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It's Like Homer Without the 'D'oh!'
Feb. 5th, 2004 11:01 pmSaw early Simpsons episodes today. It's really odd after being used to the newer ones, because there are subtle differences in the drawing and the voices. However, the sense of storyline is much more coherent.
Also saw a show on PBS about genetics which prominently featured James Watson. He strikes me as a doddering old man trying to remain in the public eye. (I almost said, "trying to remain relevant," but that's a bit harsh.) His current project is advocating genetic testing and engineering and whatnot. Basically "playing God" with our genes as he says. Now that the genome's been sequenced, got to do something with it. It might help his case if he didn't use words like "eugenics" or "unfit." He's advocating something different from the old eugenics programs, but how many people are going to look past the term once they recoil in horror?
I've been lazy today. Haven't read any Descartes, though I should try and catch up with the syllabus. Even though in lecture we're way behind. According to the syllabus, we should be done with the "drunken fart" (Descartes) and starting with Leibniz (who, unfortunately, is not in the philosophers song from Monty Python). But we're not even quite halfway through the Meditations. I figured this would happen, considering how the Nietzsche class went, dropping off the last couple readings. I think, though, that Brent is better at running a lecture-style class than a discussion-oriented one, even if he isn't much better about setting the syllabus. But, I suppose it's better to be overambitious in that respect than to run out of ways to fill the class time.
Yesterday I read Baudelaire's "Poem of Hashish," which was for class today. Between that and DeQuincey's "Confessions of an English Opium-eater," I've concluded that my brain does enough weird shit on its own without the help of drugs. On occasion I'll read or repeat a particular word over and over until it loses meaning, which is something Baudelaire talks about in his discussion of the effects of hashish.
And I will stop there before I go on a Cartesian journey.
Also saw a show on PBS about genetics which prominently featured James Watson. He strikes me as a doddering old man trying to remain in the public eye. (I almost said, "trying to remain relevant," but that's a bit harsh.) His current project is advocating genetic testing and engineering and whatnot. Basically "playing God" with our genes as he says. Now that the genome's been sequenced, got to do something with it. It might help his case if he didn't use words like "eugenics" or "unfit." He's advocating something different from the old eugenics programs, but how many people are going to look past the term once they recoil in horror?
I've been lazy today. Haven't read any Descartes, though I should try and catch up with the syllabus. Even though in lecture we're way behind. According to the syllabus, we should be done with the "drunken fart" (Descartes) and starting with Leibniz (who, unfortunately, is not in the philosophers song from Monty Python). But we're not even quite halfway through the Meditations. I figured this would happen, considering how the Nietzsche class went, dropping off the last couple readings. I think, though, that Brent is better at running a lecture-style class than a discussion-oriented one, even if he isn't much better about setting the syllabus. But, I suppose it's better to be overambitious in that respect than to run out of ways to fill the class time.
Yesterday I read Baudelaire's "Poem of Hashish," which was for class today. Between that and DeQuincey's "Confessions of an English Opium-eater," I've concluded that my brain does enough weird shit on its own without the help of drugs. On occasion I'll read or repeat a particular word over and over until it loses meaning, which is something Baudelaire talks about in his discussion of the effects of hashish.
And I will stop there before I go on a Cartesian journey.
