Posts by BenWilson
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Muse: Shelf Life: The Dying Elephant in…, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Bertrand Russell had to do quite a bit of work in Principia Mathematica to demonstrate that one plus one equals to, as I recall.
Yes, it was the work of about 2 months in a class I did in Stage 3. Having done that, it actually led to history's first sane discussion of infinite numbers. Turns out that there's a whole lot of things that follow from being able to actually describe numbers rigorously. The biggest mind flip was that not all infinite sets are the same size.
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Muse: Shelf Life: The Dying Elephant in…, in reply to DCBCauchi,
You can point to two things, but not to two itself.
Again, I'm not so sure, and wary of buying a doctrine. Maybe there is a 2 in some abstract idea-space. Certainly 2 is a very powerful idea, with extremely wide applicability. It would seem to have captured some very important thing about the world, completely devoid of any mind to interpret it. There were, for example, more than two atoms in the universe billions of years before life began on Earth.
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Up Front: Say When, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Besides I'm not sure I saw an "appropriate post length" sign anywhere.
Yup, you can always skip the long posts with a single eye movement, if it burns.
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Derrida was partially correct when he suggested nothing exists outside the text.
This one's confounded me for around 15 years. Not that partial to postmodernism (perhaps mainly through lack of exposure), it strikes me as a proposition which could go either way. Maybe there is only text. Or maybe the text hooks to a meaning which does exist outside the text. If it does exist outside the text, where is it? In human minds? Or could it exist even outside them? I think especially of ideas like numbers, which undoubtedly humans invented. But having invented them, we continue to "discover" things about them. If we are merely inventing, creating fabrications, surely there is nothing to discover. And yet even people who have had no communication at all have hit upon the same truths in numbers. I find it hard to think of numbers as mere text. And once you find one ontological object outside the human mind, it opens floodgates....are there more? Isn't the text scrabbling (often in vain) to catch something deeper than the text?
I don't know the answer, but it strikes me as something it's not a good idea to be doctrinaire about. I'm probably misinterpreting the statement, which no doubt requires a whole lot more text to get a shadowy understanding of.
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Up Front: Say When, in reply to Sacha,
I also encourage you to go for it.
+1. Go long, Megan C. Or link off to your own blog if you want to go essay length.
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My sister, trained in film studies, women's studies, and contemporary dance shared your views on this film, Craig. It wasn't about the dancing, and it wasn't really about dancers. It was trying to mimic European film, but without the subtlety, themes were too obvious and too gratuitous.
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The thing about the religious ceremony, and the reason why so many secular people (like myself) still submit to it, is that it's all about making a big fuss of the day. While I've no problem with people wanting a small affair, or no affair whatsoever, and still enjoying all the privileges of marriage, I do think that the big-wedding-in-a-church is something that's going to continue to be massively popular. The religious side of things is basically taken with a grain of salt, most of the time.
I attended one this weekend, in a church. The guy was agnostic like most NZers of my acquaintance, the girl was formally a member of that church but has never mentioned any religious ties. They were attended on either side by their children, one by both of them, the other hers by another guy. It was most enheartening when the pastor asked the question "does anyone have a reason why these two should not be married...any moral reason?" that the entire crowd burst out into laughter. It was like it was a ridiculous thing to even ask.
For this reason I find the inability of gay people to get married, and in churches if they want, increasingly ridiculous also. That an entire crowd could see nothing but humour in the idea that having clearly and blatantly lived in sin with multiple partners, and caring not one whit for the religion itself, should suggest that two people who loved each other should not be married, goes to the crazy arbitrariness of the exception applied to gays.
Indeed it was twice as touching to see two beautiful boys whose parental security was being publicly confirmed sharing the occasion.
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Sally, please don't flounce. This a blogosphere word for storming off in a discussion that has got heated, vowing never to return. I'm saying please because I think you've shown good faith in returning to apologize, and want to share something with you - getting slapped down if you're offending people is common here, but so is forgiveness.
I've committed far worse sins than you here, thinking particularly back to an extremely poor showing in a debate on fat. No-one has held a grudge, despite being mighty offended at the time. The trick is to learn, and keep going.
I think you might find it's worthwhile, that you can have good discussions on this topic. What you need to remember is that this is a mature forum, in which many people have been participating for a long time, and we know a lot about what the others think, have written and said. Your perspective is most welcome if expressed in ways that conform to some standards of courtesy that it might take some time to learn.
You won't find many places on the internet that will treat you nicer than here, or where discussions can reach such depth. I really think you should try again. Get back on the horse.
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I live in Auckland, and while deep discounting is nice, depth and range of stock being sold by knowledgeable and pleasant staff is better.
Yup. My tastes are lowbrow, but not enough, it seems. Whitcoulls drove me back to public libraries. Once that floodgate reopened, the only thing I've purchased from Whitcoulls has been art supplies and children's books. Even then, decent art supplies shops were much better, and FFS if you don't stock more than 3 Mr Men books you've lost my son. They had a better selection of children's workbooks at the 2-dollar-shop. Once again, the library won.
Indeed, I'm wondering if books on the internet might be the renaissance of public libraries. Not for e-books, but for all those times when people want real books, and a reasonably pleasant experience looking for them, possibly assisted by someone who has a clue about books. I've long since revised my opinion that paper and ink are on the way out. I just think owning them might be.
ETA: snap, Jackie.
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Up Front: Say When, in reply to giovanni tiso,
I'll have a bison please - matte is fine.
I'm onto you. You're just after the fresh buffalo milk for your stringy cheese.
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