Actor Christopher Reeve, the star of the “Superman” movies whose near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died of heart failure. He was 52.
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Month: October 2004
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Derrida is dead
While I never quite agreed with his philosophy, and have trouble with his contribution to literary studies, it remains true that he was one of the towering figures of 20th century academia. Without him, we would have no literary criticism as we know it now, and Continental Philosophy would have been much less robust.
Derrida was known as the father of deconstructionism, a branch of critical thought or analysis developed in the late 1960s and applied to literature, linguistics, philosophy, law and architecture.
Derrida focused his work on language, showing that it has multiple layers and thus multiple meanings or interpretations, challenging the notion that speech is a direct form of communication or even that the author of a text is the author of its meaning.
Deconstructionists like Derrida explored the means of liberating the written word from the structures of language, opening limitless textual interpretations. Not limited to language, Derrida’s philosophy of deconstructionism was then applied to western values.
The deconstructionist approach has remained controversial, with detractors even proclaiming the movement dead. So divisive were Derrida’s ideas that Cambridge University’s plan to award him an honorary degree in 1992 was forced to a vote which he won.
As Derrida grew ill, death haunted him. In a Le Monde interview in August, Derrida said that learning to live means learning to die.
“Less and less, I have not learned to accept death,” he was quoted as saying. “I remain uneducable about the wisdom of learning to die.”
“I’m the president of the Senate. I’ve been to many sessions…the first time I met you was on this stage tonight.”
Dick Cheney, VP Debate, Oct 6, 2004
Oh…really?
“Thank you. Thank you very much. Congressman Watts, Senator Edwards, friends from across America and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world, Lynne and I honored to be with you all this morning.” [FDCH Political Transcripts, Cheney Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, 2/1/01]
Not to mention the fact that according to Senator Leahy, Dick only meets with the Republican Party members when he attends Congress. I think Lewis Black again said it best: “Dick Cheney…I’ve met Dick Cheney. I’ve never stood so close to evil.”
The Official Kerry/Edwards Blog has a good list of news reactions to Cheney’s lies, including his boldfaced lie that he had never drawn a connection between Iraq/Saddam and 9.11.
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The X-Prize has been claimed!
SpaceShipOne has successfully completed the requirements for the X-Prize, successfully launching an astronaut into space twice in a 2 week period.
Congrats to everyone involved. As I said last week, this is great, great stuff. Bring on the Space Tourism!
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My Adrenaline Weekend
At the invitation of my parents, Betsy, myself, my sister and brother-in-law all made the trek north to Paramount’s Kings Island, an amusement park north of Cincinatti. My dad’s bank was having a picnic there, and providing lunch and tickets and such. How could we turn that down?
For some reason, I became a complete adrenaline junkie over the weekend. If there was a ride, I was on it. A short list of the rides I fell victim to (with links to pics or descriptions):
- The Beast:: The longest wooden coaster in the world, and consistently rated one of the top 5 coasters ever. I’d agree with this…amazingly fun. We managed to get to it early enough that we could simply sit through two rides in a row.
- The Son of Beast:: This, however, was a HUGE disappointment. It is the tallest, fastest wooden coaster in the world, and includes a loop (which, for a wooden coaster, is just insane). However, it nearly beats you to death. Full of Helixes and switchbacks, I think I bruised a rib on it. Ride it once, just to say you did, but that’s quite enough.
- Vortex:: Just a great coaster, a steel looping coaster that turns you upside down 6 times in less than a minute. Fast, smooth and fun.
- Face-Off:: Surprisingly shocking, the coaster looks very basic at first glance, but the forward-backwards nature of it makes it more surprising than you might initially think. It certainly took me by surprise. With both backwards and forwards facing seats, you do the entire ride in both directions before being lowered into the unloading area.
- Flight of Fear:: An enclosed coaster, with a propulsion system rather than a hill, and shoots you from 0-60 in under 4 seconds. Harsh, but fun.
- Tomb Raider, the Ride:: A bizarre pendulum ride, it is enclosed and dark, so that you have no idea what you are actually in for. Very effective, if a little short. Better than I expected.
- Delerium:: This was a new one for me…a giant pendulum, with a circular seating pattern that spins while you swing. Very, very fun, with a lot of G-forces on you as you spin into the drop. Watch the video to get the full effect.
- Drop Zone:: Wow. The tallest gyro drop ride in the world, you spin slowly up 315 feet, pause, and then freefall to the bottom. Feels like you stepped off of the ledge of a 30 story building. Amazing!
- Slingshot:: This was my father’s idea…I had ridden everything in the park, more or less, and he said he’d pay for this one if I’d do it. I don’t think he believed I would. A 2 person max capacity ride, I was by myself in the small roll-cage. The cables are tensioned by a set of crazy looking springs, and then the connection with the earth is cut, and you go rocketing into the air. The stats on the ride itself said: 95MPH, 260 Feet, 6G’s and I believe it. Easily the craziest thing I’ve ever been on. You launch up, then turn and freefall towards the earth. The cables catch, and you bounce up and down for a few seconds, rolling crazily a few hundred feet up, just you and a small metal enclosure, and two cables on either side. Complete insanity. Here’s a site from a company that makes these crazy things, and more pics.
All in all, much fun was had, and much silly food consumed. Looking forward to the next amusement park already…