Intellect
-sume
I wonder whether the reason why so many people use "assume" when they mean "presume" is that "when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me" makes so much more sense than "when you presume, you make a pres out
Intellect
Houston
Question for the Rice folks
There is a plaque in one of the lounges of the Fondren Library at Rice University which commemorates the campus' "Reading for Pleasure Club". Does Rice also have a "Reading for Duty Club"?
Intellect
Who are the patriots?
Love is not something you feel. Love is something you do. If you do not act upon a love you profess, then how real is that love? If love of country—patriotism—is like any other love, then who are the patriots? If you measure love not by professions—by
Intellect
On the eccentric fringe
I hate to think of myself as being part of "an eccentric fringe", but Johann Hari makes a good point about the death of Burkean conservatism in his article about the philosophy of Agatha Christie. (Also: Hari notices that "The minute a character is described as an
Education
A familiar lament
From the lead article in the February issue of Atlantic Monthly: not The rising generation cannot spell, because it learned to read by the word-method; it is hampered in the use of dictionaries, because it never learned the alphabet; its English is slipshod and commonplace, because it does not know
Intellect
Professor Keiger's Writing Prejudices...
…should be your writing prejudices. Check them out. (They remind me that I need an editor sometimes.)
Intellect
The role of critics
His similes are terrible, but his points are good… [T]he art critics and the dramatic critics [...] are separated by a great chasm of "culture" and fastidiousness from the people for whom they write. They [look upon] the amusements of the public, not as wine-tasters oversee wine-drinking, or
Intellect
The book-person's view of the world
Over at 2 Blowhards, Michael Blowhard describes what he sees as "the difference between the movie-person's view of the world and the book-person's view of the world": [F]or the sake of this discussion, I don't mean book fans. I mean people
Houston
Tuesday afternoon at MFAH
Took the day off work to finally see The Heroic Century, the MOMA traveling exhibit which will be at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through January 4. Highlights for me were the two Seurats, Van Gogh's "The Starry Night", Dali's "The Persistence
Intellect
Wheatcroft knocks 9-11 response
Geoffrey Wheatcroft scorns how silly many of "the literary intelligentsia" were when responding to September 11: Imaginative writers are distinguished not by a sweeter character (too often very much not), greater intellectual honesty, or even deeper intelligence, but—apart from the gift of expression which is their stock
Intellect
"Constructing" a society
A book review in the New Statesman pinpoints two valid parts of Michel Foucault's work: "[...] [I]t is easy to forget that Foucault's influence stems from a simple but penetrating insight, developed early in his career: that the history of western civilisation is also the
Intellect
Fooled by randomness
In his recent book, Fooled by Randomness, hedge-fund operator Nassim Taleb twists a familiar saying to provide an analogy for people (such as, say, some mutual fund investors) who make investments based solely on past performance: IliadOdyssey Iliad