Daily Connotations

Daily Connotations

Entropy Happens.
Join the madness.

You don't have to push the boundaries when you set the standards.

Connotation. 1. a. The configuration of suggestive or associative implications consitiuting the general sense of an abstract espression beyond its literal, explicit sense. b. A secondary meaning suggested by a word in addition to its literal meaning. 3. Logic The total of the attributes constituting the meaning of a term.

Observations, opinions, and ideas, all brought to you by Daily Connotations Company. Who Else?

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Disclaimer: Any opinions contained on this page are those of, well, we don't really know who. Any offense taken to anything present should be directed to Sven, who will file and ignore your comments. Praise or compliments can be directed to either Dr. N, Dr. What, or Dr. Olga. All plagarized material has been tested and deemed satisfactory according to the esteemed code of Lehrer, version 2.3.
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Things We Like

Sven Bjorn Borg: Sven has been with d-con since its humble beginnings, and is responsible for punctuating, finances, guarding the office from rabid dogs and loud noises, and acting as mediator amongst the other members. Dr. Borge is well-known as the world's foremost (and perhaps only) underwater-basket-weaving expert. Sven has recently published no less than 3 books, Klingon Grammar and Vocabulary for humans, Life among the Grapes, and Escher, Bach, Gödel: A gigantic elastic bungalow. In it's copious spare time, the Sven enjoys playing the harpsichord and diagramming sentences. Sven is Chief of Staff and Director of Intelligence in the UPICN,LLC.
Dr. Bob William "The Orange" Lavoisier a.k.a. Dr. Henry Parsons: Dr. N, as we like to call him, is officially the initiator of the Daily Connotations Company, and also holds important Offices in the VVIIPP society of America and The Department of Redundancy Department, which is a place where he holds an important office in the department of redundancy. Henry also spent a good deal of his life studying the behavior of Walruses (Walri?) in the wild, inspired by a long-running correspondence with Mr. J. Lennon, who, in fact, convinced "The Orange" that he was, in fact, a walrus. Dr. Parsons' curriculum vitae is rounded out by his extensive family history (including a brother, Alan), and double Ph.D. honors in Botany and the Study of Scandinavian Languages. Recently, Dr. Henry Parsons was elected president of the UPICN,LLC
The Doctor a.k.a. Dr. What??: Dr. What joins us now as a member of d-Con in very good standing. It is important that the doctor not be confused with his slightly-more-popular brother, Doctor Who, who has carved a niche for himself in the field of time travel. Dr. What never developed the talent for time travel, and has the ability to visit only two distinct temporal locations: The beheading of John the Baptist and that one time when Stanley met Livingstone (or was it Livingstone met Stanley?) Consequently, he spends much of his time knitting (the scarves, natch) on the planet Gallifrey whilst (and at the same time) contemplating Nietzschean philosophies and memorizing much of Immanuel Kant's work, both in the original German.
Dr. Phelealabean: Dr. Phelealabean also uses the alias Dr. Olga Olathe Parsons-Uhlmer. Dr. Parsons-Uhlmer is a sister to Henry and Alan. She has a dual honorary doctorate in Arabian Literature and Language. She also has teaching experience at the University of Rekjavik which was held in a small grass-covered hut. She iswidowed after an incident involving her husband and abandonment which she is not allowed to discuss pending criminal charges. Now that she is alone, she enjoys spending summers with her brother, Henry, in his summer home, The Parsonon.

11.30.2004

Now That Was Jeopardy!

Today we mark the end of the 74-day long reign of Ken Jennings as Jeopardy champion. Jennings, who was once a software engineer from Salt Lake City, earned over two-and-a-half MILLION doallars on the show - a monetary gain that may mean some lifestyle changes - or perhaps an early retirement - for the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed BYU grad.

Ken owes, as do all good Jeopardy players, his success to three basic things. Firstly, and amazingly wide range of knowledge (which he attributed on the show to his college education and his experience writing quiz bowl questions). Secondly, quick reflexes on the buzzer - which now doubt comes from being young and virile, erm, impetuous.. Thirdly, an uncanny ability to guess the right thing at the right time - because unlike some trivia games, the questions (well, answers. . .) are written to be answered - and to be answerable. Most clues contain at least two separate hints pointing to the same response, and the wording, spelling, format, et cetera, of the game provide additional help. Examples: a bad trivia question: What was the nickname of Henry Tudor Who knows? For that matter, who cares? Most of us would rather not socialize with someone who could respond correctly! A good trivia question (Jeopardy-style): With a nickname like this, Henry Tudor could have been the founder of the fast food industry instead of the first British king to make a habit of visiting towns. (A: What is the Burgher King?)

With or without Ken, we LOVE Jeopardy!

And, we can take comfort in the fact that the record he set weill not be broken for at least another 75 days!

--Posted by s. on Tuesday, November 30, 2004.

11.29.2004

Do I just not understand anything?

Aargh.

--Posted by s. on Monday, November 29, 2004.

11.24.2004

[Y]ou must think big, question everything, and not merely tinker around the edges - rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic might make for a more pleasant view, but it does not prevent the inevitable plunge to the ocean floor.

-William Ayers

--Posted by s. on Wednesday, November 24, 2004.

11.21.2004

Campaign Slogans of the Great Philosophers
2008 - It'll be different!

Heraclitus: He's for Change!

Parmenides for President: He's the One!

Descartes . . . He has a dream!

Pascal: In your heart you know he's right

Pascal . . . The Best Bet!

Vote for Spinoza . . . (Like you have a choice)

Leibniz . . . For the Best Possible World!

Hegel . . . He's got the Spirit!

Kierkegaard: Take the leap to a new level of politics

Schopenhauer: He's got the Will!

James . . . Bring pragmatism back into politics!

Wittgenstein . . . Because running the country is not just a game!

(the scary thing is, I actually laughed at some of these. sorry)

--Posted by s. on Sunday, November 21, 2004.

You are so young; you stand before beginnings. I would like to beg of you, dear friend, as well as I can, to have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them.

--Rainer Maria Rilke.

--Posted by s. on Sunday, November 21, 2004.

11.18.2004

A funny sentence from a commentary about Euripides' Ion.:

"Most of the song is in melic anapests, with paroemiacs mainly spondiac; but (862-80) we have the ordinary anapaests of tragedy, which presumably were chanted in recitative (W.-M. adds 'with flute accompianiment')."

I guess I just don't speak that language. I'm sure it makes sense - and probably even makes a point. But . . .

--Posted by s. on Thursday, November 18, 2004.

11.17.2004

Specificity.

There are two pencils on the table to my left. Small pencils. I don't think that either of them is longer than four inches. Pretty much your standard yellow pencils. No erasers. Tip-to-tip, but not exactly lined up. You couldn't trace a straight line over both of them. They aren't touching each other or the back of the desk. They are touching the top of the desk - but with gravity and all, that's just a given. I don't know whose pencils they are - I don't think they belong to anyone. They are communal pencils, shared pencils. I don't know what was written last with them. I am fairly confident they have been written with, as their points are a bit dull. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about the pencils. But they are pencils, and I felt it necessary, crucial, perhaps even essential that they be documented. Not in themselves, for themselves. Rather, because I tend to become prosaic, aesthetic, perhaps even spiritual when I write. The pencils are not spiritual. I have not tried to make them so. They are not symbolic of anything, they aren't trying to make a point about something. Any apparent symbolism, judgment codes, or morality the pencils may seem to have is not inherent in them. It is my symbolism, my analogy for the world, my morality codes, transplanted on the pencils through my description of them.
But they are there. Concrete. Real. Above all, Real... I could pick them up, write with them, whatever. I haven't even touched them - to tell the truth.

But now I have. And I have adjusted them - now the pencils are almost parallel. (Who can say for sure?) They are not touching each other. I've done a lot of writing, and will no doubt do a lot more. The accuracy of much of it is questionable. Is that because my knowledge and understanding of the various topics is questionable? In many cases, yes: Politics, religion, God, baseball. . . I know very little - really know, that is - very little concerning all those things. But the pencils, I know. And I find the writing is still questionable - or if not questionable, at very least incomplete. I could write pages and pages and still not tell you what, preceisely, those pencils are. What they mean. How they mean. Where they came from. Where they are going. But what they are. My words are like lights, and they cast shadows of aspects of the pencils on the page (or the screen, as the case may be). But looking at the shadows is certainly not the same as knowing the objects.

Is it?

--Posted by s. on Wednesday, November 17, 2004.

Today's new word: Infracaninophile. (the meaning is perfectly obvious, if you think about it.)

--Posted by s. on Wednesday, November 17, 2004.

11.16.2004

Vulgarity vs. Profanity:

I hear these words used often as synonyms. They aren't.

A VULGARISM is a word describing something (usually a bodily function) that is an inappropriate topic for discussion in "mixed society".

PROFANITY, on the other hand, is using the word that rightfully denotes something SACRED in a manner that is clearly intended to mean otherwise.

I suppose a follow-up quiz is in order. Here is a list of 10 words that you wouldn't say to your grandmother. Mark each one with a "p" (for profane) or a "v" (for vulgar).

Nah, just kidding. But if you have some spare time, you can do it yourself.

--Posted by s. on Tuesday, November 16, 2004.

Ogres are. . . like onions.

But it's not just an ogre thing. More of just a thing.

or Parfaits

Parfaits may be the best thing on the whole damn planet.

Actually, I don't know that I've ever had a parfait that was so tasty.

But it's just a layer thing. Everytime I feel I find the right layer - the REAL layer, it just turns out to be another mask, another cover-up. And I'm left with nothing.

Or perhaps, everything. If no layer is more real than any other, it follows also that no layer would be less real. We are what we have. The glass is half-full, baby. Seize the day. And all those other trite positivist ramblings. Why try to find the truth when the truth is only what you have?

Pacifism Passivism

The opposite of stupidity is not wisdom. The opposite of stupidity is the opposite stupidity.

--Posted by s. on Tuesday, November 16, 2004.

11.15.2004

MMM, yummy!

The past few days have been filled with lots of warm sugary goodness!

(Which more than makes up for the previous days' being filled with lots of, erm, "academic" "work".)

But seriously, there is something especial and exciting about knowing the people who cook your food. That connection - the "eating together" - runs deep (almost as deep as, um, whatever). "Breaking Bread" - why is something so commonplace, so universal also so meaningful?

And would you like fries with that?

--Posted by s. on Monday, November 15, 2004.

11.10.2004

Paradoxes, paradoxes, paradoxes. Life is full of them, but aren't they fun. I've found I enjoy paradoxes more and more as I grow older and find myse getting throw into paradoxes and do absolutly nothing to avoid that. It so fun to get out of paradoxes.
Try this out: You have to get out(of what it doesn't really matter). If you don't get out you'll die(and the obvious object is to stay alive). But if you go out your in. So you stay in. But you're still in. So you go out, but by the rules of the game. What are you going to do? Isn't it obvious. Outsmart the paradox. Create a paradox that destroys the one that is standing in your way. The results of the paradox on the patterns of space time and other living tissues are usually unpredictable(but if you donÕt take chances where's the fun in living). So you go out. Then you try to get back in. If going out brings you in and staying in keeps you in. Go in. My challenge to you is not to try to go in or go out or stay(try walking around in circles for all I care) but not to fear the paradox of life. It obvious life is trying to kill you. but it also obvious that you are alive because of life.

BE WELL. DO GOOD WORKS. KEEP IN TOUCH.

--Posted by a. on Wednesday, November 10, 2004.

11.09.2004

The Revealer

More than you could ever imagine. . .

--Posted by s. on Tuesday, November 09, 2004.

11.06.2004

Oh well, at least we know our country is on firm moral footing. It rings false in my ears to say that "moral issues" are more important than the war in iraq, because, for me, War itself is inherently a moral issue of tremendous import. It is sad that we as a nation have defined "moral issues" to be nothing more than a euphemism for "gay marriage" (with a little bit of "abortion" thrown in on the side, just for flavor. But mostly "gay marriage") Perhaps this isn't clear. WAR, to my ears anyway, implies a sort of "moral dimension" to that which it denotes. If we are fighting a war, we are either fighting FOR something, AGAINST something, or both - usually, perhaps even always, on a moral level. We like to get rid of all the bad guys because they are evil! And what's more, we explicitly state that we are fighting a moral battle! It's the WAR on TERROR, for the love of pete, against the axis of EVIL. If that's not a morality judgment, just tell me what is!!

What right do we have to go to war? To spread democracy? Is it merely that I am young and idealistic that I say "none"? (Actually, is that idealistic at all? I don't really know. Perhaps more pessimistic. An idealist would say, BRING IT ON!) One think I do no: It is irresponsible (not to mention foolish and dangerous) to begin a war without plans to finish it. What, then? Is war like a plate-full of food? And we've told little George that he has to stay inside until he cleans his plate? But the consequences are much greater: We cannot afford to throw out the food if he can't finish the job, in fact, there is no place to throw it!

We can complain a long time about media bias and uninformed voters and straight-ticket republicans and closed-mindedness, but that won't change things. Complaining won't, however, be able to bring this country back to where it should be (or even where it was).

W. made "God Bless America" into a command. At this point, though, God has every right to say "Why should I?". (as though I can say what rights God has.) I say it as sort of a last-ditch pleading request:

God bless America.
(oh, please?!?)

--Posted by s. on Saturday, November 06, 2004.

11.03.2004

No, no, I won't talk about it!!

"The time for petty politics is over: the very next century will bring the fight for the dominion of the earth--- the compulsion to large-scale politics."
-Friedrich Nietzsche

I'm feeling quite secure about my position, nevertheless. Somehow, I'm apathetic. Totally and completely apathetic. It just doesn't matter - and I suppose, since we decided that's the way its going to be, then we prolly will get exactly what we deserve. (You notice how dangerously close I am coming to speaking over the inspeakable?)

But would it really have made that much difference?

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you ."
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Ah, well,

"What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."
-Friedrich Nietzsche.

Bam, bam, bam.

--Posted by s. on Wednesday, November 03, 2004.

11.02.2004

The troble with elections today is that they are all too political.

--Posted by a. on Tuesday, November 02, 2004.

Oh, baby, go vote!!!

--Posted by s. on Tuesday, November 02, 2004.