Secondat

I'm drafting my thesis these days. I just completed a first-draft section on the English writing masters of the early-modern period. T...

An article in the Washington Post makes a point that should be obvious, but wasn't to me. The falling value of the US dollar makes life...

It's the birthday of Anita Loos. I most happily first made acquaintance with her in a paper my daughter wrote in high school. A Hollywo...

I've written before about how low interest rates have fueled consumption in the US and how, in turn, this consumption has helped countri...

Update: The outcome of surgery has been good so far. An article on Yahoo Sports says Davis Phinney experienced the expected immediate rel...

In his blog, Science and Reason, Charles Daney has a current post on Consciousness, free will, etc. . It deals with experiments that show o...

I'm ashamed for the nation, this nation, of which I am a citizen. Here, where I live, more than 3 percent of adults are either incarcer...

I've long been fond of Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels. She wrote for young adults intelligently, without condescension. Som...

Newspapers are reporting that China's currency has appreciated against the US dollar to the highest point since 1994. This pleases US p...

Earlier this week we spent our dinner hour watching Jonathan Demme's film, Jimmy Carter Man from Plains . It's a fine movie though ...

In last Sunday's Outlook Section, a Washington Post columnist made some of the same arguments about international finance which I made i...

E.J. Dionne Jr. helps to answer a question I've been asking myself lately. Long ago when I was young the Democratic Party was a coaliti...

About his win today Joost says, "Hier even een berichtje van mij. Het was vandaag een superdag. Ik had gehoopt om de tijdrit te winnen,...

Today Joost Posthuma won a major stage race, the Three Days of De Panne . He did this by placing high in the first three stages and acing ...

Time for an update on Joost Posthuma. You'll recall that he was hit by a car while on a training ride last summer. His injuries mended...

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post here on financial matters. In fact, though the US is in the midst of a meltdown and on the...