Monthly Archives: October 2012

Now isn’t this a telling observation: Sovietization was never simply about political institutions or social structures. Young communist cadres absorbed from their teachers the thinking of a new civilization, where anything not under the party’s control was suspicious, probably hostile. … Continue reading →

I could listen to this for hours… UPDATE:  Congratulations!  You have just earned an extra 3:46 of civilization!

Well it’s semi-official. Virginia is now in play according to the staunchest of Democratic analytic methods as the polls tighten over the Romney debate performance and a higher degree of scrutiny over national polling data. From Sabato’s Crystal Ball: Notice … Continue reading →

Huh. Since scientific knowledge is still growing by a factor of ten every 50 years, it should not be surprising that lots of facts people learned in school and universities have been overturned and are now out of date. But … Continue reading →

I will be the first to proudly admit this.  I own a fountain pen, and I am damn proud of it. …and I wish I had paid more attention to handwriting class at Montfort Academy: For each of us, the … Continue reading →

Patrick Deneen writes about “the philosopher despot” Allan Bloom: While I continue to learn much from Bloom, over the years I have arrived at three main judgments about the book’s relevance, its prescience, and its failings. First, Bloom was right … Continue reading →

…it’s chess: Naturally, beauty in chess is not the exclusive property of those who break with convention; but I have struggled to find any game of Duchamp which could be described as truly beautiful. This may partly be because he … Continue reading →

Great article from The Atlantic on the failure of modern education to teach students how to communicate: Hampden-Sydney College is one of four or, depending on how one counts, five liberal arts colleges for men in the country, and teaching … Continue reading →

Great piece from The New Republic on the last dying gasps of Ba’athism in the wake of the Arab Spring: Baathism, then, the original idea from 1943, was an anti-colonial and pan-Arabist doctrine, not unwilling to ally with the Axis. … Continue reading →