Ponderances …

 

1. 1. He seems like a regular guy.

   2. Bible, Websters Unabridged Dictionary, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, The Complete Works of Mark Twain.

   3. Wheel.

   4. Everone clings to the status quo.

   5. The second coming of Christ.

   Posted by Yellow Dog       05/03/2005  at  06:47 PM  



2. 1.  Courage.  If people are willing to do the right thing only when there is no cost whatsoever, that is the very definition of cowardice.

   2.  Webster’s Dictionary
   The Synonym Finder - J.I. Rodale
   Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations
   the New York City Yellow Pages

   3.  Writing.  It has added a timeless dimension to oral communication, enhancing its capabilities the way mathematics enhanced counting on our fingers, and made possible our modern world.  As well, the printing press to dessiminate our writing.

   4.  Too often many people make a living or an identity by criticizing the work of others, generally a fairly effortless thing to do.  After all, which is easier: building a house or burning one down?  The light bulb, for example, is far from perfect.  It may light a little room, but it won’t light your whole house.  And it will break when you drop it.  But so what?  The critic remains silent in darkness, but curses the light bulb as soon as somebody invents it.  In science, those who can, do; those who can’t, criticize.

   5.  If the speed of light were discovered not to be a constant, modern scientific theory would be devastated.  As well, if a divine creation actually did occur, modern scientists would be devastated.

   Posted by Phoenix       05/03/2005  at  06:57 PM  



3. I’ll go along with Phoenix except for the four books I’d select, and the reason that great scientific advances are resisted.

   I think I’d pick Atlas Shrugged, Mists of Avalon, Lord of the Rings (yes, it’s being published in single-volume format now) and Paul Johnson’s Modern Times.

   I find my nose in one of these four more often than in any others, and I have over 3000 in my library.

   As for resistance to great scientific advances, “experts” in any field want to remain “experts,” and they naturally want things to remain the way they learned them to be.  As Stanley notes, we all want to hang on to the status quo, and the so-called “expert” often wants to do this more than anyone else.  Job security.

   After all, if the status quo is altered, he’s not an “expert” any more.  He’s only someone who has to catch up, like everyone else.  So he often has a tendency to get ossified and to regard all change with slit eyes.

   

   Posted by Tannenberg       05/03/2005  at  07:23 PM  



4. #1 Laura

   #2 Bible, Plato’s Republic, Dictionary, if it was possible all discoveries and writings by da Vinci.

   #3 Weapon (ie. bone club) made man the greatest hunter.

   #4 Unknown will always have doubters to ridicule or criticize.

   #5 With Stanley here 2nd coming of Christ.

   Posted by Apathy or freedom       05/04/2005  at  03:18 AM  



5. Frank,

   Assuming a ‘scorched earth’ scenario, it would be a brilliant place to ‘research’ what we had, what our society was about - what we could strive for in rebuilding.... basically, what man had accomplished - it’s all there in the NYC Yellow Pages.

   From the looks of all we’ve picked here, we have what we need.  I was at first stopped by Tanny’s choices of ‘The Mists of Avalon’ and “The Lord of the Rings’, but then I realized the brilliance of those choices.- To recognize and realize man’s ability to fantasize..... just think if we didn’t know we could do that. All great inventions were at one time a ‘fantasy’ of some entrepreneur.  Of course, he added Paul Johnson....  a huge win, of course.

   I had a terrible time with this one question. I wanted an anthology of poetry, for instance, and all of Shakespeare.  I still want all of Shakespeare, alas......I was ‘cabinned, cribbed, and confined’ by the only four choices.

   Posted by Phoenix       05/04/2005  at  12:46 PM  



6. Now is my turn for a day to be made.

   Phoenix, to be found brilliant in any respect by one so brilliant as yourself is a rare honor, for which gratitude is hardly enough.  I most sincerely thank you.

   I felt cribbed and confined by the four book choices myself.  That is why I came down to the four I find myself poking into, more than all the others, even though I’m typically poking into a lot of others of a lot of different kinds.

   On gossamer wings
   Soar life, liberty and hope
   Through travail of ages.

   All the best as always.

   

   Posted by Tannenberg       05/04/2005  at  01:38 PM  



7. Correction.  I gotta get brilliant enough to learn how to count.

   On gossamer wings
   Soar life, liberty and hope
   Through travail of time.

   

   Posted by Tannenberg       05/04/2005  at  01:39 PM  



8. "Gotta get brilliant enough to count...”

   That’s rich, Tanny....for a musician like yourself. 

   Beautiful haiku.  It should emblazon our country’s seal as it is certainly more appropos now than the original.

   Posted by Phoenix       05/04/2005  at  06:19 PM  

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.