quivering through sun-drunken delight

Saturday, October 01, 2005

World Around Us: "the unexamined life is not worth living"

The other day, looking in a certain vicinity for a particularly well-hidden building -- the local medical clinic -- I came across this specimen:

Building Face



Truly, a building much like any other (I did not take more pictures to prove it, but maybe you can believe in the local homogeneity), and clicking for a larger version won't show you much more. But there is a little bit of something, dirt maybe, on the stone face above the door, obscured by the harsh sunlight? Take a closer look -- is it -- yes, it is -- huh!

'gnothi sauton' over the door



Just hanging there, like you have to bargain with acolytes to enter and receive the cryptic wisdom of Apollo, ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΑΥΤΟΝ!

gnothi sauton
know thyself!



Judging by the postings on the billboards inside, this building does not belong to the Classics Department but instead to the biologists. I bet they always use the door on the other side, just to avoid blushing walking under this thing.

Another incongruity I walk by every day:

Lion statue



Seems someone in the Class of 1879 didn't get the memo: "Lions out, tigers in."

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13 Comments:

At 12:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Speaking of Tigers, did you determine that the guarding animals in a previous post were in fact tigers or some other animal?

Glad to hear the your favourite chess master won. Will he be attending an event in your location anytime soon? Lots of events happen on the east coast of the USA.

 
At 2:03 PM, Blogger BKF said...

When I got a closer look, I decided they probably were tigers. Slightly deformed tigers, not "clearly that's a tiger" said the unknowing tourist but "oh, a variation on the theme of tigers" said the erudite native.

Sometimes things happen, chesswise, in New York or Philadelphia. But we know my feelings on this score.

 
At 6:55 PM, Blogger BKF said...

It has come to my attention that this page doesn't look quite right in IE. The top banner is off by a pixel and the font is too small. I apologise but unless someone can tell me exactly how to fix it without obliterating compatibility with the browser I use it's going to remain that way.

My imperial-like "wouldst thou lift up Olympus?!" arises from a certain recent quest, to make simultaneously the frame up top and the pictures in the body display properly (the latter are now correctly centered), during the course of which I made the aforementioned observation.

In the meantime, to keep everyone happy, let me share with you the place [http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/] where I found that woodgrain -- no, I didn't search through all 24,000 selections to find _the perfect woodgrain_.

I think I have to go do some math or something while there's still a day left.

 
At 9:08 PM, Blogger BKF said...

hint, n. 1. A slight indication or intimation.
2. A statement conveying information in an indirect fashion; a clue.
3. (mathematics) The most difficult of several possible ways to solve a problem.

(Famous math student joke.)

 
At 3:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't believe I see the woodgrain. Perhaps it's supposed to be over the yellow but Firefox is mangling it? Who can say.

I have to say that those people using IE should get a new browser *cough* Dad *cough*.

 
At 4:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know about you (Craig) but I noticed the wood grained edging of the body of the messaging that sits on a yellow background.

I hope this the way it is supposed to look, even with IE!

 
At 4:44 PM, Blogger BKF said...

Drat. Yes, there's supposed to be a woodgrain (8 pixels) border above and below the banner. Considering the hackery it seems to take to get it looking right with Opera I shouldn't be surprised.

The yellow border I could be persuaded to change if there's a specific shade that's better. I'm looking for "burnished gold under the sun." But I settled for "sunny."

Yes, I have Dark Empire there. The first series I enjoyed. I don't recall much about it (it's been a while) but somewhere between there and the third series the quality went floor-bound. Sometime I'll have to go back after having seen others and decide what I think of it retrospectively.

 
At 4:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ha! nothing wrong with IE!! I can see the wood. :P

I like the yellow, its cheery. :)

Balin I made a video! If you want to see your brother fall down lots let me know and I'll give you the link. teehee.

Are you having lots of adventures that aren't math related? Have you made any friends? I know! we should make and send you some fairy wings and bubble solution.. wouldn't that be fun? ;)

:)

~hugs~

 
At 9:48 PM, Blogger BKF said...

I like to see my brother fall down a lot. As long as he's wearing his skin protectant. I mean, pads. But I think I can find your video.

So gratified to hear you like the new look. I wanted something cheerier.

I have non-math-related adventures, sure, but they sound math-related anyway. A colleague asked me what I do 'off-hours', or saw me watching these games, or something -- I don't recall the set-up to this anecdote (shameful), just the expression of disbelief and laughter when I said I played chess....

I'm still trying to find a place to put up my wall-hanging. I don't even have a little nail for it, blast it; I thought I packed one but apparently didn't.

By the way, Topalov won again today. What a guy. It's tempting to say instead that the other guys keep losing but somehow after five games it's more than that, like he knows exactly how far he can push -- I'd say "without putting himself in real danger," but he has been, and moreover he says on the record that he is not afraid to lose! -- so he knows it (could hardly not know it, but knew it beforehand, too).

 
At 3:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

www.fooldome.com\videos\Cin_0001.wmv

he is wearing his pads. :) good on him. When I stole all the vids from him to put it together I did actually shriek at a few of the falls cause they look so scary.

your computer might die of shock at playing metallica on it, but I think it'll be ok ;)

Well maybe we could send you soem nails. Course they would probably get confiscated at the border. lol

I suppose chess counts as a non math adventure... As do the picture taking expeditions. :)

 
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