Mixolydian Mode

Sat Feb 17, 2007

Intuitively obvious

The true Theory of Everything:

Everything will eventually go haywire.

... The more I study history, the more I am convinced that the story of humanity is not so much progress but a succession of human screw-ups with different technologies, that's all.

Posted by: Don on Feb 17, 07 | 9:17 am |

[0] comments (1225 views) | link

Tue Dec 26, 2006

Yeesh

The most bizarre Christmas card I've ever seen.

Posted by: Don on Dec 26, 06 | 6:51 pm |

[0] comments (1221 views) | link

Mon Sep 11, 2006

Five years ago

Putting blog traffic in perspective.

(Via The LLama Butchers.)

2,996.

Posted by: Don on Sep 11, 06 | 7:43 am |

[0] comments (1187 views) | link

Thu Aug 10, 2006

Impossible?

M.C. Escher in Legos.

(Via Chizumatic.)

Posted by: Don on Aug 10, 06 | 6:24 am |

[0] comments (1140 views) | link

Wed Aug 09, 2006

Intronormative

I could be sequestered in the mountains, never speaking to another living soul for months and not feel at all deprived. If, after weeks of seclusion the phone were to suddenly ring, I would still react with a heavy sigh. Oh geeze. What now? Can’t a man get a little privacy?

Addendum: Remember, someone you know, respect, and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts. (Via Mrs. Young.)

Posted by: Don on Aug 09, 06 | 8:15 am |

[0] comments (1190 views) | link

Tue Apr 25, 2006

One logic

A friend sent me this brief discussion of mathematics by Benedict XVI:

The great Galileo said that God wrote the book of nature in the form of mathematical language. He was convinced that God gave us two books: that of Sacred Scripture, and that of nature. And the language of nature – this was his conviction – is mathematics, which is therefore a language of God, of the Creator.

Let us reflect now on what mathematics is. In itself it is an abstract system, an invention of the human spirit, and as such in its purity it does not really exist. It is always realized approximately, but – as such – it is an intellectual system, a great, brilliant invention of the human spirit. The surprising thing is that this invention of our human mind is truly the key for understanding nature, that nature is really structured in a mathematical way, and that our mathematics, which our spirit invented, really is the instrument for being able to work with nature, to put it at our service through technology.

It seems an almost incredible thing to me that an invention of the human intellect and the structure of the universe coincide: the mathematics we invented really gives us access to the nature of the universe and permits us to use it. [...] I think that this intersection between what we have thought up and how nature unfolds and behaves is an enigma and a great challenge, because we see that, in the end, there is one logic that links these two: our reason could not discover the other if there were not an identical logic at the source of both.

In this sense, it seems to me that mathematics – in which God as such does not appear – shows us the intelligent structure of the of the universe. Now there are also theories of chaos, but these are limited, because if chaos had the upper hand, all technology would become impossible. Technology is trustworthy only because our mathematics is trustworthy. Our science, which ultimately makes it possible to work with the energies of nature, presupposes the trustworthy, intelligent structure of matter, [...] the “design” of creation.

To come to the definitive question, I would say: either God exists or he doesn’t. There are only two options. Either one recognizes the priority of reason, of the creative Reason that stands at the beginning of everything and is the origin of everything – the priority of reason is also the priority of freedom – or one upholds the priority of the irrational, according to which everything in our world and in our lives is only an accident, marginal, an irrational product, and even reason would be a product of irrationality. In the end, one cannot “prove” either of these views, but Christianity’s great choice is the choice of reason and the priority of reason. This seems like an excellent choice to me, demonstrating how a great Intelligence, to which we can entrust ourselves, stands behind everything.

(The editor of the website titled this section "On the Intelligent Design of the Universe," an annoying attempt to enlist the pope in a fundamentalist's battle.)

See also Eugene Wigner's The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.

Soundtrack: Polysics, "Peach Pie on the Beach"

Posted by: Don on Apr 25, 06 | 8:34 am |

[0] comments (1411 views) | link

Mon Feb 06, 2006

Eros and agape

Lorenzo Albacete on the encyclical:

Benedict's conversations with nonbelievers have convinced him that their major concern about Christianity is not its "other-worldiness" but the very opposite. For them, what makes Christianity potentially dangerous as a source of conflict and intolerance in a pluralistic society is its insistence that faith is reasonable — that is, that it is the source of knowledge about this world and that, therefore, its teaching should apply to all, believers and nonbelievers alike.

Posted by: Don on Feb 06, 06 | 8:16 pm |

[4] comments (1454 views) | link

Sun Jan 08, 2006

Death, Darwinism and everything else

Here's a long interview with Lorenzo Albacete.

(Via Amy Welborn.)

Posted by: Don on Jan 08, 06 | 4:30 pm |

[1] comments (1627 views) | link

Tue Nov 29, 2005

Tea

Sen-no-Rikyu, the 16th Century tea master who is most responsible for development of distinctively Japanese way of art of tea, lived and died at Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto. His tea house still stands there. Tea was a form of celebration during a banquet in China, but in Japan, Sen-no-Rikyu and his predecessors refined tea as a unique form of communication and the tea house as a minimal conceptual space. In a war-torn period of cultural flux, Daitoku-ji became the center of activity, and Sen-no-Rikyu became this new culture's main voice.

His tea house had a distinct entry called "nijiri-guchi," build so small that a guest would have to bow and take his sword off. It is no coincidence (but a historic fact ignored by most in Japan) that one of his closest confidants, one of his wives, was one of the first converts to Christianity, the fruit of an influx of missionaries into Japan in the 15th and 16th centuries. He went to observe a mass being celebrated in Kyoto with his wife. There he saw the Eucharist being celebrated, with a cup representing Christ's blood being passed around. This experience affirmed his vision for tea. His tea would be an art form: and this art of communication equalized any who would stand in his presence, whether a shogun or a farmer, male or female. As a cup filled with green tea was passed, his tearoom would become a place of Shalom. Five of his seven closest disciples were Christians. They were exiled by Shogun Hideyoshi who gave power and prestige to Sen-no-Rikyu, but who later hardened his heart. Hideyoshi realized, quite correctly, that the egalitarian nature of tea would be dangerous to his power, and he became, by no coincidence either, one of the greatest enemies of Christianity in history, ordering the execution of thousands of believers, and closing the country for several centuries. He ordered Rikyu to commit Seppuku at the end, the most cruel art form of suicide, at the very tea house of Shalom.

From Fallen Towers and the Art of Tea.

Update: Makoto Fujimura, the author of "Fallen Towers and the Art of Tea," has a blog.

Posted by: Don on Nov 29, 05 | 3:21 pm |

[1] comments (1863 views) | link

Wed Oct 05, 2005

Thought for the day

From TSO:

Mass today. Homilist quite good, quotes the poet Auden. Talks about how we usually think of love between a man and woman as having an infatuation phase and a "realistic" phase, the former seeing too much in a person. But Auden argued that the infatuation stage was more accurate, more realistic, because we are seeing with the eye of God, Reality Himself. When we see what they are capable of becoming - little less than angels - we then realize that thinking too well of people is more accurate in the long run than thinking less of them.

Posted by: Don on Oct 05, 05 | 4:37 pm |

[0] comments (1233 views) | link

Sat Sep 17, 2005

The People's Republic of Misfit Toys, or Life, the Universe and Everything

"There's a special providence in the fall of a vulture."

Posted by: Don on Sep 17, 05 | 3:04 pm |

[0] comments (1213 views) | link

Thu Sep 01, 2005

Catastrophes

Occasioned by the December 26 tsunami but relevant again: Tremors of Doubt:

When confronted by the sheer savage immensity of worldly suffering--when we see the entire littoral rim of the Indian Ocean strewn with tens of thousands of corpses, a third of them children's--no Christian is licensed to utter odious banalities about God's inscrutable counsels or blasphemous suggestions that all this mysteriously serves God's good ends.

(Via Dale Price.)

*****

Domenico Bettinelli asks the question that's been on my mind: should New Orleans be rebuilt?

Posted by: Don on Sep 01, 05 | 7:12 pm |

[0] comments (1049 views) | link

Blog for relief day

It will probably be months before the final figures are in, but it looks like Katrina is going to be the worst disaster in the USA in our lifetimes. The charities I suggest are Catholic Charities and the Red Cross (the server for the latter is apparently overloaded right now, which is not terribly surprising).

Here's FEMA's list of hurricane resources, which includes a list of additional charitable organizations to consider.

Here's Glenn Reynold's round-up.

Technorati tags: flood aid; Hurricane Katrina

Posted by: Don on Sep 01, 05 | 12:08 pm |

[0] comments (1032 views) | link

Fri Jul 29, 2005

Dominoes, St. Peter's and a crystal hypercube

The March of the Panguins might be worth watching, but otherwise all the movies currently advertised in today's paper look like drivel or worse. Don't waste your time on them. Instead, download Fiat Lux.

(Via Fred.)

Posted by: Don on Jul 29, 05 | 8:03 pm |

[0] comments (1047 views) | link

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The weather in Emerald City:

Sat Feb 17, 2007

Intuitively obvious

Tue Dec 26, 2006

Yeesh

Mon Sep 11, 2006

Five years ago

Thu Aug 10, 2006

Impossible?

Wed Aug 09, 2006

Intronormative

Tue Apr 25, 2006

One logic

Mon Feb 06, 2006

Eros and agape

Sun Jan 08, 2006

Death, Darwinism and everything else

Tue Nov 29, 2005

Tea

Wed Oct 05, 2005

Thought for the day

Sat Sep 17, 2005

The People's Republic of Misfit Toys, or Life, the Universe and Everything

Thu Sep 01, 2005

Catastrophes

Blog for relief day

Fri Jul 29, 2005

Dominoes, St. Peter's and a crystal hypercube

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The Kawaii Menace

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