Wednesday, January 28, 2015
The pope is communist?
Don't worry, all popes are, by the standards of US politics. Turns out that governments are supposed to help people.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
All the ways a bill can be called up in the Senate
So many, but basically none of them happen unless you bribe the majority leader. What a party pooper.
Labels: parliamentary procedure, politics
Does religion have a smart people problem?
No. But if you define intelligence narrowly enough, you might think so.
Persistence
Title links have disappeared again. Oy. Regardless, this is a tale of getting back on your feet and trying new things no matter what, as well as the importance of community.
While Momofuku Ando was in military prison camp the first time, a fellow prisoner, who Ando befriended, was released. Ando asked him to contact another friend – a lieutenant in the Japanese Army – who eventually arranged for Ando’s release. If it wasn’t for those two friends, Ando would have likely died in prison.
Labels: a full life, economics
Thursday, January 08, 2015
Abbey Road, Austin Ruse, and the new homophiles
I originally took issue with tone as well, yet upon closer evaluation and considering past as well as ongoing conversation involving Ruse and the Spiritual Friendship people, I interpreted the 'tone' as a matter of style - rather than a sneering attack. In Ruse's current article - that really is made clear. Sadly, some of his commenters go in for the kill, beating up on Eve Tushnet in particular. That is unfortunate, but Ruse does step in to defend his position, as in this comment: . . .Looking for the good and the common ground wherever possible. Good for Abbey Road. Am I a new homophile? Maybe.
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Unlikely uses for the aorist
From Wikipedia
Until recently, in Serbian and Croatian, the aorist had mostly been used in literary language and legal writing. The predominantly young users of the modern means of communication (SMS, email) have found advantages of using the rarely spoken verb forms like aorist and imperfect as they require fewer characters than compound verbs, thus bringing them back to popular use.Kids these days. What's next, a return to texting in Latin passive pluperfects?
