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142 lines
5.2 KiB
Text
142 lines
5.2 KiB
Text
.LP
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.ce
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.ps 16
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.CW
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SPEED GRADING
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.R
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.ps 8
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.CW
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tags: 4086, piro, tab2
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.R
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.PP
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.ps 10
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I'm cleaning out the King's cupboards when I run across some old
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detritus that he had thought it would be a good idea to bring along
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with him to the station.
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.PP
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.ps 10
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.I
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Thomas.
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.R
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.PP
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.ps 10
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According to legend, he wrote this paper for a grade school
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assignment. As I recall, it triggered unrest amongst the faculty. In
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the absence of advanced philosophical technology, papers written by
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school children wielded the capability to disrupt classroom
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activities.
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.fp 1 R H
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.fp 2 I HI
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.fp 3 B HB
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.fp 4 BI HM
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.ps 8
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The popular image of
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Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart
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.R
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is inaccurate to the point of ridiculousness. However, this has
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not prevented a multiplicity of interpretations from emerging to
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surround his work. Ludwig von Ko\*:chel's contrived naming convention has
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even been absorbed into the text of Mozart's published scores, sans
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any indication that Herr Mozart did not create these titles himself.
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Beneath the layers of false attribution lies a man (J. C. W. T. M.)
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whose own prodigious correspondence is often the last resource
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consulted by would\-be experts. Thus, the common conception of the
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silly\-voiced man\-child,
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.I
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idiot savant
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dominates the commentary upon his work even to this day.
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Figures such as Mozart are invoked almost as articles of our
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language, employed as symbols of narratives larger than the mere facts
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of their corporeal existence. This phenomenon renders any deeper
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investigation into the men themselves a trifling diversion, an
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unnecessary digression at best. When one appears to be referencing a
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rich study of the available facts, what one is too often doing,
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instead, is invoking the surface texture of popular memory (most often
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grossly misconstrued, but constituting a shared culture nonetheless).
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It is shamefully dishonest to put forward such vagary as learned
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discourse.
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But. Is this lamentable transgression so far removed from the
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process of creating words, themselves? I beseech the thoughtful reader
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to consider that language, to begin with, is merely a collection of
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consensual, codified misunderstandings.
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I will now shift contexts and refer to the decades\-long
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correspondence between the Americans Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
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It is unlikely that the modern reader is familiar with these
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gentlemen. Sadly, the average Federalist/Anti\-Federalist scholar is
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likewise ignorant of their existence. And yet, it must be pointed out,
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portions of their correspondence have been, since 1926, accepted into
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the Scriptures. One recoils at the cognitive dissonance; this vast
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field of Green scholarship, donning its own willfully fogged\-over
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spectacles in order to better scrawl out its blind declarations. It is
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deemed acceptable to reference the icons of culture by name or by
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clique, but it is seen as counterproductive to make clearly understood
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precisely what it is one is trying to say. Of course, not all
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manglings of the language are intentional, and not all such manglings
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are equally deceptive. Some people just don't care about the Bible.
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There persists an interplay between the rigorous accuracy that is
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ostensibly sought after and the broad symbolism that is most easily
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digested. I am prepared to admit that in my own work I have yet to
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satisfactorily bridge these disparate vectors of focus. Even an
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isolated, outlying case refuses to make itself known. For example, I
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am capable of pursuing either individual goal with exceeding stamina
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and skill, and yet I am resigned to my failure in striking a balance
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between the two as a whole. I have discovered no happy synthesis. No
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congenial associations between the two paths. The network betwixt
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particle and wave refuses to materialize. Redoubled focus simply
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dissolves into a migraine headache.
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This, then, is the eternal struggle. The Mozart of reality versus
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the Mozart of history.
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Why read the entirety of Jefferson's correspondence when a blind
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quotation will suffice?
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As I compare like with unlike, I stumble upon the realization that
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the vision of others, is, by necessity, likewise obstructed. This
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myopia that afflicts me is not an invention, a deficiency particular
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to my person.
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.R
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.I
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All
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.R
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of our screens are thus occluded, whether we
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recognize it or not. In our minds, the eminence of the signifier shall
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always eclipse that of the signified. Ironically, we trip repeatedly
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over this blunt limitation, which itself probably evolved as a means
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to facilitate communication.
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What I'm trying to say is, stop trying to tell me what I mean.
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In this paper I have demonstrated the inherent political power of
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dictionaries. The careful reader will adjust his ambitions
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accordingly.
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.LP
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.fp 1 R GA
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.fp 2 I GI
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.fp 3 B GM
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.fp 4 BI GMI
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.PP
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.ps 10
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I fold the leaf and replace it within its compartment. We are way
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beyond these sorts of observations by now, Thomas. Today I would mark
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this paper with a C\-, at best. But, you wrote for your time. Some
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inaccuracies and the overall sparseness of detail may be forgiven. I
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confirm the historical grade (A\-) by thumbprint and wave away the
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hovering screen.
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.PP
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.ps 10
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While I was a grading, something in the room has changed. A faint
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white light illuminates the port hole of the King's quarters.
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.PP
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.ps 10
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I make my way over to investigate the disturbance.
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