Ariston papers
Ariston is a small local group that's been around for roughly 125 years (as of 2025). It's an example of what used to be a number of literary and intellectual discussion groups. Members take turns hosting dinners, giving long papers, or giving short papers. There are few rules: no politics, religion, etc. (except as historical topics). We meet in the non-summer months; formal dress is required, and, regardless of rank or other status, everyone is addressed as "Mr.".
Over the years I've presented a number of papers, some of which I'll provide here. Please note that many had handouts - I may be able to find them if anyone is interested. Also, for short papers (15 min max ideally) I often just had notes, and most of those have gone missing. So this isn't a complete list, but it's a start.
Please note that often these documents aren't written to be read verbatim; especially for the shorter papers, they are often closer to bullet-point notes, so some interpolation may be necessary. Also, as they were to be read aloud, they generally are not footnoted. Often I make substantial changes and marginal notes before I give the talks, so these should be considered as the basic foundations of the talks.
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A discussion of an old mystery of the sea, concerning the disappearance of Theodosia Burr,
Aaron Burr's daughter, on a voyage from South Carolina to New York:
The Nag's Head Portrait - the mysterious disappearance of Theodosia Burr -
A brief bio and some exploits of the American artist from Cornell, Hugh Troy - a very creative prankster:
High Troy - a Cornell hacker from an earlier era -
A largely non-technical and geometric discussion of General Relativity:
A Geometric Introduction to General Relativity -
Talk and illustrations concerning the late 19th century Endicott fortifications near
Fisher's Island:
Local Endicott-Era Fortifications -
A discussion of two language families: first, Indo-European, to present points likely familiar
to the audience, then a discussion of local Algonquian dialects (notably Pequot, Mohegan, and Narragansett):
Indo-European and Algonquian Languages -
A short paper on famous last words:
Famous Last Words -
A brief paper about the nature of time:
Some Thoughs on Time -
On spies in the American Revolution - an overview of the more commonly-known ones, followed
by discussion of some of the lesser-known ones:
Spies in the American Revolution
(handout of images for the above).