Monthly Archives: June 2005

para-grammatogenesis

Posted on Monday, 2005 June 27 by Anton

Some people amuse themselves at inventing languages and scripts; that sport’s most famous player was of course Tolkien. And some avidly study whatever notes Tolkien left concerning his Elvish language family. Tolkien invented at least three scripts: Sarati, an alphasyllabary; … Continue reading →

Posted in fandom, language | 3 Comments

Kelo v. New London

Posted on Friday, 2005 June 24 by Anton

State control of the economy, maintaining the forms but not the substance of private property — isn’t that a definition of fascism? I’ve been puzzled, by the way, at the argument that the Fifth Amendment allows takings only for ‘public … Continue reading →

Posted in constitution | 2 Comments

am I keeping you awake?

Posted on Thursday, 2005 June 23 by Anton

This post from Shanghai makes me wonder how widespread is the notion of counting sheep.

Posted in psychology | Leave a comment

Studio Gibberish

Posted on Wednesday, 2005 June 22 by Anton

Miyazaki’s film (ハウルの動く城) of Diana Wynne Jones’s novel Howl’s Moving Castle is pretty, of course, but the story got lost somewhere. The royal sorceress has an unexplained grudge against Howl, an eccentric but kind young wizard with an unexplained reputation … Continue reading →

Posted in cinema | Leave a comment

the asynchronous world

Posted on Monday, 2005 June 20 by Anton

WiReD summarizes the work of Kiwi maverick philosopher Peter Lynds: His answers make the mathematics of space and time look strange. If instants don’t exist, then calculus – in which equations depend on fixed before-and-after positions in space – doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in sciences | Leave a comment

fun with topology

Posted on Friday, 2005 June 17 by Anton

It’s surprising that I had not heard before of the mathematical sculptor Rinus Roelofs. His Möbius-double could be seen as a metaphor for half-spin particles.

Posted in eye-candy, mathematics | Leave a comment

goody linkness

Posted on Thursday, 2005 June 16 by Anton

John Cowan writes: There’s a Dell one and a Sun one And a Blue one and a Compaq one And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky And they all run just the same. One patient’s account of depression lifted by … Continue reading →