A Confederacy of Dunces: quotes (25)

Dear Reader,

Books are immortal sons defying their sires –Plato

I find, dear reader, that I have grown accustomed to the hectic pace of office life, an adjustment which I doubted I could make. Of course, it is true that in my brief career at Levy Pants, Limited, I have succeeded in initiating several work-saving methods. Those of you who are fellow office workers and find yourselves reading this incisive journal during a coffee break or such might take note of one or two of my innovations. I direct these observations to officers and tycoons, also.

I have taken to arriving at the office one hour later than I am expected. Therefore, I am far more rested and refreshed when I do arrive, and I avoid that first bleak hour of the working day during which my still sluggish senses and body make every chore a penance. I find that in arriving later, the work which I do perform is of a much higher quality.

30% discount code available here

screen-shot-2019-10-13-at-12.12.35-pm

A Confederacy of Dunces: quotes (24)

Opening his desk, he looked at a pile of articles he had once written with an eye to the magazine market. For the journals of opinion there were “Boethius Observed” and “In Defense of Hroswitha: To Those Who Say She Did Not Exist.” For the family magazines he had written “The Death of Rex” and “Children, the Hope of the World.” In an attempt to crack the Sunday supplement market he had done “The Challenge of Water Safety,” “The Danger of Eight-Cylinder Automobiles,” “Abstinence, the Safest Method of Birth Control,” and “New Orleans, City of Romance and Culture.”  As he looked though the old manuscripts, he wondered why he had failed to send any of them off, for each was excellent in its own way.

30% discount code available here

screen-shot-2019-10-13-at-12.12.35-pm

On Civility

The very excellent Elizabeth Corey in an Oakeshottian frame of mind.

It concerns the entire person—body, mannerisms, and speech—and it signals respect for oneself and others. Civility here is graciousness and courtesy, kindness and respect, other-regarding action that greases the wheels of human interaction. . . . Civility is not much prized in our revolutionary climate because it is a deeply traditional practice.

Raymond Aron

Died on this date in 1983. My co-authored chapter on Aron’s The Opium of the Intellectuals for Anthem’s Companion to Raymond Aron is now in press.

Chess as Played by Artificial Intelligence

A terrific overview of the history of chess machines. It brought back memories of several of those iterations. Article is freely available here.

Zeno’s Conscience: quotes (23)

And despite the fact that I was so different from him, I believe he reciprocated my affection with equal fondness. I would be more certain of this if he hadn’t died so soon. He continued assiduously giving me lessons after my marriage and he often seasoned them with shouts and insults, which I accepted, convinced that I deserved them.
I married his daughter. Mysterious Mother Nature led me and it will be seen with what imperative violence.