a mental gym...................

 At a time when many people are wondering about the value of a college education, those who are in charge of those institutions would be well advised to recognize that their business should be a mental gym; a place where minds and souls are strengthened.

-Michael Wade, as he opens this post 

Fifty some years ago, I spent a college semester at Denison University listening to Professor Robert Toplin in a class called Latin America: Evolution or Revolution.  We had two 2-hour classes per week.  In the first hour of each session Toplin would take the "right wing" point of view on some topic and argue it persuasively.  In the second hour of each session Toplin would take the "left wing" point of view on the same topic and argue it equally persuasively.  Being typical college students, we got confused.  We initially started out trying to figure out Toplin's true opinion, so we could feed it back to him on tests and papers.   Took us a while, but we finally discovered that he didn't care what we thought—just so long as we actually did the work of thinking.  Toplin taught me one of the most valuable life lessons available: how to think for myself.  I have been grateful for him ever since.

Surprisingly good speech..................................... Where was this guy 180 days ago?.....................

Biden addresses the nation after Trump's election victory

 

Arnold Kling is worried..................

 

The intellectual mediocrity of today’s educated class is made worse by a lack of self-awareness. If they recognized that they are lightweights, they would exhibit less class snobbery. But it is the opposite. They feel that their college credentials entitle them to lord it over everyone else. They see their luxury beliefs as setting them apart and above everyone else in America, either in the present or in the past.

-as cut-and-pasted from here

"success".............................

 

My old job might never have been my key problem—chasing after a fictional, idealized version of myself was.  When I was quiet and attentive beneath the trees, I began to understand that my traditional view of "success" hadn't been mine at all.  I didn't make it.  It didn't serve me.  It brought me neither peace nor pleasure.

-Jarod K. Anderson, Something In The Woods Loves You

corrupted............................

 

Nowadays in the West we are, quite literally, corrupted by a lust to explain things.  Our lust to explain things veils things. . . . Be true to your eyes, not to the desiderata of science or language.

-John Moriarty, Dreamtime

Hard to disagree.........................

 

........................civilisation advances through the actions of remarkable individuals.

Thank God.....................

 

......................We are meant to walk, dance, cook, climb….and create.

All people are created equal..........

 

..............They just don’t stay that way very long.

Konstantin........................

 

........Ten reasons you didn't see this coming.

It was the kind of night...............

 

...........................for which hotel mini-bars were made.

-Eugene Robinson

Amen................................

 

I unplugged...........................

 

...................................a long time ago.