Busy Day

I don't recall what Gerik is giving the thumbs-up for, but it's been a long busy day for me (with more to come), and I think it conveys a nice positive message/image to post in the absence of any deeper thoughts. I'm even foregoing looking for a philosophical quote, as I have some papers to grade and another class to teach this evening. So consider this picture of affirmation as a placeholder until I have time to put up something more substantial (tomorrow).

Tuesday's Thought for the Day

The British historian John E.E. Dalberg, Lord Acton, wrote this back in 1907:

"In every age... [liberty's] progress has been
beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and
superstition, by lust of conquest and by the love
of ease, by the strong man's craving for power,
and the poor man's craving for food."

You Gotta Love the Weinie King

Preston Sturges may have been the greatest comedy writer in Hollywood's long history. The string of films he directed, as well as wrote, in the early forties, from The Great McGinty to Hail the Conquering Hero constitute one of the longest sustained winning streaks, in terms of quality and hilarity, of the studio system era (probably unmatched since the days of Chaplin & Keaton). Here's a brief scene from near the beginning of one of his lesser known efforts, Palm Beach Story, starring Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea, and the inimitible Robert Dudley as the Weinie King:

Four More Days Until Pitchers & Catchers Report!

Spring is on the way (it's even a little warmer today in Dillon, or seems so). Pretty soon they'll be playing baseball again, and I'm looking forward to visiting as many ballparks as possible this summer. Here's a little quiz: anyone recognize this park?

How about this one?

I'm at least moderately hopeful of visiting both places later this summer, if all the necessary factors fall into place. Leave your guesses in comments.

Thought for Monday Morning

This should be pretty non-controversial, but worth considering, from Scottish philosopher James Mill:

"...the lot of every human being is determined
by his pains and his pleasures, and that his
happiness corresponds with the degree in which
his pleasures are great and his pains are small."

Egyptology 001

For Ben in particular, but hopefully everyone else tuning in will get a kick out of this classic performance by Steve Martin:

Dr. John's Top Five, February 8, 2009

I've spruced up the video slightly by moving the camera back to include the picture of Ben & Natalie that sits beside my stereo system (giving the illusion, I hope, of someone listening to the program). Hope you like it.

Sunday's Philosophical Nugget

My friend Bill will be gratified to see me quote the Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius Antonius:

"Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall
compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect,
to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite,
to desire anything which needs walls and curtains:
for he who has preferred to everything else his own
intelligence and daemon and the worship of its excellence,
acts no tragic part, does not groan, will not need either
solitude or much company; and, what is chief of all,
he will live without either pursuing or flying from death."

Bonus Family Blogging

I should probably hold this one for next October, but it's such a nice picture (love those bubbles!) with so many familiar faces, I couldn't wait. Besides, I've got plenty more to use if I do remember to mark the actual anniversary later this year (I may not be a great photographer, but I'm certainly prolific!).

The Great Nina Simone

The video here is nothing special (just a series of slides), but here's a great song by an artist who truly deserved a wider audience, even beyond the success she enjoyed:

A Favorite Painting 6

John Neagle, Pat Lyon at the Forge" 1826-27

A classic representation of the Republican Ideal at action in art. This portrait of a working man not only celebrates the work ethic celebrated in the early years of the nation's history, but also hints at how the system is set up to encourage second chances. The building seen through the window in the upper left is a prison-- a place previously inhabited by Lyon, before he emerged to become a successful blacksmith and businessman, successful enough to commission the painting. But instead of employing the traditional trappings of success for his "sitting," he chooses to both acknowledge his past difficulties and demonstrate that the success came as a result of hard work. A great example of how American artists of that generation were re-defining the terms of artistic representation to reflect the ideals of their society.

Saturday Philosophizing

Here's something from Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), noted German political theorist:

"It is more than likely that if men were ever to lose
the appetite for meaning which we call thinking,
and cease to ask unanswerable questions,
they would lose not only the ability to produce
those thought-things which we call works of art
but also the capacity for asking all the unanswerable
questions upon which every civilization is founded."

Driving Back From Butte

I thought I'd share a picture I took earlier today while, as the heading suggests, driving back home from Butte. This is Mount Fleecer, the only mountain that I know by both sight and name (mainly because I go by it so often). Often when I pass, the top is covered in clouds, or there's fog around the bottom. Today it looked so crisp and clear, I had to stop to take a photo.

The Last Movie I Saw

Last night I went to see Frost/Nixon directed by Ron Howard and starring Michael Sheen and Frank Langella in the title roles. I have to give Howard and Langella credit-- they manage to create a humanistic portrait of Nixon without soft-pedaling the nature or effect of his crimes. To put it another way, the film could have just conformed to a particular take on the disgraced president-- either chopping him down completely (which is more or less how I remember Robert Altman's Secret Honor) or creating a false sense of human frailty, as opposed to hubris (which is how I recall Anthony Hopkins' portrayal in Oliver Stone's Nixon*). Howard's film allows for a degree of sympathy while fully acknowledging Nixon's hand in his own ultimate defeat, and makes it pretty clear that such human-level sympathy hardly exonerates him from blame for his transgressions. I don't think the film stands up as a great film, mainly because the first half is a bit tedious in providing exposition for the showdown between David Frost and Nixon in the famous interviews that took place a few years after the latter's resignation. But once the interviews begin, the movie gathers momentum and makes up for the shortcomings in the first part. Special kudos to Oliver Platt, playing a somewhat quintessential Oliver Platt role as one of Frost's colleagues; he always brings something entertaining to the plate, much in the tradition of the great character actors of the past. I also liked Sam Rockwell as James Reston, but maybe only because his was the character that most represented my perspective of Nixon going in to the film.

*I haven't seen either Secret Honor or Nixon since they were first released, so it's possible my memory of each is off. Maybe I'll try to hunt them up on video to see if I'd still read them this way.

Friday Philosophy

Having just completed teaching a course in Women's History, this pearl from Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Carotat, marquis de Condorcet, seemed particularly apt:

"Among those causes of human improvement
that are of the most importance to the general
welfare, must be included, the total annihilation
of the prejudices which have established
between the sexes an inequality of rights,
fatal even to the part which it favors."

Bonus Friday Family Blogging Quiz

This is more of a challenge to your creativity... If Theresa were a masked super-hero, what were her special powers be? Most imaginative answer (fill up the comments section, folks) takes the prize. Play as often as you like!

Friday Family Blogging Quiz

These quizzes never seem to be as tough as I expect them to be, but maybe today I've got something of a stumper. You'll all recognize Natalie in the above picture, but the question is, who is the infant she is holding? As always, put your guesses in the comments, and I'll announce the winner next week.

Last week, I tried twice to fool you, and had no luck at all. In the first case, you were asked where the picture of Helen & Maria was taken, and Sally correctly guessed Fantasy Island. In the bonus quiz (which I really thought would be much tougher), Theresa correctly named Ben (in the first guess!) as the photographer of the picture of Natalie and me (and confirmed by Ben himself, who I didn't expect would remember). You guys are way too good at this, but maybe (heh, heh, heh) I'll get you this time!

More Friday Family Blogging

Here's one of Benny-- what's he grinning about (also not the formal quiz, but feel free to guess)?

Friday Family Blogging

As mentioned here, I've started digitizing older photos taken on film (remember film? can you even still buy it anymore?). So, here's one of Marenka that must go back at least ten years:

I wonder if Lil Sis (or anyone else) recognizes where this was taken (not the actual quiz-- that's coming up later).

Political Comment

One of the common labels employed by critics attacking of President Obama's stimulus bill is "socialist." I know that's a fright-laden term since it evokes images of Josef Stalin and the KGB, but the history of socialism is much broader and often more benign than such a connection implies, especially in this country. For one thing, socialistic ideas are not incompatible with democracy; and though it's a less obvious fit, at least theoretically, it's not really all that incompatible with capitalism either (understanding that such a relationship involves a degree of compromise on both sides-- look at Germany for example). Certainly, programs that have socialistic elements have been successful in the past in this country; this morning, Mark Schone at Salon.com collected a whole slide show of evidence. Part of the genius of Franklin Roosevelt was his ability to set aside labels (and their attached ideologies) to embrace policies that might help, regardless of their theoretical origins or attachment to specific factions (and during the New Deal, that meant fascism as well as socialism). His goal, and ultimately his success, was in crafting a set of programs that collectively worked to preserve the fundamental democratic/capitalistic nature of our system, by demonstrating its inherent flexibility in occasionally embracing seemingly radical ideas. It would be nice if the current critics could be so open-minded, and confident that our system is ultimately strong enough to endure such pragmatic compromise, especially in a time of emergency. Stephen Pearlstine's article in this morning's Washington Post addresses this same issue.