November 14, 2010 – 3:13 pm
Writing in The Guardian, journalist Andrew Anthony has just published a recent interview with Christopher Hitchens — who though ravaged by cancer refuses to go gentle, and whose words still fork some lightning. An excerpt: “I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance […]
November 12, 2010 – 3:42 pm
The importance of mindfulness — the mastery of one’s attention, and the practiced ability to maintain conscious awareness of our subjective experience in the present moment — is a major principle of Buddhism, Sufism, the Gurdjieff work, and, I suspect, just about every esoteric system of inner development. (I’ve mentioned it before, for example here […]
November 11, 2010 – 10:46 pm
Here in New York City, we stand in a lot of lines. The customary procedure — at, say, one of our archetypal delis, during lunch hour — has always been for the person behind the counter to holler “NEXT!!!” when it’s time for the queue to shuffle forward. It’s blunt, simple, and gets right to […]
November 9, 2010 – 10:15 pm
In today’s science news, a huge pair of melon-shaped objects has the boffins goggling in amazement. “They’re big,’ said Doug Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who has been studying them intently. “Wow,” said Princeton’s David Spergel. Story here.
November 8, 2010 – 11:19 pm
Among the myriad wavelets in last week’s conservative electoral tsunami was a measure passed in Oklahoma banning the application of sharia, or Islamic law, in that state. Sharia, you say? In Oklahoma?? Fair enough. But the referendum was inspired, no doubt, by a look around at other theoretically secular Western polities such as England, in […]
November 7, 2010 – 10:17 pm
I’ve twice mentioned my mother-in-law, Lily Renée Phillips, in these pages — first here, a few years back, and then again just a few months ago, when an article about her appeared in Newsweek. Now, fittingly, she has herself appeared in a panel of a syndicated comic strip, which was found and sent our way […]
November 6, 2010 – 8:52 pm
Here’s Leon Russell, in a clip from the old TV show Shindig! I was eight years old.
November 5, 2010 – 10:17 pm
Charles Krauthammer has written a good piece on the recent election. In particular he makes clear that this is very definitely not Republican Beatlemania: This is not, however, a rejection of Democrats as a party. The center-left party as represented by Bill Clinton remains competitive in every cycle. (Which is why he was the most […]
November 4, 2010 – 10:35 pm
You may not have visited the popular left-wing website The Daily Kos for while; perhaps you have formed the opinion that it was nothing more than a soapbox for unhinged, spittle-flecked, anti-establishment moonbats. If so, you will be pleasantly surprised to read this gracious post, published by ethnic bridge-builder Tim Wise on the occasion of […]
November 3, 2010 – 8:21 pm
“To err is human.” When it comes to what we do, there’s usually plenty of room for improvement. But when it comes to what we are, it turns out that isn’t always the case. Natalie Angier explains.
November 2, 2010 – 9:33 pm
Ah, Election Night at last! The wigs are accumulating on the green even as I write. It will be some time before the casualty count is tallied, however — so for tonight, we need a little diversion, with an appropriately conservative theme. I’ve found just the thing, from the fertile pen of John Derbyshire, who, […]
November 1, 2010 – 5:37 pm
We’ve been hearing an awful lot during this election cycle about our aloof “elites” (a demographic segment that generally overlaps what Scott Rasmussen defines as “the political class”). Members of the group in question understandably bristle at the characterization, preferring to imagine that they are the salt of the earth. (“Elite? Moi??”) In case you […]
October 31, 2010 – 11:51 pm
Well, here’s a surprising development, brought to our attention by the indefatigable JK: in this video clip, we see liberal stalwart Bill Maher breaking ranks with party orthodoxy, and expressing public concern about the usurpation of Western culture by Islam. This is not actually an inconsistent position for Mr. Maher, whose scorn for religion he […]
October 29, 2010 – 11:13 am
Listening to Gotham’s news-radio station this morning as I performed my ablutions, I heard the following announcement in the business segment: “Consumers are cutting back this holiday season, but not as much as in recent years.” In other words, consumers are spending more this year than last year. How is that “cutting back”? Who writes […]
October 29, 2010 – 9:42 am
How utterly gormless has our moribund liberal Western culture become in its prostration before its nemesis? A story making the rounds today should give you some idea. Here.
October 28, 2010 – 4:46 pm
Here’s an amusing distraction: someone has noticed, in a clip from Charlie Chaplin’s 1928 movie The Circus, what appears to be a woman talking on a cell phone. Less amusing, for those of us of a certain age: that the newswoman relating the story seems not to know who “Charlie Chapman” is. Here.
October 28, 2010 – 9:07 am
Bill Vallicella, the Maverick Philosopher, wrote a sharp little post a couple of days ago about the divergent philosophical assumptions that inspirit the political struggle between liberals and conservatives. The problem, he argues, can be represented as an aporetic tetrad: In illustration of my thesis, consider the the values of individual liberty and material (as […]
October 27, 2010 – 8:06 pm
We’ve been hearing for quite some time now that the stupendous haymaker awaiting the Democrats next week has nothing to do with amply justified outrage over their policies, tactics, and sneering unconcern for public opinion and the consent of the governed, but is simply the unfortunate result of how difficult it has been for them […]
October 26, 2010 – 11:00 pm
To define the word “chutzpah”, the example usually given is that of a teen who murders his parents, and then insists that the court take mercy on an orphan. And then there’s this. (P.S. During the several seconds I spent diligently researching this story, I also came across this feisty little website, which tickled me […]
October 25, 2010 – 10:19 pm
Things have been getting hot in France, and are now doing so as well in Britain, as their social-welfare economies begin to collapse under their own weight. The latest update comes from London, where firefighters have decided to go on strike on Friday, November 5th. For those of you who don’t know, the fifth of […]
October 24, 2010 – 8:56 pm
Not much to comment on tonight. The top story appears to be that Tony Blair’s sister-in-law, in what must surely be an irritating development for the former P.M., has made an ostentatious conversion to Islam. (This woman, whose name is Lauren Booth, has been a burr under Mr. Blair’s saddle for some time now. Meanwhile, […]
October 22, 2010 – 4:10 pm
A while back we took a look at physicist Craig Hogan’s curious idea that the Universe might actually be a kind of hologram. (For an explanation, and a very strange comment, have a look at the original post.) Now Dr. Hogan is getting closer to putting his theory to the test. Learn more here, and […]
October 21, 2010 – 10:35 pm
Everybody’s talking about the Juan Williams firing. For those of you who have spent the past day or two under anesthesia, or held at gunpoint in an al-Qaeda safe-house, Juan Williams is the National Public Radio “on-air personality” who publicly spoke forbidden truths, and was immediately sacked and disfellowshipped for his heresy. Here’s what happened, […]
October 20, 2010 – 9:55 pm
I’ve long argued that we ought to legalize marijuana — for several very good reasons, each of which would, I think, be compelling in its own right. First of all, legalization would be a heavy, if not mortal, blow to the black-market economy that supports the drug gangs that have made Mexico an earthly hell […]
October 19, 2010 – 10:59 pm
Ah, the many blessings of Diversity. What were they again? It seems lately that all over the liberal Western world, native peoples are developing a nasty case of buyer’s remorse: it is finally dawning on them that the natural friction between dissimilar human groups in too-close proximity is, almost without exception always and everywhere, a […]
October 18, 2010 – 10:02 pm
We’ve just got back to Gotham from a delightful weekend in Cape Cod — including a brief hop, courtesy of a friend with a a small plane, over to Martha’s Vineyard (where the lovely Nina and I first met, 35 summers ago). During the drive back to the city, we listened in on a “debate” […]
October 16, 2010 – 3:15 pm
Well, the shouting is over, the dust has settled, the press have dashed off to file their dispatches, and there is a new champion speller here in Wellfleet: a fellow named Robert something, an amiable fellow who has finished in the top two or three for years. It came down to the two of us […]
October 15, 2010 – 10:48 pm
We’re in Wellfleet for the weekend. It’s time once again for the Oysterfest, our little town’s annual celebration of its succulent and highly prized indigenous bivalve. (A local oysterman told me today that the festival, which is in its tenth year, is now the fourth-largest town fair in the country, though as we go to […]
October 13, 2010 – 10:04 pm
It’s a very busy week, and there will be scant opportunity for writing for the next day or two, so it’s Shameless Filler time once again. This cheeky item certainly qualifies, I think. What? You sophisticates are in no mood for such lowbrow japery? Well then, waste your time instead with the hosts of my […]
October 12, 2010 – 9:57 pm
Satoshi Kanazawa, writing at Psychology Today, discusses an interesting scientific finding, namely that intelligent people drink more alcohol. Over at Mangan’s today there is an engaging discussion about his essay. Dennis’s commenter Pat Hannagan takes issue with Kanazawa’s assumption about the correct order of precedence as regards beer-making and agriculture: Kanazawa says: The production of […]
October 10, 2010 – 10:53 pm
In Thursday’s post I took the measure of the river of data that my plugged-in life brings my way, and noted that, as much as I like having access to it all, I’m finding it almost impossible to keep up with its ever-increasing volume. (“Drinking from a fire-hose”, we used to say at PubSub.) The […]
October 8, 2010 – 3:07 pm
Might this fall’s impending conservative landslide actually help Barack Obama’s chances for re-election? Victor Davis Hanson, in an essay over at NRO, makes the case that the Transformer-In-Chief might be in a position to benefit from the economic lift that a conservative Congress would provide, while telling his progressive base he’s still true to his […]
October 7, 2010 – 11:03 pm
As much as I love the Internet — I’m a keen consumer of information, and I don’t know how I spent the first four decades of my life without it — it sure is getting hard to keep up. I have a personal email account, and a work account. In order that I don’t miss […]
October 6, 2010 – 4:58 pm
If the Tea Party is, as I’ve suggested, an American Salafist movement, then it seems natural enough for it to quote the Prophet in justification of its own existence. (Of course the Tea Party’s “Prophet” is not one man, but many: namely, the Founding Fathers, peace be upon them.) To that end, here’s a piquant […]
October 5, 2010 – 11:38 pm
As a generally conservative sort of blogger, I write a lot about how important it is to defend our traditional American culture against its many foes, foreign and domestic. But in case you’ve forgotten just what it is we’re fighting for, have a look at this inspiring clip, courtesy of the indefatigable JK.
October 4, 2010 – 9:59 pm
We’ve been just about completely mum on the clash-of-civilizations front for the past couple of months, so here’s an update. The blasphemy trial of Geert Wilders resumed in Holland today. No sooner had it got under way than the presiding magistrate, Jan Moors, made a snarky comment about the defendant, prompting Mr. Wilders’s attorney to […]
October 3, 2010 – 9:08 pm
Sam Harris is about to release a new book, called The Moral Landscape. Dr. Harris has been working for a while now to try to put morality on an objective footing (something I think can’t be done). His premise, if I may sum it up with extreme brevity, is that there are some moral systems […]
October 2, 2010 – 10:38 pm
It’s been a busy couple of days, and I haven’t had much of the solitary time that brooding and writing requires. Today, for example, we spent gallivanting around the city, and at one point we found ourselves harborside in the out-of-the way Brooklyn neighborhood known as Red Hook. The weather was splendid, and we took […]
September 30, 2010 – 10:22 pm
Here’s an item that I am trying to get my head around: According to Raphael Bousso at the University of California, there are physical constraints that make an eternally expanding universe impermissible. Cosmologists have been bickering over the fate of the universe since its expansion was confirmed by Edwin Hubble back in 1929. On the […]
September 29, 2010 – 11:26 pm
In a recent column, David Brooks had this to say about the scope of government nowadays: The heart of any moral system is the connection between action and consequences. Today’s public anger rises from the belief that this connection has been severed in one realm after another. Financiers send the world into recession and don’t […]
September 28, 2010 – 10:49 pm
Yesterday’s paper had an item about a computer virus, Stuxnet by name, that has found its way into industrial networks around the world, most particularly in Iran. So sophisticated was the virus that it seemed to all that it was probably the work of a government agency — and the likely suspect, given the apparent […]
September 27, 2010 – 11:16 pm
Poking around in the news this evening, I saw that UFOlogist Robert Hastings had held a news conference today with a number of retired Air Force servicemen. The panel claimed, in no uncertain terms, that they had had first-hand close encounters with strange flying machines at various nuclear-weapons sites, that they had been ordered to […]
September 26, 2010 – 8:20 pm
Readers will know that we genuflect to a pantheon of drum gods here at waka waka waka. I’ve mentioned my current fave, Gavin Harrison, on several occasions, and readers have also sent along, from time to time, video clips of some formidable subordinate deities. But judging by what I’ve just seen, Olympus may soon be […]
September 25, 2010 – 11:58 pm
We’ve been off the air for a couple of days, due to workplace emergencies and, last night, a concert by the British prog-rock band Porcupine Tree at Radio City Music Hall. The concert was fabulous: the band were in mid-season form, and Gavin Harrison’s mind-boggling performance was worth the price of admission all by itself. […]
September 22, 2010 – 10:04 pm
Following on yesterday’s item about the death of the great Richie Hayward, the Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten gives us another decedent to mourn: the English language. Cause of death: email, texting, bloggers, and the decline of large-scale, professionally edited journalism. We read: The language’s demise took few by surprise. Signs of its failing health had […]
September 21, 2010 – 10:18 am
Here’s a sad item that I missed while I was disconnected last month: drummer Richie Hayward, who since 1969 was the rhythmic anchor of the incomparable rock/blues/funk band Little Feat, died on August 14th of liver cancer and pneumonia. I was a huge fan of both Hayward and the band, and I am very sorry […]
September 20, 2010 – 10:56 pm
Tired of watching things go to hell here in America? Well, a change is as good as a rest, they say, and instead of brooding about our declining fortunes here at home, it might be refreshing to focus for a minute on how very badly things are going overseas. Our indefatigable sources have sent along […]
September 19, 2010 – 3:24 pm
Writing a novel? I’m certainly not, but if you are, you might be interested to read a brief outline, by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood, of the scope of available plot-lines. (Thanks to my daughter ChloÁ« for providing me with the link.) You can read Ms. Atwood’s exposition here, if you like, but I’ve also […]
September 18, 2010 – 2:20 pm
As readers may be aware, the nation’s economy has languished in dark depression for some time now. What can be done? Trillion-dollar Keynsian stimulus packages? A moratorium on government expansion, along with tax relief for the productive? Opinions vary. Branding consultant Richard Smith thinks he may have the answer: redesign the dollar. Here.
September 18, 2010 – 1:02 pm
Making the rounds yesterday was a video clip of some of the most astonishing flying I’ve ever seen. I didn’t even know things like this were possible. The accompanying email offered the following information: This is all real and there is no trick photography. Not only is the airplane unbelievable but the pilot is also […]