“Being a Maid”. Mormonism dealing with the internet. “The Aesthetics of Authority”. A Szymborska poem, complete with cat and link to an alternate translation. “Kim Jong Un Looking at Things”. Bonus video: All kinds of text and subtext at a UC town hall meeting about Occupy.
Author Archive
Sunday evening Old Fashioned
At the end of a long day, the classic Old Fashioned is often a bit too sweet for me. Tonight I arrived at this version: Over a large square ice cube: A few dashes of angostura bitters A few dashes of orange bitters A measure of Old Overholt rye A half teaspoon of maraschino cherry [...]
Social facts
Many philosophers make a distinction between natural and social. What is natural is given to us by nature or reality. What is social is somehow created by us, humans, albeit often through massively complicated and impersonal processes. In particular, philosophers speak of natural facts and social facts. Natural facts are facts that “carve nature at [...]
Let us give thanks
For occupations, decolonizations, new beginnings, openings, and also for the things that are fine just the way they are.
Class solidarity
“One perCENT! One perCENT!” “Why would you occupy Harvard, anyway? We have the most diverse student body in the world. What is there to protest?” “So, what’s the point of all this?” “You know, in principle, I think some of the things that you stand for, I mean, the things that I imagine you stand [...]
Unreasonable demands
What if we make some demands? The “we” here is vague. Let’s say it’s those of us who are dissatisfied. For example, we could demand that the economy be harnessed to bring increased benefits to the majority, rather than the small minority at the top of the income ladder. Or that we organize our economic [...]
