Odorless&Transparent

"the deadliest bullshit is odorless and transparent" - William Gibson

Friday, July 29, 2005

Can we think like a plant grows?

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I have no idea when or why I signed up for a Goethean Science newsletter, but Steve Talbott @ The Nature Institute has some great articles. Just read: Can We Learn to Think Like a Plant?.

"Mere sameness is not unity, and it cannot give us
movement. This is why a science based on abstraction, whereby we abstract
from things their sameness -- what they have in common -- cannot deal with
the various sorts of dynamic unity we find in the world's phenomena."

I understand how all this abstraction feels like new-age-occult-nonsense-talk to "hard" scientists, but the whole approach seems to have validity to a "i had blunt head trauma to my left brain" poster child like me. Feels similar to the brain's use of invariant representation and patterns from On Intelligence. And it sounds like some of Goethe's theories have had a resurgence due to some quantum physics findings. Still, I feel awkward with a "Be the plant" science mantra.

"It seems to be a mere image held in our minds. It is more pictorial and imaginative than logical and computational. It does not readily lend itself to the action of gears or levers or transistors. To equate it with any particular physical object is, in fact, to lose it. Can such a pictorial idea manifesting in our consciousness contribute to a genuine understanding of the world?

...Within human consciousness we discover a language for understanding the world. If this were not so, we could only stare blankly at our surroundings. What scientists need to realize is that our conscious (and unconscious) interior is vastly richer than the contentless abstractions playing over the convoluted surface of our brains. We are creatures of imagination, of heart-felt feeling, and of will raying out through our muscles and bones. And to the degree we must call on the full powers of this inner language in order to comprehend, for example, the leaves successively gestured forth along the stem of a buttercup -- to the degree this language makes the world intelligible -- we must acknowledge that the language speaks truly. That is, it reveals the world, which is to say that what speaks in us speaks also in the world."

That all feels right, but I don't see how it is contrast with the dissection of an idea. Sure the idea "dies" in the process, but narratives or gestures are pulled from snapshots all the time. Don't see how "qualitative science" differs really. I do wish "quantitative science" focused on language more.

Here's some Goethean Car Manufacturing

You Can Never Have Enough mouth gouging fiber

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looking for an image of my favorite AARP-sexual tension cereal box, i found this older post : You Can Never Have Enough Good Friends by author Andrea Siegel. Never heard of her before, but it makes me want to read her book, Like the Red Panda.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

agents, cuban gold, and ropeplay

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I wish to be cremated. One tenth of my ashes shall be given to my agent, as written in our contract.
- Groucho Marx

Two short flicks try to make talent agents look more like secret agents:

• The long, sloppy but funny Winterbottem Promo never quite seems real enough or take it far enough to really fuck with you, but it's still pretty funny in parts, especially towards the end.

Shutterbugs - Episode 2 is just brilliant...even transcendent. Wouldn't the world be a better place if all contracts were made with oral ice cream agreements?

My new favorite online music video:
Llegamos Futuro from Cuban director Eduardo Benchoam.

The other Films on his site are great too, especially Palo Monte, a short doc on an afro-cuban religion, Fish Eat Fish, and Bad Dream. All his stuff is edited with an amazing and tight rhythm. Can't wait to see more.

Flashgames
If you're looking for an elegant and completely gayballs way to waste some more time online look at these bonbons from Ferry Halim. My favorite is the one with the squirrel or the one with the samurai.

*Pic from Eduardo Benchoam

Monday, July 18, 2005

team carson

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"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body."
-Winston Bennett

My knee is finally making progress. I'm trying not to be overly optimistic, since I've "turned the corner" before, just to run into a flying tackle of pain and frustration. Still, for the first time in a while I can actually do some things. I've played 2 on 2 bball, jogged for 15 min on the treadmill, and played a little bit of tennis. I still deal w the pain daily (it hurts right now) and driving and sitting sucks, but the pain doesn't have that blowtorch edge anymore. Most importantly I actually believe there might be hope for a full (relatively speaking) recovery. So, thank you Dr. Garrett. Thank you Dr. Gross, PT and thank you Chris Helmstetter. These are all caring, top-notch health care guru's who've really tried to understand why I was continuing to have so many problems. I higly reccomend them. I also recommend swimming and doing a lot of effin squats.

Can I have Bear powers?

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ten video clips that I have enjoyed in the past 6 weeks:

1. Leeroy Gets The Troops Killed
2. Indie dance break
3. Why would a Bear say such a horrible thing?
4. how can you possibly take down a vast conspiracy shadow paramilitary network if you are scared by moo cows and crazy hamer wielding scotsmen, you dirty hippies?
5. daily weather by david lynch
6. Jennings loves ice cream
7. electrifried sausage = try this at home
8. m&m's loves garden state
9. shutterbugs
10. disco apache

icky bonus bodymod photo site:
facial saline injection
heartfelt bonus music video:
Stephen Fretwell 'New York'