Politics

Some thoughts on the US midterms

Thursday, 1st November 2018

On next week’s US midterm election:   1. Advance polls are meaningless. Remember two years ago. Everyone has an advanced poll, and will claim accuracy after the fact depending on what happens. Yes, there is… Continue reading…

Ethics, Politics

Against Character

Friday, 28th September 2018

A truism of political morality is that we should take character seriously. This is, perhaps, more of a truism on the right than the left, but it would be rare to find someone who would… Continue reading…

Politics

“Irrational” voting?

Wednesday, 29th August 2018

NYT coverage of the primary elections in Florida and Arizona. It’s been noted before, but there’s a subtle (sometimes not so subtle) slant to their political reporting. Exhibit A:

“Mr. Gillum edged out Ms…. Continue reading…

Education, Humanities, Universities

More Humanities and More Crisis

Friday, 24th August 2018

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/08/the-humanities-face-a-crisisof-confidence/567565/?elqTrackId=77ba533c40224dee9d37c6f1ac6346d5&elq=da89f6bd4547464281a76e3e9e730bd9&elqaid=20251&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9482

A report in the Atlantic tracks the decline of the humanities since the financial crisis of 2008. The decline is both in the number of students in classes and the number of majors…. Continue reading…

Memory

Jacob Benjamin Janz (1931-2008)

Friday, 19th January 2018

Ten years ago today, my dad died. It doesn’t seem that long ago. I realized that it has been ten years just yesterday, when I was thinking about memory and how it works. Much has… Continue reading…

Politics

Mine not mine

Tuesday, 16th January 2018

I’ve seen several people raise the question of whether this American president is “my” president. Obviously, that is a question Americans are asking – the rest of the world is saying, you broke it, you… Continue reading…

Uncategorized

Blog space

Saturday, 6th January 2018

I’m going to repost some of the posts I’ve made on Facebook over the last year or so, to this blog, so that they remain accessible. I’ll put up the original posting dates and links… Continue reading…