Science

Ice

the coffee philosopher Science, Science Fiction and Fantasy

Ice is considered a sort of lost classic and it didn’t disappoint. Technically science fiction in a post-apocalyptic mode, it takes place after an event (probably man made, but the unnamed protagonist honestly does not know for sure) results in a quickly creeping ice age enveloping the earth, constantly narrowing the band of habitable land and resulting in civil breakdown, wars for ever more scarce resources and the rise of local warlords.

The protagonist is obsessed with a girl with pale skin and nearly white hair who has known since she was a child. Abused in some way, she is drawn to abusive men. The protagonist, it is made clear, is probably no more than the best of a bad bunch.

The tone is stark and nameless (no names of people nor countries) and matched by the first person narration of a soldier for hire who is driven by his obsession/love/nostalgia for this mostly unattainable woman (partly because she is often kept by more violent and powerful men than he).

I hate to use this term, but I kept on thinking of this as Kafkaesque. The lack of definite names and quest for something close, but unattainable and also incomprehensible.

Great book. Really. Great.

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‘Essays Towards A Theory Of Knowledge’ By Alexander Philip

the coffee philosopher Philosophy, Science

While a respected public intellectual in his day (the early twentieth century), he’s certainly not someone anyone would recognize today as being a top tier epistemologist, metaphysician, nor thinker. Which would probably come as a surprise to Mr. Philip, who clearly felt that he had hit upon some excellent truths, whose veracity was easy to see once he’d made his thinly supported assertions clear.

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The Marsh At The End Of The World

the coffee philosopher Science

I don’t really have much to add or say, I just thought that this was a wonderful and painfully elegiac piece of ‘scientific pastoral’ about the decay of coastal marshes.

‘The Marsh at the End of the World,’ by Elizabeth Rush, printed in Guernica

The Sunday Paper – Shuffling The Tarot Deck

the coffee philosopher Economics, History, Literature, Poetry, Science Leave a comment

Economic model or astrological tool?

Economic model or astrological tool?

Economists use ‘mathiness’ to disguise their astrologies.

Old fashioned literary hate mail is the best literary hate mail. Today’s internet trolls just can’t compare to the greats of the genre.

We just don’t make good polymaths anymore.

The Sunday Paper – Kung Fu!

the coffee philosopher Art, Cinema, History, Literature, Science, Theater Leave a comment

14.-D.A.-Jasper_Two-Champions-of-Death-652x1024Did you know that there was a tradition in Africa of hand painted posters for martial arts movies? Me neither. But now I want one.

Reinventing Shakespeare(‘s book covers).

The Etruscan language is nearly lost and much of their culture a mystery, so, while this stele is not a Rosetta Stone, it is something rather big.

On a related noted (in that it’s also a question of archaeology), some folks were tipped off on the location of a second Viking settlement in the New World by some photographs taken from outer space. Actually, I hadn’t realized we’d only found one Viking settlement. Honestly, because their presence in North America has been known for so long, I’d just assumed it was more widespread. And it might have been widespread, but this is the first evidence that were was more than one (semi-)permanent settlement.

The fine folks at DCist have compiled a list of the best used and independent bookstores in the District. Of course, with the closure of the downtown Barnes & Noble, there are only used and indie bookstores in DC: not a chain in sight. And I appreciate this list acknowledging the truly magnificent poetry selection at Bridge Street Books.

 

Midweek Staff Meeting: Vinteuil

the coffee philosopher Literature, Music, Philosophy, Science, Science Fiction and Fantasy Leave a comment

According this fellow, the Saint-Saens sonata above if the little piece by ‘Vinteuil’ that so inspired Swann and Odette. I’d read it was something by Franck, but this a nice piece… so whatever.

Make yourself feel bad with personality tests.

Fredric Jameson has really gotten into the philosophy of SF lately.

I feel like album covers, maybe, used to be cooler.

Weekend Reading: Community

the coffee philosopher Art, DC, History, Science Leave a comment

IMG_4342It’s an old argument and can frankly get boring, but it also has some merit. The sense of community created by people sitting on their stoops and front porches and interacting with their neighbors. While that’s hurt by the increase in apartment buildings and condos, our city frankly needs more and denser housing (it also needs a lot more affordable housing, but that’s another matter – but, in any case, more single family homes are almost certainly not the answer to the problem) But lest you think I’m some sort of grinch, I think this ‘mobile stoop’ is a great idea.

At the end of a terrifyingly claustrophic passage… a treasure trove of fossils and a new hominid. But I’m getting the willies just thinking about getting stuck in the narrow chute.

The destruction of a ruin is like the desecration of a body. It is a vengeance wreaked on the past in order to embitter the future. And how often it is that those who destroy ruins are the same ones who desecrate bodies.