Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Etc.
Jul 23rd, 2008 by Micah Tillman
I just have to say one thing:
Obama’s graphic design people are geniuses. (Check out Patrick Ruffini’s collection.)
They never cease to amaze me.
UPDATE: Walmart’s new logo is terrible.
Jul 22nd, 2008 by Micah Tillman
No. 1
Song: “I Am a Promise” (by Bill and Gloria Gaither? See also here)
From: Sunday School
“I am a promise / I am a possibility / I am a promise / With a capital P / I am a great big bundle of / potentiality . . . .”
Comment:
I found myself inexplicably singing this again, as I often do. It’s one of the ones that periodically gets stuck in my head.
So I went looking for who wrote it.
You can listen to the VeggieTales version here, since Tera Christianson evidently gets the song stuck in her head too (and wants to help you catch the same problem :-)
Jul 22nd, 2008 by Micah Tillman
Due to some adventures The Wife and I have had over the past couple days, I am once again reminded that I shouldn’t be so worried about “determinism” whenever I hear some person or other compare the human brain with a computer.
If you’ve ever dealt with computers (which you have, or else you wouldn’t be reading this; unless someone thought this was such a great post, she or he printed it up and gave it to you in paper form), you know the things are nigh on unpredictable.
____
Of course, something’s being “determined” and it’s being “predictable” are not the same thing. But as the word “determinism” is usually used, the latter follows from the former.
And usually “determinism” is used in the sense of “physical determinism.” Even I wouldn’t have any problem with a kind of “spiritual” or “volitional” determinism (e.g., “My soul/will determines my acts.”)
____
I give my first summer lecture on St. Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will (De Libero Arbitrio) tomorrow, where such issues will be particularly relevant.
(Notice the ambiguity of that last statement. Will my lecture tomorrow be my first summer lecture, and also be on St. Augustine? Or will it be the first of my lectures on Augustine, but not necessarily the first of my summer lectures? Yay English!)
Jul 20th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
[ Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3 | Vol. 4 | Etc. ]
Joss Whedon continues to be a genius. Seems to run in the family, in fact (his brothers appear to have worked with him on this one).
It’s a musical, and today may be the last day you can watch it for free online.
Neil Patrick Harris does a fantabulous job as Dr. Horrible, and the songs are really good.
The Thin Man Movies
There are six (here, here, here, here, here, and here), though the first three are probably the best. They were the ones whose stories Dashiell Hammett actually wrote.
Comedic film noir, in a way.
Nick and Nora’s relationship is hilarious — and sweet. But mainly hilarious. In the dry humor sort of way.
William Powell and Myrna Loy play them perfectly. And three actors from my favorite movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, appear in three of the films:
Jimmy Stewart (in After the Thin Man), Donna Reed (in Shadow of the Thin Man), and Gloria Grahame (in Song of the Thin Man).
Jul 17th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
People who use the 2nd Amendment to to argue for gun restrictions usually/always make the following two mistakes:
The right in question is that “of the people to keep and bear arms.”
Re: 1.1
A reason given for the government’s not infringing the right is that “[a] well regulated Militia . . . [is] necessary to the security of a free State.”
Re: 1.2
The 2nd Amendment doesn’t say why “keep[ing] and bear[ing] arms” is a right. It just assumes it is.
Re: 2.2
No reason for (or situation in) which the government’s infringing of the right becomes okay is ever given.
Contrast this with the 4th’s “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
There the situation in which the right’s “violat[ion]” by government is acceptable is explicitly spelled out.
Jul 16th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
[ Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3 | Vol. 4 | Etc. ]
A perfect instantiation of joyousness in the midst of a problematic world. No bitterness. Haven’t actually watched it (technically), but it has been watched (multiple times, it seems) while I was in the room. And the songs are pretty great.
(James Marsden like you’ve never seen him before.)
Quality movie. I would have liked the fairy-tale side to be worked out a lot more. Visually a wonderful movie, even though it’s much more a real-life movie than I expected.
Excellent performances all around, and I would trust Guillermo del Toro with The Hobbit. Besides, I liked what I saw of Hellboy 1.
Fascinating in concept. Not as fascinating in realization. But still a good film. It’s intriguing, frustrating, and exciting.
Jack Black is in his element. He must have had so much fun with this film.
Mos Def turns in a good performance.
It’s a better Michel Gondry film than Science of Sleep, but not as good as Eternal Sunshine (though it’s much easier to handle emotionally than ES. Times a thousand).
Jul 16th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
Thanks to Mr. Stevens for the inspiration for this week’s article over at The Free Liberal.
In it I develop the discussion from this post, reformulating some points, adding others, and accusing all nonvoters of being noncitizens (among other things). *grin*
We’ll see what people think. And we’ll see what I think after we see what people think. (It was one of those, “That was fun to write, but I’m not sure what I’m going to think about it in another week, or year” kind of articles.)
Jul 14th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
Is “Brick,” by Ben Folds Five, the saddest song ever?
Jul 12th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
Any potential leader who attempts to convince you to take him/her as your leader because you have a problem he/she can solve should be treated cautiously, as I discussed below.
It could be that the person in question will solve your problem and then give up her/his power. But given human nature, this should not be expected.
____
The best way to “force” politicians to actually accomplish the changes for which they claim we need them is to make being a politician an activity whereby they prove their effectiveness to potential employers.
That way if they never solve the problem they claim to be needed to solve (poverty for Liberals; terrorism, abortion, immigration, etc. for Conservatives) it actually hurts them.
____
The best way to do this is to set up “term limits” of a certain variety:
____
12 years is the least common multiple of the term-lengths for Federal Reps, Senators, and Presidents. It would give Presidents 3 terms, Senators 2 terms, and Representatives 6 terms.
I’d suggest making court terms, and all other appointed or hired positions, 12 years.
Jul 12th, 2008 by Micah Tillman
. . . Then what?
In yesterday’s class, my lecture was on Plato’s description of how governments decay from one form into another (Republic, Book VIII).
It’s pure genius, especially his description of how tyrants rise out of democracies (564a-end of VIII). In the midst of that description, Plato says of the tyrant:
[Socrates:] At first, in the early days of his power, he is full of smiles, and he salutes every one whom he meets; –he to be called a tyrant, who is making promises in public and also in private! liberating debtors, and distributing land to the people and his followers, and wanting to be so kind and good to every one!
Of course, [Glaucon] said.
[Socrates:] But when he has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.
And wars come in many forms: wars on terror, on poverty, on life, on choice, on drugs, on privacy, on global warming, on rights, on various kind of injustice, on “big” x, etc.
If either Liberals or Conservatives actually fixed the problems they want us to think we need them to fix, we wouldn’t have any reason to think we needed them anymore.
If you base your power on the need to fix a problem, you undercut your power by fixing the problem.
WEeding Awards
