This & that in the life of CH
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Richard Marshall interview at 3:16
Richard Marshall is a creative and interesting guy who has passions for making vivid paintings and interviewing philosophers. Somehow he decided to interview me, with the result to be found here. I had loads of fun answering his questions. Continue reading
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Gerry’s soldiers
We have been in the process of sorting through the detritus of my parents-in-law: lots of junk, no longer meaningful to anyone, but occasionally the striking this or that suggestive of a parent’s love, a freakish endeavor, or long afternoons of timeless play. This last mood was suggested by my father-in-law’s tub of tin soldiers.… Continue reading
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A summer education
Many years ago, I taught a “big ideas” class to a group of summer citizens. These are retired folks who live in Arizona but come up to Logan for the cooler weather in the summer. I taught the course, under one title or another, for a couple of years. Many of the people in my… Continue reading
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Jordi Savall, “Celtic Universe”
For a long time I’ve longed to hear Jordi Savall play. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s probably the most famous musician you haven’t heard of. He discovers and resurrects European and Mediterranean music from the medieval to the early modern period, assembles groups of musicians who have amazing talents with old instruments, and… Continue reading
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Access Utah interview
Host Tom Williams played a game of “let’s see what we can throw at Charlie” on the radio yesterday. The recording is here. It was a very fun conversation, as always. Continue reading
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Handcarts, beer, and apes
To the rest of the world, today is an ordinary Monday – people are going to work, the mail is being delivered, the media focus on the latest outrages issuing from politicians, and so on. But here in Utah, it is Pioneer Day, a holiday bigger than the Fourth of July. Pioneer Day marks when… Continue reading
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Robots, faux urbanity, and public spaces
My son had a robotics competition in Layton, which is a sprawling mass of houses and big box stores perched at the south end of Hill Air Force base. Nearby is a new shopping and living community which I’d always wanted to check out, so I took some time to do it. “Station Park” –… Continue reading
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Reflections on Comics Movies
I just saw the trailer for the upcoming Dr. Strange film. Now I am thoroughly a long-time deep-dyed nerd – from Dark Star to Star Wars to Doctor Who (Tom Baker!) to LOTR to Primer to Skyrim to Firefly to Mass Effect and on and on and on. I was a nerd long before those… Continue reading
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The 3QD experience
I’ve contributed essays to the aggregator site 3quarksdaily.com for two years, and have just decided to bring that relationship to a close. Nothing went wrong – no falling out, no throwing of lamps, no screaming fits of “I just don’t love you anymore!” I just decided that I’d had my run, and it was time to free… Continue reading
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Star Wars awakens
(No spoilers) Star Wars came out in 1977, and I was 12 years old, which means it hit me the way a T-16 can bull’s-eye womp rats (at least with the right pilot). I remember Nixon resigning, and I remember when I first heard about 9/11, and I remember when that Imperial Cruiser came rolling… Continue reading
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Scattered Remarks
For fun, I put together a collection of 15 of my favorite Huenemanniac posts and published them as Scattered Remarks with Amazon (link in the right column). Not that any reader of this blog should be interested – there’s nothing in the book that isn’t freely available somewhere on this blog, except for the heartfelt… Continue reading
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Invented languages on Utah Public Radio
I recently had the joy of discussing perfect and invented language on Utah Public Radio with USU Folklorist Lynne McNeill, who, as it turns out, speaks some Klingon. If you are interested Continue reading
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How You Play the Game
The Minecraft book is available now (see right column). It was loads of fun to write, and it was even more fun exploring the game with my son. The whole process of working with Kindle Singles was fun, too. The editor I worked with was very helpful, insightful, and thorough. Continue reading
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On opera
I have long believed that I should love opera. I’m a great fan of “classical” music (a fairly meaningless term, as it encompasses way too much), and view its existence as one of the primary pieces of evidence for believing life is not meaningless. One of the greatest experiences of my life was several years… Continue reading
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A philosopher goes to an anime con
My kids and their friends know the world of Japanese animation in the way my generation can sing the Looney Tunes libretto to “What’s Opera, Doc?” But their involvement in this world goes much further. They regularly convene with their fellow fans, in crazy costumes, and celebrate their common love for a world of warriors… Continue reading
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Seen while biking….
I went for a long bike ride yesterday. At the start I was just rolling along, letting my mind wander, and taking in the sights: • kids selling lemonade, • a well-kept garden, • a Rat Patrol-style jeep with a gatling gun perched on top and three guys wrapping it in plastic, • an interesting older… Continue reading
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Reflections on academic administration
I’m just ending my second foray into academic administration. The first one was serving as department head over a department including philosophy, communications studies, and all of our foreign language programs. It was a terrific exercise in mental and emotional flexibility – at one point I was adjudicating a dispute between a faculty member and a staff assistant… Continue reading
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My training to take over the world
I am a great believer in technology’s capacity to build our native skills, and so lately I have been augmenting my talents for world domination through playing Sid Meier’s Civilization IV. (For some reason, Sid Meier thinks it’s important that Sid Meier’s Civilization IV be known as “Sid Meier’s Civilization IV,” but I’m not typing… Continue reading
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How the internet, and computers generally, impart education
Answer: by not working very well. I’ll explain. My son spends a lot of time playing Minecraft. It’s a brilliant game that operates in two modes: creative mode, in which you can build all sorts of structures and even simple circuits my collecting raw materials and re-shaping them; and play mode, in which you and… Continue reading
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