Articles Archive

I have a long history with the sour cherry. Here is some of it.

In 1954, the Bell system (at the time, THE phone company) decided that a technical background was not sufficient, and sought to give its rising young executives an intensive course…

What if the nation-state was not the cure but the cause of the wars that we term “religious”?

It’s been almost six years now and I suspect he’s still talking St. Peter’s ear off.

For several years now, anyone tech-savvy enough to navigate blogspot or xanga has been able to  share their thoughts with the internet world through their personal blog (or sometimes, a…

The New York Times offers  this piece by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, who argues that, contrary to the skeptics, wringing our hands about new communications technology is really a bit…

Why didn't I remember to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month? Does this mean that I am culturally insenstive? Or are there too many heritage months to keep up with?

William Cullen Bryant selected the month of his death: I gazed upon the glorious sky    And the green mountains round And thought, that when I came to lie   …

Claremont, CA. On Tuesday, the residents of this fair state voted to “open” the California primaries. From now on, every voter in the state will receive the same ballot in…

The economy is on the mend, if indicators of increasing quantities of garbage and waste are to be trusted. Economists celebrate our return to growth.

Should you have, for some reason, an interest in goings-on in the world of philanthropy and civil society, I invite you to lumber on on over to Philanthropy Daily.

The general continued to pay for the upkeep of the LSU tiger in an airconditioned cage. The amount of money involved was almost precisely the same as the subsidy for…

New studies show that the cognitive effects of the internet are real and lead to, like, shallow thinking n stuff as well as, wait a sec, there's a butterfly....

Philip Bess argues that traditional forms of building are particularly suited to contemporary life.

Beautifully and substantially-made books suggest something that deserve to be pored over at length, just as one lingers with friends after a wonderful meal.

Over the weekend I picked up a book with a promising title: "Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture." It helps chart a path to a promising coalition between…

Regulation, as we all know, was merely a demonic attempt by closet communists to deprive us of our liberties. And the markets, being made of of sophisticated buyers and sellers…

R.J. Snell writes, "Contraception is already so normalized in our society that its use is presumed for both married and unmarried alike; in fact, so normalized is contraception that its…

It’s been almost exactly a year since the “Miracle at Polihale” occurred, and the answer to the “aloha question” is now clear: we are entering a “new normal.”

I am not quite sure what Hellman's gets out of this, but it's the best public service spot I've seen. Watch their "Buy Canadian" commercial. Hat tip to Grace Potts.

My grandma didn’t put up a Christmas tree. She didn’t bake pies. And she didn’t make fudge. Her kitchen was silent. I believe it was her way of mourning, not…

I Drink, Therefore I am; A Philosopher's Guide to Wine. A review.

My appearance on local radio yesterday discussing politics and law, both practical and philosophical.  Skip to the 55 minute mark.

We are trapped in the deepest imaginable form of incoherence: we call for more control over the consequences of mastery, yet vaguely recognize that this very response is the source…