Observations
Believing in conspiracy theories
To believe in conspiracy theories is to make yourself dumber so you can feel like you're smarter.
Observations
Observations
Uniquity
One thing I was not warned about before I got older was how it would feel to watch once-universal memories become more narrowly and narrowly shared, and once common cultural references become more and more obscure. As I get older, I realize more acutely that something irreplaceable will die
Observations
“For Adults Only”
It's a shame that the term “For Adults Only” has been claimed for so many decades by overaged adolescents. I'd like to see a weekly television program about public governance called “For Adults Only” that shows how tedious committee work, often performed by unpaid members of
A Loss of Innocence
On September 18, 1986, a student at Benicia High School in Benicia, California was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend after an on-campus quarrel. I was a high school sports reporter for the Benicia Herald in 1986-87, and wrote the following column for the newspaper, which it
Ray Taliaferro
When I was in junior high school in the early '80s, I had terrible insomnia. I used to lay awake at night and listen to the Giants game on KNBR, then listen to the Giants post-game show and the news. If I was still awake (it would be
Philosophy
The unavoidable superficial
The following reflection on the unknowable vastness of human knowledge was written 75 years ago: SpenglerEduard Meyer So wrote Will Durant, looking back at the 1920s. When we think of the unknowable—the almost unfathomable—depths of what human individuals in the aggregate know; and then think of what is
Philosophy
The virtue of simplicity
In Book II (369a-372d) of the Republic, Socrates reasons step-by-step through what would be required to create a simple and harmonious city, one in which the citizens "will live in peace and good health, and when they die at a ripe old age, they will bequeath
Craftwork and wage-earning
In Book I (345e-347a) of the Republic, Socrates distinguishes between one's ability to succeed at a craft (to be a craftsman) and one's ability to succeed in being paid (to be a wage-earner); and states that the two abilities should be considered in isolation
Loving the alien
A few days ago, I wrote about how difficult it can be to learn about cultures that are unconnected to one's own; how we lack a context in which to understand what we are trying to learn. Part of my difficulty in this kind of learning is that
Learning the alien
Senior American politicians who cannot tell a Sunni from a Shi'ite have been rightly roasted in recent years. However, to learn about a culture completely alien from your own is difficult. My ancestors are mostly from Western Europe. I grew up hearing the names Locke, Kant, and Descartes,
A Starbucks morning
This morning, my breakfast was a fruit smoothie that I bought at Starbucks. Then I bought a large iced tea at Starbucks. While I sipped the iced tea, I listened to a jazz compilation released by Hear Music, the music label created by Starbucks. I appear to have been colonized.
Getting what I paid for
I was looking for some dark socks this weekend, and I noticed that Dockers-brand socks were the lowest-priced ones on the Meier & Frank rack. Name-brand. Low price. Why not? So I get home this evening, take off my shoes, and see holes in the toes of