John Adams,heralded the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, asan earlier and stronger model for an American patrician-patriarch.
This adds additional weight to the concept of "city upon a hill" which was highlighted in a speech by John Winthrop.
John Blackthorne, also known as Anjin-san, is the protagonist of James Clavell's 1975 novel Shōgun. The character is loosely based on the life of the 17th-century English navigator William Adams, who was the first Englishman to visit Japan. The character appears in the 1980 TV miniseries Shōgun, played by Richard Chamberlain,[1] and by Cosmo Jarvis in a 2024 series based on the book.
William Adams (Japanese: ウィリアム・アダムス, kyūjitai: ウヰリアム・アダムス, Hepburn: Uwiriamu Adamusu) (24 September 1564 – 16 May 1620), better known in Japan as Miura Anjin (Japanese: 三浦按針, "the pilot of Miura"), was an English navigator who, in 1600, was the first Englishman to reach Japan.
Adams was the first Englishman to reach Japan
https://www.atomicworkflows.com/atomic-note-taking/
A new zettelkasten book, though oddly no physical copy and no ebook version? The fact that this is bundled with a course and seems priced on the high side seems a major turn off.
I do expect new social platforms to emerge that focus on privacy and ‘fake-free’ information, or at least they will claim to be so. Proving that to a jaded public will be a challenge. Resisting the temptation to exploit all that data will be extremely hard. And how to pay for it all? If it is subscriber-paid, then only the wealthy will be able to afford it.
As ajournalist, historian, novelist, and autobiographer, Adams was con-stantly focused on the American experiment, testing a statementoffered by another figure in Democracy: ‘You Americans believe your-selves to be excepted from the operation of general laws. You care notfor experience’ (LA 37–8).
In Chapter 1: American Exceptionalism of Myth America (Basic Books, 2023) historian David A. Bell indicates that Jay Lovestone and Joseph Stalin originated the idea of American Exceptionalism in 1920, but in Democracy (1880, p.72) Henry Adams seems to capture an early precursor of the sentiment:
"Ah!" exclaimed the baron, with his wickedest leer, "what for is my conclusion good? You Americans believe yourselves to be excepted from the operation of general laws. You care not for experience. I have lived seventy-five years, and all that time in the midst of corruption. I am corrupt myself, only I do have courage to proclaim it, and you others have it not. Rome, Paris, Vienna, Petersburg, London, all are corrupt; only Washington is pure! Well, I declare to you that in all my experience I have found no society which has had elements of corruption like the United States. The children in the street are corrupt, and know how to cheat me. The cities are all corrupt, and also the towns and the counties and the States' legislatures and the judges. Every where men betray trusts both public and private, steal money, run away with public funds.
Had a flavor of American Exceptionalism been brewing for decades before Stalin's comment?
Adams, Henry. The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography. Edited by Ira B. Nadel. 1907. Reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
annotation target: url: urn:x-pdf:36c954cb79cc117f8dbeff1351049bda
Herbert Baxton Adams’ model of ahistorical seminar room suggested it have a dedicated catalogue;
Douglas Adams noted, "Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to."
from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
“By the way,” she wrote, “in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.” She went on, “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
—Abigail Adams, March 1776, in a letter to her husband John Adams serving in the Continental Congress
especially:
all men would be tyrants if they could.
Douglas Adams' Hyperland
suggested by Kevin Marks on TWiG 622
Was ihn auszeichnete war etwas, das ich einen philosophischen Humor nennen würde. Er hat die ganzen kleinen Absurditäten des menschlichen Lebens gesammelt und sie in seinen Romanen zu Gags gemacht. Vielleicht sind seine Bücher deshalb im Jugend- und Reifealter besonders bekömlich, weil man später selbst zu sehr in die Absurdität eingewickelt ist.
TheIndustrial Revolution isthe first strong historical analog for the modern phenomenonof a quantum leap in human progress, resulting in radically altered ways of life in a short span of time.
As Hall points out in Where Is My Flying Car? there is a strong argument to be made that the industrial revolution was a social chain reaction that had already set off an exponential improvement process on its way to 'singularity', this was disrupted in the 20th century however. But prior to that it had been ongoing for 300 years at a steady average rate of 7% more usable power annually.
this is a note to the page Adam style
by the Adams as a single uniform scheme
second annotation
Also the whole of his Slaves amounting to 57 in number.
This sentence really shows the dichotomy of the present and the past. It is clearly demonstrated that the slaves are not seen as people, but are instead seen as property. The word "also," while being used to show the end of a list, also subtly says that slaves are afterthoughts, even when speaking of properties.
The 1st. duty enjoined on them was to enquire & report a site in some convenient & proper part of the state for an University, to be called the “University of Virginia.”
I find it very intriguing that the very first task of the commissioners was to look for a site for the school, rather than going over the ideals, values, and goals that are mentioned later on in the report. I read that Jefferson wanted the site to be so beautiful and the school to gain such notoriety that people from even out of state would "drink of the cup of knowledge". Having the physical site in mind could have given the commissioners the motivation and inspiration to set values for the future university.
The board of Trustees of Washington College have also proposed to transfer the whole of their funds, viz, 100 shares in the funds of the James River company. 31 acres of land on which all their buildings stand.
This really stood out to me. I may be wrong, but it seems as if the administration of Washington College (currently Washington and Lee) proposed the absorption of the school into the new UVA school system. For a school that seems now to pride itself on its independence, it's funny to think that they very well could have ended up as part of the University.
virtue to others & of happiness within themselves
Aristotle wrote in Niccomachean Ethics that living virtuously is the key to happiness. Therefore, its especially intriguing to see virtue and happiness mentioned together but not defining each other in the university's objective. The separation is important in distinguishing that Aristotle's understanding of happiness is not the only one there is. Classically, there are many views from many schools: stoics, hedonists, Buddhists, ect. In fact, there is a general lack of clarity as to what happiness is in our collective understanding as a society. The lack of clarification as to what happiness is and the distinction between the two shows that although the university (and perhaps Thomas Jefferson) intends each student to find their own meaning of happiness while retaining the essential quality of being virtuous.
observe with intelligence & faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed.
By observe, it is unclear whether a student is expected to passively notice or comply with the social relations he is exposed to during his time. Both of which are completely valid definitions and applications of the word "observe" in the dictionary. Of course the student could observe social issues at the time such as slavery and women's inequality; However, if he does not act on observed social issues that do not affect him, then did the institution fail to instill a complete education in him (as "education generates a habit of application") or has he failed as a student? Whether a student in an institution is being taught to observe to develop theories which lead him to a better understanding of social relations or observe to act on his set of beliefs is still relevant today. Of course institutions of higher learning today are more explicit about teaching students to employ action, be proactive, but the discussion of practicality and usefulness of information taught or developed at universities still revolve around this one objective.
Spanish is highly interesting to us, as the language spoken by so great a portion of the inhabitants of our Continents, with whom we shall possibly have great intercourse ere long; and is that also in which is written the greater part of the early history of America.
This is a perfect example of the "pan-american" independence movement many of the founders envisioned for all of the western hemisphere. It is often forgotten that many Americans hoped that our revolution would inspire the other colonies in North and South America to revolt as well. Eventually most of them did, but not as soon as Jefferson or the rest of the founders expected. The line "with whom we shall possibly have great intercourse ere long" and the reference to "our Continents" shows their hopefulness for a free and allied America. It is no coincidence that for many years South American flags were flown alongside that of the United States on July 4th.
They are, in summation, that man is not nor ever can be nor ever should be a de-personalized thinking machine.
There is more to humanity than being "moist robots", as modern day rhetorical critic and philosopher (and cartoonist) Scott Adams might purport.
To Weaver, all humans have, in the least, a "soul", it is important that that soul is recognized and catered to.