Yesterday I wrote an essay on love, loneliness, and the deleterious effect of social isolation on society at large. I had also, in honor of (late) tax day, shared a quote from a Thomas Sowell essay with a comment that charity cannot be compelled. The essay and the quote meme are related. One of… Read More Speaking the Language of Love
No, not me. Yes, I’m planning on doing grad school. But that’s another time, another post… this is about my baby who just started highschool. He was sitting on my bed last night while I was working on paying bills and sorting paperwork, and he was talking excitedly to me about the extra credit his… Read More Back to School
My friend and fellow troub…. er, author, James Young, challenged me a bit to finish this up in his look back at LTUE. It’s been, in my defense, a very busy couple of weeks. And in many ways I am still digesting everything I crammed into my head over the course of three short but… Read More LTUE AAR: Day 2 and 3
There are times that I look at the world around me and wonder if my commitment to remaining moderate is in itself a radical way of life. Originally it wasn’t a life philosophy, just a bit of Bible verse ‘do all things in moderation’ but the older I get, and the more I see the… Read More Being Moderate
The Junior Mad Scientist had a problem this morning. We all wound up discussing it for ten minutes. A pool of philosophy in the whirlwind of morning routine. Mornings at the Nut House are a bit chaotic, I will readily admit. One kid is being chivvied through dressing, packing lunch, and take a shower willya?… Read More The Elephant’s Fundament
I was listening to a podcast presenting a brief biography of Andrew Carnegie the other day, and although I’m somewhat familiar with the man, and very familiar with his legacy of libraries, I think the philosophy that led him to establish more than 2500 libraries bears repeating, and often. He believed that compiling knowledge in a… Read More Autodidactism
I had to do math this morning for work. Nothing major, just a calculation of standard deviations and RSD for something. Population set of only six. Only… I wound up having to do it by hand and was painfully reminded that if you don’t use math, you lose it. I didn’t have a decent calculator… Read More Use it or Lose it
Part of my effort to dig up some of the old posts that became unlinked when I switched hosts. And because I have no time before work this morning. It’s a topic worth revisiting for discussion, though. There is some debate over what jobs men and women are best at. In the current cultural push… Read More [Repost] Hold my Beer and Watch This
I write science fiction, I once managed a small farm using permaculture ideas and organic principles, I’ve gardened all my life, and I’m a scientist. Yesterday’s post about Persistent Food Myths was written out of exasperation at the hysteria surrounding the use of ‘chemicals’ on our crops, which is far to broad a term to… Read More Future of Farming
I can’t claim that line – that’s from the fingers of the marvelous Mike Kabongo this morning, when we were chit-chatting in Gary Poole’s unending thread #forthecookies. It’s too much to tell, let me sum up. There’s a bunch of us that use this lengthy facebook thread as a hang-out spot. We mostly seem to… Read More Learning is My Supercrack
I miss school. I didn’t think I would, but this week was the beginning of a new semester. One of my former classmates texted me on her way to classes that it wasn’t going to be the same without me. I sat there thinking about the classes I didn’t take, but would have liked to…… Read More Sharpening the Mind
There are days where the love of learning isn’t quite enough to keep me enthusiastic about school, and I have to remember why I am doing this to myself. That stiffens the old upper lip and I keep marching on. But if you’re still curious and want to learn, here’s a link to a really… Read More Love of Learning