Proust

Finally got round to reading some Proust. The volume, Du coté de chez Swann, had three parts of A la recherche du temps perdu: I Combray, II Un amour de Swann, and III Noms de pays: le nom.
Wonderful book! This guy writes as no-one else ever wrote. He really succeeds in penetrating the obsessive way one sometimes thinks about things. Kafka, and Conrad do this, too, but the subject of the thoughts is rather extraordinary in their cases. Proust is just dealing with the most ordinary thing in the world: love. By tracing and repeatedly retracing the same mental track, as one does when in love, but without ever exactly repeating himself, by following the same thought to two contradictory conclusions, and by really taking his time, and hundreds of pages, he touches the reality of the experience as I have never seen it done. His account is also attractive for its sensitivity to beauty in all its forms, and for the way in which he manages to maintain tension about the outcome of the underlying narrative.
The old-fashioned French and the vast vocabulary are an additional plus.

Testing footnotes

OK, gotta try this.
Footnote reference:
The luggage^[a] is here.
The footnote will go wherever you put the following (and not,
automatically at the bottom of the page).
Footnote:

^[a]
The most terrifying character in the Discworld.

The superscript ('a' in this case) is a link to the footnote, and there is a link back, as well. Ah! So the 'footnotes' can be placed anywhere else on the web. They are out-in-webspace-notes, webnotes, duck-foot-notes.

Sex every Day

It's amusing to see how the ads that pop up beside my blog change so completely to reflect the content. After a few posts on the catechism, they have become wall-to-wall religious: Invitations to become a priest, read good books, join sects of enthusiasts, and even one that refers to paedophilia. Wow! There is a Vatican Board Game!

Today's title is an experiment, to see the effect of mentioning sex.

Maybe I should split my blog, to separate my various interests in the blogosphere? Don't think so. I am not personally schizoid, just catholic (--universal: How do you do footnotes in HTML, anyway?) in my interests. Today, the plan (-- there is always a plan) is (1) to work on Pervasive Function Algebras (joint project with PG), (2) write up some notes about formal series in two variables (joint project with DZ), and when it's time to rest, (3) continue reading Proust, Du Coté de Chez Swann. Apart from that, deal with any mail, take care of family, work out a little.

Enough.

Catechism, Chapters II to XXIX: Online already?

My old catechism is dog-eared. When I was confirmed, I could answer all the questions by heart. Now, no, but looking through it I am moved by all that certainty, expressed in simple language. The preliminary section gives the most important prayers, devotions, and lists. Then Part I, Chapters I-XIV, deals with the Apostle's Creed. Part II, Ch. XV-XXI, elaborates on the commandments. Part III, Ch. XXII-XXIX, explains the sacraments. A final appendix gives the Latin responses for Mass.

Is this online somewhere? A quick search just turns up the modern Catechism issued in the reign of John Paul II. This is a very big and wordy document, and not at all suited to practical catechetics, despite the name.

I served as an altar-boy for a couple of years, without any of the horrible incidents one hears about. The worst thing that happened was that once I upended a thurible and spilt a lot of incense on the altar. I inadvertently put it down on the fringe of my surplice, while kneeling, and when I got to my feet it went flying. The priest was evidently furious. He said nothing, just turned stony-faced. I felt so bad, that I took the first opportunity to join the choir, and get out of the public gaze.
The training of an altar-boy involved committing the Latin responses to memory. This we did in a couple of short sessions after school. We just learned our bits, not the priest's, and it was not considered necessary to instruct us about their meaning (although this information was provided by grown-ups' missals). For instance, the ceremony began:
Priest: Introibo ad altare Dei. (I shall go unto the altar of God.)
Server: Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam. (To God who gladdens my youth.)
So this was my first latin sentence.
The actual study of Latin began when I was 12, and started secondary school. We used a Latin grammar written in Irish, written by the Christian Brothers, which I appear to have lost. Later, I noticed that most grammars in the world used amo
(I love) as the first model for first conjugation verbs, and puella (girl) as the first model for first declension nouns. However, this must have seemed too near the bone for near-adolescent Irish boys, so our grammar used laudo (I praise) and mensa (table). That kept us pure.
One learned to chant off the conjugations, such as laudo, laudas, laudat, laudamus, laudatis, laudant. I was caught out neatly by an impish brother who asked me to recite the present of I'm-ano.

Catechism, Chapter 1.

1. Who made the world?
God made the world.

2. Who is God?
God is our father in heaven, the Creator and Lord of all things.

3. Why do we call God our father?
We call God our Father, because He gave us life and provides for us with fatherly care.

4. Had God a beginning?
God had no beginning: He always was, and always will be; He is eternal.

5. Can do all things?
God can do all things; He is almighty.

6. Where is God?
God is everywhere, but in a special way He is in heaven, where He is seen by the angels and saints.

7. If God is everywhere, why do we not see Him?
We do not see God, because he is a spirit, and therefore cannot be seen with bodily eyes.

8. Does God see us?
God sees us, for nothing is hidden from his all-seeing eye (Heb. iv, 13).

9. Does God know all things?
God knows all things, past, present and to come, even our most secret thoughts and actions.

10. Is God holy, just and merciful?
Yes, God is infinitely holy, just and merciful.

11. Why do we call God just?
We call God just, because He will reward the good and punish the wicked.

Joel Feinstein is a Great Teacher.

Listening to Joel's lecture about how to do proofs on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NottmUniversity#g/c/A9721D7E1FB7CD34

Joel is my friend. He puts huge energy into teaching, and thinking about teaching.
See also his blog:
http://explainingmaths.wordpress.com/

The Institutional Church

Reread Charles Davis, God's Grace in History, Fontana (Collins) 1966. It's about the relationship of the secular sphere to the sacred, and the mission of the Church. Too much verbiage, but I find myself more sympathetic to his argument than I was forty-three years ago.

In the light of current publicity about the efforts of the hierarchy to conceal evidence of child sex abuse by priests, the following struck me as apposite:

(p.88) "... the empirical or institutional Church with its array of functions and organized worship is a means not an end. The end is the progress of the order of grace among men through faith, hope and charity, until the higher integration intended by God for mankind is finally achieved in the Kingdom. .... In a difficult situation the Church is sometimes tempted to compromise its mission in order to save its institutional existence. To do so is to betray Christ. Its permanence as a visible community has in fact been guaranteed. All the more reason why it should not fear to risk its own survival when the end for which it exists demands this."

Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights: Vol 2 (Everyman's Library Classics)
This is the translation by Husain Haddawi.

Not in the league of Vol 1, but has Sinbad, Ali-Baba, and Alladin.
Worth a read. More interesting for the little touches, the verse and the aphorisms than for the stories, most of which are either well-known or follow standard patterns. The last story, of Qamar-al-Zaman and his two sons, strays rather more than the others in the direction of plain pornography, displays extreme misogeny, and features unconvincing personality changes by some characters. (In the opening episodes, the hero and his lover endure reciprocal torment, until happily united, then are separated, pass through hellish trials, and finally unite again. Somewhat oddly, the girl passes herself off as her husband, and marries another girl. This ends up with both girls happily married to the hero. Both bear him sons, and then it goes completely off the rails: each woman falls in love with the other's son, and behave quite disgracefully...) In general, I enjoyed the frequent flourishes of Islamic piety, and the perorations, such as: ...they continued to enjoy their fellowship and friendship, in all cheer and joy, until there came to them death, the destroyer of delights, sunderer of companies, wrecker of palaces, and builder of tombs.

Tactical Drill Manual

Just looking at my father's manual: Defence Forces Regulations. Tactical Drill. Published 1926, price 1/9 Net. Signed into force by Peadar O hAodha, Minister for Defence. 21 April 1926. Interesting read.
In the section on the Platoon in Attack, The Assault (p.65, section 102), point (4), we learn that "The Assault will be but rarely delivered on the front." We are open to foreign views: "An eminent German Tactical Authority expresses it this way:-- 'The idea must be got rid of, or combatted, that as soon as the artillary shall have extended their range of fire forward the assailant rises up and throws himself forward in long lines. A single machine-gun would stop the lot...'"

In section 181(Battalion Commander's role in the Approach March) are pointed out various methods that may be employed as precautions against aerial observation by aircraft and captive balloons:
".... Mist is also useful."