ETC.: A Review of General Semantics articles from January 2007

ETC.: A Review of General Semantics archives from January 2007

In this issue.
January 1, 2007... AS BEFITS the first issue of a new year, not to mention the first issue by a new editor, in this ETC we consider the old and the new. The new editor learns how to honor the unbroken record of publication that this publication enjoys, while...

On Gravity and Perpetual Motion.(Poem)
January 1, 2007... Even if the earth were cored like an apple, pole to pole, and I stepped over the edge to be drawn immediately down accelerating at thirty-two feet per second squared till I passed the molten core and rose, decelerating at an...

The 2006 International GS Conference: a personal view.(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... THE INSTITUTE of General Semantics held its 2006 International GS Conference on General Semantics at the Arlington Texas Hilton Hotel from October 26 to 28. The conference was, to me, (thank you Wendell Johnson) a delightful success. The...

Making sense constructively.
January 1, 2007... MAKING SENSE is a surprisingly difficult process. It involves the unique structure of the brain and central nervous system, the inventory of meanings we collect, the reality structures we construct throughout our lives, categorization, frames...

Maybe our times were the best times.
January 1, 2007... Note from the author Sometime in the year 1930 the scholarly, boyish looking president of a young book-publishing company found on his desk for submission the better part of an unedited manuscript to be titled Science and Sanity. In his...

That was by my other mother, chapter 1.(Short story)
January 1, 2007... ALFRED KORZYBSKI often told a story in his seminars about a particular patient in St. Elizabeths hospital when he was studying there. He was illustrating a point that the insane can be considered as quite logical--except the logic has not much...

Abstractions.(quotations)(Author abstract)
January 1, 2007... Time has no divisions to mark its passage; there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols....

"The world in quandaries" symposium.(Symposium Report)(Conference notes)
January 1, 2007... ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2006, the New York Society for General Semantics hosted a symposium titled "The World in Quandaries: Coping with Controversial Communication in the Global Village--Personal, Social, National, Cultural." The event at Fordham...

General Semantics, terrorism and war.(Symposium Report)
January 1, 2007... "Terrorism? We're all against it, and understandably and legitimately so. On that there is unanimity. The problem comes in trying to figure out what the 'it' is and, once identified, what we can most effectively do about it. " I HAVE...

NYSGS Michael Ruberto Award for Distinguished Service.(Symposium Report)
January 1, 2007... During the People in Quandaries Symposium, Martin Levinson presented the NYSGS's Michael Ruberto Award for Distinguished Service to Allen Flagg. Before making the presentation, Levinson offered the following remarks: ALLEN FLAGG has been...

Airborne.(Poem)
January 1, 2007... How lovely are the lakes and ponds and pools that float above the desert. The beds of carven earth are all that stay below of streams and rivers. Only shadows fill the canyons now. Fugitive fountains, wells, reservoirs drawn by the sun,...

A tangible experience of time-binding.
January 1, 2007... WHEN ASKED to write a report about the New York Society for General Semantics 60th Anniversary symposium, I had no idea I'd have a tangible experience of what it means to "time-bind." (See page 36 for the resulting report.) Since my...

Fallacies of logic: argumentation cons.
January 1, 2007... Introduction NOWHERE, perhaps, can you be more easily conned than during an argument or discussion. You've taken a position on an issue, which you've thoroughly thought through. You have supporting data at your fingertips. You're a quick...

What if media are not "extensions" of our senses, but "intrusions" on our senses?
January 1, 2007... MARSHALL MCLUHAN based much of his thought on a powerful metaphor. This metaphor says that all media are extensions of our senses. McLuhan felt that print media extended the eye, with consequences rebounding through the entire culture. Now,...

The Myth of Self-Esteem: How Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Can Change Your Life Forever.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Albert Ellis. The Myth of Self-Esteem: How Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Can Change Your Life Forever. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2005. Many psychologists preach the importance of self-esteem, but on closer analysis the meaning of...

The Science behind Your Smile.(Happiness: The Science behind Your Smile)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Daniel Nettle. Happiness: The Science behind Your Smile. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. In this book Daniel Nettle, a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Newcastle, explores the origins and purpose of our pursuit of...

Echoes and Reflections: Media Ecology as a Field of Study.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Lance Strate. Echoes and Reflections: Media Ecology as a Field of Study. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2006. Media ecology, defined as a study of media as environments, has been described by Neil Postman as "general semantics writ large."...

Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Martin H. Levinson. Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times. New York: iUniverse, 2006. Dr. Levinson has adapted a selection of essays he published during 35 years as a teacher, counselor, and administrator in the New York City Public School...

From the archives.(RETROSPECT)
January 1, 2007... 50 Years Ago in ETC, Volume 14, Number 1 DORIS GAREY, "LITERATURE AS ROLE-PLAYING" ... Sometimes... we resist intense emotional aliveness because we are afraid it will hinder us in various "practical" ways. We just "haven't time for...

Dates and indexes.
January 1, 2007... Fifty years ago, ETC included a regular feature titled "Dates and Indexes" devoted to notes about local chapters and individual members, excerpts from letters, and significant clips from the news. With this issue, we reintroduce this feature as...