Month: May 2016

Miscellaneous Rambling

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. Marie and the kids were gone. I spent my time “putting my garden in” (a phrase I’ve long disliked for some reason) and cleaning out the areas of the house and garage I had usurped for gardening purposes. Marie was glad to get the space back.

I listened to a ton of podcasts and lectures this weekend. If you’re acquainted with the Teaching Company’s Great Courses series, you ought to check it out. It’s awfully pricey but awfully good. I got a few lectures through use of an Audible membership. It was well worth the price. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Al Kresta. If you’re listening to his daily radio show (available by podcast), you’re missing out.

Among other things learned while listening: Although estimates vary, it is possible that few than 1/10th of 1% of the population experiences gender dysphoria. And for that we’re opening up girls’ restrooms to all men who claim they suffer from it? This, despite the prevalence of voyeurism. From Wikipedia: “Subsequent research showed that 65% of men had engaged in peeping, which suggests that this behavior is widely spread throughout the population. Congruent with this, research found voyeurism to be the most common sexual law-breaking behavior in both clinical and general populations. In the same study it was found that 42% of college males who had never been convicted of a crime had watched others in sexual situations. An earlier study indicates that 54% of men have voyeuristic fantasies, and that 42% have tried voyeurism.”

This is a very good piece about Facebook’s anti-conservative (anti-libertarian) … Read the rest

Why aren't Trump's critics trying to rein in the powers of the office he seeks? Excellent piece by @conor64 https://t.co/v2UjSqUY2u

— Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) May 24, 2016

… Read the rest

Whew. I’m further behind at the office than I thought. It took about three tall vodka tonics (accented with the most excellent Fee Brothers bitters) to get through my pile of stuff . . . and that was just basically cataloging and prioritizing things. I’ll head back Monday to do sober/serious work.

Today and Sunday are dedicated to gardening.

Consistent with TDE tradition, there won’t be much blogging this holiday weekend. For today, I just offer this little piece of solid wisdom, which you can find supported by the works of Francis Fernandez:

"There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor." – Charles Dickens pic.twitter.com/WSsbjPqotz

— Catholic Thinker (@ThinkerCatholic) May 26, 2016

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BYCU

If I were asked to nominate a nontraditional day as The Drinking Day of the Year, today might get my nod.

The Friday before Memorial Day has a ton to recommend it. It is, of course, the start of a three-day weekend, which is always nice. But it’s also the official unofficial start of summer, which is always worth celebrating. It’s also in May, which is the second most beautiful month of the year (October is first) and the first month that has fully shaken off Persephone’s descent, so outdoor drinking still has a novel feeling to it. The bugs aren’t out in full force yet. And perhaps most significantly (for me anyway): It’s a free weekend. Late April and May always bring a ton of events, primarily kids’ sports, but also concerts and miscellaneous other matters. This is a weekend of freedom.

So why (oh why, oh why) do organizers schedule events for this weekend? My local little league has for the past twelve years scheduled games for this evening. A few years ago, I asked, “Why not schedule the customary Saturday and Monday games that weekend?” The response was, “It’s a holiday weekend. People like to get away.” To which I wanted to respond, “Damn right they do, and they want to get started at 5:00 on Friday. They don’t want to camp out at the baseball desert until 8:30.”

I have a friend who sits on a local school board. He has to attend the district’s high school graduation . . . tonight. I asked him why in the world they scheduled it for tonight, and he disdained, “I have no … Read the rest

The farmers drove their tractors to breakfast this morning:

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Wow. I gotta think seriously about going to this. It’s at my alma mater, only 50 minutes from my driveway: Front Porch Republic Annual Conference.

This year we’ll be at The University of Notre Dame. The theme of our conference: Populism, Power, and Place. Confirmed speakers include Bill Kauffman, Jason Peters, Philip Bess, Jeff Taylor, and Michael Federici. The keynote address will be given by Patrick Deneen. You won’t want to miss this event. I hope to see you there. Registration information coming soon.

Wow, Kauffman is a draw for me, as is the mere fact that it’s a FPR event. But the real kicker might be Federici. He wrote an excellent introduction to the thought of Eric Voegelin. Long (real long . . . and attentive) TDE readers know that this younger TDE scribe wrestled mightily with Voegelin’s works, even making it through all five volumes of his majestic Order and History and mastering thoroughly 3% of The Ecumenic Age. If Federici is going to touch on anything Voegelinesque, I’m going.

… Read the rest