Dave A.'s Comments

Pirates Take Two More Vessels by Greg R.

Dec 29, 2009 | comments: 2

Dave A. Dec 29, 2009, 4:21pm EST

It's tough to be a cop on that beat--as huge as it is. It's an object lesson on the limits of power on the fringes of a region of influence.

Iran: U.S. Lays Groundwork for Weak Sanctions by Greg R.

Dec 29, 2009 | comments: 3

Dave A. Dec 29, 2009, 4:17pm EST

What's the latest on an option that would be fully supportive of a "peaceful uses" program in Iran? I believe that Iran essentially said "no" to an export/import plan for fuel that would limit access to weapons-grade material.

I also wonder about a "hearts-and-minds" approach to the people of Iran, given the unpopularity of the current government, and how that relates to the sanctions.

The liberal position on health care reform: Is the bill too bad to pass? by Dave Sandborg

Dec 20, 2009 | recommended: 2 | comments: 13

in reply to a comment by Dave A.

Dave A. Dec 29, 2009, 4:08pm EST

I still don't know whether it is an achievable goal--it's not, if Joe Lieberman gets to be the 60th senator. If Bernie Sanders decides he's going to be the 60th senator, or if the 55 who support a public option grow same stones, they can get it done in reconciliation.

For Obama's part, I don't think he is demonstrating a commitment to "change we can believe in" with regard to his actions on this legislation. What's going on between the Oval Office and Rahm Emanuel's office is troubling. This is not the way the White House pursues policy objectives effectively. This isn't half a loaf--this is the wrong loaf.

Damn Vietnam by Liz [site-Raven] Please critique my poetry.

Dec 28, 2009 | recommended: 12 | comments: 22

Dave A. Dec 29, 2009, 11:35am EST

gripping

Umar Farouk Abdulmutalib ..."You Big Dummy." Terrorist attack in Detroit fails. How dare you try and pull such a stunt? by Lloyd C. - Proud Democrat. c.

Dec 26, 2009 | recommended: 6 | comments: 134

in reply to a comment by Peter Joseph Swanson

Dave A. Dec 29, 2009, 9:16am EST

Yeah, the German SS were especially religious. I guess that would go for Joe Stalin and Mao, too, huh?

Response to Slim from LYR, Dec. 13 by Aniko

Dec 19, 2009 | recommended: 4 | comments: 116

in reply to a comment by ben S.

Dave A. Dec 28, 2009, 8:40am EST

I think they had no way of anticipating either the influence of money in politics, or media consolidation, both of which are challenges to the functioning of representative democracy. I think that they did embrace the "big central government" approach, but it has become bigger and more centralized than many would have imagined. In many ways this is helpful and probably inevitable; it does, however, increase the need for an informed and involved electorate.

Response to Slim from LYR, Dec. 13 by Aniko

Dec 19, 2009 | recommended: 4 | comments: 116

in reply to a comment by ben S.

Dave A. Dec 27, 2009, 9:54pm EST

War requires the means of making war, of course. Those that imagine that governments of large countries remove the possibility of citizen influence misunderstand that large numbers have large influence.

ben is onto something when he says that war involves "inner personal conflict projected to the outside world for the purpose of defending an idea." The manipulation of imagery is essential to demagoguery and the promotion of war.

Hungarian Christmas Tradition: "Playing Bethlehem" by Aniko

Dec 24, 2009 | recommended: 12 | comments: 33

Dave A. Dec 26, 2009, 6:18pm EST

What an interesting tradition--a merging of place, and community and ritual... and a wonderful telling here. Thanks, Anikó!

The liberal position on health care reform: Is the bill too bad to pass? by Dave Sandborg

Dec 20, 2009 | recommended: 2 | comments: 13

in reply to a comment by Dave A.

Dave A. Dec 24, 2009, 8:22am EST

If you support a public option, there is an online petition here sponsored by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee that reads simply: "Any health care bill without a public option is not change we can believe in."

Progressive Change Campaign Committee website

Merry Christmas from Union Square in Ess Eff! by Aniko

Dec 23, 2009 | recommended: 3 | comments: 21

Dave A. Dec 23, 2009, 11:19pm EST

Merry Christmas!

The liberal position on health care reform: Is the bill too bad to pass? by Dave Sandborg

Dec 20, 2009 | recommended: 2 | comments: 13

Dave A. Dec 23, 2009, 11:14pm EST

Dave Sandborg: "Obama... was always coy about his stance on [the public option]."

Obama said in a televised message to Americans July 17, 2009,

"Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest."

This statement is used in a TV commercial being run by a group called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in an attempt to influence the final shape of the legislation, according to the Huffington Post, which has posted the TV spot that includes video of the president's statement.

The group is raising money online in order to buy more airtime.

I favor using reconciliation to repair a badly flawed bill.

Losing Your Religion: Lily Yeh's Mandala Journey (December 18, 2009) by Ann M. (Site Scryer)

Dec 18, 2009 | recommended: 10 | comments: 546

in reply to a comment by Dave A.

Dave A. Dec 21, 2009, 5:21pm EST

"What do you like...?"

I'm attracted to the beauty, particularly the rotations, and the symmetry. It's interesting that Lisi has identified 20 "empty seats on the bus" for additional--as yet unidentified--particles. Something that Lisi said at the very end of the video is also beautiful: that the instance of a particle (and its very identity) could be understood as a particular rotation of e8, emerging out of a set of potential outcomes embedded within. It's an intriguing and fairly easily-visualized idea. There is something to what he has come up with here, because of the tidy fit with what is known, but I'm pretty sure it's not the final story, even in the limited sense of a UFT.

Bent - glad you liked the blog. Pothast is a sharp cookie.

Losing Your Religion: Lily Yeh's Mandala Journey (December 18, 2009) by Ann M. (Site Scryer)

Dec 18, 2009 | recommended: 10 | comments: 546

in reply to a comment by Dave A.

Dave A. Dec 21, 2009, 1:57pm EST

Despite the promise of insights that Cusanus felt could be obtained from observation of the physical world, he thought that the senses and intellect would not be sufficient--that true knowledge would begin in recognizing one's own ignorance.

A completely developed sentient creature who is possessed both of sense and intellect is to be viewed as a cosmosgrapher who dwells in a city that has five portals corresponding to the five senses. Through these gateways enter messengers who have spanned the world bringing reports on what has transpired and of the conditions there, and, to be precise, in the following fashion: the messengers who bring news of light and color in the world enter through the portal of the sense of vision; those who report on sound and voice enter through the gate of hearing; those who report on smells through the olefactory gate; those who report on taste, through the gateway of taste; and those who report on warmth, cold and other sensory qualities, enter through the passage dedicated to the sense of touch. The cosmographer sits and takes note of all these senses, in order to have within his city a careful description of the entire realm of the senses. But if a gateway of his city, for instance the visual, should be closed, then his description of the world beyond will be deficient because the messenger of the visual world has found no admission. In this case his description will have no mention of the sun, the stars, light and colors, nothing of the shape of humans, animals, trees and cities, and nothing of the greater part of the beauty of the world. And if the gateway of the sense of sound were to be sealed, then the description would contain similarly nothing of languages, or songs, melodies and the like. The same is true of the other senses. And thus the cosmographer struggles with all his resources to keep all the gateways open and continuously to gather the reports of successive messengers and to make his description ever more accurate.

At length, after he has made in his city a complete delineation of the realm of the senses, then so as not to lose it, he transcribes it into a well-ordered and proportionally measured map. And so he turns toward the map; and, in addition, he bids farewell to the messengers, seals the portals, and turns his inner vision upon the maker of the universe, who is nowhere to be found among the things which the cosmographer has learned from his many messengers, but rather is the creator and cause of them all. - Compendium cap. viii (1464) link

Losing Your Religion: Lily Yeh's Mandala Journey (December 18, 2009) by Ann M. (Site Scryer)

Dec 18, 2009 | recommended: 10 | comments: 546

Dave A. Dec 21, 2009, 10:19am EST

The idea of arriving at divine truths through contemplating an intricate pattern, perhaps notably a concentric design, is echoed in both artistic and philosophical works. A Harper's Magazine article relates the thinking of two contemporaries, Cardinal Nicholas of Kues (also known as Cusanus, 1401-1464), and the Flemish master, Jan van Eyck (c. 1395-1441) in discussing one of van Eyck's well-known paintings, Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (1434). The discussion centers on the concave mirror centered at the painting's vanishing point, on the back wall of the room, which not only reveals the backs of the two subjects in the painting, but also shows van Eyck himself, beyond, wearing his trademark blue frock, and another person (perhaps the person viewing the portrait?). But the concave surface of the mirror also reveals the complete geometry of the space, through an accurate ray-tracing of the light sources throughout. The article cites Cusanus' writings on the "special properties of the convex and concave forms and their theological significance. They permit the viewer who knows how to apply them to gain special insights, to plow into the secrets of the tiniest forms and the mysteries of the cosmos above and about us. Homo est mensura rerum, he writes–the human is the measure of all things; measure, and measurer.... Look into van Eyck’s mirror, and you may yet see all the things that Cusanus suggests may be seen and understood. It points to a universe within to match the one outside us. Which explains why it must be set at the vanishing point, with the artist’s own image set at the center."

Cusanus was ahead of his time in the field of science. Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler knew of his writings, which held that the earth was not the center of the universe and that planets do not travel in circular orbits, and also that their apparent motion could be understood by their motions relative to each other.

Emily Ann Pothast, artist and Director, Antique Print Department, Davidson Galleries, Seattle maintains a wonderful blog, one page of which takes the Harper's article as a point of departure and leads a fascinating discussion through van Eyck's alchemy, to geometric transcendence, the tail of the peacock, Indra’s Net, tripping balls, and e8.

e8, a particularly complex, concentric, multidimensional shape defined by a lot of math, was in the science news a couple of years ago when PhD physicist and "surfer dude" Garrett Lisi proposed that its features might be used to describe the "theory of everything" in the physical world--that it appeared to handle nicely, thank you, the "grand unification" of physical forces, masses and energies that represent the "holy grail" of high-energy physics at FNAL and now CERN. Despite considerable skepticism in the world of physics (and some fairly elaborate work that shows various problems with e8 as an appropriate "model"), Lisi's ideas have not been entirely dismissed. e8, and the graphic projections of its rotations, are beautiful.

TED video of Lisi discussing the growth of coral, Schrödinger's cat, and graphics of e8

NEWS! on e8 and where it stands today (love the tangential discussion on the use of the word "your" in an idiom)

Scientific American article - 2008

Lisi's e8 paper (for physicists and curious onlookers)

Is There Really a "War on Christmas"? by Roy ☯ Hilbinger

Dec 18, 2009 | recommended: 18 | comments: 110

in reply to a comment by John Knight

Dave A. Dec 20, 2009, 8:46pm EST

The Constitution provides a core set of individual rights. Although they can be changed, augmented, or eliminated, the process of passing amendments to the Constitution was made sufficiently difficult, cumbersome, and one requiring such widespread support (though the requirement of approval from 3/4 of the states) that the usurpation of any constitutional right would be rarely possible, even though any such change would reflect the will of a majority.

This sets up a situation where the judicial branch is able to protect the rights of the individual by testing the laws (and actions of both government and persons) to determine whether rights have been violated. An individual may seek redress of these violations under the court... and lawmakers must remain wary of stepping on these rights when passing new laws, no matter how popular a policy initiative may be among the (potentially tyrannical) majority.

It's not a perfect system. It's just better than the second-best system, so far.

Respecting each other's beliefs can be simple sometimes by CC Miranda the artrat (or am i?)

Dec 19, 2009 | recommended: 2 | comments: 31

in reply to a comment by Dave A.

Dave A. Dec 19, 2009, 11:55pm EST

Yes, that comes through. You said that he "was powerless to end my pain," but you said it to me and not to him, so your respect for the person in front of you was inherent.

Respecting each other's beliefs can be simple sometimes by CC Miranda the artrat (or am i?)

Dec 19, 2009 | recommended: 2 | comments: 31

Dave A. Dec 19, 2009, 11:08pm EST

Good on you, CC.

You may be aware that a concern to speak respectfully to others is very much in the minds of Christians. I've recently learned of a group called "Doable Evangelism" that is working on this issue.

Response to Slim from LYR, Dec. 13 by Aniko

Dec 19, 2009 | recommended: 4 | comments: 116

in reply to a comment by charles thiesen - gather's only god, proud to be from gay-supporting Massachusetts

Dave A. Dec 19, 2009, 8:18pm EST

Charles: "I feel slightly unsafe when I go by it."

Yes, one must confront the possibility that one might one day be invited to join. That seems to unsettle the unchurched on Gather.

A Photo by Aniko

Dec 16, 2009 | recommended: 2 | comments: 12

in reply to a comment by Dave A.

Dave A. Dec 18, 2009, 6:04pm EST

I've returned to give it a "thumbs up" (how FB-like...). Had to reload to see my icon up there, though!

Is There Really a "War on Christmas"? by Roy ☯ Hilbinger

Dec 18, 2009 | recommended: 18 | comments: 110

Dave A. Dec 18, 2009, 6:01pm EST

Nice write. Thanks. I'm Christian, and I respond to "Happy Hanukkah" or "Have a great holiday" just as cheerily as I do to "Merry Christmas."

I've been reading about Advent and its traditions, which were established roughly between 600 and 1200 CE, and provides some clues as to the early Christian conception of the season. Pope Innocent III in 1198 established black as the liturgical color for Advent. Later, violet, also signaling a somber and penitent attitude, became established. The exception is the third Sunday in Advent, where a rose Advent candle is first lighted, symbolizing the joyful expectation of the coming Christ. Last Sunday (12/13/09) was Gaudete ("rejoice") Sunday this year. This Sunday, it's back to violet and somber reflection. Clearly the secular and multicultural traditions have largely obscured 1,000 years of Christian tradition, except in sanctuaries where hope, peace, joy, and love are touchstones for reflecting on the coming Light.

Christmas is not the most important holiday on the Christian calendar. I think Christmas is probably either third or fourth on the list, behind Easter, Pentecost and perhaps Maundy Thursday (the commemoration of the Last Supper). Still, with so much glorious sacred music, Christmas is a special time, even holding aside the secular falderal.