American soldiers are on the top shelf of humanity. They are your Gandhis, your Martin Luther Kings, your Immanuel Kants. They are as great as Rumi and Lao T'se. They invent things, write great novels and compose the world's greatest symphonies. They have PhDs from Harvard and Berkeley and Chapel Hill. They are the world's greatest healers. No one is smarter than an American Soldier. No one has a bigger heart.
On the other hand, there are always anomalies. As such there are also American soldiers who are the opposite of the above. Only recently did the military discuss lowering the standards and accepting drop-outs. Largely because of fact that people are less willing to walk into a fire (unless of course you are a Hero...who can also fly, stop time and so on) recruiters are accepting lower standards, thus, themselves, perpetuating the egregious lowering of standards. But the standards were sadly low from the top and beginning. It's what they call "trickle-down" or "drink this".
Kerry was stupid because, unlike the more clever George, he didn't simply say, when service called, ""Could you take care of this for me?", leave the task to willing dupes like the great Prince Albert Gore Vidal Sassoon, and his evil-twin Osama bin Franklin Roosevelt Greer Garson Kanin Abel Baruch...Sassoon, of course.
Limbaugh, on Cloud 1, claims to have not parodied Michael J. Fox.
Apparently he didn't realize that in becoming, temporarily, someone clearly superior in every way, Rush got to raise his Being significantly before having to go back inside the bowling alley bar of his Mammonical and selfish little life of Me, Me, Me.
I Ching say "Ego take wrong message and run wrong way."
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Monday, August 07, 2006
Loserman Paying for Kissing Bush Ass
I guess no one ever told Joe that if you pull on your face, it will become droopy. Or that if you pull on your pants and find your balls have undescended, it may be time to take a break from the Democratic Party, Stewards of Truth and Peace.
I sorta feel sorry for Joe, but lookit. Surely he has squirrel away some of that PAC money, and surely he can bask in former greatness. But, like Cokie Roberts, he is so yesterday. And his hindbrain support of the war is, well, embarrassing. Who removed this man's trendbone?
Ned Lamont is somewhat wooden, but at least he has a library at Harvard named after his family. Can't be too bad. Even has it's own Henry Moore!
Joe...an opposition party is a good thing. Especially when the opposition is so incompetent, backward, wrongheaded, bloodthirsty, greedy, mediocre, and Texan.
Bloggers bring you down? So sorry!
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Galbraith remembered as giant
After the service for John Kenneth Galbraith, Kitty Galbraith exits with the Rev. Professor Peter Gomes.
(Staff photo Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office)
People came from near and far to Harvard May 31 to pay tribute to a man who was probably the most famous as well as the tallest economist of the second half of the 20th century, John Kenneth Galbraith, who died April 29 at the age of 97.
Harvard Commencement Webcasts
Please note that these videos will not be active until the time of the event. If you are unable to tune in, you can find the archived videos online at the Harvard Commencement Web no later than June 9.
Class Day: Wednesday, June 7, 2-4 pm EST
Speaker: Comedian Seth MacFarlane
Commencement Morning Exercises: Thursday, June 8, 9-11:30 am EST
Commencement Afternoon Exercises: Thursday, June 8, 1:45-4:15 pm EST
Speaker: Commencement address by President Lawrence Summers, followed by Jim Lehrer, noted news anchor and novelist
Class Day: Wednesday, June 7, 2-4 pm EST
Speaker: Comedian Seth MacFarlane
Commencement Morning Exercises: Thursday, June 8, 9-11:30 am EST
Commencement Afternoon Exercises: Thursday, June 8, 1:45-4:15 pm EST
Speaker: Commencement address by President Lawrence Summers, followed by Jim Lehrer, noted news anchor and novelist
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Yale finally comes clean
Infamous university finally discovers the wonders of soap
"I think it's great that people have soap."
After centuries of unclean living, Yale University has now decided to change its stripes, and join the ranks of Harvard, Haverford and Chapel Hill -- centers of higher cleanliness. We predict, however, that the change will have a detrimental effect on their sports teams, since it was usually the smell which facilitated any victory that might happen along. Here's to clean learning!
"I think it's great that people have soap."
After centuries of unclean living, Yale University has now decided to change its stripes, and join the ranks of Harvard, Haverford and Chapel Hill -- centers of higher cleanliness. We predict, however, that the change will have a detrimental effect on their sports teams, since it was usually the smell which facilitated any victory that might happen along. Here's to clean learning!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
"Growth is Good" by J. "Bradfold" Delong
An economist's take on the moral consequences of material progress
[Note the prominent typo in his name.] :)
Blogger Brad DeLong, Harvard ’82, Ph.D. ’87, is professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, and is at work on “The Economic History of the Twentieth Century: Slouching towards Utopia?”
[Note the prominent typo in his name.] :)
Blogger Brad DeLong, Harvard ’82, Ph.D. ’87, is professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, and is at work on “The Economic History of the Twentieth Century: Slouching towards Utopia?”
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
The Disnification of Harvard Square
In its heyday, the Brattle offered Boston film buffs the best movie education in town. For many, it is still hard to recall scenes from Francois Truffaut's "400 Blows" or Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" or Humphrey Bogart's farewell to Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca" without thinking of the Brattle.
The Brattle Film Foundation, the nonprofit that has operated the theater since 2001, has launched a campaign to save the place by raising $400,000 before its lease runs out in February.
The last performance I saw at the Brattle was Spalding Gray performing Swimming to Cambodia. May the theater not suffer a similar fate...
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
MacArthur 'Genius' Grant awarded to Harvard's Sue Goldie
Sue Goldie
Physician, researcher applies decision science to global women's health
Public health researcher Sue Goldie, associate professor of health decision science at Harvard School of Public Health, has been awarded a $500,000 MacArthur grant "for genius and creativity" in applying the tools of decision science to evaluate the clinical benefits, public health impact, and cost-effectiveness of alternative preventive and treatment interventions for viruses that are major public health problems.
Goldie's faculty research page
Monday, July 11, 2005
The Ranking of World Universities
Education news & resources at the Times Higher Education Supplement 1
More from Wikipedia
The top 9 go like this: Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, Cal Tech, Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, Yale, and Princeton. Duke and Chapel Hill are on the list, but I don't recall seeing Bob Jones or Liberty. An oversight I suspect.
More from Wikipedia
The top 9 go like this: Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, Cal Tech, Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, Yale, and Princeton. Duke and Chapel Hill are on the list, but I don't recall seeing Bob Jones or Liberty. An oversight I suspect.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Harvard Commencement 2005
354th Harvard Commencement
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Dr. Emilio Lizardo to speak
to the monkeyboys and girls
Live video stream of Commencement events to begin at 9:00 am, Thursday, June 9. (Link will be made live prior to broadcast.)
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Dr. Emilio Lizardo to speak
to the monkeyboys and girls
Live video stream of Commencement events to begin at 9:00 am, Thursday, June 9. (Link will be made live prior to broadcast.)
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Charlotte/Matthews Bloggers meetup at Kaldi's Koffee House at &pm Saturday
Quality vs Quantity
Notes from our first meet-up!
When I walked into Kaldi's Blog Cafe, I could have been faced with a throng of angry young Hitlers...in which case I could have called the meeting a smashing success because of all the people who attended. But alas, it is quality, not quantity. So instead of a throng of screeching Hitlers, I got two young men, one of which I brought myself, and the other of whom wandered over to where my driver and I were eating quiche, pastries and fruit, and drinking Kaldi's high-octane house blend, and said, in English, "Is this the blog group"? That young man was Steve Dunn, of the Begging to Differ blog, and president of the Plaza-Midwood Association. The fellow I brought was Jack (Le Petit Jacques) of History of Time Travel.
As I had only posted the meeting 2 days before, I really didn't expect anyone to be there, except maybe Pam, whom I wanted to help with blogging. And so to even have one show up was a bit of a miracle. Steve himself said that he had only seen the announcement an hour or so earlier.
My first impression of Steve Dunn was that he could have been a twin brother of Jack my my dear friend, Rob Urban, with whom Jack and I like to party in Amsterdam, Paris, Manhattan, Charleston, and occasionally Charlotte. So when I blurred my vision, which is something we right-brainers like to do, I could imagine three old friends once again gathered...only the setting was more reminescent of the Harvard Club than the funky European haunts (although The Grand had some elegant spaces, and is highly recommended), and so to incorporate that image, I would have to blur Jack into, say Ken Phillips, and Ken, Rob and I had some great conversations at The Club, while Jack, even though his sister lives and teaches in Cambridge, never made it up to visit.
And so people are blurring left and right, and I'm thinking "this is some goood coffee"!
Unblurring my eyes, I began to see that Steve was not Rob, and Jack was not Ken, and I was not Clay Aiken. I was Sidney Poitier. A white Sidney Poitier. Well, off-white. Clinton-white. And Jack and Steve were having a discussion.
I finally finished wolfing down my food and joined in...
The discussion ranged from Sidebars, to Amsterdam, to bloggercons and meetups, and on to pedagogy; How and what does one need to teach when teaching blogging, and what are the best ways to effect that change?
My own vision is that we will grow a network of blogger meetups through our large county, and focus on teaching the teaching of blogging. In other words, we can teach people how to blog, and then teach them how to teach others how to blog. In this way, we can grow the Charlotte blogosphere in a most efficient manner, and, among other things, have a goodly number of bloggers with important things to convey when the September 17th BlogFest, BloggerCon, or whathaveyou comes to Charlotte.
One of the things we discussed was what I perceive to be a certain slowheadedness in Charlotte when it comes to innovation. Steve tended to disagree, but I am not sure what proff he could point to to show how fast we are. And I know that the folks in Greensboro and Chapel Hill will tend to back me up, as their blogosphere has evolved far beyond Charlotte's blogosphere, which, alas, it still largely inchoate. But Steve did make some good points in support of a fastheaded Charlotte, and when compared with, say, Gastonia or Marshville, he certainly has a point. But as I was discussing with Jack on our return home...we, in Cambridge, were discussing HDTV in 1980, while I never heard a peep about it here until, oh, the late '90s. And when I moved back to Charlotte, from Massachusetts, back in '96, having been on the Net for a couple of years...very few people had even heard of the Internet. Now the same applies to blogging.
I wish it were otherwise. But alas, Charlotte does not have a Harvard, an MIT, a BU or BC, a Brandeis, a Radcliffe or Wellesley...where the future is constantly being created. But some of the people in Boston would point to the West Coast, and that that there is where the future is actually being created. It is a relative thing, but take a drive out into the boonies, and you will see this relativity in practice.
And so a compromise is in order... Charlotte is in between Greensboro and Spartanburg...and I'm glad we are ahead of Spartanburg.
The Laws of Physics states that for every action there is a reaction, and so one comes to expect that no matter what one says, there will, sure as Physics, be a reaction, and often an opposing reaction. And, just as with Begging to Differ, there will be Thesis, Antithesis, and, occasionally, Synthesis. All to please Hegel, the comb-over philosopher.
But I digress...
Steve, it turns out, lives about 3 blocks from me, and so I suggested we find a closer place to have microlocal meetups...but we both agreed that Kaldi's is a good place to have them until that point where splinter groups are needed. Until that time, I hope to continue to meet and grow other meetups. As President of the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood Association, Steve could teach and organize those folks, and I can talk to the folks at the Commonweath-Morningside Neighborhood Association and get them involved.
John McBride is blogging for the Elizabeth neighborhood, so I will talk with him, and see if we can get our adjoining neighborhoods together on some projects as well. And where help is needed, help will go. At least as far as I am concerned.
I'd like to see what the folks in Dilworth, NODA and other areas of town are doing about it. Charlotte is so big, and such a car-dependent city, the notion of having a city-wide meetup for all time is simply impractical. This is what BloggerCons are for. But prior to that time, I hope to see a thousand pints of Lite springing up all over this county. We will need all the help we can get.
I am going to contact the good folks in Greensboro, Chapel Hill and Cambridge to learn not to reinvent the wheel, and to glean the good things they have already discovered.
If the Charlotte media is going to have an essential blackout of blogging, which seems to be the case, it will be up to bloggers themselves to spread the word. I am excited about the prospects.
Steve, Jack...thanks for coming out. It was a real pleasure, and I look forward to picking your ample and protean brains again very soon. And for those who may want to join us...don't worry if you don't have a laptop or even a computer. If you have one, you will be accommodated, but what is more important is simply your presence.
I didn't even bring pencil or paper. And your level of skill is also unimportant. If you are a seasoned blogger, you can help with the planning of the BloggerCon. If you are new, you can receive help on getting started. Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian, Progressive...it doesn't matter. This is about education, not culture war. All viewpoints are welcome.
Go Tarheels!
When: Saturday, April 2, 7:00 PM
Where: Kaldi's Koffee House, 157 N. Trade Street, Matthews, NC
What: Charlotte/Matthews Bloggers meetup
Notes from our first meet-up!
When I walked into Kaldi's Blog Cafe, I could have been faced with a throng of angry young Hitlers...in which case I could have called the meeting a smashing success because of all the people who attended. But alas, it is quality, not quantity. So instead of a throng of screeching Hitlers, I got two young men, one of which I brought myself, and the other of whom wandered over to where my driver and I were eating quiche, pastries and fruit, and drinking Kaldi's high-octane house blend, and said, in English, "Is this the blog group"? That young man was Steve Dunn, of the Begging to Differ blog, and president of the Plaza-Midwood Association. The fellow I brought was Jack (Le Petit Jacques) of History of Time Travel.
As I had only posted the meeting 2 days before, I really didn't expect anyone to be there, except maybe Pam, whom I wanted to help with blogging. And so to even have one show up was a bit of a miracle. Steve himself said that he had only seen the announcement an hour or so earlier.
My first impression of Steve Dunn was that he could have been a twin brother of Jack my my dear friend, Rob Urban, with whom Jack and I like to party in Amsterdam, Paris, Manhattan, Charleston, and occasionally Charlotte. So when I blurred my vision, which is something we right-brainers like to do, I could imagine three old friends once again gathered...only the setting was more reminescent of the Harvard Club than the funky European haunts (although The Grand had some elegant spaces, and is highly recommended), and so to incorporate that image, I would have to blur Jack into, say Ken Phillips, and Ken, Rob and I had some great conversations at The Club, while Jack, even though his sister lives and teaches in Cambridge, never made it up to visit.
And so people are blurring left and right, and I'm thinking "this is some goood coffee"!
Unblurring my eyes, I began to see that Steve was not Rob, and Jack was not Ken, and I was not Clay Aiken. I was Sidney Poitier. A white Sidney Poitier. Well, off-white. Clinton-white. And Jack and Steve were having a discussion.
I finally finished wolfing down my food and joined in...
The discussion ranged from Sidebars, to Amsterdam, to bloggercons and meetups, and on to pedagogy; How and what does one need to teach when teaching blogging, and what are the best ways to effect that change?
My own vision is that we will grow a network of blogger meetups through our large county, and focus on teaching the teaching of blogging. In other words, we can teach people how to blog, and then teach them how to teach others how to blog. In this way, we can grow the Charlotte blogosphere in a most efficient manner, and, among other things, have a goodly number of bloggers with important things to convey when the September 17th BlogFest, BloggerCon, or whathaveyou comes to Charlotte.
One of the things we discussed was what I perceive to be a certain slowheadedness in Charlotte when it comes to innovation. Steve tended to disagree, but I am not sure what proff he could point to to show how fast we are. And I know that the folks in Greensboro and Chapel Hill will tend to back me up, as their blogosphere has evolved far beyond Charlotte's blogosphere, which, alas, it still largely inchoate. But Steve did make some good points in support of a fastheaded Charlotte, and when compared with, say, Gastonia or Marshville, he certainly has a point. But as I was discussing with Jack on our return home...we, in Cambridge, were discussing HDTV in 1980, while I never heard a peep about it here until, oh, the late '90s. And when I moved back to Charlotte, from Massachusetts, back in '96, having been on the Net for a couple of years...very few people had even heard of the Internet. Now the same applies to blogging.
I wish it were otherwise. But alas, Charlotte does not have a Harvard, an MIT, a BU or BC, a Brandeis, a Radcliffe or Wellesley...where the future is constantly being created. But some of the people in Boston would point to the West Coast, and that that there is where the future is actually being created. It is a relative thing, but take a drive out into the boonies, and you will see this relativity in practice.
And so a compromise is in order... Charlotte is in between Greensboro and Spartanburg...and I'm glad we are ahead of Spartanburg.
The Laws of Physics states that for every action there is a reaction, and so one comes to expect that no matter what one says, there will, sure as Physics, be a reaction, and often an opposing reaction. And, just as with Begging to Differ, there will be Thesis, Antithesis, and, occasionally, Synthesis. All to please Hegel, the comb-over philosopher.
But I digress...
Steve, it turns out, lives about 3 blocks from me, and so I suggested we find a closer place to have microlocal meetups...but we both agreed that Kaldi's is a good place to have them until that point where splinter groups are needed. Until that time, I hope to continue to meet and grow other meetups. As President of the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood Association, Steve could teach and organize those folks, and I can talk to the folks at the Commonweath-Morningside Neighborhood Association and get them involved.
John McBride is blogging for the Elizabeth neighborhood, so I will talk with him, and see if we can get our adjoining neighborhoods together on some projects as well. And where help is needed, help will go. At least as far as I am concerned.
I'd like to see what the folks in Dilworth, NODA and other areas of town are doing about it. Charlotte is so big, and such a car-dependent city, the notion of having a city-wide meetup for all time is simply impractical. This is what BloggerCons are for. But prior to that time, I hope to see a thousand pints of Lite springing up all over this county. We will need all the help we can get.
I am going to contact the good folks in Greensboro, Chapel Hill and Cambridge to learn not to reinvent the wheel, and to glean the good things they have already discovered.
If the Charlotte media is going to have an essential blackout of blogging, which seems to be the case, it will be up to bloggers themselves to spread the word. I am excited about the prospects.
Steve, Jack...thanks for coming out. It was a real pleasure, and I look forward to picking your ample and protean brains again very soon. And for those who may want to join us...don't worry if you don't have a laptop or even a computer. If you have one, you will be accommodated, but what is more important is simply your presence.
I didn't even bring pencil or paper. And your level of skill is also unimportant. If you are a seasoned blogger, you can help with the planning of the BloggerCon. If you are new, you can receive help on getting started. Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian, Progressive...it doesn't matter. This is about education, not culture war. All viewpoints are welcome.
Go Tarheels!
When: Saturday, April 2, 7:00 PM
Where: Kaldi's Koffee House, 157 N. Trade Street, Matthews, NC
What: Charlotte/Matthews Bloggers meetup
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Black Mountain Poet, Robert Creeley, has died
from Psychedelic 60s: The Black Mountain Poets
Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, Robert Creeley attended Harvard but dropped out before taking his degree. After living in the south of France in Aix-en-Provence and in majorca, Spain, where he founded the Divers Press, he joined teh faculty of Black Mountain College in 1954 at the invitation of Charles Olson. There he founded the Black Mountain Review. While Creeley left the college itself in 1955, his influence on Black Mountain poetics has been significant. Associated with the State University of New York at Buffalo since 1966, he was named poet laureat of the state of New York in 1992.
excerpt:
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN College began as an experimental school in 1933 and was located in a rural mountain community in North Carolina. Various avant-garde poets were drawn to the school through the years, most notably Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Denise Levertov, Jonathan Williams, and Robert Creeley. Robert Creeley was hired to teach and to edit the Black Mountain Review in 1955, and when he left two years later for San Francisco, he became the link between the Black Mountain poets, the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, and through Allen Ginsberg the Beat writers of Greenwich Village. A partial list of contributors to Volume 7 of the Black Mountain Review (the last issue) shows the connection between the three groups and the influence they had on each other Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, and Jonathan Williams.
Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, Robert Creeley attended Harvard but dropped out before taking his degree. After living in the south of France in Aix-en-Provence and in majorca, Spain, where he founded the Divers Press, he joined teh faculty of Black Mountain College in 1954 at the invitation of Charles Olson. There he founded the Black Mountain Review. While Creeley left the college itself in 1955, his influence on Black Mountain poetics has been significant. Associated with the State University of New York at Buffalo since 1966, he was named poet laureat of the state of New York in 1992.
excerpt:
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN College began as an experimental school in 1933 and was located in a rural mountain community in North Carolina. Various avant-garde poets were drawn to the school through the years, most notably Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Denise Levertov, Jonathan Williams, and Robert Creeley. Robert Creeley was hired to teach and to edit the Black Mountain Review in 1955, and when he left two years later for San Francisco, he became the link between the Black Mountain poets, the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, and through Allen Ginsberg the Beat writers of Greenwich Village. A partial list of contributors to Volume 7 of the Black Mountain Review (the last issue) shows the connection between the three groups and the influence they had on each other Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, and Jonathan Williams.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Massive link dump
These are imported from an older anonymoses.
1-Click BlogRolling4ad RecordsAlchemy JournalAlt.MuslimAmerican ProspectAmpersandAmphetadeskAndrew NorthrumanonyMosesAntiwarmonger
ApostropherArts and Letters DailyAstronomy Picture of the DayBaghdad BurningBartcopBegging to DifferBig Sur TapesBlog of Collective IntelligenceBlog RevolutionBlogdex
BloggerBlogistanBlogpulseBlogs at Harvard LawBlogskinsBlogspotBlosxomBoilingPointBoing BoingBookslut, The
Brad DeLongBringthemhomenow.orgBuzzflashCafePressCharlotte.comChristopher LydonCitiesForPeaceCol. David HackworthConblog-The IndepunditConsortium News
CounterspinCrisisPapersCrooked TimberCultural CreativesCultural Elite, TheCyberjournalist.netDaily Brew, TheDaily KosDaily Rant, TheDalkey Archives
Dave BarryDave WinerDaypopDem UndergroundDemocrats.comDesultorDoc SearleDonkeyRisingDreamvirus JournalE-ThePeople
Ed ConeEFFEsther DysonExitZeroFacets MultimediaFastPoliticsFinnegans Wake ConcordexFirst StoneFlorida BlogFreethinker's Page
Glenn ReynoldsGreat American SpeechesGreyMatterGuardian UKHack the PlanetHarvard Political ReviewIddybudIn These TimesIncendiary IntrospectionIndy Media
International Sentinel, TheJim HightowerJohn SuggJuan ColeLabyrinth (Medieval resources)LeanLeftLeft is RightLefty Directory, TheLegitGovLiberalSlant
Literary KicksLive JournalLucy PerkinsMadKaneMadKaneMahablogMaureen DowdMaxSpeakMedia MattersMedia Revolution
MediaBurnMedieval Mayhem by SkelligsravenMeerkatMichael MooreMilly IvensMitch KaporMore from HarvardMother JonesMovable TypeMWO
Mystic Fire VideoNatalie DavisNative American Raven LoreNews is FreeNIONNION - signersNorth Carolina Experiment, TheNorth State BlogsOJROnion
Online JournalOxblogOxford Democracy ForumOxytocinPaidContentPBS OnlinePerfunctoryPeter MerholzPhilip GreenspunPlucky
PopdexProject CensoredPublished.comRadio UserlandRaptorMagicRaw StoryRebecca's PocketRobert Anton WilsonRSSifyToolRumi
Salam PaxSalonSecond-Class CitizenSisyphus ShruggedSkippy the Bush KangarooSlactivistSlashSlateStand DownSyndic8
Take Back the MediaThe NationThe Rational Liberalthinking while typingTom BurkaTom TomorrowTomPaineTroubleTicketsTrueMajorityTruthOut
UK Guradian WeblogUK Parliament on the WebUnanswered Questions 911Utne OnlineVillage Voicew.bloggarWallace StevensWanted: A Vast Left-Wing ConspiracyWeblogs.comWhiskeyBar's List o' Lies
Who's Who in MysticismWintermuteZ-NetZope
Broken TrainWeblog Against WarOxytocinPeace BlogsLEFT is RIGHTAlternative Online News OutletsEatonweb/NCDU BlogsThe Rodent's BurrowCentrifugalForceOmega Point 2012
salonified blogsThese are some of the blogs recommended by readers of TableTalk at Salon.com.
AgonistArmedLiberalBeetleSympathyBillmonT.Bogg
CalpunditCitizenCitesClaremont Weblog
Command-ostCounterspinBarryCrimminsCursorDailyKosDearRaed
DigbysblogDisgustedLiberalEhrensteinland
FailureIsImpossibleTheGrandOldPartyHermesPress Insurrection
JaneGaltJubileeIraqTheLeftCoaster
LetterFromGothamLiberalOasisLinkPopularity
LyingSocialistWeaselsMainstreamListMajorBarbaraJ.Marshall
MaxspeakMingReportMyPhDNathanNewman
NewLeftBlogsNuisanceNealPollackQuasipunditRittenhouseRogerAiles
SalonBlogSDSessionsSDPP.orgRobertScheerSkyeDreams
WealthBondageWorldCrossing/WebX
Conservablogs: American Prowler Thomas Sowell Walter Williams Best of the Web InstaPundit DailyPundit Andrew Sullivan Zonitics Croooow Blog Regions of Mind The Daily Rant Indepundit Minor Groove Poor and Stupid C-Log VodkaPundit Lileks Jim Miller Virginia Postrel USS Clueless Cut on the Bias Protein Wisdom Man Without Qualities Insolvent Republic of Blogistan Midwest Conservative Journal Blissful Knowledge Hokie Pundit Coyote at the Dog Show Cranky Professor MWO Watch LeftWatch John Ellis Craig Schamp Volokh Conspiracy Blogs of War Campus Nonsense Little Green Footballs Bjorn Staerk Tim Blair Happy Fun Pundit OxBlog Right Wing News HawkGirl La Blogatrice Education Weak Daimnation! The Razor's Edge Blogs of War Bo Cowgill broc7 Bucket o' Rants Ben Fischer Hoystory Media Minded Rodger Schultz Jane Galt Truth Bomb Gut Rumbles Pejman Samizdata A.I. Rottweiler Big S Blog Accuracy in Academia Amateur Economist Great Questions of Economics EconoBlog Whigging Out More Than Zero North Georgia Dogma Random Thoughts Brothers Judd Safety Valve Silfray Hraka Possumblog Belligerent Bunny Site Essential Vermont Reactionary Light of Reason Natalie Solent Red Letter Day N.Z. Bear Shark Blog Recovering Liberal Overtaken Adventures in Bureaucracy Jeff Jarvis Spoons Experience Opinions Galore Power Line
NOTABLE AUTHORSChinua Achebe Alfred Alcorn Martin Amis Donald Antrim John Barth Donald Barthelme Richard Bass Hugo Adam Bedau Alexandra Boris David Bowman Susie Bright John Cage Ethan Canin Noam Chomsky Robert Coover Guy Davenport Philip K. Dick Brian Eno Jeffrey Eugenides Karen Joy Fowler Robert Fripp William Gass William Gaddis William Gibson dgk goldberg Peter Gomes Alan Gurganus Jim Harrison Alan Hollinghurst Nick Hornby Danilo Kis Milan Kundera Elmore Leonard Lynn Margulis Armistead Maupin Cormac McCarthy Jonathan McVity China Mieville Rick Moody Flann O'Brien Ben Okri Tom Robbins Dori Sanders Sam Shepard Todd Siler Lee Smith Terry Southern Neal Stephenson Bruce Sterling Alexander Theroux Frederick Tuten Earl Thompson William T. Vollman David Foster Wallace Robert Anton Wilson
Sadly the links are through the Wayback Machine.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Personal pain, national character
Dr. Arthur Kleinman
Kleinman shows how individual travails reveal a society
via Harvard Gazette
I remember my first class with Dr. Kleinman. I was class shopping as was the rage back in the '80s, and his Medical Anthropology class description made me curious enough to give it a try.
When he first walked into the room, I felt a strange heat on the right side of my face, but didn't give it much thought, until, upon introducing himself, he asked if anyone felt the right side of their face heat up earlier.
Shopping done. I shall see what this mystical man had to impart.
I know some people who have completely flushed their teachers and professors out of their minds. For some, they were never present to begin with. Class was simply a thing be gotten through, collect the grade, thank you very much.
I was not one of these people. And often, I will write down the names of every teacher I have ever had, even Kindergarten...where Mrs. Cora Lee Sykes, bless her soul, would do things like sit us in a circle, and teach us the art of conversation. Or have us stand up before the class and show-and-tell about some interesting thing we had learned.
She brought a churn and a chicken into the classroom (whew!) and we made butter and saw an egg being brought to bear. And although not a very worldly woman, she loved us, and taught us the things she knew about.
Dr. Kleinman knew about some very interesting things, and funneled these various streams of knowledge through his diamond-sifter mind. An Anthropologist, a psychiatrist and an MD, who spent years studying Chinese medicine and culture, as well as our own, he was able to span the continents and synthesize a global understanding quite rare among blokes. And I got to peel off a cheeseparing.
If you are a student, and are unhappy with your teachers...seek out better ones. As Balthasar Gracian wisely counsels: Know the great minds of your time. Spend as much time researching your professors as you do classes, and you might make yourself happier and wiser.
If you happen to be interested in Social Suffering, Chinese Medicine, Medical Anthropology, Doctor-Patient dialog, Healers in the context of culture, hypnotism, and the like...you could do worse than reading his works, which are at most online booksellers.
Kleinman receives Doubleday Award
About Arthur Kleinman
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Harvard Presidents Throughout History
Harvard Gazette
I had the good fortune of taking a class given by the wondrous Peter Gomes on the history of Harvard, which turned out to be also a history of universities, and many were the delightful boluses of pregnant information as Learning marched forever onward. Well, I say "forever". I really mean "in fits and starts".
The first president of Harvard, was a bit of a kook, and had no idea what his institution would become. His wife served the boys a stew made of things better served flushed, and he was chased out of the country and hunted like a dog. Little did he know that he would be the first head of what would become the first corporation in the western hemisphere, and the first college or university to boldly say they had the right to confer degrees, thus paving the way for every other college and university in America, when, in 1693, President Mather said: 'The General Court of Massachusetts, the Governor, Council, and people of New England have named and established Harvard College as a University (academia), with authority to confer degrees, in the manner of the English Universities.'
There have been many presidents since Dunster, most a good deal better. Hard not to be, really, unless your name is LARRY SUMMERS. (Just kidding!) I just think it is a style issue, but I will get to that in a minute.
Things seemed to pick up a bit when President Eliot took the reins...he and his wall of books. He, who was more popular than the President of the United States. He who determined to lure the best minds in the world to Cambridge, and thus make Harvard a national treasure.
President Rudenstine
Book learning alone might be got by lectures and reading; but it was only by studying and disputing, eating and drinking, playing and praying as members of the same collegiate community, in close and constant association with each other and with their tutors, that the priceless gift of character could be imparted.
—Samuel Eliot Morison, The Founding of Harvard College
Then came Lowell, who widened and enclosed the institution, by making it more of a university, AND more of a college. He also opened the doors to common folk.
His vision of creating colleges, or Houses in the English model, where students could live together, guided by wise mentors, and work on developing their character as well as their minds was not lost on the presidents, who seemed to embody a gentle style of tolerant, genuine curiosity -- a style which invites discussion in a way that pain nor shock would seem appropriate. And yet that tradition may be on pause, while President Summers re-reads his histories.
Surely it is not because he is an MIT man, rather than the typical Harvard, Princeton or Oxford man, occupying the post. Surely it is not some stunt, like the huge MIT banner rising from the Harvard-Yale game.
Go back, and read the lives of Eliot, Lowell, Bok, Rudenstine, but also read Dunster.
There is a pattern, an evolution, an evolving style. And arrogance is a disease, not something you wear like a stole.
You are a smart man. But we are more than heads. We are also more than Math and Science, even if MIT may have led you to believe otherwise.
Why are not more men in chorus? If everyone sang there would be a chance of peace. A window. And where is all this Math and Science taking us? Better bombs? Better chemical weapons? Advanced forms of Death?
Considering so much of what it goes toward, I don't see why more people don't simply walk away from it. No need to say that some haven't the aptitude, when the attitude become the problem. I am reminded of the "Gays in the Military" "issue". Why would gays, or anyone, want to go into the military in the first place? I thought the idea was to "ride the right horse", and if one takes you where you don't want to go, then refuses to bring you back...what kind of horse is that?
And so it comes down to horses. Don't be a horse's arse.
End of transmission.
[Correction: Nathaniel Eaton was the first president, but Dunster was the first in a continuous line. The "Lost Colony" of Harvard Presidents. And it was he whose wife served up the poop, and was run out of the country. He wound up dying in debtor prison. Dunster was only run out of the colony of Massachusetts. Can't believe I forgot that after only 20 years! ]
I had the good fortune of taking a class given by the wondrous Peter Gomes on the history of Harvard, which turned out to be also a history of universities, and many were the delightful boluses of pregnant information as Learning marched forever onward. Well, I say "forever". I really mean "in fits and starts".
The first president of Harvard, was a bit of a kook, and had no idea what his institution would become. His wife served the boys a stew made of things better served flushed, and he was chased out of the country and hunted like a dog. Little did he know that he would be the first head of what would become the first corporation in the western hemisphere, and the first college or university to boldly say they had the right to confer degrees, thus paving the way for every other college and university in America, when, in 1693, President Mather said: 'The General Court of Massachusetts, the Governor, Council, and people of New England have named and established Harvard College as a University (academia), with authority to confer degrees, in the manner of the English Universities.'
There have been many presidents since Dunster, most a good deal better. Hard not to be, really, unless your name is LARRY SUMMERS. (Just kidding!) I just think it is a style issue, but I will get to that in a minute.
Things seemed to pick up a bit when President Eliot took the reins...he and his wall of books. He, who was more popular than the President of the United States. He who determined to lure the best minds in the world to Cambridge, and thus make Harvard a national treasure.
President Rudenstine
Book learning alone might be got by lectures and reading; but it was only by studying and disputing, eating and drinking, playing and praying as members of the same collegiate community, in close and constant association with each other and with their tutors, that the priceless gift of character could be imparted.
—Samuel Eliot Morison, The Founding of Harvard College
Then came Lowell, who widened and enclosed the institution, by making it more of a university, AND more of a college. He also opened the doors to common folk.
His vision of creating colleges, or Houses in the English model, where students could live together, guided by wise mentors, and work on developing their character as well as their minds was not lost on the presidents, who seemed to embody a gentle style of tolerant, genuine curiosity -- a style which invites discussion in a way that pain nor shock would seem appropriate. And yet that tradition may be on pause, while President Summers re-reads his histories.
Surely it is not because he is an MIT man, rather than the typical Harvard, Princeton or Oxford man, occupying the post. Surely it is not some stunt, like the huge MIT banner rising from the Harvard-Yale game.
Go back, and read the lives of Eliot, Lowell, Bok, Rudenstine, but also read Dunster.
There is a pattern, an evolution, an evolving style. And arrogance is a disease, not something you wear like a stole.
You are a smart man. But we are more than heads. We are also more than Math and Science, even if MIT may have led you to believe otherwise.
Why are not more men in chorus? If everyone sang there would be a chance of peace. A window. And where is all this Math and Science taking us? Better bombs? Better chemical weapons? Advanced forms of Death?
Considering so much of what it goes toward, I don't see why more people don't simply walk away from it. No need to say that some haven't the aptitude, when the attitude become the problem. I am reminded of the "Gays in the Military" "issue". Why would gays, or anyone, want to go into the military in the first place? I thought the idea was to "ride the right horse", and if one takes you where you don't want to go, then refuses to bring you back...what kind of horse is that?
And so it comes down to horses. Don't be a horse's arse.
End of transmission.
[Correction: Nathaniel Eaton was the first president, but Dunster was the first in a continuous line. The "Lost Colony" of Harvard Presidents. And it was he whose wife served up the poop, and was run out of the country. He wound up dying in debtor prison. Dunster was only run out of the colony of Massachusetts. Can't believe I forgot that after only 20 years! ]
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