Lovely article on the backdrop to Rory Gallagher’s legendary Irish Tour ’74. I have a sense that there has been a recent resurgence in Rory. Rory was at pains to point out he wasn’t active in any sense politically. But he felt very strongly that he should be allowed to play in Northern Ireland and the Republic…
City Cigar reports (with source document) on the Canadian Government’s white paper “Potential measures for regulating the appearance, shape and size of tobacco packages and of tobacco products.” (Can you imagine a box of Behike 52s in plain wrapping? — it’s absolute fucking nonsense). While I’m no fan of ubiquitous marketing and branding tripe, these proposed…
Here is Vernon Smith on Fortuna. Vernon very kindly wrote the preface to Propriety and Prosperity: New Studies on the Philosophy of Adam Smith. Some call it luck, others call it Providence, and that points to the mystery of the forces that shape us and that we shape—forces well beyond our comprehension. Adam SmithBehavioral economicsEconomicsfortunaLuckProvidencesituated cognitionTheory…
Take Christians. I am surrounded by Christians. They are generally speaking a pleasant and agreeable lot, not noticeably different from other people—even though they, the Christians of the South, the U.S.A., the Western world have killed off more people in recent centuries than all other people put together. Yet I cannot be sure they don’t…
In final twist of long-running dispute, court rejects appeal of heirs of writer Max Brod, Kafka’s friend and biographer, that the estate belongs to them. Franz KafkaMax Brodphilosophical literature
A newly published paper by Andrew Norris in Political Theory Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy is the most sophisticated and compelling liberal alternative to the progressive, state-centered liberalism of John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas. Oakeshott’s version of liberalism as the civil association of individuals underwrites more ideological positions (usually characterized as libertarian or conservative) that play a…
APA keynote delivered by the one and the only Jonathon Haidt. Jonathan HaidtMoral psychologyPolitical philosophypolitical psychologythe happiness hypothesisthe righteous mind
John Cottingham’s discussion of Descartes has resonance to the way Locke has been treated in the academy. I was astounded going back some 30 years that Locke could be so blithely discussed on a political philosophy course (UCL) with no mention of the vital role God has in his system of ideas — The Reasonableness of…
Perhaps this rates (see video below) as the greatest musical performance that I’ve ever witnessed — crikey, has it really been almost 30 years? (12th Sep, 1986). That year I think I attended some 30 concerts as a promenader but still never made it into the hard core club (not even close). Read the very excellent Peter…
N.O. music legend Pete Fountain dies at 86 George RodrigueJazzmusicnew orleanspete fountain
manwithoutqualities 