Tuesday, June 19, 2007

"That Man Would Typewrite a Love-letter"

In my God as Metaphor post some time ago, I ended up concentrating on organised religion, and how it might be read as a literary effort to explain our search for meaning. It struck me then, and still does now, that in doing so I had over-emphasised my critique of religion, and only briefly touched on the antipode of science that I had also been meaning to critique:
The same argument, incidentally, could apply to scientific theories seeking to explain the world, including that part of it that relates to our morality. It is simply a metaphor framed in very different terms, albeit one I personally am finding increasingly limited.
That was all I wrote about science, then, and yet the post had been partly motivated by my dismay at the tendency in certain quarters to disparage the beauty that surrounds us in dismissing the claims of organised religion.

In one of those happy little coincidences that life throws up now and then, and yes, I am being somewhat disingenuous here, I recently picked up a book by an author I was very fond of as a child. I will not say who it is just yet, as there is another post to be written about him. The passage I want to concentrate on today draws on a metaphor drawn by the village postman:

Look at these early flowers which appear. So many of 'em are droopin' bells, as though natur' were ringin' em [the courting birds] on their way. When the west wind blows, I watch the snowdrops, the little woodsorrel of the pine-woods, the tall daffodils, and bluebells ... All of 'em ringing their carillon - bells for the birdies' weddin's, swingin', swayin', pealin'; and the great big marsh marigolds and the flamin' buttercups standin' up straight out o' the green grass and holdin' their ... chalices aloft and cryin' , "Good 'ealth to bride and bridegroom".
Shortly after this tour de force of rustic mysticism - even if "flamin' buttercups" strikes an odd note to more modern ears - our narrator encounters a keen gardener, with whom he cannot resist sharing the postman's vision, although even the narrator refers to these as "quaint conceits."
'Ah, yes,' he said in his superior way; 'very pretty, no doubt. But we botanists like to stick to facts.'

'Facts are not so beautiful as truth, sometimes,' I ventured to interpolate.

'Those of us who have a scientific bent explain things differently,' he said, with a superior air. 'You see,' he added. 'those tubular flowers of yours live under cold atmospheric conditions. By closingh the petals much of the warmth which would be lost by radiation is preserved. The surface presented to the Arctic winds and dews being that of the involucral leaves, or bracts, of the calyx, which...'
Now, while our narrator is clearly not shy of editorialising - I would have thought that his interlocutor's condescending attitude would have been obvious without us being told twice of his superior airs - and while there are flaws and subtexts that I would like to explore anon, he can coin a wonderful phrase.

"Facts are not so beautiful as truth, sometimes" speaks even unto a confirmed agnostic like me, and it's a truth that the more militant atheists would do well to remember.

Brief Tour of Downtown Indianapolis

Yes, I too was invited by James to guest blog over here at Nourishing Obscurity. Following a suggestion given to me in an e-mail, why not venture to downtown Indianapolis, Indiana and see Monument Circle, the Statehouse, and Military Park?

Indianapolis is the capital of Indiana and is the largest city in the state. There's plenty of events going on all year long but downtown is pretty cool.


Bank One (Chase) Tower

One of the first buildings you will see (if you come down from the north side) amongst the skyline is the Chase Tower (formerly Bank One). This tower can be seen in skyline postcards of Indianapolis.

Top of Building on Meridian Street

Downtown is where we have our tallest buildings.

Monument Circle from a distance

Monument Circle makes the main street, Meridian Street, into a roundabout. It is a gigantic statue devoted to fallen soldiers from the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Civil War.

View One from the Circle

So, the last photo was of Monument Circle. Here we are standing on it, looking back at the street we were standing on when the previous photo was taken (Meridian Street).

View Over Fountain

Looking left and down you will see a fountain.

Stitched Backside Inscription

Going behind the Monument, we will find another inscription (dedicated to the soldiers who died in the Civil War). The fronstide inscription is dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the Spanish-American War of 1898 (Cuba's War of Independence).

Fountain from the Circle

Stepping down from the Monument, we can see a view of the fountain. Note the soldiers.

Backside of Bank One Tower

Remember the Chase Tower we saw at the very beginning? This is it from the backside.

The Statehouse

Heading to the street to the left of the Monument, we approach the Statehouse of Indiana, where the governor works. I had the good fortune of briefly meeting him about a month ago.

Steaming Storm Drain

Don't worry, it's normal :-) .

Closer to the Statehouse

Ah, here we are! The Statehouse!

Office in Statehouse

This is one of several offices on the main floor of the Statehouse. It's available only to authorized personnel.

Awning Skylight

Walking into the center of the main hall, we can see this gorgeous skylight which sadly didn't want to look as pretty as it does in person.

Justice and Liberty(Main Hall of Statehouse)

Justice and Liberty.
Here is one of the four two pairs of statues that grace this hall beneath the skylight.
Here are the others.

Agriculture and Commerce(Main Hall of Statehouse)

Agriculture and Commerce

Law and Oratory(Main Hall of Statehouse)

Law and Oratory

History and Art(Main Hall of Statehouse)

History and Art

Banner supporting the troops

Military Park, stitched

Here we are at Military Park, where the names (if known) of every single Medal of Honor winner, their conflicts, locations (if known), and ranks are etched into rows of glass. A few summers ago vandals came in thru here and broke one of the glass walls.

Designing, stitched

Here's an explanation of the Medal of Honor that can be found in Military Park. Simply put, the Medal of Honor is the highest medal that a member of the US armed forces can receive. I wish to apologize for the evident jerkiness of a few of these photos. I stitched them together earlier today (all of these photos were taken in 2005).

Congressional Decision
Bottom of Congressional Decision

Unknown Soldiers Holder

Every wall has its conflict labeled. For example, here is the wall for unknown soldiers. Some conflicts contain several walls of recipients.

Unknown Soldier Recepients

Here is one of their walls.

Indian Battle Recepients

These are some of the armed service members who died in our conquest of the West against the Indians.

Baghdad, OIF

Paul Smith was the first soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honor since Somalia. He died in the Battle of Baghdad during Operation: Iraqi Freedom. You all can look up his amazing story on the Internet, a true soldier indeed.

Canal near Walls

The canal that runs beside Military Park is popular with musicians, on occasion.

Foggy Skyline

Note the fog's effects of obscuring the Chase Tower (in the middle of the picture).

Canal heading towards Indianapolis

The canal runs back to the city's very center.



Now, we'll go briefly to a suburb of Indianapolis where we'll find a forest.



I leave you all looking at this creek, near the forest. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Wallace and Gromit's Grand Day Out

Wallace and Gromit are a pair of characters that not many political bloggers post about (shame I hear you cry and indeed such cries are acknowledged), furthermore they are not a pair of characters that even the great Higham has deigned to grace with his type (even greater shame I hear you shout from the back row and its acknowledged) so I'm going to have to take up the pen and say something about how this duo, particularly in their first film, the Grand Day Out- offer a kind of defence of freedom that is very necessary to heed.

Lest you forget, and how could you, Wallace is an inventor with a mind filled with ideas, Gromit his dog is the more practical side of the duo forever shaking his head in disbelief at his master's antics (as shown above, Gromit ends up spattered with paint and used at one point as part of a work bench when Wallace has cut away the other end of the work bench). The story is basically thus- our heroes are in despair, in the midst of a bank holiday sitting with their feet up they feel the need for adventure (well Wallace does, Gromit looks quite happy!) and need a holiday, furthermore a crisis in their affairs has been realised- a crisis that involves the fact that though there is tea, though there are crackers in the house, there is no cheese, not one piece of cheese in the Fridge. Having thought about Cheese holidays- they decide to go to the moon, they build a rocket and set off, watched by a group of rats in shades, and reach the moon without incident (though Gromit loses a tower made of cards in the process) and Wallace prepares to carve out some cheese from the moon. After a series of adventures with a robot confused by their presence whose lifetime ambition is to ski, they set off home again and the movie finishes twenty minutes after it started, with Wallace leaning back in his seat sipping a cup of tea, and Gromit fiddling with the controls, as the Robot skis up and down the craters of the moon on bits of metal it had tugged from the spacecraft.

The story really isn't the point here though- its the individuality, its the eccentricity (in England's that's a virtue)- there is a line in the Lord of the Rings when Gandalf tells Frodo that what's worth fighting for is all the absurd Bolgers and Boffins and Bagginses- that's the same sense you get from Wallace and Gromit. These two characters are crackers, they are mad, their lives revolve around inventions, cheese (particularly Wensleydale) and tea- but in some sense they are the essense of the whole of Western civilisation. Civilisation isn't just Michelangelo and Machiavelli, its Wallace and his efforts to get to the moon, its loving Wensleydale and its a dog knitting in a chair and rats with shades over their eyes, its merry eccentricity which is a value all to itself. The absurdity of life is in many ways its essence- when we talk about freedom often we lose sight of the fact that freedom isn't just a political issue- its a personal issue as well. Put simply in a totalitarian state like North Korea, you can't live a life based on Wensleydale and tea- you can't just decide to build a rocket to go to the moon (theoretically you could in the West) and you can't be madly, loveably, endeeringly and frustratingly often eccentric.

That's the reason its important to be free- its so Wallaces and Gromits continue to flourish in our society.

The Blue Wave Falls Short

Here in the south east of France we remain as blue as blue can be (see post a week ago), with every single Alpes Maritimes constituency being UMP (or ally) and every one in the Var too, as well as one of the two in the inland Alpes de Haute Provence department. Unforunately for President Sloshko elsewhere in France his blue wave fell somewhat shorter and so, although the UMP did retain a comfortable margin of victory (314 UMP seats plus about 32 allies out of 577 total), it wasn't the 400-500 seat blowout that looked possible a week ago. Indeed the Socialists gained some 50 seats compared to their results in 2002, which makes them the winners in terms of swing - but not the real winners because they still fell 100 seats short of the numbers required for a majority.

The excellent news though is that convicted crook, pal of Chirac and former PM, Alain Juppé, who was appointed as a minister by Sloshko, failed to win his seat nad has resigned from the cabinet. This news goes hand in hand with the fact that Chirac is now no longer immune from prosecution so Inspecteur Knackeur should be knokcing on his door any day now to ask him to answer a few questions.

Back to the elections. Why did Sarko's blue wave fall short? Well there are a bunch of reasons from low turnout to a generally pronounced belief that a few checks and balances are a good thing that may have helped but the most likely reason is that the economy minister opened his mouth last week and said that he'll probably have to raise VAT to balance the books since Sarko has stated he wishes to reduce income tax and social charges to make it less expensive to employ people. Sarko did his best at damage control after his return from EU diplomacy in Poland but it looks like it wasn't enough.

On the other hand though Sarko looks like he will find it easier to maneover during the summer as the Socialists have now officially formed a circular firing squad. Sego has stated that she has split up with her non-hubby François Hollande (there was some argument about who should wear the skirt in the relationship apparently) and all the "elephants" of the socialist party are now joining in the fray to declare that had only the socialists followed their advice they would have won. So, since Sarko will face little or no sane criticism by opposition politicians, the opposition is likely to come from the loony fringe and Sarko is sure to welcome that as being proof that he is right.

I should note that, despite my posts during the campaign in favour of Sarko, I agree with the dissident frogman that comparisons between him and Thatcher or Reagan are overstated. Comparisons between him and Bush (either) are probably fairly accurate though, although I suspect Sarko is smarter, less loyal and more devious than either Bush. In fact the closest anglo-saxon political figures that Sarko resembles are probably Pres W Clinton and PM A Blair... The reason why I was so strongly in favour of Sarko compared to Bayrou or Sego was that the latter two were destined to lead France to total destruction in a short time, Sarko may manage to turn things around and may be the enabler that lets a real French Thatcher or Reagan appear.

(X-posted at my own blog)

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Return of the Strap and Cane?


This has got to be a subject that James would have strong opinions on as a former Headmaster.

Ever one with a strong opinion, given his religious training and previous job as a Priest, Australian Federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, has weighed in in favour of the whack of the leather and the crash of the cane in restoring discipline to out of control teens in Australia's schools. Several high profile cases of violence have been shown on television and on YouTube and in an election year, it is obligatory that politicians comment on the issues of the day.

I strongly doubt that it will make the slightest bit of difference.

My own personal experience was that the teachers who were respected hardly ever had to use corporal punishment in the classroom. The one's who used it most were either ineffective or very permissive teachers.

My brother, had the record for his year for the number of times he was belted in class. It was like a badge of courage as he took it to the teachers. He actually had a collection of belts at home, taken from teachers drawers, prior to baiting them to belt him. I on the other hand was the quiet type and only got belted twice, once for chewing gum in class and another for a minor incident that four people, including myself were held collectively responsible for.

In neither case did the presence of corporal punishment make the slightest difference to behaviour. In fact for my brother, it was likely a motivation.

I think you have to look to families to make a difference. It seems that this responsibility is being abdicated by many, leading to disrespectful behaviour in the classroom.

The other alternative may be to go to stronger measures as suggested in the photograph.

This is an edited version of the original post on my blog Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe.

Just looking around

Thought I'd look around the place for abit, maybe put some new windows over there or whatnot.

Happy Father's day out there to all the dads.

Hello?

I thought I was guest blogger. Strange here, not what I am used to at all.

The Price of Oil

L'Ombre de l'Olivier writes of the real reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union and is our first guest blogger:

Excellent SF writer Charlie Stross has a post where, inter alia, he links to a fascinating paper by Yegor Gaider (former PM of Russia) on the reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed. It is well worth reading in its entirety but I'll summarize it as:
  1. The collectivization of Soviet agriculture meant the Soviet Union could not feed itself
  2. To buy food it needed hard currency
  3. Hard currency was available by selling oil
  4. Unfortunately in the mid 1980s Saudi Arabia decided to drastically increase production and thereby wrecked the sums of the Kremlin and left them in a total mess. The Saudis did this because they perceived that as the best way to stop the Russians gaining more influence on the Arab world and as revenge in part for Afghanistan.
  5. The Kremlin tried to borrow money from international banks but in about 1989 the banks decided the Kremlin was a bad credit risk
Thereafter the Kremlin got money with lots of strings (e.g. about not using force in E Europe) that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. This story doesn't mention the "Reagan outspend the military" idea that many Americans are keen on but it doesn't matter directly as indirectly, that idea is true. The Americans made it clear that military attempts to get at more food (or control of oil wells) wouldn't work hence non-military means had to be used. And non-military means meant loans that would be cancelled if the Kremlin did things the bankers didn't like. QED.

There are a bunch of lessons that can be drawn from this. One is that if we in the "West" want to kill Islamic fundamentalism, dictatorial totalitarianism and the like probably the best thing we can do is find an alternative energy source that is as cheap as oil and which we can produce ourselves. Another is that a country that can't feed itself is dreadfully vulnerable.

(This post also appears at my own blog l'Ombre de l'Olivier )

[alan johnston] j'espère aussi qu'il sera libéré

Alan Johnston, enlevé à Gaza le 12 mars, pourrait être libéré dans les prochaines heures.

"J'espère qu'Alan Johnston sera libéré dans les prochaines heures si Dieu le veut", a déclaré le représentant du Hamas à Téhéran, Abou Ossama Al-Motti, dimanche matin. "Il sera libéré. S'il veut rester à Gaza il sera notre invité mais s'il veut partir pour la Grande-Bretagne, il pourra le faire", a-t-il ajouté.

Alan Johnston, correspondant de la BBC à Gaza, a disparu depuis le 12 mars. Il était apparu en bonne santé dans une vidéo diffusée le 1er juin par le groupe Armée de l’Islam, qui avait revendiqué son enlèvement dans un enregistrement sonore le 9 mai.

[people quiz] ten names from history

1] Born at at Braunau am Inn, surname possibly Schicklgruber, 173 cm tall, twice decorated for bravery in war, painted in his early years, spoke positively of his Christian heritage.

2] Named Mortenson, signed by The Blue Book modeling agency, appeared in in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!, said: "Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer."

3] Pioneered Satyagraha , urged disobedience of the salt tax, could not stomach his English landlady's mutton and cabbage, killed by Nathuram Godse .

4] Known as "El Dragón" , born in the parish of Crowndale, one of the first slave traders, died of dysenterya major east-west road in Marin County, California is named after him.

5] He was a silversmith, developed an intelligence and alarm system, worked for the Committee of Public Safety, participated in the disastrous Penobscot Expedition, later opened a opened a hardware and home goods store.

6] Known for her politically incorrect behaviour, she won eight Olympic medals, including five golds, and six Commonwealth Games gold medals, winning gold for the same event at three successive Olympics, was alleged to have climbed a flagpole in the Emperor Hirohito’s palace, taking the Olympic flag.

7] She stands at 1.66m (5'4) and weighs 48kg (106lbs), many coaches did not like her because they thought that she was too "heavy" and "ugly", one of the most decorated gymnasts in history, dropped her hoop in Sydney in 2000 and lost gold.

8] Had a lifelong association with the Victor Talking-Machine Company, made millions of dollars, was present at the San Francisco earthquake, is pictured wearing a bedsheet, draped like a toga, in his first publicity photograph because his only shirt was in the laundry.

9] Is the author or editor of fourteen political books, appeared on Sunday Service on BBC Radio Five Live, educated at Ashdon County Primary School, spent a year teaching English at the Gymnasium Besigheim, was nursing assistant at the Werner Wicker Klink in West Germany, sold his bookshop, pioneered a new form of media.

10] Married her second cousin, powerful enough to eliminate anyone who was a potential threat, had a brothel under an assumed name and organised orgies for upper class women, won an all night competition with a prostitute.

Answers here