Vox Populi

Gazing Back pt1

“In order to stand well in the eyes of the community, it is necessary to come up to a certain, somewhat indefinite, conventional standard of wealth.” -Thorstein Veblen

Exquisite Pain Of Longing

"I decided to continue... until I had got over my pain by comparing it with other people's, or had worn out my own story through sheer repetition."

...And Even He Couldn't.

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important."
- Uncle Berty (not particularly well-loved by his progeny)

The Crippling Weight of Righteousness

"Moral self-infatuation has its own corruptions, after all. With time, almost every other principle acquired an ironic echo, a sort of cackling aftermath."
-- Renata Adler

Can you parry your own righteous self-indignation? i believe your mouth has no leveling, and your feet are the only honest-makers in the land of institutionalized, multi-leveled leveling.

These posts are merely side-stepping for a moment.

Isolating Feathers

"The power of hiding ourselves from one another is mercifully given, for men are wild beasts, and would devour one another but for this protection."
--Wild Beast, Indeed, Mr.B (A)

Believe the Hype

In Game 1 of the Conference Finals, James was scrutinized by most in the media for passing up a 6-foot shot near the end of the game, instead passing to Donyell Marshall, who missed an open three-point shot.

After losing Game 2 where he did take the final shot, the series moved back to Cleveland with the Cavs down 0-2. In Game 3 with the Cavs up 84-82, James hit a 14 foot jumper to seal the game. He also poured in 32 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. In Game 4, in the waning seconds James hit two free throws to seal the game again. James had 25 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

And then it happened.....

In Game 5, James scored 48 points, had 9 boards and had 7 assists; including 29 of Cleveland's last 30 points, all coming after the six minute mark in the fourth quarter, and the team's last 25 points (franchise record) in Cleveland's double-overtime Game 5 victory.

James was the only player to score for the Cavaliers in the two overtimes played. ESPN analyst Hubie Brown said of LeBron's performance after the game, "..absolutely incredible" and that the game will be run on ESPN Classic for years and years. NBA analyst Marv Albert referred to James's performance as "one of the greatest performances in NBA history."

James had a rough shooting night due to Detroit's aggressive defense double and triple-teaming him in Game 6 but his teammates did enough for the Cavaliers to lead Cleveland to a 96-80 win and their first trip to the NBA Finals in franchise history.

Credit also must go to the rookie Daniel Gibson....
Gibson got his first big playoff opportunity in Game 3 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. He came up big for the Cavaliers scoring 9 points, including two 3-pointers. He also grabbed 2 rebounds, blocked 1 shot, and had an important steal from Tayshaun Prince late in the fourth quarter. He followed this with an even greater performance in Game 4, scoring a career high 21 points, which came from only 7 field goal attempts. He was also 100% from the line, making 12 of 12 free throws.

Gibson was the star of Game 6 of the 2007 Eastern Conference finals against the Detroit Pistons, knocking down all five three-point attempts, floaters and jumpers from all over the court. Gibson's 31 points (19 in the 4th quarter), 6 rebounds and 2 assists were reminiscent of LeBron's dominating performance in Game 5 of the series.

The Cleveland Cavaliers became only the third team to win an NBA series after being down 2-0 after a 98-82 victory in Game 6, as Gibson and the Cavs moved on to the NBA Finals.

Obey the Laws of the Ineffible

"Suffering is the fleetest animal that bears you to perfection."
It is vain to consider oneself to be suffering. It requires a terminally solipsistic focus of one's attention upon oneself.
Scream aloud when the grip of the wrench loosens. Everyone in earshot is entitled to know when the knots are no longer holding. Fuck the hull, the fingers are okay.
The oil that feeds the light devours itself.

--Ich greife nach den Sternen--

or -The Hands in the Sky and the Science of Cycling.

Part One: The scientific mind and the problem with observable data.
The dilemma has been one of qualitative distinction. A place for everything, and everything in its place. The beginning to understanding the problem set and thus postulating a hypothesis that would provide relief of that problem set, is entirely contingent upon the observers ability to succinctly- and also more importantly correctly identify the mitigating statistical circumstances.
"Taxonomy is often undervalued as a glorified form of filing—with each species in its prescribed place in an album; but taxonomy is a fundamental and dynamic science, dedicated to exploring the causes of relationships and similarities among organisms. Classifications are theories about the basis of natural order, not dull catalogues compiled only to avoid chaos." -Stephen Jay Gould

The desire for order for order's sake is terrifying to me, stolid and tyrannical. Frozen. This sense of order is for fear of chance, for fear of the whims and wonders of the world.

"With every new answer unfolded, science has consistently discovered at least three new questions."-Wernher von Braun

Part 2: Observable data and the problem with the scientist's mind.
--Ich greife nach den Sternen--
Your hands reach far into the night's sky, but those fingers are dirty.
"Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation." -Wernher von Braun
"Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently. "-Wernher von Braun

Von Braun exercised little in the way of ethics; he saw science as the ultimate justification. In science's cold sterile setting, he saw infinite explainable systems, and this clockwork was the indexical evidence of a watchmaker. The "knowability" of science is where Von Braun found his beauty, and it was something that would provide power through stability.

Gould felt that the religion and science should never cross paths. There is enough wonder in the world that we can see.

Re-Cap
First inquiry-How does one diagnose the problem set if one can not qualitatively assess the identifying characteristic traits?
Second Inquiry-What if the problem is in the inability to proficiently assess the qualification of those observable characteristics of the problem to be solved?

That is the conundrum proposed by Professor Yossarian's data book.