Here and Now

"Basically, the theorist is a lazy person masquerading as a diligent one. He unconsciously obeys the..."

Sat, 25 May 2013 18:56:00 +0200

““Basically, the theorist is a lazy person masquerading as a diligent one. He unconsciously obeys the law of minimum effort because it is easier to fashion a theory than to discover a phenomenon.””

- Ramon Y Cajal (father of the modern neuroscience), from “Advice for a young scientist”

(from Synapses, Neurons and Brains course matierals)

"German peasant girls and women work in the field and shop with and like men. None who have seen..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:14:00 +0200

“German peasant girls and women work in the field and shop with and like men. None who have seen their stout and brawny arms can doubt the force with which they wield the hoe and axe. I once saw, in the streets of Coblentz, a woman and a donkey yoked to the same cart, while a man, with a whip in his hand, drove the team. The bystanders did not seem to look upon the moving group as if it were an unusual spectacle. The donkey appeared to be the most intelligent and refined of the three. The sight symbolized the physical force and infamous degradation of the lower classes of women in Europe. The urgent problem of modern civilization is how to retain this force, and get rid of the degradation. Physiology declares that the solution of it will only be possible when the education of girls is made [179]appropriate to their organization. A German girl, yoked with a donkey and dragging a cart, is an exhibition of monstrous muscular and aborted brain development. An American girl, yoked with a dictionary, and laboring with the catamenia, is an exhibition of monstrous brain and aborted ovarian development.”

- Sex in Education; or A Fair Chance for Girls. (1875)

by Edward H.Clarke, M.D.

Member of the Massachusetts Medical Society; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences;

Late Professor of Materia Medica in Harvard College, etc., etc.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Ocnus or Bianor was a son...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:17:00 +0200

In Greek and Roman mythology, Ocnus or Bianor was a son of Manto and Tiberinus, king of Alba Longa. He founded modern Mantua in honor of his mother. Alternatively, he was the son or brother of Auletes and founded Felsina (modern Bologna), Perusia or Cesena.

Ocnus is thus a character or allegorical deity which personifies hesitation, frustration, delay and the wasting of time, thus symbolising the vicissitudes of human life consumed in unsuccessful efforts. He was condemned to spend eternity in the netherworld, weaving a rope of straw. As depicted in the picture by Polygnotos, standing behind him is his donkey which eats the rope as fast as it is made.

Source: Wikipedia

"On their way toward modern science human beings have discarded meaning. The concept is replaced by..."

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:08:16 +0200

“On their way toward modern science human beings have discarded
meaning. The concept is replaced by the formula, the cause by rules and probability.”

- Horkheimer and Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment

"How would you understand, when for weeks, for months you desperately smash against a dead end..."

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 00:28:40 +0100

“How would you understand, when for weeks, for months you desperately smash against a dead end wall, scribble away mountains of paper, cover tens of kilometres walking around your cabinet or a desert, and it seems, that there never was a solution and that you are a brainless blind worm, and you no longer believe, that it has been like this before, and then this wonderful moment arrives, when you open, at last, a gate in the wall, and another dead end is behind you, and you are god again, and the universe is in your palm. However, this ought not be understood. It must be felt.”

- A. and B. Strugatsky —- Probationers / Space Apprentice (translated by Boris Pogoriller)

"And yet the books will be there on the shelves, separate beings, That appeared once, still wet As..."

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:07:36 +0100

“And yet the books will be there on the shelves, separate beings,
That appeared once, still wet
As shining chestnuts under a tree in autumn,
And, touched, coddled, began to live
In spite of fires on the horizon, castles blown up,
Tribes on the march, planets in motion.
“We are,” they said, even as their pages
Were being torn out, or a buzzing flame
Licked away their letters. So much more durable
Than we are, whose frail warmth
Cools down with memory, disperses, perishes.
I imagine the earth when I am no more:
Nothing happens, no loss, it’s still a strange pageant,
Women’s dresses, dewy lilacs, a song in the valley.
Yet the books will be there on the shelves, well born,
Derived from people, but also from radiance, heights.”

- Czeslaw Milocz

"We always like those who admire us, we do not always like those whom we admire."

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:43:33 +0100

“We always like those who admire us, we do not always like those whom we admire.”

- La Rochefoucauld

"A revolution may well put an end to autocratic despotism and to rapacious or power-seeking..."

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:04:13 +0100

“A revolution may well put an end to autocratic despotism and to rapacious or power-seeking oppression, but it will never produce a true reform in ways of thinking. Instead, new prejudices, like the ones they replaced, will serve as a leash to control the great unthinking mass.”

- Immanuel Kant

liquid proof of the Pythagorean theorem, that’s creativity...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:52:20 +0100

liquid proof of the Pythagorean theorem, that’s creativity :)

looking

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 22:22:00 +0100

looking:

by *ashalynd

a pilgrim enters the road, looking for the way
an artist enters the score, looking for the music
a current enters the delta, looking for the ocean
a soul enters another, looking for it all

Very Superstitious - Lapham’s Quarterly

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:04:31 +0200

Very Superstitious - Lapham’s Quarterly

a frog observer by *ashalynd

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:53:52 +0200

a frog observer by *ashalynd

girl in a red dress by ~ashalynd

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:53:17 +0200

girl in a red dress by ~ashalynd

Coursera Blog: 12 new universities join Coursera!

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:39:27 +0200

Coursera Blog: 12 new universities join Coursera! :

coursera:

We are THRILLED to announce that 12 universities—including three international institutions—will be joining Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania in offering classes on Coursera.

On Coursera, you will now be able to access world-class…

Photo

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:26:00 +0200

Photo

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:18:02 +0200

"‎Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others."

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:41:21 +0200

“‎Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”

- Jonathan Swift

Photo

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:34:27 +0200

The words are tattered pebbles; the phrases are unkempt roads. We only follow them until our wings...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:28:53 +0200

The words are tattered pebbles; the phrases are unkempt roads. We only follow them until our wings are ready to take us off.

differential: Turtles all the way down. cshalizi: The Game of...

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:25:18 +0200

differential:

Turtles all the way down.

cshalizi:

The Game of Life, implemented in the Game of Life. (Best watched with the sound off, unless you like high-pitched whines.) Via Tozier.