Category: philosophy
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Amicorum communia omnia.
AMONG friends all things should be in common. Erasmus thought he could not begin his Collection better than with this apothegm, which is of great antiquity, and much celebrated, and for the same reason it is here placed first. Nothing is so frequent in our mouths, nor is any thing less common than such a…
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Communication IS information exchange
One of the benefits (curses?) of working 3rd shift and field service is that you get a lot of time to think. Trust me there is only so many hours of music you can listen to before it starts grating on the ol’ nerves. The audio book industry started with a customer demographic of the…
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cheesy and sympathetic
I recently made an observation that “cheesy and sympathetic” never go out of style – with the implied punch line being that “cheesy” can never go OUT of style because by definition it is never IN style. The folks at Merriam-Webster tell me that the non-dairy definition of “cheesy” is “shabby, cheap.” SO something that…
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Was Jesus an illegal immigrant?
Well, short answer: no. The longer answer starts with a reference to a book published in 1992 titled: “When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth? An Imponderables Book” Poodles Back in the times “before Google” books full of answers to “weird” questions were popular. The “imponderables” series were funny and sold well – I don’t…
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Let us reason …
… ok, just for fun – consider the ultimate “why” of human motivation Happiness and the pursuit thereof why does ANYONE do ANYTHING? obviously humans are emotionally complex beings with equally complex motivations – but if we try to get to a “root motivation” for individual actions then (maybe) “happiness” is that “root” “Moral reasoning”…
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value, price gouging, and, monopolies
Every “introduction to economics” book will have a chart showing the relationship between “supply” and “demand.” Pointing out that as supply (of a manufactured product) goes up, unfulfilled demand goes down probably sounds obvious, but the relationship works both ways — i.e. if “demand” goes down, then “supply” will decrease. However the relationship between supply…
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Gifs, dial-up, and Libraries
I went down the rabbit hole this morning on how to pronounce “gif” We always “recognize” more words than we actively use – and if you “learn” a word by reading, then the “correct” pronunciation might seem odd English/”American” is particularly bad – because we readily absorb words from other languages. e.g. is the “e”…
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random thoughts on “Acres of Diamonds”
Russel Conwell (February 15, 1843 – December 6, 1925) (from wikipedia) “was an American Baptist minister, orator, philanthropist, author, lawyer, and writer. He is best remembered as the founder and first president of Temple University in Philadelphia, as the Pastor of The Baptist Temple, and for his inspirational lecture, ‘Acres of Diamonds’.” A link to the full text of Mr.…
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Sisyphus, “Say Anything”, The Seeker
The tragic part of living a life of “quiet desperation” (in the Henry David Thoreau sense) is usually the lost opportunity to do good as opposed to “intentional malice.” For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds. Sonnet 94 (William Shakespeare) In 2023 Merriam-Webster tells us that a…
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Feedback, praise, and constructive criticism
Starting with a definition: Communication is “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior” (thank you Merriam-Webster — emphasis mine) Notice the emphasis on “information is exchanged.” If INFORMATION is NOT being EXCHANGED then you don’t have “communication.” Two people yelling at each other might…