Tuesday, August 17. 2010
The old saw about Eskimos having 40 words for different kinds of snow is an urban myth, but it is true that English is impoverished in its language for attachments.
In Psychoanalysis, we talk about "attachments" to try to keep it simple and clear. Then we add an adjective to specify.
I recently got on this topic in a consultation with a fellow who was torn up and confused about his love for his wife of 38 years and his exciting relationship with a woman at work.
"Cupid is mischievous," said I, "and he never rests. He especially loves to target guys, but making trouble, creating restlessness, and making even grown people go crazy is his game." I said "Love and desire are not zero-sum games, and, besides there are many kinds of love which coexist all the time."
I explained to him the various forms of love for which the ancient Greeks had useful names, but wiki does a better job with it:
Greek distinguishes several different senses in which the word "love" is used. For example, Ancient Greek has the words philia, eros, agape, storge, and xenia. However, with Greek (as with many other languages), it has been historically difficult to separate the meanings of these words totally. At the same time, the Ancient Greek text of the Bible has examples of the verb agapo having the same meaning as phileo.
Agape (????? agáp?) means love in modern-day Greek. The term s'agapo means I love you in Greek. The word agapo is the verb I love. It generally refers to a "pure," ideal type of love, rather than the physical attraction suggested by eros. However, there are some examples of agape used to mean the same as eros. It has also been translated as "love of the soul."
Eros (???? ér?s) (from the Greek deity Eros) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Greek word erota means in love. Plato refined his own definition. Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. Eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth. Lovers and philosophers are all inspired to seek truth by eros. Some translations list it as "love of the body."
Philia (????? philía), a dispassionate virtuous love, was a concept developed by Aristotle. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality, and familiarity. Philia is motivated by practical reasons; one or both of the parties benefit from the relationship. It can also mean "love of the mind."
Storge (?????? storg?) is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring.
Xenia (????? xenía), hospitality, was an extremely important practice in Ancient Greece. It was an almost ritualized friendship formed between a host and his guest, who could previously have been strangers. The host fed and provided quarters for the guest, who was expected to repay only with gratitude. The importance of this can be seen throughout Greek mythology—in particular, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
(There was also this thing called Platonic Love, a notion which entailed the idea of a sublimation of ordinary Eros to a love of the divine and the sublime.)
The fellow concluded that he could keep some of his philia and storge for his wife, but that he needed more eros before he got older. He thanked me profusely for the conversation, overpaid his bill (doubled it), and I never saw him again.
My work is mostly never so quick and easy.
Image is Caravaggio's Cupid.
Small plate dining seems to be all the rage these days. I like it. I am not the sort who can, or who likes to, eat 8 lbs. of food at the Outback Steakhouse.
Most middle-aged people do not eat, or want to eat, as much as they used to - most of the time. We just want it to be tasty, and we like variety.
Sushi was always small plates, and tapas were too. However, now it's taking over in all nice restaurants. It doesn't have to be just appetizers: you can make a meal of them. Gael Greene picked up on the trend in 2008.
Like Bird Dog, I have had small plate Venetian dinners in New York, also small plate Turkish, Indian, and northern Italian and, of course, many small plate dinners of tapas and sushi. I'm not sure whether American cooking, whatever it is, lends itself to the small and tasty format.
Article at The American.
It often requires a Left-wing government to re-clarify the issues. A quote:
The American people, the property-owning majority, even in this time of economic distress, seem to be embracing instead a culture of independence, a culture as old as the republic itself.
and
Tocqueville pointed to another danger as well, the danger of what he called “soft despotism,” in which a seemingly benevolent government would channel citizens into docile obedience like a herd of sheep. But that danger seemed distant, even to Tocqueville, in an America whose dominant and more populist party, Andrew Jackson’s Democrats, opposed government spending on public works projects and feared the power of a central bank.
I've been doing this online gig for 20 years, and everywhere I turn it's the same old complaint:
Never enough recipes!
Well, alrighty then!
Doc's Surprise Spaghetti
 This is a fabulous trick to play on your friends. They'll sit there raving over the sauce, convinced they've had it before, but they just can't qui-i-i-ite place it.
See picture.
The recipe:
— Use 1-to-1 ratio, Manwich Original Sloppy Joe Sauce to pure tomato sauce
— Include all usual spaghetti stuff
— Serve while piping hot!
The Sloppy Joe by itself is a bit strong, so it needs to be watered down with the pure stuff. It goes especially well if you're including meatballs since it's designed as a hamburger meat sauce from the get-go. What makes it fun is that it's already pretty close to 'real' spaghetti sauce, and in context — on top of spaghetti noodles — one really wants to believe it's a 'real' spaghetti sauce — but it's just different enough that you know it's not.
Extra Points: If someone actually has the light bulb go off and suddenly says "Sloppy Joe??", look them dead in the eye and go, "Huh?" They'll immediately back down, embarrassed by their wild supposition.
Mrs. Willis' Secret Hot Dog Sauce
This is a hand-me-down. It's kind of the hot dog version of "sweet & sour sauce". Ultra-scrumptious.
This is based on beef or pork franks; not sure how it'd go with turkey, etc. Goes best with real hot dog buns.
 The recipe:
— Slit hot dogs lengthwise, fry in skillet
— Pour enough ketchup into cup to heavily slather dogs
— Mix in two teaspoons of white sugar for per half-cup of ketchup
— Mix in 1/4 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce per half-cup
— Mix in three or four drops of Tabasco sauce per half-cup
— After dogs are cooked, turn down to low and slather on sauce. Turn dogs, let simmer in sauce, slather back side, turn again. Let simmer for 3 or 4 minutes per side so sugars will caramelize
— Start buns toasting in oven
— Place dogs on plate or buns, spoon the remaining sauce from the pan onto dogs
— Blow everybody's mind
Serve with Tater Tots and maybe some green beans or baked beans. Goes extra well with Coke and BBQ chips.
Bon appetit!
Toddlers commonly swing their sippy cups in a motion resembling swinging a beer stein. So, I thought, it would be a fun and lucrative invention to market a baby beer stein sippy cup.
The mothers I talked to didn't think it near as much fun as did the fathers, and we all know who rules the high chair. The closest photo I could find of my idea was this one, for seniors. The one I had in mind would have been fancier.
As usual, mothers had it correct, if only because the joke might have been taken more seriously. This mother in Florida learned that lesson, the hard way, due to posting a photo on her facebook of her baby with a bong. The mother was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, not for child abuse.
In any event, if you want my invention, you're welcome to it.
Bruce Walker's Poor Lenin's Almanac. We have linked many of his American Thinker posts.
In the final analysis, people's ignorance about electrical usage is one of the great tragedies of our time.
That is, if you consider broken homes a 'tragedy'.
Mom and Dad and the two kids go out for hamburgers. They have a great time; as fun a time as any family could wish to have.
They wheel into the driveway, Dad sees that Jimmy left his bedroom light on and explodes. "I've told you a thousand times! That's it! I've had it!"
A horrible fight ensues, with the mother caught in the middle, trying to protect her son from the father's wrath, yet agreeing that the son's extravagant waste of the family's money demands severe punishment.
The rest of the evening is spent with the son sulking, the father in an angry mood, and the mother on the edge of tears. Last night it was her turn because she left the dining room light on when they went across the street to visit with the neighbors for an hour.
After the one thousandth time, the father has had enough and decides to leave these money-wasting losers. Or, tiring of his rage, she does. Or little Jimmy runs away when he's 16 and is found dead from a heroin overdose two months later in New York City.
Just another American family tragedy.
Happens all the time.
The light little Jimmy left on is a 60-watt desk lamp.
Watts means "per hour", so that means Jimmy's light consumes 60 watts of energy in one hour. The family was gone for two hours, so little Jimmy's despicable thoughtlessness wasted 120 watts.
A "kilowatt" is how electricity is measured and paid for. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts. Therefore, to get kilowatts, you divide the watts by 1,000. So, the 120 watts that little Jimmy so blatantly wasted is .12 kilowatt.
One kilowatt generally costs about ten cents.
At ten cents per kilowatt, that's $.012 that little Jimmy wasted that dark and fateful night. The last night, it turned out, that the family was to ever eat a happy meal together.
$.012 is just over one penny.
Continue reading "Electrical Usage: A tragedy of ignorance"
 Regular News
Well, I feel a little guilty that I didn't partake in any of that good old-fashioned Maggie's Farm-style California bashin' yesterday, so let's get right to the good stuff:
How Arnold Schwarzenegger's California dream soured
Californians now cursed by all humanity
Times so bad California lawyers only getting $10/hr
California women now have triple the nation's fat rate
In unrelated news, New York state is now forcing DWI drivers to install a device on their car that forces them to pass a breath test before it'll start:
Blowing more than a .025 percent blood-alcohol content -- less than a third of the legal limit -- will make the car go haywire. The horn starts honking and the car's speakers emit a high-pitched shriek that, according to state probation director Robert Maccarone, "increases in volume until it's intolerable -- you'll have to pull over to the side and stop the car."
Failing an immediate follow-up test then locks the ignition.
The law requires the devices even in the family cars of drunk drivers, meaning that spouses will have to submit to the same tests.
Exit questions:
— How much does it cost to have an emergency road service come out and unlock the ignition?
— How much will the first family sue for when someone's car breaks down on a lonely road in the snow and they freeze to death because the car wouldn't start because the system malfunctioned? Or it locked the ignition because of the (A) breath mint the person was sucking on, (B) unique medicine they were taking, not to mention the (C) swig of whiskey they took for warmth?
The pic: Some guy mapped out a road course that would spell out the message and then turned his car's GoogleMaps GPS tracking device on when he hit those stretches. Not only a damn clever idea and great implementation, but, given that, not a bad message, either. I loved Anthem.
Turning our attention to some serious issues (yes, I know it's a shocking change), here are a few I've filed away:
Is Obama Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Arab and Muslim World?
Giant Mecca clock seeks to call time on Greenwich
Related:
10 Things You Must Know About Malware
Hold on a sec...
It worked! I did it!
I just invented a time machine that can reach 10 years into the future and snatch a headline from the New York Times. It can only work once, so let's hope it's a good one!
BZZHZHHZGHZZZTTZT!!
Axe falls on ObamaCare services
Well, at least it's still ten years away.
A lot of columns have some kind of "Life imitates..." feature. Usually '...the Onion', not coincidentally. Well, if you have a few minutes to read some silly humor (Glenn Reynolds once linked to it so it can't be that bad), I've got one of my own:
Life Imitates Dr. Mercury's Wildest Hyperbole
First read this.
Then look at the title of this.
Political News
Obama and daughter take plunge, swim in gulf
Great tool for the places wheere you cannot take a tractor. It's the 17 HP, and it will shred a 2" sapling with ease. Here's the DR site.
Can you name year and make of the truck?
Monday, August 16. 2010
Our editor recently remind me of Steven Pinker's 2002 book, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. From an Amazon review:
His fundamental message is: Yes, Virginia, there is a human nature. People of all cultures are born with a host of inborn predispositions - to acquire language and music, to favor kin over strangers, to desire sex and to be ashamed of it, to value even trades and to punish cheaters, and dozens more. Our common nature springs from our common biology; it is not very malleable, and it is not "socially constructed." Cultural diversity is marvelous, but it is all a variation on an immutable theme; and there have never been any human cultures free of war, of greed, or of prescribed gender roles. (Any more than there have ever been any free of conflict resolution techniques, altruism, and shared parenting.)
His secondary theme is that the differences between people, so much smaller than what we have in common, are also primarily biologically determined. A juggernaut of data has finally put the nature/nurture controversy to rest, at least from a scientific standpoint, and the final score is pretty much nature one, nurture zero. Fifty to seventy percent of the variation between individuals - in intelligence, in personality, in political leanings, or just about any other mental character you care to name - derives from the genes; zero to ten percent derives from the home environment; and the mysterious remainder is due to chance or to non-parental environment.
We have been conditioned in recent decades to think of both these contentions as shocking...
Shocking only to those with a Marxist agenda, "the new man" and all that nonsense. Pinker's book reaffirms what everybody's Grandma knows.
While on its surface the late Michael Crichton's book State of Fear was a damning exposé of the global warming hoax, the underlying message was how thrilled the news agencies are with the thought of dangling this delicious fear over our heads. The more you fear the devastation global warming will bring, the more you'll go back to their news sites for further information. And, presumably, while you're there, click on an ad banner and buy something. Unquestionably, the two biggest pushers over recent years have been Fox News and ABC News.
Say, speaking of terrible fears, how 'bout that horrible Swine Flu Pandemic? Pretty much wiped out entire continents with that baby, eh? But, thankfully, those days of worry and "Am I next?" are behind us:
August 11: WHO Declares End to Swine Flu Pandemic
Remember that day, folks. August 11th, a day that will live in history as the day we were finally freed from the shackles of pandemic fear. We're free! Free!
Scientists Find New Superbug Spreading From India
A new superbug could spread around the world after reaching Britain from India - in part because of medical tourism - and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it. — Fox News, August 11
Identified Gene May Bring on New Superbug
British researchers reported that the new gene, called NDM-1, can be easily be transferred into common bacteria such as E. Coli. The gene alters bacteria, making them resistant to nearly all known antibiotics. — ABC News, August 11
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Worth sending to kids and grandkids. This from Judith Cone's Open Letter to Students, via Minding the Campus. One quote:
I experience the hunger in the world for the privilege of creating jobs through entrepreneurship, and then I return to the United States, where I see something that troubles me.
Some students and professors reject business as a morally responsible way to spend one's life. The issue I have is not that some people would rather work in the public sector (government) or the social sector (nonprofit work), but that they assign a higher moral calling to these two sectors than to the private sector (business).
As a college student, you are attempting to gain the knowledge, skills, networks, and inspiration to live a happy, productive, and meaningful life. I like to think of each of you as one unit of creative potential. Looking at it this way means that faculty members are more than dispensers of knowledge. They are guides along your journey, teaching the subjects, passing along beliefs and biases, hopefully inspiring you, and challenging you, to consider the types of people you will become.
Some professors attempt to influence you toward those biases. Some think dismissively of business, for instance, as if society would be better off without it, or they assign pernicious motivations to those who lead businesses. Throughout history, social experiments to this end have failed. Every day, these professors use and benefit from the products and services of business: Google, bookstores, clothing, transportation, and the local coffee shop. They fail to differentiate between business leaders and dismiss the whole sector as greedy, uncaring, and destructive. Yet, even with much evidence of greed and wrongdoing in the public and social sectors, that same categorical condemnation is not present.
The whole letter here. I have seen that anti-business bias often, and it always confuses me because most of what we have and do in this life is thanks to the effort and risk of business folks and the people they employ.
From an economic standpoint, non-profits, government, academia, and even professional people like me are parasitic to the big engine of free enterprise.
I think they look down on it because they know that they are beholden to it, and that makes them feel ashamed. I think it's similar to the effete attitudes towards our military.
 Regular News
Picture: For one million dollars, guess the venue the picture was taken for.
Finally! You all know how I like to start off with a little good news, and today is no exception. While country after country slowly degenerates into an unrecognizable morass of moral decay, one brave nation is stepping up to the plate and putting an end to wantonness and disregard for social convention:
Kissing in cars, feeding stray cats and building sandcastles all banned in Italy
Italy considers banning 80-year-old drivers
So that takes care of those pesky little problems.
When it comes to global warming, two nations are making strides that America might consider emulating:
Belgian undertakers plan to dissolve dead and flush them into sewage system
All new homes to run on green power by 2016
Say, speaking of global warming, you know who's been missing from the debate? We've got your NASA and NOAA and IPCC, your Popular Science and Scientific American and the rest of the loony tunes, the fervent race between Fox News and ABC News as to who can push it the hardest, but it wasn't until I saw an article by these people that I realized there's a key player out there who we all instinctively know and trust:
The National Geographic.
And here they are weighing in now:
Oyster Herpes: Latest Symptom of Global Warming?
So it's good to know they're playing a key role in the debate.
The next time you stay at a fancy hotel, you might think about paying cash:
Where Your Credit Card is Most Likely to Be Stolen
Actually, the best advice is to have two credit cards, one for regular use and one that you keep almost empty for such things as online purchases and trips. Most banks have instant online transfers between accounts these days, so if you suddenly want to order something online that costs some bucks, one quick transfer and you're ready.
Well, the first pictures of the new Miss USA contestants are in. (pictured above: Miss Connecticut Ashley Bickford from the above photo shoot, #13)
Not that I pay any attention to beauty contests, but it does seem like things have changed over the years.
Miss Universe Organization Slammed for Contestants' Topless Photo Shoot
Political News
Bo brings a dogged optimism to White House
Ten years ago we sat with a good pal, now deceased, and his wife on the porch of his golf club, sipping after-dinner single malts and smoking Cubans. And watching the Hummingbird Moths who were all over the solid planting of pink Cleome below the porch.
One of those magical moments. There are other reasons to plant annuals like Cleome, but those moths at dusk are the best reason. Here's a pic of one from Gardener's Index hovering over a Cleome:
Sunday, August 15. 2010
I presented the case for an amendment to the Constitution to restrict birthright citizenship.
I've been considering another post to address the objections raised by some conservative commentators. Paul Mirengoff of PowerLine has done just that. I'd only add to what Paul has written that, as seen with the just passed additional $600-million for border controls and Justice Department backup, this is just a small incremental and complete control, were it possible, would take many more tens of $billions per year. The Amendment would save much of that, as well as much of the tens of $billions per year taxpayers are spending on birthright citizens.
If Elvis Presley were still alive, he’d be 75. If you weren’t there, it may be hard to believe what a shocking and refreshing tonic Elvis was to the 1950’s, not only his melodic voice that reached into our hearts but his sexuality. The nation tuned in to the Ed Sullivan Show every Sunday night for the best variety of entertainers in the world. It was a compromise of the times, that didn’t last long, that Elvis’ wiggles were not seen on Ed’s show. Here’s a medley of Elvis classics from 1957 on Ed Sullivan.
Here’s Elvis in one of his hit movies, 1957's Jailhouse Rock. (Notice the early pole dancing.)
A decade later, the Beatles ruled. But, Elvis Presley is always the King. In 1968 Elvis was on the comeback trail, performing his Love Me Tender, one of his best to express our longings. The Beetles came close but never matched the King.
Elvis became, was Las Vegas, as in this medley from his show in 1970.
By 1977 his excesses and addictions can be seen catching up to Elvis, as the King performed before the King of Greece. He loses the words to Are You Lonesome Tonight, which he prefaces with “I am and I was”, probably reflecting on his divorce from Pricilla after 5-years of marriage – whom he never stopped loving, and just hear Elvis’ voice singing “shall I come back again.” Elvis has never left us.
Elvis died on August 16, 1977. His fans haven’t forgotten him. He recorded 711 songs. Others have “covered” his songs, but none have ever captured the soul of the King and how he connected with each person individually in his audiences.
I recently met for consultation with a civil engineer who grew up in Romania under Ceausescu, in Budapest.
He walked in and said "I need somebody to talk to, but I have a few questions first." Typical engineer, to need data first.
"Shoot," I said.
"OK, first, are you Christian?"
"What's that got to do with it?" said I.
"You do not seem to understand me. I need to know, are you a Christian?"
"Yes," I replied.
"You have a Romanian Easter egg on your shelf."
"You are observant," I said. "Yes I do, a lovely gift."
"Are you a communist?"
"You seem to want to know more about me than I usually talk about, but no. Quite the opposite."
"OK then. I will feel at home here, and I will tell you my story."
The guy grew up under the Commies, and still has to vet anybody he confides in. My job is an amazing privilege. Not paranoid, just trained by the commies to distrust.
 A series of essays on modern motherhood at Boston Review, subtitled Stay-at-home mothering is bad for mothers, their kids, and women’s equality.
I read no article there about Apple Pie, but I may have missed it. The academic lingo is tough at first, but you can get the hang of it. Something called "Care Theory," which I think, in plain English, means not wanting to be a mom.
One of the essays is Time for Public Childcare. Surely that must be so moms are free - I mean liberated - from their annoying and demanding brats so they can golf and play tennis and be CEOs and have lunchtime affairs with the tennis pro.
How Obama plans to win the 2012 election. It's the demographics.
A re-post from a couple of years ago:
Across the pond, Mediocracy is often thinking about the sorts of things that we puzzle over. In this case, the tendency of people to expect governments to perfect the world. One quote from his piece on "Freedom To" vs. "Approval Of":
Another point of confusion for some libertarians, as for most others with enthusiastic views about the right way to run the world, is the false dichotomy between 'everything is fine' and 'collective action is required'. It is in fact possible to hold a third position, namely that:
(a) the world is imperfect
(b) a legal framework which upholds private agreements is a good thing, because it helps to exploit the benefits of exchange (this principle is usually abbreviated into 'free markets')
(c) specific market failures may require collective action (defence is definitely one; education and medicine definitely aren't; other putative market failures are a matter for debate)
(d) apart from providing a safety net, trying to address any other imperfection by means of government action is to be avoided, if for no other reason than that it invariably involves some form of coercion.
There is a tremendous psychological pressure in contemporary society to jump from 'something less than ideal is happening' to 'the state must intervene'. In fact, it is more than a pressure, it has become an unconscious automatic connection.
Well, not an automatic connection for me. Despite all of the accumulated evidence to the contrary, many insist on that "hope" the hope that government can and will fix "it." And politicians are more than happy to exploit that, because accumulating power tends to be their "unconscious automatic connection."
I heard it yesterday from somebody at lunch: "Bush doesn't care that we're in a recession." I noted (to myself) that this nice Liberal lady was assuming 1. that how much Bush emotes matters and 2. that a President could control international markets if he only chose to do do. I elected to move on to other subjects.
California, 7/31:
 Statistics-wise, I think this (Sunday, middle of August) is supposed to be the deadest day of the year on the blogs so I'm not going to burn up any of my single links, just make a few suggestions.
Neal Boortz — If you're into political blog sites, you really have to put this guy on your daily rounds. Stop by his site after 9 am when he quits blogging and goes on the air. He's unlike anybody else out there, and many of his predictions are dead-on balls accurate.
Linkiest —This eclectic links site deserves a once-a-day stop.
Cracked — I only mention this site in particular because there are a lot of wannabe parody and satire sites out there, but these guys remain the best.
Google News Directory — This is a collection of news agencies around the world, sorted by directory. A good link to stash to the side.
Doc's Bag O' Links — And if you're really hungry for unusual sites, check out the great readers' suggestions at the bottom of this post.
Luke 12:49-56. Tough words from the Prince of Peace.
12:49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
12:50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!
12:51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
12:52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;
12:53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
12:54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens.
12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens.
12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
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