tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post8698465744511528532..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Rollin' Into a Strange Attractor With a Tiger in My Tummy (1.06.11)Gagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-87195033293924490322008-09-28T09:23:00.000-07:002008-09-28T09:23:00.000-07:00dumbassymouse said "Gagdad or the dumb ass who o.....dumbassymouse said "Gagdad or the dumb ass who o..."<BR/>Clue, you don't have to rely on your intellect to figure out who you're talking to (scary thought, er?) - see the blue link by the <I>name</I>? Click it.<BR/><BR/>"GO BACK TO SCHOOL!"<BR/>Clue, what you learned in school wasn't an education. Get one.<BR/><BR/>"...ASE USE WORDS YOU CAN UNDE..."<BR/><BR/>I think it was a very wise move, switching from profanity to all caps, that improved the substance of your comments so much. Looking forward to your next ASSertion.<BR/><BR/>Still laughing.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11242635376771559702008-09-28T00:34:00.000-07:002008-09-28T00:34:00.000-07:00Gagdad or the dumb ass who or whom tried to act sm...Gagdad or the dumb ass who or whom tried to act smart by writting that stupid crap! GO BACK TO SCHOOL! You are clearly the most retarded person who ever wrote about anything. NEXT TIME, PLEASE USE WORDS YOU CAN UNDERSTAND YOURSELF AND TAKE THAT DICTIONARY OFF YOUR LAP!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-69681406565247774612008-01-05T08:44:00.000-08:002008-01-05T08:44:00.000-08:00Van said:"A tradition I continue to delight and em...Van said:<BR/>"A tradition I continue to delight and embareass my kids with."<BR/><BR/>LOL! Mamina had several of those too. She would pull up next to some dude at a stoplight..... Ok, think early 1970s, big mustache, big hair, shirt open to the waist, adorned with multiple gold-chains Argentine hyper-macho.... in a Renault (called locally 'quatro latas' ie 4-tin-cans).<BR/>Tiny, 50something female with LARGE dog barking out window in a auto-trannie Valiant. Light would change, she would floor it & the poor dears would strip their gears while she made them eat dust.<BR/><BR/>This one was fun too: pay your own toll-fee & the one for the car behind you, speed away & watch while they go crazy trying to catch up see who you are.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-54100929389291079612008-01-05T08:34:00.000-08:002008-01-05T08:34:00.000-08:00Watching Potts' first performance will always be e...Watching Potts' first performance will always be etched in my mind because my dad showed it to me over Christmas, and it's only the third time in 40 years I've ever seen my dad with tears in his eyes. <BR/><BR/>One of most compelling parts of Potts' story is that he is somehow able to balance both humility and artistic excellence. Hopefully he stays that way.vogzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04777803276210863997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-88737770877976004302008-01-05T06:46:00.000-08:002008-01-05T06:46:00.000-08:00I gotta say I was quite impressed by Paul Potts al...I gotta say I was quite impressed by Paul Potts also when I saw his performance rebroadcast on Fox news of all places, and the only opera I ever liked before that was what Debass mentioned, with Bugs Bunny, et al.<BR/><BR/>Of course, I also love rock-opera.<BR/>The Who and Styx, most notably.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-38019819809444180432008-01-04T22:43:00.000-08:002008-01-04T22:43:00.000-08:00Speaking of Attractors...I call this "The Opera of...Speaking of Attractors...I call this <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thessalonians%204:16-18;&version=72" REL="nofollow">"The Opera of the White Rose".</A><BR/><BR/>Gotta fly now.NoMohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01100042056270224683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-64337612198313589512008-01-04T22:42:00.000-08:002008-01-04T22:42:00.000-08:00you are ahead by a centuryyou are ahead by a centuryAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-61847069673818994942008-01-04T22:16:00.001-08:002008-01-04T22:16:00.001-08:00Ximeze said "Valkyrie is the way to go, what with ...Ximeze said "Valkyrie is the way to go, what with the boobetta breastplate & all."<BR/><BR/>Yes on the Valkyrie's, but Madonna kind of ruined the "boobetta breastplate" look for me, she always struck me as <I>ugly</I> through and through.<BR/><BR/>"I'd have killed to get a chance to be there when a cop pulled the van over.........."<BR/><BR/>Heh... oddly enough, the couple times that happened, they let us go - I think we scared the poor troopers - that or flabergasted them; out on a lonely stretch of highway, they pull over a van and out stumbles what looked less like a rock band, than half a football team decked out in Rocker gear (except for one or two scrawny guys over the years, for some reason most of us were 6'+ and fairly rough looking. Lol, you play near a Marine base in spandex, you'd better be!).<BR/><BR/>Speaking of the early musical memories, my Mom & Dad both did some musical theatre on the side when I was little, and strolled around the house singing opera or Camelot, Fantastiks, etc. For some reason the opera never took with me, but Camelot and the others... maybe because I could understand them. That, and driving to the beat!<BR/><BR/>Family trips meant Sinatra, Herb Alpert or the Carpenters, and during particularly snappy sections, my Dad would drive to the beat - a mix of gasHARD, brake, brake, swerve left, swerve right, GASSSSSSS, swerve, brake, brake....<BR/><BR/>A tradition I continue to delight and embareass my kids with.<BR/><BR/>;-)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-27232964999327523462008-01-04T22:16:00.000-08:002008-01-04T22:16:00.000-08:00Thanks debass, very kewlThanks debass, very kewlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-23250140003760341182008-01-04T21:57:00.000-08:002008-01-04T21:57:00.000-08:00My appreciation for opera and classical music star...My appreciation for opera and classical music started at a young age from watching Bugs Bunny and Walter Lantz cartoons. Actually, my mother was an opera singer. She was on off-coloratura. <BR/>Here is some great Carl Stalling music in case you were wondering where those cultural cliche sound effects come from.<BR/>http://www.amazon.com/Carl-Stalling-Project-Cartoons-1936-1958/dp/B000002LJEdebasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13546940741042023260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-87652168066949875412008-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:002008-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:00Magnus, since we seem to be on the same wavelength...Magnus, since we seem to be on the same wavelength today, this one's for you:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://robinstarfish.blogspot.com/2008/01/endangered-species-act.html" REL="nofollow">Endangered Species Act</A><BR/>life by lcd<BR/>trading imagination<BR/>for a pixel traprobinstarfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15665546554663005609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-8353218185977748052008-01-04T20:44:00.000-08:002008-01-04T20:44:00.000-08:00Vanster:Did'ja put on a horn-adorned helmet & brai...Vanster:<BR/><BR/>Did'ja put on a horn-adorned helmet & braids too?<BR/>Valkyrie is the way to go, what with the boobetta breastplate & all.<BR/><BR/>I'd have killed to get a chance to be there when a cop pulled the van over..........<BR/><BR/>Cuz must be out getting drunk, per usual. Had my 'don't taze me bro' & 'oh yea? well you're unevolved & your mother dresses you funny, so there!' all ready too.<BR/><BR/>SheeshAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-2721330269308312822008-01-04T20:32:00.000-08:002008-01-04T20:32:00.000-08:00Yea djadja, did you catch the smerk on the host-bi...Yea djadja, did you catch the smerk on the host-bimbet when PP said what he would sing?<BR/>Ya gotta be kidding, right? Spare me!<BR/><BR/>Got her square between her dripping eyes by the end too.<BR/><BR/>Loved that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-32916170250936126102008-01-04T19:45:00.000-08:002008-01-04T19:45:00.000-08:00Tsebring said "ximeze,agreed; listening to Wagner'...Tsebring said "ximeze,agreed; listening to Wagner's The Ring at 11 would surely wake the cretinous dead and loosen some plaster..."<BR/><BR/>I must confess to enjoying doing that for 1)my pleasure, and 2)if the band misbehaved and had the misfortune to be riding back from the gig in my van. Freaked them out, thrilled me - a true win-win situation. <BR/><BR/>For me.<BR/><BR/>Bwahhahahahahhhaaaaaaaaaaa!!!<BR/><BR/>(No Ximeze, I didn't miss the 'dullball' reference. I'm watching)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-66658516115277194022008-01-04T19:42:00.000-08:002008-01-04T19:42:00.000-08:00Thanks for the link, vogz. Hearing Paul Potts sing...Thanks for the link, vogz. Hearing Paul Potts sing the Nessun Dorma brought me and my wife to tears. It wasn’t just the music, beautiful and well performed as it was. It was the audience reaction. This was opera sung to an audience that came for pop music, and yet the whole audience was swept up into it. It was a grand manifestation of the human spirit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-46401266570324913272008-01-04T19:39:00.000-08:002008-01-04T19:39:00.000-08:00Tsebring said "The idea actually goes beyond music...Tsebring said "The idea actually goes beyond music, to things like education; the more full of bloated lefty theory a teacher is, the less likely they will probably be an effective teacher in ways that really matter."<BR/><BR/>Doesn't it come down to mistaking system for substance? The musicologists mistake their system of notation for music, the musician has the substance of Music, with or without the system of notation. <BR/><BR/>Also on the part of the Musician - if they think, or allow their thinking to make the same mistake (probably because of some fool teacher), then it can limit them... but somehow I don't think that Mozart made that mistake.<BR/><BR/>And yes, regarding 'Education', the educationists concentrate almost exclusively on 'method' of teaching, system after fad system, rather than an understanding of the subject - hence their dismal results. In some areas, having a degree in higher mathmetics (meaning you actually understand Math) means a disqualification to teach math, or demotes you a paygrade or two. Seriously.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-774456961872745312008-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:002008-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:00cryptlife said "I say that because while they don'...cryptlife said "I say that because while they don't believe in a deity per se, they do believe in ideals that are unprovable, irrational, and inconsistent (which, with due respect to those here, is true also of some religions)."<BR/><BR/>Which comes back to (and the question I've asked you a couple times and never received a straight answer... just noting), do they believe in Truth.<BR/><BR/>And, yes, if so, then you are inevitably drawn into a hierarchical understanding of reality, and morality, and eventually to Classical Liberalism, at the least.<BR/><BR/>If not, then leftism will be your home, leaning towards skepticism or cynicism, depending on your particular bent - but honesty, and any conception of Happiness above an assemblage of pleasures, will be out of the quesiton.<BR/><BR/>And yes, if a person is consistent, I think a sound grasp of leftism is incompatible with a sound grasp of religion, because it does require a reverence for Truth - though one can revere Truth, and still manage to shut one self off from religion.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-82951055250469519622008-01-04T19:19:00.000-08:002008-01-04T19:19:00.000-08:00Regarding the article by Michael Novak, with the p...Regarding the article by Michael Novak, with the possible exception of the last line of collection One, "They might wish that they could believe in God, but their intellectual conscience will not allow them to.", Rand belongs in category One.<BR/><BR/>The whole point of Rands Objectivism, is that Morality is necessary to living a properly human life, and it must be based on clear objective and unswerving principles as defined by reality. To put her in any way, shape, manner or form with nihilists, taking joy in brute power and will or anything to do with the arbitrary or lacking trust in reason shows either a total lack of familiarity with Rand's ideas, or a deliberate smear. I mean "death of trust in reason" ?! If Rand ever worshiped anything, it was capital 'R' Reason. She also, BTW, celebrated Christmas - though as a capitalist holiday via Santa Claus, as a celebration of achievement and generosity - loved the lights and decorations - ehh yeah, sorta misses the wider point, but still....<BR/><BR/>I think his surprise at <BR/>"We may concede, even, that some atheists live better moral lives than some of those who attend Christian churches. Some of the latter may live “as if there is no God” to a greater degree than some atheists. ", <BR/> comes about from not making a substitution for the word 'God' in these lines,“If there is no God, everything is permitted.” G. K. Chesterton is often quoted as saying of such persons: “Those who say they do not believe in God do not believe in nothing. They believe anything.”;<BR/><BR/> if you want to have that apply to atheists, it can only do so if you can also substitute the word 'Truth' for 'God' (or alleged theists, for that matter, hiding under cover of 'god'). <BR/><BR/>If they believe in, and that there is, Truth, then likely they are going to be decent, moral people. If not, then not.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-39204758688405858122008-01-04T19:05:00.000-08:002008-01-04T19:05:00.000-08:00ximeze,agreed; listening to Wagner's The Ring at 1...ximeze,<BR/>agreed; listening to Wagner's The Ring at 11 would surely wake the cretinous dead and loosen some plaster, but, in deference to the cuz, so would aforementioned Tommy and Quadrophenia, in their own ways. Actually, listening to Yes's Awaken or ELP's Karn Eval 9 at 15 would be my idea of a perfect musical thunderstorm.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-7839614673947538572008-01-04T18:55:00.000-08:002008-01-04T18:55:00.000-08:00Mr. Unconscious,great take on the music angle. I m...Mr. Unconscious,<BR/>great take on the music angle. I myself am a musician who is almost illiterate when it comes to actually reading music; what I do have is perfect pitch and a tape recorder memory. I have always been able to play just about any radio tune on my guitar by just hearing it and then figuring it out. Sure, some of my idols like Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson read music and compose it in the classical way, with notes and staffs, but so many truly great musicians are simply gifted with a kind of spirit of music, a muse if you will, that makes them mouthpieces for something that totally transcends them and us listeners. Little wonder that medical science has discovered that music actually has healing powers for certain patients.<BR/><BR/>The idea actually goes beyond music, to things like education; the more full of bloated lefty theory a teacher is, the less likely they will probably be an effective teacher in ways that really matter. The best teachers are the ones who are gifted and born to it, who have a burning passion for it and just somehow know how to do it. I just wonder how many of those teachers are destroyed by the s*** they are filled with in the teachers' colleges. Vocational gifting is something that is beyond mere horizontal understanding, and perhaps is meant to be. <BR/><BR/>Great video; Sinatra and Jobim in the same room, I am not worthy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-16775009185937226482008-01-04T18:33:00.000-08:002008-01-04T18:33:00.000-08:00No, no, you're not gettin it Cuz. Full blown opera...No, no, you're not gettin it Cuz. Full blown operatic productions are turned up way past 11.<BR/><BR/>It's must go with that cretinous preference for Dullball over Soccer.<BR/><BR/>Just say'nAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-38746451386686365022008-01-04T18:21:00.000-08:002008-01-04T18:21:00.000-08:00One might say that leftists are very religious, bu...One might say that leftists are very religious, but either without a deity or pantheist (if you consider the idea that they have particular idols).CrypticLifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05313033952671292402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-3398457053903324262008-01-04T18:20:00.000-08:002008-01-04T18:20:00.000-08:00Vogz,Novak's categories don't seem to mean to be e...Vogz,<BR/><BR/>Novak's categories don't seem to mean to be exhaustive, he's just listing some major types of atheist (and some of them aren't mutually exclusive, either).<BR/><BR/>There's nothing about leftism that requires atheism (or vice versa), but it is true that many leftists are "sort of" atheists. I say that because while they don't believe in a deity per se, they do believe in ideals that are unprovable, irrational, and inconsistent (which, with due respect to those here, is true also of some religions). I'd make a new category for them, because they're not "anything goes", they're "I have my own morality based on my own dogma but I won't admit it to you and I'll expect you to follow it as (gospel) truth".CrypticLifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05313033952671292402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-51731716145275688322008-01-04T17:50:00.000-08:002008-01-04T17:50:00.000-08:00Actually, Dupree, given that I've only heard about...Actually, Dupree, given that I've only heard <I>about</I> Tommy and had to Google Quadrophenia, I'm probably more of a cretin :)juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-37013892577925809842008-01-04T17:49:00.000-08:002008-01-04T17:49:00.000-08:00Bob,In Novak's article, would you put leftists in ...Bob,<BR/><BR/>In Novak's article, would you put leftists in Category 2 or would you add a sixth? I think you'd have to add another category since they wouldn't fall in the same company as Ayn Rand (along those lines, it was interesting that an Objectivist wrote Explaining Postmodernism).vogzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04777803276210863997noreply@blogger.com