I really would like everyone's input on the name. After all, this is intended to be a communal blog, so I would like everyone to be comfortable with the name. If you would like it changed, please make your opinion known and I will change it without prejudice. But first I would like to explain my intention for the name "Dilettante Ball."
It is true that the word "dilettante" is generally used with negative connotations. It is used to describe "a person having a superficial interest in an art or branch of knowledge: a dabbler.(Webster's online)" However, there are other connotations. The etymology leads you back to the Latin word "dilectare" - which means "to delight." This is the same Latin root which gives us the word "delectable."
When taken in that context, I think the word takes on a much more pleasant connotation. It implies a person who delights in many branches of knowledge - an enthusiastic dabbler in multiple fields. I believe that we are all such people. In fact, that is one of my favorite things about the people who I have invited to participate in this blog. We all have our fields of expertise. I am a student of politics and a professional military officer, but I am constantly harassing Michelle, Dean and Amar with questions about finance and economics. Dean is a consultant and an economist by training, but probably knows more about Navy aircraft than I do. Steven is a doctor who should be a film director. Michelle is an investment banker who should be a chef. Sam is a doctor who should be a military officer and I am a military officer who should be...something else. God knows what. My point is, we all dabble...joyfully!
When coupled with the word "ball," the name not only achieves what I believed to be a pleasing and significant symmetry with the term "debutante ball" - a celebration of a young woman making her formal entrance into adult society - it also implies a celebratory gathering of like-minded dilettantes. It connotes a joyful assembly of people who take pleasure in dabbling in a wide variety of fields and an unrestricted array of ideas.
There you have it! If I have not convinced you that the title is worth keeping, then so be it. I have other ideas for titles. However, at the very least I hope I have convinced you that I chose my words for a reason and said exactly what I meant; Amar and Sam will recall our conversation at the Gibson and remember that that sort of thing is important to me. ;)
Love y'all! Please vote! Keep it or ditch it?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Google and the NSA
Google's teaming up with the NSA to investigate the cyber-attack that prompted Google to cease operation in China. Maybe it's just me, but I find any article with Google and the NSA in the same sentence unsettling.
Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057.html?hpid=topnewsAn old dog
Is it possible to be a "diary person" despite having never regularly kept a diary? I may not have succeeded, but I've had at least a couple compelling failures.
In December 1993, I bought a one-year diary. It had 365 pages (marked Jan 1, Jan 2, etc.), and I was excited to fill them all.* By most accounts, this effort was a failure. Within a year, fewer than twenty pages were touched. I accepted the failure, but refused to accept that the irregularity of my entries condemned the diary. 16 years later, I'm still filling it in. Nothing more ambitious than a few entries a year, but it's become valuable to me.
I appreciated Diasporatic; the name, the people, the shared history. What I really loved about Diasporatic was that, for a time, the blog represented the commitment to stay close as our lives diverge. Some of you are better about communication than I am, but I was born an old dog. New tricks come slowly, and the fact that I posted on a blog at all was huge first step.
Apparently, Diasporatic is dead. I don't suppose that I did much to help. I haven't written an entry in eight months, and haven't actually posted one in twice that time. Still, now that it's dead, I miss it. So I'm going to give this new, unfortunately-named blog a whirl.** If I post too little, cut me some slack - I'm not a diary person. If I post too much, you asked for it bitches.
*For you film buffs, my first entry ("bye bye 1993") was a review of one of the great movies of our time: Beethoven 2.
**Seriously, name change anyone?
dilettante (plural dilettanti or (rarely) dilettantes)
In December 1993, I bought a one-year diary. It had 365 pages (marked Jan 1, Jan 2, etc.), and I was excited to fill them all.* By most accounts, this effort was a failure. Within a year, fewer than twenty pages were touched. I accepted the failure, but refused to accept that the irregularity of my entries condemned the diary. 16 years later, I'm still filling it in. Nothing more ambitious than a few entries a year, but it's become valuable to me.
I appreciated Diasporatic; the name, the people, the shared history. What I really loved about Diasporatic was that, for a time, the blog represented the commitment to stay close as our lives diverge. Some of you are better about communication than I am, but I was born an old dog. New tricks come slowly, and the fact that I posted on a blog at all was huge first step.
Apparently, Diasporatic is dead. I don't suppose that I did much to help. I haven't written an entry in eight months, and haven't actually posted one in twice that time. Still, now that it's dead, I miss it. So I'm going to give this new, unfortunately-named blog a whirl.** If I post too little, cut me some slack - I'm not a diary person. If I post too much, you asked for it bitches.
*For you film buffs, my first entry ("bye bye 1993") was a review of one of the great movies of our time: Beethoven 2.
**Seriously, name change anyone?
dilettante (plural dilettanti or (rarely) dilettantes)
- An amateur, someone who dabbles in a field out of casual interest rather than as a profession or serious interest.
- A person with a general but superficial interest in any art or a branch of knowledge. (Sometimes derogatory.)
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Verily
I eat my peas with honey.
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
but it keeps them on my knife.
Hello!
The plea
"Diasporatic, alas, is dead. The only person who is still subscribed to it is Sarah Stuntz. She is also the only person who has posted anything on it with any kind of regularity. God bless her for that. BUT I AM NOT DAUNTED! I would like to try this again. I have started a new blog which I hope can be a sort of forum for us. I am determined to bring this group of friends into the 21st century. I will not ask you all to get Twitter accounts, but please subscribe to this blog and contribute whenever you can!
I think the failure of Diasporatic might have been that we set the bar too high for what is worthy of posting. I would like this new blog to be far less formal. You needn't write an essay (although feel free to do so!) You dont have to be sharing monumental, life-changing news in order to post. Rather, please feel free to post about anything and everything! Read an interesting article? Post a link and tell the group what you think! We will discuss it! Heard a particularly entertaining new song or seen a funny youtube video? Throw it up there and let everyone enjoy it together! And if you ever feel like writing an essay, God bless you - please do!
I think this can work. I believe this because as a group we are in more-or-less constant gmail communication as it is. If we can channel some portion of those email exchanges through this blog instead, we will achieve certain advantages. Chiefly, it creates a far more permanent record of our interaction as a group. Emails are transient. They disappear from our minds as soon as they are pushed off our home screen by newer messages. For reasons which I will enumerate in future posts, I have become very conscious of the importance of preserving communications between friends and loved ones. Friendships are precious, and whenever friends take the time to sit down and write to each other, no matter how briefly, it is a monumental act. Interactions which seem trivial in the moment become priceless when preserved and read later. I am hoping that this blog can help us create a more-or-less permanent record of our collective discourse. I know you guys are busy, but this is important! Trust me!"
I think the failure of Diasporatic might have been that we set the bar too high for what is worthy of posting. I would like this new blog to be far less formal. You needn't write an essay (although feel free to do so!) You dont have to be sharing monumental, life-changing news in order to post. Rather, please feel free to post about anything and everything! Read an interesting article? Post a link and tell the group what you think! We will discuss it! Heard a particularly entertaining new song or seen a funny youtube video? Throw it up there and let everyone enjoy it together! And if you ever feel like writing an essay, God bless you - please do!
I think this can work. I believe this because as a group we are in more-or-less constant gmail communication as it is. If we can channel some portion of those email exchanges through this blog instead, we will achieve certain advantages. Chiefly, it creates a far more permanent record of our interaction as a group. Emails are transient. They disappear from our minds as soon as they are pushed off our home screen by newer messages. For reasons which I will enumerate in future posts, I have become very conscious of the importance of preserving communications between friends and loved ones. Friendships are precious, and whenever friends take the time to sit down and write to each other, no matter how briefly, it is a monumental act. Interactions which seem trivial in the moment become priceless when preserved and read later. I am hoping that this blog can help us create a more-or-less permanent record of our collective discourse. I know you guys are busy, but this is important! Trust me!"
A new trick
Is it possible to be a "diary person" despite having never regularly kept a diary? I may not have succeeded, but I've had at least a couple compelling failures.
In December 1993, I bought a one-year diary. It had 365 pages (marked Jan 1, Jan 2, etc.), and I was excited to fill them all.* By most accounts, this effort was a failure. Within a year, fewer than twenty pages were touched. I accepted the failure, but refused to accept that the irregularity of my entries condemned the diary. 16 years later, I'm still filling it in. Nothing more ambitious than a few entries a year, but it's become valuable to me.
I appreciated Diasporatic; the name, the people, the shared history. What I really loved about it was that, for a time, the blog represented the commitment to stay close as our lives diverge. Some of you are better about communication than I am, but I was born an old dog. New tricks come slowly, and the fact that I posted on a blog at all was huge first step.
Apparently, Diasporatic is dead. I don't suppose that I did much to help. I haven't written an entry in eight months, and haven't actually posted one in twice that time. If you've been unfortunate enough to subscribe to these posts, thanks for your willingness to read and my apologies for not actually writing anything. Now that it's officially dead, however, I miss it. So I'm going to give this new communal blog a whirl. Follow if you will.
Best,
Amar
*For you film buffs, my first entry ("bye bye 1993") was a review of one of the great movies of our time: Beethoven 2.
In December 1993, I bought a one-year diary. It had 365 pages (marked Jan 1, Jan 2, etc.), and I was excited to fill them all.* By most accounts, this effort was a failure. Within a year, fewer than twenty pages were touched. I accepted the failure, but refused to accept that the irregularity of my entries condemned the diary. 16 years later, I'm still filling it in. Nothing more ambitious than a few entries a year, but it's become valuable to me.
I appreciated Diasporatic; the name, the people, the shared history. What I really loved about it was that, for a time, the blog represented the commitment to stay close as our lives diverge. Some of you are better about communication than I am, but I was born an old dog. New tricks come slowly, and the fact that I posted on a blog at all was huge first step.
Apparently, Diasporatic is dead. I don't suppose that I did much to help. I haven't written an entry in eight months, and haven't actually posted one in twice that time. If you've been unfortunate enough to subscribe to these posts, thanks for your willingness to read and my apologies for not actually writing anything. Now that it's officially dead, however, I miss it. So I'm going to give this new communal blog a whirl. Follow if you will.
Best,
Amar
*For you film buffs, my first entry ("bye bye 1993") was a review of one of the great movies of our time: Beethoven 2.
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