Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A very important anniversary ...
... Constitution Day.
I sometimes get the impression that what others do not understand about this country and its constitution is that the latter document does not grant any of us any rights. It enumerates unalienable rights that we have been endowed with by our creator (to quote the Declaration). Americans are citizens, not subjects. As my favorite - and certainly the funniest - Vice-President, Thomas R. Marshall, put it: "an American ...looks up to nobody, looks down upon nobody, but tries to keep a conscience clean enough that he can look everybody in the face."
I sometimes get the impression that what others do not understand about this country and its constitution is that the latter document does not grant any of us any rights. It enumerates unalienable rights that we have been endowed with by our creator (to quote the Declaration). Americans are citizens, not subjects. As my favorite - and certainly the funniest - Vice-President, Thomas R. Marshall, put it: "an American ...looks up to nobody, looks down upon nobody, but tries to keep a conscience clean enough that he can look everybody in the face."
Bryan weighs in ...
... Creationism and the Royal Society.
I defer to Bryan on this because I know he knows a heck of a lot more about science than I do. Also, it does seem better to take the time to explain to someone what is wrong with a given view than forbidding that the view be discussed.
I defer to Bryan on this because I know he knows a heck of a lot more about science than I do. Also, it does seem better to take the time to explain to someone what is wrong with a given view than forbidding that the view be discussed.
Ottawa's Carleton U Student Helps Discover Largest Known Prime Number
The process took 16 days for a supercomputer to run the numbers; but, "working with an international team, Carleton University's Mr. [Jeff] Gilchrist has helped to discover the largest known prime number, at a whopping 12.9 million digits."
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Deep thought ...
... Another Harvard professor helpfully suggests that we make hits. (Hat tip, Maxine Clarke.)
The Man Who Made Billy Bishop Goes to War . . .
. . . and so much more!
Vancouver's John MacLachlan Gray's Very Much Alive . . . and delivered both wondrous words and magnif music celebrating the publication of his newest work, Not Quite Dead, at The 26th annual Festival of the Written Arts (FOWA) in Sechelt, BC.
(On my hands and needs, I pray only that he forgives this "What the Dickens?" overslight and everything's alright, alright? G'night, Bright Eyes, G'night :).)
Vancouver's John MacLachlan Gray's Very Much Alive . . . and delivered both wondrous words and magnif music celebrating the publication of his newest work, Not Quite Dead, at The 26th annual Festival of the Written Arts (FOWA) in Sechelt, BC.
(On my hands and needs, I pray only that he forgives this "What the Dickens?" overslight and everything's alright, alright? G'night, Bright Eyes, G'night :).)
Robert Fulford Oughtta Be Knighted :)
Sir Bob's got a certain ring-zing thing to it, IMO. One of our literary lions who's been in it for the long haul, he and Robertson Davies shared a 'view — A brew? — or two. Here, he takes a hypothetical stroll crossing a border on a roll:
"Little Art Scene on the Prairie".
Pfft! (No, you CANnot keep him. He's ours! Bien Sûr Bob, eh?)
"Little Art Scene on the Prairie".
Pfft! (No, you CANnot keep him. He's ours! Bien Sûr Bob, eh?)
On Sex, Lives, and InnerScapes
Who could forget My Beautiful Laundrette? Novelist and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi hangs it all on the line.
Giller Long List Announced
James Adams, one of Canada's finest beat writers at Canada's finest newspaper — er, caveat, I write for it; but, I can still get all swaggadocio about James, right? — reports on the Giller Thriller and shows how big publishers wield the fat edge of the $70,000 wedge.
(This raises an interesting question: Will Nota Bene's Nigel Beale give the judging criteria his seal of approval? Hrm . . .)
(This raises an interesting question: Will Nota Bene's Nigel Beale give the judging criteria his seal of approval? Hrm . . .)
Duh ...
... Warning sounded on web's future. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
"The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science ..."
Isn't this a perennial problem, distinguishing true from false information? Someone posted a comment on this blog a couple of weeks ago about a supposed list of books that Sarah Palin had wanted banned from the public library in Wasilla, AK. It took me less than five minutes to determine that the list was genuine, but had nothing to do with Sarah Palin: It was the list of all books that have at one time or another, someplace or another, been banned in the U.S. Maybe it was all those years as a copy editor, but I like to check things out when they trigger that "interesting, if true" reflex. I don't think I'm alone in this, or uncommonly skeptical even.
"The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science ..."
Isn't this a perennial problem, distinguishing true from false information? Someone posted a comment on this blog a couple of weeks ago about a supposed list of books that Sarah Palin had wanted banned from the public library in Wasilla, AK. It took me less than five minutes to determine that the list was genuine, but had nothing to do with Sarah Palin: It was the list of all books that have at one time or another, someplace or another, been banned in the U.S. Maybe it was all those years as a copy editor, but I like to check things out when they trigger that "interesting, if true" reflex. I don't think I'm alone in this, or uncommonly skeptical even.
Buy a Kindle ...
... as soon as they're available in England:
Books special: Can intelligent literature survive in the digital age?. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
This is a bogus debate. Naturally, one newspaper after another is finally getting around to weighing in on it.
Books special: Can intelligent literature survive in the digital age?. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
This is a bogus debate. Naturally, one newspaper after another is finally getting around to weighing in on it.
Another side ...
... to Richard Dawkins - and it's his good side: No Science, Please. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
... in this volume we see another side of the man: the Dawkins who loves science passionately, who marvels at what it teaches us about the nature of things, and who is exceptionally skillful at conveying those findings to the general reader.
Things get nasty ...
... Curator: Poe's Remains to Remain in Baltimore.
Well, one thing Philadelphia didn't do to Poe was kill him, which is more than we can say for Baltimore.
Check out the video on the right.
Well, one thing Philadelphia didn't do to Poe was kill him, which is more than we can say for Baltimore.
Check out the video on the right.
Auden and the markets ...
... Brokers Roaring Like Beasts.
My own choice of Auden as pertaining to the financial news would be this, from "The Geography of the House":
My own choice of Auden as pertaining to the financial news would be this, from "The Geography of the House":
Freud did not invent the
Constipated miser:
Banks have letter boxes
Built in their façade
Marked For Night Deposits,
Stocks are firm or liquid,
Currencies of nations
Either soft or hard.
Forget everything you're read ...
... or had read to you by somebody on TV - about Wall Street's recent turmoil. Instead, read Nassim Nicholas Taleb's THE FOURTH QUADRANT: A MAP OF THE LIMITS OF STATISTICS. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
For laughs ...
... What’s the Funniest Novel Ever? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
My first thought was of Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall, but I'll go with my second: Anthony Burgess's Inside Mr. Enderby.
My first thought was of Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall, but I'll go with my second: Anthony Burgess's Inside Mr. Enderby.
One reporter's ghost town ...
... is another's soapbox derby: Speaking of soapboxes.
Since the derby does seem to have taken place, it also seems that the Times reporter owes readers an explanation.
Since the derby does seem to have taken place, it also seems that the Times reporter owes readers an explanation.
Oh, I get it ...
... Christian creationism is verboten, but Muslim and Hindu creationism are OK: Creationism and the advance of counterknowledge.
What do I think? I think something on the order of what Gert Korthof is doing sounds promising, since its premise is that there is still a lot to learn, and its pretty comprehensive and unfailingly civil.
What do I think? I think something on the order of what Gert Korthof is doing sounds promising, since its premise is that there is still a lot to learn, and its pretty comprehensive and unfailingly civil.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Tributes ...
... to David Foster Wallace. (Hat tip, Jim Carmin.)
From Amherst: In Memoriam: David Foster Wallace '85.
From Pomona College:
A Letter from President Oxtoby.
Personal Tributes.
From Amherst: In Memoriam: David Foster Wallace '85.
From Pomona College:
A Letter from President Oxtoby.
Personal Tributes.
Encouraging news ...
... Why Libraries Are Back in Style. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Interesting, isnt it, how libraries seem to have adapted to technological - and other - change better than, say, the media did.
Interesting, isnt it, how libraries seem to have adapted to technological - and other - change better than, say, the media did.
It may well be ...
... The End.
If this happens, it will be because publishers have become as parochial as the news media by assuming that the only thoughts worth having are the ones circulating around Manhattan.
If this happens, it will be because publishers have become as parochial as the news media by assuming that the only thoughts worth having are the ones circulating around Manhattan.
Dumb headline ...
... Eating veggies shrinks the brain.
The article says nothing of the kind. It isn't eating veggies that is connected with brain shrinkage, but not eating meat (or at least dairy products and eggs).
The article says nothing of the kind. It isn't eating veggies that is connected with brain shrinkage, but not eating meat (or at least dairy products and eggs).
R.I.P.: David Foster Wallace (1962-2008)
Rushing, a little, because it has been on-off, on-off Y/Ikes for most of Ontario this afternoon and evening (and, anyone who experiences barometric migraine will know how excruciating that can be, ouch); but, during the "on" moments, was able to gather together a small sampling of the outpouring of grief in memory of David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) appearing throughout Cyberia Sunday. Heartbreaking, simply incomprehensibly heartbreaking:
A Tribute to the Great American Novelist Who Left Us a Little Less Alone
Writer Mapped the Mythic and the Mundane
Writer David Foster Found Dead
David Foster Wallace Dies at 46
David Foster Wallace: An Appreciation
A Tribute to the Great American Novelist Who Left Us a Little Less Alone
Writer Mapped the Mythic and the Mundane
Writer David Foster Found Dead
David Foster Wallace Dies at 46
David Foster Wallace: An Appreciation
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wait a minute ...
... I thought species surivived because of their superior adaptational skills: Luck Was Key to Dinosaurs’ Survival, Study Suggests.
What does Darwin have to say about luck? And if survival equals adaptability and adaptabilty equals survival, aren't we at least flirting with tautology?
What does Darwin have to say about luck? And if survival equals adaptability and adaptabilty equals survival, aren't we at least flirting with tautology?
Faux tradition ...
... An Outbreak of Paganism in Carshalton.
As E.E. Cummings observed, "a world of made is not a world of born."
As E.E. Cummings observed, "a world of made is not a world of born."
Storyteller ...
... Author Herman Wouk's spellbinding ways. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I had a friend college who absolutely fell in love with Youngblood Hawke.
I had a friend college who absolutely fell in love with Youngblood Hawke.
Pity he didn't ...
... Tinker, tailor, soldier, defector — John le Carré: I nearly left the West.
Hard to believe the royalty checks didn't influence his decision.
Hard to believe the royalty checks didn't influence his decision.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Now, Canada Boasts Literary Rock Stars?
Puh-leeze . . . Say it ain't so, Rawi-Beau :( . . .
Rawi Hage, most recent recipient of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, "still fundamentally believes that the writer should live a solitary life . . . I wouldn't be surprised [if I] drop it all and still write without giving interviews."
Can't argue with that, can I? After thirteen years of dropping it all, I cannot think of one day I've missed either television or The Big Choke (Toronto) where I was born, its cultural outlets; its infighting inlets; or, BION, the id-fit snit-twit kid-jits who often spat on me, kicked me in one (or both) shins, or cussed a blue freak-streak in my direction because I didn't LOVE their mediocre "poetry." If Hage needs a pair of rooms in The Beautiful Downtown Middle of Elsewhere, I know a lovely set with gorgeous light available for rent. But, not if he's the yakkative type, pls/no tnx, no way, no Hage, no sirree . . .
Rawi Hage, most recent recipient of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, "still fundamentally believes that the writer should live a solitary life . . . I wouldn't be surprised [if I] drop it all and still write without giving interviews."
Can't argue with that, can I? After thirteen years of dropping it all, I cannot think of one day I've missed either television or The Big Choke (Toronto) where I was born, its cultural outlets; its infighting inlets; or, BION, the id-fit snit-twit kid-jits who often spat on me, kicked me in one (or both) shins, or cussed a blue freak-streak in my direction because I didn't LOVE their mediocre "poetry." If Hage needs a pair of rooms in The Beautiful Downtown Middle of Elsewhere, I know a lovely set with gorgeous light available for rent. But, not if he's the yakkative type, pls/no tnx, no way, no Hage, no sirree . . .
Perfect for Saturday night ...
... Tony Hendra's Magical Misery Tour (which uses Lennon's own words; see John Lennon and Magical Misery Tour).
Motion and thought ...
... Traveler, yes, traveler.(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Socrates, told of someone who had traveled the world but learned nothing said that was because "he took himself with him." Then there was Thoreau, who said he had traveled a good deal - "in Lexington and Concord."
Now, just to spare some people an unnecessary effort: I link to this because it discusses a specious argument. Forget that the argument was made in reference to a political candidate you may not support. A specious argument is a specious argument, however useful one may find it. Of course, to use a specious argument, knowing it is specious, just because it is useful, is to forfeit one's intellectual integrity.
I am afraid Ebert seems a bit like a fool... Indeed, he seems, to me, a rather predictable example of the American so unsure of his judgments as to need a trip to Europe to justify his standing in the world. His views on politics are very familiar. They are of a piece with the dilettante Americans who traipse abroad, calling it an education and letting it all go at that.
Socrates, told of someone who had traveled the world but learned nothing said that was because "he took himself with him." Then there was Thoreau, who said he had traveled a good deal - "in Lexington and Concord."
Now, just to spare some people an unnecessary effort: I link to this because it discusses a specious argument. Forget that the argument was made in reference to a political candidate you may not support. A specious argument is a specious argument, however useful one may find it. Of course, to use a specious argument, knowing it is specious, just because it is useful, is to forfeit one's intellectual integrity.
Perhapsb?
Now, now. We all know many consider the NYT cutting edge; but, the first word in this review of Alice Mattison's newest needs a little trim . . . yesterday:
Nothing Is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn (unless there's some meaning in "perhapsb" I'm quite missing . . .)
Nothing Is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn (unless there's some meaning in "perhapsb" I'm quite missing . . .)
Hmm ...
... Are Too Many People Going to College?
... the core knowledge transcends one’s own country. Not to recognize Falstaff, Apollo, the Sistine Chapel, the Inquisition, the twenty-third Psalm, or Mozart signifies cultural illiteracy about the West. Not to recognize the solar system, the Big Bang, natural selection, relativity, or the periodic table is to be scientifically illiterate.
But it isn't enough to be merely literate in these matters. It helps to have some actual understanding of them. Most people's knowledge of the Inquisition is actually pretty poor. And while most people may recognize Mozart's name, how many would recognize his "Ave Verum Corpus"? If colleges ceased being places to go to improve your job prospects, they might revert to be places you go in order to be educated.
The definitive discussion of this is Albert Jay Nock's The System of Education in the United States, which someone should reprint.
Here, by the way, is Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus":
... the core knowledge transcends one’s own country. Not to recognize Falstaff, Apollo, the Sistine Chapel, the Inquisition, the twenty-third Psalm, or Mozart signifies cultural illiteracy about the West. Not to recognize the solar system, the Big Bang, natural selection, relativity, or the periodic table is to be scientifically illiterate.
But it isn't enough to be merely literate in these matters. It helps to have some actual understanding of them. Most people's knowledge of the Inquisition is actually pretty poor. And while most people may recognize Mozart's name, how many would recognize his "Ave Verum Corpus"? If colleges ceased being places to go to improve your job prospects, they might revert to be places you go in order to be educated.
The definitive discussion of this is Albert Jay Nock's The System of Education in the United States, which someone should reprint.
Here, by the way, is Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus":
The Black Tower by Louis Bayard
If reviews of books could kill, we'd have a mass exodus over the repetition of "as" three times in the following travestatious example of not only "a puzzle of identity and history" but also, a puzzling piece of one poorly penned piece in the present (tensed).
What was the editor (not) thinking (given the zing-thing contains less than half-a-dozen 'graphs)?
CONFIDENTIAL TO FRANK: You are so right to expose the many wrongs ruining a once-respectable occupation (on a daily basis, ISTM). I'm with you (and the incomparable Roger K. Miller, too) . . . we're jes' old-school un-new and too blue to be anything less than sad-but-true.
What was the editor (not) thinking (given the zing-thing contains less than half-a-dozen 'graphs)?
CONFIDENTIAL TO FRANK: You are so right to expose the many wrongs ruining a once-respectable occupation (on a daily basis, ISTM). I'm with you (and the incomparable Roger K. Miller, too) . . . we're jes' old-school un-new and too blue to be anything less than sad-but-true.
From Poet to Collagist
At 81, John Ashbery still grooves, moves, and proves the media are the messages, especially when it comes to scissors and paste.
Gas bag alert ...
... A Chilling View of Warming. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I have long thought Friedman to be an overrated huckster. But, like any good huckster, he knows who he's peddling to.
Well, yeah, Tom. The death rate is constant: one per person.
It's called tendentious.
Oh, and just do I can be spared unnecessary comments: I am agnostic regarding "global warming." I think the evidence is inconsistent and contradictory. But don't take my word for it. Check out Climate Debate Daily.
I have long thought Friedman to be an overrated huckster. But, like any good huckster, he knows who he's peddling to.
Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times, describes this threat in the grimmest of terms. We should expect disasters "of a biblical scale," humans are an "endangered species" and none of us "are going to make it."
Well, yeah, Tom. The death rate is constant: one per person.
Mr. Friedman is a smart guy, and he has interviewed a lot of interesting people for "Hot, Flat, and Crowded." The problem is that they are essentially all on the same side of the issue.
It's called tendentious.
Oh, and just do I can be spared unnecessary comments: I am agnostic regarding "global warming." I think the evidence is inconsistent and contradictory. But don't take my word for it. Check out Climate Debate Daily.
Something I missed ...
... A Revolutionary Simpleton.
The "desire to escape from provincial gentility in America" - and the dislike of democracy is characteristic of a certain type of American, actually.
The "desire to escape from provincial gentility in America" - and the dislike of democracy is characteristic of a certain type of American, actually.
Where's the stake ...
... Return of the living dead. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
To be fair, the book came out, I think, around the time I got out of high school, and I found it to be a helpful primer as I tried to learn how to write. Has it been overpraised? Yes. Does it have limitations? Most certainly. But it's a hell of a lot better than any grammar book I ever saw in school. In fact, its main virtue is that it is brief, clear, and readable.
To be fair, the book came out, I think, around the time I got out of high school, and I found it to be a helpful primer as I tried to learn how to write. Has it been overpraised? Yes. Does it have limitations? Most certainly. But it's a hell of a lot better than any grammar book I ever saw in school. In fact, its main virtue is that it is brief, clear, and readable.
Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic
Will Self steers readers along a narcissistic route (and, one cannot fail but note, given the reviewer's self-fondness, it's not by accident [alone]). No rush, not at this ungawdly hour . . .
One Holy Trinity Lands Record Deal
Bruce Springsteen, Britney Spears and, now? The Singing Priests ink a mega-mil deal with Sony/BMG.
Under the name "The Priests" the group will release their first album in 32 countries in November with most of the profits going to charity or their home parishes in Northern Ireland.
Wonders never cease (thank Him).
Under the name "The Priests" the group will release their first album in 32 countries in November with most of the profits going to charity or their home parishes in Northern Ireland.
Wonders never cease (thank Him).
Hot Stuff!
Sam Leith jumps from a moving train of Reading thought before he gets on the right track concerning that rich and steamy stuff one finds between the covers.
Much too Much . . .
Not-to-Miss Canadian Bliss and Diss in The Globe and Mail this morning. (Beware those with locks, however; they've perished, now.)
Friday, September 12, 2008
A Peek-See Profile @ Surname Searcher
New-Jersey Frank got this off LifeHacker who got it off Waxy which slowed down my computer too much so I gave up tracking it to its source and just thought you'd enjoy discovering "Wilson" is a more popular surname in the one place where you'd abso-deffo expect it to be: Australia (while Fitzgerald is, natch, most popular where it, too, ought to be, especially New Zealand . . . yep . . . followed by the UK and NA).
Read if you dare ...
... The Most Dangerous Book of Poetry Ever Written. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
And here you can a look: The Book of Counted Sorrows. Koontz would appear to be a disciple of Poe.
And here you can a look: The Book of Counted Sorrows. Koontz would appear to be a disciple of Poe.
He Pilfered Her Panties!
Poet and songwriter John Mackie lifted her lingerie right off the line. Lovely! Gives a whole new meaning to pantemeter, don't it?
Heart-warmingly mean ...
... Prowling the files: Auberon Waugh on Anthony Powell. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
This is a good time to remember Auberon Waugh's treatment of Nora Beloff, veteran political correspondent of the Observer. What follows is from my review of Will This Do?, Waugh's autobiography:
This is a good time to remember Auberon Waugh's treatment of Nora Beloff, veteran political correspondent of the Observer. What follows is from my review of Will This Do?, Waugh's autobiography:
Beloff had written an attack on Private Eye, one of the many publications for which Waugh has scrivened, for a piece satirizing Conservative politician Reginald Maudling. Waugh weighed in with ``a whimsical piece introducing Beloff as `delicious 78-year-old Nora Balsoff who sometimes wrote under the nom-de-plume Nora Bailiff. . . . Miss Bailiff, a sister of the late Sir Alec Douglas-Home, was frequently to be seen in bed with Mr Harold Wilson and senior members of the previous administration, although it is thought nothing improper occurred. ' This was obviously intended to be humorous because Douglas-Home . . . was not, at this stage, officially thought to be dead. Nor was Beloff yet seventy-eight. ''
Nevertheless, Beloff sued for libel and won a judgment of 3,000 pounds. Five years later, when Beloff married fellow journalist Clifford Makins, Waugh weighed in again: ``I hoped I would be asked to be best man at Nora Beloff's wedding today, since I imagine it was I who supplied a large part of the bride's dowry. ''
The sound of eternity ...
... Olivier Messiaen, "Louange à l'éternité de Jésus." (Hat tip, Father Gerald Carey.)
Departure plans ...
... NEA Chairman Dana Gioia to leave in 2009. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Funny. I just got off the phone with a friend of Dana's who told me about this. The I check my email and Dave has sent me the link.
Funny. I just got off the phone with a friend of Dana's who told me about this. The I check my email and Dave has sent me the link.
Authenticity ...
The other day I finished reading Katie's zine, The House You Grew Up In. I am almost ashamed to admit that it is the first zine I have ever read. One of the things that impressed me most was the uncanny union of the content and the vehicle of conveyance. What I mean is that if one were to put together an anthology of zines you would have to do it in facsimile, because something essential would be lost if you just had the text and not the text as it appeared in the zine.There's plenty worth quoting, but I don't want to be a spoiler so I'll confine myself to just two snippets.
First, there's Amber Farthing's dry observation: "I never felt any connection with Dad. He was some man with a big beard that hung around sometimes.
He left for work before I got out of bed in the mornings, and sometimes didn't come home for days on end.I remember him muttering something along the lines of 'fuck this,' grabbing his jacket from the coatrack and walking out the door."
Then there's Jennafur Lee Parks' "The Beautiful Battlefield: "I grew up with constant reminders of being unwanted. My mum was the only one who took care of me and helped me grow up into what I would become. She made my house a home as best she could. ... I was growing up faster than I was supposed to thanks to my father who stole all the good inside me, leaving me empty. It would be years until I learned the truth about what happened to me and why I never wanted to go to my dad's house overnight."
The zine only costs a couple of bucks. Buy a copy. You won't be disappointed - and it seems to me this is a hell of lot more cutting edge than most of what you'll find on the NYT's best-seller list.
First, there's Amber Farthing's dry observation: "I never felt any connection with Dad. He was some man with a big beard that hung around sometimes.
He left for work before I got out of bed in the mornings, and sometimes didn't come home for days on end.I remember him muttering something along the lines of 'fuck this,' grabbing his jacket from the coatrack and walking out the door."
Then there's Jennafur Lee Parks' "The Beautiful Battlefield: "I grew up with constant reminders of being unwanted. My mum was the only one who took care of me and helped me grow up into what I would become. She made my house a home as best she could. ... I was growing up faster than I was supposed to thanks to my father who stole all the good inside me, leaving me empty. It would be years until I learned the truth about what happened to me and why I never wanted to go to my dad's house overnight."
The zine only costs a couple of bucks. Buy a copy. You won't be disappointed - and it seems to me this is a hell of lot more cutting edge than most of what you'll find on the NYT's best-seller list.
Choose your faith ...
... Owen Gingerich "On God:" Faith and the Laws of Nature. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Some events that seem totally incredulous to those of us who take seriously the world’s stability and dependability, such as the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion and entombment, can be seen not as rare suspensions of the laws of nature, but as the intersection of a more fundamental spiritual universe with the physical universe embedded in it—a physical universe in which the ontological laws of nature always hold, but which is only a subset of the total reality. It is a matter of faith that such a spiritual universe exists, and by the same token, also a matter of faith to deny its existence.
Still pompous ...
... after all these years: Philip Roth: America the dutiful.
One slight correction: Bucknell is in Lewisburg, Pa., which is not in Western Pennsylvania.It's on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, north of Harrisburg and east of Williamsport. Two-thirds of the state are west of it.
Phil looks pretty good for 75, but he could dress a little spiffier. The belt buckle is way too far to the left. Slovenly dress is a sure sign of aging.
One slight correction: Bucknell is in Lewisburg, Pa., which is not in Western Pennsylvania.It's on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, north of Harrisburg and east of Williamsport. Two-thirds of the state are west of it.
Phil looks pretty good for 75, but he could dress a little spiffier. The belt buckle is way too far to the left. Slovenly dress is a sure sign of aging.
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