Monthly Archives: February 2012

Smooth-Striated

Posted on February 20, 2012 by zjb

  I really like this image, which I found at: http://christianhubert.com/writings/smooth_striated.html. It reminds me of Talmud. It helps distinguish what Deleuze & Guattari mean by smooth and striated space. Note that in 1000 Plateaus, the point is not to privilege one … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Big Data, Big Science, Market

Posted on February 19, 2012 by zjb

Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent (1999)  http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2001/gursky/99cent_pop.html I spent a good part of the day thinking about the New York Times Sunday Magazine article about how Target identifies and targets pregnant women in their second trimester based on purchase patterns. Lots … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Major-Minor Lines of Flight (Deleuze & Kafka)

Posted on February 17, 2012 by zjb

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/photogalleries/locust-swarm-theory-serotonin/photo3.html I’m still thinking through the Deleuze book on Kafka and “minor literature.” Am trying to sort through what I like and don’t like about the book. A lot of the conceptual work is brilliant, particularly the close readings of … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Ephemera: Visual and non-Visual Impressions

Posted on February 16, 2012 by zjb

    Coming up to Syracuse yesterday on rt. 17 along the lower rim of the Catskills, I was struck by the visual match between: [1] the road covered in a thick residue of road salt [2] the slate grey … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Law (Crouches around the Bend)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by zjb

“The [law] crouches at the door/Its urge is towards you /Yet you can be its master” (Gen 4:7) (emended) On the road, the law crouches around the corner. I have always been struck by the special menace of the State … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Political Theology or Liberal Religion (Scale)

Posted on February 14, 2012 by zjb

(views over Harlem on a spring or summer day from Morningside Park)   I don’t think the political theology theorists have carefully considered the ways in which religion is a non-static phenomenon that scales up and down between different types … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

city-view

Posted on February 13, 2012 by zjb

This is a nighttime shot of pavement outside St. Luke’s Hospital on Amsterdam Avenue. The light source is ground level, probably from a window on the left, outside the picture frame. The light falls across and illumines the darkened pavement … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Leave a comment

Big Data (Digital Scholars)

Posted on February 12, 2012 by zjb

(image by Chad Hagen) (Wassily Kandinsky, Composition 8) The illustration in the New York Times Sunday Review for an article on “The Age of Big Data” caught my eye. It immediately reminded me of Kandinsky’s Composition 8. Which means to … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Trees (Tu Bishvat)

Posted on February 12, 2012 by zjb

 (photo by Tomer Appelbaum in Haaretz) This year, Jewish Philosophy Place (JPP) completely missed Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees (rosh Hashanah l’ilanot). This must have something to do with the non-prominence of a minor holiday in the liberal … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Religion is a Gadget

Posted on February 10, 2012 by zjb

I did not start out intending in my last post to add “religion” to the list of (obsolete) technologies. But I knew exactly what I was doing as I wrote it out. I like very much how religion slipped into … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment