For Truth Beauty Goodness the question concerned your visit to museums: what museum have you visited? what do you think of it? For the Intro to Philosophy lecture on Kant the quiz question concerns the situation of the beautiful woman driver being confronted by three ugly guys. Two parts: is it your duty to interfere? Second, what do you think you would actually do? As of this moment I am completely caught up on all grading so if you have sent me something prior to now but have not received comments for it then please send it again since I did not receive it.

For the Intro to Philosophy lecture on Kant the quiz question concerns the situation of the beautiful woman driver being confronted by three ugly guys. Two parts: is it your duty to interfere? Second, what do you think you would actually do? For Intro to Humanities II the question today concerned the appreciation - or not - of the use of the black smith anvil in the music of Siegfried. Do you agree with Hanslick that it is not music? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdPCug8PfhU&list=HL1364358956 is Jay singing the piece and reforging Notung das Scwherte. Hanslick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Hanslick

For the class this afternoon that met at 2:30 P after it was announced that classes starting at 3P or later were canceled because of the snow, and because it was the lecture on Hume, I made an attempt to video the lecture in segments so I could post them on Youtube. Here is the link for one http://youtu.be/P4my_TeAAGU but it looks like as they upload that they are not going in correct sequence. They should take a while yet to complete and most will not be labeled until I have a chance to view them later myself, but if you wish to get a sense of what we talked about here they are.

For Truth Beauty Goodness I contrasted book and movie versions of narratives. The quiz question is for you to contrast the relative strengths and weaknesses of books and movies based on the books in your experience. Today's quiz for Intro to Philosophy is how do you know you have a persistent self?

I am still grading a back log of papers - currently working on things from two weeks ago. Sorry it takes me so long to read everything. Today's quiz for Intro to Philosophy was how do you know you have a persistent self? For Intro to Humanities II the question was concerned with computer gaming and what relevance you think computer games have to the meaning of life for young people who play them. Remember if you have the chance to attend the lecture Friday evening at 7 in the library room 307.

For Truth Beauty and Goodness the quiz question today was what is your favorite literature? For Intro to Philosophy today the question was do you agree with Leibniz that this is the best of all possible worlds?

I hope everyone is having a great Spring Break. Today Donna and I stopped by West Chester University long enough to take several videos and buy a few things at the bookstore. It is always neat to visit the school where we met and spent so many years. I have to admit there is something special about those years and I hope my students are having the same sort of experience at UAA. Earlier in the break we visited a museum - the University of Pennsylvania Museum and spent hours remembering all the times we each spent at that museum as kids - even though we did not know one another then of course.

For Intro to Philosophy today the question was do you agree with Leibniz that this is the best of all possible worlds? For Intro to Humanities II the quiz question was given the sentence labeled a: a: The sentence labeled a is false. Answer the question: is sentence a true or false?

This research on the difference between Yo-yo Ma's and Rostropovich's interpretations of the Bach Cello Suite is wonderful! And I have the permission to share it with you: From: Sharifa A. Charles Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2013 10:56 PM To: William S Jamison Subject: Monday's question Who played Bach's Suite 1 (Prelude) correctly; Rostropovich or Yo-Yo Ma? When first asked the question, I thought Yo-Yo Ma played it correctly; no doubt about it. However, as a musician myself who has played the Prelude, I can't say one played it more correctly than the other with a good conscience without proper facts. Before researching, I believed technique wise, Rostropovich was spot on; playing it quickly and taking few if any liberties. Yo-Yo Ma took many liberties and put feeling into the song that Rostropovich did not. Looking at my Bach suites for Violas book, the prelude is to be played at 69; with Molto Moderato(Lively and moderate) and it should take the player 2.5 minutes to complete. Rostropovich's playing time is 1.59 minutes and though he plays it faster, does not make it lively. Yo-Yo Ma on the other hand, takes 2.46 minutes in one version and 3.12 minutes on another and indeed plays it lively (if we are going by the Merriam-Webster number 8 definition , "full of life, movement, or incident"). Yo-Yo Ma achieves "liveliness" by playing the dynamics that are written, where they are written. Rostropovich, on the other hand, moved the dynamics from the piece around (Rostropovich's version could be "lively" but because of his movement of the dynamics, the piece sounds dull and expressionless). When played at the same time and looking at the sheet music, you can clearly hear the difference between the two cellists. With the facts gathered, I still believe Yo-Yo Ma played the Bach Suite 1 Prelude correctly.

For Truth Beauty Goodness the quiz question today was what is your favorite poem? The quiz question for Intro to Philosophy this afternoon was do you think of Thomas Jefferson as one of your heroes?

The quiz question for Intro to Philosophy this morning was do you think of Thomas Jefferson as one of your heroes? The quiz question for Intro to Humanities II this morning was what do you think of the music sung by male sopranos. But there was an alternate question asking what the name of the picture was of the angels going down the stairs with their musical instruments?

For Truth Beauty Goodness today the quiz question was who plays the Bach Cello Suite correctly? Rostropovich or Yoyo Ma? For Intro to Philosophy the quiz question for the class on Spinoza was the scenario of the young man who shot a man in Mountain View. If you were on the jury would you have found him guilty or not guilty?