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On 8/12/05 10:02 AM, in article
, "Scott Seidman" wrote: "Wolfgang" wrote in : "Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... "Wolfgang" wrote in : Having just read fifteen pages of the most powerful and humbling prose I have ever set eyes on, ... Are you rereading "Jaws" then? That book makes me tear up, too. Nah, nothing as quotidian as that. "Jonathan Livingston Seagull." It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea. A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water. and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning.... Wolfgang bach rocks. The epigraph of my dissertation is from Moby Dick "The weaver-god, he weaves; and by that weaving is he deafened, that he hears no mortal voice; and by that humming, we, too, who look on the loom are deafened; and only when we escape it shall we hear the thousand voices that speak through it. For even so it is in all material factories. The spoken words that are inaudible among the flying spindles; those same words are plainly heard without the walls, bursting from the opened casements. Thereby have villainies been detected. Ah, mortal! then, be heedful; for so, in all this din of the great world's loom, thy subtlest thinkings may be overheard afar." Did you get marked down for that? I mean, that's all about hearing and listening and speaking, not torsional eye movement! :-) B ps. You still planning a trip down here this fall? Should I enquire with our TU if we can have you come give your talk? |
"Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... The epigraph of my dissertation is from Moby Dick "The weaver-god, he weaves; and by that weaving is he deafened, that he hears no mortal voice; and by that humming, we, too, who look on the loom are deafened; and only when we escape it shall we hear the thousand voices that speak through it. For even so it is in all material factories. The spoken words that are inaudible among the flying spindles; those same words are plainly heard without the walls, bursting from the opened casements. Thereby have villainies been detected. Ah, mortal! then, be heedful; for so, in all this din of the great world's loom, thy subtlest thinkings may be overheard afar." A fascinating metaphor.....for a number of reasons. First, of course, is the fact that it works brilliantly. Then there is the historical significance; power looms were on the cutting edge of mid-19th century technology.....as the computer is in our own day. Makes one wonder if, a hundred and fifty years from now, the gee-whiz boxes on our desks will be as quaint (and largely ignored or forgotten by most of the world) as the still vibrant weaving industry is today. Interestingly, such metaphors had pretty much the same power to illustrate and bolster a simplistic mechanistic view of the universe then as they do to this day.....witness the brain as computer and DNA as code models. Even more delicious, the computer as we know it is a more or less lineal descendant of those fabulous (if somewhat more boisterous) engineering marvels. Various schemes and devices for controlling complex patterns in the making of textiles were important precursors in the development of mechanical computation machines which in turn were instrumental in the genesis of their electronic descendants. And then there is the applicability of that final cautionary sentence. :) Wolfgang |
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"Wolfgang" wrote in
: "The weaver-god, he weaves; and by that weaving is he deafened, that he hears no mortal voice; and by that humming, we, too, who look on the loom are deafened; and only when we escape it shall we hear the thousand voices that speak through it. For even so it is in all material factories. The spoken words that are inaudible among the flying spindles; those same words are plainly heard without the walls, bursting from the opened casements. Thereby have villainies been detected. Ah, mortal! then, be heedful; for so, in all this din of the great world's loom, thy subtlest thinkings may be overheard afar." A fascinating metaphor.....for a number of reasons. Each time I read it, I get more out of it. The weaver-god likens to the concept of the Great Engineer type god brought about through Cartesian philosophy. It took Darwin to really start putting an end to more mystic philosophies. Melville comes along and starts writing about the weaver god about 15 years after the Beagle (another ship on a different quest), but a tad before the Origin of Species. One wonders if Darwinism was leaking out already, and if it influenced Melville. Of course, the industrial rev is driving this as well. The next interesting part is that this weaver god is deafened by his own devine actions. God might be great, but he doesn't have the wherewithal to hear our pitiful whinings far below the pitch of his more celestial mechinations. When we "look upon the loom", we, too, are deafened. Very interesting, on its own, that we suffer from the same problem as the Divine. But what is "looking on the loom"? I've always thought of it as man's quest for understanding (which is why I thought this appropriate for an epigraph), but there's likely thousands of ways to interpret this. How, then, can one escape from the loom to hear the voices? Is this possible? Is it like the uncertainty princple-- by looking at it, do we change it? Apparently, the voices can be freed by tearing down the walls. Again, interesting in its own right, but also telling that Melville tells us how we mortals can hear the voices (can you see the fnords??), but doesn't tell us whether the weaver-god will ever hear the voices, or what he needs to do to hear the voices. Also, what happens once the voices are freed? Do things become better? Do we know or understand more? Well--"villianies are detected"! Is this a good thing? Are "villianies" underlying everything that is? Are we better off not even trying to look at what's on or beyond or underneath the loom, and just accept whatever the weaver-god weaves for us (or around us)? As far as the fishing literature goes, Moby Dick is at the top of my list. -- Scott Reverse name to reply |
On 8/12/05 11:26 AM, in article
, "Scott Seidman" wrote: William Claspy wrote in news:BF2228DB.A694% : Did you get marked down for that? I mean, that's all about hearing and listening and speaking, not torsional eye movement! :-) B ps. You still planning a trip down here this fall? Should I enquire with our TU if we can have you come give your talk? Tell me you didn't run down the hall and pull the dissertation off the shelf!! We got 'em all (well, not *all* of them, but a lot of them...) digitized, so it was a mere click-click-click. Didn't even have to get off my lazy bum and go downstairs! :-) And actually, it is of course cataloged, so anyone could have gone to our OPAC and done an author search for Seidman, Scott and boom, there it is. Or to be more accurate, there they are- your masters thesis is in the catalog as well (though not, apparently, important enough to be digitized ;-) Let me see if I can wangle a fall talk w/ BME, and I'll get back to you Great! Bill |
William Claspy wrote in
: We got 'em all (well, not *all* of them, but a lot of them...) digitized, so it was a mere click-click-click. Didn't even have to get off my lazy bum and go downstairs! :-) Those *******s, going digital. That was the time that laserprinters with the type of access you needed to print out a dissertation were a big deal, and getting the damn thing copied for archiving costed an arm and a leg. Well, at least I didn't need to type the damn thing. I swear, I know people who I suspect got married just so they could have someone to type their dissertion for free. -- Scott Reverse name to reply |
"Frank Reid" wrote in message ... I know, this should be over on the tying group, but this group is a bit more active. What tying vise do you use? If you could buy a new one tomorrow, what would it be? I'll start: Use the Danvise (original Danica, not Orvis) Want to buy a Norvise. I own a Renzetti Presentation......I want nothing more. Avoid the NorVise like the plague......... Tom -- Frank Reid Euthanize to respond |
"Thomas Littleton" wrote in
news:XiuLe.1050$MH1.800@trndny01: "Frank Reid" wrote in message I'll start: Use the Danvise (original Danica, not Orvis) Want to buy a Norvise. I own a Renzetti Presentation......I want nothing more. Avoid the NorVise like the plague......... Tom ....and I own a Renzetti Traveler with cam, ditto on want nothing more. Frank Sr. ....well maybe a Shania Twain blow up doll. :-)) |
...and I own a Renzetti Traveler with cam, ditto on want nothing more. Frank Sr. ...well maybe a Shania Twain blow up doll. :-)) that speaks to a vice more than a vise....... Tom |
George Cleveland wrote: On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 13:38:55 -0400, "Frank Reid" wrote: I know, this should be over on the tying group, but this group is a bit more active. What tying vise do you use? If you could buy a new one tomorrow, what would it be? I'll start: Use the Danvise (original Danica, not Orvis) Want to buy a Norvise. Griffin 2A. Cheap and works for me. g.c. Ditto for me too, George. Had mine for ages, and I've gotten rid of my other vise. Any word on what the Montana Rotary is like? MB// |
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