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The Great Delusion is the thought that now is not the moment of awakening.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Links
1. Amazing Bowling Green artist Dennis Wojtkiewicz.
2. Alchemy Goods: "upcycing" bags etc. from used bicycle tires.
3. Kenyan Reality TV: advice for farmers, served up with politeness.
4. Drinking coffee lowers suicide risk. And here is a summary of recent research on the health benefits of coffee.
5. David Sloan Wilson on how evolution can reform economics. And here is a page with articles from a special issue of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization on this topic.
6. Who's who in the history of Western mysticism.
7. 16-year old pitching sensation Tomohiro Anraku, and the culture of Japanese baseball: "Only more throwing will allow Anraku to perfect his mechanics, and only perfect mechanics will prevent injury."
8. Why singular "they" is grammatically correct.
9. Two book reviews for the price of one: on occultism during the Enlightenment.
10. A summary of the evidence on supplemental vitamins and health: vitamins do not improve health, and seem to increase the risk of some cancers. This article also contains a profile of the role of Nobel-prize winner Linus Pauling's shameful role in spreading misinformation about the alleged benefits of vitamin supplements.
11. On German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk's reimagining of the Nietzschean Uebermensch: the Superman as supreme self-trainer, with Jesus and Socrates (Nietzsche's blood enemies) as prime exemplars.
12. Elizabeth Anderson on the relevance of 17th century Levellers and 19th century abolitionists to contemporary debates about equality; e.g., “An Arrow against all Tyrants, shot from the prison of Newgate into the prerogative bowels of the arbitrary House of Lords and all other usurpers and tyrants whatsoever” (1646).
13. Discovery of a 3,000 year old palace reignites debate about the historical nature of the kingdom of Israel.
14. David Lynch was so traumatized by the song "It's a Small World" that he insists on referring to it as "Flappy" rather than its true name.
2. Alchemy Goods: "upcycing" bags etc. from used bicycle tires.
3. Kenyan Reality TV: advice for farmers, served up with politeness.
4. Drinking coffee lowers suicide risk. And here is a summary of recent research on the health benefits of coffee.
5. David Sloan Wilson on how evolution can reform economics. And here is a page with articles from a special issue of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization on this topic.
6. Who's who in the history of Western mysticism.
7. 16-year old pitching sensation Tomohiro Anraku, and the culture of Japanese baseball: "Only more throwing will allow Anraku to perfect his mechanics, and only perfect mechanics will prevent injury."
8. Why singular "they" is grammatically correct.
9. Two book reviews for the price of one: on occultism during the Enlightenment.
10. A summary of the evidence on supplemental vitamins and health: vitamins do not improve health, and seem to increase the risk of some cancers. This article also contains a profile of the role of Nobel-prize winner Linus Pauling's shameful role in spreading misinformation about the alleged benefits of vitamin supplements.
11. On German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk's reimagining of the Nietzschean Uebermensch: the Superman as supreme self-trainer, with Jesus and Socrates (Nietzsche's blood enemies) as prime exemplars.
12. Elizabeth Anderson on the relevance of 17th century Levellers and 19th century abolitionists to contemporary debates about equality; e.g., “An Arrow against all Tyrants, shot from the prison of Newgate into the prerogative bowels of the arbitrary House of Lords and all other usurpers and tyrants whatsoever” (1646).
13. Discovery of a 3,000 year old palace reignites debate about the historical nature of the kingdom of Israel.
14. David Lynch was so traumatized by the song "It's a Small World" that he insists on referring to it as "Flappy" rather than its true name.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Links
1. Noah Smith explains why neither the New Keynesian model nor Real Business Cycle theory can explain Japan's economic situation.
2. The Zimmerman case as one of overreaction and misinterpretation.
3. The reconsolidation theory of memory: memories are remade when they are recalled.
4. Barriers to increasing quinoa production.
5. U.S. STEM graduate programs depend for their existence on foreign students.
6. Republicans and the farm bill: "it doesn't count as spending as long as it redistributes upwards."
7. Henry James was not anti-immigrant.
8. Peak water (peak agriculture)? And this.
9. The "living rock".
10. Lou Reed reviews Kanye West's "Yeezus".
11. The problem with clutter.
12. Against multitasking.
13. Scientist Carl Hart on myths about drugs.
14. "I find it hard to talk about what I love. Yet dislike summons an instant legion of words and sets them to work."
2. The Zimmerman case as one of overreaction and misinterpretation.
3. The reconsolidation theory of memory: memories are remade when they are recalled.
4. Barriers to increasing quinoa production.
5. U.S. STEM graduate programs depend for their existence on foreign students.
6. Republicans and the farm bill: "it doesn't count as spending as long as it redistributes upwards."
7. Henry James was not anti-immigrant.
8. Peak water (peak agriculture)? And this.
9. The "living rock".
10. Lou Reed reviews Kanye West's "Yeezus".
11. The problem with clutter.
12. Against multitasking.
13. Scientist Carl Hart on myths about drugs.
14. "I find it hard to talk about what I love. Yet dislike summons an instant legion of words and sets them to work."
Sunday, July 07, 2013
Belated Thoughts on the Anniversary of Our Nation's Birth
On this celebration of our nation's birth, it is fitting to celebrate the founders as much for what they DIDN'T do as for what they did. Consider these three great omissions by General George Washington, after the war had ended and the Articles of Confederation had been replaced with the new Constitution: he had no great ambition to be president of the United States, but evidently sought and held the office out of a sense of duty; he did not plunder the public purse while in office (as can be witnessed even today by visiting his humble estate, Mount Vernon--its very plainness serves but to embellish his honor); he did not cling to power once his term was over, but retired to private life.
How many leaders of violent revolutions can boast of such a humble legacy? Although I am an anti-Federalist, and believe that the federal government instituted by the Constitution has ever had an unfortunate tendency toward tyranny at home and imperialism abroad, one can surely respect the Founders for the numerous crimes which they did not commit, but which were in their power.
Lives of the Philosophers
Charles Sanders Peirce:
"From 1879 until 1884, Peirce maintained a second job teaching logic in the Department of Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University. During that period the Department of Mathematics was headed by the famous mathematician J. J. Sylvester. This job suddenly evaporated for reasons that are apparently connected with the fact that Peirce's second wife was a Gypsy, and was a Gypsy moreover with whom Peirce had allegedly cohabited before marriage."
Links
1. Interview with Clive James on his ill health, estranged marriage, and recent translation of Dante's Divine Comedy (conceived in part as an amatory missive to his estranged wife, a Dante scholar).
2. Copyright makes books and music disappear.
3. Understanding evil: interviewing Japanese war criminals.
2. Copyright makes books and music disappear.
3. Understanding evil: interviewing Japanese war criminals.
Wednesday, July 03, 2013
Links
1. On 3D printing as a "gateway drug", and other thoughts on digital manufacturing.
2. Book review of My Lunches with Orson: the mad genius of Orson Welles.
3. Kevin Vallier responds to Robin Corey on Hayek and Nietzsche.
4. An economist on 'the arithmetic' of space travel.
5. Lane Craig, theist philosopher and rhetorician extraordinaire.
2. Book review of My Lunches with Orson: the mad genius of Orson Welles.
3. Kevin Vallier responds to Robin Corey on Hayek and Nietzsche.
4. An economist on 'the arithmetic' of space travel.
5. Lane Craig, theist philosopher and rhetorician extraordinaire.
Monday, July 01, 2013
Sic Fortuna dicit
Sic Fortuna regina mundi dicit:
"So am I alone to be forbidden to exercise my rights? The heavens are allowed to engender bright days, and then to shroud them in dark nights. The year is permitted at one time to adorn the face of the earth with blossoms and fruits, at another time to plague it with rain clouds and freezing cold. It is the sea's right at one moment to smile indulgently with glassy waters, and at another to bristle with storms and breakers. So when people's wishes are unfulfilled, will they confine me to that consistent behaviour which is alien to my character? This power that I wield comes naturally to me; this is my perennial sport. I turn my wheel on its whirling course, and take delight in switching the base to the summit, and the summit to the base. So mount upward, if you will, but on condition that you do not regard yourself as ill-treated if you plummet down when my humour so demands and takes its course."Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, I.2.8-10 (P. G. Walsh, trans., Oxford University Press, 1999).
Noble silence
The orator distinguishes himself through speech--the philosopher, through remaining silent at the right time. (After Macrobius, Saturae, 7.1.11.)
Links
1. J. D. Salinger's spiritual life.
2. On Samantha Power: "you can be a media intellectual or government official, not both."
3. Meet Tim Green, professional liar.
2. On Samantha Power: "you can be a media intellectual or government official, not both."
3. Meet Tim Green, professional liar.
A Dream
A dream is like life. It matters, every little bit, and is fundamentally unreal.
Remedious Varo. To Be Reborn. 1960.
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