Feelin’ the Gompertz Law
What’s the Gompertz Law?: What do you think are the odds that you will die during the next year? Try to put a number to it ”” 1 in 100? 1 in 10,000? Whatever it is, it will be twice … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Getting philosophical: life, love, the universe
Going out in style (literary)
Emily Phillips had a way with words, and she used it to write her own obituary, which has gone viral [hat tip: Althouse]. I bet we can get a good idea of Phillips’ personality by reading it: It pains me … Continue reading →
The band that just walked away, Renee (Part II: the lyrics)
[Part I here.] Whatever was I talking about when I said that the lyrics of “Walk Away, Renee” were poetry? You might think the lyrics aren’t so special; just the usual rock pap. But bear with me and see whether … Continue reading →
Things fall apart
THE SECOND COMING William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and … Continue reading →
The road ahead
I think that this comment from “Eric,” our resident strategist, is worth highlighting: …[I]t’s up to the Republicans to counter the Democrats. It’s up to the Right to counter the Left. Yes, the Democrats have been taken over by the … Continue reading →
Does getting older make you care less?
By the time my mother reached her high 90s, she seemed to care less about everything. Part of this, I’m almost sure, is that she was experiencing a marked although mercifully slow cognitive decline. There were a few pluses, though, … Continue reading →
Okay, here we go again: on loving Rita
“Groundhog Day” keeps stirring up the opportunity to opine on life and love. So here we go—again… Commenter “Gary” observed: Neo wrote: There is no suggestion that anyone else in the movie is perfect, or near-perfect, or anything of the … Continue reading →
Beyond creepy
Want to be virtually preserved? These guys are trying to turn it into a business. But that’s nothing compared to this: What if, rather than simply picking and choosing what we want to capture in digital form, it was possible … Continue reading →
Boy, heaven, lies
There’s been a flurry of publicity over the fact that the boy featured in the book The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven now says the whole thing was a lie. The book has been pulled: The best-selling book, first … Continue reading →
Suddenly, it’s 2015!
[BUMPED UP] Now, how did that happen? The last year I remember noticing as a big transition was the year 2000. We had entered science fiction territory, and 2001 was similar because of the Stanley Kubrick film. But after that … Continue reading →
Obama: it was a very good year
Have you noticed all the end-year political summaries about how great Obama has been in 2014, despite some setbacks? Not to mention Obama’s own glowing assessment? And the approval polls climbing upward into comfortable territory again? Its the meme the … Continue reading →
Picture time
This sort of thing always intrigues me. It’s a series of photographs of the four Brown sisters, taken every single year for the last forty years. My guess is that the sisters are very roughly my age, and it’s a … Continue reading →