Recently I was assigned at work a small writing project to create one-page summaries of the history of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War for a pop-up exhibit kit for libraries. These documents were improved by the editing of one of my colleagues, though still substantially as I had drafted them. The Revolutionary… Continue reading The Revolutionary War & Declaration of Independence
Boethius & The Consolation of Philosophy
This talk today is about the late Roman, early medieval statesman, philosopher and scholar Boethius, and more particularly about his last work, a slim volume of prose and poetry called The Consolation of Philosophy that he wrote in 523 AD. I should say at the outset that I have absolutely no warrant for giving this… Continue reading Boethius & The Consolation of Philosophy
A Social History of Truth
Talk given at Sunday Seminar, United Methodist Church, Denver CO, 26 Sep 2021 I have two things I’d like to talk about today. The main one is a book by historian and sociologist Steven Shapin called A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England [Bookshop.org, WorldCat]. It looks at the early history… Continue reading A Social History of Truth
Inauguration Day!
Yesterday was the official transfer of power from the outgoing Tsai Ing-wen government to the incoming Lai Ching-te government. Last week there were daily flyovers by military helicopters and fighter jets in formation, practicing for Monday’s ceremonies, I think. Here are some videos from the balcony of our apartment: And yesterday it finally happened–the interval… Continue reading Inauguration Day!
The Digestive Biscuit, My Madeleine
In the Carrefour the other day, shopping for groceries, I spied some Digestive biscuits and felt an obscure kind of joy that immediately brought to mind Marcel Proust’s rumination about the madeleine. I’m no Proust, so if you want to read something extraordinary, please click away from this post and read this instead. I promise it is… Continue reading The Digestive Biscuit, My Madeleine