The Wallstadt Review
Sunday, January 01, 2006
New Year's Speech
Well, as you may have (or may have not
noticed, depending on whether you are an attentive reader or not) I
am not starting this digression with my typical "digression"
title (i.e., YAD). It is because once it's been used a couple a
times, a good joke can get old and boring. And so has it happened
with my digressions, they became outdated and monotonous. Since I
presume to be a fighter against boredom and monotony, I have decided
to adopt a new style for my common digressions, namely, from now on,
all my entries in this glorious web log will be digressions on issues
that are interesting to the author of these writs, that is,
T.M.H.G.Nv.K.. This seems blatantly selfish, but that is what blogs,
podcasts, and digital photography are all about: the individual.
I read some time ago about the
purported individualization of the media and the increasing isolation
of people in the midst of crowds, and although some of the tenets of
that hypothesis might be a bit misleading, in general, the set of
ideas seems to be correct. As I can recall, they were analyzing the
iPod as an example of this individualization, in which people would
just listen what they wanted to listened. Furthermore, they also
presented a perhaps more important examination of the social impact
of iPods, the main argument of which was the idea that the iPod would
isolate people from each other, a phenomenon that is particularly
observable in public transportation. As a counterargument, it was
suggested that the possibility of striking a conversation with a
stranger (as in the case of public transportation) is fairly remote
(perhaps a bit romantic), and therefore, iPods are not isolating
people from each other: the isolation already existed; iPods are
merely insulating people from isolation. As the owner of an iPod
Mini, I would contend that it is fairly certain that the possibility
of speaking to a stranger at a train station is fundamentally
negligible, however, we cannot rule out such a case (e.g., the
stranger who is lost and asks for directions). Conversely, by
listening to an iPod, the individual is completely excluding the
possibility of social interaction, so that is indeed a bit
egotistical. Consequently, if you are alone, I think it is OK to
listen to your iPod, for the chances of social interaction are fairly
low. However, if you are with friends or acquaintances, please do not
be foolish, and remove those headphones from your auditive apparatus
(i.e, ears).
After my short digression on iPods and
the individualization of the media, I would like to continue with my
main topic, namely the new year. However, prior to my further elaboration of the matter at hand, I
was expatiating on the fact that I will longer define whether an
entry is a digression or not: all entries will be digressions
(perhaps life is that: digressions, but maybe it is because I haven't
found a main focus, plus I personally like short swift manuscripts on
various themes, some sort of variete).
The original title of this web log denoted what this site was
originally intended to be: about anything. And so shall it be, however, that title was not as significant as the "Wallstadt Review", so I prefer this latter title better. But
now, I will really concentrate on my main theme: the year of 2006.
Now, it came to my mind that a new year
has no real significance, it is just that, another day, another
celebration. I do not feel any different from yesteryear: New Year is
just a man-made invention. BUT, time is precious, time is a
non-renewable resource: our calendar is man-made (Gregorian, I
presume), but one cannot deny the existence of time and its crippling
effects on our life. It is therefore that we humans celebrate the
beginning of a new year, the beginning of another opportunity to do
things in a better way. Some people write the objectives that they
would like to accomplish throughout the year. The explanation for
this behaviour is fairly straightforward:
intelligence. If one were to define intelligence as goal-oriented
behaviour, one could also then infer that minimizing the error
function that keeps us adrift could be deemed as intelligent conduct.
Thus, defining one's objectives is the first step towards intelligent
behaviour, that is, define the goals towards which we will orient our
efforts. And so, in the grandest Gaussian tradition, I shall define
my resolves for this year:
G.N.v.K.'s Resolves for
the Year of the Lord 2006
No wasting time at The
Marquis de Granby
No more smoking or chewing
Bath every other day
Read one improving book or
magazine per week
Save $5.00
$3.00 per week
Be better to parents
...
OK, that was supposed to be
sarcastic..........especially since I do not smoke and I do shower
every day......not very funny, but nonetheless, henceforth I present
the the real resolves, in no particular order:
W.J.G.N.'s Resolves for
the Year of the Lord 2006
Achieve good marks
Do a superb work at D*** [this is
private information]
Get a paper published [in a refereed
journal]
Do some exercise [at least once a week]
Save 5 shillings per week
Be better to parents
Improve my lute skills
Keep this web log up to date
And so, dear comrades in this futile
endeavour called life: rejoice and enjoy this forthcoming new year!
May you accomplish all your objectives, and may the Lord help you
whenever you need Him.
<Salute>
[P.S.:
Song of the week: Lamento di
Tristano – Anonymous (Recuerdos de Alhambra came close, maybe
next week!)]
