tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54880212011-11-02T00:11:44.764-07:00Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.comBlogger3751100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-71490701221334211052011-04-14T19:41:00.001-07:002011-04-14T19:41:41.511-07:00

Consider, if you dare, all of the possible mathematical formulae. Some of them represent trivial truths: 2+2=4. Some of them represent infinite and intricate patterns, like the Mandelbrot fractal. And some of them can be thought of as representing entire universes. There's one in particular, unknown to human minds but probably not all that complicated once it's written out, which unfolds into an

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-85383360216268703192008-12-31T21:04:00.000-08:002008-12-31T21:08:29.788-08:00

Since last year's resolutions turned out so well (no, really!), I'm doing it again.  This year it seems to be simpler.1. Do more of what I care about.2. Care about more things.Not as poetic as last year, alas; but it's what strikes me at the moment.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-48015835719349668332008-06-03T12:23:00.000-07:002008-06-03T12:27:34.840-07:00

E.g. my previous post title. "Upon Truth"? Really?Perhaps I'll post here again sometime soon. Right now I'm busy with Applied Nietzsche rather than the theoretical side.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-7333552524121542772008-04-22T10:07:00.000-07:002008-04-22T10:46:01.682-07:00

I rather expected these sorts of reactions to my last post— my imagined audience is more and more securely atheist, but of course my actual readers are more religious. Aphoristic writings require a similar framework for the identification of the referent, and they are in essence untranslatable across a large cultural divide.I've reconsidered my first aphorism, because it seems even to me to say

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-22309553641000632262008-04-13T14:54:00.000-07:002008-04-22T09:23:29.617-07:00

Pursue knowledge and truth at all costs, make them your constant mantra— only in this way will you discover that you can have neither.The beasts of history— the Borgias, for example— exemplify not the rejection of morality, but rather the most basic form of it, appearing in an age where the common morality has grown exhausted."Turn the other cheek"— is this not the most seductive costume the will

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-39541980981299152902008-04-01T00:12:00.000-07:002008-04-01T00:13:53.629-07:00

Oh, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy setting April Fool's pranks; and I've just finished one bolder than most...Depending on how it turns out, I might even explain it in a few days.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-70059141306088474722008-03-29T18:51:00.001-07:002008-03-30T20:55:01.334-07:00

Or: A Prolegomenon of Prodigious Length to the Further Explanation of my ApostasyWhen I'm asked (as I often am) why I left the Faith, the first part of my answer has to do with recognizing that I wasn't being rational in how I confronted the question of God's* existence, how I was seeking a justification to keep believing rather than sincerely investigating, and that my real (social and

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-59952649621656608442008-03-11T22:22:00.000-07:002008-03-11T22:24:55.446-07:00

Or: Was für eine Philosophie man wähle, hängt sonach davon ab, was man für ein Mensch ist. [What kind of philosophy one chooses depends on what sort of man one is. -Johann Fichte]As much as I find for Nietzsche contra omnes on so many issues, it would be dishonest of me to deny that the philosophical is personal here as well. I must acknowledge that part of the attraction that Nietzsche's

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-25417821263948899542008-03-10T22:59:00.001-07:002008-03-10T23:32:18.640-07:00

It's as if he sees what I see, only ten times more clearly:You see what it was that really triumphed over the Christian god: Christian morality itself, the concept of truthfulness that was understood ever more rigorously, the father confessor's refinement of the Christian conscience, translated and sublimated into a scientific conscience, into intellectual cleanliness at any price. Looking at

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-62621173277289180602008-03-09T18:25:00.000-07:002008-03-09T19:21:32.469-07:00

If I were cool, I would have linked these a long, long time ago, but we all know I'm not...1. Stuff White People Like. The hipster-intellectual social hierarchy, based on "authenticity", oneupsmanship in irony, and sensitive social concern, was obviously ripe for satire; but it's great to see one so trenchant. I've observed all of these in Berkeley, and I'm not immune to some of these (say, the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-18067544107127644332008-03-05T00:02:00.000-08:002008-03-05T00:12:18.153-08:00

Hypothetical moral dilemmas are not a popular topic in some circles. I recall Darwin Catholic, in particular, decrying hypotheticals of the Trolley Problem sort as worse than useless, as somehow pernicious. In this I think he's quite perceptive, because I think that moral dilemmas and the way human beings react to them tend to undermine theories of the conscience as moral perception.For example

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-59041841064897431692008-02-26T12:06:00.000-08:002008-02-26T12:08:49.576-08:00

Rather than writing for ONB, I've been composing my first paper for that Nietzsche course, on his aesthetic justification of existence in The Birth of Tragedy. My introduction was blasé, my prose turgid, my analysis facile and my conclusion an anticlimax; apart from that, the paper wasn't half bad. I'll see if I can improve my writing for the next one.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-86778169448397505982008-02-21T11:47:00.000-08:002008-02-21T12:06:23.231-08:00

The intellectual conscience.— I keep having the same experience and keep resisting it every time. I do not want to believe it although it is palpable: the great majority of people lack an intellectual conscience. Indeed, it has often seemed to me as if anyone calling for an intellectual conscience were as lonely in the most densely populated cities as if he were in a desert. Everybody looks at

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-58171063633524387522008-02-08T22:03:00.000-08:002008-02-12T16:05:04.500-08:00

I'm afraid I can't keep the Haloscan comments (at any rate, the ads on them were becoming increasingly irritating) in the new system. So, here we go with Blogger comments.UPDATE: Whoops! OK, I didn't mean to require comment moderation. Fixed that.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-60370643606340071832008-02-06T18:10:00.000-08:002008-02-08T22:03:23.864-08:00

the insatiable will always finds a way to detain its creatures in life and compel them to live on, by means of an illusion spread over things. One is chained by the Socratic love of knowledge and the delusion of being able thereby to heal the eternal wound of existence; another is ensnared by art's seductive veil of beauty fluttering before his eyes; still another by the metaphysical comfort that

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-44202874843417921182008-02-06T17:35:00.000-08:002008-02-08T22:05:20.362-08:00

I've been heavily reading that Icarus of philosophy, who at last soared too close to the sun of searing truth before plunging into the sea of madness. You know to whom I refer. He has his many flaws, the marks of his generation and the marks of his own frenzy, but on matters of the greatest import he stands where others can only crawl.I've written up a storm today, but it would perhaps shock

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-90983097777727746642008-02-05T08:50:00.000-08:002008-02-05T08:58:19.489-08:00

After all that careful, dispassionate deliberation, suddenly I'm surprised to find myself actually excited to vote today. I woke up to Obama getting interviewed on KFOG, followed by the news that the latest polls had him ahead of Hillary, 49% to 36%; and I've been getting legitimately giddy as I'm getting ready for the day. It's a weird feeling for me with respect to politics.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-34178739475113329512008-01-29T18:02:00.001-08:002008-01-29T21:05:54.518-08:00

Have I told you about the paper I've been procrastinating working on for months? That first original proof of mine (well, except for the part where my advisor told me what to try every week when I got stuck)? That one little brick I'd polished up and was planning to mortar to the grand edifice of mathematics, thereby beginning in earnest my mathematical career?Turns out it was old hat 14 years

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-68141397952888203682008-01-28T12:17:00.000-08:002008-01-28T12:29:27.383-08:00

After reconsidering my political views over these several months, I've judiciously and provisionally decided to vote for Barack Obama in the California primary. Once politics is stripped of the fictive deontologies of both sides, it seems best for the nation and the world if we move to the left on many social and economic matters, not to mention foreign policy. What works for Western Europe

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-39065020859719655552008-01-15T10:47:00.000-08:002008-01-15T12:41:26.697-08:00

In case you were wondering where I've wound up on moral thought, I pretty much agree with Steven Pinker's outlook in his piece in The NY Times Magazine, The Moral Instinct. Much of our moral intuition comes from hard-and-fast rules (built into our emotional responses) that work in most basic situations, but tend not to produce good results when thinking about large-scale or complex issues. (

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-64161559182135925512008-01-14T15:23:00.000-08:002008-01-14T15:27:02.439-08:00

Something beautiful and completely unexpected just happened, thanks to Resolution #3. Details available in personal correspondence.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-39518928538583590232007-12-31T19:23:00.000-08:002007-12-31T19:28:11.946-08:00

1. Make new mistakes.2. Make my fears roughly proportional to the dangers.3. Put myself where fate can find me.4. Emote, sympathize, help.5. Maybe do some friggin' math.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-55030982604884854002007-12-30T22:08:00.000-08:002007-12-30T22:28:07.498-08:00

Our day-to-day life is bombarded with fortuities or, to be more precise, with the accidental meetings of people and events we call coincidences. "Co-incidence" means that two events unexpectedly happen at the same time, they meet: Tomas appears in the hotel restaurant at the same time the radio is playing Beethoven. We do not even notice the great majority of such coincidences. If the seat

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-36881113677407485312007-12-26T16:57:00.000-08:002007-12-26T18:02:46.324-08:00

I haven't read much of Richard Dawkins before; in general, I distrust the quality of today's controversial intellectual celebrities, and much prefer to read the thinkers of yesteryear. But when I came home for Christmas, I found a copy of The God Delusion lying around (I assume that my father had been reading it in the hope of better understanding his son), and I gave it a try. I've been mostly

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1068104652808680432007-12-25T21:24:00.000-08:002007-12-25T22:38:19.317-08:00

Or: No, Virginia. I'm sorry.Christmas is perhaps a good time to take stock of my cosmos, in the wake of these last few months. Before I finally abandoned the faith, I lived in fear that apostasy would mean despair, insanity, vicious egoism; imagine my surprise to find how little I've changed, and how in some ways I've changed for the good. Prior to my aversion, my social anxiety had developed

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-77274364410675970882007-11-28T21:59:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:21:25.369-08:00

I'm making a note here:HUGE SUCCESS.Perhaps it's true that insensibility to worry is the key to success in certain spheres. It's certainly true that knowing I'd done an irredeemably crappy job preparing for a math presentation helped me present it well; with no way to avoid embarrassment on that front, I didn't have to devote my mental energy to worries. Of course, it's probably better to be

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-71912712147822176352007-11-26T22:25:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:28:55.170-08:00

Darwin and Scott Carson responded promptly to my last post, and I've since been pondering these matters more deeply procrastinating on the follow-up. My apologies for the breach of argumentative etiquette.Dr. Carson's post brings up an important point: that the sort of logical possibility needed is not simply that some being or state of affairs could exist, but that it could consistently be

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-63389846881081658572007-11-12T22:34:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:29:37.324-08:00

It seems that the Problem of Evil has been kicking around the Catholic blogosphere again, so I planned to do a little Philosophy Karaoke and explain why I think it has more substance than Darwin Catholic or Scott Carson accord it. However, I found that what I had to say had already been addressed by Michael Liccione in a perspicacious essay well worth your time.I do want to expand, though, on

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-4881377207719675182007-11-05T21:17:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:30:09.615-08:00

The starting point for philosophical reflection is not, as some had supposed, some state of total equanimity with respect to every question. This neutrality is what we should like to have; yet it is not only unattainable in practice, but a complete fiction in theory. The very criteria by which we accept some forms of inference rather than others do not come to us a priori; they themselves must

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-43272252505606722092007-10-30T23:46:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:30:58.399-08:00

The road to heartbreak is sometimes paved with lilies.Lesson 1: One sublimely romantic week does not mean that fate is on your side.Lesson 2: Reserve is the better part of honesty.Lesson 3: Sometimes you're not what she's looking for, and there's nothing you can do.Lesson 4: Sometimes you had a chance and simply screwed it up.Lesson 5: Sometimes you will never know which of the above was the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-7294157159019619052007-10-22T18:38:00.000-07:002007-10-23T15:27:25.412-07:00

The ugly part of recovering my sanity is realizing what I've done. I've just had several weeks- perhaps even the last two months- in which I've succumbed alternately to mania, depression, panic attacks, obsession, and paranoia. I am not speaking metaphorically or exaggerating.This- at least the extreme to which it's gone- is not something I'd ever gone through before. I've not yet decided how

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-42804991929875604512007-10-19T16:26:00.000-07:002007-10-19T16:27:47.877-07:00

All's well. That's all.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-71317880929552061232007-10-03T18:48:00.000-07:002008-12-11T07:44:40.526-08:00

I'm glad I still have my wonder and awe, because sometimes nothing else is appropriate.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-19516099091482658052007-09-30T18:15:00.000-07:002007-09-30T18:18:03.713-07:00

You'll notice two new posts below this one, neither of them argued with particular care. I've decided that I just need to get the ideas out there, in any form, and start to digest them further (with your help). Waiting until I'm happy with what I write has bought me two weeks of silence.So, yes, this is the "rough draft" defense of my new and contentious ideas. I freely acknowledge this.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-38800384748122056022007-09-30T18:14:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:32:56.980-08:00

As stated before, I've been doing some rethinking, not simply of ethical and political conclusions, but of the very way in which I approach the questions.It is, I suppose, characteristic of many mathematicians that we seek only answers of a certain form, even to entirely nonmathematical questions. To earn even my respect, an ethical or political theory had to derive from explicit first

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1900882214427918492007-09-30T17:22:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:33:30.205-08:00

The psychological resonances of religion are often more complicated than many atheists acknowledge, in particular where doubt is concerned. Yes, there is in many religious people a sense of doubt as a sin (and a corresponding urge to denial of doubt), but in the brightest and most devout, there sometimes is an integration of their very doubts into their faith.What the secular press missed in the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-67621702103284226012007-09-11T23:29:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:35:52.243-08:00

I'm sorry for waiting so long to follow up- especially as I've left so much completely unclear. I haven't been able to organize my thoughts that well, so pardon the format of what follows.For a man so obsessed with logical consistency, my self-portrait is rather a mess of contradictions.I am a rationalist Romantic, a secular contemplative, an apostate who still loves his Church.And I do still

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-74817219197586786352007-08-27T22:16:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:45:07.583-08:00

Hello again, faithful Reader. It's been several months since I've posted anything of philosophical or theological substance here. Some of you may have guessed the reason; some of you have been told. Put briefly, in the past year I have abdicated my Catholic faith; I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer believe in a God at all. It hurts me to let so many of you down, and I am sorry

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-85769475890234576372007-07-25T14:54:00.000-07:002007-07-25T14:58:12.663-07:00

A profile for Nietzsche (well, sort of) including the following:Favorite Music: wagner before he sold out

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-86179041806349647812007-07-22T22:31:00.000-07:002008-12-11T07:44:42.393-08:00

I couldn't help myself, you know? This is from the Monterey Aquarium, where Mom and I went during her visit last week. It was a blast having her in California; besides the Monterey trip, I showed her Fisherman's Wharf and North Beach, we visited friends in Moraga, we had an awe-inspiring meal (exquisite foie gras, unbelievable roast duck, and an adjective-defying orange and ginger pot-de-creme)

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-75415282895807726892007-07-13T17:28:00.000-07:002008-12-11T07:44:42.645-08:00

As you can see, my panic these last few weeks was kind of necessary after all (even though nobody asked me about the really awful stuff- it was all a trick) so that I would be ready for the qual. In the process, I unlocked some mathematical beast from the deeper recesses of my subconscious (you know, like Sing unblocking his chi), and learned more in a few weeks than I had in all the time

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-9607948464066584952007-07-05T22:28:00.000-07:002007-07-05T22:33:41.104-07:00

Until next Friday the 13th, also known as my personal mathematical Ragnarok. Wish me luck.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-88174478350140572202007-06-25T22:51:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:38:47.970-08:00

And, welcome back. With my qualifying exam less than twelve days away, I want to reassure you that I've been devoting myself wholeheartedly to studying. I really do want to reassure you, but I can't. I've been having too much fun. It's enough to make a man not go crazy.I did my San Francisco tour guide imitation again, leading several friends from the Golden Gate Bridge to Coit Tower and

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-3967695233734633772007-06-15T09:04:00.000-07:002007-06-15T09:05:45.530-07:00

Squirrel goes on rampage, injures 3

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-35128821871339571392007-06-09T11:52:00.000-07:002008-12-11T07:44:43.443-08:00

It feels odd to talk about contingent matters again, but be that as it may...Summer plans are coming into focus. I'm going to New York again for Katie's birthday in a few weeks. She's in the process of saving up for her long-awaited semester in Paris! Everybody say, "Awww."My qualifying exam is set for Friday, July 13 (in the areas of Harmonic Analysis, Probability Theory, and Spectral Theory)

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1325503534953751302007-06-06T09:49:00.000-07:002007-06-06T10:00:39.551-07:00

In real life, that is. I think it was a mistake to lay it out here, daring people to come and argue for my soul, causing shock and worry among friends, and breaking promises without justification.So I'll continue to work through this in private life. If you'd like to talk to me there, I'd more than welcome it. But I'm not going to do a series of posts here on ONB after all- I can't afford to

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-76490928250794609822007-05-24T19:10:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:43:07.469-08:00

First, a few disclaimers for this series (I hope) of posts:1. I am not, as you know, the man of strongest willpower. My beliefs vacillate hourly as my mood swings. I'm not going to spell out where I'm leaning, though from my style you'll probably have some inkling each time I write. For I don't want to give you false hope or false despair caused by a momentary burst of feeling- I want to see

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-63401543468222902622007-05-22T18:16:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:47:45.071-08:00

I think I have the courage to doubt everything; I think I have the courage to fight everything. But I do not have the courage to know anything, nor to possess, to own anything. Most people complain that the world is so prosaic, that life isn't like a romantic novel where opportunities are always so favourable. What I complain of is that life is not like a novel where there are hard-hearted

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-12074325412066376412007-05-15T15:27:00.000-07:002007-05-15T15:33:12.189-07:00

I'm feeling better now. Not coincidentally, I've turned in my take-home final (only a day late) and almost completed the grading ordeal (11+ hours just to score the final).I suppose that I don't handle stress well; I'm tempted to nihilism of a sort. If life has no meaning, then my failure (or fear of failure) doesn't seem so bad, relatively speaking. Yes, I'm aware that's not a very wise

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-42904859500131996882007-05-15T12:38:00.000-07:002007-05-15T12:46:02.897-07:00

I'd say I haven't posted because I've been busy, but that would be a lie. I have been very busy, but I would have found the time if I'd wanted.I'm in the darkness again. Sorry.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-80448844914734397552007-04-20T23:16:00.000-07:002007-04-21T00:25:59.401-07:00

pene passu pari;prodigus non redimitvitium avari;virtus temperantiaquadam singularidebet mediumad utrumque vitiumcaute contemplari.I just heard the most amazing concert- the Berkeley Chamber Chorus' performance of the Carmina Burana (not the Carl Orff version; rather, an attempted recreation of the medieval neumes). This codex of miscellaneous poems and songs, written by student monks in a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-46936975018864767822007-04-19T23:13:00.000-07:002007-04-19T23:15:15.558-07:00

just in case you were wondering. I haven't had too much time for self-absorbed angst this week, and I won't have time for it this weekend.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-45586082468158107502007-04-13T22:47:00.000-07:002007-11-28T22:48:40.099-08:00

I've hesitated to write about my struggles this Lent, partially because I haven't managed my time or sleep very well this week, and partially because I fear that I don't have anything interesting to say about them. I've found, yet again, that I don't have any knowledge of my own, that I'm only good for reacting to other people's ideas and (over)analyzing them. Sorry if you expected anything

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-75781273454096621122007-04-09T21:45:00.000-07:002007-04-09T23:29:19.904-07:00

Um, give me a few days to catch up on blogs and such...P.S. Yes you are!P.P.S. (in a more serious vein) A sweetly disheartening little story, if a bit melodramatic- a great violinist dresses as a street musician to see who will stop and listen in a train station. Via (yes, of course) DC.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-53046434748882940482007-04-08T12:14:00.000-07:002007-04-08T12:25:41.725-07:00

Welcome back to Orthonormal Basis. It's been a long Lent, hasn't it?I'd hoped to have some wisdom or inspiration to share with you at this point, but that hope was dashed once again by my frailty of mind and will. Later, when I have some time to myself, I might have a few stories to share of my visit to New York and Boston, or comments on books I've been reading, or an explication of my

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-19742067928660043392007-02-19T21:54:00.000-08:002008-12-11T07:44:43.759-08:00

In the great tradition of academia, I am taking a sabbatical from the Blog-o-Tubes. No comment on any connection this hiatus has to "Lent". I'll still be around on e-mail, but that's it.It's too bad that I won't have time for a post that was on my mind- the relation of virtue and willpower. After watching Letters from Iwo Jima, I had some issues with its de-mythologizing of the World War II

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-64523051590363482842007-02-14T16:44:00.000-08:002007-02-14T16:51:17.438-08:00

and noticed that I had been bleeding,for how long I didn't know.No, really. There was an unexplained scar on my head this morning. One of my students noticed the bandage; after I explained that I had no idea how I'd cut myself, another student suggested that I must have been drunk last night. I replied that I always got drunk on Tuesdays, to help me write the quizzes.But in reality, there was no

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-30476398149567143192007-02-10T22:37:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:49:46.859-08:00

This is one of THREE posts this evening (and probably the weakest of the three)! I just felt a tad inspired, that's all.Life has been all right. I have this semester to either become an actual mathematician or die trying; I'm planning to take my qualifying exam (contents: me, 4 professors, a chalkboard, and three hours) in late May. After that, it will be time to start making math of my own and

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-76281175590858445912007-02-10T21:52:00.000-08:002008-12-11T07:44:44.066-08:00

It's been a while since I posted anything about mathematics that wasn't a protracted whimper on my part. In the spirit of improvement, here are two interesting problems I've solved for HW this semester. (Incidentally, I'm not asking you to try these at home; the solutions turn out to be applications of some relatively hefty theorems, not methods you'd arrive at starting from scratch. I just

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-67248191835538970662007-02-10T21:29:00.000-08:002007-02-10T21:50:00.997-08:00

Even pusillanimity may in some way be the result of pride: when, to wit, a man clings too much to his own opinion, whereby he thinks himself incompetent for those things for which he is competent. Hence it is written (Proverbs 26:16): "The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that speak sentences." For nothing hinders him from depreciating himself in some things, and having a high

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-49632794012791156102007-02-01T00:04:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:51:42.521-08:00

I've just realized that in my style of lecturing, I'm turning into my high school chemistry/physics teacher, Mr. Koz. This is actually pretty awesome.I hope that everybody's had at least one clever and enthusiastic science teacher. I hope that a few of you have had the added bonus of a teacher with awful puns ("What's nu?" "C over lambda!") and self-deprecating humor about his personal life1.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-54347360297025509012007-01-27T05:09:00.000-08:002007-01-27T05:11:33.290-08:00

5 AM is not the time for me to get up, walk next door, bang on the window and ask you politely to stop your all-night music party that woke me up again and again. 5 AM is the time for ARSON.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-73467073235574241092007-01-26T01:13:00.000-08:002007-01-26T01:29:38.401-08:00

Faulkner, dead shoes, cowardice, debt from society, Octo, overactive imagination, the Who, the rejection of philosophy in public reason, failure, webcomic situations, horrific allegations, wacky subcultures, Oasis, conversion of St. Paul. There. Blogging Tourette's.P.S. Whoever's been calling me from the University of Chicago, could you please leave me a message, or pick up when I call you back

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-17420120473690888832007-01-21T22:30:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:52:19.207-08:00

Then I logged in to find I had no grades at all.I've run afoul of the Berkeley administration over a $4.00 University Health charge and a spiraling sequence of late fees (which shouldn't have been applied at all to this situation), of which I remained blissfully unaware until after break- when I found that I couldn't register for classes this semester.And now I've just found that they revoked my

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1168941644142956392007-01-16T01:36:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:52:54.816-08:00

It is finished. The paper should never have come to this, but I am finally done with it; and I'm ready to take a long break before I have to think about math again.Oh, drat.I am exhausted. Tomorrow, classes begin.The wedding of John and Wavelet was as incredible as anticipated. The wedding Mass was simple and beautiful, everything quite proper- kneeling before the altar, Gregorian chant, Fr.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1168586603557929502007-01-11T23:12:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:53:12.890-08:00

then calculated pi.As noted (obscurely) below, I got a short extension on that math paper that should have been done in December. I'm mostly finished with it.But I didn't have the guts to tell Dr. Christ that I'd been planning to go on a ski trip this week. Ah well, it was very much worth it. I went with the grad student gang, drove out to Reno and stayed at the Atlantis casino (the rooms were

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1168295448643848082007-01-08T14:27:00.000-08:002007-01-08T14:30:48.660-08:00

GUILT to take his place in Patrick's mathematical career. Details at 11.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1168146957947673782007-01-06T21:14:00.000-08:002007-01-06T21:15:57.960-08:00

I am the Joe Ayoob of mathematics.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1167759147533162702007-01-02T09:20:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:55:06.632-08:00

I’d like to take exception to Thom Brennaman, the FOX broadcaster who claimed that Boise State’s 13-0 season indicates the need for a BCS playoff. (If college football doesn’t interest you, dear Reader, you may be excused. I tend to get this way late in the football season.)There’s all sorts of talk about how the “best team in college football” can’t be decided by polls, how only a 4-team or

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1167374609886163312006-12-28T22:32:00.000-08:002006-12-28T22:43:29.896-08:00

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1167030104559065042006-12-24T22:59:00.000-08:002006-12-24T23:01:44.576-08:00

laeti triumphantes;Venite, venite in Bethlehem.Natum videte Regem angelorum.Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,Venite adoremus, Dominum!

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166922984664062382006-12-23T17:14:00.000-08:002007-11-28T23:00:42.662-08:00

captivum solve Israel,qui gemit in exsilio,privatus Dei Filio.Gaude! Gaude!Emmanuelnascetur pro te, Israel!O come, O come, Emmanuel,and ransom captive Israel,that mourns in lonely exile hereuntil the Son of God appear.Rejoice! Rejoice!Emmanuelshall come to thee, O Israel!Tonight our cousin Aaron, his wife Kara and their new baby Dana are staying here, on their way from Houston to visit family

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166833446117926312006-12-22T16:22:00.000-08:002006-12-22T16:24:06.130-08:00

veni, Redemptor omnium,ut salvas tuos famulospeccati sibi conscios.Gaude! Gaude!Emmanuelnascetur pro te, Israel.O come, Desire of the nations, bindin one the hearts of all mankind;bid every strife and quarrel ceaseand fill the world with heaven's peace.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166763453384445292006-12-21T20:55:00.000-08:002006-12-21T22:42:36.376-08:00

solare nos adveniens,noctis depelle nebulas,dirasque mortis tenebras.Gaude! Gaude!Emmanuelnascetur pro te, Israel.O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,and cheer us by thy drawing nigh;disperse the gloomy clouds of nightand death's dark shadow put to flight.Speaking of YouTube:‘Twas brillig, and the 30S-ribosome did gyre and gimble in the wabe;All mimsy was mRNA, that colored message unit array…

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166673333329713072006-12-20T19:38:00.000-08:002006-12-21T22:36:36.363-08:00

regna reclude caelica,fac iter tutum superum,et claude vias inferum.Gaude! Gaude!Emmanuelnascetur pro te, Israel.O come, Thou Key of David, come,and open wide our heav'nly home,make safe the way that leads on high,that we no more have cause to sigh.Safe and sound and sleepy in St. Louis. I have to admit that my sister and I just binged on YouTube, since neither of us can manage streaming video

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166585738724669012006-12-19T19:28:00.000-08:002006-12-19T19:35:38.740-08:00

ex hostis tuos ungula,de spectu tuos tartarieduc et antro barathri.Gaude! Gaude!Emmanuelnacetur pro te, Israel.O come, Thou Rod of Jesse's stem,from ev'ry foe deliver themthat trust Thy mighty power to save,and give them vict'ry o'er the grave.My students' final was held in Haas Pavilion, the basketball arena. I thought that meant there were classrooms tucked away, but no, it meant that 300

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166462583698926812006-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:002006-12-18T09:24:45.846-08:00

qui populo in Sinailegem dedisti verticein maiestate gloriae.Gaude! Gaude!Emmanuelnascetur pro te Israel!O come, o come, Thou Lord of might,who to thy tribes on Sinai's heightin ancient times did give the law,in cloud, and majesty, and awe.I am the worst grad student ever. I now live in an 8x8 pile of clutter, in which I fail to make progress on the project I hoped to have done weeks ago, and

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166375562433224392006-12-17T09:09:00.000-08:002006-12-17T09:12:42.446-08:00

quae hic disponis omnia,veni, viam prudentiaeut doceas et gloriae.Gaude! Gaude!Emmanuelnascetur pro te Israel!O come, Thou Wisdom, from on high,and order all things far and nigh;to us the path of knowledge show,and teach us in her ways to go.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1166128991115748832006-12-14T12:34:00.000-08:002006-12-14T12:43:11.143-08:00

Yes, it's true that it's better to drink the higher-proof stuff first, and beer later; there are biological reasons behind the "beer before liquor/liquor before beer" ditty. However, that does not imply that I was obligated to follow up that last scotch with that last pint of PBR. That was drunk-logic speaking.Well, I'm fine. Just a bit disappointed in my liver. Or perhaps my brain. But the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1165999264051542052006-12-13T00:40:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:58:05.638-08:00

I AM HERE TO PARTY STOP DO YOU WANT TO PARTY STOPSo I am three and twenty today. It will be quite a day; I plan on going to morning Mass, visiting Caelius and Alice in San Francisco, then there's a house dinner (plus Justine), and I'll wind up at a bar with the other mathematicians. This whole week has been a gauntlet of fun, and it looks to continue as such.And I just want to say, wow, there

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1165629919095101352006-12-08T18:04:00.000-08:002007-11-28T22:58:40.327-08:00

and between your offspring and hers;he will strike at your head,while you strike at his heel.Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception! (No, not the Annunciation. It's a Catholic thing, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, free from original sin as is fitting for the mother of the Lord.)I'm raising my head out of the miasma of semester-end stress (all fully deserved, dear Reader; I've been

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1163267190067994852006-11-11T09:40:00.000-08:002006-11-11T09:46:30.080-08:00

From The Berkeley Voice, without irony:[Mayor Tom] Bates' victory was the result of a centrist campaign that gained the unprecedented endorsements of both sides of the Berkeley political divide – the Berkeley Democratic Club, home of the city's "moderate" faction, and its rival, the "progressive" Berkeley Citizens Action.Also:

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1162890869184668102006-11-07T01:13:00.000-08:002006-11-07T10:28:35.290-08:00

Finished figuring out who and what to vote for tomorrow, and I'm reasonably certain I'm not just choosing the lesser of evils. As in 2004, I've determined that there's no shame in going third-party or even abstaining on some of the offices*. Either action sends the message that there are votes out there to be won in 2008, and the third-party vote even sends a signal about how to earn that vote

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1162744349947784912006-11-05T08:31:00.000-08:002006-11-05T08:32:29.960-08:00

I've got The Smile. The world is strange, God is stranger.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1162448091671895652006-11-01T22:01:00.000-08:002007-11-28T23:01:49.529-08:00

My Halloween costume, from Crime and Punishment:Don't worry, I don't consider myself one of those... "extraordinary men".

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1161882010630866392006-10-26T09:59:00.000-07:002007-11-28T23:04:39.765-08:00

I awoke this morning, as usual, to KFOG on my radio alarm clock. The second song was a John Mayer cover of Jimi Hendrix's Bold As Love, in which he simply duplicated every note of the original on his usual guitar. And I just thought, "Did nobody tell him what it means to cover a song?"I mean, if you do a decent job just copying the original, then good for you: you've proved that you belong in a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1161845664917889182006-10-25T23:47:00.000-07:002006-10-25T23:54:24.930-07:00

I mean, I feel like I've been Poissoned.OK, pun's over, you can come out of hiding. I am kind of serious, I worked on it from 3:30 till 9:00 with just a half-hour break, and I still keep realizing that I'm doing it all wrong. I'm learning a lot (more than I did on the problem sets I've finished), but with 14 hours to go and only one question actually answered, it's not looking so good.Martyrdom

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1161577389041276672006-10-22T21:13:00.000-07:002006-10-22T21:23:09.053-07:00

When will I learn? People are more important than communicating ideas (though I dare not say more important than the Truth). It's hard; this was one of the few things in politics I know, among all the things I have opinions on. I'm still a little jittery and agitated, but by God's grace I didn't kill a friendship.In other news, I took down the "Catholic Culture and Whining About How I Was

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1161454715485939882006-10-21T11:06:00.000-07:002007-11-28T23:06:12.922-08:00

RE: MARTYRDOMYesterday, Deirdre and I were discussing some of the more outlandish martyrdoms found in the Roman Canon (personal favorite: the saint who was supposedly 'thrown to the dolphins'- maybe it was the apocryphal Thecla), and I was suddenly inspired to rate possible martyrdoms, a la The Book of Ratings (now dormant). Of course, I'm not expecting to face martyrdom; but if I'm so called, I

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1161316340580673612006-10-19T20:51:00.000-07:002006-10-19T20:52:20.590-07:00

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1160890631867586612006-10-14T22:31:00.000-07:002006-10-14T22:59:11.580-07:00

Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.The Nietzsche Family Circus

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1160857538597583672006-10-14T13:24:00.000-07:002007-11-28T23:06:45.666-08:00

I feel like a few dollars.Well, I've been laid low with a virus of some sort; I couldn't even read yesterday. But I'm doing better today.The Sufjan Stevens concert Wednesday night was pretty awesome. He's adapted his delicate music remarkably well to a more energetic concert setting. Jacksonville added a nice bluesy touch to the guitar line, and I can't say enough good things about the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1160551327678738292006-10-10T23:57:00.000-07:002007-11-28T23:07:12.792-08:00

Huzzah! Team Evil is done for the year, the Cardinals survived a late scare and walloped the Padres, and there's an outside chance for the ultimate LaRussa Series (which means I'd be able to see the Redbirds in the World Series! Here!), so sorry Tigers, I'm going against you on this one.And with all due respect to the great prose around such concepts as The Football Gods and the Levels of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1159509902978282762006-09-28T22:54:00.000-07:002006-09-28T23:05:02.990-07:00

"Can one love everyone, all human beings, all one's neighbours? I have often asked myself that question. Of course not, and it would even be unnatural. In an abstract love of humanity it is nearly always only oneself whom one loves."-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The IdiotN.B. By quoting this, I don't mean to say that a saintly love of humanity is impossible, just that it consists not in a general idea

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1159423030997516372006-09-27T22:56:00.000-07:002006-09-27T23:01:09.580-07:00

And never wear a hard hat and do things like that.So I joined the police force.No, there's no real post here. I'm just enjoying that song.P.S. It's amazing how much better my mind works when I'm motivated but not worried. Watch out, math!

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1159148758759804682006-09-24T18:44:00.000-07:002006-09-24T18:47:18.016-07:00

I thought I should share this with you: Ten Rules for Handling Disagreement Like A Christian, advice that shocked me with its good sense and which is routinely disregarded all over the Catholic blogosphere. It's not the most academic prose, but why need it be? (Favorite line: "This rule is sometimes referred to as the 'Darth Vader Axiom.'")And it was written by Oakland's own Bishop Vigneron, a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1159144517074418472006-09-24T17:33:00.000-07:002006-09-24T17:35:17.090-07:00

There is a direct path from Francis Bacon, who said, "Knowledge is Power," that the value of all knowing lies in the provision of human life with new discoveries and helps, to Descartes, who in his Discourse on Method explicitly formulated the polemical program to replace the old "theoretical" philosophy with a new "practical" one, through which we could make ourselves "the Lords and Masters of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1158205959151771942006-09-13T20:52:00.000-07:002006-09-13T20:52:39.166-07:00

Idleness, for the older code of behavior, meant especially this: that the human being had given up on the very responsibility that comes with his dignity: that he does not want to be what God wants him to be, and that means that he does not want to be what he is really, and in the ultimate sense, is. Acedia is the "despair of weakness", of which Kierkegaard said that it consists in someone "

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1157953494760877432006-09-10T22:40:00.000-07:002007-11-28T23:08:50.945-08:00

Highlights by day:Monday (Labor Day): Lunch and ice cream with Alice, who's been so affected by her summer in Wales that she's now using the Welsh double negative in English. Also, she's finally a beer drinker, which is a positive stage in any friend's life.Tuesday: I completed a project I first dreamed up in June: a series of informative T-shirts that express the inner me:You ought to see

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488021.post-1157433682217767142006-09-04T22:05:00.000-07:002007-11-28T23:09:22.714-08:00

I haue hadde it wyth thes cursed by Seynt George snakes on this cursed by Seynt George shippe!HOLY MOSES. YOU HAVE GOT TO READ THIS. "Serpentes on a Shippe", by Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog.FRIGGIN' BRILLIANT.P.S. When I read about Steve Irwin in the paper this morning, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry (and I immediately called Katie to talk about it). The man had survived ridiculously

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04633871907076984715noreply@blogger.com0