September 2008
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“You always run away from trouble in a butcher shop.”
From “Butcher,” Tom Chiarella, Esquire, September 2008: One morning, tossing trim onto the tray, he turned on the grinder and said: “Look, the rule is, if you feel anything tug, anything at all, you hit the button and run.” He poked the rubber-covered stop button with his thumb. We stood in the walk-in, the compressors… Continue reading
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Helping Jerry with his trailer
We finished the supportive substructure, installed the milking machines on the roof, and tuned the sensitive measuring devices on the front. The circular harmonizers on the side were my idea. Lots of work yet to do, but lots of shiny promise. Continue reading
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Nz on Xianity
Nietzsche’s most sustained account of the west’s great death-traditions is in one of his last works, aptly titled The Anti-Christ. The work offers a relatively detailed Nietzschean account of Jesus’s own psychology, and how his teachings were transformed into a means for suppressing life’s instincts. We can provide a brief sketch of the account. Jesus,… Continue reading
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Nietzsche’s values
I just wrote this this morning, and am hoping to get some feedback on it. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory: This distinction, between the life-affirming and the life-denying, is the basis for Nietzsche’s revaluation of values. To get a sense of how this revaluation works, imagine somehow being put in charge of some intergalactic zoo… Continue reading
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Kolakowski, Why is there something rather than nothing?
I recently read this great little book by Leszak Kolakowski. He is one of my favorite contemporary philosophers: he’s amazingly learned, and he takes a bemused, skeptical stance toward the human ability to plumb The Great Deep, while at the same time admiring the many attempts to do so. A representative quote: “In all the… Continue reading
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Climbing the Wellsvilles with Felix and Sammy
A steep climb, but we made unbelievably good time. The Wellsvilles are among the steepest mountains of the world, given their relatively small base. Continue reading
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The American political divide
This article by Jonathan Haidt seems to me the most sensible thing ever written on the political divide in the U.S. (Thanks to Mike for the pointer.) Continue reading
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New phrase: “jumping the shark”
I was reading a post about the great philosopher Thomas Nagel, who recently published an article arguing that Intelligent Design should be taught in school, since it is in fact “science,” though it is bad science. Indeed,very bad science. Anyway, the poster was wondering if Nagel had “jumped the shark,” a phrase which I had… Continue reading
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Team Ben
Nephew Nathan and friend Flavia visited us from California, and Ben led us on a killer ride: straight up “Lord have mercy!” hill, and (as if that wasn’t enough), then straight up to “Pope Sweet Jesus!” summit. We then rode home and recuperated. Then Nathan, Flavia, and I rode up Blacksmith Fork canyon, which is… Continue reading
Huenemanniac 