What Do You Think Today?

[Avatar]

I can never help but remember how the poor bugger died in penury despite the good...

--A

[Vraith]

I reckon that the black and white tempers the horror and cruelty a little bit.

Of interest to me at the moment is news of a 3500 yr old sealstone.
magazine.uc.edu/editors_picks/recent_features/unearthingamasterpiece.html
A 3.5cm stone with intricate drawing. The technology used 3500 years ago to create this art was well beyond what I ever thought they would have.
It is alleged the Syrians had glass 5000 years ago.
They must have had some special kind of magnifying glass back then. If it is "bad for business" it doesn't last.

As it happens, I'm originally from near Corning, NY, and they have a pretty impressive glass museum there. I haven't been through it in a few years, but they have many glass artifacts from 3000+ years ago from that part of the world. IIRC, the fall of civilizations around Syria, Minoa, Greece/Mycenia, led several times to the loss of advanced techniques for centuries at a time, though basic/simple production survived because wide-spread.
And I'm almost positive magnifying lenses were part of collections from at least 1000BCE.

Schindler's: It's a damn good flick. I think the black/white added to the bleakness of the overall tone, while distancing the particular horrors.
The one thing that kinda bugs me about the literature/analysis is that some seem to think the flashes of color were pretty much invented/originated in the film. But it was really a well-known and fairly oft-used thing in the visual arts that predates the film. Just a quibble...because it was used to amazing effect...but it bugs me.

[peter]

IIRC Schindler ended his days being pretty much supported by the Jewish people he'd saved - possibly even in Israel (not sure about this). For all that he was presented as an industrialist in the film the reality was that he was a crap businessman having failed at numerous business ventures both before and after his wartime activities, and the only reason for his success during that period was that the business was actually run by the Jewish funders he was fronting for. Despite this however, his position amongst 'The Righteous' is entirely deserved and eclipses his failings by virtue of his single sucess - that of being a human in the middle of a sea of inhumanity.

[Avatar]

Well, he survived on their donations. (And yes, multiple failed business ventures.)

--A

[Kizza]

Liam Neeson played the role of Schindler very well in my opinion. I thought the flashes of colour were cleverly placed in the black and white for dramatic effect. They served as signs of beauty, hope and responsibility if my memory serves.

As Peter said earlier, "Art, Science and the Humanities may be what drives the world forward, but it is business, trade, that keeps it turning."
That sealstone - which I am still bugeyed about - wouldn't have put food in the mouth.
Vraith, thanks for the glass museum reference. I will look it up for sure. I could imagine a refined minority living in 2000bce having all of their windows smashed in by "rock throwers" from the mountains come down looking for food.
Thinking of technologies lost, like two steps forward and one step back. It's one of those "where would we be today if ...." when considering what might have been.

I love this Friedrich Nietzsche Quote: Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster....

Wishing all well.

[Sorus]

Thinking of technologies lost, like two steps forward and one step back. It's one of those "where would we be today if ...." when considering what might have been.

I think we frequently underestimate what our ancestors were capable of.

[Avatar]

That sealstone - which I am still bugeyed about - wouldn't have put food in the mouth.

Would have put food in the mouth of the artist and his family...

--A

[peter]

If I think too much about the future, it worries me. Tech is changing our world at a rate that few of us can keep pace with. Peoples almost constant state of semi-distraction by their phones etc and the continuous flicking in and out of social media is changing the way we think so that the ability to give full attention to one thing for an extended period is being eroded. This has manifested itself already in the success of the Brexit campaign and of Trump's election in America, where in both cases it was the short punchy and hyperbolic grandstanding that won out over plain dull 'business as usual' politics. We are being led by the nose into places where we might not choose to go by companies who, no matter how much they present themselves as beneficent and altruistic in their goals, are at heart as hard and mercenary as any huge global mega-beast ever was and our politicians are simply playing catch up. I have grave reservations about the world that future generations will inherit.

[Kizza]

um
I am sure there is a delete button here somewhere.... So I can delete this post

[Kizza]

That sealstone - which I am still bugeyed about - wouldn't have put food in the mouth.

Would have put food in the mouth of the artist and his family...

--A

Yes, there would have been a feed or two for the artist I would hope.
Art, Science versus business, trade, becomes beauty and progress versus personal wealth, and the ambitions of regional kings.
An artist 3000 years ago would have been a benefactor of a chief/king/leader, with separate ambitions and needs.
If that king met an end from a neighbouring king after a long and bitter war, I wonder how happy he would be to see his artistic legacy/entourage fall into the hands of the sworn enemy. Imagine the Crow content to leave the Sioux anything which would contribute to their happiness?
You would think that the human capacity for a scorched earth policy is as old as we are.
While there was peace, the artists would have lived happily and well.
I think what I am trying to say is that when war started, the artists significance would have gone down and so the losses of their works, craft and maybe lore are unimaginable.

[Kizza]

If I think too much about the future, it worries me. Tech is changing our world at a rate ......... I have grave reservations about the world that future generations will inherit.

It is like we advance in 6 months, what may have taken 10 years before. And commerce is king, not art or science so our decisions are flawed as a by product of the goal.
I agree with you Peter. So I try to stay optimistic. I need to find a flower to smell, before I reach for a bottle to drink.
It is into the high 30 degrees Celsius bracket here today, and a very dry heat.

[Avatar]

Every preceding generation has doubts and fears about the world awaiting the following ones, and we're still here.

--A

[peter]

We are, we are Av - and each generation must find it's own solutions to the dilemmas that confront it! But it's amazing how readily we surrender our personal information, indeed choices as well, to the big tech companies in return for a few trinkets. My step-son has recently bought the new Apple watch, which linked to his phone, gives an almost complete involvement of these two gadgets in all areas of his life from monitoring his heart rate to planning his day. It's a flashy bit of kit and I love it - but I'm already enslaved to a monster on my wrist and all it does is tell me the frickin time. How much worse would it get with that thing on my arm!

(Random fact; the average number of swipes a day we make on our screens of in the order of 2500.)

[Avatar]

Speak for yourself.

I don't have a smart phone. I don't even wear a watch. I certainly don't go surrendering my private information.

Anyway, we'll adapt. Chances are that privacy is actually dead, and our children or grandchildren will be surprised that we ever had any expectation of it.

(Come to think of it, the expectation of privacy is relatively recent. Wasn't that long ago that we all lived in a one-room hovel and everything was done in front of everybody else...)

--A

[peter]

But what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas.......

[Sorus]

Don't even get me started.

I received a case of some sort of fancy bluetooth speakers at work today, and must have set it down wrong, because they all came to life at once and yelled "ENTERING AUXILIARY POWER MODE". I jumped about six feet.

I put up with enough crap from clients and coworkers. Don't need it from the packages too.

[Avatar]

I think the Watch is being quiet. Where the hell is everybody.

--A

[peter]

Well I'm here and loquacious enough for ten others! Empty vessels and all that........

[Avatar]

You and me both mate, you and me both.

--A

[Skyweir]

You two have to be - we can't all log on from work stations! LOL

Some of us don't have
Work stations