We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves. —Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings If the human heart sometimes finds moments of pause as it ascends the slopes of affection, it rarely halts on the way down. —Balzac, Pere Goriot There, there child. Come now. Every day can’t be brass … Read more
Katherine Kersten let us know again today about the meaning of honoring our veterans. In case you missed it, it’s building memorials, like the one in Rochester. It was the typical superficiality we’ve come to expect from KK, but I’m sure she tries to do the best she can with what she has to work … Read more
The New York Times magazine’s style sections, which have lately been spun out as stand-alone quarterlies or something like that, have–to my eye–been kind of a mess. If you look to the table of contents, they are typically divided into broad, allegedly cute rubrics like “The Look,” “The Get,” and so on. But if you … Read more
What then is required? Light! Light! Light in floods! –Victor Hugo, Les Miserables “Hold that thought,” he said, and disappeared into the dark part of the house. The dark part of the house was pretty much the whole house. He had a couple of kerosene lanterns in the living room, but otherwise he was living … Read more
In another of the many victories for the good guys on Tuesday, all eight members of the Dover, Pennsylvania School Board who had voted to mandate the teaching of “Intelligent Design” in the district’s schools were defeated. As one voter put it, “Now you have to take our city off the laughing stock list.” And, … Read more
Gopher Bush supporters have decided they’ll only come out in disguise Don’t ask me why, but I made a stop today at Power Line, the blog that supposedly brought down Dan Rather. I was looking for their explanation of the St. Paul mayoral election. But despite extensive searching, I couldn’t find one. I was talking … Read more
I’ve had a few requests to post my commentary which aired at MPR yesterday, but is not archived over there. This isn’t precisely the final cut–sometimes the perfect word on paper just doesn’t work out loud. Actually, that happens a lot. Anyway, here it is: Coming around the lake the other day, I noticed there … Read more
I have a lot of time on my hands, and I recently discovered a new trick with (I like to imagine) some radical implications. I’ve always wanted to be either a saint or at the very least some kind of hero, but the older I get the more it looks like I just don’t have … Read more
Hey, Toto, I bet we can fool those Kansas rubes with a story about scarecrows and wizards. Auntie Em will never suspect we were just out behind the barn smoking a fatty. It seems the Kansas Board of Education voted today to make Intelligent Design part of the curriculum in Kansas biology classes. Thank God, … Read more
What Iowa looked like before genetically engineered corn I’ve been hanging out lately with a young economist who’s been making a study of the history of economic thought. The conversation is a bit one sided, because, while I’ve heard of economic philosophers such as Keynes, Mill, Smith, et al., he’s actually read them. Sunday night, … Read more