Month: March 2007

  • Boolean Basics:

    Introduction to Logic
    for International Women's Day

    "The logic behind such utterances is the logic
    of binary opposition, the principle of non-contra-
    diction, often thought of as the very essence of
    Logic as such....

    Now, my understanding of what is most radical
    in deconstruction is precisely that it questions
    this basic logic of binary opposition....

    Instead of a simple 'either/or' structure,
    deconstruction attempts to elaborate a discourse
    that says neither "either/or", nor "both/and"
    nor even "neither/nor", while at the same time
    not totally abandoning these logics either."

    -- Harvard professor Barbara Johnson
    in "Nothing Fails Like Success."
    (See the previous entry, Day Without Logic.)


    The 16 Binary Connectives, with Venn Diagrams

    Click to enlarge.

    Those who value literary theory
    more than they value truth
    may prefer, on this
    International Women's Day,
    the "mandorla" interpretation
    of the above diagrams.

    For this interpretation, see
    Death and the Spirit III,
    Burning Bright,
    and
    The Agony and the Ya-Ya.

  • Philosophy Wars continued:

    Day Without
    Logic

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix06A/060804-DWA2.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    Symbol of the Dec. 1
    "Day Without Art"

    This resembles the following symbol,
    due to logician Charles Sanders Peirce,
    of the logic of binary opposition:

    The image “http://www.log24.com/theory/images/PeirceBox.bmp” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    (For futher details on the role
    of this symbol in logic, see
    Chinese Jar Revisited.)

    On this, International Women's Day,
    we might also consider the
    widely quoted thoughts on logic of
    Harvard professor Barbara Johnson:


    Nothing Fails Like Success, by Barbara Johnson


    Detail:

    Barbara Johnson, Nothing Fails Like Success, detail

    "Instead of a simple 'either/or' structure,
    deconstruction attempts to elaborate a discourse
    that says neither "either/or", nor "both/and"
    nor even "neither/nor", while at the same time
    not totally abandoning these logics either."

    It may also be of interest on
    International Women's Day
    that in the "box style" I Ching
    (suggested by a remark of
    Jungian analyst
    Marie-Louise von Franz)
    the symbol

    The image “http://www.log24.com/theory/images/PeirceBox.bmp” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
     
    denotes
    Hexagram 2,
    The Receptive.

  • Time's Labyrinth continued:

    Dia de la
    Mujer Trabajadora

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix07/070308-Aldecoa.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    "Yo es que nací un 8 de marzo,
    Día de la Mujer Trabajadora,
    y no he hecho más que
    trabajar toda mi vida."

    -- Josefina Aldecoa

    For background on Aldecoa,
    see a paper (pdf) by
    Sara Brenneis:

    "Josefina Aldecoa intertwines
    history, collective memory
    and individual testimony in her
    historical memory trilogy..."


    HISTORICAL MEMORY--


    History:

    The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New
    York, causing the death of 146 garment workers who either died in the
    fire or jumped to their deaths.

    Propaganda, March 1977:

    "On March 8, 1908, after the death of 128 women trapped in a
    fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, 15,000
    women workers from the garment and textile industry marched
    echoing the demands of their sisters 50 years earlier..."

    Propaganda, March 2006:

    "First of all, on March 8th, 1857, a large number of factory workers in
    the United States took to the streets to demand their economic and
    political rights. The owners called the police who arrived immediately
    and opened fire, engaging in blind repression… Later on, in 1908, the
    same date of March 8th was once again a memorable date of struggle. On
    this day, capitalist bosses in Chicago set fire to a textile factory
    where over a thousand women worked. A very large number was terribly
    burnt. 120 died!"

    Propaganda disguised as news, March 2007:

    From today's top story in 24 HoursTM, a commuter daily in Vancouver published by Sun Media Corporation:

    Fight still on for equality

    By Robyn Stubbs and Carly Krug

    "International Women's Day commemorates a march by female garment
    workers protesting low wages, 12-hour workdays and bad working
    conditions in New York City on March 8, 1857.

    Then in 1908, after 128 women were trapped and killed in a
    fire at a New York City garment and textile factory, 15,000 women
    workers again took their protests to the street."

    Related historical fiction:

    A version of the
    I Ching's Hexagram 19:

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix05B/051202-Hex19.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    Log24 12/3/05:

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix05B/051202-Axe.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    -- Katherine Neville, The Eight


        "What does this have to do with why we're here?"
        "I saw it in a chess book Mordecai showed
    me.  The most ancient chess service ever discovered was found at
    the palace of King Minos on Crete-- the place where the famous
    Labyrinth was built, named after this sacred axe.  The chess
    service dates to 2000 B.C.  It was made of gold and silver and
    jewels.... And in the center was carved a labrys."

    ... "But I thought chess wasn't even invented until six or seven
    hundred A.D.," I added.  "They always say it came from Persia or
    India.  How could this Minoan chess service be so old?"

        "Mordecai's written a lot himself on the
    history of chess," said Lily.... "He thinks that chess set in Crete was
    designed by the same guy who built the Labyrinth-- the sculptor
    Daedalus...."

        Now things were beginning to click into place....
        "Why was this axe carved on the chessboard?" I
    asked Lily, knowing the answer in my heart before she spoke. 
    "What did Mordecai say was the connection?"....

        "That's what it's all about," she said quietly.  "To kill the King."
     
         The sacred axe was used to kill the
    King.  The ritual had been the same since the beginning of time.
    The game of chess was merely a reenactment.  Why hadn't I
    recognized it before?

    Perhaps at the center of
    Aldecoa's labyrinth lurk the
      capitalist bosses from Chicago
    who, some say, set fire
    to a textile factory
    on this date in 1908.

    For a Freudian perspective
    on the above passage,
    see yesterday's entry
    In the Labyrinth of Time,
    with its link to
    John Irwin's essay

    "The False Artaxerxes:
    Borges and the
    Dream of Chess
    ."

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix07/070307-Symbols.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    Symbols
    S. H. Cullinane
    March 7, 2007

    Today, by the way, is the
    feast of a chess saint.

  • An Endgame for Kubrick

    Comfort and Joy
     Notes on a Hollywood ending

    in memory of

    Stanley Kubrick
    ,
    chessplayer and film director,
    who died on this date in 1999


    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix07/070307-Joubert.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    Assassin Joubert (Max von Sydow) is talking with intelligence agency
    target Turner (Robert Redford), sought by CIA deputy director Higgins
    (Cliff Robertson) in "Three Days of the Condor"--

    Joubert: Can I drop you?

    Turner: [Sigh] I'd like to go back to New York.

    Joubert: You have not much future there. It will happen this
    way. You may be walking. Maybe the first sunny day of the spring. And a
    car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know,
    maybe even trust, will get out of the car. And he will smile, a
    becoming smile. But he will leave open the door of the car and offer to
    give you a lift.

    Turner: You seem to understand it all so well. What would you suggest?

    Joubert: Personally, I prefer Europe.

    Turner: Europe?

    Joubert: Yes. Well, the fact is, what I do is not a bad occupation. Someone is always willing to pay.

    Turner: I would find it… tiring.

    Joubert: Oh, no-- it's quite restful. It's… almost peaceful.
    No need to believe in either side, or any side. There is no cause.
    There's only yourself. The belief is in your own precision.

    Turner: I was born in the United States, Joubert. I miss it when I'm away too long.

    Joubert: A pity.

    Turner: I don't think so. Is it any trouble to drop me at the Union Station?

    Joubert: Oh, no. It would be my pleasure.

    [Joubert pauses, then holds out a gun to Turner]


    Joubert: For that day.

    EXT. WEST 43RD ST. -- DAY

    Carolers:

    Remember Christ our Savior
    Was born on Christmas Day
    To save us all
    from Satan's power
    When we are gone astray.
    Oh, tidings of comfort and joy,
    Comfort and joy,
    Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!

    Turner: Higgins!

    Carolers:

    Oh, tidings of comfort and joy,
    Comfort and joy,
    Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!

    Higgins: Why'd you call so late? We were worried about you.

    Turner: Likewise. The car for me?

    Higgins: It's all right. It's safe. You'll have a few hours of debriefiing.

    Turner: Hey, Higgins?

    Higgins: Yeah?

    Turner: Let's say, for the purposes of argument, I had a .45 in
    one of my pockets and I wanted you to walk with me. You'd do it, right?

    Higgins: Which way?

    Turner: West. And slowly.

    TRACKING TURNER AND HIGGINS

    The sound of singing grows louder.

    (Dialogue reconstructed from Script-o-rama, Wikiquote, and the more detailed script (pdf) at AwesomeFilm.com.)

  • Geometry and Death, continued

    Footprints for
    Baudrillard

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix07/070307-Baudrillard.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    "Was there really a cherubim
    waiting at the star-watching rock...?
    Was he real?
    What is real?

    -- Madeleine L'Engle, A Wind in the Door,
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973,
    conclusion of Chapter Three,
    "The Man in the Night"

    "Oh, Euclid, I suppose."

    -- Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time,
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1962,
    conclusion of Chapter Five,
    "The Tesseract"

    In memory of the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, who died yesterday, Tuesday, March 6, 2007. 

    The following Xanga footprints may be regarded as illustrating Log24 remarks of Dec. 10, 2006 on the Library of Congress, geometry, and bullshit, as well as remarks of Aug. 28, 2006 on the temporal, the eternal, and St. Augustine.

    From the District of Columbia--
    Xanga footprints in reverse

    chronological order from
    the noon hour on Tuesday,

    March 6, 2007, the date
    of Baudrillard's death:

    District of
    Columbia
    /499111929/item.html
    Beijing String
    3/6/2007
    12:04
    PM
    District of
    Columbia
    /497993036/item.html
    Spellbound
    3/6/2007
    12:03
    PM
    District of
    Columbia
    /443606342/item.html
    About God, Life, Death
    3/6/2007
    12:03
    PM
    District of
    Columbia
    /494421586/item.html
    A Library of Congress Reading
    3/6/2007
    12:03
    PM
    District of
    Columbia
    /500434851/item.html
    Binary Geometry
    3/6/2007
    12:03
    PM
    District of
    Columbia
    /404038913/item.html
    Prequel on St. Cecelia's Day
    3/6/2007
    12:03
    PM

  • A Matrix for Baudrillard

    In the Labyrinth
    of Time:


    8:24:48
    AM EST


    Related material--


    Symbols:

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix07/070307-Symbols.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    and

    "The False Artaxerxes:
    Borges and the
    Dream of Chess
    "

    This entry was inspired by
    Xanga footprints yesterday
    from Virginia:

     
    1. Virginia
    Weblog
    ART WARS:
    Time and the Grid
    3/6/2007
    9:48 AM
    2. Virginia
    Weblog
    Sequel
    3/6/2007
    11:38 AM
    3. Virginia
    Weblog
    Games and Truth
    3/6/2007
    1:25 PM
    4. Virginia
    /item.aspx?user=m759&ta...
    The Transcendent Signified
    3/6/2007
    5:15 PM
    5. Virginia
    /item.aspx?user=m759&ta...
    Zen and Language Games
    3/6/2007
    5:16 PM
    6. Virginia
    /item.aspx?user=m759&ta...
    Balanchine's Birthday
    3/6/2007
    6:12 PM
    7. Virginia
    /item.aspx?user=m759&ta...
    The Agony and the Ya-Ya
    3/6/2007
    6:12 PM
    8. Virginia
    /item.aspx?user=m759&ta...
    Directions Out
    3/6/2007
    6:13 PM
    9. Virginia
    /item.aspx?user=m759&ta...
    The Four Last Things
    3/6/2007
    6:13 PM

  • Philosophy Wars continued:

    23 Skidoo

    For the philosopher Jean Baudrillard, who died yesterday, a Xanga footprint:

    North Carolina
    Weblog
    The Prime Cut Gospel
    (Mental Health Month, Day 23)
    3/6/2007
    5:01 PM

    Related material:

    The late writer Robert A. Wilson on
    the number 23,
    mathematician Robert A. Wilson on
    the action of the Baby Monster (pdf)
    on cosets of the Fischer Group Fi23,
    the recent film "The Number 23,"
    and, for North Carolina on
    the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola,
    The Footprints of God.

  • Today's sermon:

    Megillah

    (A Sunday Sermon

    Consisting of Xanga Footprints--

    Delivered at 11 AM EST on
    March Fourth (Purim), 2007)

  • Purim Play:

    The Shadow
    of the Owl

                            
       
    "
    ... an alphabet

    By which to spell out holy doom and end,

    A bee for the remembering of happiness."

    -- Wallace Stevens,
    "The Owl in the Sarcophagus"

    (See Log24, Tuesday, Feb. 27.
    For an alphabet and a bee,
    see yesterday's entries.)

    In memory of
    Myer Feldman,
    presidential adviser
    and theatrical producer,
    who died two days ago,
    on Thursday, March 1:

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix07/070303-Feldman.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

    See also Seymour Hersh,
    The Samson Option:
    Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and
    American Foreign Policy
    .
      Random House, 1991,
    page 100.

  • Purim for Plato

    "I was reading Durant's section
    on Plato, struggling to understand his theory of the ideal Forms that lay in
    inviolable perfection out beyond the phantasmagoria. (That was the first, and
    I think the last, time that I encountered that word.)"

     

    Part I: Phantasmagoria
     
    Enlarge this image
    Father and daughter in Bee Season
    Photo by Phil Bray

    Transcendence through spelling:
    Richard Gere and Flora Cross
    as father and daughter
    in the film of Bee Season.

    "Every aspect of the alef's
    construction has been
    Divinely designed
    to teach us something."

    -- Alef-- The Difference Between
    Exile And Redemption,
    by Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin

    Related material--

    Art Theory for Yom Kippur
    and
    Log24 entries, Nov. 2005.


    Part II: Hunt for the Real

    The Alphabet Versus the Goddess:
    The Conflict Between Word and Image
    .

    See also the references
    to Zelazny's Eye of Cat
    in the Nov. 2005 entries
    as well as
    today's previous entry--
    with the Norton Simon motto
    "Hunt for the best"-- and...

    The image “http://www.log24.com/log/pix07/070302-EyeOfCat.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
    Click for details.


    "Photography has always involved waiting.... the photographer is understood to
    be waiting for the right convergence of subject, lighting and frame
    before clicking the shutter-- waiting for what a master of the genre,
    Henri Cartier-Bresson, famously called 'the decisive moment.' Lee
    Friedlander, another great street photographer, compared this
    anticipatory state to the hunting alertness of a 'one-eyed cat.' The
    metaphor of the hunt has seeped into the essential language of
    photography."

    -- Arthur Lubow in The New York Times, Feb. 25, 2007