Happy Holidays!!!

My Holiday Lyric

"Well tonight thank God it's them... instead of you"
-Band Aid

The Value of Philosophy

...

"The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty. The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find, as we saw in our opening chapters, that even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect."
...
"The mind which has become accustomed to the freedom and impartiality of philosophic contemplation will preserve something of the same freedom and impartiality in the world of action and emotion. It will view its purposes and desires as parts of the whole, with the absence of insistence that results from seeing them as infinitesimal fragments in a world of which all the rest is unaffected by any one man's deeds. The impartiality which, in contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth, is the very same quality of mind which, in action, is justice, and in emotion is that universal love which can be given to all, and not only to those who are judged useful or admirable. Thus contemplation enlarges not only the objects of our thoughts, but also the objects of our actions and our affections: it makes us citizens of the universe, not only of one walled city at war with all the rest. In this citizenship of the universe consists man's true freedom, and his liberation from the thraldom of narrow hopes and fears."

- Bertrand Russell, The Value of Philosophy, The Problems of Philosophy

News

Interesting
Sadly Absurd
Disheartening
Good
(aw heck, just read more of the cbc website)

Evidently

"What can be asserted without evidence can
also be dismissed without evidence."
- Christopher Hitchens

Upcoming Media

2006 will likely be a good year...
New Dennett
New Hofstadter
Superman Returns (concerned)
X3

Anything you're looking forward too?

Biased? (you, too)

For thinking.
For laughing.

It's beginning to look a lot...

A Heartbreaking Work of Not Enough Genius

I recently finished Dave Eggars, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," - I was disappointed. I'd heard a great deal about the book and knew it was popular but had my expectations mitigated by the friend who lent it to me. Various things that precede the 'actual' book (writing in the 'front matter,' notes about the author, tips on the book) made the experience seem a promising one. Sadly, it was satisfactory at best. I did laugh out loud at several parts, but that is not enough for over 400 pages. As I am usually empathetic, I'm not entirely sure why I didn't connect to his story, but I did not find it as enjoyable or wonderful as others obviously have (see reviews from the link above). One of the best parts of the book is in the appendix, in very small print, when Eggars rants about the use of the word irony. Addtionally, the 'Staggering Genius" part was meant to be facetious, but instead I found that it inadvertently raised my expectations, only to be unfulfilled.
Either I am unrealistic, GEB 'ruined' me, and/or other people should read smarter books so they have a better frame of reference.
Worth it as an experience I guess, but maybe I'm just trying to rationalize the usage of my existence.

Day Moon (0.5)

There is a waxing moon, currently at about half, that is viewable to the south in the mid-afternoon.
I love's the day moon. :)

Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls

(As I was listening recently, I was thinking, 'This song is great lyrically & musically.' I thought I'd share. (and yes, sometimes I think in ampersand))

I’m trying to tell you something about my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
And the best thing you’ve ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
It’s only life after all
Yeah

Well darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable
And lightness has a call that’s hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
I’m crawling on your shores

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There’s more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
(the less I seek my source)
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine

And I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a b-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There’s more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
(the less I seek my source)
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
And I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I’d been the night before
And I went in seeking clarity.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
Yeah we go to the doctor, we go to the mountains
We look to the children, we drink from the fountains
Yeah we go to the bible, we go through the workout
We read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout
There’s more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
(the less I seek my source)
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine

I'm with you boys...

(My best friends' father just died)