Health and the Shape of Time floating in the Internet Universe

I had this entire post set for divulging in an elaborate comparative analysis between South Korea's National Health Insurance plan and the U.S.'s lack thereof after a clinic visit here astoundingly lasted a little under 15 minutes. I'm mean, I'm seriously talking the waiting, the check up, the prescription and all. But after a hefty amount of research, I'm basically going to rest most of my take on the issue on this article. And with that, I officially declare the internet as a 100% legitimate research tool (thus adding to the Internet Universe theory. Oh and this, albeit old, is interesting too)



Anyway, I finished reading the Shape of Time a little while ago and just started reading the abridgment of A Study of History by Arnold J. Toynbee and am feeling a bit analytical. Pardon any over-ambitiousness. But really, if you're interested at all in Art and history (read: NOT art history) and their relation, The Shape of Time is the most thorough analysis of the two subjects' correlation. George Kubler is ridiculously astute at reorganizing the entire structure of observing and placing significance upon all human objects, from "all tools and writing in addition to the useless, beautiful, and poetic things of the world." There is seriously not one paragraph of the book I do not in some way observe as completely profound. Some of my favorite concepts are as follows:

...our ability at any moment to accept new knowledge is narrowly delimited by the existing state of knowledge.

and

How does artistic invention differ from useful invention? It differs as human sensibility differs from the rest of the universe. Artistic inventions alter the sensibiility of mankind. They all emerge from and return to human perception, unlike useful inventions, which are keyed to the physical and biological environment. Useful inventions alter mankind only indirectly by altering his environment; aesthetic inventions enlarge human awareness directly with new ways of experiencing the universe, rather than with new objective interpretations.

and

When the industrial designer discovers a new shape to satisfy an old need, his difficulty is to find enough buyers for the new shape among people who already own satisfactory old forms. Thus every successful manufacture tends to saturate the region in which it was made by using all the occasions that might require the thing.

Simply genius. The book was originally published in my favorite decade ever, the 60s, and influenced a number of my favorite artists including Donald Judd, Ad Reinhardt, and Robert Smithson. It was complete coincidence I noticed it in the bookstore, read the back, and promptly decided to buy it. I seriously believe it has changed my life.

Anyway, I've been enjoying work pretty thoroughly this week, as one of my less favorable co teachers is leaving, a new very nice teacher is arriving, my birthday is Saturday, and there's a DJing prospect completely within my reach. This prospect is not at all any type of a career starter nor anything completely serious, but an exciting opportunity to at least play music in front of people. If I can get equipment, slow, low key Sunday nights are my bounty at Under Construction, a bar just two stops away on the yellow line. All I have to do is save up enough money after maybe two or three paychecks to buy something that mixes songs together and doesn't look like I am following some poor attempt at a trend.