Random thoughts, musings and things I think are interesting…
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Stuck in the middle
Sometimes I feel a bit like a man with no country. I refuse to pick a “side” for a variety of reasons, from the view that life is way more complex than can possibly be represented by two choices to the conviction that both “sides” are trapped in the same authoritarian box. For a time…
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Reading: exercise for the mind
If I am going to be a better thinker, I need to get better at reading. This is not a literacy issue. I can read and I do actually read quite a bit, but I know there is room for improvement. Specifically, I need to be more selective in what I read (without creating a…
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Declaration of purpose
My dear family, guess what? Today I found out what my special purpose is for. Gosh, what a great time I had. I wish the whole family could’ve been here with me. Maybe some other time as I intend to do this a lot. Every chance I get. I think next week I’ll be able…
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Help me open a door so I can step through
I need some help. I need a way to signal to you that when I disgree with you, it doesn’t mean I support the “other side”. I mean you no harm. I am open to a lengthy discussion to really work things out. I don’t look down on you or think you are less just…
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Parallels between the response to Islamic terrorism and the election
All analogies break down if you push them far enough. But they are still useful as a lens to understand things. So don’t try to push this one too far, but see if you can learn something from it. It seems to me that significant portions of the American population are engaging in discourse that…
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The day after
Well this is about to get interesting. There are a lot of bleary eyes and shocked expressions around me this morning. I can’t say I’ve seen any overt celebration in person (my Facebook feed is another story). Perhaps there are some that are secretly celebrating for their own reasons or perhaps it’s just the crowd…
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90 Second Book Review: The Myth of the State
I don’t consider myself a philosopher. I’m more of more a “fan of philosophy” to borrow a phrase from my favorite podcaster. I still have to look up the definition of meta-physics and epistemology. I am not sure of the difference off the top of my head between existentialism and positivism. But that doesn’t keep…
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Illuminating the idea of striving without clinging
I suppose it was inevitable as I made an attempt to get more serious about meditaton this year that I would get exposed to some Buddhist ideas. I haven’t sought them out (if anything I have tried to find a purly secular meditation approach), but as I said was probably impossible to avoid them entirely.…
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Maybe school isn't such a great network builder after all
I made a brief argument in my last post about higher education, that it used to be good at three things: building a social network, access to unique knowledge and provinding certification. I went on to point out that the first two had already been relplaced with things that do or soon will do a…