Sad news: Steven den Beste has died
Unless you were around in the early days of the blogsophere, you may not have heard of Steven den Beste, and the news that he has died may not mean much to you. But to those of us who remember … Continue reading →
Category Archives: People of interest
Another great Frost quote
This one: ”We go to college,” [Frost] wrote, ”to be given one more chance to learn to read in case we haven’t learned in high school.” He dropped out of both Harvard and Dartmouth, and married his high-school sweetheart with … Continue reading →
C.S. Lewis: about Christianity and its importance
First, the obligatory opening caveat: I’m not a Christian. Nor am I an expert on Christianity. But I have read more than a superficial bit about it, and I know and deeply respect Christians generally. But one person who has … Continue reading →
Holocaust stories: temperament and trauma [Part II]
[NOTE: Part I can be found here.] I can’t find the quote right now, but Holocaust survivor and author Primo Levi—who wrote Survival In Auschwitz, which I consider the single most definitive and brilliant book on the camps from the … Continue reading →
Holocaust stories: temperament and trauma [Part I]
[Hat tip: Open Blogger at Ace’s.] [NOTE: Part II can be found here.] Here is a fascinating interview with an elderly concentration camp survivor. If you’ve read or heard many camp survivors’ tales, the horrors he faced will not surprise … Continue reading →
Passengers who land the plane
A recent YouTube distraction of mine has been to watch videos about situations in which airplane passengers in small private planes were faced with the frightening necessity of landing the aircraft when the pilot of the planes suddenly died. Pretty … Continue reading →
No, Paul Tsongas was not like Hillary Clinton
I can’t say I ever expected to be writing a post in 2016 defending Paul Tsongas. But here it is. Tsongas was one of the very few politicians I’ve ever really liked. Here’s a post I wrote about him in … Continue reading →
Orwell on Tolstoy vs. Shakespeare: the theme and variations vs. the symphony
[NOTE: I’m not becoming Tolstoy-obsessed, although I’ve written two days in a row on him. However, I think that the topic of both posts is not really Tolstoy per se, but larger philosophical questions about the good life, politics, and … Continue reading →
Penrose: intelligence and consciousness, artificial and otherwise
I’ve had many an argument—um, discussion—with my son on the topic of artificial intelligence. How far can it go? Could it ever include consciousness? Suffice to say we have not answered the question. Nor have scientists, although there is no … Continue reading →
Now Turkey’s Erdogan has come for the journalists
The purge in Turkey continues: Turkey’s authorities have issued detention warrants for 42 journalists, local media say, as part of an inquiry into the failed coup on 15 July. Prominent commentator Nazli Ilicak is said to be on the list. … Continue reading →
John Hinckley freed…
…and goes to live with his elderly mother: John Hinckley is now 61 years old, and as the judge wrote, “suffering from arthritis, high blood pressure, and various other physical ailments like many men his age.” That’s irrelevant, IMHO, although … Continue reading →
Revisiting the Iranian revolution: Khomeini the con man
Most people today have some idea who the Ayatollah Khomeini was: the scowling guy with the beard who created and/or exploited the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and brought Islamic theocracy to Iran. But I’m not at all sure how much … Continue reading →