tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48875268634670741122024-03-05T00:38:53.145-08:00Time PieceToby Philpott falls into the Chronosynclastic Infundibulum......and later emerges from the Total Perspective VortexTobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-88022211764818237842012-05-18T06:36:00.003-07:002012-05-18T06:36:54.412-07:00Back with a vengeanceAlthough my previous post was about the idea that stress can cause back pain, and that one has to treat most such pain through dealing with unresolved emotional issues, rather than treat them as physical damage - and the shifting pain(s) I had been suffering had eased (if never quite gone) - I am sad to report that they have returned and worse.<br />
<br />
<br />
This is not just the dull aches of the hernia, for instance, but serious <strong>pain in the neck</strong>, and between the shoulders. At the moment it feels as though someone hit me across the upper back with a plank. So I guess I have to return to wondering what it is trying to tell me - as I still assume it is not a physical injury (because of the way it shifts around).<br />
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Very frustrating, and depressing. Can't keep taking pain-killers, etc.<br />
<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-22848456639813678032012-05-04T06:55:00.001-07:002012-05-18T06:38:59.143-07:00It's all the rage...For some weeks now I have had a stabbing pain between the shoulders, and occasionally a stiff neck, or RSI symptoms in my right hand.<br />
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Very annoying.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPp2BrS1ZkFhH7_7bulSMbVxKV9vE8WxFkmPc1bBW9H8CyXy6Bx0UwWq8BUDORD4HaNZKEcSApV-c_2gr41owV2h86k-SrUfdOHyOoYhHc6vqSK8457s4CB3_OcrahEGDoZbBCqgEBsEWi/s1600/john+sarno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPp2BrS1ZkFhH7_7bulSMbVxKV9vE8WxFkmPc1bBW9H8CyXy6Bx0UwWq8BUDORD4HaNZKEcSApV-c_2gr41owV2h86k-SrUfdOHyOoYhHc6vqSK8457s4CB3_OcrahEGDoZbBCqgEBsEWi/s200/john+sarno.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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I somehow suspect that I haven't "pulled a muscle" or "trapped a nerve" and am inclined to think that it is another manifestation of that old body-mind connection. I read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sarno" target="_blank">Dr John Sarno</a> a while back, and the mere act of reading his book about what we (subconsciously) do to ourselves seemed to cure what the doctors had no idea about, but loosely called 'Prostatitis' (which doesn't mean much more than irritation in the prostate (although they couldn't find anything wrong, and tried various antibiotics, etc).<br />
<br />
Which seemed kind of spooky, at the time.<br />
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Dr Sarno may not be alone in thinking that many shoulder and back problems do not come from any kind of illness or physical damage to the system, but represent displaced (suppressed) anger, building up to <span style="color: red;">rage.</span> And our language seems aware of it, too, as a metaphor (things are a pain in the neck or a pain in the arse; we feel a stabbing pain in the back, etc). A stiff neck could relate to stubborness, etc.<br />
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<a href="http://www.runningpain.com/tensionmyositissyndrome.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6ZrCCPiiv0IQHP6kVJhFMhuyFNVl4V5vTgeScE6u9o-qINHcPRaC1VmlnVxBi0lvQCpGsLYWbBi6pUmgbiR4PLfzcVHLjfl4jMqLm9lNh5h0bvuWPIQMjX0ylHnoEHCWGEJf1jHv3vzg/s320/Human_Backweb-305x466.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
I can't keep stumbling around like this, or taking Solpadeine on bad days, going to bed early, and all that.<br />
It's doing my head in, so I will have to consider what stresses might be making me angry. I know of old that I have this British thing about trying to appear to rise above things, the stoic approach, an attempt a Buddhist serenity, and so on (<a href="http://slogger.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/oh-really.html" target="_blank">Oh Really? Is that so?)</a> - all of which just means that emotions far too often do not get expressed well enough, or often enough.<br />
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But I'll make my lists in private, I think...he lists everything from work stress to relationships, getting old to stuff hungover from childhood.<br />
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<em>Do not go gentle into that good night,</em><br />
<em>Old age should burn and rave at close of day;</em><br />
<em>Rage, rage against the dying of the light.</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.med.nyu.edu/biosketch/sarnoj01" target="_blank">Dr Sarno's website</a> <br />
<br />
<em>"Dr. Sarno has coined the term TMS--"Tension Myositis Syndrome"--to describe this "psychophysiological" condition. The brain, he says, mildly oxygen-deprives our back muscles and certain nerves and tendons to distract us and prevent our repressed anger from lashing out."</em><br />
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<strong><a href="http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/when-back-pain-starts-your-head#ixzz1tpFvAR8M" target="_blank">Read more here</a></strong> (or click on back picture above).Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-12441787306645969922012-02-23T04:27:00.000-08:002012-05-04T06:55:54.457-07:00It's illegal, it's immoral or it makes you fatThe modern world seems full of diets and theories about eating (almost to the point of obsession).<br />
<br />
Now I realize some people have allergies, which can even prove life-threatening (anaphylactic shock from eating strawberries, say), but the general population seem like omnivores to me - like goats, we can eat and digest more or less anything, and survive with all kinds of strange combinations of food sources.<br />
<br />
So the idea that everything I happen to like 'is' addictive does make me defensive. But then addicts can often find themselves in denial.<br />
<br />
I refer, of course, to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet" target="_blank">Paleolithic Diet</a> - the theory that modern folks would thrive on the pre-agricultural diet of the gatherer-hunters. I like the general idea. I feel less certain about the skewing towards high meat consumption (not all gatherer-hunters have the 95% meat consumption of the peoples who inhabit the Arctic regions). In more tropical zones the balance leans the other way to fruits, roots, shoots, leaves - and even the hunting/scavenging more likely includes insects, shellfish, eggs and baby animals than large animals.<br />
<br />
But people still like that old <strong>Man the Hunter</strong> myth. And that high-protein, meat-based diet has attracted some interesting and unusual people - from John Lilly to Augustus Owsley Stanley III who put The Grateful Dead on a totally carnivorous diet (so that destroys the myth of all hippies being veggies, doesn't it?) He did include dairy and eggs in that, though - he just hated vegetables and carbohydrates. He made it to 76.<br />
<br />
I became fully aware of my own <strong>sugar addiction</strong> 30 years ago, and gave it up totally. I now allow myself tiny amounts - rather than obsessively read every packet label, but still don't miss it at all, not even at Christmas (no chocolate for me, or Christmas Pudding or Mince Pies, etc).<br />
<br />
So now the story is that <strong>Wheat and Dairy 'are' addictive.</strong> I suspect we should perhaps change that to 'potentially' or 'for some people' but people seem to prefer flat statements. I never did get on with milk as a child (we call it 'lactose intolerant' these days, back then they called it 'fussy eater') but I was fed cheese and yoghurt, because at the time people believed vegetarians needed the animal-based protein.<br />
<br />
So although I don't/can't drink milk, I do like my cheese, so perhaps I do have an addiction. Likewise, I love bread, and although I often vary it with Oatmeal, Rye, etc, I obviously go through quite a lot of Wheat. Of course, the first time I heard about this sort of thing was from the Macrobiotic crowd, who saw no paradox in claiming all food should be locally grown, and then claimed rice as the basic food group. Which seemed strange to me, in Notting Hill, however appropriate in Japan. I figured wheat as a staple.<br />
<br />
Yet I was pretty happy in Mexico, where more of the peasant food had corn as a staple (I didn't see 'bread butter and cheese' for six months.)<br />
<br />
But Vegan friends probably correctly dislike my cheese consumption. It ain't nice what we do to cows.<br />
<br />
However, even when I have been settled enough to start devising my own food, from sprouting beans to cooking a little, I never stray from my vegetarian ways. 66 years and counting. So the Paleolithic Diet just ain't for me. I enjoyed a bit of seafood when living with gypsies in Spain. It was alright. I don't eat it now, though, it arose out of politeness to hosts.<br />
<br />
People have disputed the theoretical basis fo the PaleoDiet, anyway (like most diets, it seems more like an idea than a proven scientific fact, true for all people). Indeed, my own tendency leans to frugivore, like those wonderful great apes who share 98% of our genetic make-up. They might occasionally eat grubs, or a baby bird, or something, but essentially Gorillas (for instance) have a vegetarian diet.<br />
<br />
So I still don't quite buy the 'cave man' diet. Or not for me, at least.<br />
<br />
Apart from anything else, my desire not to eat other animals overrides my desire to be high energy, healthy, etc. To me there remains the trade-off of living well at someone else's expense. I have trouble with that.<br />
<br />
But hey, each to their own.Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-57099589416854443262012-02-23T03:54:00.000-08:002012-05-04T06:56:12.824-07:00Turn on, Tune In, Opt out.<br />
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It’s funny to me how many times I act in the way I do because of social pressure. I long ago stopped thinking I could actually Drop Out of being a social animal, because other humans had pretty well locked up the habitable areas of the planet by the time I arrived, so to survive as a recluse seemed a very ambitious move.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The ‘hermit in a cave’ model works better if you have a society who feels it a duty, or perhaps consider it a valuable investment in their karma (say) and a privilege, to provide you with the basics.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">So although we can rarely completely separate ourselves from the human community, we still retain some options within those parameters. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">They forced free milk on me as a child in post-war Britain, even if it made me feel ill. Nowadays I would be considered lacto-intolerant, and offered an alternative. Many people do opt out from what many others consider ‘staple foods’ – Coeliacs can’t tolerate grains (no bread or beer), diabetics have to avoid sugar, we have now identified all kinds of allergies to nuts, strawberries, etc </span><span lang="EN-GB">and encourage people to opt out of them. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">As a child people considered me very odd, growing up as a vegetarian, The first veggie restaurant I remember had the name "Cranks" (which gives you a clue). Most people in the UK in The Fifties still associated that diet with strange belief systems, or sentimentality – although the ecological virtues of a smaller meat intake have started dawning on many, now. More people adopt it for a while, but it still strikes many people as odd. <br />I opted out from meat, early on, and stayed that way.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">It made it easier when I later decided to avoid sugar. In spite of the social pressure to indulge a sweet tooth at (for instance) Christmas time.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Similarly, I opted out of credit/debt as an approach to money. I found, early on, that I couldn’t avoid negotiating for food and shelter with the humans who got here first, and had staked their claim, but I tried to stay in a cash economy (or trading 'in kind') so as not to find myself obligated, addicted or enslaved. My ‘voluntary poverty model’ did not extend to the minimalism of a Buddhist monk, but only because such a social option did not seem to exist at the time (I had no desire to become a Christian monk!) This did keep me out of property owning, however.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I also opted out of car ownership (although cars were not considered a universal necessity in my childhood). As I grew up, they became harder and harder to avoid. This did create some restrictions in my lifestyle, my working opportunities, etc – but I stick to it as a choice (option).</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I don’t opt out of all progress, developments and luxuries. I feel like a relatively early uptaker for internet and computers. We all choose the places where we make a stand against the common herd, and all draw the line in different places.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The important thing, to me, is having the right, and the will, to actually choose how you want to spend your time, where you want to invest your energy, and what you consider unnecessary (or even harmful).</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Turn on, Tune In, Opt OUT.</span></div>
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</div>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-5677415902514122322012-02-23T03:53:00.000-08:002012-05-04T06:56:38.640-07:00Move along there...I didn't arrive on the planet that long ago, but it seemed like you could get lost pretty easy back then.<br />
<br />
Not like characters in Dickens, who can simply disappear into London for the rest of their lives - even by accident - but something like that.<br />
<br />
If I wanted to run away from home, I could really be out of touch for a while, not just unfindable, but with pretty good excuses - even when our house had a phone (it didn't have an answering machine).<br />
<br />
If I got abroad, then my only mailing address at the main Post Office (called Poste Restante) didn't guarantee delivery (I had to go collect it). If I kept moving cities, then dead letters would pile up before getting 'returned to sender' eventually.<br />
<br />
And I really did feel drawn to the nomadic life. Not just for that romantic, bohemian, gypsy life - if you check out how our culture treats people with no fixed abode (or 'homeless' as we like to call them) then the romance drains away from the lifestyle pretty fast.<br />
<br />
The fact remained, that in the UK, as I grew up, all the land belonged to someone. If not to individuals, then to Councils (parks), the Forestry Commission, The National Trust, etc. As a landless serf, I had literally no right to stop and sleep anywhere (without permission, or paying rent).<br />
<br />
I felt pretty grumpy about that, as I felt sure I never would 'own' a piece of land. Not only because the chances of my earning enough seemed slim (even before the folly of 'easy mortgages'), but because I tended to side with the nomadic peoples of the world in not understanding the concept exactly. From the Amazon rain forest to the American Plains, to most desert folks, people understood having hunting rights, or priority on a water hole, a favourite tree, or something like that, but the idea of fencing it all off and keeping other people out never seems to have occurred to them.<br />
<br />
Farmers and settlers invented that territorial thing as a lock down...with lines drawn, walls built, and all that. And that stage in cultural evolution seems to have also led to nation states and other borders and boundaries getting defined. <br />
<br />
Plus turf wars, of course, and other property rights, like inheritance.<br />
<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-55173594869350921402012-01-12T10:47:00.000-08:002012-01-13T01:29:34.965-08:00Simple pleasuresI have just read a wonderful book called <strong> The Swerve: how the Renaissance began</strong> by <em>Steven Greenblatt</em><br />
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It outlines the idea that the re-discovery of an ancient Roman poem, <strong>On The Nature of Things</strong> by Lucretius, contributed to the sweeping changes in Europe we call the Renaissance - when humanist thought and science first began to compete with the Christian monopoly on thinking.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4dG_-mtCQlobsmDwt5-Go3PIOkzJm6uYR0s4J5q8h_0BAsIVZWLZy9gPEYLmWhxMc9qXOvxmrGb3h24dPck95nEL8RObMw5sm_8fHHh2rJnBqOl77Rv5A1GnqMZdx8YDPHmH9hFJga_7/s1600/aldus-manutius-lucretius-de-rerum-natura.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4dG_-mtCQlobsmDwt5-Go3PIOkzJm6uYR0s4J5q8h_0BAsIVZWLZy9gPEYLmWhxMc9qXOvxmrGb3h24dPck95nEL8RObMw5sm_8fHHh2rJnBqOl77Rv5A1GnqMZdx8YDPHmH9hFJga_7/s400/aldus-manutius-lucretius-de-rerum-natura.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
Lucretius, in turn, looked back to the Greeks, and in particular to the group called the Epicureans. As with so many such groups, the meaning of the word has slid away from it's original meaning (as with the Cynics, the Sophists, the Stoics, etc). This can partly be blamed on the propaganda of the Christian Church fighting a rearguard action against dangerous thoughts. Nowadays we might think of an epicure as someone with fine tastes in food and wine, someone quite fastidious, but the original group led simpler lives than that, although they enjoyed the sensory life without guilt or shame - considering humans as animals, no more.<br />
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In the book Steven Goldblatt makes it clear that the Church dismissed the atomic philosophy as leading to atheism, but in fact Lucretius does not say gods do not exist, as yet another complex combination of eternal atoms, simply that they do not bother themselves with human activities and so all attempts to placate them, or plead with them, remain pointless. Some apologists suggested that as he had lived before Christ, he had pagan religions in mind when he described all organised religions as pernicious. Hmmm.<br />
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Anyway, these bullet points from Chapter 8 summarize some of the startlingly modern ideas that appear in the poem (easy to see how these ideas influenced Giordano Bruno):<br />
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• Everything is made of invisible particles<br />
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• The elementary particles of matter – “the seeds of the things” – are eternal<br />
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• The elementary particles are infinite in numbers but limited in shape and size<br />
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• All particles are in motion in an infinite void<br />
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• The universe has no creator or designer<br />
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• Everything comes into being as the result of a swerve (“at absolutely unpredictable times and places they deflect slightly from their straight course, to a degree that could be described as no more than a shift of movement” (2.218-20). The swerve, which Lucretius called variously <em>declinatio</em>, <em>inclinatio</em> or <em>clinamen </em>– is only the most minimal of motions.<br />
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• The swerve is the source of free will<br />
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• Nature ceaselessly experiments<br />
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• The universe was not created for or about humans<br />
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• Humans are not unique<br />
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• Human society began not in a Golden Age of tranquillity and plenty, but in a primitive battle for survival<br />
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• The soul dies<br />
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• There is no afterlife<br />
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• Death is nothing to us<br />
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• All organised religions are superstitious delusions<br />
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• Religions are invariably cruel<br />
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• There are no angels, demons or ghosts<br />
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• The highest goal of human life is the enhancement of pleasure and the reduction of pain<br />
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• The greatest obstacle to pleasure is not pain; it is delusion<br />
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• Understanding the nature of things generates deep wonder<br />
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In spite of the fact that Epicureans became portrayed by their enemies as decadent and self-indulgent - because of their delight in the sensory world – it appears they considered the simple life as more likely to lead to pleasure, and did not torment themselves with pain and guilt in this life or fear of the next world (unlike the Christians of the time). In their preference for the reduction of unnecessary suffering we might perceive some resemblance to Buddhism.<br />
And how about <strong>“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”?</strong> Jefferson considered himself an Epicurean.<br />
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And finally, but never last, this 'swerve' lies at the heart of Jarry's 'Pataphysics - there called the clinamen, but we may have to save detailed pursuit of that idea for another time.<br />
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One essay among the Tate Papers might clarify some of that:<br />
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<a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/06autumn/harris.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">'Pataphysical Graham': A Consideration of the Pataphysical Dimension of the Artistic Practice of Rodney Graham</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">[excerpt to save you clicking through]</span><br />
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<em><span style="color: orange;"><strong>1.''Pataphysics is the science of imaginary solutions', which implies that all solutions to any problem whatsoever, scientific or otherwise, are imaginary in nature; and</strong></span></em><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><strong></strong></span><br />
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<em><span style="color: orange;"><strong>2.'Pataphysics is the science of exceptions – in other words, there are no universally valid laws such as science seeks to discover; laws or principles can only be legitimately applied to particular cases, and are in any case imaginary in nature.</strong></span></em><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">[.....]</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">There several pataphysical motifs in Graham's work – or at least I think I see them there – but I want to focus on two: <strong>the clinamen and the spiral</strong>. Graham has written about the clinamen on two occasions, and it informs his work in general. This concept, which is featured in Faustroll and which is foundational to 'pataphysics, was the Roman author Lucretius' term for what the Greek philosopher Epicurus understood to be an indeterminate swerve in the downward motion of atoms. The concept of the clinamen was used to refute the idea of a uniform, fatalistic flow of atoms, which had previously been suggested by Democritus. Here is Graham's own definition of the clinamen:</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">The word is from Lucretius, for whom it signifies the sudden and unpredictable swerve of a single atom from its otherwise pre-ordained trajectory ... It is the clinamen, according to the physicist, that breaks the endless chain of fate and yields the law of nature.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Lucretius, following Epicurus, described an exception to the fatalistic understanding of matter by Democritus, as a kind of free will that was a property of atoms themselves. To this extent, the unmotivated swerve or clinamen becomes the locus and the guarantor of free will in general, against fatalistic thinking.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"> The concept of the clinamen underpins Jarry's understanding of 'pataphysics as the science of exceptions, which attempts to undermine all claims to universal validity. Graham makes a particular application of this concept, which we will come to later.</span><br />
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also...............<a href="http://clinamen23.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">CLINAMEN </span></a><span style="color: blue;">- A 'PATAPHYSICAL BLOG by BORSKY</span>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-59607335652706562652012-01-03T07:52:00.000-08:002012-01-03T09:13:55.622-08:00Clouds, Macs and ecosystemsI am fascinated by the difference between becoming an Apple user and remaining an eclectic user of a range of tools.<br />
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I can see the appeal for Apple users, as they get integrated units, an ecosystem of hardware and software that all work together. And now that iCloud seems like the direction they are going in, then you get all your files stored online, accessible from any Apple unit that forms part of that unified field, and which you can edit without complications with the formatting.<br />
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There is the trade-off (for reliability) of living in a walled garden, however.<br />
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<a href="http://www.macstories.net/stories/icloud-the-future-of-apples-ecosystem/" target="_blank">iCloud: The Future of Apple's ecosystem,</a> on Mac Stories.<br />
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Google seems to have chosen to go the web route, the 'open' system which can be accessed from any gadget or device that has access to the web. Google also have a cloud approach (GoogleDocs, etc) with both files and software stored online, but more universally accessible (if rather less simple and reliable).<br />
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<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217438/How_the_Apple_iCloud_compares_to_Google_s_cloud" target="_blank">How the Apple iCloud compares to Google's Cloud</a> on <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/" target="_blank">Computer World</a>.<br />
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Perhaps it depends whether you like the lock-in that investing in Mac, apps, etc tends to create, or prefer more promiscuous use of whatever tools come to hand, accessible by more routes.<br />
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Apple users remain so loyal because of the reliability of the product (things should ‘just work’). Which is great, of course, and very impressive. Apple as a business can claim to retain customers better than most, in a fickle world of accelerating change. This does not only have to do with reliability and integration, however, but the difficulty of migrating out, once committed to that system.<br />
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Not to say that Apple has addictive qualities.<br />
<br />
Still, given that they remain a niche product, there remains an argument for variety, the equivalent to being multi-lingual. Using eclectic mixes of tools has its hazards, and sometimes frustrations, when systems do not prove fully compatible, but gives the user access to a wider range of possibilities, not just in future developments, but in moving between platforms.<br />
<br />
<em>You pays yer money, as they say, and take your choice.</em><br />
<br />
I don't feel totally sold on Clouds, as it happens. I still have the experience of going to a training centre with 'thin clients' when the network went down, and all the students had was a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse each. No computers, no contingency plans for the tutor, etc. No doubt, when it all becomes stable, it may appear the way to go. I only recently suffered the Blackberry meltdown, so I know about dependency. And if all computing activity had to come through a 'utility' pipeline, rather than owning my own freestanding computer, then I can see dependency (and prices) increasing.<br />
<br />
Not to mention security issues, and not having local copies of your own data. <em>(shudder).</em><br />
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<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/topic/158/Cloud+Computing" target="_blank">Cloud Computing topic centre</a> at Computer World.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://gigaom.com/apple/apples-greatest-advantage-the-apple-ecosystem-google/" target="_blank">Apple’s Greatest Advantage: The Apple Ecosystem</a> on GigaOm<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing" target="_blank">Cloud Computing </a>on Wikipedia<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.varsity.co.uk/varsitech/varsitech-explains-cloud-computing" target="_blank">Varsitech explains Cloud Computing</a><br />
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<br />
<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-57934422064617742392011-10-10T08:43:00.000-07:002012-01-03T09:14:29.722-08:00Pedestrian ThinkingI guess the speed of travel most of us have experienced these days has led to the negative connotations of the word 'pedestrian'. Slow, pedantic, plodding, unadventurous.<br />
<br />
I remain a very keen walker. I still like public transport for long journeys, of course, I don't want to remain restricted to how far I can walk in a day. So trains and boats and planes have figured in my own travel, and now I have a bus pass I often don't walk to work.<br />
<br />
And yet, and yet... Walking speed still seems like a great way to explore a new city, an excellent way to think and mull over ideas, an excellent way to calm down when angry or sad.<br />
<br />
<strong>All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.</strong> <em>Friedrich Nietzsche </em><br />
<br />
I often come across references, in biographies of composers, poets, and other artists, to the joys of walking.<br />
<br />
Of course, many of them predate the car, so the options of horse-riding, or carriages, were rather more limited, and perhaps less conducive to thinking. When walking the dog I can't drift off in thought, as I need to remain alert to his mood, and to his interactions with other dogs and people. The bumpy ride of a carriage might equally well prevent thinking clearly. <br />
<img border="0" height="200" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEA1hGCtbWFPU2i0VU7z8rssBW2MQz3WjN2PAqcr5ENG0wrxw6xOmSFyisGxkmuIwtHnuU44lTyJHU0wPdVddd93WbynBa1hkI3XgnQbHeY7k6uNPJNXR55m4UCOuMr42adKT9CHgvviKn/s200/Walking.JPG" width="175" />Even in terms of health, walking remains the best option. Fads come and go, like jogging (but then you get shin splints), or running, or cycling, but the truly primitive exercise, as old as the upright gait, remains walking. You might run after game, or run away from danger, but I consider running as an exception, whereas walking seems so basic. You can do it briskly, or strolling, but you can go for hours without stress to the body. <br />
<br />
I deliberately abstained from driving, to allow myself day-dreaming. Having said that, proficient drivers seem perfectly able to think while the autopilot drives. I don't know. Never tried. All I know is, a mistake when walking into a lamp-post doesn't seem to have such serious consequences as driving into one! <br />
<br />
I decided to check out when 'pedestrian' came to acquire negative connotations. Surprisingly I found references in the OED going as far back as the 18th century. Bang goes the car theory. :-)Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-25666875291264598182011-10-06T19:16:00.000-07:002011-10-06T19:24:08.249-07:00FlashbacksI missed this year's MLA <i>get-together</i><b> face-to-face</b> (a great experience for online friends, which I recommend).<br />
<br />
This year, sombunall of the crew met up in Prague.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Flashing back to <a href="http://maybelogic.blogspot.com/2008/07/ongoing-conversations.html">the Paris meet-up</a>, here you can see/hear John Giorno talking about the death of William Burroughs (we came across it in <a href="http://maybelogic.blogspot.com/2008/07/ongoing-conversations.html">the Beat section of the Traces du Sacré exhibition</a>) -<br />
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I still really enjoy travelling about to be able to share a variety of experiences with friends in real time.<br />
<br />
Text from John Giorno:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><i>William died on August 2, 1997, Saturday at 6:30 in the afternoon from complications from a massive heart attack he'd had the day before. He was 83 years old. I was with William Burroughs when he died, and it was one of the best times I ever had with him.<br />Doing Tibetan Nyingma Buddhist meditation practices, I absorbed William's consciousness into my heart. It seemed as a bright white light, blinding but muted, empty. His consiousness passing through me. A gentle shooting star came in my heart and up the central channel, and out the top of my head to a pure field of great clarity and bliss. It was very powerful - William Burroughs resting in great equanimity, and the vast empty expanse of primordial wisdom mind.<br />I was staying in William's house, doing my meditation practices for him, trying to maintain good conditions and dissolve any obstacles that might be arising for him at that very moment in the bardo. Now, I had to do it for him.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span></span>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-37702491869348289642011-09-29T05:33:00.000-07:002011-09-29T05:34:26.735-07:00Accept the MysteryMany people I have talked to seemed to have found it odd that I should find religions so interesting when I don't appear to have a religious bone in my body. <br />
<br />
I can't remember even a split second out of 65 years when I believed that some Supreme Being ruled us, watched us, created us, or whatever. I haven't lapsed, the idea never even dawned on me, and it certainly never convinced me whenever other people suggested it as an explanation for our existence.<br />
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<br />
On the other hand, I find the world wonderful, magical, intriguing, baffling and delightful at times, although occasionally I have felt glimpses of horror. Mostly at what humans appear capable of. They have never taken the form of 'glimpses of the abyss' however. I don't seem to mind nothingness. If I had to choose a label for myself it would probably resemble pantheist rather than atheist.<br />
<br />
Mystical experiences of nature in my childhood, spending time outside with nature on acid, mushrooms and other fabulous life enhancers, deep philosophical thought about what we mean by consciousness, all have contributed to my sensation of a great living mystery, a whole system, not an empty and meaningless universe.<br />
<br />
And yet it has never appeared to need an external creator. VALIS, Tao, call it what you will, it remains the unimaginable, the Unknown, a mystery. If I had to use the word 'God' to indicate anything I would use it to point to that vastness, that infinitesimal, paradoxical zone...about which nothing can usefully be said.<br />
<br />
Hardly an image of a Godhead that we might come to know as a <em>being</em> of any kind. Whether as a friend, or as a tyrant.<br />
<br />
I guess that the perception of this scale of things first came to me through my father, who had belonged to the Theosophical movement, which, for all its faults, sought the root of all religions and religious feelings...looking for the fundamentals, and the things they all had in common. It exemplified a view more in harmony with Hindu and Buddhist world-views, rather than the curious, local model of the Judaeo-Christian- Muslim spectrum.<br />
<br />
The Gnostics attracted me when I came across them. I don't study religions looking for some ultimate truth, though. Just as <a href="http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/">Richard Wiseman can write about Paranormality</a>, and study it even though he has never uncovered any totally convincing evidence to support such a view of the world. What he finds interesting is why humans appear to need these kind of beliefs, or how they appear and become self-sustaining. I have the same feeling about 'religions'. At least the Gnostics (for all their strange imagery and approachs) indicated that the ground of being was ultimately unknowable, and indescribable. I tend to align with a third-generation atheist like Kurt Vonnegut, who also found people's passion for exotic belief systems intriguing. I guess that makes me a member of the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent (from The Sirens of Titan).<br />
<br />
I don't intend to expand on the various influences on my own practice, although I still recommend the delightful Alan Watts to anyone who wishes to explore these things with a friendly guide.<br />
<br />
<img border="0" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSEe_YbPUZhOGvkAlywTy2lt-GM-O2pVrJLhZV6tRHyvifuCBgdG-gFwxRIl6SDfNMINoAMlUfsh2_iQSUZthwPSx1vMVDaNtBG0z7_md_AjmFnwUOQdtudwBfh-OBYmGSc_DdzrWO8Dq/s1600/magritte-back-in-the-mirrror.jpg" /><br />
And if anyone wants the best meditation 'trick' I know, then I recommend <a href="http://www.headless.org/english-welcome.htm">D.E.Harding's</a> "On Having No Head - a contribution to Zen in the West" - which is a brief and amusing book, and offers a deceptively simple exercise which may lead you to great insights. Nothing to remember, no difficult yoga, no memorising of elaborate symbol systems, nothing like that at all, at all.<br />
<br />
And if you prefer something a little more linear, <a href="http://www.headless.org/books-by-douglas-harding-and-others/religions-of-the-world">his little book on religions of the world</a> is currently on sale for a mere £3...Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-42954050785781881192011-09-22T07:26:00.000-07:002011-09-23T02:49:13.443-07:00The first puppets on television - by my dad <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9B5z7__G56TvcuNVRW64646yVVxXCfzNkgEVe9hh7G_TXysUP7rYPeVAQEJ6868v-GYn4MkWs7AB4c1WXXOAIoGZJROI-nemQLelSUTPEsxdyPIaGZX3ber05OogpEy0KaLcGlTd-xAp/s1600/Pantopic.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9B5z7__G56TvcuNVRW64646yVVxXCfzNkgEVe9hh7G_TXysUP7rYPeVAQEJ6868v-GYn4MkWs7AB4c1WXXOAIoGZJROI-nemQLelSUTPEsxdyPIaGZX3ber05OogpEy0KaLcGlTd-xAp/s200/Pantopic.gif" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pantopuck the Puppet Man</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My dad was probably the first person ever to perform puppets on television. He performed under the name of Pantopuck.<br />
<br />
History (or Wikipedia) will usually tell you the BBC television service started in 1936, but my dad appeared back in 1932, in a transmission using <strong>the old Baird mechanical scanning disk technology.</strong><br />
<br />
Looking at the radio listings in The Times (<em>see below, listed as A.R. Philpott</em>), you may notice that the sound went out through one channel (261.3m), and the picture on a different wavelength (398.9m)!<br />
<br />
I have no idea how many people in the UK had receivers at that time.<br />
<br />
<em>In an article in <strong>The Stage Nov 28 1957</strong>, Charles Trentham writes:</em><br />
<br />
Pantopuck tells me that in August 1932 he wrote to the BBC Productions Department suggesting a try-out, enclosing photos. His puppets were auditioned in September and Producer Robb then asked if he could perform on <strong>October 19 1932</strong>, for 10 or 15 minutes.<br />
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They rehearsed in the morning and went on the screen at 11 p.m., other items being a lady palmist, a lightning sketch artist and a Babylonian dancer, from the old basement studio at Broadcasting House. The puppets had all been repainted black and white, with costumes to match, and Pantopuck made a special stage to suit the camera range: the usual lively movements of the puppets had to be slowed down somewhat. There was a large team of ‘sound effects’ men.<br />
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A note in "Radio Times" announced that “the Pantopuck troupe” would be the first to face the camera – and attributed the bright idea to the director. Mr Philpott was asked to return, doing <strong>a Christmas play on December 27, 1932</strong>. Although the puppets came out very well on the screen, which flickered like the early Bioscope films, Pantopuck missed his ‘live’ audiences out front. Apart from once appearing in “Picture Page” at the “Ally Pally” he says that he has had no further interest in his puppets being screened, although he thinks the TV possibilities are much greater than the results so far seen. A “roving eye” camera treatment – showing the puppetman arriving at a hall, setting-up, with shots of the audience during the show, and of the puppets and backstage – would be interesting, he suggests. But to him, however, the direct contact with audiences is the real joy of performing. “Pantopuck and his Puppets” were in television 25 years ago. Can anyone claim an earlier appearance? <em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Charles Trentham</span></em><br />
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<img border="0" hca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LXyBl4R4HiVc3dyy7gIpVArVDY43h9BW6BAjKcnfmFUWMd4-hwG9Q-MmlZE3AAFTyNzbQXPmOAXt5O63hbRVb_vRHArb9gyus4TneA22LkV4SJbtMz-YXsAYtd65ojz16EFlyIpnlKF3/s1600/shorterTimes+BBC.png" /><br />
<br />
1936<br />
<br />
BBC begins two-year Baird-EMI competition, broadcasting from Alexandra Palace. It is hailed as the "world's first, public, regular, high-definition TV station".<br />
<br />
1937 <br />
<br />
February -- BBC declares EMI the victor in competition. <br />
From then on the ‘modern’ electronic television service, with 343 scanning lines, etc – was adopted.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.earlytelevision.org/mech_broadcast_eqpt.html">Early Television Museum – Mechanical Broadcasting</a><br />
<a href="http://www.earlytelevision.org/baird_televisor.html">An early televisor</a> (tiny image, the size of a postage stamp!)<br />
<a href="http://www.tvhistory.tv/pre-1935.htm">Television History - The First 75 Years</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._R._Philpott">Panto on Wikipedia</a><br />
<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/toby.p/Panto/pantopuck_the_puppetman.htm">Some more details on Toby's old website</a><br />
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Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-25855034418112365242011-09-20T04:55:00.000-07:002011-09-23T01:25:13.533-07:00More BoschHaving deluded myself that Bosch was part of the Free Spirit movement (I am so gullible and suggestible that everything I read convinces me at the time - through 'suspension of disbelief') - I have moved on to <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Art-Ideas-Laurinda-Dixon/dp/0714839744">Laurinda Dixon's book</a>, which has copious other pictures from the same period (to demonstrate that he was not a lone genius working in a wilderness) but she casually dismisses the idea of Bosch as a member of a heresy. <em>Her thing is that his imagery comes from Alchemy.</em><br />
<br />
I love watching academics and conspiracy theorists haggling for their pet theory.<br />
<br />
And I had never thought of Bosch as a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, so I live and learn.<br />
<br />
*<br />
On this <a href="http://www.boschwebsite.com/Index.html">detailed Bosch website by Adam McLean</a>, there is <a href="http://www.boschwebsite.com/Books_summaries.html">a quick review - overview - of many books on Bosch,</a> and Ms. Dixon's alchemical theory gets dismissed, along with books trying to tie Bosch into esoteric ideas from (say) the Anthroposophy people...<br />
<br />
He covers all the <a href="http://www.boschwebsite.com/interpretations.html">'interpretations' </a>from Jung to astrology and 'secret Cathar' - and dismisses them. He doesn't seem to have written up the 'druggie' one (ergot poisoning, St Anthony's Fire, or deliberate use of hallucinogens like Datura, or Belladonna or whatever).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbcxSUkPt_VkMDRsL6iLIhVha7DUzKE6sW4H2vBpzBMRdzzx89BDqQNUeYJFjpXqGINTPjUeoIpoV3pZ03aZV6h6ku175do6Cxw2JAAgDI5PG5Cl97XnUBcHHr1_M3_oEM8VvqT8Y7hNi/s1600/Bosch_CD_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbcxSUkPt_VkMDRsL6iLIhVha7DUzKE6sW4H2vBpzBMRdzzx89BDqQNUeYJFjpXqGINTPjUeoIpoV3pZ03aZV6h6ku175do6Cxw2JAAgDI5PG5Cl97XnUBcHHr1_M3_oEM8VvqT8Y7hNi/s1600/Bosch_CD_small.jpg" /></a>I think I might invest in <a href="http://www.boschwebsite.com/Study_course.html">his DVD 'course</a>', which apparently has high quality images, and avoids interpretations to concentrate on the painting itself. 120 minutes of video. And his <a href="http://www.alchemywebsite.com/">Alchemy Website</a> looks interesting, too. Lots to explore...on rainy days...</div>
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*</div>
You may also find something useful at <a href="http://hassan331.tripod.com/Bosch/Links.htm">this other Bosch resource</a>, although I haven't tested all the links.<br />
<br />
*<br />
Oh, and one obvious parallel that I haven't mentioned. The fact that <strong>The Surrealists</strong> embraced his work, and Dali (in particular) seems to have employed some of the same kind of techniques and imagery. Here's <a href="http://www.anthonychristian.co.uk/ezine16.html">Anthony Christian on The First Surrealist.</a> He seems sure that Bosch was just having fun at everyone else's expense! But then again, he reckons his psychic friend has chatted to Bosch about it!<br />
<br />
*<br />
And here's <a href="http://www.philipcoppens.com/bosch.html">Philip Coppens on Bosch</a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">Either way, he is sometimes said to have been the spark that ignited the surrealist movement of the 20th century, which would produce modern greats such as Salvador Dali. Dali knew the works of Bosch (who was furthermore highly popular in Spain) and felt compelled to deny the influence: “I myself am the anti-Hieronymus Bosch.” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And finally, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A944453">the entry for Bosch</a> from the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2):</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Think of mixing Fellini with David Lynch, sprinkling in a little James Joyce, and having it all put on canvas by Salvador Dali. </span><span style="color: blue;"><em>Carl Linfert, Hieronymus Bosch, 1989</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">and the H2G2 link for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A12737748">The Garden of Earthly Delights</a></span><br />
<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-35441160055030486662011-09-14T17:25:00.000-07:002011-09-23T01:25:39.196-07:00Freelance intellectual - or a load of BoschAs soon as I decided to drop out of school - skip doing A-Levels and university, etc - I knew I had committed myself to an alternative path.<br />
<br />
I have never regretted it. Not having to write a thesis or a paper, or sweat over an MA, and all that.<br />
<br />
Of course, if I could have been paid to potter about the libraries of the world, that would have been ideal, but the strings attached seemed too much for me.<br />
<br />
So although people associate me with performing, clowning, juggling, circus, etc - I have to admit I did all that because (a) it kept me fit and outgoing, to counterbalance all the reading at a desk (b) to earn money in as short a time as possible, leaving loads of free time to read and research.<br />
<br />
And I just follow my nose to what interests me. I can dedicate time as I choose. I once spent about three years studying astrology, not just the popular stuff but quite esoteric interpretations, and also computer programs related to it, etc (they were pretty primitive in the 1980s).<br />
<br />
I love serendipity and cross-referencing, and the internet has increased the possibilities enormously.<br />
<br />
So recently I:<br />
<ul>
<li>Planned to set up a blog about scams, cons, hoaxes, forgeries, tricksters, etc, and decided to us one of my favourite Bosch images, of the street magician, complete with pickpocket working the crowd.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKP8bULiBZsBh0T5ZH72LG8N0OiMhr9noUOSIslNpuf_3q2Huk0mjqZQgkMNXw3FzKlzZz8jP365aIOgrv9iuoOxpcoXpeo9RuQA73KAVBWDLFc-c4uxzfAgWdHnBwY69Ss7nldcUioGth/s1600/artwallpapers25601600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKP8bULiBZsBh0T5ZH72LG8N0OiMhr9noUOSIslNpuf_3q2Huk0mjqZQgkMNXw3FzKlzZz8jP365aIOgrv9iuoOxpcoXpeo9RuQA73KAVBWDLFc-c4uxzfAgWdHnBwY69Ss7nldcUioGth/s640/artwallpapers25601600.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<li>I spotted one odd face in the crowd, who seems almost like just a head...and it reminded me of something</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0QOBvMHZ3kYAb9pf7FBKoYtmN955WEMy_OfL9nmVxRRqHLIH1UiVw2DW9v8DEkIDqLXd0nu_4kAitx4wW4kmQqSmtp1I5JU5owP5lUEDa_igWx8r_nZ7T0n3BmZmoz5QxJpSXUldygrfD/s1600/face+in+the+crowd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0QOBvMHZ3kYAb9pf7FBKoYtmN955WEMy_OfL9nmVxRRqHLIH1UiVw2DW9v8DEkIDqLXd0nu_4kAitx4wW4kmQqSmtp1I5JU5owP5lUEDa_igWx8r_nZ7T0n3BmZmoz5QxJpSXUldygrfD/s320/face+in+the+crowd.jpg" width="297" /></a></div>
<li>Digging back in my mind, I uncovered the memory of<a href="http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1212923"> a book about Bosch's Millennium</a> (often called The Garden of Earthly Delights), and this particular author, analysing the picture, highlighted the face in the bottom right corner of the centrepiece, which he suggested was the Grand Master of a heretical sect called The Adamites, who did not believe in Original Sin (amongst other things), a group he thought Bosch belonged to. I thought these faces uncannily similar. Other researchers have suggested that the image below is a self-portrait of Bosch as a younger man.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcZdJSUrgtagLbVL8qYdIvV2sp7nE2FITIPzl005a6dluKojv3g6ee5IyXsUS5qJrtqEKjQqdQr2RU-F9d_D4lbMElJbkUfaQyYj76i_RP3sFIlCly1AbOK0-pzGHHh7FACPWLuiOG8IH/s1600/bosch+himself.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcZdJSUrgtagLbVL8qYdIvV2sp7nE2FITIPzl005a6dluKojv3g6ee5IyXsUS5qJrtqEKjQqdQr2RU-F9d_D4lbMElJbkUfaQyYj76i_RP3sFIlCly1AbOK0-pzGHHh7FACPWLuiOG8IH/s640/bosch+himself.jpg" width="540" /></a></div>
<li>Believe what you like, but I may pursue some of this. Just for the hell (or heaven) of it.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5oRyuySfIWwVBv00R_g7b7sKPVW1Rw2pmsGdcqQv_y3AmNWf7w5NYBre4dyAaG8V53MKyyMabddLj1r2Mqsx6MOB2QSFeKAhZONSOR_13UHbvzUHncQx2mxKRlmdUWEkqp1ekRqiZz4e/s1600/delightc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5oRyuySfIWwVBv00R_g7b7sKPVW1Rw2pmsGdcqQv_y3AmNWf7w5NYBre4dyAaG8V53MKyyMabddLj1r2Mqsx6MOB2QSFeKAhZONSOR_13UHbvzUHncQx2mxKRlmdUWEkqp1ekRqiZz4e/s640/delightc.jpg" width="577" /></a></div>
<li>I have also been reading <b>Joseph Campbell's book</b> about James Joyce - <b>"Mythic Worlds, Modern Words"</b> in which he relates Joyce's major works to <b>Dante's Divine Comedy.</b></li>
<li>I have never read the Commedia, and it looks like a lot of poetry to get through, so have started with a comic book version, just to get the shape of it all.</li>
<li>Which brings me back to Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, etc, as perceived by 13th and 15th Century artists. Just an average day in a random researcher's life. It's hard to know where I might end up.</li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;">She lit a burner on the stove<br />And offered me a pipe<br />“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said<br />“You look like the silent type”<br />Then she opened up a book of poems<br />And handed it to me<br />Written by an Italian poet<br />From the thirteenth century<br />And every one of them words rang true<br />And glowed like burnin’ coal<br />Pourin’ off of every page<br />Like it was written in my soul from me to you<br /><a href="http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/tangled-up-in-blue">Tangled up in blue</a></span></li>
</ul>
Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-16642380272635847072011-09-12T06:32:00.000-07:002011-09-23T01:27:45.272-07:00Diddling with the ephemeralOne of the main reasons for not getting on with writing books is still the number of words that I throw into the ephemeral, the passing show of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.<br />
<br />
At least blogs and emails hang around as some kind of diary or notebook, that can be referred to later, or discovered (all in good time) by others.<br />
<br />
The thousands of words that just fade into the void of social networking, however, might just as well be spoken out loud...a famously transient way of communicating...the rest is silence...<br />
<br />
Maybe I should think podcasting (the spoken word that stays).Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-59628370541436336502011-09-05T04:40:00.000-07:002011-09-23T01:26:11.855-07:00Women writingI seem to have found myself reading women authors in the last few days.<br />
<br />
I don't know if I should make that distinction any more (just as 'actress' has mostly become replaced by 'actor' for all - although I still fail to see how using the masculine version for both can really prove liberating. When I asked a woman she said that 'actress' seemed like a qualification, somehow implying 'a lesser version of', but I don't fully understand. But hey, I'm only a bloke). Maybe male actors should be called actresses instead?<br />
<br />
Ahem. Anyway, I found a copy of <strong><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dud-Avocado-Virago-Modern-Classics/dp/1853815810">The Dud Avocado</a></strong> by <strong>Elaine Dundy</strong>, and what a delightful read! A fictionalised account of her years in Paris in the 50s, as an adventurous, modern and bohemian woman.<br />
<br />
I also discovered that The Stacks at the library had a copy of <strong><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slouching-Towards-Bethlehem-FSG-Classics/dp/0374531382/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315222810&sr=1-1">Slouching Towards Bethelem</a></strong> by <strong>Joan Didion</strong>, a series of essays about the USA in the early and late 60s. A fairly harsh eye on various sub-cultures, but a touch of nostalgia, too (for her family background). Her portrait of the Haight, however, offers little joy. Not that I intend to romance the late 60s, as methedrine and other harder drugs screwed up the London scene, too. And when I ran off to explore the US in 1970 I spent a long time in San Francisco and deliberately never went to explore Haight-Ashbury, as the whole scene sounded over the hill. Sad.<br />
<br />
Finally, I am browsing and skimming through <strong>Marina Warner</strong>'s book about story-telling: <strong><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beast-Blonde-Fairy-Tales-Tellers/dp/0099479516/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315220702&sr=8-2">From the beast to the blonde : on fairy tales and their tellers</a>,</strong> which has some fascinating content, and may earn a more close reading.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-29129716694097166592011-09-03T14:13:00.000-07:002011-09-29T05:35:11.795-07:00CryptoamnesiaOK, OK, so I can't think of something original to call this compilation blog! I test all new titles in Google, and things like "IMHO" went long ago, and so did some of the complicated inventions I think of (but they ain't snappy and memorable).<br />
<br />
I settled on <b>Time Piece</b>, because I already wrote <a href="http://www.maybelogic.org/maybequarterly/04/0411TimePiece.htm">an obscure on-line article</a> for <a href="http://maybelogic.blogspot.com/2008/03/latest-edition-of-maybe-quarterly-comes.html">The Maybe Quarterly</a> <i>(complete with cut-up random sound track from a fellow student)</i> with that title, but a quick search turns up some <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059807/plotsummary">early, short movie of Jim Henson's* (1965) </a>- which would simply be embarrassing, except for the fact that I worked with Jim on<b> The Dark Crystal </b>(<a href="http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Toby_Philpott">as part of his personal crew</a>) so that makes it a synchronous kind of a hit.<br />
<br />
<i>Wyrd!</i><br />
<br />
I just used it because the title echoed my own initials <i>(how trivial and egoistic can you get?)</i><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">* Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a
philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon
in this nine-minute, experimental film, which was written, directed, and
produced by Jim Henson-and starred Jim Henson! Screened for the first time at
the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, Time Piece enjoyed an eighteen-month
run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for
outstanding short subject. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><b>from IMDb]</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><b><a href="http://youtu.be/oDwCwMIRJlI">A minute and a half on YouTube</a> <i>(remember, this comes from 1965!</i>)</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><b>You might need MySpace to watch this, or you can find it on iTunes (for money!)</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<object height="360px" width="425px"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/>
<param name="wmode" value="transparent"/>
<param name="movie" value="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=42739744,t=1,mt=video"/>
<embed src="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=42739744,t=1,mt=video" width="425" height="360" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></object>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-73890217902751988522011-09-03T09:37:00.000-07:002011-09-23T01:27:23.244-07:00Option: Opt In or Opt Out?I have played with blogs as diaries and notebooks (i.e. mostly for my own use) that it has never occurred to me that I should try to gather fans or make money from them. Most internet monetizing seem like variations of spamming forums with unwanted and semi-literate posts - not even trolling, heckling or finding some other motivated glee.<br />
<br />
It seems too sad a life to get involved in, like 'addressing envelopes' in the old days (pyramid-selling, multi-level marketing, chain letters, and all that).<br />
<br />
Of course, I have never shown any ability to take money seriously, because of my fundamental perception of it as a rigged game, and one whose rules I don't understand, even if I couldn't detect any cheating. The banker wins, so far as I could see, whether playing Pontoon or Monopoly, as a child.<br />
<br />
So, I opted out, as far as that was possible. It turned out impossible (for me) to avoid the money game completely - I'd have settled for Buddhist monk, maybe, but couldn't face Christian monk.<br />
<br />
We all make choices. My choice meant that I basically lived in cash and kind - but avoided credit and debt (two sides of the same coin, of course). Further consequences of living in cash? No house/mortgage. Not running a car. Few holidays. Clothes from charity shops.<br />
<br />
That doesn't make me a complete freak (I meet other people who don't drive, for instance). After all, some people opt out of wearing watches, and I can't even imagine surviving in a world where I had to depend on other people to know the time!<br />
<br />
Car drivers can't imagine depending on public transport, or simply living a more limited and local life.<br />
<br />
I don't opt out of everything. In some areas I feel like an early up-taker, or even ground-breaker. <br />
<br />
Which leads me back to blogs, and a website I hardly tweaked in the last decade, and all that.<br />
<br />
Should I leave this detritus floating around neglected, or decisively remove it (leaving only a trace, maybe, in the WayBack machine, and a scatter of broken links? It all remains some kind of archive. Perhaps it may prove useful to someone, just as we may one day start mining city rubbish heaps for aluminium (say).<br />
<br />
Anyway, for the time being - and failing any attempt to centralize all this stuff into some integrated nodal point - I have started this blog to try to at least consider the scale of the problem.<br />
<br />
That I have still decided to use Blogger (who apparently only have 3% of the market these days) instead of something cool and new) either demonstrates my tendency to fall off the pace, or some kind of brand loyalty, or...hey, I don't know.<br />
<br />
How could I possibly make money out of chatting to myself, when I should (apparently) be trying to create 'product', or saleable 'content'? My niche seems so small, that it only has room for me!<br />
<br />
<br />Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-5405185051676516602011-08-23T05:56:00.001-07:002011-09-23T01:27:00.546-07:00My old website has an elegant domain nameThe clunky old address came for free with my ISP, and they have since changed from ntlworld to Virgin, without changing their URLs, and all that. But <a href="http://tobyphilpott.tk/">http://tobyphilpott.tk/</a> will find me.<br />
<br />
I decided to take a free domain name from <a href="http://www.dot.tk/">Dot.tk</a> - this remains free so long as you have (I think it is) 25 visits per month or something. Anyway, I used it, and eventually decided to upgrade to the paid domain name, because it seems like a good cause to help people whose island just might disappear if the oceans keep rising, for instance. And, anyway, I love that each country got its own little part of the Internet.<br />
<br />
TK = <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau">Tokelau</a>.<br />
<br />
According to that Wiki piece <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">"Tokelau has added more than 10% to its GDP through registrations of domain names under its top-level domain, <b>.tk</b>"</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://my.dot.tk/cgi-bin/amb/landing.dottk?nr=324186::1633251::2::16" target="_new"><img border="0" src="http://images.dot.tk/content/images/7421.jpg" /></a>Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-75203069314347554262011-08-23T05:56:00.000-07:002011-09-23T01:28:14.445-07:00Mind mappingWith some enthusiasm, I adopted the Personal Brain mind mapping software. I had tried it in the past, and quite liked the look and feel of it, but as with any new system, you have to import quite a lot of data (the hard way) before it starts to flourish.<br />
<br />
And I actually let it drift, and rarely open it, as it feels like a half-finished project. The even bigger aspect of sharing brains, etc - with Web Brain - has also faltered, just like so many 'sharing' models, like wikis, Shelfari, etc.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://maybelogic.blogspot.com/2011/04/webbrain-and-mind-maps.html">Here's one I made for the Maybe study group.</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpxWXbFA3Xpz1yce4kojwedNpS7-dvJQbjHsBG0oMnyXAPcoseLqhY2tWxZxYeLYOME_IiXjadVFaFUQUwlT8igwPp3OFqr15CEFIfV0OD72IbQeM41EbFOzRW7aeiIpzF_JktM7N0I9v/s1600/brain+sample.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpxWXbFA3Xpz1yce4kojwedNpS7-dvJQbjHsBG0oMnyXAPcoseLqhY2tWxZxYeLYOME_IiXjadVFaFUQUwlT8igwPp3OFqr15CEFIfV0OD72IbQeM41EbFOzRW7aeiIpzF_JktM7N0I9v/s640/brain+sample.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
You can find the <a href="http://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/ABE6C157-A856-0FE6-FF5D-F85187D1FB0D#-53">dynamic version of this at WebBrain</a>, although it doesn't give you a complete idea about the flexibility and power of the software. You'll be able to see a little bit of how the map can rearrange itself.<br />
I also put <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/onlymaybe2/home/brain">a smaller one on the OM website</a> (all experiments).<br />
<br />
On my own blog, you can find some posts about Mind Mapping, <a href="http://slogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/mind-maps-webbrains-creative-thinking.html">here in April 2011</a>, and then <a href="http://slogger.blogspot.com/2010/12/mind-mapping.html">back in December 2010.</a> I had started by mapping my online presence on a board, with Post-It notes, but it grew and grew...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VSMAiILo1itd5WF0y5T-AOPYCB9dspcZSrACy59o3F6lXMfIQIHsdh1PPOsfkjP3cXxENA1CbQO_Sgv_7qgPMHT6yXN6J4LcLV6LNPjyzlVv3HqvdNY5uAtrksr2SdM-D-SiLqTsdWh4/s1600/MindMap3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VSMAiILo1itd5WF0y5T-AOPYCB9dspcZSrACy59o3F6lXMfIQIHsdh1PPOsfkjP3cXxENA1CbQO_Sgv_7qgPMHT6yXN6J4LcLV6LNPjyzlVv3HqvdNY5uAtrksr2SdM-D-SiLqTsdWh4/s640/MindMap3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887526863467074112.post-17885276393181674132011-08-22T06:21:00.000-07:002011-09-29T05:36:13.567-07:00I think not...I love the internet. I work in a library. So much of the internet relates to information gathering, and to story-telling. <br />
<br />
In over a decade online, and with a job that involved assessing online tools, I have tried all kinds of optional gizmos and methods. <br />
<br />
I invented blogs for sub-personalities. I contributed to Wikis (and started a couple of my own). I used MySpace a bit, Facebook a lot, Twitter rather diffidently. <br />
<br />
I have studied online, and have taught online. <br />
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So it seems a bit silly, perhaps, to start another blog - but I have several Gmail accounts, and each one offers a blog and website option - so the temptation remains. <br />
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I find it hard to let things go. Especially now I am working on writing. Anything I have put online might prove useful raw material. But so many of us have put our lives online that sorting through it all, or retrieving anything, has become difficult. <br />
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I suspect I will simply use this as a kind of index of material already published.Tobyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06729045336748738903noreply@blogger.com0