ExXception Draft
(via hermeticlibrary)
Connected
(via surrogateself)
(via hermeticlibrary)
We have moved from the stage of the acceleration of History to that of the acceleration of the Real. This is what ‘the progress’ is: a consensual sacrifice.
- Paul Virilio
from wikipedia: Paul Virilio (born 1932 in Paris, France) is a cultural theorist and urbanist. He is best known for his writings about technology as it has developed in relation to speed and power, with diverse references to architecture, the arts, the city and the military.
So, I’m reading ‘Literature Considered as Philosophy’ and I think I might have just hit a ‘break’ in my story. The author was discussing Andre Gide, who I’ve never read, and he says that Gide wants to liberate men, but “for nothing”. And that he and Sartre, who I know a whole lot about, have virtually identical metaphysical systems and methods.
The only place they differ is that Sartre wants the liberated man, when he finds his freedom, in the face of it, to go up on a tower and take out some German soldiers, i.e. “committing himself”. So I think I can kind of use this as a crux for my discussion of video games / media / violence / etc in some interesting ways.
I’ve already started reading my copy of ‘The Immoralist’ by Andre Gide. Oh, and by the way, he was a pederast. Anyway, this probably means I’ll also reread ‘The Age of Reason.’ I read the first two books in Sartre’s ‘The Roads to Freedom’ trilogy a few years ago, but not ‘Troubled Sleep’ yet. And I heard there was like a fourth one included sometimes. Anyway, finally get to add some fiction reading to all the non-fiction I’ve been reading.
from Georgetowncollege.edu:
The Hydesville Rappings were the first phenomenon, and it was the beginning of the Fox Sisters’ careers.
The Fox family moved into a house in Hydesville, NY was the rappings first started. The people in the town claimed a spirit haunted the house.
The Michael Weekman family, who owned the house in Hydesville prior to the John Fox family, claimed the family had run into “strange and unnerving incidents” (Fornell 10). One evening while the Weekman’s were still living there, Michael Weekman reported strange knocking/rapping on his front door. Every time he answered the door, no one was there. Weekman even resorted to going outside and looking around every corner of his house. Each time the phenomena started, he could feel the door move as if someone was actually knocking on the door. Weeks later the there was an incident with the Weekman’s eight-year-old daughter. The child had just gone to sleep for the night, and she told could feel someone or something run their hand over her sheets. When the hand touched her face it was cold. She was so struck with terror that she could not call out to her parents. After this occurrence, the young child refused to go into the bedroom after dark. The Weekman family had experienced enough strange incidences and moved out of the house.
The Fox family, well known in their community (Fornell 10), moved in to the old Weekman house. It was only weeks later that the rappings that the Weekman family had heard, were keeping the Fox family up at night. On the night of March 31, 1848 the rappings were more relentless than any other night. Mrs. Fox had checked every window and door to make sure they were locked tight, and threatened Margaret and Kate to say quiet and not reprimand the rappings. One of the young girls sat up in her bed and snapped her fingers and said, “Here, Mr. Splitfoot, do as I do!”** Then the same child raised her hand to silently communicate with Mr. Splitfoot. Every time the young girl made a different form of silent communication, the rapper gave the correct response. “Oh Mother look it can see as well as hear!” (Fornell 11)
Kate and Margaret’s brother thought that the rappings could be decoded using the alphabet. A neighbor decided that the man was murdered by a man with the name of Charles B. Rosma (Ross 90). The body was supposedly buried in the cellar of the house. Being the curious people they were, they looked in the cellar hoping find the body. Nothing confirmed was found, but the family claimed that there were fragments of bone under the dirt floor. A local doctor had also claimed that there was hair and a fragment of a human skull found (Fornell 14).
The Fox house was a spectacle for the whole town. The Fox house was commonly flooded every night with visitors from the community and even from neighboring communities to hear the mysterious rappings.
As any good Methodist family would do, they called in the clergymen to help them with this problem. It was decided that the children should be sent away to Rochester to live with their older sister, Leah.
**Fornell 11, McHargue 32, Ross 90
Each source disputes as to which daughter actually said this statement.
Fishnet Stockings Podcast - Set Dressings on Flickr.
Fishnet Stockings Podcast - Set Dressings on Flickr.
Fishnet Stockings Podcast - Set Dressings on Flickr.
Tacere (1992) by Dino Valls.
![Claudius Ptolemy (/ˈtɒləmi/; Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, Klaudios Ptolemaios; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. AD 90 – c. AD 168), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek.[1] He was a mathematician, astronomer,geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology.[2][3] He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. This theory, proposed by Theodore Meliteniotes, could be correct, but it is late (ca. 1360) and unsupported.[4] There is no reason to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else than Alexandria,[4] where he died around AD 168.[5]
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest (in Greek, Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, “The Great Treatise”, originally Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, “Mathematical Treatise”). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika (Ἀποτελεσματικά), more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos (Τετράβιβλος “Four books”), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5fnmdRMdI1qlctl1o1_500.jpg)
Claudius Ptolemy (/ˈtɒləmi/; Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, Klaudios Ptolemaios; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. AD 90 – c. AD 168), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek.[1] He was a mathematician, astronomer,geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology.[2][3] He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. This theory, proposed by Theodore Meliteniotes, could be correct, but it is late (ca. 1360) and unsupported.[4] There is no reason to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else than Alexandria,[4] where he died around AD 168.[5]
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest (in Greek, Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, “The Great Treatise”, originally Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, “Mathematical Treatise”). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika (Ἀποτελεσματικά), more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos (Τετράβιβλος “Four books”), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
A Ptolemaic Geocentric Model
“In ridiculing the geocentric system of astronomy expounded by Claudius Ptolemy, modern astronomers have overlooked the philosophic key to the Ptolemaic system. The universe of Ptolemy is a diagrammatic representation of the relationships existing between the various divine and elemental parts of every creature, and is not concerned with astronomy as that science is now comprehended. In the image above, special attention is called to the three circles of zodiacs surrounding the orbits of the planets. These zodiacs represent the threefold spiritual constitution of the universe. The orbits of the planets are the Governors of the world and the four elemental spheres in the center represent the physical constitution of both man and the universe. Ptolemy’s scheme of the universe is simply a cross section of the universal aura, the planets and elements to which he refers having no relation to those recognized by modern astronomers.”
Actually, I think it was meant to be a representation and observation of the way the world was, that is, natural, and a coherent system. And the upheavals and the “scientific revolution” was the deconstruction and shattering of these celestial spheres, which is what my current writing project is about. ‘Religion’ gives the example whereby the world “works” and ‘science’ asks “what else…” MIGHT?
The Magic of Consciousness - Daniel Dennett
Here Professor Dennett lectures on the philosophical obstacles to understanding consciousness. This lecture includes topics covered in detail in his wonderful books “Consciousness Explained” and “Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness”
