Happy New Year!

As 2010 draws to a close, I naturally took a look back at old posts to see what we accomplished this year... and from a reno & design standpoint, we didn't do too much!

Sure, we finally redesigned the master bedroom and got a good night's sleep. And we did make some fun things for the kiddo like built her a play kitchen and gave her mini-chair a makeover.

But other than that, mostly little projects got done. I made some art out of milk bottle caps and cleaned up the office. HandyMan built some rad rad covers for the bedroom and entry. We got the bathroom door installed to add a hint of Paris to our petite salle de bain and put in a runner to enhance the entry.

But mostly, we spent our time hitting antique fair after antique fair after antique fair. We started to get comfortable in our roles as parents, revelling in the mundane moments and the big birthday celebrations but getting a little melancholy too when our realized babies become toddlers in the blink of an eye. I also spent some time with blogger friends, in groups big and small and got to hang out with some pretty famous people here and there.

It was a good year, a full year - and I've enjoyed having you along for the ride. But I'm ready to turn the page and start with a brand new slate. Come with me, won't you? But first - we must celebrate!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Repeal DADT, and arguments against ROTC get...sophomoric

If this editorial is any indication (comments italicized):

Now that asking and telling has ceased to be problematic in military circles, ROTC has resurfaced as a national issue: Will universities such as Harvard, Yale and other Ivy League schools be opened to Reserve Officers' Training Corps since colleges can no longer can argue that the military is biased against gays and therefore not welcome?

The debate reminds me of an interview I conducted over parents' weekend at the University of Notre Dame in 1989. I sat down with Theodore Hesburgh, the priest who had retired two years earlier after serving 35 years as the university's president. Graciously, he invited me to lunch at the campus inn. During our discussion, he took modest pride at having raised more than a billion dollars for Notre Dame, and expressed similar feelings about the university's ROTC program. More than 700 student-cadets were in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Few universities, public or private, had a larger percentage of students in uniform then. The school could have been renamed Fort Hesburgh.

When I suggested that Notre Dame's hosting of ROTC was a large negative among the school's many positives, Hesburgh disagreed. Notre Dame was a model of patriotism, he said, by training future officers who were churchgoers, who had taken courses in ethics, and who loved God and country. Notre Dame's ROTC program was a way to "Christianize the military," he stated firmly.

I asked if he actually believed there could be a Christian method of slaughtering people in combat, or a Christian way of firebombing cities, or a way to kill civilians in the name of Jesus. Did he think that if enough Notre Dame graduates became soldiers that the military would eventually embrace Christ's teaching of loving one's enemies?

Tendentious questions most of these. Obviously the writer either shows no familiarity with Just War Theory (an outgrowth of Christian thought) or doesn't want to deal with the arguments found therein. Also, just as obviously, war will be with us forever. Sorry to burst your bubble peace-studies guy. Granted that fact, who would you rather have fighting the fight, people that have had no exposure to ethics, nor JWT, or those that have?

The interview quickly slid downhill.

I'm sure it did.

These days, the academic senates of the Ivies and other schools are no doubt pondering the return of military recruiters to their campuses. Meanwhile, the Pentagon, which oversees ROTC programs on more than 300 campuses, has to be asking if it wants to expand to the elite campuses, where old antipathies are remembered on both sides.

I.e., for those that have lived under a rock, 40-50 year old Vietnam era antipathies, which are still harbored by many faculty on campi all over the country, obviously including the writer. Obviously, the DADT rationale was a cheap veneer for the real reason guys like this don't want ROTC on their ivied grounds; they sincerely believe the U.S. military are depraved killers. This kind of caricature was the coin of the realm in the heyday of the aged new left. ("Winter Soldiers" anyone. Sheesh.

It should not be forgotten that schools have legitimate and moral reasons for keeping the military at bay,

(notice the language here, keeping the military "at bay" like some angry rabid crazed dog...holy mackerel)

regardless of the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." They can stand with those who for reasons of conscience reject military solutions to conflicts.

I think he means here, pacifists. Yes, I suppose they could stand with pacifists, and exclusively pacifists, but why? Pacifism is, to say the least, dangerously unrealistic, and if pursued in certain circumstances, deeply irresponsible. Suppose armed resistance to Nazi Germany never occurred. Is there any reason to think things would have turned out good?

They can stand with Martin Luther King Jr. and his view of America's penchant for war-making: "This madness must cease he said from a pulpit in April 1967."

(America's "penchant" for war making...we just can't help ourselves, you see. Crazed blood thirsty rabid dogs..ya see. Maybe that "penchant" is there because others...oh..I don't know..AQ types, the NoKos, Soviets, had and have a penchant for war making, and the rest of the world has a "penchant" for calling on the big guy in the white hat because they have a "penchant" for self defense, but, gosh darn it, are not able to defend themselves) and btw, citing MLK is simple argument from authority anyway. Sheesh.)

Even well short of the pacifist positions, they can argue the impracticality of maintaining a military that has helped drive this country into record depths of debt The defense budget has more than doubled since 2000, to over $700 billion. They can align themselves with colleges such as Hobart, Earlham, Goshen, Guilford, Hampshire, George Fox and a long list of others that teach alternatives to violence. Serve your country after college, these schools say, but consider the Peace Corps as well as the Marine Corps..

Notice the weasel word "helped" All governmental spending that increased the debt "helps" drive us into the fiscal ditch. All of it. But, get a grip friend. National defense accounts for about 20% of the budget, and 4.2% of GDP, small compared to WWII days. And, the primary driver of deficit spending and debt is spending on Medicaire/caid, Social security, and no doubt the new health care system will add to that.

Additionally, notice the tendentious last sentence. These other schools teach alternatives to violence, while by implication, any school that allows ROTC, and presumably, the military, and by extension or implication, the war-making U.S. Pentagon on campus doesnt' attempt and/or teach non-violent solutions. Nope. They just rush headlong into bombing civilians and etc.. Sheesh. 60s dime store Marxism. Why not add that U.S. corporations encourage war, so as to rake in filthy lucre whydontcha?

Will the Ivies have the courage for such stands? I'm doubtful. Only one of the eight Ivy League schools - Cornell - offers a degree in peace studies. Their pride in running programs in women's studies, black studies, and gay and lesbian studies is well-founded, but schools have small claims to greatness so long as the study of peace is not equal to the other departments when it comes to size and funding.

Color me cynical here, but there wouldn't be any vested interest here in making this argument that schools can take on the mantel of greatness by adding peace-studies departments to their roster of ________ studies departments would there? I know. I know. That's ad hominem motive mongering.

But the premise is laughable. As it stands, there are more "peace studies" depts. than there are departments of military studies, given the general climate on college campi. And our friend here wants to make sure that balance of power does not change.

At Notre Dame, on that 1989 visit and several following, I learned that the ROTC academics were laughably weak. They were softie courses. The many students I interviewed were candid about their reasons for signing up: free tuition and monthly stipends, plus the guarantee of a job in the military after college. With some exceptions, they were mainly from families that couldn't afford ever-rising college tabs.

Wow. Speaking of ad-hominem. ROTC folks take dumbed down courses. Don't they take the same courses taught by the same faculty as the non-ROTC students? Are there special set-aside courses for the dummies in cammies? Military Basket Weaving 101? Sheesh.

Also, notice here that the ROTC students back in 1989 were candid about why they joined ROTC. Because tuition even then, was exorbitant, and they were concerned with having jobs upon graduation. SHUDDER. The horror of it all. They thought practically. And the evil military just preys on these poor destitute Notre Dame students. For shame! For shame!

Sheesh.

To oppose ROTC, as I have since my college days in the 1960s,

(don't pull a muscle old man, patting your brave self on the back)

when my school enticed too many of my classmates into joining, is not to be anti-soldier.

(Oh no. Of course not. Quite the contrary. You have to pity the poor dullards, and protect them from being taken advantage of 'enticed' by the eeeevil U.S. military. Right?) Sheesh.

I admire those who join armies, whether America's or the Taliban's: for their discipline, for their loyalty to their buddies and to their principles, for their sacrifices to be away from home. In recent years, I've had several Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans in my college classes. If only the peace movement were as populated by people of such resolve and daring.

You are serious about this? The freaking Taliban? Those "soldiers" do things the "Winter Soldiers" only dream that U.S. soldiers would have done (not that they didn't claim these sorts of things anyway.) And, you know what. They are dedicated to their principles, and gosh darn it, they are away from home sometime. But, getting back to your opening 'shot' Clyde (forgive the pun) our soldiers, versed as they are in our values, and our ethical system, which includes JWT, are, and this is understating the obvious, NOT on a moral level with the freaks in the Taliban. They execute women in soccer stadiums, routinely target civilians as SOP. We don't do this, despite what the winter soldier types would claim..

ROTC and its warrior ethic taint the intellectual purity of a school, if by purity we mean trying to rise above the foul idea that nations can kill and destroy their way to peace.

Sophomoric drivel. this guy is sounding a bit like an antipode to General Jack D. Ripper, what with this talk of purity.

But, seriously. Does the Peace Studies expert really have no clue what the basic features of the American warrior's ethic is? The warrior ethic is rooted in the basic moral principle that self defense is justifiable when attacked, or that protection of the vulnerable is justifiable when they are attacked. It's not simply a matter of believing that you can "kill and destroy your way to peace", you dense idiot.

It's based on the realization, indeed the truism that sometimes you have to use military force to prevent greater, more egregious evils. You simply refuse to recognize that. Here's a simple analogy: A guy breaks into your house, announces he is taking it from you, and will kill you and your family in the process. He makes no bones about it. Now, you can attempt some of those nifty non-violent methods you learned at the peace studies dept., but I suspect that you will fail. Are you then justified, morally justified mind you, in using violence against this guy?

Similarly, suppose he breaks into your elderly neighbor's house, does the same thing, you call the cops (noted violence users), they cannot make it in under 6 hours. You live way out in the sticks. Suppose, as well, you have firearms (I know...I know...just go with me peace studies dude..), and are well trained and can defend this neighbor. Are you morally justified? I suppose your answer would be "no". As a pacifist you maintain no use of violence is ever justified. However, most reasonable folks would say you are wrong. No. For you, the simplistic truth is that any use of violence is "foul". Anyway, back to the editorial, as it mercifully ends:

If a school such as Harvard does sell out to the military, let it at least be honest and add a sign at its Cambridge front portal: Harvard, a Pentagon Annex.

Colman McCarthy, a former Post columnist, directs the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington and teaches courses on nonviolence at four area universities and two high schools.

Oh good God in heaven. And, I suppose that if 'Hahvahd' decided to set up a Peace Studies Institute, then by parity of reasoning, they should add a sign at their "portal" "Harvard, a 'Center for Teaching Peace' Annex".

After all, wouldn't Harvard be taking on the mantel of greatness by doing so? You did say that a while back.

Let's be clear about this: It would be selling out if Hahvahd allowed an ROTC program, manned by folks from the U.S. military, but would NOT be selling out to the CTP if they created one of those departments you so crave, manned by people like yourself, or people trained by people like yourself (free of charge????)

Sheesh.

One wonders why the WAPO gave this guy so much space. Probably because they wanted to present arguments for both sides. HERE is a considerably better editorial from the same paper, from 12-21-10, which is pro ROTC, and does a better job making the anti-case than this sophomoric piece did.

Man. The sixties did a number on a great many people. Sheesh.

The Shape of Things To Come

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Erich Von Stroheim and a girlfriend eating dinner on New Year's Night, Detroit, Michigan: photo by Arthur S. Siegel, January 1942 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

Even though he may be Getting Some
in Detroit City --

and that's the Good News,
because no one really Wants To Be Alone --

memory can't be stopped from relentlessly
dredging up Better Days.

Erich Von Stroheim, playing Count Karamzin, seduces Margaret DuPont, playing Helen Hughes, in Foolish Wives, 1922: screenshot by Luigibob, 2008

Yesterday's Gone

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Lonely soldier and recruiting poster on New Year's Eve, Detroit, Michigan: photo by Arthur S. Siegel, December 1941

and it's good to see the back of it

Celebrators standing at a bar on New Year's Eve, Detroit, Michigan: photo by Arthur S. Siegel, January 1942

Photos from Farm Security Administration/ Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress

GREAT READS: A Year-End Blog Tour Part V

This week, I'll be introducing you to some of my most favourite bloggers. I've asked them to tell you a bit about their blog and provide a link to their favourite post they've written in the past year.

(click on the blog headers or links to hop over to the blogs)

About the blog:
Full House is a blog that is used for an outlet and a place to put design related posts that have to do with things ranging from the design of motherhood to the design of a bedroom. The majority of the items posted are design related with an emphasis on interiors. (Note from Jennifer: I would also add that Christina's blog offers a glimpse of a stylish, creative, loving and very full household with twin girls and triplet boys!)

My favourite post:
Do you know it is really hard to pick a favorite post:-) Seriously, thanks for the opportunity because it gave me a chance to reflect on events that happened last year that made me happy. I had many motherhood posts that I liked but settled on a post when my family went to stay with my in-laws on the farm during the summer. I didn't say anything profound and it wasn't really all that interesting but it just makes me happy and I felt like the pictures I took captured the fun times. It was one of the best times I had all year because it was so peaceful, freeing, fun and relaxing.

http://vivafullhouse.blogspot.com/2010/06/small-town-in-summer.html

As far as a design related post I remember really liking the below post because it involved food pictures. I love anything honey whether it be food or color related.

http://vivafullhouse.blogspot.com/2010/03/perfection.html

About the blog:
Everything LEB is about me and my journey to turn my apartment into a home with my now fiance. Along the way there are many inspirational photos, DIY projects and a few wedding posts here and there (at least till March 2011).

My favourite post:
My favorite post from this year is one of my all time favorite DIY projects - my zig zag tray:

http://everythingleb.blogspot.com/2010/08/tres-chic.html

About the blog:
Bijou and Boheme is a blog devoted to all things pretty. Here you'll find images that inspire beauty in design, fashion and life. An escape.

My favourite post:
Choosing my favourite post was actually not that difficult, which is surprising because I'm definitely not the world's best editor. In this case though, I easily picked my story inspired by jewelry line Fenton-Fallon. I think it was the first post that really felt true to my voice and style. I love writing these little fantasies and hope to do more vignettes filled with gorgeous pictures and fun little tales. I hope you enjoy!
http://bijouandboheme.blogspot.com/2010/11/fictional-story-of-girl-named-fallon.html

About the blog:

Becoming Mom follows the trials and tribulations of Ariana Falerni as she attempts to be a good mother to a terrible two while trying to simultaneously keep her new photography business afloat.

My favourite post:

Jasper's Second Birthday Backyard Bonanza!
http://www.becoming-mom.net/2010/08/24/jaspers-second-birthday-backyard-bonanza/

About the blog:

Moth Design is a portfolio of sorts; a collection of posts, images, and musings, which I hope provide inspiration for beautiful design in a life well lived.

My favourite post:

I'm a sentimental sap at heart, so my post of my ten most precious things in life is dear to my heart....

http://moth-design.blogspot.com/2010/03/happy-101-awards.html
And from an aesthetic respect I'd have to say that my 'equine style' post would also be a favourite...
http://moth-design.blogspot.com/2010/02/equine-style.html

About the blog:
First, thank you Jennifer for including me! I've loved reading your blog and watching your house transformation!! My blog is mostly written about the account of our home with three young children and the things I love to do {some with the children & some without}: sew, bake, renovate, photograph, & explore!

My favourite post:
Our summer trip to my parents farm in Southern Illinois:
http://www.flythroughourwindow.com/2010/08/i-love-life-in-the-country/

*****

A huge Thank You to all the fabulous bloggers who participated in my Great Reads Blog Tour 2010! I've loved learning more about you and seeing what favourite posts are dear to your hearts. Hope you readers enjoyed the series and found some new blogs to follow!

Be sure to check out all the other Great Reads in Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV!

*****

And in case you were wondering what my favourite post of 2010 was, I narrowed it down to two - this one about what's inside my home and this one about what's inside my heart.

Godfrey given a laundry list of responsibilities for next year

Yesterday, State House Speaker Chris Donovan released his list of appointments and committee assignments for the next legislative session and State Rep. Bob Godfrey will retain his position of Deputy Speaker of the House.

via press release:

“Bob Godfrey is the ‘go-to guy’ whenever there’s a technical question about procedures or legislative precedent,” Donovan explained. “In addition to his broad grasp of the issues of the day, he has been a top notch leader, moderating debates in the House in a fair, evenhanded manner. There’s no question that he’s well respected both in his hometown of Danbury and at the State Capitol in Hartford . I thank him for accepting the role again.”

“There’s no question that our state is facing many challenges right now. My number one priorities will be to assist the legislature in passing legislation that will create new jobs in the state, maintain the ones that are currently here, and grow the economy,” Godfrey said. “I’d like to thank the Speaker for asking me to serve in this role and I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner as we meet to tackle these issues.”

To say that Godfrey has a full plate of responsibilities is an understatement. Besides being Deputy Speaker, Godfrey will also serve as a member of the Judiciary, Government Administration & Elections, and Legislative Management committees as well as the head the chairman of the Council of State Governments (CSG), a non partisan group of state officials from all 50 states.

via press release:

“The Council of State Governments is one of the top resources for law and policy makers from around the country. We can use them when we’re crafting laws, policies and regulations that are fiscally sound and produce the best results, often because another state has already tried it out,” Godfrey said. “Through thorough, comprehensive, nonpartisan research, CSG provides states and member jurisdictions with concise information.”

In this prominent role, Godfrey will help shape the direction of the organization along with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who has been selected to serve as CSG 2011 President. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell served as president of the organization in 2008.

Godfrey remarked, “Having access to CSG puts Connecticut in the forefront of advocacy among the states. I particularly look forward to working with Governor-elect Malloy, his incoming administration and my colleagues as Connecticut upgrades its relations with our federal government. We’ll have a greater voice and be more competitive nationally.”

It was rumored that the state lawmaker for the 110th district would run for state auditor but that will not be the case.

Kant on natural purposes, part the VIth

This is a continuation of section 72, and it’s brief, the primary purpose being to round out Kant’s initial presentation of the two families of theses in regard to NOOPs. The last post (V) set out the two views from the “idealist” or “it ain’t really out there” camp. This present post sets out the members of the “it’s really out there. Honest.” camp, or as I’ve also been calling it, the “guidance family.” Lay on ParaKant:

The two hypotheses that embody realism with respect to the purposiveness of nature also fall into two categories sorted according to where they locate the purposive activity they posit; either within the physical world itself, as an aspect of the universe, or on the other hand, hyperphysical, or supersensible, something distinct from, yet somehow acting upon that universe. In both cases, what is essentially differentiating, when compared to the “idealist” theories, is that the explanation makes some sort of use (analogical or otherwise) of the concept of something mental acting with intention.

1. The physicalist thesis maintains there is something analogous to mental power and intention, and that this something is in some way interior to the universe and animating all of matter, making it, (once again speaking analogically with our own self-experience), ‘alive’ much in the same way that we consider ourselves to be alive because we control our human bodies. In short, the physicalist postulates a ‘life of matter.’ The universe is alive according to this view.

Working with that analogy, we can see that the physicalist thesis can be read in two ways. According to the first, that animating principle is a world soul, that is; it is something included in the universe, connected to, but distinct from the matter which it animates, a sort of animating principle. On the second view, the animating principle is an intrinsic feature of matter, not distinct from it. Either one of these views can be labeled “hylozoism”

2. The second “realistic” hypothesis (the hyperphysicalist thesis) explains the purposiveness of objects in the universe by reference to a metaphysically separate original non-physical basis of that universe, (something that is, at the same time because we are dealing here with the “realist” camp) intelligent. That’s just a long-winded way of saying that this hypothesis explains the purposiveness of nature via a conception of transcendent God. This is theism.

Now, this is all relatively clear, but Kant feels the need to point out, in a footnote, that the views he’s just presented are in fact representative of the tendency in metaphysics, for philosophers to work out all the logically possible positions for any given philosophical question. About that, he is surely right. But, what he has to say in that footnote, and exactly how it connects with the main text in 72 needs some ‘splainin’ Ricky. Here’s the not-so-alles-klar- footnote:

This shows that, in most speculative matters of pure reason, and in the realm of dogmatic metaphysical assertions, the schools of philosophy have usually tried all available solutions to a given problem.

Thus, regarding the problem of the existence of NOOPs some philosophers have tried to explain the origins of these objects via the postulation of lifeless matter doing its thing (the atomists), others have tried postulating a lifeless God (Spinoza). Others have given the notion of living matter a go (panpsychism) and still others make use of the notion of a living non-physical God (good old fashioned theism).

For us, (as we think critically about the positions as heuristics) there is no alternative except, if necessary, to drop, hold in abeyance, or ‘bracket out’ the objective or metaphysical readings of these positions, as positive assertions as to how the universe actually is. Instead we will weigh them critically, and focus on how they relate to our cognitive powers (and their limitations). This will provide the principle of purposiveness in nature with a ‘validity’ that, while not the big hairy type of validity that the dogmatist hopes to substantiate with his big hairy metaphysically robust readings of these ‘systems of inquiry’, is yet substantial or valid in the lesser way of being a maxim that is useful, and sufficient for the safe use of reason.

Ok, I’m outta gas. Next section, 73, Kant goes into more detail in regard to these four theses, and we’ll find him doing a better job of explaining why it is he thinks atomism is a dead end as an explanation (or a heuristic on the more cautious reading of the principle). He’ll also treat, in a more sustained manner with Spinoza, panpsychism and theism. In the end, he thinks theism is the position with the lesser difficulties.

GREAT READS: A Year-End Blog Tour Part IV

This week, I'll be introducing you to some of my most favourite bloggers. I've asked them to tell you a bit about their blog and provide a link to their favourite post they've written in the past year.

(click on the blog headers or links to hop over to the blogs)

About the blog:
Hi - its Mrs. Limestone here. Thanks so much to the Rambling Renovators - the ultra fab diy built in bloggers - for asking me to take part in their blog tour. I can't wait to see the other stops. My blog, Brooklyn Limestone chronicles my adventures in design, renovation, entertaining and travel. I hope you'll stop over for a visit.

My favourite post:
Picking just one favorite post for the year is so hard but I narrowed it down this one: Mod Beach Bathroom Reveal. It was a long time coming so I overjoyed to have it done. If you like it be sure to check out more of the before and the cheat sheet.

About the blog:
Cakies is a blog written by a mom who loves her family, crafting, shopping, and pretty old things!

My favourite post:
Our halloween stories is something I look forward to doing every year!
http://mycakies.blogspot.com/2010/10/three-little-piggies.html

About the blog:
DIYdiva.net - Bridging the gap between "woman" and "powertool wielding badass" one project at a time.

My favourite post:
Picking my favorite post of the year is tough (mostly because I can barely remember what I wrote last week.) I would say my year-end message to all DIYers is a favorite:

http://diydiva.net/2010/12/ending-2010-right-a-message-to-all-diyers/

Or maybe the man-cave bathroom reveal, because it meant I was done with the thing!

http://diydiva.net/2010/08/man-cave-bathroom-style-revealed/

About the blog:
I would describe my style as "contemporary whimsy with a hint of vintage" and my blog, What's Up Whimsy, reflects that. It is my own little inspiration folder full of my "loves" - Home Decor, DIYs and Art - come and get inspired too!

My favourite post:
Reader Redesign - Angele's Dining Room

http://www.whatsupwhimsy.com/2010/11/reader-redesign-angeles-dining-room.html

About the blog:

Under the Sycamore is the online home of Ashley Campbell. Updated every weekday, post topics include: photo tips, diy projects, musings on motherhood, kid's activities, home decorating, links to great online finds, craftivism & community involvement.

My favourite post:

"Being a mom in the mundane" because though I love to dabble in so many different things most of my days are seemingly mundane, but I find that those are the moments I would never want to miss.
http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2010/09/09/on-being-mom-in-the-mundane/

*****

Find more Great Reads on Part I, Part II and Part III

Syntax Lost in the Forest

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Doctor Syntax on the Road (detail): Thomas Rowlandson, c. 1812 (Art Institute of Chicago)

Something in the loving plumpness of the abundant, energetic line
in the satiric tour-book drawing, a near perfect simulacrum
of the natural energy of life itself, winks back behind its hand at us,
knowing, as life does, what neither we nor Syntax yet know,
seeing, as life does, what neither we nor Syntax yet see,
of the misadventures that must inevitably befall,
for the moment insidiously biding their time,
waiting now viperishly coiled in each next obscure thicket,
concealed round each next blind corner
of that deceptive bucolic misrepresentation,
that fraudulent map of the insubstantial surface topography
draped over the harsh and grinding natural order of things,
the discursive sentence.

His worst mistake, the same every time, stopping to ask for directions.

We like Syntax may have often been blind and vain
in our persistent foolish quest for a picturesque element
in the stark and grim picture of actuality:
this element is the dream of almost-reason which language constructs for us,
employing its misguiding signs to divert us toward impossible pleasures,
advertising its illusionary rest stops to deceive us into thinking there is relief to be found,
offering its delusive pretences to a destination
when the real world contains no such convenient thing,
only more of the same, more of the going on,
more of the stupid expectation of some meaningful conclusion,
some sensible and pleasing shape to the whole project,
which is, with its endless extenuations, its insistent aggravations,
of its nature formless and inchoate,
incapable of being shaped into even the approximate semblance
of the true and credible article, the meaningful tale, the bright history,
the shining evidence of greater purpose, as promised
in the compliant gestures and winning smile
of the charming milkmaid who comes forward to greet one
from the unidentified building beyond, perhaps a congenial inn,
with a quiet fire in the hearth and a kettle upon the hob,
or then again, perhaps a den of cunning highwaymen,
lying in wait to set upon the unsuspecting traveler
and shunt him off, without a by-your-leave, into that labyrinth
of digressive clauses that will lead him deeper and deeper
into that sepia forest from which, originally, he had emerged,
always confused, always silly, always lost, but never more so than in this moment,
in which the final sound to be heard upon the pointless pointing of the period
is the gentle and completely senseless lowing of a cow.

Doctor Syntax on the Road: Thomas Rowlandson, c. 1812 (Art Institute of Chicago)

This post dedicated to all who have been badly guided

LOCAL ACCESS VIDEO: The Marty Heiser Show 12.23.10

This day in history: December 29, 1170, Henry II is rid of 'the meddlesome priest.' Thomas Becket killed.

Which brings to mind this fine film:

Art and Exchange: Thomas Rowlandson: Ackermann's Microcosm of London

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Exhibition Room, Somerset House: Thomas Rowlandson (with architectural backdrop by A.C. Pugin), in Rudolf Ackermann's Repository of the Arts, 8 January 1808 (from the series Microcosm of London) (Beinecke Library, Yale)

The famous purchases of the Prince Regent, an ardent art buyer, provided a royal boost to the commodification of art in London, the first true "world city" of capital speculation, spectacle and display.

Having one's portrait done by a painter of prominence was a common way of declaring one's social importance. The most successful of the portrait painters was Thomas Lawrence, noted for his remarkable ability to provide "improvements". Lawrence famously "improved" (i.e. shrunk) the exceptionally large nose of the Duke of Wellington, and limned the dissipated fifty-two-year-old Prince Regent as, in the words of William Hazlitt, "a well-fleshed Adonis of thirty-three": Hazlitt had fun imagining the "transports with which his Royal Highness must have received this improved version of himself".

As is seen in Thomas Rowlandson and Auguste Charles Pugin's "view" in Rudolf Ackermann's Microcosm of London -- a mirror representing the city and its manners and mores to itself -- the Royal Academy collection crowded the walls of a new repository, Sir William Chambers' Somerset House.

With the rise of the new "middling" commercial classes, the "fine arts" became, almost overnight, taste indicator and investment opportunity.

There were, of course, a few who saw the humour in this. Generally these few derived from the class above.

As Reay Tannehill relates in a monograph on the Regency "golden age" of illustration and engraving (Regency England: The Great Age of the Colour Print), around this time an acquaintance enquired of Byron:

What is the end of fame?

To which Byron is to have countered:

To have, when the original is dust,
A name, a wretched picture and worse bust

Christies's Auction Room: Thomas Rowlandson (with architectural backdrop by A.C. Pugin), in Rudolf Ackermann's Repository of the Arts, 1 February 1808 (from the series Microcosm of London) (Beinecke Library, Yale)

Update from the world of exquisitely bad literature: The detestable Julian Assange gets a book deal.

No doubt as a result of the esteemed publishers having read some of his literary output.. Check out these gems:

Often we suffer to read, "But if we believe X then we'll have to...", or "If we believe X it will lead to...". This has no reflection on the veracity of X and so we see that outcomes are treated with more reverence than the Truth. It stings us, but natural selection has spun its ancestral yarns from physically realized outcomes, robustly eschewing the vapor thread of platonism as an abomination against the natural order, fit only for the gossip of monks and the page.

Mathematics is a systemization of communicable human thought created by brain architectures that have male-type spacial abilities and extremised by the extremes within that group. Extreme female brain architectures would create a different sort of mathematics. It won't be created by the females currently in mathematics because they need a male type brain to thrive in the existing mathematical world.

I've always found women caught in a thunderstorm appealing. Perhaps it is a male universal, for without advertising this proclivity a lovely girl I knew, but not well, on discovering within herself lascivious thoughts about me and noticing raindrops outside her windows, stood for a moment fully clothed in her shower before letting the wind and rain buffet her body as she made her tremulous approach to my door and of course I could not turn her away.

But then, just when one might suspect that men are krill to the baleen of female romantic manipulation, I found myself loving a girl who was a coffee addict. I would make a watery paste of finely ground coffee and surreptitiously smear this around my neck and shoulders before seducing her so she would associate my body with her dopaminergic cravings. But every association relates two objects both ways. She started drinking more and more coffee. Sometimes I looked at her cups of liquid arabicia with envious eyes for if there were four cups then somehow, I was one of them, or a quarter of everyone one of them...

Oh dear.

In the words of literary critic Leonard Pinth-Garnell:

"Exquisitely bad. Indeed, Unrelentingly Awful in execution and construction."

"Really bit the big one!"




Yet, Brave Sir Julian, Pallid Knight of the muli-hued coif, gets the last laugh: 1.3 million dollars up front for delivering his memoirs, which will no doubt be replete with accounts of sexual exploits (real and imagined) that will rival the coffee post at "IQ".

I say folks should leak the MS, make sure it is distributed far and wide electronically, so that he doesn't get any more money out of the deal. Why buy the book if the file is freely available via the open and transparent web eh? Sauce for the Goose.

GREAT READS: A Year-End Blog Tour Part III

This week, I'll be introducing you to some of my most favourite bloggers. I've asked them to tell you a bit about their blog and provide a link to their favourite post they've written in the past year.

(click on the blog headers or links to hop over to the blogs)

About the blog:
Little Green Notebook is a daily design journal where I post about what's on my mind, whether that has to do with something I'm working on with a decorating client, or a project in my own home, or just something I spied in a store or online that I'm loving. I like to try and be budget-conscious and find ways to get an expensive look for a lot less.

My favourite post:
Last summer, I was home visiting my family in Arizona and basically on a whim, we decided to redecorate my parents’ bedroom. It was such a FUN couple of days working with my mom and dad and sister to brainstorm projects, shop, paint and sew. It was a major collaborative effort and it made me wish I lived nearby so we could open a design studio together. :)
http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-parents-new-bedroom.html

About the blog:
a life's design is a collection of lovely spaces. home inspiration. pretty pictures. fabulous renovations. good photography. lifes happenings. creative outlet. architecture appreciation. vintage finds. a daily escape.
My favourite post:
This post featured one of my favorite homes from last year... http://alifesdesign.blogspot.com/2010/05/just-to-swoon.html

About the blog:
My blog the cinnamon post is for me, a place to be creative, to write and photograph my life as I see it now and to capture moments I will want to remember. I hope others see my blog as somewhat of a magazine editorial; one not styled to be perfect but the kind where the homeowners pad around the house in bare feet and the toys don’t always get picked up.
My favourite post:
We Travel At Home
http://cinnamonpost.blogspot.com/2010/03/we-travel-at-home.html

About the blog:
Thanks for inviting me to participate in your "Great Reads: A year-end blog tour", Jennifer! The focus of my blog, Isabella & Max Rooms, is to follow the process of transforming a room, sharing tips, resources and tutorials for the DIY projects included in the room design.
My favourite post:
My favorite post from 2010 is the 'Big Boy's Bedroom ~ Complete' post, showing the final result of redesigning my son Max's bedroom. This room was put together on a tight budget, with many DIY projects contributing to the design. It was also very exciting to be invited to tape a segment with Nate Berkus, sharing two projects that went into this room: how to make a chalkboard lamp and how to cover a lampshade with fabric.

http://isabellaandmaxrooms.blogspot.com/2010/05/big-boys-bedroom-complete.html

About the blog:

I’ve been a practicing Interior Designer for 17 years, I started the blog as my personal journal about current client projects and all the things that inspire me and challenge me in my day to day work. Along the way I share my design philosophy, great finds, savvy tips, some before and afters, and practical advice for home renovation and decor enthusiasts.

My favourite post:

So Impossible to pick one! Without a doubt the favorite reader post this year was the one on “Painting Ikea Cabinets” and then a post with After pics of an E-Design Bathroom was a close second. But my personal favorite(s) was a series of posts from my East Coast Road Trip, this past summer (gee, I wish someone had told me I spelled “Coast” wrong in every single heading of the series!!). It was rejuvenating to spend time away from client work and indulge in my love of photography, travel (exploring) and food!

*****

Looking for more Great Reads? Click on over to see Part I and Part II.

Kant on natural purposes, part the Vth

Section 72

Wherein our intrepid hero talks about two pairwise families of methodological or heuristic principle. In the last post we settled on the unhappy, but mercifully brief labels “Blind Forces Family” and “Guidance Family.” So, sticking to our guns, we will use ‘em (and a couple more).

In this post, Para-Kant explicates these two families, and their members while re-re-re-reminding us that we should not take him to be taking them in an ontological fashion.

“OK K-Man we got the message. Chill.”

What say you Para-Kant? (Please note, this is an extra-snarky post in this series, taking very many liberties. I can’t help it. Kant does this to you if you read him too much. If you don’t like it, turn the channel. No one dragged you in here Myrtle.)

If we talk about explanatory systems which explain NOOPs in terms of final causes, these will controvert each other ONLY on the ontological reading. If we read them as merely heuristic or “subjective”( saying more about our cognitive limitations, or how we ‘must’ go about explaining things like animals and plants), than about ‘things out there’, then they don’t controvert. Just in case you haven’t got that message, I’m saying it again. Ya read me?

So, now that we’ve got that straight, I’m now going to introduce you to one more of my incredibly informative yet crystalline terms. Ready for it?

“Technic of Nature” Nice eh?

O good gracious, you can’t do better than that Kant? But wait, maybe he’ll give us some helpful tips as to why he thought this was such a good phrase for what he had in mind..

There are two sorts of hypothetical systems as to the Technic of Nature, that is; the productive power in nature which brings about entities that are in apparent accordance with the ‘rule of purposes.’ One hypothesis type is “idealism” (or, ‘it ain’t really real’). The other is “realism” (do I have to explain that one)? In other words, we have the Blind Forces Family (BFF) and the Guidance Family (GF).

The first maintains that all the apparent purposiveness in nature is brought about by; you guessed it, unguided processes (thus is not designed). The second maintains that some apparent purposiveness in nature is in fact not merely apparent, but brought about by intelligent guidance. [Taking the latter supposition as granted it can be deduced, that the Technic of Nature, as regards nature as a whole (that is, including everything including the freaking plants and animals) is also something that involves design and guidance.]

Once again, this latter claim is not argued. Earlier, I supplied a possible argument for this position, relying on the fact that organism are part and parcel of the physical world, with which they must interact.

So apparently by “Technic of Nature” Kant means to be saying something about the productive forces that have nature as the end result. Another way to put it: ”How nature does its thing”? So, he here is introducing us to the two families, each of which has two members. Continuing:

In the BFF (it ain’t really out there) family there are two members: the causal determination thesis, and the fatalist thesis.

The causal thesis explains the forms of the various material things it sets out to explain (NOOPs that is), in terms of the physical laws that govern the motion of their constituent parts. The fatalist thesis explains NOOPs in terms of a hyperphysical basis, something that stands as a sort of substrate to the physical universe.

The causal thesis which is ascribed to the atomists Epicurus and Democritus, is, if taken literally, absurd, and we needn’t allow it to detain us further

Phil Harris butts in: “Hold up Clyde. Why is it absurd? What exactly is this literal reading? The mechanistic reading of atoms as little billiard balls that bounce around, some adhering to one another? Why is this absurd? Why does it not merit further discussion? It seems logically possible that such an explanation could work. Sure, that ain’t sayin’ much, but even Remley here could see that it’s logically possible. So, if you’re meaning that it’s absurd in the sense of being logically contradictory, then, you are wrong.

Remley interrupts: Curley. Don’t you think you are being rather Churlish with our slight and wigged Prussian friend? Maybe he’s just saying that it seems so incredibly unlikely, on the model proposed by the ancient atomist, that anything like an organism, let alone a world full of them, could come about, that it’s as good as a logical absurdity, when you get down to the mathematics of it..

Phil: Remley, you might have something there. Mr. Kant, please accept my sincere apologies for my churlish ways.

Remley: Still, Curley, you do have a point. He don’t even argue the point. He just claims it, and moves on. Mr. Kant, would you care to elucidate?

(Ed., He won’t.) Anyway, back to ParaKant:

The fatalist thesis is developed by Spinoza, but is much older. (Ed.: See, I told you he’d just move on as if nothing had happened.) Because this thesis essentially appeals to something (an original being) that is a substrate of all that we perceive, yet distinct from the appearances, it is not easy to controvert. But, this is only because we cannot possibly understand its notion of an original being.

Even if you claim to understand what this original being is, because the fatalist thesis undertakes to explain the appearance of NOOPs (and indeed the whole universe) as somehow occurring, sans intelligent guidance, as products following of necessity from the nature or essence of this unknowable substrate, one cannot make any use (analogical or otherwise) of the notion of a being with understanding somehow or another taking steps to construct these entities. Instead the entire universe just somehow unthinkingly ‘emanates’ from the original being. This isn't much of an explanation, just because it can explain anything. A universal everything explainer, that takes no effort to make, nor investigation to corroborate. A poor substitute for true understanding.

OK, so we now have the two “idealist” or “it ain’t really out there” theses: the causal determinism thesis and the fatalistic thesis. Kant declares the first absurd, without argument (at least here in section 72) and the second as unintelligible as well as being useless as an explanation. He will next move on to the two “realistic” or “it’s really out there, honest, I ain't makin' it up” or “Guidance Family” theses:

That’s next on the big hit parade of Para-Kantian snark.

Stay tuned.

The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque

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Doctor Syntax Sketching the Lake: Thomas Rowlandson, in The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (image by Tony Simpkins, 2009)

I'll make a tour -- and then I'll write it.

You well know what my pen can do,

And I'll employ my pencil too: --

I'll ride and write, and sketch and print,

And thus create a real mint;

I'll prose it here, I'll verse it there,

And picturesque it everywhere.

I'll do what all have done before;

I think I shall -- and somewhat more.

At Doctor Pompous give a look;

He made his fortune by a book:

And if my volume does not beat it,

When I return, I'll fry and eat it.

Doctor Syntax Drawing From Nature; "The Doctor now, with genius big, / First drew a cow, and next a pig": Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax pursued by a bull: “Syntax, still trembling with affright, ,/ Clung to the tree with all his might'": Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax at a card party: “The comely pair by whom he sat, / A lady cheerful in her chat": Thomas Rowlandson, in The Tour of Doctot Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe,Vol. III, The Third Tour ol Doctor Syntax in Search of a Wife, 1821 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax leading a lady to the entrance of a grand mansion: “For while he sojourns he will be / The object of all courtesy": Thomas Rowlandson, in The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, Vol. !!, The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of Consolation, 1820 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax taking wine with a lady in a drawing room, while the daughter of his hostess and her lover exchange caresses on a rustic seat under the verandah: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax unable to pull up at the Land's End -- is fearful of being carried to the World's End: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax thrown off his horse while hunting: “Your sport, my lord, I cannot take, / For I must go and hunt a lake" : Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax gazing at some ruins; a man and boy in attendance: “But now, alas! no more remains / Than will reward the painters' pains": Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax in the Jail; a young fellow and three dogs on the left: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Boarding a Man-of-War: a boat load of people awaiting their turn to ascend a rope ladder, on which a gentleman of the party (Doctor Syntax) is fixed in rather an uncomfortable position: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax frightened by the appearance of a large fish having a form resembling that of a whale; his companion and some fishwives are also greatly alarmed, and a few of them lie sprawling on the ground. Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

A lady repulsing with the poker her guests, consisting of eight gentlemen, among whom is the doctor; her dog by her side appears to be equally pugnacious: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax riding and chatting with a lady, under an avenue of trees; a footman behind them: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax playing at cards with a young lady; an old wooden-legged officer seated near, apparently not in the best of tempers; three other young ladies seated on the sofa take much interest in the game: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax gently opens the door of a garret, and is horrified to find a "woman of the pavé" reclining back in her chair dead; a dog is seen on the left playing with her wig: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax skating and saluting three ladies who stand on the bank of the frozen river: Thomas Rowlandson, design for The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Rev. Alexander Dyce Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Doctor Syntax Preaching: Thomas Rowlandson, in The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (image by Tony Simpkins, 2009)

Doctor Syntax and the Booksellers: Thomas Rowlandson, in The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Augustana Library)

BOOKSELLER.

"I wish to know, Sir, what you mean,

By kicking up, Sir, such a scene?

And who you are, Sir, and your name,

And on what errand here you came?"

SYNTAX.

"My errand was to bid you look

With care and candour on this Book;

And tell me whether you think fit

To buy, or print, or publish it?

The subject which the work contains

Is Art and Nature's fair domains;

'Tis form'd the curious to allure; --

In short, good-man, it is a Tour..."

The Reverend Doctor Syntax: Thomas Rowlandson, in The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque: A Poem by William Combe, 1812 (Augustana Library)

This post dedicated to Artur

Quotations from The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, text by William Combe, watercolours by Thomas Rowlandson, published by R. Ackermann, London, 1812