I see no reason to segregate scientific and technical posts from humanistic ones. In my life, scientific concerns mix with ethical ones, and they shade into a philosophical interest in the nature of cognition and the nature of people. Doing science is as creative as writing fiction, and I get inspiration for both from the same gods.
You will find little here on current politics. I'm activist, but in causes not symptoms. Experience in martial arts shows me that the sure way to lose is reactivity; but if you stay cool and remember your training and what you're there for then you achieve goals and, when conflict is unavoidable, you fight and win. The idea of the liberal arts I was brought up in is that broad understanding of cultures and ideas gives you deeper, better goals -- making success more likely and more satisfying. Negatively, the hysteria since 9/11 shows how a country frightened and reactive can destroy itself more than an enemy can. I'm trying to contribute by changing the terms of discourse. See 
One fact shouldn't require special mention; but -- given the nature of the society in which I've grown up and lived -- it often does: namely that I'm gay. You'll see it in some posts and in some links below. I'm proud of being gay and do not hide; more about this on the 
Count Don Luchino Visconti di Modrone
Here’s a sampling of my favorite Luchino Visconti films.
Visconti’s early Ossessione is a version of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice upon which the classic American movie with Lana Turner and John Garfield is also based. I’m fascinated with its beauty and atmosphere. It amazes me that Visconti is able to render emotional states so accurately. After the murder, for example, Visconti doesn’t even require any action or dialog to convey perfectly their change in mood. A simple exterior shot of the roadhouse shows it immediately, before we hear their conversation.
I like Ossessione because the gay Visconti has given it an appealing supporting character I can only interpret as gay and attracted to the hero. (Again, get over it! I’ve nominated seven moviemaking heroes and one of them happens to be gay. It’s not statistically unreasonable. No favoritism. But, obviously, I do enjoy it when one of my own kind does great things.)
I’m also fascinated with Visconti’s late epic Il Gattopardo (The Leopard).
His Le Notti Bianche is adapted from the equally haunting Dostoevsky story White Nights.
Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers) is one of the very greatest films ever made.
This post, the last of a series of seven, is unabashed hero worship. A few years ago, making up an earlier version of this page, I decided that among all the filmmakers I’ve liked, there were seven who really especially blow me away.
I’ve had time to think since, and haven’t changed my mind. There are plenty of “honorable mentions” I love, but there are seven who are extra special and this is one of them.
Tags: Dostoevsky, gay, Il Gattopardo, James M. Cain, Le Notti Bianche, Luchino Visconti, Movies, Ossessione, Rocco and His Brothers, The Leopard, The Postman Always Rings Twice, White Nights
15 December 2007 at 11:45 am
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce