Author: manwithoutqualities

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walker percy

Giving the Sickness a Name: Walker Percy and acedia

Jeff Reimer in Commonweal Magazine. The artist’s work, in other words, is not an autopsy but a diagnosis made in the hope of recovery—an attempt, he says, to “give the sickness a name, to render the unspeakable speakable.” Even when he is at his bleakest, Percy manages to counter despair with the possibility, however elusive,…

classical liberalism

Danny Frederick (1955-2021)

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Danny. Danny was a star example of the gentleman philosopher, beholden to no-one, following an existential calling that he saw through with absolute integrity and dignity to the bitter end. For more about Danny’s life see his autobiographical notes here. See a mutual friend of ours’…

Israel

Herzl’s Bicycle

(This repost marks Herzl’s death on July 3rd). The top photo is of a mini sculpture near the Budapest synagogue and is based on the second photo on display in the Vienna Jewish Museum. The third photo is of the actual bicycle, also on display in the Vienna Jewish Museum. Read Herzl’s The Jewish State…

stigmergy

What termites and cells have in common

Here’s a press release for an open access technical paper. This shows that morphing of cells is not solely guided by an unidirectional information flow from extracellular cues, but is also determined by the morphology of the cell itself as shaped by prior events. Pierre-Paul GrasséSelf-organizationStigmergy