A Wrinkle in Time
Austin Allen has a lovely post on Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time up at Big Think: L’Engle insisted that her novel be published as a children’s book, but she nearly gave up on...
Monthly Archive: January 2012
Mindless Blegery
On the Mindless Diversions blog, resolute commenter Teacher asks: Know anyone with good experience self publishing? So… does anyone?
Known unknowns, unknown unknowns, and the unknowable unknowns.
“The captain says the ship hit a reef that was not on the navigation charts.”
The Pink Police State isn’t Pink, it’s Green. And it’s an Insurance Company.
As told in my comment on the League’s What is Your Sputnik Moment thread, I don’t like to drive faster than the posted speed limit. I don’t like driving faster than the posted speed...
Broncos/Patriots Open Thread
(Of course, you don’t *HAVE* to talk about the Broncos or the Patriots.)
No, Americans are not “operationally liberal”
Responding to my demurrer to “the old saw that Americans are ideologically conservative but operationally liberal,” Yeggmen sticks up for the saw: what researchers have (repeatedly) done is get a bunch of people together...
Free Download: Meet Me In Las Vegas
In preparation for our planned excursion, go here and download and listen to the song “Meet Me In Las Vegas.” There are actually a lot of good songs to download (ask if you want...
The Great Cases, No. 3
At my sub-blog, I have completed the third of my “Great Cases” series of posts. This installment introduces us to an eccentric British nobleman, the personal assets of America’s then-leading jurist, the collapse of...
The Burden of Proof
In the recent thread on Huntsman , BlaiseP, Tom van Dyke and I ended up in a bit of a digression of atheism and the burden of proof which I thought was worth teasing...
Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Civil War
Ta-Nehisi Coates believes persons of color ought to take ownership of the Civil War. This is a noble sentiment, a cause he might take on himself, had he more of the scholarly chops to...
Bain: Makes a Man Take Things Over
Last night, I watched the anti-Romney 30-minute “documentary” from a Gingrich Super PAC, “King of Bain,” and I must say that — save the periodic forays into lowest-common denominator xenophobia — one would think...
Scarfing plywood is not as hard as you think it is.
I have been reading about scarfing plywood for as long as I’ve been building boats, but I’ve never done it. The idea of hand-cutting a square 12:1 edge along a sheet of plywood just...
Systems of Survival
Timothy B. Lee reads and comments on Jane Jacobs’ excellent, enigmatic, thought-provoking book.
The Amish, Imagery, and 9/11
In response to Mike’s emergency preparedness post, BlaiseP discusses the role of community in emergencies and specifically his experiences with the Amish in his area of Wisconsin, writing; The Amish around here have been...
The Novelist and the Civil War
Because I’m behind the times (the Internet times, that is—they move so fast and I’m already stuck at least a decade ago), I’ve just now gotten around to reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ long-form article on...
Rethinking Rural and Urban Investment
In June 2008 David Hawpe of the Courier Journal wrote an interesting piece asking “Where should we focus, town or country?” Hawpe’s question was based on an effort by the Center for Rural Strategies to create...
Leaguefest 2012 Update
This is just a short note to say that we are now very likely to attend the Leaguefest in Las Vegas. I’m looking forward to meeting many of you in person over Memorial Day...
Prepping for Emergencies
My family and I started ‘prepping‘ this past year. For the unaware this means creating food, equipment and weapon stores in case of emergency. I should note that this is not really because I fear a...
Our Fights with Yeasty Darkness
In light of Rufus’s most recent post, I came across this serendipitous passage in the book I’m presently reading:
