Matthew Jankowski > Recent Status Updates

Jack Bauer faces off against zombies.

Masterful.

The Hundred Light Year Diary: Greg Egan is a genius. Genius!

Infinite Assassin: early iteration of his excellent novel diaspora.

Republic: civic courage through education. Injustice and justice as nourishment for the soul.

Republic: aetilochus creates one person who is perfectly just and wretched and another who is perfectly unjust and wealthy. Socrates proposes talking about justice in a city. Winding up with a discussion of which stories to tell the young.

Memo: Socrates reaches a conclusion opposite that of the one he reached in protagoras. Virtues is a gift from the gods; not teachable.

Republic: Cephalus talks of being old. Thrasymachus states justice is the rule of the strong over the weak; injustice is good and wise, etc. Socrates dialogues and tries to demonstrate injustice is a vice.

Gorgas: Socrates dialogues with gorgas, polus, and callicles. The topic is oratory and the moral value of rhetoric. Socrates concludes rhetoric is mainly flattery and can only result in justice when guided by philosophy.

Protagoras: Socrates interprets Simonides poem criticizing pittacus's for a man to become good is truly hard...

Protagoras: on Hippocrates behalf, Socrates asks protagoras if virtue can be taught. Protagoras reonds that it can and should. Socrates is not so sure and begins to question. Protagoras becomes somewhat upset bit the gathered sophists insist on the continued dialectic.

Alcibiades gives an amazing speech about Socrates.

Socrates relates the story of a discussion he once had with the woman from mantinea. Someone who is in love with beauty gives birth to virtue.

Symposium: Phaedra, Pausanias, some doctor, Aristophanes, agathon offer their views on love. Socrates goes next.

Sophist: first ancient classic where I believe I don't know what the hell is being talked about.

For a long time I could not get past the point where she met Derek. Now that I am 40% of the way through the book I begin to see why Ian Fleming may have wrote it. As usual, Ian Fleming does a superb job writing about people and places. Love affair with the English,am, the German and then to lake George and the adirondacks.

Theaetetus: Knowledge is not true judge,emr with an account.

Theaetetus: knowledge is not the same thing as true judgement, knowledge is not the same thing as perception. I ecanmake a true judgement without knowledge; juries do it all the time.

Theaetetus: Socrates discusses philosophers with theodorus. It seems philosophers are oblivious to the obvious. A philosopher turns the conversation from 'my injustice towards you or your injustice towards me' to the nature of injustice. Which is why philosophers are scorned and laughed at.

Theaetetus: this conclusion reached: knowledge of taste, smell, sound, etc may be the exclusive province of the individual. Other areas, such as advanced mathematics or warfare one person may indeed have more or different knowledge than another. Socrates exhibited great sensitivity to reach this point.

Theaetetus: Socrates discusses knowledge as perception with theaetetus and theodorus. Theaetetus is a bright young man and theodorus a sized mathematician. This conversation occurs immediately before the apology. The topic is protagorus's, who was a friend of theodorus, that knowledge is perception. Socrates has much to say about public philosophy.

Vivienne Michel, French Canadian finds herself at a small motel 1o miles from la,e George. She endures a mountain thunderstorm and so far this is a James Bond novel without James Bond!

Tobin is knocked out of the battle, apparently saved by some gadget given to him by Orion, tobin goes back to the battle. He finds Vincent in the high school. Defeats Vincent saving his two friends. Orion, keplar, everyone turns out ok. Happy ending with a lirttle more mature Vincent.

Basically, Vincent plans to lead the rut onions to commit genocide agains earth. Tobin undergoes his training, leaving when he learns Han and leia, err, Jennifer and chad are in danger. Tobin successfully defends Jennifer, but reveals how weak and untrained he is to Vincent who immediately launches an invasion of earth. Tobin, now wearing strikes costume, attacks Vincent. Vincent, duri g the battle, tries to explain.

Vincent decides to threaten Jen a d chad. Remember them? They are tobins friends back in Bridgeton. Orion takes tobin to the fortress of solitude, which is now a museum. Tobin realizes Orion intends to train him to be strike, just like his dad. Tobin initially refuses, but is talked into it by Orion. There is this nice little segue into the people who follow Vincent. Too bad very little development occurs.

Aykrada: beautiful 40 year old hero witha beautiful daughter who infatuated keplar. We learn gallymoora used to be a great city but due to something to do with Vincent gallymoora is now something of a hole. a bunch of giant wasps attack gallymoora. The heroes successfully defend the town. Tobin is alternately brave and cowardly. Now for so e reason I am thinking of the matrix.

Scatterbolt explains why Vincent hates earth. Earth culture is vicious, destroying everything in its path. Even worse, earth is about to discover space travel. Vincent believes earth will set out to destroy his people. So he decides to invade earth. Tobins dad, Orion and Titan manage to stop Vincent: Titan dies, Vincent tries again and tobins dad dies. In the present, Orion announces the next stop is gallymoora.

Tobin, who at first seems like obi wan kenobi starts channeling agent k from Men In Black, though just for a few minutes. Actually, now that I think on it, this is much more a men in black story than a Star Wars. Meet scatterbolt,a friendly robot. Kinda likec3p0 and r2d2 mashed together. Turns out Vincent, Orion, tobins dad and some guy called Titan were in the guardians, a superhero team.