• Full Moon

    I hope you got to see it tonight. Or last night, if it's already morning where you are, or you're reading this some hours from now (I'm writing around 11pm, US Central Time). It's an absolutely beautiful night here, and I've been sitting by the moonlit water drinking bourbon. The temperature is pretty much perfect,…

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  • Those Mysterious Atheists (Reading the first draft of this, I noticed that I had been obliged to qualify the words “atheist” and “atheism” several times, so I decided it would make things simpler if I explained myself in the beginning: when I use the word “atheist” below, I don’t mean the casually atheistic and areligious…

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  • The first Scarlatti I ever heard was a collection played on the harpsichord by Wanda Landowska. And for a long time I didn’t want to hear his music played any other way. The truth is that I have never really loved the sound of the piano, in spite of all the great music that’s been…

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  • Pink Floyd: “Grantchester Meadows.” The funny thing about nostalgia is that you can have it for places and times that you didn’t actually experience. That was the way I felt when I first heard this ca. 1969. Then, hearing it again years later, I had that same feeling, plus the memory of the pleasure of…

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  • Weekend Music Video

    I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a pretty depressing week. In an attempt to escape I’m indulging myself in a bit of sentimental nostalgia, which I here share with you. It’s a little over two minutes long. Don’t adjust the volume until you’ve gotten past the screaming girls at the beginning. The album…

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  • I think I mentioned a few days ago that I had come across a very interesting essay bringing together the central insights of these two men, Polanyi’s “tacit knowledge” and Newman’s “illative sense.” At the time I hadn’t finished the essay, but now that I have I recommend it very strongly. I haven't read any…

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  • Agreeing to Pray

    Interesting bit from Wednesday’s meditation in Magnificat (Thursday is my Adoration night, and that’s when I catch up): It really isn’t up to us whether or not we’re going to pray, as though prayer were something we start. It’s up to us whether or not we’re going to agree to pray. Because prayer is going…

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  • Speaking of Rand

    The mention in comments earlier today of the recent Ayn Rand discussions (here and here) reminded me of something I ran across during those discussions and meant to link to, but never did. It’s an account by Michael Prescott, a former Objectivist, of why he was attracted to the philosophy in the first place, and…

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  • Memorable Song Titles

    In my daily or almost-daily perusal of the new arrivals at eMusic, I often come across some great song and album titles. Best of the week so far: “The Truth Hurts So This Should Be Painless”. Another favorite which I swear I saw once but now can’t find was something like: “Depression Brought On By…

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  • The First Beautiful Thing I Ever Saw I was at the home of my maternal grandparents. I was probably about four years old, maybe a bit older. Some of the men had been out duck hunting. Later when I was old enough to hunt, I found it mainly boring, and I didn’t like killing things.…

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