Recent Comments

1. 1 day ago on Non Sequitur

   Churchill’s recipe included two ingredients, only one actually being used: Pouring Plymouth Original gin while “glancing briefly” over at a bottle of sealed dry vermouth.

2. 3 days ago on Non Sequitur

   “I keep forgetting these are documentaries, not comics!”

   Haha. I’ve come to learn a lot on here – one of the main reasons I stick around.

3. 3 days ago on Non Sequitur

   There is this from my source:

   “It helps to think of the Sun in two different ways—as a disk and as a point.

   To pinpoint the days of equilux, the Sun is considered a disk, and we measure daytime from the first appearance of the Sun’s disk to the last bit slipping below the horizon.

   A Point at the Center of the SunTo calculate an equinox, on the other hand, the Sun is thought of as a single point, set in the center of the disk. An equinox occurs when the subsolar point—the spot on the Earth directly beneath the Sun—crosses the equator, equally straddling the Southern and Northern Hemispheres.

   On those days, the center point of the Sun indeed rises and sets 12 hours apart. But since we measure sunrise and sunset by thinking of the Sun as a disk, the top edge of the Sun appears a little earlier and sets a bit later than the center point. This difference creates a few extra minutes of daylight on the date of an equinox at most latitudes.

   Atmospheric Bending at Work as Well

   Another variable is the fact that the Earth’s atmosphere bends light from the Sun, like a lens. This distortion makes the Sun appear higher than its true position on the horizon."

4. 3 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Remaining technical, many think a spring equinox marks equal day and night.

   False.

   “Twice a year, day and night reach a perfect balance of 12 hours each, creating a little-known event called the equilux.

   To measure the day/night split in a 24-hour span, astronomers use common definitions of sunrise and sunset …. Calculating the length of day between those two moments, we find that two dates every year reach equilux in most latitudes.

   In the Northern Hemisphere, these happen a few days before the spring equinox (vernal equinox) and a few days after the autumn equinox. South of the equator, it’s the other way around.

   A location’s equilux dates depend on the latitude. Locations on or near the equator never experience equal day and night."

5. 3 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Asylum conversation:

   “Glad to meet you. Who are you?”

   “I am Napoleon.”

   “How do you know that?

   “Jesus told me.”

   “I most certainly did not.”

6. 5 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Due recompense: A stroke (of one sort or the other).

7. 8 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Esthetics are not the only things subject to time change.So is the very notion of time framing, what with the gradual erosion of historical perspective. Since the production of 30-minute tidy happy-ending TV shows, people seem to have become impatient with longer periods of crisis resolution. Sometimes I think among Gen Z a fad that began last week qualifies as an old tradition.

   About calling into question the notion that tradition as ennobling or praiseworthy in itself:

   One must take care not to yet again paint with too wide a brush.

   Many forms of frat hazing are anything but ennobling and praiseworthy.

   Regarding ennobling and praiseworthy traditions: Were my Catholic grandmother were alive today, she would be totally culture-shocked and destabilized by the worship services, priority schemes and disciplines of modern Catholicism. Venerable and viable traditions are no less traditions in being evolutionary, malleable and resilient (qualities unrecognized by “outsiders”).

8. 9 days ago on Non Sequitur

   “The magnificence of the 5th Symphony is readily apparent to anyone in 2025 hearing it for the first time."

   Not really, even in being introduced as “’The Great’ Beethoven 5th."

   Anyway, we are talking about the GENESIS of traditions (as per your Boorstin quote above about the genesis of modern western science):

   Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5: While now considered one of the most beloved symphonies, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, premiered in 1808, was initially met with mixed reviews, with some critics finding it too experimental and others appreciating its innovative approach.

   Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”: The premiere of this ballet score in 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris is infamous for causing a riot, with the audience reacting negatively to its dissonant music and unconventional choreography.

   Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”: This opera, premiered in 1816, was also booed at its premiere, with the audience finding it too lighthearted and not serious enough.

   Verdi’s “La Traviata”: This opera, premiered in 1853, also faced initial negative reactions, with some critics finding it too scandalous and others appreciating its emotional depth.

   Plenty more examples from the art worlds of painting and sculpture.

9. 9 days ago on Non Sequitur
   “established, or customary pattern of thought” – M-W

   Example: “Science traditionally believed in a geocentric universe.”

   (The calendar promoted under Julius Caesar had a solar year just 11 minutes, 14 seconds off that of the more accurate – Pre-Galileo Affair – calendar reckoning sponsored by Pope Gregory XIII.)

10. 9 days ago on Non Sequitur

    “Science isn’t true because it’s traditional; it’s true because it describes reality.”

    Tradition = Latin tradere = to hand forward.

    Science: Hands forward reality (as the tradition which you always argue well in and for).

    Religion: Hands forward hope, value, meaning. (Also realities, without which life is bereft of worth.)

    The two traditions need not be posed as adversaries.