Россия приближается

Ура! Всё готово для моего русского путешествия. Я прилечу в Петербург на 9-ое июня и уеду из Владивостокa около 5-ого июля.

I will be out of the country for about 5 weeks. I will post updates here when I have time.

(approximate) itinerary:
Frankfurt June 4-9
St Petersburg June 9-16
Novgorod, Suzdal, Omsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok...? June 16-July 5
Seoul July 5-10

10 000 colours to paint the world

Communication has never been easy. The laws of nature ensure that every creature lives its life alone; science fiction and romance novels aside, we've never managed to share our sentiments directly. The only information we transmit naturally and effortlessly is our DNA sequence (and try using that in a high school essay!). Yet somehow our ancestors found a way to bridge the canyon of soulless molecules that divides us, with a hundred subtle ways to make manifest the invisible thoughts and feelings that dwell among our neurons. We developed muscle patterns that convey our moods; written and spoken language to preserve and propagate ethereal concepts; and all the arts of humanity to edify our five senses. As much as I prize scientific and literary scholarship, I know that its depth and richness pales next to the ancient arts of interpersonal communication.

Of all our subtle skills, language is our highest achievement. A well-chosen phrase can be more sublime than a Chopin, more moving than a Monet, more powerful than a Panzer. We have millions of words at our disposal, each one imbued with unique life by minutes or millenia of use. Over many generations, useful and meaningful words are remembered and useless words are forgotten, so as long as we remember our language, we have all the wisdom of our ancestors at our command. It is also democratic in the truest sense--it exists and evolves in the minds and mouths of everyday people, and it defies the tightest centralized control. Speak true, loud, and clear, and the future will hear you.

For all that, language is more than just a means for storing and transmitting information. Each sentence is a tiny piece of music, and each conversation, a rich symphony of syllables. We choose our words, consciously or unconsciously, to be the most pleasing to the ear. Each dialect and language has its own rhythmic and melodic structure, but they are all beautiful in their own way. Language is meaning and melody combined--the ultimate art form.

At least, if you have someone to talk to...

Closed set

Today I put everything I own in this world into one room and sorted it. Passing judgement on the artifacts of your past definitely leads to some soul-searching.

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm willing to bare my soul to the world, but there are limits.

4-bit philosophy

Socr470: so we've got 2 ruling powrs: 1 intellectual, 1 visible. OK?

Glocky: OK

Socr470: now cut them into unequal parts wrt clear & unclear. Visible & clear is images & shadows & reflections. OK?

Glocky: OK yeah

Socr470: and visible & unclear is animals we see & everything that grows or is made

Glocky: great

Socr470: now don't u think both sections are sort of true in their own way and copy & original are like opinion & knowledge?

Glocky: for sure

Socr470: next look at how the intellectual spher is divided

Glocky: how's that?

Socr470: 2 subdivisions again: in lower one the soul uses figures of former division as images. this is only hypothetical. in upper division, hypotheses come only from principles & ideas not images

Glocky: what?

Socr470: OK, I'll back up. u know that math is based on odd/even numbers, angles, etc. mathematicians start at these hypotheses and get to a final concl

Glocky: yeh, of course

Socr470: & u know they use visible forms but really think in ideas. they try to see the real image from the reflection

Glocky: OK

Socr470: this is intel sphere. but we need hypotheses--we can't use first principles but need to use objects whose reflections are below. objects are more distinct than their refl so more valuable.

Glocky: got it. you mean geometry etc

Socr470: the other intellectual division is pure reason based on dialectic. it uses hypotheses to find the first principle of the whole without using any objects. just successive ideas

OK so let's say these 4 divisions are 4 faculties of the soul: intelligence highest, then reason, belief, and last is perception of illusion. each faculty has clearness the way their object has truth

Glocky: yeah OK, that makes sense

Cold comfort

On lean afternoons, four pieces fly apart. Throughout and soft, they bring composers glory, leaving others cold. This champion of Homer, never still, gently strokes a baby's cheek yet cuts a striking figure down to size.

By nature's airy messenger we share each breath, each yawn, each shout, each sigh. Who could ask for more?