Archive for August 30, 2005
A Soldier's Epitath
Epitath for the Unknown Soldier To save your world, you asked this man to die: Would this man, could he see you now, ask why? –October 1953 W. H. Auden, Collected Poems, Edward Mendelson, ed. (Random House, New York, 1979). p. 435. Share on Facebook
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Behold Capybara: Fish!
Most rodents are mouse-sized, but they range up through marmots, beavers, agoutis and maras to the sheep-sized capybaras of the South American waterways. Capybaras are prized for meat, not just because of their large size but because, bizarrely, the Roman Catholic Church traditionally deemed them honorary fish for Fridays, presumably because they live in water.* [...]
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Anti-Rational Politics
Politics in America will get more and more pathetic unless and until rationality and the natural world, as it is understood by science, get some respect. The anti-intellectual tradition in America is part of the cultural bedrock supporting right wing power, but the Left also has a version of it. The corresponding phenomenon on the [...]
Share on FacebookCelebrity Spokesmodel for President
Continually milling around in my mind are questions like: shouldn't someone in charge of running the country be smarter about a lot of things than I am? Why should I feel safer if the guy in charge is dumber than rocks? If I were having brain surgery, would I like the brain surgeon to be [...]
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