Posts by Joshua

I've uploaded the first episode. I had more trouble than anticipated with editing due to technical problems that I don't even begin to understand, but I used other software than I was planning and it worked out alright. I've used the free version for everything;

Captured/recorded in OBS Studio,

File converted in VLC media player

Audio and Video edited in Lightworks,

Saved as .mp4 for publication on Youtube

Enjoy! I don't know how interesting or useful these will be, but they'll be very good experience for me in building toward other projects down the road.

I agree with Don, it was a pleasure tuning in!

As to the issue of the metaphorical 'paean to nature', there are two use cases that always come to mind. The first is Einstein, who had a religious sense of awe, but one that precluded any belief in a personal god. He ascribed, he said, to Spinoza's god. In spite of his clear nontheism he is the most widely misquoted scientist of all time on the the subject of religion—by the religious, of course.

The second case is Darwin; the Lady Hope story demonstrates that when the believers in the supernatural cannot misconstrue your words, they will fabricate new words for your mouth altogether. So that to refrain from poetic usage seems to me to be rather like negotiating with terrorists.

Here is the email exchange with Koen;

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Good afternoon,

I am Joshua Elbert [user jjelbert] writing in connection with the epicureanfriends.com forum, where I am active daily. I am a friend of that site, but not in any way a representative.

I am inquiring about the photography of Erik Anderson as it relates to the key figures of Epicureanism; Erik captured several photographs of ancient sculptures, including a portrait bust from Roman antiquity of Epicurus himself at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

I am hoping to learn of the copyright status of these photographs; who holds the claim, and whether permission can be granted for use in our videos, websites, and educational and informative material--with attribution to Mr. Anderson, of course.

I would appreciate any assistance or direction.

Thank you,

Joshua Elbert

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Dear Joshua,

After his death I continued his website, by copying it integrally. I think his family inherited all rights? I tried to contact them to ask for permission to continue the website. But it did not receive a response.

Kind and epicurean regards from the Netherlands,

Vriendelijke groet, [n.b. "Kind Regards"]

- Koen de Heer

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Dear Koen,

Thank you very much! And thank you also for maintaing his old site. Can I post your last email to the forum? We have others who are curious, and I am certain they would like to know that you gave your time and energy to revive it. Or I can leave out your name, if you prefer it that way.

I am pleased to know that Epicurus is remembered fondly by one at least, in the land of Huygens and Spinoza.

Gratefully,

Joshua

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Dear Joshua,

Sure! No need to publish anonymously. (But please do correct my linguistic error. Perhaps I should add a note to Erik's website. Up until now I have been reluctant to change the content, even the smallest

detail.

Very pleased to know that it helped someone. As the website was very

insightful for me, in getting acquainted with epicureanism, which was a

philosophical revelation to me, I thought it was terrible that the website went offline, not benefiting others anymore. Erik did a superb job creating his website.

I am not familiar with epicureanfriends.com and I will surf there soon. Indeed, it is not very often you meet someone familiar with

Hellenistic philosophy.

Yours sincerely,

-Koen de Heer

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I have not replied to that last, but certainly will—with gratitude, and an invitation to the forum! As to Koen's English, it is excellent and I have not edited any of it.

The email address I used was contact@epicurism.info

I have had a reply to my email, and will post it here when I have the sender's permission. The writer is indeed from the Netherlands, and has previously attempted to contact Mr. Anderson's family, but with no reply.

The letter itself is full of charm, which is why I am hoping for permission to publish it here.

I have a recording that I'm fairly happy with for a first attempt. I'll do a little light editing tomorrow before I post it. OBS Studio seems to do a fair job at audio, I didn't have to tamper with it at all! I need to put a little more work into scripting, but in other respects things are looking alright.

Yes, that's the one. In any case the copyright would go to his heirs in (presumably) Oregon, unless he made other arrangements. I did send an email to the webmaster, but have not had a reply.

Since his photos are not archived on any stock image site, and we cannot reasonably trace his bequests or know his wishes (except that in his life he did readily grant permission to republish his writings on Epicurus), and further that the photos are reproductions of artworks millennia out of copyright, I don't feel that there's much of an ethical or legal risk here. I don't mind using it to create derivative informational work. I can only hope that his family understands!

Another stab at the artwork. This uses Erik Anderson's photo above. It lacks the gravitas of the earlier effort, but that may not be a bad thing. More bookish, and less reminiscent of a U.S. banknote. The text has problems, but it's a start.

Cassius, do you happen to know anything about the current curator of Erik Anderson's old site? He has an image of the same bust I used above; an artful photo which he took himself at the Capitoline Museum in Rome. It would be the perfect photo to use--a fine portrait of Epicurus, as well as an homage to one of the early Epicureans of the internet age. I'm asking as a prelude to writing the webmaster--I just don't know where that e-mail will land!

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248475?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=epicurus&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1

This image is listed as public domain by the museum that holds it. At some point we should think about a central location for all images of Epicurus known to be in the public domain.

I've been reading further as well.

I have identified the copyright holder of the photograph. The image is available on several stock image sites, all sourced back to one individual; apparently this is common for photographers to license their images through several different outlets simultaneously. I would be willing to pay a nominal fee--less than $100, say--for such a license, except that the terms of the licenses on offer are so convoluted and opaque. I would probably be fine regardless; but in order to be free of any and all trouble forever (a fine goal!), I think I will choose a different photo to work off of.

I have also found, looking through Wikimedia Commons, that several photographs of busts of Epicurus are already offered either in the public domain, or under a Creative Commons license. That's likely the route I'll go, but I'll also keep looking.

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Call it fair use (unless you're making money) and derivative works.

Perfect!

And a timeless quandary; to what extent are photographs of these old sculptures protected by copyright?

Further work on the logo/art;

With space for project title;

And a longer version as a banner;

What I really need now is a good text editor with a block font that works well with this art style! Hoping to record something tomorrow evening.

-josh

The software I've downloaded for the task;

OBS Studio--Screen Recording software

EpicPen--Screen marking tool, for basic visual annotations of the text

Audacity--Audio recording, although OBS Studio has a native audio client that I'll try first.

And an idea I had for flavor art;

Which is a software cartoonification of this image;

(The yellow ribbon is a watermark of sorts; I would have to actually pay for the photo editor or find an alternative to do it properly. BeFunky is the name that popped up in case anyone wants to play around with it)

I've secured the necessary domain and gmail address, so I can tentatively announce EpicureaPoetica as the name of the 'show'. The Latin is slightly clunky, but I suppose "Of the Poetry of the Epicurean Tradition" would be a loose translation. Mainly I derive it from Epicurea, which was a collection of fragments compiled by Usener, and Poetica, which of course is the Latin for poetry as well as the title of a work by Horace (Ars Poetica).

In our recent meeting I mentioned an idea I've been kicking around lately. This is a thread to flesh out the project, and to invite comment and feedback.

Recent major projects have been the group reading of DeWitt, and the ongoing and very dedicated podcast on the close reading of Lucretius. We have additionally been enriched by the rebirth of a classical tradition; the 'feast' (or celebration) and meeting of the Twentieth. These have been excellent and informative, as well as richly inspiring!

But there is as well a large and mostly formless mass of secondary literature pertaining to our school, and I feel that there is an opportunity here to shed new light on some of it.

Working on the model of LatinPerDiem, I envision brief, simple and crisp presentations exploring the shorter poetic works of Epicureans and their detractors: Horace and Virgil; Philodemus, Anacreon, and Catullus; Frederick the Great, Edmund Spenser, and Alfred Tennyson. Lucretius was particularly influential, and the borrowings innumerable, so there will be a lot to work with.

The planned first 'Episode' will explore themes of madness, death and suicide in Tennyson's masterful Victorian poem "Lucretius". I am still looking for a proper and corrected sample of the text, but in the mean time I have been studying the poem Here.

One key to my analysis will be a short section of another of Tennyson's poems, which you can find Here. Careful readers will notice the certain allusion to Lucretius that doubtfully concludes the passage. (I'll post this passage later when I find it.)

If you happen to read the poem and there are points you would like to see touched upon, I encourage you to post them here! I look forward to putting this together.

-Joshua

Happy Twentieth!

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If you miss udders and draughts of Chian wine, you will see at least sincere friends and you will hear things far sweeter than the land of the Phaeacians. -Philodemus of Gadara, to Piso

I see! The link that I actually used to download the book myself is at the bottom of This page.

I ought to have mentioned in that post that I have not finished reading this book!

This book doesn't bear directly on our subject in any way that I am aware of, but since we have some right to claim Thomas Jefferson as an Epicurean it may be useful to us. A family member—an evangelical and a conspiracy theorist—has been sending links to youtube videos featuring David Barton. Mr. Barton's extensive work in dissimulation is not unknown to me, but this text is the most serious and dedicated rebuttal that I've encountered. And thanks to the author, it is free for download on PDF!

Christine "Chris" Rodda, Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History (2006)

http://www.liarsforjesus.com/index.html

For reference, here is a list, compiled by Jefferson himself in his letter to William Short, of the various Christian doctrines which he (Jefferson) denied.

"the immaculate conception of Jesus, his deification, the creation of the world by him, his miraculous powers, his resurrection & visible ascension, his corporeal presence in the Eucharist, the Trinity, original sin, atonement, regeneration, election orders of Hierarchy etc."