1. A family crisis is currently occupying most of my attention, so this will have to be brief. Those who read this, please offer prayers on our behalf. 2. At the same time, the school year starts this week and I still have prepping to do, meaning I'm pretty much in survival mode. 3. The … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Short and Unfocused
Thoughts
Shiver Me Timbers, Everyman
My latest piece is up on The Everyman, discussing the topic of Online Piracy. Online piracy is on the rise again, accounting, by some measures, for over a quarter of all internet downloads. This topic is usually spoken about in terms of the harm it does the economy, or jobs lost, or whether or not … Continue reading Shiver Me Timbers, Everyman
Sunday Sundry: Evolutionary Mindset, Wodehouse, and Leadership
1. Something to get clear in your mind is that a religious dogma is no less of a dogma because it is materialist. Evolution is, for most people, a religious dogma. Therefore, the narrative that teaching Evolution makes students more critical or rational thinkers, as opposed to teaching religious dogma, is nonsense because evolution is … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Evolutionary Mindset, Wodehouse, and Leadership
A Few “War of the Worlds” Thoughts
As it's on my curriculum, I recently re-read The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Being by Wells, it is full of brilliantly realized, prescient ideas and characters who are either variations on Wells himself or caricatures of people he didn't like (Wells, so far as I have read him, only ever created one … Continue reading A Few “War of the Worlds” Thoughts
Saturday Sundry: On Gods, the Ocean, and Bad Books
1. Still in Maine, but about to head home. The next three days will be travel, one way or another. 2. Spending a week by the sea was a fascinating experience; to look out to the very edge of the world, to watch the tides rise and fall, to hear the waves crashing against the … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: On Gods, the Ocean, and Bad Books
Saturday Sundry: New England Thoughts
1. I'm up in Maine visiting relatives this week. It's very nice to be surrounded by forests again. I've definitely missed them living in Phoenix. 2. New England has a character unlike any other part of the nation, simply because it is older. Men have lived here, farmed here, praised God here, and made their … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: New England Thoughts
Saturday Sundry: Kill a Mockingbird and Stop Killing Games
1. I somehow escaped reading To Kill a Mockingbird during my school career. But since the 'sequel' (which, as I understand it, is actually a rough draft that Harper Lee's estate found in her papers and published with minimal involvement from her, but that's another story) is on my reading list this year, so I … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Kill a Mockingbird and Stop Killing Games
How to Identify Bad Faith Arguments
What are some signs that the person you are dealing with is arguing in bad faith? That is, he is not interested in the truth of the matter, only trying to assert his own position for other reasons. For background: for the past year or two, YouTuber Ross Scott has been spearheading a campaign called … Continue reading How to Identify Bad Faith Arguments
Saturday Sundry: ‘Lusitania’, ‘Dorian Gray’, and ‘Starship Troopers’
1. A YouTube channel I've discovered recently is Oceanliner Designs, which provides extremely detailed documentaries on famous ships and disasters at sea, illustrated with some very pretty animation. Of course Titanic is a regular feature, but the host also examines other famous liners, including Titanic's two sisters, Olympic (the one survivor) and Britannic (which was … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: ‘Lusitania’, ‘Dorian Gray’, and ‘Starship Troopers’
Quick Words on “Head Office”
1985's corporate satire Head Office is one of those frustrating films that has flashes of brilliance undermined by conventionality and substandard writing. The first ten minutes or so are bitingly hilarious, then the rest of the film mostly settles into predictability and tedium, going completely off the rails by the third act. After a stale … Continue reading Quick Words on “Head Office”
Serpent's Den 