Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Accountability: No gym this morning, but planning to go after work.

Work put bowls of chocolate out and around the office. Tis a very nice thought, but oh-so(too?)-tempting.

Reading Update: Finished Wicked last night - excellent exploration of all the shades of green between black and white. It should be noted that people who like protagonists will be disappointed, as every character is more or less an antagonist. I'm sure that's technically wrong, but I'm betting anyone else who read it would agree.

So now onto Montaigne's essays for the Great Books. The first one is titled "Of Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change a Law Received." As a moderate Catholic in the middle of religious wars, appeal to custom would have been reassuring. So far, it appears that he's linking custom to repeated physical exercise - I don't think that's a definitive parallel as far as benefits are concerned.

But he has made an interesting point that traits in children are more obvious indications of the traits they possess as adults (subject to correction, hopefully). I guess the main thing I thought profound in his paragraph is this aside: "and, indeed, it is to be noted, that the [play] of children are not performed in play, but are to be judged in them as their most serious actions" I wonder how that applies to adult play, especially in the era of computer games.

His previous essay was a single paragraph, so I had to read "That the Profit of One Man is the Damage of Another." Basically he says that every businessman is filling a need, so in order for profit to exist, need/hurt/suffering must exist. He's not condemning the businessman - he's actually responding to a quote about how horrible funeral directors are for taking advantage of the bereaved, and points out that all business transactions are filling a need, hopefully most less serious. I found it interesting but don't quite know yet what I think. If I think any more on this, I'll letcha know.

As to basketball, Horry is apparently good for one victory per big series - here's hoping Tim and Manu can come up with a third from their side. In other sports news, UT is in the driver's seat to reach the College World Series final. Hook em!

Things I've Learned: 1) Everyone seems to think most people can never be on time. 2) 17"/19" CRT monitors are worth $50/$70 on eBay. 3) Literal French translations are very pretentious stylistically (this might only apply to Renaissance texts).
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