More Quora Inanity

Mike Flynn recounts another example of why the overwhelming amount of stuff on Quora is a waste of time (apart from things written by Tim O'Neill and that Batman post).

Harry Dresden

Just read the first four Harry Dresden novels. They are quite addictive. I even looked up how much it would be to get a duster and hat. I probably shouldn't admit to things like that on the internet.

Waiting

"Here's to Waiting"

The 1998 Guinness Ad.

Gorilla

I thought I would collect together some of my favourite commercials from Youtube.

This one was used at a Scottish HE Enhancement Themes talk by Paul Redmond a few years ago to illustrate the concept of subconscious marketing - in Cadbury's case, the colour purple.

Current Favourite Podcast - "A History of Philosophy without any Gaps"

Brandon Watson over at Siris has been writing a series of posts on the Platonic dialogues and this has prompted me to write about my current favourite podcast, Peter Adamson's "A History of Philosophy without any Gaps". I came late to this series but it has been a real joy to slowly meander through classical philosophy starting at Thales. So far, I am up to Plotinus but, as the holiday season approaches, I am confident of reaching the latest episodes which are just about to launch into the medieval Christian philosophers.

Adamson himself is a very disarming presenter and I like his style of narration, especially the illustrative stories about Buster Keaton and Hiawatha the Giraffe.

Plus ça change,...

British Establishment honours author for services to anti-Catholic bigotry and revisionist history.

Remembering Tiananmen Square - 25 Years On

We are a fallen race, often actively pursuing evil or simply following the orders of others as they trample on the rights of our fellow human beings. This is clearly demonstrated by the death and destruction meted out to the protesters in Tiananmen Square by the totalitarian regime in China.

And yet, by the grace of God (whether acknowledged or not), there is sometimes a nobility of spirit that emerges from the soul of Man that allows us to catch a glimpse of our own original image as a reflection of His likeness.

Wise Words from the Maverick Philosopher

It's been a while since the last post but I wanted to capture this gem from the Maverick Philosopher. It is a popular meme among the ungodly that the expression of doubts near to the time of one's death somehow negates a lifetime of faithful service. It may, of course, in some circumstances but it seems to me that the Adversary is fairly consistent at choosing this time. One of Bill Vallicella's readers recounts an incident where his grandmother was on her deathbed.

"My grandmother’s reply [to the question of why she was fighting so hard to stay alive], “I fear that there is nothing on the other side.”  Here is a woman who has spent eighty nine years of her life devoting herself to the [Catholic] church and her family.  Now, when it comes down to death she is clinging on because her entire life is behind her and the only thing that she faces in front of her is the uncertainty of whether there is a heaven awaiting her in the coming days."

to which Vallicella replies:

"You have lived your long life faithfully and devotedly in the embrace of Holy Mother the Church.  She has presided over central events in your life, your baptism, first communion, confirmation, and your marriage.  She has provided guidance, moral instruction, comfort, and community as you have navigated life's difficulties and disappointments.  She provided meaning and solace when your parents died, and your husband, and your many friends and relatives.  If your faith was a living faith and not a convenience or a matter of social conformity, then from time to time you had your doubts.  But through prayer and reflection you have repeatedly reaffirmed your faith.  You faith was made deeper and truer by those doubts and their overcoming." 

"I ask you now to recall those moments of calm reflection and existential lucidity, those moments when you were at your best physically, mentally, and spiritually.  I ask you to recall them, and above all I ask you not to betray them now when you are weak. Do not allow the decisions and resolutions of your finest and and clearest hours to be taken hostage by doubts and fears born of weakness.  Your weakness has called forth the most vicious attacks of the Adversary and his agents.  You have lived in the faith and now you must remain true to a course of life judged right at the height of your powers.  Your doubts are of the devil and they must be put aside.  Pray, and remain true to a course judged right."  

Amen.

David Bentley Hart on Adam Gopnik

DBH has clearly got Adam Gopnik's number.

"Journalism is the art of translating abysmal ignorance into execrable prose".

Pappus Chain and Circle Inversion

This is really cool. I'm sure the guy would get on my nerves after a while but I do enjoy mathematical enthusiasm.

In other news, water wet, Pope Catholic...

Football Fans swear about their own Football teams.

Great Voice and He Knows It

I just saw this on Youtube. Yes, I know it's been there for over a year but, give me some credit - I'm old!!



Anyway, I think this is a great version of the song.

Peter Hitchens' view of Stephen Fry

This made me laugh. From a reference in a post from Ed Feser's combox, here is the article. I love the headline, which is dead on the mark.

"Stephen Fry - A Stupid Person's idea of What an Intelligent Person is Like".

There must be a word for it in Greek...

"The Grimleys" was a minor British comedy from the late nineties which featured a nice conceit that it took place in an alternative universe where the members of the Glam Rock bands of the 1970s had given up their profession before they achieved success and went back to the day job. The most musically sophisticated of that type of band was Slade fronted by Noddy Holder, who, in the series,  played the music teacher in the school.

I can remember not giving the series much of a thought when it came out but I ran across this clip on Youtube in which Holder ends one of the episodes singing what would nowadays be called an "unplugged" version of the Slade hit "Cum on Feel the Noize".

I found the rendition really quite touching. I think it is a tribute to Holder's acting skills that he is able to convey the pathos of an alternative history, replete with missed opportunities and lost promise, that didn't actually happen. And, I suppose, it makes me feel old and contemplate my own missed opportunities.

25 Years of the WWW

One of the strangest thing about the web is the way that information searching and the instantaneous movement of attention from one topic to another, has become second nature.

Today I started on the Wikipedia page where the featured article is about the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade who were used to garrison Iceland after the British Occupation during the second World War. Going to the page on the Occupation, I discovered that the British also occupied the Faroe Islands to prevent Nazi occupation and the resulting threat to shipping. I don't know a lot about the Faroes, even though they are relatively close to Britain and the state of the Scottish national football team is often gauged by how well they would or wouldn't beat the team of part-time players, so I thought I would find out how big and populous these island were (they have a population of about 50,000). As it happens, the islanders are also engaged in a debate about whether they favour independence from the Kingdom of Denmark. In 2011, a new draft Faroese constitution was being drawn up but the then Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, stated this was incompatible with Denmark's constitution and that if the Faroese political parties wish to continue with it then they must declare independence. This was reported in an online news source called "Ice News (News from the Nordics!)" which had a side panel with "Popular Posts" of which, apparently, the most popular is a story about the legalisation, in 2008, of animal brothels in Denmark.

At which point, I start to wonder if it has all been worthwhile... Beam me up, Scotty!

"The only man who could remove Hitler — a man without nerves"

Following up a quote in the combox of one of W. M. Briggs posts, I have been reading about Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord. A fascinating man. An ardent anti-Nazi, he personally warned Hitler in 1932 that he would shoot him if he attempted a coup. During the war, he was involved in several plots to overthrow Hitler, and was relieved of his command because of his "negative attitude towards National Socialism". He died of cancer in April, 1943.

According to the Wikipedia article, Heinrich Brüning, leader of the Catholic Center party, who served as German chancellor between 1930 and 1932, called Hammerstein-Equord "the only man who could remove Hitler — a man without nerves". According to the reminiscences of his son Kunrat von Hammerstein, Hammerstein-Equord resigned from the Club of Nobility when they threw out their non-Aryan members in 1934 or 1935, and spoke of "organized mass murder" of the Jews before the summer of 1942. He supplied his daughter Maria-Therese von Hammerstein-Paasche with the names of Jews who were scheduled for deportation or arrest, enabling her to warn or hide them. Two of his sons, Ludwig and Kunrat, took part in a failed plot to kill Hitler and replace the Nazi regime with a new government on 20 July 1944, fleeing Germany in its aftermath. His widow and two younger children were then deported to a concentration camp, and freed only when the Allied Forces liberated the camps in 1945.

The quote that sparked all this off concerned Hammerstein-Equord's special classification scheme for his men:

"I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy -- they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent -- he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief."

So Tom Jones, Van Morrison and Jeff Beck went into a bar... er.. recording studio...

and came up with this...

Obesity and Abstinence

A very interesting post by Crude over at Crude Ideas.

Clearly I'm a bit stupid but the comparison hadn't really struck me before. Yes, Society demands high levels of will-power and abstinence for people who can't manage their desire for one biological necessity but thinks that it is wildly impractical, not to say bordering on pathologically repressed to demand it of another.

Of course, I suspect that when we have a magic pill to eradicate weight gain and the reduce costs associated with obesity, all this emphasis on healthy eating and exercise will go by the board and we'll be back to belittling the idea that any form of self discipline is something for which we should strive. Expecting self-control from people, especially young people, is just so unrealistic...