» Zitiert http://evelyn.smyck.org Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:32:28 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/19/3615/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/19/3615/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:53:23 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3615

]]> http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/19/3615/feed/ 0 http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/18/3581/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/18/3581/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:44:58 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3581

]]> http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/18/3581/feed/ 0 »Natura abhorret vacuum« http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/03/%c2%bbnatura-abhorret-vacuum%c2%ab/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/03/%c2%bbnatura-abhorret-vacuum%c2%ab/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:19:29 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3516 “sagte schon Spinoza, und wer nicht gerade ein Wissenschaftsphilosoph ist und deshalb seine Zweifel an diesem Ausspruch hat, findet es immerhin plausibel, dass es der Natur an einer gewissen Ordnung der Dinge gelegensein sollte. Mischten wir aber ein Pack Spielkarten und fänden sie dann fein säuberlich in die vier Farben und von As bis König geordnet, so würde uns dies etwas zu ordentlich erscheinen, um glaubhaft zu sein. Wenn uns ein Statistiker dann belehrt, dass diese Ordnung genauso wahrscheinlich ist wie jede andere, werden wir ihn zunächst vermutlich nicht verstehen, bis es uns endlich dämmert, dass tatsächlich jede durch das Mischen der Karten erzielte Ordnung (oder Unordnung) genauso wahrscheinlich oder unwahrscheinlich ist wie jede beliebige andere. Der einzige Grund, weshalb uns die ersterwähnte Ordnung so ungewöhnlich erscheint, ist lediglich der, dass wir aus Gründen, die nichts mit Wahrscheinlichkeit zu tun haben, sondern nur mit unserer Definition von Ordnung, diesem einen Resultat ausschließliche Bedeutung, Wichtigkeit und Prominenz zugeschrieben und alle anderen als wahl- und ordnungslos in einen Topf geworfen haben. In dieser sehr willkürlichen Sicht erweist sich Wahllosigkeit also als die Regel und Ordnung als die unwahrscheinliche Ausnahme – und dies allein schon ist einmerkwürdiger Widerspruch, der uns, gewissermaßen einleitend, davor warnt, dass noch Merkwürdigeres bevorsteht.”

]]> http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/03/%c2%bbnatura-abhorret-vacuum%c2%ab/feed/ 0 “My basic view of things is — not to have any basic view of things. From having been exceedingly dogmatic, my views on life have gradually dissolved. They don’t exist any longer…” http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/02/%e2%80%9cmy-basic-view-of-things-is-%e2%80%94-not-to-have-any-basic-view-of-things-from-having-been-exceedingly-dogmatic-my-views-on-life-have-gradually-dissolved-they-don%e2%80%99t-exist-any-longe/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/02/%e2%80%9cmy-basic-view-of-things-is-%e2%80%94-not-to-have-any-basic-view-of-things-from-having-been-exceedingly-dogmatic-my-views-on-life-have-gradually-dissolved-they-don%e2%80%99t-exist-any-longe/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:59:19 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3513 http://evelyn.smyck.org/2012/01/02/%e2%80%9cmy-basic-view-of-things-is-%e2%80%94-not-to-have-any-basic-view-of-things-from-having-been-exceedingly-dogmatic-my-views-on-life-have-gradually-dissolved-they-don%e2%80%99t-exist-any-longe/feed/ 0 RTFM http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/31/rtfm/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/31/rtfm/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:03:32 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3508

]]> http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/31/rtfm/feed/ 0 “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” – Isaac Asimov  http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/22/%e2%80%9cthere-is-a-cult-of-ignorance-in-the-united-states-and-there-always-has-been-the-strain-of-anti-intellectualism-has-been-a-constant-thread-winding-its-way-through-our-political-and-cultural/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/22/%e2%80%9cthere-is-a-cult-of-ignorance-in-the-united-states-and-there-always-has-been-the-strain-of-anti-intellectualism-has-been-a-constant-thread-winding-its-way-through-our-political-and-cultural/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:48:00 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3491 http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/22/%e2%80%9cthere-is-a-cult-of-ignorance-in-the-united-states-and-there-always-has-been-the-strain-of-anti-intellectualism-has-been-a-constant-thread-winding-its-way-through-our-political-and-cultural/feed/ 0 “I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say.” Marshall McLuhan http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/12/i-dont-necessarily-agree-with-everything-i-say-marshall-mcluhan/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/12/i-dont-necessarily-agree-with-everything-i-say-marshall-mcluhan/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:41:00 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3384 http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/12/i-dont-necessarily-agree-with-everything-i-say-marshall-mcluhan/feed/ 0 “The most beautiful things in the world are the most useless, peacocks and lilies for instance.” – John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, 1851 http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/11/the-most-beautiful-things-in-the-world-are-the-most-useless-peacocks-and-lilies-for-instance-john-ruskin-the-stones-of-venice-1851/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/11/the-most-beautiful-things-in-the-world-are-the-most-useless-peacocks-and-lilies-for-instance-john-ruskin-the-stones-of-venice-1851/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:42:39 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3359 http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/11/the-most-beautiful-things-in-the-world-are-the-most-useless-peacocks-and-lilies-for-instance-john-ruskin-the-stones-of-venice-1851/feed/ 0 Bukowski http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/04/bukowski-3/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/04/bukowski-3/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:28:18 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3324
.
.
It’s a shame

a great mind and a good body seldom go
together.
or a great body and a good
mind.
or a great body and a great
mind.

but worse, a not so good mind and a
not so good body often go
together.

in fact, that’s almost the entire
populace.
and all these
reproducing more of
themselves.

is there any wonder why the world
is where it’s at
now?

just notice the creature sitting near you
in a movie house
or standing ahead of you in a
supermarket line.
or giving a State of the Union
Address.

that the gods have let us go on
this long
this badly.

as the snail comes crawling home
to manna.

]]> http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/12/04/bukowski-3/feed/ 0 Steve Jobs and drug policy http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/10/11/steve-jobs-and-drug-policy/ http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/10/11/steve-jobs-and-drug-policy/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:26:44 +0000 evelyn http://evelyn.smyck.org/?p=3140 [Jobs] told a reporter that taking LSD was one of the two or three most important things he had done in his life. He said there were things about him that people who had not tried psychedelics — even people who knew him well, including his wife — could never understand.

Unlike many people who have enjoyed success, Jobs is not saying that he was able to succeed despite his illegal drug use; he’s saying his success is in part — in substantial part — because of those illegal drugs (he added that Bill Gates would “be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once”).

Read more

]]> http://evelyn.smyck.org/2011/10/11/steve-jobs-and-drug-policy/feed/ 0