Welcome statement


Parting Words from Moristotle (07/31/2023)
tells how to access our archives
of art, poems, stories, serials, travelogues,
essays, reviews, interviews, correspondence….

Friday, November 11, 2011

11/11/11: The same, palindromic day all over the world

Yes!—at least, it's the same-notated day in North America (month/day/year), Europe (day/month/year), and China (year/month/day). (For a more precise accounting, by country, see Wikipedia.)
    I prefer the Chinese convention for file and folder naming, so much better for sorting reliably by date:
[20]10-01-08
[20]10-11-11
[20]10-12-14
[20]11-01-15
[20]11-03-07
[20]11-08-14
[20]11-11-03
[20]11-11-11
    In North America, the files would sort this way:
01-08-[20]10
01-15-[20]11
03-07-[20]11
08-14-[20]11
11-03-[20]11
11-11-[20]10
11-11-[20]11
12-14-[20]10
    And in Europe, this way:
03-11-[20]11
07-03-[20]11
08-01-[20]10
11-11-[20]10
11-11-[20]11
14-08-[20]11
14-12-[20]10
15-01-[20]11
    Our Chinese predecessors understood sorting.

I'm reminded by this superfluge of 11's that Youie's number, when I was manically besotted with magic and deity, that Summer of '89, was 11. Wouldn't today have been the day to go Youie-manic?
    No, today is as good a day as any not to fall down that rabbit hole. Retain your rationality, young and old.
November 11, 2011,
11 November 2011,
2011 November 11—
they're all the same day on the planet to which we all belong.

By the way [my wife just reminded me], today is the grand opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, located in my Arkansas sister's hometown of Bentonville. WalMart heiress Alice Walton's name is barely mentioned on the museum's website, but she's behind it all, as described in the June 27 New Yorker article, "Alice's Wonderland." 11/11/11! Go, Alice!
_______________
Further reflections on Crystal Bridges

6 comments:

  1. AH, I did not know I was using the Chinese date convention when I name files. Drives me nuts when people do NOT do it that way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. On a side note...has anyone else watched the opening video on the link you listed for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art?

    If so...uhmmmm....what did you think of it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Motomynd, I missed that there was even a video the first time I went to the site, so I just watched it now. I didn't like it, too corny for my taste, plus I didn't appreciate seeing the big rigs with a photograph of cooked cow meat or a factory-farming company logo on their side. The ethos portrayed by the "We're Glad You're Here" clip seems to me to nullify the essential value of art, to challenge the status quo. Very disappointing. Not good on Alice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And did you notice how the camera lens lingered noticeably on each of the logos on the trucks? It struck me as odd to be watching a video I assumed was in some way going to celebrate the grand opening of a wonderful new art museum, but in reality turned out to be mainly a commercial for Walmart and some of its favored vendors. Given the nature of the video one has to wonder what is in store for visitors to the museum.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, Motomynd, indeed, and my desire to visit Crystal Bridges has waned considerably as a result.
        I can't now but seriously doubt Alice Walton's integrity. Her money may have enabled her to collect horses and art, but it (or something else) seems also to have stunted her moral development.

    ReplyDelete