Life Deleted
January 12, 2015
Complexity as a Feature
We oughtn’t just operate the world on a gut feeling; we have brains, after all.
January 7, 2015
A History of the World in 100 Objects
The stories gleaned from objects can reflect an individual, a society, or all of human existence.
November 3, 2014
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
かぐや姫の物語 I was lucky to see this in the original Japanese-language version at the +Alamo Drafthouse. From the info I could glean on the Internet about the limited release in other American cities, I was afraid it was going to be the dubbed version. So a big thanks to the +Alamo Drafthouse for showing it in the original language! Taken as a whole (story, visual, and graphics) I think Princess Kaguya is the
November 2, 2014
Purpose, Goals, Destinations
Quite fittingly, and is so often the case, where I ended up by the time I finished writing this meditation is not where I thought I was headed. The word of the day is destination and the realization that when I aim for a goal, not only do I often fall short but that I’ve fallen short so often that I now habitually begin with what some might term a defeatist attitude. It hasn’t always been thus. I remember some projects that turned out differently, where a collaboration took me further than I had initially conceived. That was amazing.
October 30, 2014
The Pleasure of New Words
“…University of Barcelona (UB), the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (Germany) have experimentally proved that human adult word learning exhibit activation not only of cortical language regions but also of the ventral striatum, a core region of reward processing. Results confirm that the motivation to learn is preserved throughout the lifespan, helping adults to acquire a second language.
“Researchers determined that the reward region that is activated is the same that answers to a wide range of stimuli, including food, sex, drugs or game.”
October 5, 2014
Examining Surprise
Curiosity, discovery, and examination are all part of the same arc of wonder and joy. Further examination frequently leads to additional discoveries. To turn away from examination and reflection and analysis is to turn our backs on the wonders of our physical world and our amazing ability to perceive it. To attend, to pay attention, is to be awestruck.
September 29, 2014
Google Translate
GPlus Timestamp: Sep 29, 2014 1:19:38PM Migrated. Not Formatted. The advent of Google Translate encourages me to work at my Japanese because it piques my interest in the original text. I laugh and wonder what could possibly be going on in the original Japanese to produce results like these? 農業とは無縁だった高野さんには不可能に近い難題であったが、「むずかしい仕事に直面すると、胸がジーンと熱くなるのです」。 It was a challenge nearly impossible to Takano-san was unrelated to agriculture, “When you face a difficult job, chest I
September 28, 2014
Guardians of the Galaxy
Bottom line: Great fun for 8-year-olds of all ages and genders.
June 6, 2014
Under a Dark Cloud
Do I now have any “imagined appropriate roles”? I think it is rather the opposite. That I’m adrift on a very empty sea. All my life there has been a tension between my need to feel anchored and my reality of being set adrift. I’m now so much more ethereal than grounded that I’m not sure I would know how to be otherwise. I suppose this is the difference between
September 21, 2013
Will, Intent
意 意 is composed of two other kanji: sound 「音」and heart 「心」. If one listens to the sound of one’s heart (metaphorically), one attains consciousness or awareness 「意識」[ishiki] which enables you to form opinions 「意見」[iken]. (How do you see the topic under discussion in your mind’s eye?) Your opinions express which way you lean on a topic; that is, tells us about your inclinations 「意向」[ikou] (in Japanese, it’s literally which