Cliodynamics: A Future for History?

Theory, Evolution, and Games Group

What is history? And what, if any, are its practical uses? These are the questions I’ve been pondering since being introduced to Cliodynamics – which claims to make history into  “an analytical, predictive science.” To that end, I wish to address two questions: is it possible to make history into “an analytical, predictive science?” And is it desirable, for the purposes of attaining greater knowledge or understanding, to do this?

View original post 1,080 more words

October 1st already here!

Time flies. October is already here. It’s monday morning and at this very moment, I am at Carolina Rediviva library, attempting to write on my masters thesis. The library is quite nice and universityesque as can be seen on the photo below.

Carolina Rediviva means something like the revival of, or the resurrected Carolina. A previous university building called Academia Carolina could be found in Uppsala 1620-1778. Carolina Rediviva is the revived version of this building, and came about in 1834.

 

Florestan

Y Tu Mama Tambien: Huh, that was a lot of sex.

So this past week I watched a movie that I thought Floristan had recommended to me, but may have had the title wrong. Be that as it may Y Tu Mama Tambien was a pretty interesting movie. Basically two horny and callow teenagers convince the hot spouse of their cousin to travel with them to a beach. She agrees becuase her husband has cheated on her and becuase she feels unfulfilled. The resulting trip causes the dumb teenagers to face up to some of the responsibilities of life and learn the truth about one another (for both good and ill).

The movie, directed by noted Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron is enjoyable different from most hollywood movies. It’s frank and very explicit depiction of sexuality makes it more akin to an HBO show than a typical movie. There are a number of very cleverly foreshadowed plot points which lead to a big spoliery reveal at the end which changes the viewers impression of what occurred and why over the course of the film. Another interesting aspect it the films depiction of modern Mexico, the three main characters hail from the upper-middle classes in Mexico City, while most of the folks they encounter on their journey are rural, poor, and traditional.

Is this the movie you wanted me to watch dear F? If not I’d still suggest you check this one out, and please leave the name of the movie you wanted me to see here 🙂

Kids on the run

Renting: An Update

As promised in an earlier post, here’s an update on my efforts to use Floristan’s model of decision making to choose a new apartment. I’m happy to say it worked quite well, though not in the way I expected! Basically, I ended up deciding that buying was a better option than renting, becuase I could get virtually everything I wanted for a lower price. Plus, since I’m planning to be in the same area for at least 4-5 years given my present work commitments, buying just seemed like the best choice.

F’s model helped me reach this decision by showing that most of the rental options were close to what I wanted, but that the ones that met all my criteria most fully were outside my price range. So I’ve made the possibly unwise decision to buy. I’m both excited and very nervous, given that the closing date for the place I’ve chosen is this week. Only time will tell. Thanks F for developing this very useful model! Have you been giving this issue any further thought?

Some Thoughts About Gifts

Given the recent passing of the Christmas season, my thoughts have been much filled with trying to systematize the gift giving traditions in my family. What? Me a nerd? Don’t be absurd.

I have canonized the following axioms:

-Women may give men clothing as a gift; men may give other men clothing; women may give other women clothing, but almost never do; men may never ever give women clothing.

-Men may give woman jewelry, the reverse virtually never happens unless the definition of jewelry is expanded to encompass pocket watches. This may mainly be an institutional or normative function of men not tending to wear jewelry.

-Hardware is a frequent gift for men, but housewares are not seen as good gifts for women unless they involve cooking. This one has become less fixed over time as traditional gendered divisions of labour have broken down.

Does your family observe any such unofficial traditions Florestan?

Hello again, world!

Welcome to Eusebius and Florestan’s blog.

Eusebius and Florestan?

On the Wikipedia page for the german composer Robert Schumann, one can read: “The Davidsbündlertänze, Op.6, (also published in 1837 despite the low opus number) literally “Dances of the League of David”, is an embodiment of the struggle between enlightened Romanticism and musical philistinism. Schumann credited the two sides of his character with the composition of the work (the more passionate numbers are signed F. (Florestan) and the more dreamy signed E. (Eusebius)).

Florestan, passionate. Eusebius, dreamy. Probably (hopefully!) all people are both passionate and dreamy, but to aviod confusion I am Florestan and Eusebius is the other person writing this blog. We went to grad school together. Truth is, we still do, but only for another week. Another week of paper writing and then an awaited christmas break.

Florestan

10 Rules for Good Blogging

I suggest we follow these rules except when we don’t feel like it!