thinkness - May 2004 Archives

May 2004

funding fragmenting - In my diatribe about America's fracture psyche, I pinned some of the blame on the flight of intellectualism to the academic world, overspecialization of the academy, and academia's overall divorce from regular human endeavors. Interesting point about the mechanism by... Posted in thinking progress | 9 Trackbacks | 39 Comments
atlantic humor - "Mark Twain once said that comedy is British, wit is French and humor is American." I probably shouldn't be so charmed by pat generalizations like this. But I am. Still don't know how Jerry Lewis fits into this.... Posted in color , language | 0 Trackbacks | 23 Comments

high-low-first - The other day I looked up "primacy" in the dictionary, just to make sure I knew what was really going on. The first definition from American Heritage, via Dictionary.com: "The state of being first or foremost." You don't need to... Posted in language | 6 Trackbacks | 3 Comments
avert your eyes (sort of...) - Please, tolerant reader, bear with thinkness as it undergoes a superficial metamorphosis -- don't look at the design, but continue reading. (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...) Consider, as your eyes squeeze out tears of blood, that... Posted in | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments
the novelty of honesty - Okay, clever readers, tell me the connection between: John McCain, Google, and Colin Farrell. Give up? Of course you do. I have crushed your will. The answer: they have charmed the world and centered their personal-celebrity brands around a bracing,... Posted in | 0 Trackbacks | 33 Comments

God gave me mad bling - Chloe writes a good defense of the movie Troy. Pretty good at convincing me, although that may not have been that difficult, as I haven't seen the movie, and the trailer seemed plenty fun enough. One thing I like is... Posted in psychology & consciousness | 4 Trackbacks | 7 Comments
Fun With Fascism - Okay, it's been a long time, but thinkness is back in the saddle. Last week was just too busy, and this weekend pulled me to New Orleans for a bachelor party. I'm still alive, surprisingly, and ready return to blog... Posted in emergence , political currents | 7 Trackbacks | 28 Comments

Nice butt - That's not how they said it in Greece 2,500 years ago. They said 'callipygian,' meaning, 'having beautifully proportioned buttocks.' Thanks to Slate for pointing this out in their slideshow about casting the role of Helen of Troy.... Posted in language | 2 Trackbacks | 59 Comments

Osama bin Lenin - In a debate between Robert Novak and Niall Ferguson, Fergie says: The obvious answer [of how the US might make amends with Europe] is that continued terrorist activity by Islamist zealots should eventually convince the Europeans that Bush is right... Posted in political currents | 5 Trackbacks | 72 Comments

Disgusting monkey morality - A very interesting article by John Wilson in the Globe Ideas section looks at the benefits and costs of the feeling of disgust. William Ian Miller defends the morality of the emotion: Disgust is quite fallible as a moral guide,... Posted in color , language , monkey vs robot , psychology & consciousness | 1 Trackbacks | 66 Comments

Politics in a nutshell - Daniel Patrick Moynihan achieved thinkness' favorite combination of insight and smooth verbiage when he said, "The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics... Posted in color , language | 2 Trackbacks | 74 Comments
Lethal Literal - thinkness, you might think, is a pretty serious blog. Then how do you explain this: The Oprah show described with graphic detail a sexual term known as "tossing salad." It was so offensive that my child's head literally exploded. Please... Posted in the lethal literal | 9 Trackbacks | 24 Comments

"Real-world issues" - Ron Rosenbaum writes a very interesting story in the NYObserver about management-consultant bullshit taking over journalism. He says it may have created the atmostphere where USAToday star reporter Jack Kelley could print lies for a decade. The connection between management-consultanting... Posted in language | 2 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Bush the hippie - Bush: "There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern... I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people... Posted in | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments
What are you worth? - In our society, we go through long stretches pretending that a human life is worth more than anything else in the world. But if you look at something as mundane as the decision to drive a car (as opposed to,... Posted in psychology & consciousness | 3 Trackbacks | 7 Comments