I discovered this splendid writer before everyone else (insufferable smug emoji)
Tal Fortgang
With free speech and free enterprise, hope springs eternal
In recent years, the Yale Free Press, Harvard Salient, and Columbia Sundial have emerged to fulfill similar needs at their respective schools. Heterodox and conservative journalism is undergoing a revival in the Ivy League.
Lexi Boccuzzi
The Seven Thinkers and Groups That Have Shaped JD Vance’s Unusual Worldview
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/07/18/jd-vance-world-view-sources-00168984
On Hiatus but Still Have a Few Essays in the Barrel
July 13, 2024
Hiatus
It's been a heckuva run: 22 years. Maybe 20 years. 2004? 2002? I can't remember. I always tell people "2004" because that's all I can prove, but I'm pretty sure I started this blog in 2002.
No matter now: The Daily Eudemon is going on hiatus.
All is well and nobody needs to fret. I wasn't even going to post this "good-bye" because I didn't want to alarm anyone, but that didn't seem right. I know a handful of you check in frequently to see if there's anything worth reading (my apologies for all your trips to a dry well). You can stop.
Will it restart? Yeah, probably. In some form or fashion, but I doubt it will be a daily.
The OtML newsletter is more likely to start again. I learned this week that it was more popular than I thought, but I won't run it until I'm convinced it's either entertaining or helpful. I'm tired of adding to the "online creator" noise.
Why am I doing this?
I need to figure out if TDE enhances my life or hinders it. I was a different man in 2001 and I scarcely remember daily life without it. I need to try life without the daily burden/opportunity that is TDE and see how it feels. I've tried to think my way to figuring out which is better, but that's a hopelessly left-hemispheric endeavor, so I'm going "right hemisphere" and embodying the experience. That's the only way--the sacramental way--of knowing anything.
Do you want something to mull over in the meantime?
I've re-summarized the Existence Strikes Back project, incorporating The Hemisphere Hypothesis and adding a fifth part. It's the fifth part that will probably grab most of my attention at this point. It might be the topic that "sees me out" (the traditional saying of old men who, upon buying a new car or item of clothing, say, "This will see me out"). If that sounds mournful, it shouldn't. The topic would take 50 years to explore fully.
July 12, 2024
People who still believe that the news media tell them the truth and that their nation and their world work pretty much the way they were taught in school are just as brainwashed and deluded as any QAnon cultist. Caitlin Johnson
Substack
July 10, 2024
Ten Years to Remember: One Podcast to Listen to
Of course, it's nearly 90 minutes long, but that's ideal if you're not going to be able to fiddle with your phone, like if you're on a drive or engaged in romance. Concerning the latter, I've assured myself that my velvet voice is an aphrodisiac, so there's that too, but I have laughably little lifetime evidence to support my assurance.
Eric Scheske
July 9, 2024
My First Substack Series
This thing took a shockingly long time to produce, especially considering that I had written the substance of it a few years ago. Tons of revisions, work on the narration, etc. I started to add a handful of funny memes to each post, but finally determined I just needed to pull the trigger on it.
I hope you enjoy it. As mentioned in the post below, TDE subscribers read free. Just take out a free subscription to Eric Scheske's Outside the Modern Limits Substack publication and I'll send you a one-year complimentary paid subscription.
July 8, 2024
July 6, 2024
Fifth of July
A lot of people aren't working today. Good for them. Today's BYCU: People are brewing ancient beers.
"Archival Brewing, a brewpub in Belmont, Mich., [focuses] on historical recreations like 19th-century Mexican lager . . . ".
Happy Fourth
The three audio embeds from this week at TDE, combined into one Spotify podcast
Cracked Me Up
Probably because I like to think I have this level of detachment
Substack
July 3, 2024
"Presidential hologram." Ho man. I couldn't stop laughing.
July 2, 2024
Morgan Marietta
July 1, 2024
On Fatty Bolger
I appreciate any effort to rescue the neglected noble: those little things that are good but nobody notices. It could be a person, it could be a garden.
June 29, 2024
June 28, 2024
BYCU
June 26, 2024
It's Out
Eric Scheske
Huge, Mega-Announcement
Two Reboots in One: The Substack page and the podcast are both poised to re-launch tonight. Details to follow.
Eric Scheske
June 25, 2024
June 24, 2024
The Return Eudemon
I'm just returning from a short vacation (extended weekend). Blogging is light and, I'm afraid, will remain light until late July due to a variety of family commitments.
Today, I continue to experiment with Substack and the Apple Notes feature. I'm afraid it's not going very well.
June 21, 2024
BYCU
June 20, 2024
June 19, 2024
On LARPing
This nascent essay needs work, but it's a decent blog post.
The essay could take a few directions.
E.g., Fantasy role-playing is fun, but now take your character into the real world. You're Kick-Ass, coming to beat that inner-city thug, only to find yourself on the cusp of getting throttled by him and his gang because, well, you're not a superhero. You're a white suburbanite who can't hang with hardened criminals from the hood. You're LARPing at playing a superhero, and you better leave that superhero where he belongs: in the fictional, play regions of your mind.
E.g., Thomas Sowell might be the best living public intellectual who adamantly refuses to let abstract ideals beat reality. (I've been working on a Sowell-Hemisphere essay for a year now . . . just so much to condense/capture . . . some day, some day.)
June 18, 2024
June 17, 2024
The Most Important War of Freedom Since 1776 Picks Up Steam
Tyler Durden
Neil Young is a Part-Time Conservative
Bill Kauffman says we simply need to give Young a mulligan on his Covid tantrum against Joe Rogan and Spotify. It conflicts with my idea of Neil Young, but I don't know nearly as much about Neil Young--or North American history, including cultural history, over the past 75 years--as Bill Kauffman, so I defer.
Politically, Young is nothing if not Whitmanesque, containing multitudes. Elliot Roberts, his late manager, explained: “Neil is more American than anyone, even though he’s Canadian….Neil’s an isolationist. I mean, if it were up to him, we’d have no foreign aid, we’d talk to no one, we’d really deal with no one else—‘If they can’t cut it, f— ‘em.’ Neil is extreme….One minute he’s a leftist Democrat, and the next minute he’s a conservative.”
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Father's Day Weekend
June 16, 2024
Substack
June 15, 2024
Experimental Feature
Bear with me as I figure out whether this is viable.
June 14, 2024
BYCU
Ted Diadiun, cleveland.com
June 13, 2024
Carlson on Ryan
I got through the Tucker Carlson's interview on the Shawn Ryan Show. It was nothing momentous. I'm glad I got a lot of garden weeding done while listening to it.
He didn't offer much more insight into aliens than he did on Joe Rogan: he thinks alien sightings are supernatural phenomenon that are here for dark purposes and there's possibly a supernatural war brewing. He seems to be saying, "the World War III being courted by poking Russia in the face is the manifestation on the natural level of the Supernatural World War that's taking place." That's kinda how I read him.
In any event, he emphasizes that he doesn't know and it's just a gut feeling, but one emanating from very solid evidence that the government is covering up. I remain agnostic.
The end of the interview, veers pretty strongly, if circumspectly, anti-Catholic. After a brief exchange about the priestly abuse scandal, Ryan left-hemispherically (dogmatically) insisted Christ's church isn't "brick and mortar," which I'm pretty sure is simply his metaphor for "an earthly institution." I suspect he used the metaphor instead of the literal because he didn't want to alienate any Catholic listeners. I hasten to add that I know nothing about Ryan except what I heard on this podcast, so it's entirely possibly I entirely misread him, but I doubt it.
Dreher at Substack
Rod Dreher publishes a diary at Substack. I read it for the first time this morning. It's very good and, it appears, free.
Keep in mind, Dreher left the Catholic Church, traumatized by the priestly abuse scandal (understandable) and justified by his conclusion that Catholic doctrine is wrong (I forget the specifics; I remember rolling my eyes and thinking he should've simply left off at the buggery . . . that woulda sufficed for me).
Anyway, on display is a dose of the anti-Catholic serum that flows through every former Catholic's veins. I think the serum is unavoidable because there's a broken metaphysic involved, but I'm obviously just concocting that notion in my head (I also hunch the same when it comes to couples who divorce even though the original marriage was valid). Regardless, the animus in the diary entry seems fair, just, and on display for a reason.
Rod Dreher
June 12, 2024
Abbreviated Blogging Continues
My apologies for the abbreviated posts lately. Summer is tough on everyone's time. On top of that, I've been working on a few lengthy essays for submission to various magazines.
June 11, 2024
Members Only
June 10, 2024
June 9, 2024
An Excerpt from the Second Substack I've Paid to Subscribe to
I'll listen to the referenced podcast soon.
The Far Right is Not What Threatens Europe Most
It is time that the European left grew up. Prattling on about Mussolini and Marshal Pétain is passé.
Voters have eyes and ears, they are aware of what has unfolded in Europe in recent months. It is not far-right students calling for the destruction of Israel; it was not members from Marine Le Pen’s party who were questioned by police on charges of “apology for [Hamas] terrorism;” it was not a right-wing Spanish member who tweeted soon after the October 7 attack: “Today and always with Palestine;” it was not a right -wing mayor in Brussels trying to prevent democratically elected politicians speaking at a conference because he objected to their views; it was not a Swedish right-wing member who recently attended a conference linked with Hamas.
Gavin Mortimer
June 7, 2024
BYCU
There's Always Something New Under the Drinking Sun
Today: artichoke liqueur. Yikes, but this writer adores the stuff.
Peter Suderman
June 6, 2024
Labor Costs Killing Asparagus in the Golden State
Cindy Carcamo
June 5, 2024
June 4, 2024
Science is Magic's Brother
Both toil in this valley of tears. One's just better at it than the other.
June 3, 2024
Postmodern Man Needs the Garden
It's for TDE members only. If you're not a member, consider it. My big project right now is to re-launch my Substack, with a short history series that will be available to paid subscribers only. TDE members will receive a free one-month subscription through the TDE newsletter (during that month, you can download the history series if you like them and cancel your subscription).
