tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79304839865167715072024-03-18T08:17:38.932-05:00Up@dawn 2.0Continuing reflections caught at daybreak, in a WJ-at-Chocorua ("doors opening outward") state of mind... https://philoliver.substack.com (Up@dawn@Substack)... @osopher@c.im (Mastodon)... @osopher on Threads & IG Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.comBlogger1879125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-3184230332143424302024-03-18T07:14:00.001-05:002024-03-18T08:17:06.371-05:00George PlimptonGeorge signed my old copy of his <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/osopher/sidd-finch-apr11">Sidd Finch</a>* fable, in Cooperstown in 2001. He'd just talked about the pleasurable experience of connecting two remote points in space with a hurled baseball. I think he was a connoisseur of obscure but distinct pleasures.
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<br />"Writing is a very lonely business and when you come to a book fair and you sit at a table and people come up to you with books that they've had in their library for many years and they think it's been somewhat enhanced by a signature, it's always a pleasure."
<br /><a href="https://www.threads.net/@reboomer/post/C4p6Itfr6fu/?xmt=AQGzh0J1ki9NVK0Abnr3RZOkG4KiqFJ954HWd8yrdA9kAA">George Plimpton</a>, born on this day in 1927.**<br /><blockquote>**It's the birthday of George Plimpton [and John Updike, to make a pleasing writerly <a href="https://osopher.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/mundane-beautiful-connected/">connection</a>], born in New York (1927). He was the founding editor of The Paris Review, a job that he held for 50 years, from 1953 until his death in 2003, and he conducted long, insightful interviews — including one of only two interviews that Hemingway gave in his life. <a href="https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/the-writers-almanac-for-monday-march-18-2024/">WA</a></blockquote><p>*George's late-life hearing wasn't spot-on...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6z8u7KEiMM8qpas0EgWaFoaZMmAT7JrRkR8eZ25jCdZEWw93psr6W_Tqx1JNh1znznDa76Av1DTYC-VCuCnUQLf0QkZ_Kf67emCIQyuefJzpjGEnwh3hDwB2m75JVu14Vh7W-fgY0ZWHWkKPouzsvcNDZCX3KvteF1aGw7hVSSVFvfy3xhEeLEdGGQzlj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="384" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6z8u7KEiMM8qpas0EgWaFoaZMmAT7JrRkR8eZ25jCdZEWw93psr6W_Tqx1JNh1znznDa76Av1DTYC-VCuCnUQLf0QkZ_Kf67emCIQyuefJzpjGEnwh3hDwB2m75JVu14Vh7W-fgY0ZWHWkKPouzsvcNDZCX3KvteF1aGw7hVSSVFvfy3xhEeLEdGGQzlj" width="180" /></a></div><br />but I didn't mind. Just glad I got to meet him, he was only with us another couple of years. <p></p><a href="https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/the-writers-almanac-for-monday-march-18-2024/"></a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-57661070521437670952024-03-16T11:12:00.001-05:002024-03-16T11:12:40.141-05:00Faith, gratitude, sublimity, happiness<div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'><a href='https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/vmP3rzBeXkw' imageanchor='1' style='margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'><img alt='' border='0' src='https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/vmP3rzBeXkw' width='400' /></a></div>A remarkable 30 minutes with Paul Simon and Stephen Colbert<br />
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<br /><a href="http://dlvr.it/T49Dbg">http://dlvr.it/T49Dbg</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-28394971564774589042024-03-16T07:08:00.001-05:002024-03-16T08:11:09.145-05:00Colbert and Simon on religious faith, gratitude, happiness This interview is "incredible"-meaning <i>delightful</i>. <div><br /></div><div>I don't agree with Colbert on one point, I do think happiness (not sublimity) is the more profound "goal"… but I respect <a href="https://www.threads.net/@masiosare/post/C4jfiitP5XI/?xmt=AQGzuP6bbtpP7jsGJfjwHTW428lD8s8dsDcTQlp0zKsXWw">Stephen's thoughtful (if slightly manic) reflections here</a>. And his experience, and his pain and suffering. And I share his gratitude. I just don't think I owe it to a god.<br /><br />But as Montaigne said, "Que sais-je"… I don't know, and neither do you. Believe what you will.<div><br /></div><div>Paul's a Yankee fan and a scorekeeper, and his gratitude is unconditional. He and I are co-congregants in the Church of Baseball. Time to cue up Graceland...</div><div><div dir="ltr"></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vmP3rzBeXkw" width="320" youtube-src-id="vmP3rzBeXkw"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div></div></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-34773547083182073532024-03-15T08:02:00.001-05:002024-03-15T08:02:28.479-05:00Infinite piWhy do mathematicians care so much about pi? Is it some kind of weird circle fixation? Hardly. "The beauty of pi, in part, is that it puts infinity within reach," Steven Strogatz writes. "Even young children get this."<a href="http://nyer.cm/YRAp5EU">http://nyer.cm/YRAp5EU</a>
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<br>It's also nice that someone in our Honors College provided free 🥧 yesterday. I care about 🥧 too.Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-28281533037548152582024-03-15T07:57:00.001-05:002024-03-15T07:57:42.793-05:00Stephen Hawking (who died on Einstein’s birthday) on Einstein’s & Spinoza’s God<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 16px; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: fira-sans; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I use the word "God" in an impersonal sense, like Einstein did, for the laws of nature, so knowing the mind of God is knowing the laws of nature. My prediction is that we will know the mind of God by the end of this century…</span></div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#1a1a1a" face="fira-sans" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></span></font>https://www.themarginalian.org/2019/07/17/stephen-hawking-brief-answers-to-the-big-questions/</div><div dir="ltr"></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-26460037244243386482024-03-14T09:55:00.001-05:002024-03-14T09:55:15.349-05:00YouNeverKnow<div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'><a href='https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fphiloliver.substack.com%2Ftwitter%2Fsubscribe-card.jpg%3Fv%3D-409926102%26version%3D9' imageanchor='1' style='margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'><img alt='' border='0' src='https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fphiloliver.substack.com%2Ftwitter%2Fsubscribe-card.jpg%3Fv%3D-409926102%26version%3D9' width='400' /></a></div>A great word, though an unsettling state of mind. But this much I know...<br />
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<br /><a href="http://dlvr.it/T441tM">http://dlvr.it/T441tM</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-48277684000067170762024-03-14T06:29:00.001-05:002024-03-14T06:59:34.394-05:00A nation of Know Nothings?<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Long day ahead, first of two Thursdays when I get to stay at school for my block of classes in the MALA (Master of Liberal Arts) tag-team course on Knowledge, 6-9 pm. My job is to represent philosophers' contribution to the subject. <i>What do we know? Should it bother us to know how much we </i>don't<i> know?</i> Etc.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">One thing I know for sure: Younger Daughter was thrilled yesterday afternoon to trade in her beloved but miles-weary 2014 Buick Encore, a.k.a. <i>Steve</i>, for a 2023 Nissan Frontier pickup she's dubbed <i>Frankie</i>. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">And I know she deserves every happiness.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I also know that with her new vehicle and her looming new career, she's showing the kind of courage <a href="https://jposopher.blogspot.com/2024/03/elizabeth-zott-meliorist.html">Elizabeth Zott</a> urged in <i>Lessons in Chemistry </i>(a truck-warming copy of which I was happy to give her as we awaited the e-signing and paperwork). "Courage is the root of change…"</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">That's the first thing I'll say about knowledge tonight. If we know anything, we know it takes courage to change <i>and </i>wisdom to know when to stay the course.</div><br />That could also be my segue to talk about the Know Nothing-ism I think characterizes the rise of authoritarian bluster in our national politics. But I should probably steer clear and stick to the relatively-safe space of Socrates, Pyrrho, Montaigne, Descartes et al.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">If I could muster the courage, though...<br /><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">The Biden administration has "passed a series of laws that rivaled President Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society of the 1960s…" *</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Their opponent is a thug who promises to end democracy as we've known it.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Seems like a no-brainer. But it seems we've become a nation of Know Nothings.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">So we'll see.</div><div dir="ltr">==</div><div dir="ltr"></div><blockquote><div dir="ltr">*<a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/march-13-2024?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios">HCR</a> continues:</div><div dir="ltr">The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan rebuilt the economy after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic; the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act) is rebuilding the nation's roads and bridges; the $280 billion Chips and Science Act invests in semiconductor manufacture and scientific research; the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act enables the government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and invests in programs to combat climate change. Projects funded by these measures are so popular that Republicans who voted against them are trying to claim credit. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Biden, Harris, and the Democrats have diversified the government service, defended abortion rights, reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, relieved debt by enforcing the terms of student loans, passed a gun safety law, and reinforced NATO.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">They set out to overturn supply-side economics, restoring the system on which the nation had been based between 1933 and 1981, in which the government regulated business, maintained a basic social safety net, promoted infrastructure, and protected civil rights. The result was the strongest economic recovery from the pandemic of any country in the world…"</div></blockquote><p>And yet, droves of voters say they prefer the guy who vows to be a dictator on Day 1. </p><p>As the old Dominican hurler Joacquin Andujar once said, when asked to name his favorite English word: <i>youneverknow. </i></p><div dir="ltr"></div></div><div dir="ltr"></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-53376057324156380882024-03-13T07:12:00.001-05:002024-03-13T07:12:45.414-05:00Ripples: Terry Pratchett'No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away... The span of someone's life is only the core of their actual existence.' The great humanist author Terry Pratchett. He was our patron and is sorely missed. He died #OnThisDay 2015. GNU Terry Pratchett.
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<br><a href="https://www.threads.net/@humanists_uk/post/C4ajxc3I9ur/?xmt=AQGzKkiKd2K0_NxXdYXJBmuxbTDFt3-Xw8wBpkH7flo3kg">https://www.threads.net/@humanists_uk/post/C4ajxc3I9ur/?xmt=AQGzKkiKd2K0_NxXdYXJBmuxbTDFt3-Xw8wBpkH7flo3kg</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-36501216045108872422024-03-12T07:38:00.001-05:002024-03-12T07:38:12.789-05:00Elizabeth Zott, meliorist<div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'><a href='https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fphiloliver.substack.com%2Ftwitter%2Fsubscribe-card.jpg%3Fv%3D-409926102%26version%3D9' imageanchor='1' style='margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'><img alt='' border='0' src='https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fphiloliver.substack.com%2Ftwitter%2Fsubscribe-card.jpg%3Fv%3D-409926102%26version%3D9' width='400' /></a></div>Meliorists are social chemists, who embrace and catalyze constructive change. We must learn their lessons.<br />
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<br /><a href="http://dlvr.it/T3yTVW">http://dlvr.it/T3yTVW</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-60598817261929823142024-03-12T06:23:00.004-05:002024-03-12T06:23:32.997-05:00Lessons in Chemistry<i>Lessons in Chemistry</i> was good on screen. The book is better.<div><br /></div><div>Elizabeth Zott publicly and unapologetically declares herself an atheist. ("Actually, a humanist. But I have to admit, some days the human race makes me sick.") She loves dogs, works to empower the oppressed, instills confidence and curiosity in her daughter, and openly resists ignorance and venality in '50s-'60s workplaces of the sort that so many women of her generation had to endure in silence. </div><div><br /></div><div>Every young woman, every young <i>person </i>needs to learn her lessons in humanity.</div><div><blockquote>Whenever you feel afraid, just remember. Courage is the root of change - and change is what we're chemically designed to do. So when you wake up tomorrow, make this pledge. No more holding yourself back. No more subscribing to others' opinions of what you can and cannot achieve. And no more allowing anyone to pigeonhole you into useless categories of sex, race, economic status, and religion. Do not allow your talents to lie dormant, ladies. Design your own future. When you go home today, ask yourself what YOU will change. And then get started.<br /><br />I think [religion] lets us off the hook. I think it teaches us that nothing is really our fault; that something or someone else is pulling the strings; the ultimately, we're not to blame for the way things are; that to improve things, we should pray. But the truth is, we are very much responsible for the badness in the world. And we have the power to fix it.<br /><br />Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun<br /><br />Chemistry is change... that’s what we need more of—people who refuse to accept the status quo, who aren’t afraid to take on the unacceptable.</blockquote>She was, in short, a meliorist of the highest order.</div><div><br /></div><div>(There's a nice interview of the author appended to the audio edition.)</div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-4107724326137645942024-03-11T09:33:00.000-05:002024-03-11T09:32:52.263-05:00Spring "feels like coming home"<style>@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}</style><font face="Calibri"><p dir=ltr>On the Wild Intoxications of Spring </p> <p dir=ltr>My happiness is twofold. Spring is here! But also: Thank God it didn’t come too terribly early this year.</p> <p dir=ltr>"...I think of one of my favorite lines from E.B. White: “Notes on springtime and on anything else that comes to mind of an intoxicating nature.” What else is there to write about in springtime but anything that comes to mind of an intoxicating nature? It’s been a dark winter of worries, but the wildflowers are blooming and the birds are singing again. It feels like coming home."<br> <br> Margaret Renkl<br> https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/opinion/anthropocene-spring-backyard-census.html?smid=em-share</p> </font>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-66546416046459256222024-03-11T09:06:00.001-05:002024-03-11T09:06:05.160-05:00‘Fantastic Voyage’-ish A.I.<style>@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}</style><font face="Calibri"><p dir=ltr>A.I. Is Learning What It Means to Be Alive </p> <p dir=ltr>Given troves of data about genes and cells, A.I. models have made some surprising discoveries. What could they teach us someday?</p> <div align="left" ><p dir=ltr>...“I think these models are going to help us get some really fundamental understanding of the cell, which is going to provide some insight into what life really is,” Dr. Quake said.<br> </p> </div><p dir=ltr><br> </p> <div align="left" ><p dir=ltr>Having a map of what’s possible and impossible to sustain life might also mean that scientists could actually create new cells that don’t yet exist in nature. The foundation model might be able to concoct chemical recipes that transform ordinary cells into new, extraordinary ones. Those new cells might devour plaque in blood vessels or explore a diseased organ to report back on its condition.<br> </p> </div><p dir=ltr><br> </p> <div align="left" ><p dir=ltr>“It’s very ‘Fantastic Voyage<i>’-</i>ish,” Dr. Quake admitted. “But who knows what the future is going to hold?”</p> <p dir=ltr>..."Professors should be very, very nervous."<br> </p> </div><p dir=ltr><br> https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/science/ai-learning-biology.html?smid=em-share</p> </font>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-43286706152436102252024-03-11T08:48:00.000-05:002024-03-11T09:22:04.988-05:00Don’t Panic<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">It's the birthday of science fiction writer Douglas Adams, born in Cambridge, England (1952). He was unemployed, depressed, living in his mother's house, when he remembered a night from years before. He was a teenager traveling around Europe with his guidebook The Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe, and that night he was lying in a field in Innsbruck, drunk, looking up at the stars, and he thought somebody should write a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy as well. And so years later, he wrote the radio play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, chronicling the adventures of the kindly and boring Arthur Dent, who is still wearing his dressing gown when he is whisked away from his suburban English home just in time to escape Earth being demolished by an interstellar highway.</div><div dir="ltr">In 1978, the radio broadcasts were such a success that Adams turned them into a series of five successful novels: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), Life, the Universe and Everything (1982), So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984), and Mostly Harmless (1992).</div><div dir="ltr">He said, "I find that writing is a constant battle with exactly the same problems you've always had."</div></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">https://open.substack.com/pub/thewritersalmanac/p/the-writers-almanac-from-monday-march-ca4?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios</div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">He died at 49. </div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/05/13/daily/adams-obit.html">https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/05/13/daily/adams-obit.html</a></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">He also said: </div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5112134d-2dc2-cea6-6b81-63f378caf9cc" style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing noise they make as they go by." </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-30389678246879655372024-03-11T08:41:00.000-05:002024-03-11T09:22:02.749-05:00The poetry of Spring Training <div dir="ltr"><div class="episode_title" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 30px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-family: georgia, serif; text-align: center; clear: right; line-height: 2em; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 244);"><h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1.8em; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.005em;">Spring Training</h2><p class="author" style="margin: 0px; padding: 1em 0px 1.5em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0.9em; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2;">by <a href="https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/author.php%3Fauth_id=1303.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 19px; font-family: inherit; color: rgb(133, 119, 109);">Maxine Kumin</a></p></div><div class="work" style="font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; border: 0px; font-family: georgia, serif; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: center bottom; background-image: url("../../images/twa002/break/break1.gif"); background-color: rgb(247, 247, 244);"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 20px; font-family: inherit;"> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit;">for Victor</span><br><br>Some things never change: the velvet flock<br>of the turf, the baselines smoothed to suede,<br>the ancient smell of peanuts, the harsh smack<br>the ball makes burrowing into the catcher's mitt.<br><br>Here in the Grapefruit League's trellised shade<br>you catch Pie Traynor's lofting rightfield foul<br>all over again. You're ten in Fenway Park<br>and wait past suppertime for him to autograph it<br><br>then race for home all goosebumps in the dark<br>to roll the keepsake ball in paraffin,<br>soften your secondhand glove with neat's-foot oil<br>and wrap your Louisville Slugger with friction tape.<br><br>The Texas Leaguers, whatever league you're in<br>still tantalize, the way they waver and drop.<br>Carl Hubbell's magical screwball is still<br>give or take sixty years unhittable.<br><br>Sunset comes late but comes, inexorable.<br>What lingers is the slender hook of hope.</p><p class="author" style="margin: 0px; padding: 1em 0px 1.5em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0.9em; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2;">"Spring Training" by Maxine Kumin, from <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-size: 20px; font-family: inherit;">Connecting the Dots</span>. © Norton, 1996. Reprinted with permission.</p></div></div><div dir="ltr">https://open.substack.com/pub/thewritersalmanac/p/the-writers-almanac-from-monday-march-ca4?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios</div><div dir="ltr"></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-63804752838985790312024-03-09T12:17:00.007-06:002024-03-12T09:25:26.790-05:00Spring Break/Training '24
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4DvDvgxD0c/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4DvDvgxD0c/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; 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height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4DvDvgxD0c/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Phil Oliver (@osopher)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4IuNzkLB2C/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4IuNzkLB2C/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; 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height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4IuNzkLB2C/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Phil Oliver (@osopher)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4N37j-LGGy/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4N37j-LGGy/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; 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height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4N37j-LGGy/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Phil Oliver (@osopher)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4N47NiLdZg/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4N47NiLdZg/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; 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height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4N47NiLdZg/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Phil Oliver (@osopher)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4S1DsmrDeQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4S1DsmrDeQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; 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height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4S1DsmrDeQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Phil Oliver (@osopher)</a> </p></div></blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjB9oGkripoWIRmCI_ScW0iSs0-OOY3zE9kySsOHx3_EXeIN4QEu9e3bIDcM7m7xpL_9C7i4lole1DzSHdjv8p6VwCOBmFVNNzv9OE2bF85E6Hx-66yRdjIN_o9NHbmIbxiHgU2oQE8oTdvUbl4A4FIlOJRqX4-0_JhDtN1waNx2P75pnlLGoClRszBavJy" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="469" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjB9oGkripoWIRmCI_ScW0iSs0-OOY3zE9kySsOHx3_EXeIN4QEu9e3bIDcM7m7xpL_9C7i4lole1DzSHdjv8p6VwCOBmFVNNzv9OE2bF85E6Hx-66yRdjIN_o9NHbmIbxiHgU2oQE8oTdvUbl4A4FIlOJRqX4-0_JhDtN1waNx2P75pnlLGoClRszBavJy=w491-h640" width="491" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr9AOnl1pWYoH6leAcIxoa7rDD4bUbSVSM6_ibBK8-m4kMvYnFCPH5cXEpEAEeJ8S4DYj_qGiAAyGw6ldCQHMX1n6P8hTK5ZaGx8iZLH3O2ovWarYGiIjbezdgnrOOXptmwg62OklBj58kEVFyCTuQ7Au1tJROqBYYoNJEeza4GtphQI_rkkIk8ykSjFoM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="817" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr9AOnl1pWYoH6leAcIxoa7rDD4bUbSVSM6_ibBK8-m4kMvYnFCPH5cXEpEAEeJ8S4DYj_qGiAAyGw6ldCQHMX1n6P8hTK5ZaGx8iZLH3O2ovWarYGiIjbezdgnrOOXptmwg62OklBj58kEVFyCTuQ7Au1tJROqBYYoNJEeza4GtphQI_rkkIk8ykSjFoM=w582-h436" width="582" /></a><br /><br /> Mookie at bat, Shohei on deck: Dodgers hosting Angels at Camelback Ranch, night game 3.5.24</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjaVIQvdgu9SxLFXVZ6Y6vIQ_kmCjDD_fDd5uhTya0mh-nWqYwZ3jrxiN82b3bQ3Mbge49RMoMHo_7nHf-NIc-BgWo5wQeUOwnROzk5RrCfEArzf3iLzAiEExhvoHwxARU66zOKUSBFSy22QnVz5J5sYggx2V6EUPF-Zth3ZuZSyCYPqxUKA9Dr9DOC25wc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1626" data-original-width="1220" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjaVIQvdgu9SxLFXVZ6Y6vIQ_kmCjDD_fDd5uhTya0mh-nWqYwZ3jrxiN82b3bQ3Mbge49RMoMHo_7nHf-NIc-BgWo5wQeUOwnROzk5RrCfEArzf3iLzAiEExhvoHwxARU66zOKUSBFSy22QnVz5J5sYggx2V6EUPF-Zth3ZuZSyCYPqxUKA9Dr9DOC25wc=w300-h400" width="300" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXTgQIIS0f7B6Iytg4XwlngLCNLg836YOBeIkvFrfZCu3bPrO1_prNircQ-ofmXBtPkLBP9mYs6PnQ1DFPepAM3hD40B62mp1DI1cKDfrIKnoc03lMuuKdaA_Cwz7eIRiWOKi4A7smQ_MGNN1vxYQ_CNCKrrUxtc2O7vWhMQtjEo2O_W7LUg5MGHKHxSz4" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="2880" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXTgQIIS0f7B6Iytg4XwlngLCNLg836YOBeIkvFrfZCu3bPrO1_prNircQ-ofmXBtPkLBP9mYs6PnQ1DFPepAM3hD40B62mp1DI1cKDfrIKnoc03lMuuKdaA_Cwz7eIRiWOKi4A7smQ_MGNN1vxYQ_CNCKrrUxtc2O7vWhMQtjEo2O_W7LUg5MGHKHxSz4=w640-h240" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /> <p></p> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-69744980651569771722024-03-01T05:58:00.001-06:002024-03-01T13:06:14.352-06:00E. B. White’s day <blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><i>"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."</i></blockquote><div><br /></div>E. B. White's wry and pithy ambivalence about balancing civic commitment with personal enjoyment has long been one of my favorite statements ever. It captures the pragmatist's great challenge: to be a <i>happy</i> meliorist. Is <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/lifetimes/white-notes.html?_r=3">this</a> where he said it first, in a <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/lifetimes/white-notes.html?_r=3">1969 interview</a> when he was 70?<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfYGj5943wjYVdeJvO765DMoIcMC33Fy02tqQY402SxCWnVQXnceWlyc2RBMFd9x4FZfbTBDbrCEge3FmYiBDM5jUEmjsMOTo9qWXdV22rJqvzUNUDgzXhJj_YXz1vXqQRz9sb_B22DP30aqtXtTgh5BUvBdVjYWWSpO7JrazvIy7nXr0-VvL2REaSNsvs" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="169" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfYGj5943wjYVdeJvO765DMoIcMC33Fy02tqQY402SxCWnVQXnceWlyc2RBMFd9x4FZfbTBDbrCEge3FmYiBDM5jUEmjsMOTo9qWXdV22rJqvzUNUDgzXhJj_YXz1vXqQRz9sb_B22DP30aqtXtTgh5BUvBdVjYWWSpO7JrazvIy7nXr0-VvL2REaSNsvs" width="136" /></a></div><br />The rest of the interview is pretty great too, including:<br /><br />"It has never struck me as harmful to make a conscious effort to elevate one's thoughts, in the hope that by doing so one's writing will get off the ground, even if only for a few seconds (like Orville Wright) and to a low altitude. I am an egoist, inclined to inject myself into almost everything I write. This usually calls for good taste, if one is to stay alive. I'm not against good taste in writing, however unpopular it may be today.<br /><br />"I was a flop as a daily reporter. Every piece had to be a masterpiece--and before you knew it, Tuesday was Wednesday.<br /><br />"My deadline now is death. Thurber once said it's remarkable how many people are up and around."<br /><br />"How should one adjust to age?" Mr. White asked, and replied: "In principle, one shouldn't adjust. In fact, one does. (Or I do.) When my head starts knocking because of my attempt to write, I quit writing instead of carrying on as I used to do when I was young.<br /><br />"These are adjustments. But I gaze into the faces of our senior citizens in our Southern cities, and they wear a sad look that disturbs me. I am sorry for all those who have agreed to grow old. I haven't agreed yet. Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself--a lad of about 19…<br /><br />Universities have become very big, and with the bigness comes remoteness, inaccessibility. This is bad, and it causes trouble. When I was an undergraduate, there were a few professors who went out of their way to befriend students. At the house of one of these men I felt more at home than I did in my own home with my own mother and father. I felt excited, instructed, accepted, influential, and in a healthy condition.<br /><br />Apparently, most students today don't enjoy any such experience, and they are ready to dismantle the Establishment before they have either defined it or tasted it. In a democracy, dissent is as essential as the air we breathes. It's only when students form an elite society, immune from ordinary restraints, that I worry about dissent…<br /><br />I seldom peddle advice to the young. Most of them seem better informed than I am, and they have their own special problems.<br /><br />I'll say this, though: Every country is entitled to a few mistakes. The Vietnam war is a mistake. The Selective Service is inequitable. Yet even a country that is in the midst of a mistake must have an armed force loyal to its basic beliefs and prepared to defend its general principles. If that were to go, all would go…<br /><br />I was never a reader. I was arriving at conclusions almost independently of the entire history of the world. If I sat down to read everything that had been written--I'm a slow reader--I would never have written anything. My joy and my impulse was to get something down on paper myself….<br /><br />I would rather watch a really gifted plumber than listen to a bad poet. I'd rather watch someone build a good boat than attend the launching of a poorly constructed play. My admirations are wide-ranging and are not confined to arts and letters."<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheq2qEUxr7-zDBXfH9i8y8enVfcCbvuY-UwL3Slw7wtqRvTfuMCte1lEXTnKd0XFYBjGXEAO8I4AXQL5TutNYrjClECRtP8TDSGaWWo5hiMgPoTC2fNkd16Fc8vC9VnxoJXDHBObpq3eVgW82nAsUD5QePhEE3SINvTHmDQS1PQlezb4Yo4zllyOSpeXjB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="192" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheq2qEUxr7-zDBXfH9i8y8enVfcCbvuY-UwL3Slw7wtqRvTfuMCte1lEXTnKd0XFYBjGXEAO8I4AXQL5TutNYrjClECRtP8TDSGaWWo5hiMgPoTC2fNkd16Fc8vC9VnxoJXDHBObpq3eVgW82nAsUD5QePhEE3SINvTHmDQS1PQlezb4Yo4zllyOSpeXjB" width="176" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibNBdXQsXc4cM2_pnKGtQhMEpwimun7uMXsEbD5Ud-YISOVNiD_BuUIoPia9MB-WLGKNNdNWJFkT6NV2fL7GKS1vfvx9v3-crXCmF8CQCofJJx0o1qUXJ7rcxvA0-cV18BkLLMfByQbYCLVYh3vVqLhVpm7_MGYr4KgxpUwpilgDc8Dew1DpInXR5aO4Ae" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="268" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibNBdXQsXc4cM2_pnKGtQhMEpwimun7uMXsEbD5Ud-YISOVNiD_BuUIoPia9MB-WLGKNNdNWJFkT6NV2fL7GKS1vfvx9v3-crXCmF8CQCofJJx0o1qUXJ7rcxvA0-cV18BkLLMfByQbYCLVYh3vVqLhVpm7_MGYr4KgxpUwpilgDc8Dew1DpInXR5aO4Ae" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div dir="ltr"></div></div></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-63426517374098373702024-02-29T06:23:00.001-06:002024-02-29T10:05:47.360-06:00"immediate delight... fruits for life"<style>@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}</style><font face="Calibri"><p dir="ltr">Leave "the liver" (but not the delighted <i>liver</i>) out of it</p> <p dir="ltr">"...Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see "the liver" determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul. When it alters in one way the blood that percolates it, we get the methodist, when in another way, we get the atheist form of mind. So of all our raptures and our drynesses, our longings and pantings, our questions and beliefs. They are <b>equally organically founded</b>, be they religious or of non-religious content. </p> <p dir="ltr">To plead the organic causation of a religious state of mind, then, in refutation of its claim to possess superior spiritual value, is quite illogical and arbitrary, unless one has already worked out in advance some psycho-physical theory connecting spiritual values in general with determinate sorts of physiological change. Otherwise none of our thoughts and feelings, not even our scientific doctrines, not even our DIS-beliefs, could retain any value as revelations of the truth, for <b>every one of them without exception flows from the state of its possessor's body</b> at the time. </p> <p dir="ltr">It is needless to say that <b>medical materialism</b> draws in point of fact no such sweeping skeptical conclusion. It is sure, just as every simple man is sure, that some states of mind are inwardly superior to others, and reveal to us more truth, and in this it simply makes use of an ordinary spiritual judgment. It has no physiological theory of the production of these its favorite states, by which it may accredit them; and its attempt to discredit the states which it dislikes, by vaguely associating them with <b>nerves and liver</b>, and connecting them with names connoting bodily affliction, is altogether illogical and inconsistent. </p> <p dir="ltr">Let us play fair in this whole matter, and be quite candid with ourselves and with the facts. When we think certain states of mind superior to others, is it ever because of what we know concerning their organic antecedents? No! it is always for two entirely different reasons. It is either because we take an immediate delight in them; or else it is because we believe them to bring us good consequential fruits for life..."</p> <p dir="ltr">WJ, <i><a href="https://a.co/avNzVGY">Varieties</a></i></p> </font>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-48994234961560405312024-02-29T05:42:00.000-06:002024-02-29T10:02:42.290-06:00But doesn’t just say “no it isn’t”…(See <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLlv_aZjHXc">Monty Python's Argument Clinic</a>)
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<br />"The good student contradicts his teacher and makes him more eager to explain and defend the truth."
<br />— Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
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<br /><a href="https://www.threads.net/@philosophybits/post/C36pHl7r3iG/">https://www.threads.net/@philosophybits/post/C36pHl7r3iG/</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-40870707105028394702024-02-28T06:38:00.001-06:002024-02-28T08:24:27.026-06:00Cheer up & thinkTwo ways philosophy can help. Worth essaying, as Montaigne would say. Give it a try.<br /><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Michel de Montaigne wrote, "The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness."</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Linus Pauling said, "The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/thewritersalmanac/p/the-writers-almanac-from-wednesday-1e2?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post">WA</a></blockquote><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFdKjD8IEYnRtHQ5a6ZYMUa4-3Gz4x8xzjpTHyJtWhnwy9xdm1BZGAMm3-QU3qSOuQWcLQnOx9RlnpMIxEDFEuL0kRMqju6d19cpeWLAt64n0Q4PIoZQVTCKsfxa2-EP2v7aqJ0sLAJn_QTjsbS3briwUAMRxHAXOHkUf1KowZTelbdO1YCRanwgy2g7J3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="212" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFdKjD8IEYnRtHQ5a6ZYMUa4-3Gz4x8xzjpTHyJtWhnwy9xdm1BZGAMm3-QU3qSOuQWcLQnOx9RlnpMIxEDFEuL0kRMqju6d19cpeWLAt64n0Q4PIoZQVTCKsfxa2-EP2v7aqJ0sLAJn_QTjsbS3briwUAMRxHAXOHkUf1KowZTelbdO1YCRanwgy2g7J3" width="215" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div dir="ltr"></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-91328391137947661322024-02-27T06:21:00.001-06:002024-02-27T06:21:37.619-06:00Letters From Spring: A travelogue from baseball’s past and present - The Athletic"It was raining in New York — a miserable afternoon in mid-March. Perfect. Grabbed my coat and got my hat, left my worries on the doorstep. Flew to Miami, drove to Fort Lauderdale, saw the banks of lights gleaming in the gloaming, found the ballpark, parked, climbed to the press box, said hello, picked up stats and a scorecard, took the last empty seat, filled out my card (Mets vs. Yankees), rose for the anthem, regarded the emerald field below (the spotless base paths, the encircling palms, the waiting multitudes, the heroes capless and at attention), and took a peek at my watch: four hours and forty minutes to springtime, door to door."<p>— Roger Angell<p>I was eight years old when Angell wrote those words during spring training, 1975. I wouldn't first read them until many years later, but when I did read them I was eight years old again. I always am, every year when reading Angell's classic essay, "Sunny Side of the Street." I always thought it could have been called "How long until Springtime, door to door?"<br>...<br>Joe Posnanski<p><a href="http://theathletic.com/2394789/2021/02/18/letters-from-spring-a-travelogue-from-baseballs-past-and-present/">http://theathletic.com/2394789/2021/02/18/letters-from-spring-a-travelogue-from-baseballs-past-and-present/</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-65094204191375356682024-02-27T05:51:00.001-06:002024-02-27T05:51:15.014-06:00“Why is philosophy important to you?”Good answer, Massimo. It does help us wade meaningfully and strive more forcefully. Or it can.
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<br>"Philosophy, as you know, literally means love of wisdom. To embrace philosophy means to adopt a way of thinking about everything that attempts to wade through the bullshit and to live a meaningful life based on reason and compassion. Since the philosophical stance applies to everything, it is hard for me to imagine something more important.
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<br>Even, or perhaps especially, when it comes to personal relationships—with my daughter, my wife, my siblings, my friends, and so forth—it is because of my understanding of philosophy that I keep trying to be a better human being, or the best version of it that I am capable of."
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<br>— Massimo Pigliucci
<br><a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/celineleboeuf/p/why-philosophy-massimo-pigliucci?selection=12e95e24-eb44-4879-8068-c8f8d101069d&r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios">https://open.substack.com/pub/celineleboeuf/p/why-philosophy-massimo-pigliucci?selection=12e95e24-eb44-4879-8068-c8f8d101069d&r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-76158000137063029622024-02-26T08:10:00.009-06:002024-02-26T08:10:54.246-06:00"The sun on your arms or whatever"<div>I spent a lot of my weekend watching Spring Training on the MLB network.</div><div><br /></div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/opinion/baseball-sports-defeat.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">Here’s part</a> of what draws me back to baseball in the desert every March. <br /><br /><blockquote>“...As a sentient being who happens to be a passionate sports fan, I have had ample opportunity to grapple with this question. Why do we bother? We will most likely never meet the athletes we root for. We will never make as much money as they do. Nothing they do affects our physical health, our families or our livelihoods. Yet our emotional well-being rises and falls with their success on the field, on the court and on the baseball diamond.</blockquote><blockquote>I believe it’s because, in a world in which tribalism is pulling us apart, the completely imaginary tribalism of the sports fan is a necessary balm. Not because it allows you to celebrate — though you do occasionally get to do that — but because you get to lose. A lot. Nothing brings us together like communal suffering. And this simulated losing helps prepare us for the worst that life can dish out.”</blockquote>As the late great commissioner said, “it breaks your heart”… and then it strengthens your resilience. It builds the muscles of care, confidence, and perseverance. It's great fun in the sun. And it happens every Spring.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.threads.net/@cbssundaymorning/post/C3xoDuMR6bA/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==">Bill Bradley</a> played a different game (and politics too) but I think he understands the feeling: "If you can have an openness and joy about life that allows you to experience other people, nature, feeling the sun on your arms or whatever every day, you are gonna have a full life, whatever you do." </div><div><div><br /></div></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-58411699905528888902024-02-24T10:20:00.001-06:002024-02-24T10:20:44.990-06:00The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality by William EggintonWhat an ambitious, impressive attempt to bring together the worlds of serious literature, Kantian philosophy, and quantum physics. I'm uncertain (like Heisenberg!) it succeeds but it's wonderfully, entertainingly provocative.
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<br>Understanding the world as a "reciprocal reflection of perspectives" is pretty Jamesian, too.
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<br>From the postscript:
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<br>"Quantum theory is the victory of science over the presuppositions that make science possible. That its findings still register such shock manifests how deeply those presuppositions take root. The physicist Carlo Rovelli puts it this way as he outlines what he calls the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics: "If we imagine the totality of things, we are imagining being outside the universe, looking at it from out there. But there is no 'outside' to the totality of things…. [W] hat exists are only internal perspectives on the world which are partial and reflect one another. The world is this reciprocal reflection of perspectives."[ 1] Indeed, the alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics I have discussed here—from objective collapse to many worlds—are, in his words again, "efforts to squeeze the discoveries of quantum physics into the canons of metaphysical prejudice."[ 2] Those canons of metaphysical prejudice work in mysterious ways. Even as they guide how scientists think about the meaning of their most significant discoveries, they also affect the lives those scientists lead, how they judge their lives, how we all judge our lives."
<br>…
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<br>In short, despite our dearest desires and most desperate dreams, we are finite. That we can only ever understand things in relation to one another means that understanding will always stem from a limited perspective. Our reason propels us to incredible heights—understanding the fundamental components of matter and laws of the universe, seeing almost to the edges of the cosmos and the beginning of time. But it also leads us woefully astray. For the very ability we have to map our world and hence see our way through the dark also treats that map as though it were the world, and hence drapes a new veil over our enlightened eyes.
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<br>"Metaphysical prejudice": the perfect term to describe that magical thinking that Borges, Heisenberg, and Kant each explored, engaged with, and ultimately undid. Quantum theory may not gird us against metaphysical prejudice, but we cannot fully grasp its meaning while maintaining that prejudice. And thus, the persistence of its apparent paradoxes serves as a powerful reminder of how deeply set, how necessary to our thinking those prejudices are. When we see an effect, we reach for a cause, out there, in a world that is ubiquitous in space and durable in time, because we know, just know, that is how the world must be. We know so, but we are wrong. There is rigor there, indeed. But to see that we are the chess masters who made it, we must let the angels go. And that, it seems, is the hardest task of all.
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<br>— The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality by William Egginton
<br><a href="https://a.co/eN3tq95">https://a.co/eN3tq95</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-60112145089260566402024-02-24T06:53:00.001-06:002024-02-24T06:53:17.707-06:00Help yourself <div dir="ltr"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: CormorantGaramond; font-size: 22px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"…The most profound achievements of moral and political philosophy lie not in abstract theory or geometric proof but in finding words by which to light our way to lives well-lived. If that is not self-help, what is?"</span><br>—Kieran Setiya</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Is Philosophy Self-Help? | The Point Magazine</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/is-philosophy-self-help/</div><div dir="ltr"></div>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930483986516771507.post-52995209799988064992024-02-24T06:17:00.001-06:002024-02-24T06:17:31.844-06:00W.E.B. Du BoisPaternal wisdom from WJ's student-
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<br>"Be honest, frank and fearless and get some grasp of the real values of life… Read some good, heavy, serious books just for discipline: Take yourself in hand and master yourself."
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<br>On W.E.B. Du Bois's birthday, his lovely letter of advice to his daughter.
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<br> <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/02/23/w-e-b-du-bois-yolande-letter/">https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/02/23/w-e-b-du-bois-yolande-letter/</a>
<br>
<br><a href="https://www.threads.net/@mariapopova/post/C3st5cSxv8o/">https://www.threads.net/@mariapopova/post/C3st5cSxv8o/</a>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02115141650963300011noreply@blogger.com0