּוּרְעָנִיּוֹת הַמִתְרַגְּשוֹת לָבוֹא לָעוֹלָם וְתִשְלַח בְּרָכָה בְּכל מַעֲשֵה יָדֵינוּ, וְתִתְּנֵנוּ לְחֵן וּלְחֶסֶד וּלְרַחֲמִים בְעֵינֶיךָ וּבְעֵינֵי כָל רוֹאֵינוּ וְתִשְמַע קוֹל תַּחֲנוּנֵינוּ. כִּי אֵ-ל שוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה וְתַחֲנוּן אתה: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', שוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה.* __________ * «Sea Tu voluntad, Eterno, mi Di-s y Di-s de mis padres, que me guíes en paz, me libres de la garra de cualquier atacante en el camino, y de cualquier mal percance o mal encuentro. Hazme llegar en paz al lugar de mi destino, y concédeme gracia, bondad y misericordia en Tus ojos y en los ojos de todos los que me vean. Bendito eres Tú, Eterno, que escucha la oración.» |
| 090806 | John-Paul Erdel, who to me is the closest concrete particular to a celebrity, left for |
| 090613 ½ |
Dream—Muses: «Sous le dôme épais / Où le blanc jasmin / À la rose s’assemble / Sur la rive en fleurs, / Riant au matin / Viens, descendons ensemble. // Doucement glissons de son flot charmant / Suivons le courant fuyant / Dans l’onde frémissante / D’une main nonchalante / Viens, gagnons le bord, / Où la source dort et / L’oiseau, l’oiseau chante. // Sous le dôme épais / Où le blanc jasmin, / Ah! descendons / Ensemble!» (L. Delibes, Viens, Mallika, les liens en fleurs, Lakmé) |
| 090612 | شهرزاد—Lotus, Freesia, Cyclamen, Rose Water, Fresh Peonies, Carnations, White Lilies, Osmanthus, Tuberose, Amberseed, Musk. |
| 090531 BOOKS |
WORDS FAIL ME Teresa Monachino |
TOUCHED BY FIRE Martin d'Orgeval |
EL RETRATO DE CLA-SE CLA SE |
DE RE AEDIFICATORIA Leon Battista Alberti |
| Φ Press, 2006; 9780714846354 |
Steidl, 2009; 9783865218551 |
Actar, 2009; 9788496954779 | trans. Rykwert, Leach, Tavernor; MIT, 1996; 9780262510608 | |
| 090531 ART |
"The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. / The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. / Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty. / There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. / The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. / The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. / No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything. / Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are the artist materials for an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type. All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. / Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless." (Preface, The Picture of Dorian Gray, O. Wilde.) |
| 090527 | Well, I guess I don't suck that bad at Arch. |
 THESIS PRIZE 2008-2009 |
| 090517 | |
| R.I.P. MARIO BENEDETTI |
| 090204 | Precedent—«Rav Hamnuna Sava said, "We find the letters backward: Bet first, followed by bet: Bereshit, In the beginning, followed by bara, created. Then alef first, followed by alef: Elohim, followed by et. "The reason is: When the blessed Holy One wished to fashion the world, all the letters were hidden away. For two thousand years before creating the world, the blessed Holy One contemplated them and played with them. As He verged on creating the world, all the letters presented themselves before Him, from last to first. "The letter tav entered first of all. She said, 'Master of the worlds, may it please You to create the world by me, for I complete Your seal: emet, truth—and You are called Truth. It is fitting for the King of Truth to begin with a letter of truth and to create the world by me.' "The blessed Holy One replied, 'You are seemly and worthy, but not deserving to initiate Creation, since you are destined to be marked on the foreheads of the faithful who fulfilled the Torah from alef to tav, and by your mark they will die. Furthermore you are the seal of mavet, death. So you do not deserve to serve as the instrument of Creation.' She immediately departed. [...]» (D. C. Matt, trans., The Zohar, Pritzker Ed. Vol. 1, p. 11, 12.) |
| 090123 | AYIN—«Another startling illustration is the Zohar's reading of the opening words of the Torah, traditionally rendered: In the beginning God created. Everyone assumes the verse describes the creation of the world, but for the Zohar it alludes to a more primal beginning: the emanation of the sefirot from Ein Sof ("Infinity"). How is this allusion discovered, or invented? By insisting on reading the Hebrew words in their precise order: [...] Bereshit bara Elohim, construed now as With beginning, It created Elohim—that is, by means of Hokhmah (the sefirah of "Wisdom," known as beginning), It (ineffable Ein Sof) emanated Binah (the sefirah of "Understanding," known by the divine name Elohim). God, it turns out, is the object of the verse, not the subject! The ultimate divine reality, Ein Sof, transcends and explodes our comfortable conception of "God."» (D. C. Matt, trans., The Zohar, Pritzker Ed., p. xxiv.) "With beginning, _____ created God (Genesis 1:1)"—in a note, Matt adds: "This means that the subject of emanation is unnamed, but that is perfectly appropriate because the true subject of emanation is unnameable." (Ibid., p. 110) |
| 090121 | «Rabbinic exegesis, prompted by the observation that this commandment [i.e., «Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our G-d, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might» (Deut. 6:4-5)] requires action and not only emotion, gave these three phrases specific behavioral application. Since "heart" sometimes means "intentions," "with all your heart" was taken to mean "with all your inclinations," that is with the inclination to evil (yetser ha-ra') as well as the inclination to good (yetser ha-tov), which are roughly equal to the id and the superego; in other words, even libidinal instincts are to be channeled to the service of G-d. [...]» (Jeffrey Tigay, The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy.) How do you channel your inclination to evil to the service of G-d? |
| 080916 | In 1961 neurosurgeons Philip Vogel & Joseph Bogen hypothesized that major epileptic seizures were caused by an amplification of abnormal brain activity reverberating between the cerebral hemispheres. They proposed the severing of the corpus callosum to prevent this reverberation. This would in fact prevent any communication between the hemispheres. In 1967 psychologist Michael Gazzaniga lead the following experiment. He asked a number of split-brain patients to stare at a dot (•) on a surface. He then flashed the word «HEART» on this surface in such a way that «HE» appeared in their left visual field, and «ART» in their right (i.e., «HE • ART»). When Gazzaniga asked them to say what they saw, they said: «ART». When he asked them to point to what they saw, their left hand pointed to «HE». I wonder if at some deeper level both hemispheres believed that what they each saw had the same referent. |
| 080814 | «And on one side of the river he saw a flock of white sheep, and on the other a flock of black sheep. And whenever one of the white sheep bleated, one of the black sheep would cross over and become white; and when one of the black sheep bleated, one of the white sheep would cross over and become black. And he saw a tall tree by the side of the river, one half of which was in flames from the root to the top, and the other half was green and in full leaf.» (Lady Charlotte Guest, trans., «Peredur the Son of Evrawc», The Mabinogion. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1877. 109, 110.) Were «actual» only indexical. Sigh. |
| 080811 | I like David Lewis's Counterpart Theory (CT)1 for whimsical reasons. That is, I do not like CT as a serious vehicle for formalized discourse about modality; I like it as a tool of many in my daydream toolbox, and like I like my fanciful version of Molinism2. These allow me to imagine with a modicum of realism that Madeleine Belmont, Odysseus of Ithaca, Ginevra Molly Weasley, Harry Potter, Fantaghiro, Orpheus, Eurydice, Le Capitaine Nemo, et al, exist—or existed in their respective worlds—, and that they are—or were—vicariously represented in our world. I like to imagine this because the idea that such wonderful beings exist only in fiction makes me really, really sad. __________ 1 CT holds that there are no concrete particulars that inhabit more than one world, and that instead these may be vicariously represented by counterparts in other worlds. For instance, some person x in a world w vicariously represents—or is the counterpart of—our Britney Spears if x resembles her [in some specified criteria] more closely than do other things in w. Counterparts are determined by a relation of similarity that is not putatively transitive or symmetric, and that allows one to be a counterpart to many and vice versa or a counterpart to none and vice versa. (See "Counterpart Theory and Quantified Modal Logic," The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 65, No. 5 (Mar. 7, 1968), pp. 113-126.) 2 The XVIth c. Jesuit Luis de Molina argued that אֲדֹנָי knew all the possible ways creation could have unfolded before it did, and that from all these HE chose one—perhaps the one with least evil or most good, qualitative or quantitative—to actualize. Consider this classic Molinist counterfactual: "And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." (Mt. 11:23)—אֲדֹנָי knew at least one possible way where Sodom would have existed well into the Common Era, one in which "the mighty works done in" Capernaum had been done in Sodom. What I call my fanciful version of Molinism holds that, provided CT, אֲדֹנָי actualized all possible ways of which ours is one. |
| 080718 | «En el capítulo 18 de su Vida de san Hilario (escrita el año 390 en Belén), san Jerónimo relata otro exorcismo; un noble llamado Orión, habitante de Aira, en la costa del Mar Rojo, había sido poseído por una legión de demonios. Hilario se enfrenta a Orión y profiere un extraño grito: "Señor Jesús, libera a este hombre desdichado, libera a este cautivo. Lo tuyo es conquistar a muchos, no a menos que uno." Orión, poseído por la legión demoníaca, ya no era un hombre, ya no tenía identidad ni nombre: era menos que uno. Poseído por Nemo, era Menos que Nadie. San Jerónimo comenta: "Pero el anciano [san Hilario] le explicó cómo el demonio, en persecución del hombre, amenaza incluso a las bestias de carga; que está inflamado por tan intenso odio a la humanidad, que desea destruir no sólo a los hombres sino a lo que les pertenece. Para ilustrar esto, añadió el hecho de que, antes de que se le permitiera ejercer el santo Trabajo [el exorcismo], se deshizo de toda su sustancia." Para ser capaz de expulsar a Nadie (Nemo) de Nadie (menos que uno), san Hilario "se deshizo de toda su sustancia": se volvió Nadie. Es por ello que, cuando Orión, ya curado, lo vista para ofrecerle suntuosos regalos en agradecimiento, Hilario rechaza las dávidas. Ante la extrañeza de Orión, le dice: "No estés triste, hijo mío. Lo que hago por mi propio bien, lo hago también por el tuyo. Si tomara estos regalos ofendería a Dios, y, más aún, la legión retornaría a ti".» (Daniel Dueñas, El que seduce al universo entero, El Libro de Nadie.) Fascinating—St. Hilario does away with all his substance in order to become No-one, that in this capacity he might drive No-one (Nemo, the legion of demons) out of No-one (Orión, one who is less than one). This is poetically eerie. |
| 080529 | ˈfäksē gal speaks with a freakishly intense set of hands—beautiful hands—, and whenever she takes up the gauntlet, I can hear myself humming the Walkürenritt (i.e., the third act in Wagner's Die Walküre). Dear me! And how she clenches her jaw while evil reloads his guns—dear me, dear me, I swoon. (←This sounded a lot manlier in my head.) |
| 080201 | de re ⊃ de dicto—Φ: (∀x)⟡Fx⊃⟡(∀x)Fx: 1. ~((∀x)⟡Fx⊃⟡(∀x)Fx) (w) NTF 2. ~(~(∀x)⟡Fx v ⟡(∀x)Fx) (w) 1, Impl 3. ~~(∀x)⟡Fx & ~⟡(∀x)Fx (w) 2, DeM 4. (∀x)⟡Fx & ~⟡(∀x)Fx (w) 3, DN 5. (∀x)⟡Fx (w) 4, &Elim 6. ~⟡(∀x)Fx (w) 4, &Elim 7. ◇~(∀x)Fx (w) 6, MN 8. ~(∀x)Fx (w1) 7, ◇S5 9. (∃x)~Fx (w1) 8, QN 10. ~Fa (w1) 9, EE a 11. ⟡Fa (w) 5, UE a 12. Fa (w1) 11, ⟡S5 13. ⊥ (w1) 10, 12, ⊥ intro x |
| 070616 | Ashley visited me today. I really like it when pretty girls visit me. |
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| 070501 | Arnolphe: "Don't worry, friend; I'm not a fool. / I shan't expose myself to ridicule. / I know the tricks and ruses, shrewd and sly, / Which wives employ, and cheat their husbands by; / I know that women can be deep and clever; / But I've managed to be secure forever: / So simple is the girl I'm going to wed / That I've no fear of horns upon my head." Chrysalde: "Stupidity's your cupt of tea, I gather." (Molière, The School for Wives, I.i.) |
| 061221 | "Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, / Enwrought with golden and silver light, / The blue and the dim and the dark cloths / Of night and light and the half-light, / I would spread the cloths under your feet: / But I, being poor, have only my dreams; / I have spread my dreams under your feet; / Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." (W. B. Yeats, He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven.) |
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| 061221 | «Hazte blando a mi frente como una mano tangible / y oiga yo como un trueno que sea dulce una voz / que, azul, sin celajes, clame largamente en mi cabellera. / Hundido en ti, besando del azul poderoso y materno, / mis labios sumidos en tu celeste luz apurada / sientan tu roce meridiano, y mis ojos / ebrios de tu estelar pensamiento te amen, / mientras así peinado suavemente por el soplo de los astros, / mis oídos escuchan al único amor que no muere.» (V. Aleixandre, Al Cielo) |
 Victoria, British Columbia. |