Odd Names This blog post at NRO about odd Puritan names (“Experience Bliss,” “Thankful Clapp,” “Moses Sleeper”) reminded me of this passage from A Renegade History of the United States: “In 1864 Increase Mather set out to put an end to [dancing] with a precisely titled book, An Arrow Against Profane and Promiscuous Dancing out […]
Received in an Email These insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words: A member of Parliament to Disraeli: “Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease.” “That depends, Sir,” said Disraeli, “whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.” “He had delusions […]
The Libertarian Political Philosophy in a Nutshell “Society, it should be kept in mind, is a group of people who cooperate with one another in order that they may severally and individually improve their circumstances, and the techniques by which Society achieves its purpose are production and exchange. There is no other way by which […]
Quick Reference: “The idea that A could at the same time be non-A or that to prefer A to B could at the same time be to prefer B to A is simply inconceivable and absurd to a human mind.” Ludwig von Mises. Surely a few people recognize the epistemological overlap with St. Thomas Aquinas. […]
Pornography and Idiocy (from 2004) Writing about pornography is kinda like making pornography: what are you going to say (do) that hasn’t been said (done) before? The director of a pornographic movie tries to think of something that hasn’t been done before (“Three guys with a girl suspended with harnesses? That’s soooo Lasse Braun”). The […]
Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas? The Beer Taster recently featured Three Philosophers. That is one righteous beer. I agree with this description: “The aroma is very malty and full of cherries, as well as some other dark fruits such as raisins. I also found there to be a mild alcohol aroma which isn’t surprising due to […]
Studies like this don’t really impress me: Women Who Lost Virginity Early More Likely To Divorce. It’s nice to see empirical support for the idea that poor upbringing results in poor results, but I don’t think we can conclude from this kind of study that premarital sex leads to divorce. I think we can merely […]
Catholic Blog Surfing Bert Ghezzi is a genuinely good guy. I’ve corresponded with him on a few occasions, and he even expressed willingness to “go to bat” for me on a book proposal he liked (alas, even Bert can’t overcome one’s dearth of talent). He has written a new book. I haven’t read it, but […]
Catholic Arts and Letters Weekly On the centennial of his birth, the influence of Catholicism on Marshall McLuhan’s Catholicism gets a fair and good hearing. Perhaps the best essay of the year so far. . . . more>> Simone Weil. Huge intellect, but with a heart and mystique even bigger. Perhaps the most puzzling woman […]
The Angel and the Idiots What do Lady Gaga and Mother Teresa have in common? A lot, according to this vapid piece at The Economist: The Angel and the Monster. The piece isn’t sacrilegious (though it does recount some of Hitchens’ bogus criticism), but it is downright stupid. In its attempt to draw parallels between […]
True virtue has no limits, but goes on and on, and especially holy charity, which is the virtue of virtues, and which having a definite object, would become infinite if it could meet with a heart capable of infinity. St. Francis de Sales Bookmark it: del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg |
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