My all time favorite Bande dessinée. Tintin as a gay icon? — he’s as asexual as Shaun the Sheep! Though in many ways it reflects its time, I think it has aged remarkably well (it embodies that timeless and comforting modern-retro style that is now the rage). Each new book to one’s collection was so much more…
Matt Ridley: Far too many people on the left want to put government in charge of everything, and far too many people on the right want to put God in charge. Why are we so reluctant as a species to embrace freedom, so keen to (in the words of the poet Hilaire Belloc): “always keep…
A collaborator, the very excellent Ted Lewis, looks at this question via network theory. More than 70 years into computing, Moore’s Law keeps on doubling performance of the basic engine of the post-industrial information age. Looking back at this incredible progress makes me wonder, “Who has had the biggest influence on computing since electronic digital…
Of all of Kafka’s pieces I’ve always have been of the view that In the Penal Colony was the only one that could be plausibly rendered in film — but as an opera? And with no machine and with an homoerotic spin? The Boston Globe thinks it works. Franz KafkaIn the Penal ColonyPhilip Glassphilosophical literature
Here’s a small snippet from Louisiana Public Broadcasting hosted by my ever enthusiastic chum James Fox Smith commemorating the thirty-fifth anniversary of the publication of CoD along with a lovely new CoD related book by Cynthia Cynthia LeJeune Nobles. a confederacy of duncesCynthia LeJeune NoblesJohn Kennedy Toolenew orleansphilosophical literatureWalker Percy
What a brilliant a script it was that made “Blazing Saddles.” (And never mind the gags). It is scathing, satirical, funny and bawdy — and still fresh. This is one of Hollywood’s few successfully close-to-the-bone comedies along with To Be or Not to Be — unfortunately poorly remade by Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks: 10 things you…
A superbly literate occassional co-author and chum of mine here with a chapter from a book that he edited and I too had a piece in. Christianitycivilizationcorey abelcultureMichael Oakeshott
Beware of Episcopal women who take up with Ayn Rand and the Buddha and Dr. Rhine formerly of Duke University. A certain type of Episcopal girl has a weakness that comes on them just past youth, just as sure as Italian girls get fat. They fall prey to Gnostic pride, commence buying antiques, and develop…
One of the greats has passed. The very excellent Keith Spera captures him best ably supported by the very excellent Wayne Curtis: NYT BBC The Guardian The Atlantic OffBeat Allen ToussaintfunkKeith Speramusicnew orleanspianorhythm and bluessoulwayne curtis
The very excellent Simon Garnier: Collective intelligencecomplexitycomputational intelligencedistributed cognitiondistributed knowledgeemergent orderSimon GarnierSpontaneous orderStigmergySwarm intelligence
manwithoutqualities 