Why has the Administration of George W. Bush made so many enemies? It comes from an early intellectual decision to view the world in terms of Good versus Evil. This article in by Glenn Greenwald sums it up nicely. Efforts to impose limits on waging war against Evil will themselves be seen as…
If you Google “Paris Hilton Jail” you’ll get 15 million hits. If you Google “Downing Street Memo” you'll get only 800,000 hits. A terrifying real-world topic, “Greenland ice sheet,” will only return 900,000 hits. I suppose it’s because there are no videos of memos or glaciers having sex. What brought…
Ebonmuse looks closely at the religious trends at Daylight Atheism. The recent rates of growth/decline are especially interesting. It turns out that the fast growing "religion" is secularlism. I have to wonder how much more quickly attitudes would change (away from systems involving supernatural claims) if the mainstream media would stop walking on…
I am cynical about the day called Father’s Day. For most of my life, I have seen it as yet another store-sponsored holiday. America traditionally “celebrates” Father’s Day by buying trinkets from a store. I can’t think of a better way to degrade any occasion.
Father’s Day has become something much more meaningful to me since I became a father, but it is not about receiving trinkets bought at stores. I write this fully aware that there are other, more comprehensive, ways of interpreting the trinkets.
What is it to be a father? Like most things in life, being a father is not about being brilliant. It’s mostly about pacing yourself. It’s about staying reasonably focused over the long-haul. It’s about dealing with fatigue. It’s been about repeatedly saying “no” to one’s momentary desires in order to accomplish something much more important in the long run.
I envisioned this blog to be a place for ideas. For that reason, I’ve minimized revealing much information about my family. It’s not that I’m not crazy about my family. I am. I adore my wife and children. It’s just that I’ve tried to respect their privacy. Then again, writing about events from six years ago doesn’t quite seem quite so invasive. Therefore, I’m using this post about my real life children to illustrate the idea of parenthood.
It is true that being a father is about bringing home a paycheck to feed and clothes little children. Therefore, being a father can sometimes …
Main Entry: ad•dic•tion Pronunciation: &-'dik-sh&n, a- Function: noun 1 : the quality or state of being addicted 2 : compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a…