Library [01/10]

[furnaceface]

Jonothon was not feeling entirely too amused as he made his way into the library today for his shift, why?

Okay, perhaps a little...

Okay, he was practically radiating a psionic wave of amusement as he opened the library and set to work shelving books. Wrong numbers very nearly made his inability to use telephones forgivable.

[Open Library is Open.]

Build Your Own Philosophy, Period 2, 1/11/10

[tyler_gone]

The quote on the board today says:

"If that which knows and that which is known always exist, and the beautiful and the good and every other thing also exist, then I do not think that they can resemble a process of flux, as we were just now supposing." - Plato

Tyler barely glanced at it; he was preoccupied tossing a small red rubber ball at each student as they took a seat. "There. Now everyone has a ball," he said. "The question we're looking at today is if it's really a ball. We're talking about Plato's theory of forms. Plato was Greek and worked during the fourth and fifth centuries BC, and some people will tell you he pretty much came up with Western thought."

"What Plato believed, and I'm simplifying like crazy, is that nothing that we see is really real. Things that are really real are perfect, and permanent, and can never be touched. That's the world of Forms, capital F. What we live in is the world of mimes, which is kind of a Xerox of the world of Forms. The things we see, smell, touch -- they look kind of like the real things, but they can't be perfect, because they change. Look at your toys; they all came out of the same factory, all cost the same amount, but no two are exactly alike. The rubber's a little different, the ink smudged, there's a scratch ... something. But we all know what a ball is because we carry around this ideal image of the Form of a ball in our heads. Not one of you could draw a perfect circle or a perfect straight line if I asked -- no one can -- but we all know what they are."

"What you're doing today is trying to describe something the way it might exist in the World of Forms. The perfect, eternal version. Pair up and pick something off the list. Don't be surprised if one person's perfection doesn't wow someone else."

"I'm here if you need me."

Library, Monday [January 11]

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Her Monomyths class was going to be a challenge this term, so Gabrielle had a copy of the syllabus in one hand as she hurried into the library and straight for the coffeemaker. The syllabus was deposited on the collections desk en route to caffeine, along with a piece of parchment containing a letter from Perdicas. She dialed the strength of the coffee down a bit today, but still put enough sugar into her mug that it might make someone cry if they saw her in the process.

Once she was sufficiently awake, she disappeared into the stacks to find a couple of books that might help her get a better grasp of that class . . . but those would have to take second place to reading the letter. Gabrielle wasn't sure when that priority had shifted, and it was questionable whether she even realized it had.

At any rate, should you come into the library this morning the odds were good you'd find one cheerful but pensive bard at the front desk.