The always astute and nuanced John McWhorter’s take on Vance’s Hillbilly Elergy which I’m now ready to dive into having recently spend some time (albeit briefly) in Appalachian country. Hillbilly Elegy throws down a gauntlet to those who shape opinion on inequality and race in this country. Any reader must ask, “If Vance makes sense…
I’ve been on a road trip for a month or so and as such have had the opportunity to randomly sample a cross section of food in several states/regions/price ranges/types of eatery and so on. After some sixty meals the dishes that stick out are as follows: A bowl of chili ($5.50) in Butte, MT…
Here’s an interview with Vernon Smith concerning the relationship of science to religion. I had no idea Vernon felt this way until I read his Discovery – A Memoir (which he so kindly sent me a few years back), so this interview is of no surprise. Despite Vernon’s genuine achievements the fashionably atheist philosopher would “cock a snook” at…
The Nola Players have just released their big band Christmas CD. I’m very much looking forward to hearing it in full and replenishing my Christmas selection with a bunch of stuff en route to me from the Louisiana Music Factory. In the meantime I’ve been playing a few other Christmas CDs because they work very well…
The always challenging and informative Deirdre McCloskey one of the few taking on the tired, false and persistent inequality memes. Of course what the regressive left have done (and incoherently so) is to conflate patterns of inequality (access) with patterns of inequity (outcome). Worldwide even the income gap between rich and poor has radical [sic] declined. If you…
and then there was one . . . The Guardian — Rolling Stone — The Telegraph emerson lake & palmergreg lakeking crimsonmusicprogressive rock
There are two reasons to check out this documentary on Glen Campbell. First, is his going public about his cognitive decline. The trials and tribulations of Glen and his family will have resonance for anyone who has had experience of caring for a dementia sufferer. Cases such as these provide philosophical food for thought about personal identity and…
“He told me that he had—ah—discovered a mathematical proof of what God’s will is, that is, what we must do in these dangerous times.” ***** There was more excitement in prison, more argument, more clash of ideology. In Alabama we were polarized every which way, into pro-nukes and anti-nukes, liberals and conservatives, atheists and believers,…
The very excellent Philanthropic Enterprise has teemed up with the Smith-Tocqueville Center at Michigan State University to issue a call for papers for the 2017 Conference on Voluntary Governance. Philanthropyphilosophy of philanthropySelf-organizationthe philanthropic enterprise
My “old” Oxford chum, a real scholar, has just had this paper published — 10 years in the making! Jewish Quarterly Review, Volume 106, Number 4, Fall 2016. The intro to the piece as follows: IN 2009, WHILE GATHERING MATERIALS for a book on Frankism, I made a pilgrimage to the grave of the famous adventurer Giacomo…
manwithoutqualities 