10/30/11

The icon in Peirce's sign theory

Project MUSE - Language - Is an icon iconic?: "In Peirce's sign theory an icon is a member of his most well-known trichotomy of icon/index/symbol, by which he meant to designate the mutable relations between a SIGN and its OBJECT. Peirce's earliest published mention of this trichotomy is from 1885 (EP 1:225).1 Here is how Peirce's most astute interpreter, T. L. Short, introduces his discussion of the trichotomy after citing several of Peirce's definitions: 'This division is based on the relation of a sign to its object—in later formulations, to its dynamic object . . . That relation is the one we have called the sign's "prior relation" to its object or the "ground" of its significance' (2007:214). "

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Comment and signature of the day

Occupy Wall Street: When basic biological needs are criminalized [Most commented] - latimes.com: "I think the Occupiers should just en masse march into the lobby of Goldman Sachs and go potty there. Not in the restroom. Right on the gleaming marble floor where the plutocrats will have to step in it. It doesn't smell any worse than the fraudulent CDOs they marketed, and caused all of this.

--shockratees _ "

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I picked up my disease at the gas pump

Gas pumps found to be germiest things we touch: "According to The Los Angeles Times, the results of the good doctor's research show 71 percent of gas pump handles are "'highly contaminated' with the kinds of germs most associated with a high risk of illness." Other cesspools we encounter on an everyday basis include public mailboxes, ATM machines and escalators."

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The seer rose alone deep in the night

The Tao in Mark:

The seer rose alone deep in the night
And spoke with the unseen in solitude
Next day with other seers he set out
For many sought to learn his healing power
The seer said I came to speak to all
And so he spoke and lifted burdens too
A hand a touch a bidding to be clean
A plea of secrecy no one would heed
And so both word and deed spread far

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A sharp voice said, "Adam! What are you doing with this?

Manhattan Bully Wars (1947):

"A sharp voice said, "Adam! What are you doing with this?"

It was Mildred, just arrived, wearing her fox fur and carrying an alligator purse.
Before Adam could respond, she was striding from the living room, Candide in hand.

Panflick had never had a book yanked from his hand and he wracked his brain for some explanation of this unusual behavior.

Candide's equanimity and Voltaire's wise parsing of reality were beyond criticism in Adam's view. The book was on a par with The Wizard of Oz. Wise. Simple, Humorous. Sensible."

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Occupy is Not A Herd Movement

Random Thoughts: "Say you wanted to build a Movement by appealing directly to the Cult Mind, that part of the brain that most desires to be part of a herd. You'd need a slogan to imply that following a crowd leads to Truth. Such a maxim would suggest that being in the majority, or having membership in the biggest tribe, somehow confers moral superiority. You'd want the slogan to be well-suited to sheep, while scrupulously avoiding any speck of human critical thinking."

A bit or overreaction from my friend at Random Thoughts. Occupy is very different from past movements just as a world with social network power differs from the world of sit-ins and trips to Parchman for offenders. Occupy is not aiming to launch an agenda as much as to be what it actually is - a sign. The one percent has meme has no resonance as a  cult or herd-like thing. The sign is that of people's democracy, that we have the right to a voice and the expression of grievance. Insofar as this activism generates response from law officers, it receives some "news" coverage.But that is not its tactic or goal. Dough is rising. People are awakening. In a few weeks we all know about disparity. We accept it as a given. Occupy is a sign that it is time to check in with some other values and help redeem an American dream that venerates tolerance, helpfulness, non-idolatry and democracy for all its people.



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Supercommittee is a silly charade

Supercommittee: Democrat Max Baucus floats $3-trillion-dollar deficit deal: "The chief sticking point between the two parties remains the same as it ever was: new taxes."

Ten to one it will simply deadlock with a lot of idiot talk that simply reveals the inability to act because all parties will not get into the same boat. When the time comes all the automatic business will be voted down in the first bipartisan action of this charade. Then in 20 whenever when the money people cry uncle there will be the action we could have had if Boehner had not said no to Obama when he offered the grand bargain in the first place. Who is to blame. Anyone not willing to put everything on the table and mean it when they say we are all Americans.

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Stretchable electronics is an exciting technology

Q&A: Stephanie Lacour, assistant professor, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne | SmartPlanet: "Stretchable electronics is an exciting technology to apply to the biomedical field. The human body is 3D and moving. Providing electronic circuits or transducers that can move along with the body, either in the form of a smart band-aid, a e-shirt and ultimately an artificial skin would definitely benefit the biomedical community."

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Strangled in suburbia video

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Hey Occupy, Dig This Video


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High rises are as retro as big oil



Canada news: Toronto is the new Dubai | GlobalPost: "According to Emporis — a Frankfurt-based research company that tracks multi-story buildings — there were 132 high-rises under construction in Toronto in September, far ahead of the next most-active center, Mexico City with 88, and third-place New York with 86."

High rises are as retro as big oil
They'll recede as the world is occupied
By those who'd rather walk than ride
And fancy a new world less stratified

In Omaha pets thrive posthumously

Saying farewell to Fido: "That’s why Freeman leads a pet loss support group at Omaha’s Humane Society, where a dozen or so grieving animal lovers gather twice a month to share tips on moving past their companions’ deaths. Some bereaved owners plan thousand-dollar burials for their gerbils or cats. Others struggle to move on without their horse or dog, like the woman who had a bench installed next to the graves of her Great Danes."

Collections should be public starting soon

Sharing space with a collection means editing well:

Collections should be public starting soon
In spaces we create for all to see
Sharing trumps amassing privately
And leads to face to face community

Hurrah for the Spanish shepherds

Spanish shepherds lead 5,000 sheep through Madrid - San Jose Mercury News: "MADRID—Spanish shepherds are leading flocks of sheep through the streets of downtown Madrid in defense of ancient grazing, migration and droving rights threatened by urban sprawl and man-made frontiers."

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The best thing Steve Jobs ever did

The best thing Steve Jobs ever did was
Design a circular office complex for Apple
That could contain thousands of persons
Without building a high rise or skyscraper
But rather by making it car free
It has been our need for transportation that has trumped our well-being
Well-being is walkability
Proximity 
Omni-zoning
Everything within reach
Smart minimalism
Flexibility
Adaptability


Everything you do not get with sprawl
And cash cow detached housing that is not viable for a
 future with more and more billions due
Steve Jobs knew this in his soul

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Debt RX - A Universal Reduction in Costs

How
By making a general default for community size
To enable viable local economies and representative democracy locally
Communities of 5-10K
Whether clustered into cities and metropolises 
Or found along the routes of existing transport corridors
Beyond rural and beyond sprawl
Such communities would reside in omni-zoned structures
Stadium-sized with no more than four above ground levels
The eco-infrastructure would be common to all spaces
A matrix conducting everything requiring circulation
Attached would be the lego-like structures or spaces that would compose
Residences education venues commercial kiosks
Within a short walk of everything small squares public areas athletic areas
Cultural areas and so forth
By creating a viable universal notion of car free 
economically and culturally vibrant communities
We advance mentally beyond oil captivity
Sprawl captivity
And create for the poorest the richest environments
Which become the model for how we make the billions
of us
A sustainable global mega-community

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Futuristic laptops 10 communities 0

Top 10 futuristic concept laptop designs | HybridLava:

The concern with the small and the personal techno realm may be fine but when will it morph into the design of communities, of small car-free cities (of 10 k for example), of components of spaces or buildings to replace the materials now in use, of walls that contain the basis for creating various elements of usability such as sleeping surfaces and so forth. The biggest thing that is not being done today is the renewal and creation of the large. Of the future outside macro realm. Dwellings. Transportation. Ecostructures. Walkability. The micro stuff merely reveals that we could do the macro if we could get our minds around it. Obama understands this but has not really envisioned it because it is politically difficult to tell big oil its days are numbered, though they are.

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RECCMENDATION Richard Gordon Quantum Touch

The Slow as Molasses Press