12/8/04
Follow Me Here
is irrepressably accurate in his observations of psychiatry and
psychology in flux. Excuse the pun. This is the normal state of Eliot's
weblog, and his excellence decries The Revival of Disgust and Shame in the Law
"It may even be that a society in which people
acknowledge their equal weakness and interdependence is unachievable
because human beings cannot bear to live with the constant awareness of
mortality and of their frail animal bodies. Some self-deception may be
essential in getting us through a life in which we are soon bound for
death, and in which the most essential matters are in fact beyond our
control." |
Jamming with the Cosmos
"I have experienced astronomy while working through
blackbody calculations at my job, while working through homework sets
with my classmates, and from listening and giving planetary science
presentations at conferences.
In all of these situations, my method of experiencing astronomy was by
using my rational, analytical tools. Any emotions that I experienced
about the beauty and wonder of the universe appeared as a secondary
effect.
Fiorella Terenzi's method of guiding your experience of astronomy, in
contrast, is to appeal directly to your emotions. To show you
astronomy, she wishes to evoke your emotions first, then use your curiosity and thinking processes to carry you through the experience." |
sive diversorum poetarum in Priapum lusus - Sportive Epigrams on Priapus - by divers poets in English verse and prose (translation by Leonard C. Smithers and Sir Richard Burton)
"The word labda (a sucker) is variously derived from the Latin labia and do, to give the lips; and from the Greek letter lambda, which, is the first letter in the word leíchein or lesbiázein,
the Lesbians being noted for this erotic vagary. Ausonius says, 'When
he puts his tongue [in her coynte] it is a lambda'- that is the
conjunction of the tongue with the woman's parts forms the shape of the
Greek letter {lambda}. In an epigram he writes:--
"Lais, Eros and Itus, Chiron, Eros and Itus again,
If you write the names and take the initial letters
They will make a word, and that word you're doing, Eunus.
What that word is and means, decency lets me not tell." |
The initial letters of the six Greek names form the word leíchei, he licks." |
11/8/04
As I have vouchsafed on this page too often, I am a man. This makes
me a co-respondent within the field of humanity, and amazed at my
immersion. What Is Man?
"O.M. There are gold men, and tin men, and copper men,
and leaden mean, and steel men, and so on--and each has the limitations
of his nature, his heredities, his training, and his environment. You
can build engines out of each of these metals, and they will all
perform, but you must not require the weak ones to do equal work with
the strong ones. In each case, to get the best results, you must free
the metal from its obstructing prejudicial ones by education--smelting,
refining, and so forth.
Y.M. You have arrived at man, now?
O.M. Yes. Man the machine--man the impersonal engine. Whatsoever a man
is, is due to his MAKE, and to the INFLUENCES brought to bear upon it
by his heredities, his habitat, his associations. He is moved,
directed, COMMANDED, by EXTERIOR influences--SOLELY. He ORIGINATES
nothing, not even a thought.
Y.M. Oh, come! Where did I get my opinion that this which you are talking is all foolishness?" |
Chapter One's title, Tyranny by Delusion,
says it all. Everett E. Allie outlines the means by which those who
would have control mete out the drivel that is accepted as a desired
end - 'personal freedom' (media-tion). This document predates the
neocon coup d'etat by two years. The Origin of Social Dysfunction: The Pathology of Cultural Delusion
| "The problem itself, as is the case with most problems,
points the way to its own solution. The basic needs of humanity are
objective. They concern themselves with measures and means necessary
for the survival, effectiveness and positive growth of the species, and
are not matters of opinion. Human survival and real progress depends
upon real stuff and specific activities. The mandates of existence
cannot be abridged by dogma, governmental proclamation or a fantasized
interpretation of the universe. Nothing is more persistent than
reality. You cannot make it go away. If you turn your back, it gets you
in the end." |
One view is wonderfully mused by David Deutch in his screenplay for Man, the Mobile Mineral.
| "Music reaches climax and stops." |
Could President Designate Bush, or any of his Tribe, add a whit to Two Myths and Two Rites for the Origin of Christianity? One thinketh not.
| "The texts of the NHL are partly found for example on P.
Kirby's site on early Christian writings." (I had no idea hockey was an
ancient past-time...sorry) |
6/8/04
In a fit of 'fair use' practice I decided to convert the below .pdf-linked, The Tao of Drunkenness and Sobriety into html., to allow the widest possible readership. This is a document of rare clarity; sublime.
| "So. I could be drunk, but I dare not. I will not. The question of drunkenness
as an ethical question. Not because a moral prohibition has been
broken, but because it arises between us. When the Other comes calling,
it is my innermost door he knocks upon. This one will always find
me at home and I am always called to answer, to be where he finds me.
The very meaning of presence. I am here." |
Bush's Freudianism (n+1)
| "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are
we," George Bush told an audience of military brass and Pentagon
chiefs. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country
and our people, and neither do we." |
I laughed, I cried, I thought of whipped cream (?) The Coalition of the Willy - musings on the global challenge of penile servitude
| "Given that it is the ever increasing pressures of
overpopulation that are exacerbating the problems of the planet -- and
the irresponsibility of "willy" in the process -- perhaps there is a
case for learning more from the paradigm shift in which he so readily
engages in response to his micro-environment, when sensitively
understood. Humanity's failure to do so, despite the stimuli of the
macro-environment of nature, may continue to leave Gaia yearning and
unsatisfied -- she may seek another lover!" |
Engagement:
14 Contrasting concepts of meaningful employment
Re-enchantment of Work - Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its Off to Work We Go: Engagement in the 21st Century
| "So, will it be an ordered interface, or a chaotic
interface, or rather, how does the individual manage that interface
between order and disorder? At this point in time I do not think that
we have helpful frameworks for understanding this interface --
especially for the individual trying to navigate in a complex society
with a multiplicity of concealed opportunities." |
Totally pressed for time today, let me just implore you to pay rapt attention to How To Save The World. I can't praise Dave Pollard's contributions enough; and yes C., I have!
| "The best, simplest road to success for the entrepreneur is to make your own sandbox." |
5/8/04
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) provides an unclassified analysis of Climate Change, Migration and Security.
This is a very well done overview, and obviously beyond the capacity of
the massive U.S. American intelligence apparatus. Ignore-ance by
Presidential decree.
| "Future climate change is expected to have considerable
impacts on natural resource systems, and it is well-established that
changes in the natural environment can affect human sustenance and
livelihoods. This in turn can lead to instability and conflict, often
followed by displacements of people and changes in occupancy and
migration patterns. Therefore, as hazards and disruptions associated
with climate change grow in this century, so, too, may the likelihood
of related population displacements." |
August 4th, 2004
Andrew Feenberg provides a document that could provoke productive
water-cooler discussion, and once distilled and drunk should be
micturated all over. From Essentialism to Constructivism: Philosophy of Technology at the Crossroads is a dense but vital read as we accelerate.
| "What does a broader historical picture of technology
show? Contrary to Heideggerian substantivism, there is nothing
unprecedented about our technology. Its chief features, such as the
reduction of objects to raw materials, the use of precise measurement
and plans, the management of some human beings by others, large scales
of operation, are commonplace throughout history. It is the exorbitant
role of these features that is new, and of course the consequences of
that are truly without precedent." |
Featured in today's NYTimes is old news made new (the well-worn state
of nouveau-journalism), so I thought that a refreshing look would be in
order. Buprenorphine treatment of opiate and cocaine abuse: clinical and preclinical studies
| "Buprenorphine, an opioid mixed agonist-antagonist, is a
potent analgesic that appears to be effective for the treatment of
opiate abuse. Recent preclinical studies have shown that buprenorphine
also significantly reduces cocaine self-administration by rhesus
monkeys for periods up to 120 days." |
For a mind expanding gamut of essays, fiction, poetry, et plus, Janus Head has a special edition dedicated to An Interdisciplinary Approach to Addiction.
"It is my conviction now that alcohol played a perverse trick on me
when we said farewell to each other: although, as everyone should
know it is a major depressant, it had never truly depressed me during
my drinking career, acting instead as a shield against anxiety.
Suddenly vanished, the great ally which for so long had kept my
demons at bay was no longer there to prevent those demons from
beginning to swarm through the subconscious, and I was emotionally
naked, vulnerable as I had never been before."
The Tao of Drunkenness and Sobriety (pdf) - This essay considers the meanings and relatedness of sobriety and drunkenness with reference
to Levinas, Taoism, Sufism, the Bible, and the Beatles. |
Political Mugging in America
Anatomy of an "independent" smear campaign
"...it is still astonishingly easy to assassinate a
political opponent's character, with little or no accountability or
basis in fact. It is hardly new to politics anywhere that money and the
messages it buys often create devastating perceptions.
It absolutely will not be the last, considering the remarkable cash
advantage and sordid reputation of White House political director Karl
Rove, who years ago taught negative campaigning techniques at the University of Texas." |
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