Often statistics are used as a drunken man uses lampposts -- for support
The first creation of God in the works of the days was the light of the sense; the last was the light of the reason; and his Sabbath-work ever since is the illumination of the spirit.
They that will crowd about bonfires may, sometimes very fairly, get their beards singed; it is the price they pay for such illumination; natural twilight is safe and free to all.
If you are willing to choose the seeming darkness of faith instead of the illumination of reason, wonderful light will break out upon you from the Word of God.--_A. J. Gordon._
~Atheism.~--By burning an atheist, you have lent importance to that which was absurd, interest to that which was forbidding, light to that which was the essence of darkness. For atheism is a system which can communicate neither warmth nor illumination except from those fagots which your mistaken zeal has lighted up for its destruction.--_Colton._
Do you suffer painful illumination?
Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.
Popularity is a blaze of illumination, or alas! of conflagration, kindled round a man; showing what is in him; not putting the smallest item more into him; often abstracting much from him; conflagrating the poor man himself into ashes and "caput mortuum."
People that will crowd about bonfires may=, =sometimes very fairly, get their beards singed; it is the price they pay for such illumination; natural twilight is safe and free to all.
There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.
Q: How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? A: Whereas the party of the first part, also known as "Lawyer", and the party of the second part, also known as "Light Bulb", do hereby and forthwith agree to a transaction wherein the party of the second part shall be removed from the current position as a result of failure to perform previously agreed upon duties, i.e., the lighting, elucidation, and otherwise illumination of the area ranging from the front (north) door, through the entryway, terminating at an area just inside the primary living area, demarcated by the beginning of the carpet, any spillover illumination being at the option of the party of the second part and not required by the aforementioned agreement between the parties. The aforementioned removal transaction shall include, but not be limited to, the following. The party of the first part shall, with or without elevation at his option, by means of a chair, stepstool, ladder or any other means of elevation, grasp the party of the second part and rotate the party of the second part in a counter-clockwise direction, this point being tendered non-negotiable. Upon reaching a point where the party of the second part becomes fully detached from the receptacle, the party of the first part shall have the option of disposing of the party of the second part in a manner consistent with all relevant and applicable local, state and federal statutes. Once separation and disposal have been achieved, the party of the first part shall have the option of beginning installation. Aforesaid installation shall occur in a manner consistent with the reverse of the procedures described in step one of this self-same document, being careful to note that the rotation should occur in a clockwise direction, this point also being non-negotiable. The above described steps may be performed, at the option of the party of the first part, by any or all agents authorized by him, the objective being to produce the most possible revenue for the Partnership.
Approaching the gates of the monastery, Hakuin found Ken the Zen preaching to a group of disciples. "Words..." Ken orated, "they are but an illusory veil obfuscating the absolute reality of --" "Ken!" Hakuin interrupted. "Your fly is down!" Whereupon the Clear Light of Illumination exploded upon Ken, and he vaporized. On the way to town, Hakuin was greeted by an itinerant monk imbued with the spirit of the morning. "Ah," the monk sighed, a beatific smile wrinkling across his cheeks, "Thou art That..." "Ah," Hakuin replied, pointing excitedly, "And Thou art Fat!" Whereupon the Clear Light of Illumination exploded upon the monk, and he vaporized. Next, the Governor sought the advice of Hakuin, crying: "As our enemies bear down upon us, how shall I, with such heartless and callow soldiers as I am heir to, hope to withstand the impending onslaught?" "US?" snapped Hakuin. Whereupon the Clear Light of Illumination exploded upon the Governor, and he vaporized. Then, a redneck went up to Hakuin and vaporized the old Master with his shotgun. "Ha! Beat ya' to the punchline, ya' scrawny li'l geek!"
Do you suffer painful elimination? -- Don Knuth, "Structured Programming with Gotos" Do you suffer painful recrimination? -- Nancy Boxer, "Structured Programming with Come-froms" Do you suffer painful illumination? -- Isaac Newton, "Optics" Do you suffer painful hallucination? -- Don Juan, cited by Carlos Casteneda
Often statistics are used as a drunken man uses lampposts -- for support rather than illumination.
The FIELD GUIDE to NORTH AMERICAN MALES SPECIES: Cranial Males SUBSPECIES: The Hacker (homo computatis) Description: Gangly and frail, the hacker has a high forehead and thinning hair. Head disproportionately large and crooked forward, complexion wan and sightly gray from CRT illumination. He has heavy black-rimmed glasses and a look of intense concentration, which may be due to a software problem or to a pork-and-bean breakfast. Feathering: HOMO COMPUTATIS saw a Brylcreem ad fifteen years ago and believed it. Consequently, crest is greased down, except for the cowlick. Song: A rather plaintive "Is it up?"
Through the bars a view could be had of a dark aperture, something like the flue of a chimney, or the pipe of a cistern. Jean Valjean darted forward. His old art of escape rose to his brain like an illumination. To thrust aside the stones, to raise the grating, to lift Marius, who was as inert as a dead body, upon his shoulders, to descend, with this burden on his loins, and with the aid of his elbows and knees into that sort of well, fortunately not very deep, to let the heavy trap, upon which the loosened stones rolled down afresh, fall into its place behind him, to gain his footing on a flagged surface three metres below the surface,--all this was executed like that which one does in dreams, with the strength of a giant and the rapidity of an eagle; this took only a few minutes.
In merchantmen, oil for the sailor is more scarce than the milk of queens. To dress in the dark, and eat in the dark, and stumble in darkness to his pallet, this is his usual lot. But the whaleman, as he seeks the food of light, so he lives in light. He makes his berth an Aladdin's lamp, and lays him down in it; so that in the pitchiest night the ship's black hull still houses an illumination.
"Will you walk this way, ma'am?" said the girl; and I followed her across a square hall with high doors all round: she ushered me into a room whose double illumination of fire and candle at first dazzled me, contrasting as it did with the darkness to which my eyes had been for two hours inured; when I could see, however, a cosy and agreeable picture presented itself to my view.
At length, Diana-like, or like herself, All golden Venus, (her apartment left) Enter'd Penelope. Beside the hearth Her women planted her accustom'd seat With silver wreathed and ivory. That throne Icmalius made, artist renown'd, and join'd A footstool to its splendid frame beneath, Which ever with an ample fleece they spread. There sat discrete Penelope; then came Her beautiful attendants from within, Who cleared the litter'd bread, the board, and cups From which the insolent companions drank. They also raked the embers from the hearths Now dim, and with fresh billets piled them high, Both for illumination and for warmth. Then yet again Melantho with rude speech Opprobrious, thus, assail'd Ulysses' ear.
1:10. But is now made manifest by the illumination of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath destroyed death and hath brought to light life and incorruption by the gospel.
On arriving at the first floor, he paused. All sorrowful roads have their stations. The window on the landing-place, which was a sash-window, was open. As in many ancient houses, the staircase got its light from without and had a view on the street. The street-lantern, situated directly opposite, cast some light on the stairs, and thus effected some economy in illumination.
It must be supposed that in the course of the hour and more which he had spent there he had taken confused notice through his revery of that toy shop, lighted up by fire-pots and candles so splendidly that it was visible like an illumination through the window of the drinking-shop.
They say and write and print that the soul and freedom do not exist, for the life of man is expressed by muscular movements and muscular movements are conditioned by the activity of the nerves; the soul and free will do not exist because at an unknown period of time we sprang from the apes. They say this, not at all suspecting that thousands of years ago that same law of necessity which with such ardor they are now trying to prove by physiology and comparative zoology was not merely acknowledged by all the religions and all the thinkers, but has never been denied. They do not see that the role of the natural sciences in this matter is merely to serve as an instrument for the illumination of one side of it. For the fact that, from the point of view of observation, reason and the will are merely secretions of the brain, and that man following the general law may have developed from lower animals at some unknown period of time, only explains from a fresh side the truth admitted thousands of years ago by all the religious and philosophic theories--that from the point of view of reason man is subject to the law of necessity; but it does not advance by a hair's breadth the solution of the question, which has another, opposite, side, based on the consciousness of freedom.
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.
The man started up. A sort of illumination appeared on his countenance.
"Possibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced--from electricity, lightning, from lightning, illumination."
Hence if the candle-power curve of the arc and its height above the surface are known, we can describe a curve BMN, whose ordinate PM will denote the brightness on the horizontal surface at any point P. It is easily seen that this ordinate must have a maximum value at some point. This brightness is best expressed in _candle-feet_, taking the unit of illumination to be that given by a standard candle on a white surface at a distance of 1 ft. If any number of arc lamps are placed above a horizontal plane, the brightness at any point can be calculated by adding together the illuminations due to each respectively. Entry: AC
In 1813 Westminster Bridge, and in the following year the streets of Westminster, were lighted with gas, and in 1816 it became common in London. After this so rapid was the progress of this new mode of illumination that in the course of a few years it was adopted by all the principal towns in the United Kingdom for lighting streets as well as shops and public edifices. In private houses it found its way more slowly, partly from an apprehension of danger attending its use, and partly from the discomfort which was experienced in many cases through the gas being distributed without purification, and to the careless and imperfect manner in which the service pipes were first fitted. It was during the last four decades of the 19th century that the greatest advance was made, this period having been marked not only by many improvements in the manufacture of illuminating gas, but by a complete revolution in the methods of utilizing it for the production of light. In 1875 the London Argand, giving a duty of 3.2 candles illuminating power per cubic foot of ordinary 16 candle gas, was looked upon as the most perfect burner of the day, and little hope was entertained that any burner capable of universal adoption would surpass it in its power of developing light from the combustion of coal gas; but the close of the century found the incandescent mantle and the atmospheric burner yielding six times the light that was given by the Argand for the consumption of an equal volume of gas, and to-day, by supplying gas at an increased pressure, a light of ten times the power may be obtained. Since the advent of the incandescent mantle, the efficiency of which is dependent upon the heating power of the gas more than on its illuminating power, the manufacture of coal gas has undergone considerable modifications. Entry: 1
The cause of the superiority of these mantles having been realized, developments in the required direction were made. The structure of the cotton mantle differed widely from that obtained by the various collodion processes, and this alteration in structure was mainly responsible for the increase in life. Whereas the average of a large number of Welsbach mantles tested only showed a useful life of 700 to 1000 hours, the collodion type would average about 1500 hours, some mantles being burnt for an even longer period and still giving an effective illumination. This being so, it was clear that one line of advance would be found in obtaining some material which, whilst giving a structure more nearly approaching that of the collodion mantle, would be sufficiently cheap to compete with the Welsbach mantle, and this was successfully done. Entry: 2
Apart from the ruling, we know that the image of a mathematical line will be a series of narrow bands, of which the central one is by far the brightest. At the middle of this band there is complete agreement of phase among the secondary waves. The dark lines which separate the bands are the places at which the phases of the secondary wave range over an integral number of periods. If now we suppose the aperture AB to be covered by a great number of opaque strips or bars of width d, separated by transparent intervals of width a, the condition of things in the directions just spoken of is not materially changed. At the central point there is still complete agreement of phase; but the amplitude is diminished in the ratio of a : a + d. In another direction, making a small angle with the last, such that the projection of AB upon it amounts to a few wave-lengths, it is easy to see that the mode of interference is the same as if there were no ruling. For example, when the direction is such that the projection of AB upon it amounts to one wave-length, the elementary components neutralize one another, because their phases are distributed symmetrically, though discontinuously, round the entire period. The only effect of the ruling is to diminish the amplitude in the ratio a : a + d; and, except for the difference in illumination, the appearance of a line of light is the same as if the aperture were perfectly free. Entry: 8
CARMINE, a pigment of a bright red colour obtained from cochineal (q.v.). It may be prepared by exhausting cochineal with boiling water and then treating the clear solution with alum, cream of tartar, stannous chloride, or acid oxalate of potassium; the colouring and animal matters present in the liquid are thus precipitated. Other methods are in use; sometimes white of egg, fish glue, or gelatine are added before the precipitation. The quality of carmine is affected by the temperature and the degree of illumination during its preparation--sunlight being requisite for the production of a brilliant hue. It differs also according to the amount of alumina present in it. It is sometimes adulterated with cinnabar, starch and other materials; from these the carmine can be separated by dissolving it in ammonia. Good carmine should crumble readily between the fingers when dry. Chemically, carmine is a compound of carminic acid with alumina, lime and some organic acid. Carmine is used in the manufacture of artificial flowers, water-colours, rouge, cosmetics and crimson ink, and in the painting of miniatures. "Carmine lake" is a pigment obtained by adding freshly precipitated alumina to decoction of cochineal. Entry: CARMINE
The process of augmenting the resultant illumination at a particular point by stopping some of the secondary rays may be carried much further (Soret, _Pogg. Ann._, 1875, 156, p. 99). By the aid of photography it is easy to prepare a plate, transparent where the zones of odd order fall, and opaque where those of even order fall. Such a plate has the power of a condensing lens, and gives an illumination out of all proportion to what could be obtained without it. An even greater effect (fourfold) can be attained by providing that the stoppage of the light from the alternate zones is replaced by a phase-reversal without loss of amplitude. R. W. Wood (_Phil. Mag._, 1898, 45, p 513) has succeeded in constructing zone plates upon this principle. Entry: _
_Gas Illumination._--In 1896 the French Lighthouse Service completed the construction of a steel light-vessel (Talais), which was ultimately placed at the mouth of the Gironde. The construction of this vessel was the outcome of experiments carried out with a view to produce an efficient light-vessel at moderate cost, lit by a dioptric flashing light with incandescent oil-gas burner. The construction of the Talais was followed by that of a second and larger vessel, the Snouw, on similar lines, having a length of 65 ft. 6 in., beam 20 ft. and a draught of 12 ft., with a displacement of 130 tons. The cost of this vessel complete with optical apparatus and gasholders, with accommodation for three men, was approximately £5000. The vessel was built in 1898-1899.[3] A third vessel was constructed in 1901-1902 for the Sandettié Bank on the general lines adopted for the preceding examples of her class, but of the following increased dimensions: length 115 ft.; width at water-line 20 ft. 6 in.; and draught 15 ft., with a displacement of 342 tons (fig. 47). Accommodation is provided for a crew of eight men. The optical apparatus (fig. 48) is dioptric, consisting of 4 panels of 250 mm. focal distance, carried upon a "Cardan" joint below the lens table, and counter-balanced by a heavy pendulum weight. The apparatus is revolved by clockwork and illuminated by compressed oil gas with incandescent mantle. The candle-power of the beam is 35,000. The gas is contained in three reservoirs placed in the hold. The apparatus is contained in a 6-ft. lantern constructed at the head of a tubular mast 2 ft. 6 in. diameter. A powerful siren is provided with steam engine and boiler for working the air compressors. The total cost of the vessel, including fog signal and optical apparatus, was £13,600. A vessel of similar construction to the Talais was placed by the Trinity House in 1905 on the Swin Middle station. The illuminant is oil gas. Gas illuminated light-vessels have also been constructed for the German and Chinese Lighthouse Service. Entry: _21
Owing to the high temperature at which it remains solid, and to its great emissive power, the radiant body used for artificial illumination is usually some form of carbon. In an oil or ordinary coal-gas flame this carbon is present in minute particles derived from the organic substances with which the flame is supplied and heated to incandescence by the heat liberated in their decomposition, while in the electric light the incandescence is the effect of the heat developed by the electric current passed through a resisting rod or filament of carbon. In some cases, however, other substances replace carbon as the radiating body; in the incandescent gas light certain earthy oxides are utilized, and in metallic filament electric lamps such metals as tungsten or tantalum. Entry: LIGHTING
Michelson's apparatus, employed to view an extended field of homogeneous light, exhibits Haidinger's rings, and if all is in good order the dark parts are sensibly black. As the order of interference increases, greater and greater demand is made upon the homogeneity of the light. Thus, if the illumination be from a sodium flame, the rings are at first distinct, but as the difference of path increases the duplicity of the bright sodium line begins to produce complications. After 500 rings, the bright parts of one system coincide with the dark parts of the other (Fizeau), and if the two systems were equally bright all trace of rings would disappear. A little later the rings would again manifest themselves and, after 1000 had gone by, would be nearly or quite as distinct as at first. And these alternations of distinctness and indistinctness would persist until the point was reached at which even a single sodium line was insufficiently homogeneous. Conversely, the changes of _visibility_ of the rings as the difference of path increases give evidence as to the duplicity of the line. In this way Michelson obtained important information as to the constitution of the approximately homogeneous lines obtained from electrical discharge through attenuated metallic vapours. Especially valuable is the vacuum tube containing cadmium. The red line proved itself to be single and narrow in a high degree, and the green line was not far behind. Entry: 11
We find a precisely analogous effect in optics which justifies the term "electrical image." Suppose a room lit by a single candle. There is everywhere a certain illumination due to it. Place across the room a plane mirror. All the space behind the mirror will become dark, and all the space in front of the mirror will acquire an exalted illumination. Whatever this increased illumination may be, it can be precisely imitated by removing the mirror and placing a second lighted candle at the place occupied by the optical image of the first candle in the mirror, that is, as far behind the plane as the first candle was in front. So the potential distribution in the space due to the electric point-charge +q as A together with -q at B is the same as that due to +q at A and the negative induced charge erected on the infinite plane (earthed) metal sheet placed half-way between A and B. Entry: TABLE