APRIL “Lawnmowers and $40 nachos“ Sharing, whether out of neighborliness or by contract, requires all sides to be magnanimous, generous and deferential. Or, in other words, the arrangement would only be worth the potential savings if nobody was a jerk — if nobody was the sort of advantage-seeking jackwagon who never refills the gas can or who tries to get others to pay more than a fair share of maintenance costs. If people insist on being jerks, then sharing can’t... Read more
The end of December is a good excuse for highlighting some notable posts from earlier in the year. Let’s revisit, rehash, reheat and re-serve a couple from each month. JANUARY “Don’t you know that you can count me out“ By pretending to believe that America is on the verge of collapse into a totalitarian tyranny, they can pretend to themselves that they are the vanguard of a courageous resistance. The Red Dawn fantasy isn’t all that different from any other... Read more
I was excited to see the trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit. And now that I’ve seen the trailer, I’m excited to see the movie. From the title of the film, we see that Jackson is sticking with J.R.R. Tolkien’s invented term for Bilbo Baggins and his people. As Tolkien wrote: Hobbit is an invention. In the Westron the word used, when this people was referred to at all, was banakil “halfling.” But at this date the folk of the... Read more
“Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven Has Come Near,” Richard Beck writes, noting that we bring all kinds of baggage to that word “repent.” Beck wants us to liberate ourselves of that baggage — along with our other baggage, literal and figurative: When people ask “What must I do to be saved?” Christians don’t, as a rule, say things like “If you have two shirts give one to the poor.” We don’t see that action — giving away excess possessions —... Read more
Noah Smith’s post, “The liberty of local bullies,” does a good job describing the inadequacy of contemporary libertarian ideology. The modern American libertarian ideology does not deal with the issue of local bullies. In the world envisioned by Nozick, Hayek, Rand, and other foundational thinkers of the movement, there are only two levels to society — the government (the “big bully”) and the individual. If your freedom is not being taken away by the biggest bully that exists, your freedom... Read more
Back when I still worked in a fully staffed newsroom — back when there still was such a thing as a fully staffed newsroom — we had a rule for the holidays. Once per year we would allow one headline beginning “‘Tis the Season …” and one beginning, “Yes, Virginia …” But only one per year. And that was probably still one too many. The “Yes, Virginia …” headline still seems irresistible, with about 500 recent examples in Google News,... Read more
John Hodgman, “That Is All“ I know better now than ever that wealth deranges. It disconnects you from the world. It inflates your self-regard. It allows you to believe that four people congratulating you at your country club makes you a goddamn hero of America. And it leads you to say things like former banker John A. Allison said in the article linked: “Instead of an attack on the 1 percent, let’s call it an attack on the very productive.”... Read more
Lilit Marcus: “Florence, The Machine, Faith, and Me (Part 1) (Part 2)” Florence Welch’s brand of majestic tribal-pop “secular gospel,” or what Tom Ewing refers to as “Big Music” in his recent and excellent look at post-U2 stadium rock for Pitchfork, has so many parallels to evangelical worship music. Take for example the track “Spectrum” on Ceremonials, with its language of deliverance (“and we will never be afraid again”); its soaring chorus and hushed middle eight; the vernacular of “light,”... Read more
Luke 2:8-14 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,... Read more
It’s Christmas Eve, babe … Read more
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