sequence
Reading Plato grants you a glimpse of Plato. Well, truthfully, it gives you a glimpse of Socrates, Plato’s main character in his dialogues and also Plato’s mentor before Socrates was effectively murdered by the Greek state. Some of Socrates’ views on the ideal state are, to say the least, questionable and noticable affected by his era, but the greater majority of them are striking and provoking. Particularly the point he makes saying that politicians should be just the opposite, and should have no desire for their job, lest they become ambitious. Wow. This is certainly a good read, one that supports utter logic and seeks true
Efficiency is my main goal in autos. Honestly, though, my main goal is to eliminate the need for them; but in the fantastic U.S.of.A., there is so much land that it is typically necessary to provide modes of rapid transportation. Thus fuel economy has quickly become a favorite target of mine. The Jetta diesel that I drive is handsomely equipped with a low-power engine that gets me from A to B with an average fuel economy of 45 miles per gallon. But that’s not good enough. Why not 55, or 75? There are test vehicles that currently get around 100 miles per gallon and why aren’t they being produced? Sigh, it is our government’s net of red tape that often gets in the way of alternative fuels. That’s why Europe is the only market for the Mini Cooper One D. It’s one of my favorite cars, and this version gets, on average, 60 mpg. America will likely never see this auto; again, why? All because of
Party politics is one of the forefront, yet masked, reasons for the recent attack, per se, on Public Broadcasting. Both PBS and enormous government funding reductions because House Republicans are fearing a liberal bias is being promoted with the help of gov’ment funds. This is shame regardless of your political sway. For any government to target its own media is a shame. My local NPR station will likely shut its doors if it loses its funds at the proposed amount. I never, ever, ever get political, but PBS and NPR are the only media outlets in our country that are not commercialized. If we lose them, we are surrendering ourselves to Pepsi spots, Verizon ads, and Old Navy fake smiles. Television already turns bright and questioning minds, those Socrates lauded, into supersaturated sponges of mediocrity. If you are at all interested in this topic, read this article and please contact your congressman or congresswoman with urgency. There should be no wasting
Time seems to fly during the summers. I can’t wait for VT. But in the mean time, I will travel. Tomorrow, I leave for Virginia Beach. And nearly every successive weekend will take me somewhere else. If you have a point-and-shoot camera, be on the lookout for a geek in large glasses and take your best paparazzi photo.
June 17th, 2005 at 2:12 am
Always good to see someone reading a classic. However, I think you should be careful about your claim that one gets a glimpes of Socrates through the writings of Plato, especially since Socrates didn’t write anything down. Much of what is known about Socrates is through the writings of Xenophon and Plato, Plato being, of course, the most notable. The problem with this is the suspicious vicariousness of what is known of the man. Essentially we have to trust that what these writers say of Socrates is true. Otherwise, what we know is a mere distillation of him (and not a disinterested distillation either). Therefore I do not think that you can claim that the ideals espoused in the Republic are the express ideals of Socrates, but rather those of Plato (in fact, the character of Socrates found in Plato’s writings is referred by historians and philosophers as Platonic Socrates). But, yes, it’s certainly a fabulous read. The opening of book 7 is awesome!
June 18th, 2005 at 4:23 pm
If you ever make your way to Vancouver, I’ll hook you up with some good coffee.