There’s a remote possibility that … Hang on. To assert that something is highly unlikely – for example that civilization as we know it will come to an end as a result of this Covid 19 pandemic – presupposes a whole lot of knowledge I do not in fact possess. At best I’m flapping my … Continue reading A WALK IN THE SUN
ONLY BAD PEOPLE ASK BAD QUESTIONS
I guess this is a case of in for a penny, in for a pound. How so? Because once one’s asked – as I have in an earlier post - how many lives have actually been saved once we include the autonomous effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, why stop there? Why not send a … Continue reading ONLY BAD PEOPLE ASK BAD QUESTIONS
SOME UNSOLICITED THEOLOGY FROM A SELF-CONFESSED ATHEIST
A being that wants for nothing wants nothing. That’s why it makes no sense to talk about the self-sufficiency of God. If there was nothing He felt was wanting He wouldn’t have bothered creating anything. But apparently He did. In fact the kind of world He created – including the kind of creatures He created … Continue reading SOME UNSOLICITED THEOLOGY FROM A SELF-CONFESSED ATHEIST
EYAM AND THE BLACK DEATH
One of the tropes going around is that the Covid 19 virus doesn’t care whether you’re Democrat or Republican, Christian or atheist, pro-Life or agin’ it, or whatever. But that’s not true. If you mock the draconian efforts being deployed to combat its contagion it will single you out. Were this not so – or … Continue reading EYAM AND THE BLACK DEATH
CHARLES DARWIN AND DAVID LEWIS
I’m not sure we needed Charles Darwin to alert us to this tautology: Things that persist over time do and things that don’t don’t. I’m not sure this explains anything, but yes, a Monarch butterfly keeps its markings over the course of its being a butterfly, the Earth revolves around the sun with remarkable regularity, … Continue reading CHARLES DARWIN AND DAVID LEWIS
TRUTHS THAT DON’T BEAR SAYING
When I die, and if I’m remembered at all, it’ll probably be as that misanthropic bastard who authored that scurrilous piece of shite entitled “A Defense of Terrorism.” Sound as it is, I won’t be remembered for the argument. Rather it’ll be for my utter insensitivity. For I pointed out - albeit only as an … Continue reading TRUTHS THAT DON’T BEAR SAYING
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
‘cuz you just might get it. Truer words may never be spoken if it turns out the coronavirus delivers on precisely what the environmental movement has been yearning for lo this last half century. In this one fell swoop that hope is for worldwide wholesale economic collapse and so a consequent dramatic reduction in greenhouse … Continue reading BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
WHAT DIDN’T KEEP TORQUEMADA UP AT NIGHT
We live in a bivalent three-dimensional world. There’s left and right, there’s up and down, and there’s forward and back. I say ‘bivalent’ because even if you’re only slightly to the left, or you’re feeling just a little bit down, or you’ve made only marginal progress towards losing weight, you’re to the left or down or … Continue reading WHAT DIDN’T KEEP TORQUEMADA UP AT NIGHT
TWO ODDITIES ABOUT SUFFERING AND DEATH
I’m pretty left-brain dominant. And if you find this exhausting, imagine what it’s like for me. So for some respite, for the both of us, here’s one of my rare right-brain moments. Oddity One: I found out the other day that a long-since retired but much-loved colleague had just passed away. He was well into … Continue reading TWO ODDITIES ABOUT SUFFERING AND DEATH
SAFE SPACES
I’m not sure that academia attracts heresy. Rather I suspect it’s tenure that generates it. In fact since we’re all, by definition, catholic, without the threat of hell – or in our case unemployment – we’d probably all think unclean thoughts. Some heretics become more notorious than others. Noam Chomsky and Jordan Peterson have made … Continue reading SAFE SPACES
