Category: Autobiographical
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My Time Away: Where I Was and What I Did
A reader sent the following about half-way through my digital fast and blogging hiatus. . . . I was hoping that when you emerge from it you might have some practical wisdom on how you went about it. What has your daily schedule been like? Have you struggled with the nagging urge to check everything…
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The Big Unplug Starts Today
Starting now, I will unplug from this hyperkinetic modern world for a period of days or weeks. How long remains to be seen. I will devote myself to such spiritual exercises as prayer, meditation, spiritual reading, hard-core philosophy and theology pursued for truth as opposed to professional gain, and the exploration of nature. I will…
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Barry Goldwater on Conservatism
What follows is taken verbatim from Keith Burgess-Jackson's weblog. It is so good, so right, and so important that it deserves to be disseminated widely. Barry M. Goldwater (1909-1998) on Conservatism I have been much concerned that so many people today with Conservative instincts feel compelled to apologize for them. Or if not to apologize…
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Dale Tuggy’s Podcast 83
The Spiritual Journey of a Maverick Philosopher
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A Partial Philosophical Defense of the Monastic Life
The suggestion was made that I give a little talk to the monks of Christ in the Desert, a Benedictine monastery outside of Abiqui, New Mexico. I thought I would offer a few words in defense of the monastic life, not that such an ancient and venerable tradition needs any defense from me, but just…
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Stop Whining, Bostonians: The Great Blizzard of ’78 was Worse
I was there. The Great Blizzard of '78 Remembered That it was worse. That the NYT's alarmist predictions of no snow are risible given how much of the stuff is visible. By the way, I loved my years in Boston-Cambridge. Boston was my Mecca, the hub of the universe. But I was a young guy,…
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February in the Zone
February brings to the Sonoran desert days so beautiful that one feels guilty even sitting on the back porch, half-outside, taking it all in, eyes playing over the spring green, lungs deeply enfolding blossom-laden warmish breezes. One feels that one ought to be walking around in this earthly heaven. And this despite my having done…
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The Delight of the ‘Find’
One of the pleasures in the life of a bookman is the delight of the 'find.' As a reader reports: I saw that your cat is named Max Black. You might appreciate this anecdote. Twice a year here in Ithaca there is a three-week long used book sale. The price drops each week, so if…
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After Socializing
After socializing I often feel vaguely annoyed with myself. Why? Because I allowed myself to be drawn into pointless conversation that makes a mockery of true conversation. The New Testament has harsh words for idle words: But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in…
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Extrovert versus Introvert: The Introvert Speaks
The extrovert is like a mirror: being nothing in himself, he is only what he reflects. A caricature, no doubt, but useful in delineation of an ideal type. This is why the extrovert needs others. Without them, he lacks inner substance. This is also why he is not drained by others, but drains them —…
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Ten Things I Haven’t Done
Here are ten things I have never done, but you probably have. I have never: * taken a sleeping pill.* purchased a lottery ticket.* owned an umbrella.* as an adult worn pajamas, a bow tie, or suspenders.* owned or used a bathrobe.* owned or used an electric can opener.* as an adult attended a professional…
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Arizona and California Gas Prices
Big road trip last weekend: Phoenix, Barstow, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara and back by a different route. The Jeep Wrangler runs on unleaded regular. Paid $3.349/gal on 9/27 at Quartzsite, AZ off of I-10, one of the last Arizona gas-ups enroute to California. Wait 'til Blythe on the California side of the Colorado River and…
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BEATific October Again
And no better way to kick off Kerouac month than with 'sweet gone Jack' reading from "October in Railroad Earth" from Lonesome Traveler, 1960. Steve Allen provides the wonderful piano accompaniment. I have the Grove Press Black Cat 1970 paperback edition. Bought it on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, 12 April 1973. I was travelling…
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Sports and Politics
When it comes to sports I'm a participant, not a spectator; when it comes to politics, I'm a spectator, not a participant. I watch politics, not football; I run races, not for office. Related articles The Rationality of Political Ignorance More on the Rationality of Political Ignorance