From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #51 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, February 16 2007 Volume 16 : Number 051 Today's Subjects: ----------------- two-headed ice-cream ["natalie jacobs" ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [Rex ] RE: cute babes (was Re: piping in) ["Bachman, Michael" ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [Capuchin ] Re: two-headed ice-cream ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [Rex ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [Capuchin ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [grutness@slingshot.co.nz] Re: Separated at birth [2fs ] Re: cute babes (was Re: piping in) [2fs ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [2fs ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [Capuchin ] Coffee, cigarettes, and booze ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] The end is near [kevin ] Re: Coffee, cigarettes, and booze [2fs ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [Capuchin ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream [2fs ] conspiratorial number theory [ken ostrander ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:51:48 -0600 From: "natalie jacobs" Subject: two-headed ice-cream > Banhart, on the other hand (shudder). Banhart is one of those guys where I have to wonder why the hell he even has a recording contract, let alone fans. Perhaps coincidentally, Joanna Newsom considers him one of her mentors. > > I realized after sending that, that I should have clarified it was > Mochi Ice Cream, not the generic mochi sticky rice cake: > Yeah, I was wondering how anyone could react so strongly to sweet, delicious ice cream dumplings. Mmmm, mochi ice cream. you're not gonna tell me that "Hit The Ground Running" > isn't hot shit, are you? i could argue that that song is the most > exciting > seven minutes in rock. i mean, i don't actually *believe* it. but i > could > argue it. Yet another reason why Mr. Tews rocks harder than anything has rocked before. I have a small obsession with conjoined twins and twins. I recently developed a fascination with the Hensel twins ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_and_Brittany_Hensel) who could very well be the subject of a Neutral Milk Hotel song. (According to that Wikipedia article, "They successfully passed their driver license exam, both the written and driving tests. They had to take the tests twice, once for each twin. Both control the steering wheel, while Abby controls the pedals and shifter, and Brittany controls the turn signal." Crazy!) the theory that non-twin left-handers are actually > orphaned twins (i.e. a singleton who had in the womb a twin but > something went astray.) This is interesting on its own, but being a > non-twin and left-handed, it might apply to me so it is indeed very > very interesting. Weird - I'm left-handed and a non-twin also. I wonder how that correlates with the fact that 75% of left-handers are male. *ponders* n. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:07:45 -0800 From: Rex Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On 2/15/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > Hi Fegs, > > Rex says: > > No, it's kind of like ice cream as finger food... its own discrete > little > > cell-like entity complete with membrane. Only better than that > sounds. You > > pretty much just pick it up and munch it before it melts. Comes in a > > plastic tray housing six little blobs, like a muffin tray or something. > > I think a friend got the mochi trilogy at a Japanese restaurant and we > tried to cut one in half (likely a green tea one that I demanded part > of) and that's didn't really work. It had kind of a protective > coating. But the way you describe it, perhaps it is not meant to cut > in half. It's got a protective skin or membrane, which is in turn dusted with something chalky, but I would think it would cut just fine. Of course it's entirely possible that mochi at a real Japanese restaurants has properties that one can't observe in the Trader Joe's version. > There's a green tea flavor in the mochi, too. My favorite is the > > chocolate... it has chocolate chips suspended in it. > > Chocolate better than green tea...no way. In general ice cream, no. But in Trader Joe's mochi, the green tea flavor / chalky coating combo falls short. Looking at Tom's link, though, I see two flavors I've never tried... Kona coffee and, erm, "red bean". Hmmm. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:18:03 -0500 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: cute babes (was Re: piping in) >>It's like she's always in Tori-World. >> And Bjork's always in "Bjork-World" and Joanna Newsom's...well, you >Add in Patti Smith and you have my four favorite female vocalists. >Though: Robyn is always in Robyn-World, and Colin is always in Colin-World, and... I'll break them down into different catagories, as it would be too hard to name only four: French favs: Keren Ann Nolita Carla Bruni Francoise Hardy Jane Birkin Rock: Kate Bush Neko Case Patti Smith Aimee Mann Country: Lucinda Williams Emmylou Harris Mindy Smith Caitlin Cary Jazz: Karrin Allyson Tierny Sutton Diane Reeves Cassandra Wilson MJ Bachman ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:42:31 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On Feb 15, 2007, at 1:07 PM, Rex wrote: > It's got a protective skin or membrane, which is in turn dusted with > something chalky, but I would think it would cut just fine. Of > course it's > entirely possible that mochi at a real Japanese restaurants has > properties > that one can't observe in the Trader Joe's version. I've always assumed the membrane is the mochi - thin glutenous rice cake, and the chalky substance is powdered sugar. > > Looking at Tom's link, though, I see two flavors I've never > tried... Kona > coffee and, erm, "red bean". Hmmm. Haven't seen those either, but the coffee one sounds good. We usually have the green tea, chocolate, and mango. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:11:10 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On Thu, 15 Feb 2007, Tom Clark wrote: > I've always assumed the membrane is the mochi - thin glutenous rice > cake, and the chalky substance is powdered sugar. I think it's just rice powder, not powdered sugar (which would turn sticky when wet, thus defeating the purpose of a powdery coating on the rice cake). >> Looking at Tom's link, though, I see two flavors I've never tried... >> Kona coffee and, erm, "red bean". Hmmm. > > Haven't seen those either, but the coffee one sounds good. We usually > have the green tea, chocolate, and mango. When we first found them, they were at the asian supermarket only and only available in grean tea and red bean. The other flavors are "new" and I still far prefer those to any other. When I first saw they sold one called strawberry, I had to laugh because I've always thought red bean ice cream tastes like strawberry. I recall Jim Davies ate one in my kitchen and said, "This is like alien food." And it is. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:13:23 -0500 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Re: two-headed ice-cream Hi Fegs, natalie jacobs says: > I have a small obsession with conjoined twins and twins. :) > I recently developed a fascination with the Hensel twins ( > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_and_Brittany_Hensel) who could very > well be the subject of a Neutral Milk Hotel song. (According to that > Wikipedia article, "They successfully passed their driver license exam, both > the written and driving tests. They had to take the tests twice, once for > each twin. Both control the steering wheel, while Abby controls the pedals > and shifter, and Brittany controls the turn signal." Crazy!) I remember reading that Life article about those twins. I was in a doctor's office and it was one of those times I was glad for the wait because I wanted to be able to finish the article. I was struck that the family (the parents and the twins) seemed to be handling everything quite well. > Weird - I'm left-handed and a non-twin also. I wonder how that correlates > with the fact that 75% of left-handers are male. *ponders* Wow, I had no idea there were more male left-handed than female. It's also correlated with mathematical ability, allergies, and addiction. On that note, when I quit smoking, I went to (stop laughing - it's a serious addiction!) Nictotine Anonymous and it was bizarre - routinely, at least 1/2 if not more of the attendees were left-handed (I know this not because I saw them smoking but there was a sign-in sheet (first names only please) and as a lefty, I am always in search of other lefties.) BTW, n. - I believe I crossed paths with you a bit back on Sweet Addy boards? I exchanged some messages with someone on there who was also on FegList who caught me gushing about Robyn... xo Lauren P.S. Emoticon employed only for Sweet Addy board nostalgia, where one is not permitted to use words, only emoticons. Fortunately they have very complicated emoticons over there...some are actually short films. - -- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:28:15 -0800 From: Rex Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On 2/15/07, Capuchin wrote: > > far prefer those to any other. > > When I first saw they sold one called strawberry, I had to laugh because > I've always thought red bean ice cream tastes like strawberry. Cool, that saves me from asking what it tastes like. Fruity-sweet, then? What are the titular bean, I wonder-- certainly not red beans as in "red beans and rice" as we know them (cf. Sir Mixalot)? I recall Jim Davies ate one in my kitchen and said, "This is like alien > food." And it is. And yet to my kids, it's one of the most normal deserts imaginable. It's not that dissimialar in practice from "fried ice cream", although the principle behind it is completely different. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:35:24 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On Thu, 15 Feb 2007, Rex wrote: > On 2/15/07, Capuchin wrote: >> When I first saw they sold one called strawberry, I had to laugh >> because I've always thought red bean ice cream tastes like strawberry. > > Cool, that saves me from asking what it tastes like. Fruity-sweet, > then? What are the titular bean, I wonder-- certainly not red beans as > in "red beans and rice" as we know them (cf. Sir Mixalot)? I believe they are red azuki beans. They're extremely versatile and used in their own desserts (as well as ice cream flavoring), starchy side dishes, and facial cleansers. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:35:08 +1300 From: grutness@slingshot.co.nz Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream >- -tc, Sunny and 72 degrees in Cupertino. Dammit - that's warmer than here, and it's *supposed* to be warm here in February. Fuck You Tom Clark! >To aid our international readers, some of whom may not have English as their >first language, we should embark on a program to translate "Fuck you Tom >Clark!" into multiple languages. Stewart's contribution is Scots, no? My knowledge of Maori is sadly lacking, but I think you'd be understood if you said "Onioni Koe Tamati Karaka!" James PS - all this talk about Pi. Don't *any* of you prefer e? - -- James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- =-.-=-.-=-.- You talk to me as if from a distance .-=-.-=-.-=-. -=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time .-=- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:53:10 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Separated at birth On 2/15/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > Hi Fegs, > > ken "my mind is connected to your dreams" the kenster says: > > how about formally conjoined twins? or twins in general? > > I have a small obsession with conjoined twins and twins. For regular > twins, identical is of course better. I am a bit defensive about this > preoccupation because it doesn't have to do with the historical > "freak-show" appeal of conjoined twins. It brings up really > interesting issues of identity. Quite a number of years ago, there > was this amazing show on conjoined twins on PBS. Doctors decided to > separate them, and they were young enough (maybe 3 or 4 years old, I'm > not sure) that after the separation they had to go through an > adjustment period to understand they were two separate entities. One > twin was still calling the other twin "me." There's a book out now on a famous pair of conjoined twins (the Hilton sisters - no, not Paris...) by a Milwaukee writer: *The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins*by Dean Jensen. They are big on conjoined-twin separations in Philadelphia (Children's > Hospital, maybe, I can't remember.) I guess I can understand the > desire for physicians to be involved with something that is quite > unique, but it sometimes seems bizarre the amount of medical resources > involved in these operations what with all the folks who can't afford > medical treatment. I see what you mean...but given that our entire society is organized on the notion that people have a single body (to put it rather mildly), I can understand why priority is given to such operations. It would be extremely difficult for conjoined twins to live "normal" lives. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:56:56 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: cute babes (was Re: piping in) On 2/15/07, The Great Quail wrote: > > > It's like she's always in Tori-World. > > And Bjork's always in "Bjork-World" and Joanna Newsom's...well, you > > Add in Patti Smith and you have my four favorite female vocalists. > > Though: Robyn is always in Robyn-World... Well, he is...but the thing about Robyn that makes him far more interesting to me than if he were *only* in Robyn-World (evoke stereotype of crustaceans and vegetables) is that "Robyn-World" includes enormous precincts of our own - - not least including those involving love, politics, and death - considered each in the philosophically broadest definitions. One thing that frustrates me about Tori Amos's songs, for example, is at times it's as if there's no audience at all. There's no door there. I think Robyn always acknowledges that there are people hearing his songs, no matter how idiosyncratic his imagery. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:00:41 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On 2/15/07, grutness@slingshot.co.nz wrote: > > > > > PS - all this talk about Pi. Don't *any* of you prefer e? oh, e's alright - but I like the eels stuff better... - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:30:08 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 grutness@slingshot.co.nz wrote: > PS - all this talk about Pi. Don't *any* of you prefer e? At my current university, the department's focus is education (though not my thing, exactly), so we're always getting speakers who research mathematics education. One of them recently brought the results of a study he'd conducted that included a survey. Primary and middle-school teachers (all of whom teach mathematics to children) were asked how many irrational numbers there are. For the unindoctrinated, irrational numbers are numbers that cannot be written as a ratio of integers (whole numbers can be expressed like 4/1 or - -38/1 and fractions as 3/4 or -17/298 or the like). There are more irrational numbers than there are rational numbers (and there are the same number of rational numbers as there are natural numbers -- 1,2,3...). The MODAL answer was 5. That's right. More people answered "5" than any other answer. Absolutely shocking. pi and e are, of course, transcendental numbers. Transcendental numbers are those which cannot be written as algebraic expressions (with square or cubed roots or what have you). As it turns out, there are more transcendental numbers than even algebraic irrationals. So the set is very large indeed. I'm still trying to figure out WHICH five these teachers think are the only irrationals. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:05:54 -0500 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Coffee, cigarettes, and booze http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2007-02-15/#celeb8 << Robbie Williams checked himself into rehab to kick a staggering daily drug intake including three packets of cigarettes, 36 double espresso coffees, anti-depressants and sleeping pills, according to reports. A British newspaper claims the singer became hooked on caffeine, nicotine and Seroxat before seeking help at the Cottonwood Clinic in Arizona. But The Sun alleges Williams has not lapsed in his long-term battles with alcohol and cocaine. The newspaper writes, "The singer finds it impossible to get to sleep until 4 or 5am due to insomnia and is on sleeping pills. He is hooked on the powerful anti-depressant Seroxat, which has been linked to suicidal tendencies in teenagers. And daily he gets through an incredible 36 super-strength double espresso coffees, 60 Silk Cut cigarettes and around 20 cans of energy drink Red Bull." >> "The singer finds it impossible to get to sleep until 4 or 5am due to insomnia and is on sleeping pills." No shit. xo Lauren - -- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:32:32 -0800 (GMT-08:00) From: kevin Subject: The end is near You wanna know why I'm afraid my brain is turning to cheese, if not something worse? Off and on for a couple of weeks, and almost all day long today, my brain has been playing over and over and over a medley of The Drifters' "Up On the Roof" and Herman's Hermits' "I'm Into Something Good." This would be bad enough by itself, but it's gradually working its way into a scholarly dissertation on the melodic and harmonic similarities between these two classix of yesteryear - like, musically they're practically the same song, only at different tempos and with significant differences in the choruses. Think about it...soon you won't be able to think about anything else... And of course one reason for the resemblance is that they're both the work of that fab gear writing team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King...and now imagine CK singing them herself, in her classic listen-to-me-I'm-so-authentic nasal soft rock sound...hear the medley...maybe with James Taylor throwing in those patented world-weary harmonies... And this is what my brain does. All day long sometimes. I'm starting to wonder if I should look into some ADD meds. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:32:57 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Coffee, cigarettes, and booze On 2/15/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2007-02-15/#celeb8 > << > Robbie Williams checked himself into rehab to kick a staggering daily > drug intake including three packets of cigarettes, 36 double espresso > coffees, anti-depressants and sleeping pills, according to reports. > And daily he gets through an incredible 36 super-strength double > espresso coffees, 60 Silk Cut cigarettes and around 20 cans of energy > drink Red Bull." In related news, Williams has modified his mansion so that each room has three urinals. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:33:52 -0500 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream grutness@slingshot.co.nz wrote: > > PS - all this talk about Pi. Don't *any* of you prefer e? Yeah, e's got it - e^{i \pi} + 1 = 0 Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:42:49 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream grutness@slingshot.co.nz wrote: > PS - all this talk about Pi. Don't *any* of you prefer e? Lots of people at raves. "I believe in the marketplace of ideas even if the other guy doesn't have any." -- Keith Olbermann . ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:25:00 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On Thu, 15 Feb 2007, Stewart C. Russell wrote: > Yeah, e's got it - e^{i \pi} + 1 = 0 Err, I think you meant: e^(i*pi) + 1 = 0 'cause e^(i/pi)= cos(1/pi) + i*sin(1/pi) and that ain't -1. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:22:10 -0500 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream Hi Fegs, grutness@slingshot.co.nz says: > PS - all this talk about Pi. Don't *any* of you prefer e? I never much cared for e (not that I actively dislike it or anything.) Since pi comes from the circle, it seems very simple and elegant to me...yet mysterious still. Even children know circles. They likely get a bit perplexed at integrals and infinite sums. Last time I checked at least. And crafty e is just *using* pi in that equation Stewart referred to. xo Lauren - -- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:14:05 -0800 From: "Marc Alberts" Subject: RE: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream Jeff Norman wrote: > On 2/15/07, Bri N wrote: > > > > > -tc, Sunny and 72 degrees in Cupertino. > > > > Snowy and 6 of your weird Fahrenheit degrees in Toronto. Get tae > fuck, > > Tom Clark! > > > > Stewart > > ---------------- > > > > Yeah! Fuck you Tom Clark! I > > > > To aid our international readers, some of whom may not have English as > their > first language, we should embark on a program to translate "Fuck you > Tom > Clark!" into multiple languages. Stewart's contribution is Scots, no? Strangely enough I have yet to have a reason to tell Tom Clark to fuck off, but what the hell. Here goes in Mandarin: "Cao ni, Tom Clark!" Marc Or maybe "gan ni, Tom Clark!" Not sure which is the more popular version on the mainland these days and won't have a chance to find out until I go back this summer. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 23:16:50 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: John Cale's Caribbean Sunset We were talking about this a week or so ago, then Rex found some guy on the web who'd ripped his vinyl copy to mp3 (you can tell it's from vinyl - a pretty good rip, but a few pops & clicks...). Anyway, this has compelled me to relisten to an album I hadn't listened to for years. Its reputation is that it's one of Cale's weaker albums - and while I wouldn't call it one of his strongest, I think it's better than most people give it credit for. The AMG review rips the production (murky, particularly the percussion - pretty true) and the singing, which it calls oddly harsh - but one person's "harsh" is another person's "intense." "Magazines" in particular contains a patented Cale freakout near the end - which, having seen him live at around this era, actually is rather frightening. The show I saw him at, he was coked to the nines (known for a fact, because a friend of mine worked at the venue), and when he started into one of those barking, spitting into the mic performances, and playing his beat-up acoustic guitar as if he was rather thrashing it to death, the crowd physically stepped back. I'd never seen that before... Anyway, it's certainly an odd album - the songs are "pop" in a universe where pop involves that curious intensity and instrumentation and arrangement suddenly being turned upside down. There's a pleasingly live feel to the performances ("Experiment Number 1" notoriously features Cale calling out the chords before they change - the impression is that this is not only a live performance but the first, only performance) which, combined with the odd mix and odd synths (thankfully unshiny for a mid-80s CD), make it much less museum-like than most reviews would have it. The title track is an exception, with multiple viola parts, a cowboy woodblock percussion bit, and an accordion or two - but it's quite pretty as well. Now if only someone would release a proper CD of the thing - does anyone know if it's ever been out on CD? - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 23:20:53 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Viv's New Favorite Ice Cream On 2/15/07, Marc Alberts wrote: > > Jeff Norman wrote: > > > > To aid our international readers, some of whom may not have English as > > their > > first language, we should embark on a program to translate "Fuck you > > Tom > > Clark!" into multiple languages. Stewart's contribution is Scots, no? > > Strangely enough I have yet to have a reason to tell Tom Clark to fuck > off, > but what the hell. Here goes in Mandarin: "Cao ni, Tom Clark!" As far as I can tell, saying "Fuck you Tom Clark!" is like having a party - you don't actually need a reason for it, you just do it. Except, of course, for the sinister Peter Buck... - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:15:03 -0800 (PST) From: ken ostrander Subject: conspiratorial number theory >Is anyone else out there experiencing this lovely storm?< around here it was manifest as an ice storm that brought down limbs from trees and power lines. i actually had to swerve and avoid a huge falling limb while braving the elements to get some chocolate covered strawberries in a heart shaped box. it is bitter cold and yet it is so beautiful when the sun shines giving the ice coated topography a shimmering tinsel glow. >I'd have to agree here that just meeting someone doesn't really count as a connection< oh no, it most certainly does. the problem is that all connections are lumped together whether you bump up against the person in the subway or are friends with benefits. the quality of the connection is not delineated. >I have a small obsession with conjoined twins and twins....... >It brings up really interesting issues of identity.< if we are all connected, then identity is a fantasy. turn on, tune in, and drop out. your number is one. reach out and touch someone. it's all about the relationships. > sure, it's a good place for *you*. but what of the "some people" for whom > you "caused some trouble"? considering your methods, would it be impolite > to suppose that they may -- at *best* -- end up the timothy mcveighs, the > ted bundys, the billy ray cyruses of the future?< that really is their choice. the terrible things that people do can be explained and understood (perhaps even forgiven); but not excused. now, about those "methods"; did they involve torture? >as if the average person needs to determine > which machine gun to use in an urban uprising< are we talking average palestinian or what? >I guess I had too many thoughts of Hungary in >1956 and Prague in 1968 in my head to imagine anything but evil >associated with the USSR during that time. buddhism considers "evil" to be any spiritual stumbling block. it's difficult not to be distracted by tanks and secret police; but history is rife with examples of people dominated "for their own good." for all of its many mistakes (among them an ironic despotic socialism, the great terror, the sacrifice of laika, and letting clint get away with firefox), the soviet union was so much more than the politburo. there was a diverse population of individuals who struggled to find their way during that time. hungary and prague are vivid illustrations of this. in the united states, we can look at the continuing struggles of african and indigent peoples over the past five hundred years. these examples of racial oppression are only a part of a larger class oppression, man. we have our own refusniks. >We have the history we have, and we have the art that >came out of it, and on that level we have nothing to do but reflect. The >actual quality of life, ecological damage, and psychological consequences, >though... those we're actually supposed to figure out. Drag. if we could actually control people and their choices then this might make a difference. instead, all we can do is make changes in our own lives. maybe we can inspire others to make positive changes as well; but it has to start with ourselves. being part of the generation that grew up under the sad cloud of mutally assured destruction, it's difficult to get past the armageddon group think. still, i think that there is hope. i think that i am moving toward acceptance of the silent spring. the problems are not going to be solved using the same patterns of thinking that created them. we all have to go through a grieving process. >imagine an analogous discussion of whether or not any good music >was recorded during the 1970s, and if so whether it was all punk, or does >that just reflect critics' biases, and so on -- carried on without ever >actually mentioning any specific band or album. certainly there are plenty of folks who will dismiss "the seventies" or "the eighties" or anything other than the music that they enjoy (be it indie or motown or whatever). certainly sweeping generalizations (like this one) can be made and maintained with as little specific detail as possible or they begin to crumble like the berlin wall. funny, in that jarmusch rockumentary 'punk: attitude' henry rollins remarks how narrow-minded punk rock fans were when artists began to stretch out a bit past the two minute mark. where would punk be without disco? > I can hold ANYONE's attention with a lecture on transcendental numbers. after you've zapped them with that video. i love when that kid tries to get away and is sent back by some producer only to be obliterated. "he does love his numbers; but they run him in a great big circle." >whole numbers can be expressed like 4/1 or - -38/1 and fractions as 3/4 or -17/298 or the like< np the like 'are you thinking what i'm thinking?' only one album; but they have generated enough excitement for me to group them with the throwing muses, sleater-kinney, debbie harry, liz phair, maria mckee, polly jean harvey, bjork, and tori. ken "i've often thought that there should be beauty contests for the *insides* of bodies" the kenster - --------------------------------- Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #51 *******************************