Encyclopedia Wars

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4840340.stm

Did You Know?

That in the 19th century the Dewey Decimal System located the status of women between etiquette and outcast races?

Maybe I believe in progress after all.

Materiality

I read an insightful, if somewhat intentionally abtuse, article by Paul Duguid today. The discussion was about putting the future of books and book technology in a "social-material and historical context," but I think one of the most eloquent passages dealt instead with a discussion of doors:

"Or take, as another example, the matter of the door. Since the twenties, one way people have known they were watching a film about 'the future' (and not merely about people who reveled in Spandex avant la lettre) was the inevitable presence of sliding doors. The supersession of the simple hinge by automated sliding technology long ago became a visual synecdoche for the triumph of the future. Yet while the sliding door still appears on the futurological screen, the millenia-old manual hinge endures all around us (even on our laptop computers and cell phones). One reason it survives, I suggest, is that despite its technological simplicity, time has given the hinge a rich social complexity that those who forsee its imminent demise fail to appreciate. Hinged doors, after all, are not just to be passed through; they communicate polysemiously. We can, for instance, expressively throw them open or slam them shut, hold them or let them swing, leave them ajar and hide behind them, satisfyingly kick, punch, or shoulder them, triumphantly barge them open or defiantly prop them shut."

"Material Matters." Future of the Book.

Movies

Dear People,

I have mellowed as I've aged, and I've also become more efficient. As a result, I have been watching more movies. Television I feel guilty about; as Em naggingly reminds me, it is democratic (but I am learning to accept my inner bourgeoisie--oh hell, is that the right ending, Emma?). But movies are like books--they have a beginning, middle, and end; they are often aesthetically pleasing; they even probe philosophical questions (well, some of them do, anyway).

Before Sunset and A Very Long Engagement are two movies I've enjoyed watching recently; I am trying to get my hands on Before Sunrise, but it seems to be in demand at the University media library.

My dilemma is that I must request movies at the media library--I can't browse. Hence my question, what are your favorite movies? I like foreign movies, in particular. Some of you will have an idea of what I've already seen, some of you will not. Please post anyway.

Hogwarts exists!

Well, not Hogwarts exactly, Flammel College. And, no, I am not dabbling in the occult, if anyone is wondering. Rather, I was reading a passage from Hunchback of Notre Dame that mentioned Nicolas Flammel, and I googled him.

Anyway, I thought it was probably a sham at first, but then I looked at the faculty list, and the faculty have higher degrees from well-respected universities, including Michigan, Berkeley, and Yale!

On a similar note, I am back to reading Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis in Latin.

The Croci Are Up!

Confession: at first I thought they were tulips. And no this is not my picture, since there is no snow on the ground here.

Oxymoronic or Paradoxical?

In the long and honored tradition of dumb figure skating commentator comments:

"I think the fall has made them fight and relax more."

I'm Disturbed

And Now for Something Entirely Different...

I'm watching the World Figure Skating Championships (because I'm lazy). Does an audience of fat, middle-aged women applauding bizzarely-dressed young boys bother anyone else? And I mean seriously fat. Somehow it seems perverted. I don't know why. Maybe Emma or Brianna can explain it.

OK, we have the "Ore-Ida Move of the Day." See! Why would they advertise fake potato products if the fans weren't overweight?

Article in Leesburg Paper

OK, I guess we're talking about this thing openly now. I found this statement ludicrous:

"The flap also underscores what sources say are two distinct sects of thought at Patrick Henry. The first camp, a more ideological, fundamentalist-driven philosophy of thought is led by Farris. The second camp, the Patrick Henry junior said, emphasizes more 'freedom of desires,' and is more or less led by Root."

Stacey led by Root? Root has only been there a year. The fact that he has been more open (less discreet?) in his opposition hardly makes him the leading light of reason.

Bottom line: Don't call my professors sheeple, and don't imply that a classicist and a historian would take orders from an upstart government professor, you insignificant little undergraduate!!!

Calming down now...I will probably take this post down. I merely have immense respect for Drs. Culberson, Noe and Stacey, and their ability to think independently.

The Unpleasantness at the Upstart College

Everyone who is involved in this imbroglio should read this astute analysis.

I have no original thoughts to add, except I think it's strange that the Pres--oh excuse me, Chancellor--claimed that the college was acting in the name of intellectual freedom. I'm sure Drs. C and N would not have been upset if Dr. B had merely published a dissenting opinion in a like manner. Rather, to have the entire administration sign their names and send the missive out on ASE makes it seem like a rebuke, or an accusation of heresy.

Anyway, I felt the need to clarify that because I think we all need to re-read Milton's Areopagitica, not specifically in reference to the special revelation article, which, according to my Bible, at least, is orthodox. Rather, Milton speaks to the larger issue of liberal education v. living in a bubble:

Good and evil we know in the field of this world grow up together almost inseparably; and the knowledge of good is so involved and interwoven with the knowledge of evil, and in so many cunning resemblances hardly to be discerned, that those confused seeds which were imposed upon Psyche as an incessant labour to cull out, and sort asunder, were not more intermixed. It was from out the rind of one apple tasted, that the knowledge of good and evil, as two twins cleaving together, leaped forth into the world. And perhaps this is that doom which Adam fell into of knowing good and evil, that is to say of knowing good by evil. As therefore the state of man now is; what wisdom can there be to choose, what continence to forbear without the knowledge of evil? He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring Christian.

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat. Assuredly we bring not innocence into the world, we bring impurity much rather; that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary. That virtue therefore which is but a youngling in the contemplation of evil, and knows not the utmost that vice promises to her followers, and rejects it, is but a blank virtue, not a pure; her whiteness is but an excremental whiteness. Which was the reason why our sage and serious poet Spenser, whom I dare be known to think a better teacher than Scotus or Aquinas, describing true temperance under the person of Guion, brings him in with his palmer through the cave of Mammon, and the bower of earthly bliss, that he might see and know, and yet abstain. Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates and hearing all manner of reason? And this is the benefit which may be had of books promiscuously read. . .

If every action, which is good or evil in man at ripe years, were to be under pittance and prescription and compulsion, what were virtue but a name, what praise could be then due to well-doing, what gramercy to be sober, just, or continent? Many there be that complain of divine Providence for suffering Adam to transgress; foolish tongues! When God gave him reason, he gave him freedom to choose, for reason is but choosing; he had been else a mere artificial Adam, such an Adam as he is in the motions. We ourselves esteem not of that obedience, or love, or gift, which is of force: God therefore left him free, set before him a provoking object, ever almost in his eyes; herein consisted his merit, herein the right of his reward, the praise of his abstinence. Wherefore did he create passions within us, pleasures round about us, but that these rightly tempered are the very ingredients of virtue?

They are not skilful considerers of human things, who imagine to remove sin by removing the matter of sin; for, besides that it is a huge heap increasing under the very act of diminishing, though some part of it may for a time be withdrawn from some persons, it cannot from all, in such a universal thing as books are; and when this is done, yet the sin remains entire. Though ye take from a covetous man all his treasure, he has yet one jewel left, ye cannot bereave him of his covetousness. Banish all objects of lust, shut up all youth into the severest discipline that can be exercised in any hermitage, ye cannot make them chaste, that came not hither so; such great care and wisdom is required to the right managing of this point. Suppose we could expel sin by this means; look how much we thus expel of sin, so much we expel of virtue: for the matter of them both is the same; remove that, and ye remove them both alike.

Aim High Girls...

This site is so much better than those dating sites that only let you meet other bourgeoisie. It's all about improving your socio-economic status, ladies. I've got bids on the German boy with the name and the castle.

You Might Be in Grad School If...

I found this list while I was testing a search engine for usability...oh nevermind...here's the list.

YOU JUST MIGHT BE A GRADUATE STUDENT IF...


...you spend Saturday morning waiting for the library to open.
...you can analyze the significance of appliances you cannot operate.
...you have ever, as a folklore project, attempted to track the progress of your own joke across the Internet.
...you are startled to meet people who neither need nor want to read.
...you have ever brought a scholarly article to a bar.
...you rate coffee shops by the availability of outlets for your laptop.
...everything reminds you of something in your discipline.
...you have ever discussed academic matters at a sporting event.
...you have ever spent more than $50 on photocopying while researching a single paper.
...there is a microfilm reader in the library that you consider "yours."
...you actually have a preference between microfilm and microfiche.
...you can tell the time of day by looking at the traffic flow at the library.
...you look forward to summers because you're more productive without the distraction of classes.
...you regard ibuprofen as a vitamin.
...you find the bibliographies of books more interesting than the actual text.
...you have given up trying to keep your books organized and are now just trying to keep them all in the same general area.
...you have accepted guilt as an inherent feature of relaxation.
...you reflexively start analyzing those greek letters before you realize that it's a sorority sweatshirt, not an equation.
...you find yourself explaining to children that you are in "20th grade".
...you start refering to stories like "Snow White et al."
...you frequently wonder how long you can live on pasta without getting scurvy.
...you look forward to taking some time off to do laundry.
...you have more photocopy cards than credit cards.
...you wonder if APA style allows you to cite talking to yourself as "personal communication".

Happy News!

I found my keys.

But my onion is still missing :-(

This Week

Is vaguely 16th century.

Disregard Last Post

My mother informed me that I could have blown myself sky high by lighting a match in a gas-filled room.

My New Calling

Today I came home and the house smelled like gas. With unerring accuracy, I got to the heart of the matter: the pilot light on the gas stove. Shrewdly remembering to remove the pots and pans, I dexterously lifted the stove top, confidently lit a match, and, viola! I had ably solved the knotty problem.

So now I'm thinking...is librarianship really what I'm best at? Am I better at answering questions than manipulating wrenches? Maybe I would find more fulfillment as a Handy Hubby.

What d'ya think?

On Anonymous Blogging...

A while ago someone took seriously something I meant as a joke, and posted a patronizing and rather obvious (as in, NO DUH!) response. I ignored it then (although I appreciated Em's subtle repartee), but recently I have seen several instances of this on other blogs. These posts come across as either malicious or written by a well meaning Church Lady a la Miss Bates.

Why?

Because they lack context. Meetings of the mind may occur through cyberspace, and relationships developed. But encouragement and references to personal characteristics are out of place between strangers. In a word--and I think Brianna will agree--it's rude. If you feel that you have the right to encourage, analyse, or prod, then leave your name, or I will take your message in the worst possible way. If that is too intimidating, then you are a bigger coward than I and shouldn't be giving advice.

As much as I dislike restrictions and welcome comments on my blog, my settings will, in the future, prohibit anonymous comments.

The Old Men's Club, or, a Night with the Vienna Philharmonic

On Thursday my mom and I went to hear the Vienna Philharmonic. The music was lovely--so confident, so light, so controlled--and I don't even like Richard Strauss much (I have Baroque and Classical preferences).

But there was only ONE woman, a violinist. Two others came out for the last piece, but I believe they were with the State Opera--a step below the Philharmonic. The rest all looked like they belonged in leiderhosen, and their names confirmed it.

Being still under the sway of my conservative upbringing, I thought to myself, well, maybe the most virtuoso musicians ARE caucasian men, and maybe female musicians receive unfair preference in the States. But I asked my housemate when I got home, and she said that in the US auditions are done behind a screen so the sex, race, etc. cannot be discerned during judging. This is not so in Austria. Clearly, there is some bias going on if there are many more women in orchestras where auditions are anonymous.

And THAT is my rant for the day.

In other news, it is a beautiful day outside.

Should Emily Be a Truck Driver?

This post is a forum for people to express their opinions about Em's occupational preference.

A New Meme

I must admit I didn't watch the Oscars...And I'm not really into rap music, despite my proximity to Detroit. But I thought this reading of the popularity of "It's Hard Being a Pimp" was culturally insightful. The full article is available from the Washington Post.

Why this song? Why now? When "white culture" borrows from black culture, it doesn't necessarily borrow what it thinks it's borrowing. The real meaning of the song, its reference to pimps, its role within a movie documenting the often pathetic efforts at stardom of a pimp who also makes music, isn't particularly relevant. When a piece of cultural stuff makes the transition into the mainstream, it often does so on terms entirely different than what it originally meant.

In this case, it's because the song's most catchy line, "It's hard out here for a pimp," captures the peculiar quality of complaint without merit in American cultural life. We all complain, and complaint has so cluttered our rhetorical landscape that we mostly tune out the din of gripe -- except, of course, for our own complaints, and the egregiously unmerited complaints of people we don't like. Despite the evolution of the word "pimp" to loosely embrace all manner of "playas," and a celebration of "pimp style" (see: "Pimp My Ride"), most of us still don't like real pimps. So pimps who complain that "It's hard out here" can stand for all those people who complain willfully, scandalously, about things they have no right to complain about.

For instance, the ultimate egregious complaint: "It's not easy being beautiful." Or a close second, "Being rich isn't everything it's cracked up to be." These are complaints from people we envy, and belong to one category of self-delusion. The pimp complaint comes from another place, from someone deluded not by his success, but by his anti-social status. But all of these gripes elicit a sense of bemused outrage because they are complaints from someone who has no right to complain.

Perhaps the line has resonance because so much of American political discourse is about determining who is allowed to feel properly aggrieved. Is it Muslims offended about sacrilegious cartoons, or defenders of free speech seeing their high holy delimited? Daytime talk radio has essentially evolved into a vast trading floor for the commodity of complaint. And slowly we drift to a new understanding of the basic social contract: Your liberty ends where my outrage begins.

Things are getting worse...

I don't have a long-term memory. Hell, I don't even have a working memory! (For you non-cog psych folks out there, that's the one that stores things for a couple seconds/minutes). Yes, I have essentially descended to the existence of an over-educated goldfish.