I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
July 08, 2010 - 4:07 p.m.
It is almost noon and I haven't started writing. I could eat breakfast first but I always like to post as early as I can. I don't want to disappoint My Gentle Readers. Have I mentioned how gratified I am to have Gentle Readers? Thank you.
Last night I braved the heat and went to the Met game. The Mets have a great home record, ... when I'm not at the game. This was my second loss this week. On the bright side Niese pitches very fast so the game was short. I then had great timing with the train and bus and was back in my apartment in 25 minutes.
It isn't much of an idiot story but it will have to do. I bought snacks at Trader Joe's to bring to the game and forgot them. Why did I buy sesame sticks? I don't like them that much and can't stop eating them. I think that's the idiot part. There is an illusion that they are a healthy snack.
I finally returned The Tanakh to the library. I hadn't finished it. I'm almost done with 2 Kings. It was overdue and I paid a fine. Is it also a sin? I remember a passage from Leviticus on this.
If a man borrows a book from the library he shall return it in three weeks. If has not finished it he may ask the priest if he may keep it three more weeks. If he does not return it after three weeks or after the second three weeks if the priest gave him leave, he will be unclean till he has made a sin offering. He must offer a bull for sacrifice without blemish. If he cannot afford a bull then he must offer two turtle doves. If there are no turtle doves he must pay a fine of 75¢.
I went for the last option.
I am not going without a book to read. Now I'm reading something that is actually good, In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. It is a travel book. I don't think I've ever read a travel book. So why am I reading it? Christine and Aiden told me about it. I hardly ever take book recommendations. So once again why am I reading it? They just made it intriguing. They loved how Bryson tells about all the things that can kill you in Australia. I loved it too. I love his writing. His voice reminds me of mine. He has self deprecatory humor and layers of parenthetical thought. He gives minute details of his transportation and throws in ridiculous asides. It's how I'd write about Australia if I had the perspicacity to write an entire book.
To put that in perspective remember how I said I wanted to post early before breakfast? It's now 3:19 PM. I have raised procrastination to an art form.
I've read 28 pages of the book and I'm enjoying it immensely. Usually when I read a recommended book my reaction is, "Just because someone recommends a painful book doesn't mean he can't be a good friend."
I'm sort of disappointed I like it because I can't use a scathing criticism I came up with. ""It's better than root canal provided that instead of giving you Novocain they gave you something to enhance the pain?" I could have saved that till I read something that deserved it but you know I'd forget it by then. If I don't I'll just repeat it and depend on you to not remember that I already used it.
I can't get myself to do important things but I can do silly little studies. Last night I explored something that always fascinates me. Which of my friends' circle of friends is closest to mine? I used facebook to provide the metric the closeness index.
n = the number of my friends
f = the number of friends my friend has
m = the number of our mutual friend
CR = the closeness ratingCR = sqrt(m²/nf)
It is the geometric mean of the fraction of my friends that are mutual friends and the number of my friend's friends that are mutual friends. A person's closeness rating to himself is 1. The closeness rating of two people with no mutual friends is 0. Everyone else is in between.
So whose circle of friends is closest to mine? I'll give you the top 10.
| Name | CR |
|---|---|
| John Platt Richard Cuccaro Lori Martin Paul Mischler Jake Jacobson Brian Gundersdorf Mike Kornfeld Abbie Gardner Pat Wictor Cheryl Prashker | 0.245 0.235 0.215 0.213 0.203 0.200 0.199 0.192 0.187 0.182 |
Not surprisingly they are all people I know through music. That's the biggest community I'm part of so the people I'll share the greatest number of friends with. John, Richard, Mike, and I are all New York based non-musicians. We see each other often and not only share but influence each other's taste and introduce each other to people. Because John works at WFUV where I volunteer he tops the list. Lori and Paul are not only fellow Früheads but also Budgiedome people so we end up friending people that play the Budgiedome and other Früheads. Pat and Abbie are local musicians that I see often so it is no surprise that we share many friends. I don't see Cheryl as often but I knew how many friends we share. Jake is a presenter from Franklin MA and I'm guessing we know the same people largely through Falcon Ridge. Appropriately enough the name of his coffeehouse is Circle of Friends. We have similar tastes and talk often online but I don't think we've introduced each other to people. It just works out that we know so many of the same people. The one that surprises me is Brian. I've known him for ages but he lives in Northhampton and before that in Baltimore. I see him once or twice year yet he is the musician I share the most friends with.
These aren't the people that I share the most friends with. I share more with Pete Kennedy and Amy Speace than I do with anyone on the list and Maura Kennedy is right behind John Platt but they have so many friends from far flung parts of the country that I don't know that their ratings are lower. I have a feeling that if we just counted friends, not fans that they friended on facebook then all three of them would make my top ten. It was the number of friends I shared with Amy that inspired this project.
I screwed up today. I forgot that Madeleine Peyroux is giving a free concert tonight and made plans to play bridge with Roy. Friends come first so I'm playing. I'll catch Madeleine next time she's in town.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
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Horvendile July 08, 2010
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