David Custis Kimball - blog
You: Why Dave; why now?
Me: Well, I've two talented kids; the younger mentioned my stopping with the lectures. Then enthusiastically asked, 'Dad, can I help you set up a blog?' Moments later, Me: 'OK, that's a great idea, thinkin' they might just read it someday.
me ---> 'Gaarr of Blog' <---
Goto oft comments on Art, Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC), CommoNonsense, Dance, Dark Matter, Design, Etc., Environment, Eventspace, Fable, Food, Frogsense, Hazard Mitigation, Hegel, History, Horsense, Human Affairs, Humor, Law+Lawless, Mathematics, Medicine, Music, Nerd Stuff, Parenting, Physics, Psychophysics, Real Estate, Sailing, Science, Science Fiction, Swimming, Technology, Theology, UncommonSense, and Waldo, alphabetically.
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Matters of Import & Timely Expertise
repressing gossip and hate-speech.
An Unmapped Ponderocity:
To say: '"He is a man of truth," is to say nothing; to say: "He is a man of of," is to state an elementary truth of logic.'
Winston Davids, 1969 - Trinity College Valedictorian - 1970; known endeavor: actuarial contributions to The Donald; since has contacted me and sadly is quite ill. Ask prayers for recovery; thanks for his brilliance and music.
Music, Theology, History
This is the ‘Quasi-Faust’ piece of Charles Valentine Alkan. Played by computer, it is not as dramatic as played by Winston Davids, without sheet music, in a lounge at Hamlin Hall, Trinity College, 1968-9. But I wanted to show the complexity, and at about 8:58, I well up with tears of joy for the grace of Faust’s redemption. I believe this is way more Goethe’s Faust than Marlow’s. Goethe portrayed a forgiving YHVH (G-d), whereas Marlow’s was per contract, flawed in concept and vengeful.
A couple of anecdotes about Alkan: He refused an audience with someone who was bringing a high honor and award to him as he claimed ‘I am digesting’. He sought no honors. According to one dust jacket from an album was that he was killed by a bookshelf collapsing upon him as he reached for his ‘beloved’ Talmud. I used to smile at that, thinking he lived by so many laws and ignoring the grace that Christianity offers, but since there is so much beauty in his music and his struggle to be worthy of a Jew who abided by the Laws of the Talmud, and sacrificed his own grace and fame of his genius, as well as the anti-Jewish fervor in large part due to Christianity as practiced by many of the Reformation and Catholics, he may well have been denied grace by his fellow man and sadly poor carpentry was another manifestation of the ignorance of man’s religious practices. Read the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament; there is no blame to Jews for Christ’s death or demand to convert. Even scientists, and I consider Doubting Thomas, who demanded to feel the wound, as an example of a scientific disciple for proof, were not outcasts within Christianity as taught by the New Testament. Living under the demands of the Talmud is more Christ-like, and to be admired. And here we can see what it has produced - rare musical beauty and emotion.
Aesop’s Fables were used to teach the French King’s court children and Goethe’s Faust was a testament to G-d’s grace, forgiveness and generosity. Charles Valentine Alkan was an example of the magnificent design G-d is capable of bestowing upon us. Winston Davids also stands in that light. I wish I had used Aesop and Goethe’s Faust more in my kids’ educations. But it’s not too late.
For more on Alkan, his uniqueness, access here the first 10 minutes of 1.5 hours of musical history on Alkan by Lewenthal, a great pianist.
