[Edu-sig] Brainstorming about January

[Kirby Urner]

> And BTW, I meant to be paying Kirby a complement in the post to which I
> think you were referring.
> 
> Art
> 

And I took it that way.  

My reply was meant to be light-hearted:  I was alluding to the fact that
"squarely" associates with "square" which, from beatnik days, has connoted
"uncool" -- a connotation perhaps tracing to Buckminster Fuller in his
Greenwich Village phase, but if not, tracing to him later, as he considered
our obsessing over squares (the shape) a major obstacle to our achieving a
higher level of civilization.  

The word "buckobob" was made up on the spot, and could be interpreted to
mean "some group or school of thought"; the world has an infinite number,
and someone is bound to be offended by just about anything -- even an
innocent use of the word 'squarely' in an approbatory manner.

"Buckobob" does contain a hint of Bucky (Fuller's colloquial/familiar name).
It may also resonate with Bob, the core figure in the Church of the
Subgenius, which brand of American lit also concerns itself with the various
types who make our lives difficult (a common thread in many traditions
actually).

But I didn't expect Arthur to appreciate all these details.  I'm aware of an
archive here, and my ability to tie back later, if the occasion arises.
Plus some of my readers make associations on their own (sometimes entirely
different ones -- strong readers in the humanities are also "misreaders" as
Harold Bloom sees it).

So yes Gregor, you are right that some esoterica fly under the radar in some
of these posts.  But it's not a big problem I don't think.  We're for the
most part quite topical.  And you have the same freedoms, should you wish to
sometimes be obscure for the benefit of readers we don't see.

And if you go back to the early days (in the archives), you'll find Arthur
and I have a long-running thread regarding Euclidean geometry, vs. my
intention to deviate from its dogmas in many respects, for example by taking
to heart Bucky's enjoinder to celebrate 60-degree-based aesthetics at least
as heartily and 90-degree-based, i.e. I'm not going to be too rectilinear or
"square" in my approach to geometry -- this January, in 2005, in a Python
class.

What that looks like in practice is I'll probably be sharing about a
non-rectilinear coordinate system some friends and I have played with and
developed (perhaps reinvented) over the years -- including in Python.  We
call them "quadray" or "tetray" coordinates.  I think my high school
audience will find them entertaining.

Kirby