http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/ What is the Meaning of Life en-us Copyright 2005 Jonathan David Leavitt Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:49:02 -0700 Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:49:02 -0700 http://www.eastgate.com/tinderbox/?v=4.6.2b1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Technorati Tag: Notes [Notes marked in mud, sand, skin, or trees?] That's me. Since my first computer with floppy drives (a Kaypro II) I've been fascinated with creating, organizing, transmitting, and re-using small scraps of text and perhaps photos or sketches. Back in the Kaypro days there was a fascinating bit of software called KAMAS, which could make text outlines, and later with my first Mac, there was a great program called MindWrite. Now there are many programs for handling notes on computers and smartphones. As time went on I became interested in the existing variety of non-electronic note-making tools (notebooks, scrapbooks, and sketchbooks). At this point I realize that notes, and all of the things one can do with them, are a special interest of mine. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/nutsab_1.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/nutsab_1.html Mon, 1 Jun 2009 20:58:21 -0700
Technorati Tag: Rublev [Plus Yurodivy and Skomorokhs] Last night I watched a strange, long, movie called Andrei Rublev. It was in my Netflix queue, and had finally risen to the top after months. I don't even remember why I added it to my queue, but I obviously had the right instincts when I did, because the film got me thinking about many things, not the least of which were Russia, the role of court jesters and holy fools, the meaning of art, and of course, the meaning of life, which is the fundamental theme of Jonathan's Coffeeblog. The film was the work of a Russian director named Andrei Tarkovski, who worked in the Soviet Union and ended his days as a defector. He was buried in a cemetery for Russians in France in 1986. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/tarkov_1.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/tarkov_1.html Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:47:13 -0700
Technorati Tag: Astrology [Old ideas never die, unless they're blown away.] Back in 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on earth's moon, I remember something that was reported on television. The bootprints of the heavy space suit footwear made impressions in the loose topsoil of the moon's surface, and because the moon has no wind to blow the bootprints away, it was predicted that they would be there for millions of years. Millions. Literally. That, to me, was "mindblowing," in the jargon of the era. Years later, when I became interested in the origins of ideas, and the course of history of these ideas, I began to realize that ideas, too, have the potential to last forever in the minds of humans unless there is some "wind" that eradicates them. Moreover, it takes a lot of such "wind" over a long period of time, to extinguish an old idea from human memory. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/footst_1.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/footst_1.html Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:19:21 -0700
Technorati Tag: Lenin [The HOW of implementing the Marxian revolution.] For a long time, I've been wanting to blog about V. I. Lenin, the Soviet revolutionary whose ideas and deeds virtually define what is now known as "left-wing." The problem with blogging about Lenin is keeping it short and to the point. I set myself the goal of finding a maximum of three points I could make about Lenin. I think I've done that, and will make those points, after a little background information: [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/lenin_1.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/lenin_1.html Thu, 5 Feb 2009 13:16:10 -0700
Technorati Tag: Messiah [And on that note: Merry Christmas!] I've written before in the Coffeeblog about what it was like growing up as a Jewish boy, more or less, in a Christian country, more or less. As Christmas rolls around again (Hanukkah already started a few days ago), my thoughts turn to this theme once again. I began writing this on Christmas Eve, 2008. Although the terms are confusing, I want to write about Jews who consider themselves Christians, and about Christians who consider themselves Jewish. A good starting point is the life of one Jesus of Nazereth, born in the northern region of the land of Israel called Galilee, approximately 2,008 years ago (Wikipedia says the Jesus was probably born some time between 2 and 7 AD). It is in honor of the birth of Jesus that the holiday of Christmas is being celebrated today in Christian countries, but also in places like Japan. Even a self-designated atheist like the Jewish-born Ayn Rand enjoyed, supported, and celebrated Christmas. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/jewish_1.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/jewish_1.html Thu, 25 Dec 2008 12:41:18 -0700
Technorati Tag: AtlasShrugged [Movie Review: The Passion of Ayn Rand] I have long been, and still am, a fan of the great Russian-born Hollywood screenwriter, novelist, philosopher, and radical advocate of capitalism, Ayn Rand. Her name surfaced again recently in a Newsweek article which blamed her for the current worldwide financial meltdown. This is not about that, however, but about a movie made about Miss Rand by Showtime, an adaptation of Barbara Branden's book, "The Passion of Ayn Rand," which I saw on a Netflix rental DVD. I loved the movie, which I had never seen though it came out in 1999. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/dontsh_1.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/dontsh_1.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:10:06 -0700
Technorati Tag: Kvetching [It's the economy, stupid.] A joke: Somewhere, back in Russia, a traveler gets on a train and sits down next to an old Jewish man. Before long, the old Jewish man starts muttering, "Oy, am I thirsty." The traveler ignores him, for a while, but the old man persists: "Oy, am I thirsty. Oy, am I thirsty." He keeps it up and finally the traveler can stand it no longer. He gets up, walks to a car where drinks are sold, and buys a bottle of water. The old man accepts it gratefully, drinks it, and settles down. A few minutes pass. The traveler can feel the tension building up in the old man sitting next to him. Finally, the tension gets the best of the old man, and he blurts out, "Oy, was I thirsty!" [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/kvetchin.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/kvetchin.html Thu, 4 Dec 2008 14:53:29 -0700
Technorati Tag: Thanksgiving [No American would consider eating a bald eagle.] Today is the day that North Americans celebrate their good fortune, whatever it might be, and express their gratitude to whomever they feel it, divine entities optionally included. It is traditional to eat turkey on Thanksgiving day, probably a reminder that wild turkeys were abundant when the first European settlers arrived. At the very least turkey eaters can feel gratitude to the bird who gave its life, unwillingly as it were, for the festival dinner. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/thanksgi.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/thanksgi.html Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:49:59 -0700
Technorati Tag: SiriusStar [The Songs of War, Part 6] And so my multipart series on the songs of war continues. For the latest episode I had in mind a song related to the American Revolution, but events on the news during this past week influenced me to choose another song, the official hymn of the United States Marines, which is also the oldest official song of the United States military. The event that inspired this blogpost? The hijacking of a Saudi Arabian oil tanker with a petroleum cargo reportedly worth $100 million. Did the United States Marines intervene and rescue the crew and salvage the cargo? Well, no. Not this time (as of the date that I am writing this.) What, then is the connection? The connection is the second line of the first stanza of the Marines' hymn, "to the shores of Tripoli." [YouTube video] That second line refers to an important historical event known as the First Barbary War (1801-1805), important not only in US history but to the maritime history of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, to European and American relations with sovereign Islamic states, and to international policy on piracy on the high seas. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/tothesho.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/tothesho.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:23:08 -0700
Technorati Tag: ThirdRome [Translatio Imperii, Part Two] I recently wrote in the Coffeeblog about a medieval political theory called, in Latin, translatio imperii, meaning transfer of power, promoting the idea that the Germanic kingdoms of Northern Europe were direct descendants of the Western Roman Empire. At this moment I am extending that idea to Russian history, beginning with a mysterious monk from Pskov, his Legend of the White Cowl, and his compelling idea that Russia was the Third Rome. The First Rome, of course, was the western empire ruled from Rome itself, which according to legend was founded by brothers Romulus and Remus. The Second Rome was the name for the Byzantine Empire, ruled from Constantinople, and created by Constantine the Great. According to the Pskov monk, whose name was Philotheus (Filofey in Russian), Constantine had given a white cowl to the pope, who sent it to Philotheus, who passed it on to the Archbishop of Novogorod, which was an important medieval Russian city. The Archbishop died in 1352. In 1453, 101 years after the Archbishop's death, Constantinople, the Second Rome, was taken by Ottoman forces and has been ever since a major Muslim capital, now called Istanbul. Russia, having received the white cowl, became the successor to the Byzantine Empire according to Filofey's doctrine of the Third Rome. This doctrine is not a mere historical footnote, but an idea to be taken quite seriously during our present era. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/thethird.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/thethird.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:49:08 -0700
Technorati Tag: Ukraine [But Ukraine is no Disneyland] I must say that I have mixed feelings writing about Ukraine. It gives me butterflies in the stomach. More about that later, but I will start with a 2002 article by US ambassador to Ukraine, where he asserts that Ukraine is not "a political football between Russia and the United States." OK. Political, maybe not, but football? It seems to me that Ukraine's long history of being fought over by opposing "teams;" and of her inhabitants being kicked around for ages (as well as kicking each other around) justifies the football metaphor. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/ukraine.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/ukraine.html Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:16:06 -0700
Technorati Tag: Seltzer [Better for my health than the milk] Old-timers like me remember an early TV show featuring a marionette named Howdy Doody and a malicious clown named Clarabell who, once per show, spritzed the emcee, Buffalo Bob Smith, with pressurized carbonated water from a bottle. All Howdy Doody fans, and most Jewish kids of the era knew what was in that bottle: seltzer. It wasn't until a few decades later that I learned that my maternal grandmother's forebears earned their living selling that very same beverage, which was dubbed, in the New York of the 1930's, "Jewish Champagne." Although my mother served milk, not seltzer, with every meal, I still love to drink effervescent mineral water, preferably the kind bottled at Italy's Pellegrino source, or in the interest of saving money, our local California seltzer, Crystal Geyser. It turnes out it's a lot better for my health than the milk. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/seltzer.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/seltzer.html Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:00:18 -0700
Technorati Tag: Outliner [A park or a beach, for example. ] The laptop freed the writer from his office, and the iPhone freed him from his laptop. An iPhone is compact and light enough to be carried almost everywhere, and the writer can now choose the setting in which to write his article: a park or a beach, for example. I began this blogpost on my iPhone while lying in bed, on my back. The choice of setting can enhance the writer's creativity, diminish his anxiety, and help him find more time during the day. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/roughdra.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/roughdra.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:23:49 -0700
Technorati Tag: GloomySunday [Dead people in the streets. Everywhere.] Yes, it's Sunday, and yes it's gloomy. Not totally gloomy. In fact, the sun is out and it's near the end of a beautiful day. So why am I writing about this? Because I'm feeling kind of gloomy, and there's no better day to write about gloomy Sundays and about the song "Gloomy Sunday," which has an interesting story behind it. If you had read my last blogpost, you might have gotten the idea that I was skeptical about the huge financial bill that was pending before the US Congress, skeptical because the same people who caused the financial crisis were now lobbying hard for a $700 billion-dollar fix. And, although there is much evidence that the bill was opposed by a large majority of Americans, it was passed anyway. And, yes, it's October, autumn already, and yes, it's Sunday, the gloomiest day of the week second only to "blue Monday." My last two blogposts were grim, melancholy, and morose, and now: Gloomy Sunday. Will I ever pull out of this spiritual nosedive? You betcha. But not in this blogpost, which is all about gloom. Not gloom and doom. Just gloom. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/gloomysu.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/gloomysu.html Sun, 5 Oct 2008 19:00:27 -0700
Technorati Tag: Potlatch [Chinook jargon has something to tell us] The past few days I've been distracted by major political/economic events, which have caused me great concern, worry, and frustration. As I write this the US Congress is supposedly closing a deal where hundreds of billions of dollars of bad debt will be purchased at a discount, purportedly by zhlubs like me, the American taxpayer. My mind boggles. I am no economist, but I am caught between the threat (the collapse of the world economy!) articulated by our Hyas Muckamuck, US President George W. Bush, and the knowledge, reinforced by plain common sense, that the same muckamucks who got us into the mess are now promising to get us out. Fortunately, I have found another way of understanding this whole mess. You see, I have just returned from a vacation in Alaska. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/thehyasm.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/thehyasm.html Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:45:07 -0700
Technorati Tag: Autumn [Like a kid coming back from summer vaction] The first day of September has rolled around. The belladonna lilies warned me. Of course it had to happen. Summer has got to end. It's not officially over until 22 September at 1544 UTC. But here in the USA, today is Labor Day, the first Monday on September, reportedly established in 1882 by the Central Labor Union of New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. It's the last day of a symbolic summer vacation. Tomorrow is back to work. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/septembe.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/septembe.html Mon, 1 Sep 2008 19:14:48 -0700
Technorati Tag: Tengri [Heavenly peace indeed.] A few weeks ago I saw Sergei Bodrov's movie about the life of young Temujin, the Mongol slave boy who grew up to become Genghis Khan, conqueror of Eurasia from China to Afghanistan in the early 1200's. Wow. It was quite a movie, somewhat long and detailed compared to a Hollywood flick. Some of the scenes were so fantastic that I thought they were fictionalized, so I looked up Temujin in Wikipedia and found that the same events were believed to be true. One recurring scene beguiled me, when Temujin, at various ages beginning in boyhood, climbs a mountain to commune with a sky god named Tengri, personified in the film as a mysterious wolf. That scene led me to more web searching only to discover that Tengri is/was the universal deity of the Turkic and Mongol peoples, and as such, an excellent point of departure for a Coffeeblog extravaganza about Eurasia, Turks, Mongols, and sky gods in general. There is actually a religion called Tengriism, labeled pagan or shamanistic, but the worship of Tengri brought me back to memories of my school days. You see, I am so old that I remember that, along with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, at the beginning of every school day we recited a prayer. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/tengri,l.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/tengri,l.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:43:04 -0700
Technorati Tag: Caucasus [More potently than chains or fortresses.] When I was in junior high school in 1957, I thought I knew all an American needed to know about Russia, and maybe I did, for that era of the Cold War. They had nukes, we had nukes. They could blow us up, and we could blow them up in retaliation if they tried it. We knew what Caucasians were too: white people. It was a polite way of saying it. Even today, if you ask an American what Caucasian means he will probably say it is a racial term. Mountain climbers might know about the Caucasus range, but even news junkies who know all about the Chechen wars with Russia probably don't think much about the mountains. Georgia, of course, is a southern state where Jimmy Carter once grew peanuts and they had the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where a bombing took place. Well, bombing is still going on in Georgia: Not Jimmy's Georgia, the other Georgia, the independent nation on the southern slope of the Caucasus mountains. That Georgia, the Georgia which wants to join NATO, the Georgia who has the big oil pipeline. Oh yeah: the bombing. The Russians reportedly bombed Poti, the port from which the oil gets shipped to points west, like for instance the USA. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/russiaan.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/russiaan.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:28:56 -0700
Technorati Tag: Geography [Stuff happened there.] As a kid growing up on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border in the northeastern USA, I learned geography in school and later by following world events. My idea of the world was that is was centered around the north Atlantic Ocean. I am still following world events, and on the day I wrote this Beijing, China is opening up the Olympic Games, and the nation of Georgia is fighting with a breakaway South Ossetia, into whose territory Russia has just sent tanks. Beijing and Georgia are far from the Atlantic Ocean, as are Tibet, Mongolia, and Iran, places I have written about elsewhere in the Coffeeblog. Over the past year or so I have come to believe that I need to revise my idea of world geography, moving the center away from the Atlantic to somewhere else. Last evening I found where that "somewhere else" is. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/joeonean.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/joeonean.html Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:32:30 -0700
Technorati Tag: Makeover [And the vocabulary of New York cabdrivers.] I've tried it before. I changed the background color of the page templates for Jonathan's Coffeeblog, and found a color I didn't totally hate. And now, finally, I've taken the bull by the horms and, hopefully, made the ol' C'blog more useful and readable. In large measure I was able to do this due to the tactful guidance of a friend who is an interface designer for the Web and mobile devices. The Coffeeblog has grown organically and incrementally, like a huge fungus, although I prefer the metaphor of Rome and Paris which also grew organically from small beginnings. It has always been, and still is, my toy to play with powerful and interesting software for integrating text and images. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/lessausg.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/lessausg.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:29:31 -0700
Technorati Tag: RomanEmpire [A "public thing," a res publica.] While putzing around the Internet I came across an obscure but interesting Wikipedia article which, I believe, has great relevance to the world of our time. The Wikipedia authors gave it the Latin title "Translatio Imperii," whose precise meaning is "transfer of command." A French historian of the Middle Ages, Jacques LeGoff, is credited with describing translatio imperii as a typically medieval idea. Undoubtedly some medieval political entities, such as the so-called Holy Roman Empire, founded by a German King named Otto, were based on that idea: as various empires have risen and fallen, the imperial names, ruling dynasties, geographic centers of power, and sometimes the official languages have changed, yet proceeded in a clearly traceable linear sequence. I am convinced that this is a useful and helpful theory of a process which applies far beyond the Middle ages and began long before, and makes it less difficult to make sense of the complex geopolitical events of our time, and of history. Here are two examples: [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/translat.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/translat.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:41:51 -0700
Technorati Tag: Cappuccino [One-third espresso, one-third milk, and...] The other day I received an alarming notice from the California State Bureau of Coffeeblogging. They were concerned that I had not posted a coffee-related item to Jonathan's Coffeeblog since August of 2007. Had I not posted a cafe-related item in January of 2008, my Coffeeblogging license would already have been revoked. I was in deep trouble, and there was only one way out of the mess: post something to Jonathan's Coffeeblog having to do with coffee, and post it fast. And so, here it is: the subject of today's Coffeeblog post is cappuccino. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/cappucci.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/cappucci.html Sun, 8 Jun 2008 22:55:50 -0700
Technorati Tag: Blogflux [Software hassles can happen to anyone.] Over the last five days my Coffeeblog reader stats plummeted. When I tried to look at the blog itself it kept hanging up and wouldn't load completely. I finally tracked the problem to a button which I had installed in the sidebar years ago: the Blogflux mapstats button. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/crisisav.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/crisisav.html Tue, 3 Jun 2008 15:22:16 -0700
Technorati Tag: Chili [Yes, there is the bean question.] On an unusually hot day last week I wanted to eat something substantial but not heavy in a local restaurant. I ended up sharing a salad and ordering a huge glass of ice tea and a cup of chili, a food that I usually ignore. The chili was just right for the occasion, and I realized that chili is a dish worthy of more attention. This blogpost is the result of that attention. (I also cooked and just ate some homemade chili just before writing this last night.) Chili, of course, is the standard American English name for chili con carne, meaning a sauce made from a Southwestern capsicum pepper combined with meat. (The Spanish spelling is "chile con carne.") Chili, the dish, is a proletarian workhorse in the USA, eaten by the cup or bowl in diners and road-houses, with saltine crackers, spread on frankfurters (sausages) in a "hot dog" bun, even eaten on spaghetti (in Cincinatti, Ohio), and available as an instant meal in cans. There are several things I find especially fascinating about chili: the seemingly infinite variation in its recipes and preparation, and the quest for its origin. But first a personal story. [Continues…]]]> http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/chili.html http://www.doublesquids.net/coffeeblog/index/chili.html Wed, 21 May 2008 10:45:18 -0700