my virtual notebook

The pink christmas tree!

Even though I probably would never have one of these, there is a part of me that really likes THIS tree!

A nice idea, but unfortunately codswallop

Spontaneous generation that is....

Merian was very interested in the life-cycle of caterpillars & moths/butterlies, and so I'm pretty sure she wasn't a proponent of this, even thought there were still a lot of people around at that time who were. Not sure where she stood on maggots. (Many thought maggots spontaneously came to life in rotting meat, because the eggs were too small to see with the naked eye. (Unlike the maggots).

Why I love the internet!

Because simply by typing into google the title of a 17th century compilation of artists, that contains the first biographical passages on Maria Sibylla Merian,  I come across an online, searchable version of the entire book, that is part of a research project: Sandrart.net !! Hooray!!

Cute cat ornaments

I may just have to get me one of those: fat cat ornaments

Busy busy busy!

Between now and December 20th (the day we leave for our 17 day trip to Germany) I must accomplish the following:

finish a good first draft of the Merian article which is due January 15th

review an article for publication in a journal

finish all the grading that I have not gotten to yet, including a batch of 16 honors papers a 101 test (26 of them) and major assignments in my 301 class

once I have finished all the grading , calculate and enter final grades

(finally) get my hair cut and do some grocery shopping in Ann Arbor

take a cohort of German students to the German Christmas Market in Chicago this coming Sunday
 (--one of the students has done the van training, since I am still a non-driver)

get started on Spring course prep, which includes one brand new course (although I have taught quite similar courses before) and one course that I have "inherited" from Perry, which I have also not taught before.

various other academic/administrative duties

I think this will keep me busy for the time being!

Did Obama quote Kant at the State Dinner?

I woke up hearing Obama on the radio saying:

"As we all know, in India some of life's most treasured moments are often celebrated under the cover of a beautiful tent. It's a little like tonight. We have incredible food and music and are surrounded by great friends. For it's been said that "the most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of duty within us."

Which sounded to me a bit  like the famous Kant quote from the Critique of Practical Reason:

"Two things fill me with constantly increasing admiration and awe, the longer and more earnestly I reflect on them: the starry heavens without and the moral law within. "

"Zwei Dinge erfüllen das Gemüth mit immer neuer und zunehmender Bewunderung und Ehrfurcht, je öfter und anhaltender sich das Nachdenken damit beschäftigt: der bestirnte Himmel über mir und das moralische Gesetz in mir."

I did wonder whether the "feeling of duty" was a legitimate way of saying "the moral law within."

Well apparently the Internets think the quote that Obama incorporated into his speech is "an indian proverb"  (although one page described it as an Irish proverb...) which is probably why he chose it, and not because he has been reading or talking to someone about Kant.

Alchemy

Nice entry on alchemy here.

"Home is a pillow"

The above is a quote from today's poem at "Verse Daily" written by Allen Strous.  Interesting to see the term "chapbook" being used nowadays to refer to printed collections of poems.  And I cannot resist posting a link to the related Russian term "lubok" simply because of the wonderful print of "The Mice burying the Cat" on that term's wikipedia page!!!

Brecht poem from "Das Leben der Anderen"

This is the poem quoted briefly in the movie: Erinnerung an Marie E.  (in German) and here in English. Whatever one may think of the movie (I can't help but like it, even though I do think the Wiesler character is a bit of a fantasy...) I do think the poem is a nice one.

And here's Bowie playing "Baal" singing the same poem. 

Interesting Wagner-Mann connection

An interesting quote I just came across while surfing the internets:

"Only when sitting in the Royal Opera House did I realize what must be obvious to everyone else: that Mann, who wrote the book when he was a Wagner-obsessed man in his mid-twenties, intends it as a sort of middle-class Ring, with the Buddenbrooks, a family of Hanseatic traders, as the gods."

The writer's lack of enthusiasm might stem, at least partly from the fact that I assume he was reading it in translation. I think Mann's subtle north German humor may get lost somewhere in translation.  (Although I have never looked at an English version of Buddenbrooks).  

The comments connects Wagner to Harry Potter....hmmm not sure about that!?!

The article is here