Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
for those of you who went to a bad hs, like me, Laocoön was a Trojan priest strangled by sea snakes, sent by the gods who favored the Greeks, while he was sacrificing at the altar of Neptune. Laocoön was killed because he had tried to warn the Trojan citizens of the danger of bringing in the wooden horse, he incurred the wrath of the gods.
That is, a traitor to what's right. As such, he's a bad analogy for W. Maybe you can waive the image to Penske for a Kerry/French reference
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The reference to Laocoön was a parable about poor
methodology, Hank. The Laocoön Group was discovered in Rome in 1506,
sans right arm. Rafael was appointed judge of a contest sponsored by the Pope to build a replacement arm. Rafael was swayed by those, including Bandinelli, who argued that Laocoön's moment of death must have been depicted in a heroic gesture of defiance against the god who commanded his death. In counterpoint, Michelangelo argued (correctly) that the missing arm was bent back over Laocoön's shoulder. He based his surmise on his study of classical sculpture and anatomy: the muscle flexion of the chest and back indicated a bent arm.
They found the arm 393 years after Michelangelo died (2,117 years, give or take, after the arm was first lost). It was in a builder's yard in Rome. And it was bent, as Michelangelo had predicted. Based on sound methodology and clear thinking uncluttered by prejudice and anachronistic motives. To see the Group restored with the proper arm is to wonder how generations of sculptors were ever convinced that the straight arm was correct.
I still await a description of the methodology to support the argument that the ball was thrown in a "perfect spiral," other than that Bush is an R.
Wrong:
Right:
Regards!