People like to cite Augustine as a “real” saint, as a “you too could be this” saint. I am of the personal opinion that people who say this have likely never read any Augustine. If they had, they’d never number one of the greatest Latin stylists of all time as an “accessible saint.” By the same logic, it is also technically possible to develop calculus spontaneously. Possible, but not likely nor expected.

Whereas normal people thoughts dwell in the realm of “What’s For Dinner?” and “Why Does Toast Fall Butter-Side Down?”, St. Augustine’s thoughts live in a lofty, crystalline plane of perfectly structured logic. Reading Augustine in Latin is like catching sunlight through a sheet of ice; all illumination and no warmth. (Reading Augustine in translation has been compared to listening to Mozart on a kazoo.)

Augustine’s wretched life of sin and debauchery can be summarized as follows: as an infant, he selfishly fought his siblings for their mother’s attention. As a single man, he was in a long-term relationship with a woman, and sired a child by her. He enjoyed rhetoric and the theater, and longed for a high-ranking civil service position. A book of saints for children declared that Augustine read “bad books,” by which they meant the works of Cicero. (Apparently, children, Cicero is a bad, bad man. Every time a starving African child dies, that is who to blame. Also, your mother issues are Cicero’s fault. Loud music, degenerate teenagers in baggy pants, huffing glue- Cicero.)

If Augustine is the “sinner-saint,” the rest of us are damned, one mortal sin being enough to damn us forever.

This is the paradox of his being, that the same brilliant intellect which drove Augustine to sin with Cicero drove him hence to God. If he were not a great saint, he would have been a great sinner. His weakness was his strength, but how many lesser mortals have both such weakness and such strength? How many lesser mortals are at once both more than human and less than human? How many are cast from that same alloy of supernatural virtue and subhuman emotion- saints made of metal, stone, and ice- fantastic and terrible?

On a wall in my cousin's room, there is a quote. "I am more thankful to God for my friends than for my daily bread, for friends are the bread of the heart."

Which leads me to wonder if a starving man with friends but no bread would feel the same way. I suppose he could eat his friends, but they don't have as much nutritional value.

Quote of the day.

"I drank what?"
-Socrates.

I should write on the democracy wall. I didn't know it was a real wall until a few days ago.

I'm curious about many things. Like, why couldn't they come up with good shocks for stagecoaches? (springs are hard to manufacture) When were canal locks invented? Who was that artist in the Zimbardo video who draws paintings of Italian towns from memory? It's a good thing Andrew knows so much stuff so I can ask him, because he has all the answers. Like about giant mosquitos in Sweden. I should call him "Know Everything Boy." Takes too long to say though. I know a lot of shit too, but only in specialized quantities, like with ancient Greek culture or pre-industrial textiles. Sometimes though, Andrew doesn't have all the answers. To questions like, "Is it possible to knit a scarf out of an afro?"

"Jingo" has disturbed me. In a good way. Thanks, Nick. No, seriously. I needed that.

Peace on Earth.

My long, semi-philosophical AIM discussion about Pratchett and fictional violence, and responses to it on a message board. I'm Troop. The person with the big "Vetinari for President" graphic.

ARISTOTLE, YOU ARE GOING DOOOWWWWNNN! DOOWWWWN, DO YOU HEAR ME??? Me and my friend Copernicus are going to bash in your pathetic little celestial balls and kick your inductive empiricist Greek ass until your prime mover REALLY hurts in the morning!

PS Dammit, I will feel really stupid if Aristotle isn't an empiricist.

Why am I up so late? It's because I'm out to prove a point. Go here and here. And here. Remind you of a certain bivalve guy on Halloween we know? I'm asking this not to be "I Told You So", (well, I am), but because I don't know the Bivalve Guy's name. It's pretty sad. But this was why I was laughing at him so hard on Halloween, when you guys were all staring at me funny for laughing at him so hard. Because he looks like this seven year old anime girl.

She has a very profound quote which I stumbled upon again when I was looking for her picture to "I Told You So" you guys. Here it is:

"History is an endless waltz, so to speak. The triple measure of war, peace, and revolution goes on and on."

Pretty good for a seven year old galactic dictator. This summer, when I had read the quote for the first time, I had thought it profound, but I didn't think much of it. Now it means a lot more to me. It's a bit sad how I get all my quotes from anime or RPGs. Like.
"Justice is not the only right in this world."

Ayn Rand would disagree. But anyhow. I feel I ought to be quoting some eminent ancient philosopher on my spare time, instead of spouting Final Fantasy quotes, but I relate to these more. Well, whatever floats the boat for my generation.

I have discovered a new type of nerd. Male or female, I suppose. Down With The Man Cynical Angst Nerd. It's pretty self explanatory. ALEX. Balsa wood. On a totally unrelated note, I will be upset if I don't see the Leonids on Sunday and have to wait another 33 years for a decent meteor shower just because my parents are like, "It's too cold! It's too early!" If it's too cold and too early, don't go with me. Yes, Alex, I write long blogs. Blogback is not working for me either, Jen, despite me inserting the code in. I'm drawing a "Persistance of Memory" (The melting clock painting by Dali) parody of the Flaming Fork motif. Nick S makes me sad. Something about circumstances. I'm reading his blog, and he's talking about a totally different clique of people. Blogs tend to draw people together, so it's odd that when you read someone's blog it's like you know them so well, but then in real life it's like, "Hi. Bye. Have a nice life." With blogs, I think sometime's it's people's misfortune to be born in the wrong family or on the wrong side of the world. I don't know if humans are inherently good or evil (good, IMHO), but I know that they're inherently capable of being friends, if only we'd let them.