an apology for my recent behavior

[barry guerrero]

I like to think that the biggest thing about this forum that sets it apart, is that we don't indulge ourselves in being overly aggressive, or taking things too personally. I responded just that way in some recent posts, and will do my best not to do so in the future. It's the old, "do on to others as would would want them to do on to you" routine.

Barry

[John Kim]

Barry,

Still, I find myself sort of following your recommendations, ultimately .

Cheers,

John,

[barry guerrero]

YOU BETTER!   

[john haueisen]

Just don't get too cautious, Barry.  Feeling free to speak your mind is what stimulates thought and discussion.  Remember Gustav's retort to Alma, at their first evening together when she said that Zemlinsky was beautiful.  Mahler didn't worry about hurting feelings when he was sure about something--and he usually was sure about most things.

[Polarius T]

Barry, that's nothing, at least not in comparison with some other sites I've frequented. Some are truly mean, vicious, nasty, combative, dominated by actual fascist character types and meant as psychological outlets for people with various kinds of baggage.*

Though of course, you're right in that I've left those other boards and that for a reason. Here it's more civil and I like it. I feel nostalghia for that bygone era of afternoon cigars, straw hats, lunches with the captain, and genteel discoursing on the starboard deck come sunset time.** 

PT


*If they don't have a commercial agenda and a hidden business platform.
**Gentlemen, where are all the ladies of this board??

[barry guerrero]

Well thanks guys. I've just allowed some recent pressures and frustrations to get to me a bit.

[Amphissa]

We never liked you anyway and still don't, so you are wasting your time.   

[barry guerrero]

No, I'm wasting your time   

[Amphissa]

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” - Bertrand Russell

I don't think anyone here has been permanently scarred. When a family member gets grumpy, everyone else knows it's just a bad day.

[John Kim]

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” - Bertrand Russell

Wrong!

How could you enjoy it when you know you are 'wasting' your time??

The word waste is never associated with good things.

John,

[Amphissa]

Bertrand Russell wrote more than 70 books, more than 2,000 articles, and more than 30,000 letters of substance, including many scholarly works in areas of logic, epistemology, and the philosophy of mathematics, and was a tireless spokesman for humanitarian rights. He won the Nobel Prize for that. So perhaps his notion of "wasting time" is different from yours.

I spend an hour each day doing nothing but listening to music. It is purely and solely for personal enjoyment. I could be doing work during that time, but I do not. It is "wasted" time in that regard. However, because I enjoy wasting that time listening to music, it is not wasted time.

[john haueisen]

Amphissa,
As you have just mentioned Bertrand Russell in your last two postings, maybe you can help me solve a question I've had for some time:  I believe it was Bertrand Russell who described Wagner's Ring as "the greatest work of art of Western Civilisation."
Have you or any other GM board members ever run across this quote?

[John Kim]

Bertrand Russell wrote more than 70 books, more than 2,000 articles, and more than 30,000 letters of substance, including many scholarly works in areas of logic, epistemology, and the philosophy of mathematics, and was a tireless spokesman for humanitarian rights. He won the Nobel Prize for that. So perhaps his notion of "wasting time" is different from yours.

I spend an hour each day doing nothing but listening to music. It is purely and solely for personal enjoyment. I could be doing work during that time, but I do not. It is "wasted" time in that regard. However, because I enjoy wasting that time listening to music, it is not wasted time.

I use the word 'waste' (at least at my work) when I spend my time or someone else's time inefficiently so that myself or that person feels BAD at the end. I don't use the word in any other situation. Hence, when somebody says,  "You wasted your time listening to great music and you enjoyed it", it makes NO sense at all.

Am I wrong on this?

John,

[Amphissa]

Amphissa,
As you have just mentioned Bertrand Russell in your last two postings, maybe you can help me solve a question I've had for some time:  I believe it was Bertrand Russell who described Wagner's Ring as "the greatest work of art of Western Civilisation."
Have you or any other GM board members ever run across this quote?

I have never heard that and would be very surprised if it were true. Russell wrote one of the most important and most comprehensive surveys of Western Philosophy. In it, he discussed at some length the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and talks a bit about Wagner within that context. Although Wagner considered himself a disciple of Schopenhauer, Russell shows a closer similarity of Wagner's Ring to the ideas of Nietzsche. I would say that Russell's own ideas were very far from those of Nietzsche and Wagner. The idea of the "noble man" who wields power without sympathy, who is ruthless and concerned only with himself, is the opposite of his own philosophy. He certainly did not agree with Nietzsche or agree with his message.