Archive - 2015
February 17th
Shrove Tuesday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 02/17/2015 - 21:30The Shrove Tuesday pancakes and sausage sit in by gut as I surf the web seeking ideas for a Lenten Discipline. What should I give up? What should I take up? I’ve thought of reading some mystic. I’ve thought of reading some poet.
Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Perhaps a little T.S. Elliot? Perhaps The Cloud of Unknowing?
After pancakes at church this evening, we burnt last year’s palms for tomorrow’s ashes; the cycle of another year complete.
It seems as if each year, Lent becomes harder. I become more aware of my own short comings, my own frailty. I read the news and become more aware of how broken this world we live in really is.
Tomorrow, I will be reminded again, that I come from dust and to dust I shall return. I’ll pause to think of those who have returned to dust and my friends that mourn. Then, I shall do my exercises as I wait for spring, as I wait for Easter.
February 16th
Ingress Stats
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 02/16/2015 - 21:31It has been a while since I’ve written a blog post about the augmented reality game, Ingress. If you’re not an Ingress player, you may want to skip this post.
I am approaching 100,000,000 XM Recharged and it made me stop and figure. For each 1000 XM recharged, you get ten AP. If the resonators are close to fully charged, you might be able to get ten AP for less recharging than 1000 XM, but to keep things simple, it works out to be 1 AP for every 100 XM recharged. So, 100,000,000 XM Recharged would be a million AP. So, when I get to 120,000,000 XM recharged, I will have recharged enough to make it to Level 8 on just recharging.
This got me thinking, what is the mix of AP that I’ve received? With 125 AP for each resonator deployed, I’m around 7.4 million AP just for deploying resonators. With 500 AP for each portal captured, I’m at about 3.8 million AP for portal captures. I’m at about 2.6 million for resonators destroy and another 2.6 million for fields created.
I find the numbers fairly well reflect my style of play. I’m more of a builder than a destroyer, but when I destroy enemy portals, it is often to take out fields. While I have done a lot of recharging, it remains one of my lesser methods of gaining AP.
The other set of statistics I look at is when I’m likely to get my next badges. Some badges are so far out on the horizon that I doubt I’ll ever get them. For example, at my current rate of play, I’m unlikely to get my next mind controller badge for another 13 years. My next Connector badge is just under 10 years away. But, there are between five and seven badges that I could get within the next year.
All of this is based on the game remaining the same as it is right now, and my level of activity, likewise, remaining the same. However, I expect that we will see more changes over the next year, and my level of play will ebb and flow.
So, how are your Ingress Stats?
February 15th
La Petite Guerre
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 02/15/2015 - 14:34In response to my post yesterday about St. Valentine’s Day, a friend posted, “trading big wars for little ones”. I stopped and thought about those things we fight for, from parking spaces to ideology and wondered about those things that we most desire.
I find myself often coming back to French philosophers and psychoanalysts and reflected on “l’objet petit a’ from Lacan, that unattainable object of desire. What is it that we really want, that we are willing to fight for?
Edward Albee’s Zoo Story comes to mind,
You have everything in the world you want; you've told me about your home, and your family, and your own little zoo. You have everything, and now you want this bench. Are these the things men fight for? Tell me, Peter, is this bench, this iron and this wood, is this your honour? Is this the thing in the world you'd fight for? Can you think of anything more absurd?
Yet it isn’t the bench that Peter wants, it is “l’objet petit a’, some indescribable sense of wellbeing and security, love and self-esteem.
It is what we all want and we all fight for. We might see the threats to this desire being individuals who park in our parking space, as people of certain races, ethnicities, or religions, or even other countries.
Yesterday was St. Valentine’s Day, and as my friend suggested, sometimes we fight these battles as large wars, for example, in the Middle East. Sometimes, we fight them at home, as squabbles between lovers, as Les Petites Guerres. Perhaps we would be better off if we had more of these little wars at home than big wars overseas.
This weekend also saw the release of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. What is it that Christian and Ana are looking for in their relationship? Can strong relationships be based on contracts enforcing inequality? What are people looking for in going to see that movie? In a society where income disparities are increasing is it some effort to justify a Stockholm Syndrome between the ultra rich and those for whom the American Dream slips further and further away?
As a side note, a movie about a rich powerful man in a dysfunctional relationship with a young woman is nothing new. In 1977, Luis Bunuel directed “That Obscure Object of Desire”.
A dysfunctional and sometimes violent romance happens between Mathieu (Fernando Rey), a middle-aged, wealthy Frenchman, and a young, impoverished and beautiful flamenco dancer from Seville, Conchita... The story is set against a backdrop of terrorist bombings and shootings ...
So this weekend, do we have life imitating art with the latest shootings in Denmark and the opening of Fifty Shades of Grey? I think Bunuel’s film was done much better.
February 14th
Keeping the Saint in St. Valentine’s Day
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 02/14/2015 - 18:21This morning on Facebook, I posted,
Happy Saint Valentine's Day everyone!
(Let's keep the Saint in Saint Valentine's Day!)
Several people liked the post, but one asked,
Why? I'm fine with thinking it was invented by Hallmark.
A friend of a friend on Facebook posted,
Who was St. Valentine? I believe he was beheaded for secretly marrying couples during a time when marriage was banned so that men would be more likely to go to war! St Valentine was therefore canonized by the Catholic Church. Am I right?
Another posted
St Valentine was a pimp... but then again we celebrate slave owners and criminals as well.
So, let’s look at some of what is currently said about St. Valentine online.
Wikipedia lists several stories about St. Valentine, noting that
All that is reliably known of the saint commemorated on February 14 is his name and that he was martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia close to the Milvian bridge to the north of Rome on that day
History.com provides this story:
Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.
To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.
When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. The sentence was carried out on February 14, on or about the year 270.Wikipedia also mentions this story as one of many about St. Valentine.
While we may never know the true story, there is a timeless truth people performing marriages against orders, to avoid military service, or to promote some greater good.
Marriage was a way to get avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War. Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet in hopes of bringing to warring families together.
Even this past week, we have seen the Alabama Chief Justice order probate judges not to issues marriage licenses to same sex couples after a Federal Judge found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. Some probate judges refused to follow the Chief Justice’s order and a subsequent ruling was expanded the number of probate judges issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.
So, while, my post was meant as a play on, let’s keep the Christ in Christmas, and the many other lines that inspired, such as let’s keep Thor in Thursday, there is something to celebrate in priests and judges that seek to bring people together against the will of those who would wage war or try to keep people apart.
Happy Saint Valentine’s Day.
February 13th
Day In Day Out
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 02/13/2015 - 21:06The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what "day in day out" really means.
My wife and I both had long days today, not doing anything especially noteworthy, just doing a lot of those “day in day out” tasks that make up a large part of adult life. So, I picked, up a grinder on the way home. In the car, I listened to All Things Considered and Marketplace on public radio. Day in and day out, they produce those shows. One segment talked about a photographer for Saturday Night Live, a show produced weekly for forty years.
One of my tasks for the day was going over the interview questions for an upcoming guest on Conversations on Health Care with the producer, I have a sense at what it takes to produce a show, week after week, and am awed by people who can produce a daily show.
These are shows that inform and entertain. This year, I’ve gotten back into the swing of writing in my blog daily, day in day out. There are times that it is a struggle. I sometimes think it would be better to skip a day here and there rather than put up a blog post that really isn’t all that interesting, posts that perhaps neither inform nor entertain.
Yet my daily online performance is just part of many daily performances. My performance at work and at home. The performances of those making the grinder I brought home. Hopefully, it makes me a better writer. Hopefully, it is putting together a collection of ideas, perhaps like Deleuze’s plateaus or Wittengenstein’s Zettel, but that is a different idea to explore.
So, day fades into night. I write my blog post, do a little research online and head off to bed.
