It started quite innocently: three days ago I sent a word file to the printer; I heard the printer cough up pages in the bedroom where we keep it; I went into the bedroom to gather the pages as they were falling onto the floor. And behold: every single one was successfully printed; every single … Continue reading
Angelus Novus — monoprint, Paul Klee 1920. Israel Museum, Jerusalem . Born in 1940, the same year Walter Benjamin wrote his reflections on history, the same year he took his own life, I experience these days as being in a suspense quite unlike experienced before. My gaze goes back to the horrors of the … Continue reading
. New York Times Nov. 15, Guest Essay (presumably upon invitation by the editorial board) by Thomas Goldstein: “End the Criminal Cases Against Trump” www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/o… Here is a quotation from this rag: “Then there are state charges, over which President Trump will have non control. A central pillar of American democrocy is that no man … Continue reading
. Looking back, I cannot recall the moment when the concept of cardinal numbers entered my horizon. It seemed preordained, and could not have emerged gradually, but with a sudden moment of Eureka! And the Arabic system of naming numbers in their sequential order, not by idiosyncratic names as in Borges’ Funes phantasy, seemed … Continue reading
. We are nearing another presidential election, this one of vast impact on the future of this country as a democracy. Recall that as we were nearing the previous presidential elections, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy did everything possible to disrupt and delay the postal service, ostensibly for the benefit of the Republican party and Trump … Continue reading
“Mask, discarded, on crack” (fabric, wire) “The competion for true verticality” (tar on cement) “Contemplation of ice man” (paper on concrete) “More hide than seek” (tar on concrete) “A bouquet to celebrate non-grayness” (paper mache on concrete) “Em and em’s” (torn mcdonalds paperbag on concrete) . . .
. Have you seen this latest news article? There is talk about reopening one of the three units that form the infamous Three Mile Island powerplant, to feed the enormous energy needs of Microsoft’s AI computations. The article states “The plant will be named “Crane Clean Energy Center” in honor of Constellation parent company Exelon’s … Continue reading
. Zabriskie point in Death Valley is famous for the title of the 1970 movie directed by Antonioni. I took these pictures long time ago, before the advent of digital photography. What struck me at the time when I visited the site was the emptiness of the grandiose landscape, echoed by the emptiness of the … Continue reading
. “You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians” he added. “I love you Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you … Continue reading
. Good news: My second novel, Ierapetra, or His Sister’s Keeper, will be released on September 3, a month from now. You can pre-order it on Ingram, Kindle, Amazon starting August 3. Please spread the word among your friends! Back Cover: Ierapetra, or His Sister’s Keeper, is a man’s attempt to overcome grief and guilt … Continue reading
. Santiago Ramon Y Cajal was the pioneer of neuroanatomy. The importance of his early contributions to the evolving field of neurophysiology cannot be overstated. Looking at brain slices stained with silver nitrate (following Golgi’s protocol) and using the light microscope, he was the first to map the different types of neurons, their interconnections and … Continue reading
. In following the long-established tradition of this site, I’m marking historical events of great importance by an entry into my blog. In terms of historical importance, I feel being thrown back to the day of January 6th, when I sat in the basement of my house in Massachusetts working on a manuscript, and saw … Continue reading
. Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. A sunny day. Trying to find meaning on the beach. It is there in plain sight. The shapes invite us to come up with multi-syllable names. Like o-mi-kron: Phi-mo-re Es-tru-ma O-ring-que Ling-gum-ten Tran-dong-pim Ir-lo-zen . .
. Accidental intelligence (AI) is encountered more frequently than you think. This morning, as I was having breakfast, I put my glasses down, and I became aware of something staring at me. Does it have consciousness? I doubt it, yet the encounter left me unsettled: what if it has? How will my life go on … Continue reading
. My novel Ierapetra, or His Sister’s Keeper is finally set to be published. After numerous attempts to get a publisher or an agent interested, I finally decided to publish it myself. I joined the Alliance of Independent Authors, and through them I found Dartfrog and its Canoe Tree program, which specializes in supporting self-publishing: … Continue reading
. Neil Armstrong, as he stepped on the moon, purportedly said, “That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.” Now a careful analysis of the original noisy recording has revealed that he actually said, “That’s one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind.” https://getpocket.com/explore/item/did-we-mishear-neil-armstrong-s-famous-first-words-on-the-moon?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us “Man” — without the article–already … Continue reading
“Purchase of Manhattan Island 1626 — colored engraving, 19th Century” . Costello plan of New Amsterdam in 1626 — officially entitled “Afbeeldinge van de Stadt Amsterdam in Nieuw Neederlandt” (The key to the Castello plan lists every single house and the 1500 inhabitants that formed the first community in the Dutch colony). “New York before … Continue reading
. So I went to the International Antiquarian Book Fair in New York, a huge affair occupying the entire 38,575 sqft exhibition space of the Park Avenue Armory on a single-day ticket for $32. I spent 2½ hours there until my eyes glazed over. I was carrying three catalogs in my hand for lack of … Continue reading
Odysseus | Myth, Significance, Trojan War, & Odyssey | Britannica “NASA science is set to land on the Moon aboard Odysseus, Intuitive Machines’ uncrewed autonomous lander. Touchdown is now targeted for 6:24 p.m. EST (2324 UTC) Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. The NASA payloads aboard the lander aim to help us learn more about terrain … Continue reading
