Daily Archives: January 16, 2010

Harper’s Index Has Been Catalogued, and is Now a Searchable Data Base!

How cool is this? Harper’s Magazine has made its popular Index searchable! You can now go to the Harper’s Index page here, type in, say, “evolution” or “Walt Whitman,” and find suprising and curious little stats about them. Sometimes you might even … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Martha Coakley for Senate!

Health care reform sinks if she doesn’t win. Democrats in Massachusetts better get their vote out. A loss would send an unmistakable signal to the far right that their nihilism and hysterical hyperventilating is rewarded, and pays off at the polls. The … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why I Oppose the American Tea Party Movement

I cannot offer anything but resistance to so reactionary and ridiculous a movement. I know that there are some people in a thrall to its libertarian elements, and if that was all that was going on with the Tea Party … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Hazel Barnes on the Meaning of Life

In her essay “Greek Tragicomedy” (1964), I think that University of Colorado existentialist philosopher Hazel Barnes summed up human existence rather nicely in just a couple of sentences: [M]an’s imaginative reach transcends his actual capabilities. The goal he attains is never quite the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment