1. Everyone knows that the best way to encourage dissent and rebellion in a country is for a foreign power to launch an unprovoked sneak attack against it. 2. If a statement is true, it cannot be racist. If it is false, the falsity is more important than racism. Therefore, the first question should never … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Miscellaneous Thoughts, Equality, and ‘One Piece’
Saturday Sundry: US Foreign Policy, ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’
1. US Foreign policy since about 1898 has followed a pretty consistent pattern: Step 1: "The US has gone into X:" "Yay! USA! This is a righteous and noble crusade!"Step 2: "The US has left X:" "Yeah, that whole thing was a stupid idea; why did we do that?" Step 3: Repeat 2. To put … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: US Foreign Policy, ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’
Sunday Sundry: ‘Hamlet’, the Witan, and Rockefeller
1. Is it really just to expect a community to house and care for a man indefinitely because he has shown that he is a danger to it? 2. My sophomores are starting to read Hamlet, only since they've so far only done Shakespeare through a translation, they're slightly panicking (which is exactly why I … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: ‘Hamlet’, the Witan, and Rockefeller
Monday Motley: ‘Taming of the Shrew’ and Statehood
1. I took a quick trip to Maine this weekend to see my niece and nephew in a play, as well as to celebrate my father's birthday, hence why this is coming late. 2. The play was The Taming of the Shrew, the second time I've seen it recently (a friend was also in a … Continue reading Monday Motley: ‘Taming of the Shrew’ and Statehood
Saturday Sundry: Jefferson Davis and Some Education Thoughts
1. Last weekend Phoenix had a massive used book sale. I got in on Sunday (when everything was half-price) and got out with at least ten or twelve books for under forty dollars, including a three-quarters complete set of Douglas Southhall Freeman's definitive biography of Robert E. Lee (it's missing volume one, but I figured … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Jefferson Davis and Some Education Thoughts
‘Iron Lung’ at Everyman
My latest article is up at The Everyman, going into how the success of Iron Lung might have major - and positive - consequences for the film industry: We may have just witnessed the dawn of a revolution in the world of filmmaking. A couple weekend’s ago, a low-budget independent horror film based on low-budget … Continue reading ‘Iron Lung’ at Everyman
Sunday Thoughts: Subjectivity
I've been reading Scott Adams lately; How to Fail and Nearly Everything and Still Win Big and Reframe Your Brain. As I said, he was a notoriously brilliant man, such that even when his conclusions were wrong, his insights and the lessons he draws from them are often worth considering. In particular, he deals a … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts: Subjectivity
Saturday Sundry: Back to the Future and Shikata ga nai
1. This week I held my first 'Classic Cinema Showcase' after-school meeting. The idea is to cultivate students' taste in cinema and fiction by showing them classic films and then explaining what makes them good. Our first film was Back to the Future, which they had all seen and liked, but when I started explaining … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Back to the Future and Shikata ga nai
Overdue Flotsam: Lincoln Criticism and ‘Iron Lung’
1. I had a very distracted weekend one way or another, hence an extra late Flotsam this time. 2. The more I read about the Civil War, the more I begin to wonder whether Abraham Lincoln was really the amazing and wonderful leader he is made out to be. He certainly could give a good … Continue reading Overdue Flotsam: Lincoln Criticism and ‘Iron Lung’
Saturday Flotsam: God’s Existence and Miscellaneous
1. By hypothesis, we would expect there to be many difficulties and seeming inconsistencies involved in God's existence. The idea of God is of One who is all-powerful, all-good, all-knowing, and all-wise. Such a Being would necessarily have a vastly different perspective from us, meaning that much of what He would do would seem strange … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: God’s Existence and Miscellaneous
Serpent's Den 