I greatly appreciate and concur with @philipdbunn.bsky.social’s thoughts on the impact of generative AI on the intellectual and moral formation of students. Count me among the less sanguine regarding its educational benefits. www.fusionaier.org/post/reflect...
My latest.
everythingwasbeautiful.substack.com/publish/post...
🥳
everythingwasbeautiful.substack.com
Yes, one reason I get frustrated by with the memes comparing Tolkien and GRRM etc.: Tolkien is no stranger to "gray" characters. Saruman, Denethor, Sméagol, corrupted characters that deal with exactly this. Even characters like Faramir are great partially because they know they are corruptible.
A small thing that's great about Tolkien is that his protagonists basically killed the Devil, & yet evil arose again, in Sauron, who used to be good & beautiful
The capacity for evil lies in every heart, is the point. No need for personifying evil (although obviously Tolkien does a LOT of that too)
My birthday is tomorrow, and I have one small birthday request: I am terribly close to 1,000 subscribers on Substack, where I post essays on books and culture and politics semi-regularly. If you would consider subscribing, I would count it a wonderful present.
everythingwasbeautiful.substack.com
People are gleefully laughing about his family’s grief, Ken. Stop hiding behind a coward’s shield of “it’s not serious bro lol it’s about the system not the person” and just own it if you want to grave dance.
My latest on my Substack, about trying (and sometimes failing) to be informed before debating.
open.substack.com/pub/everythi...
Wow, so cool to know without a doubt that people aren't talking about my research on yet another website! Thanks, Altmetric!
One time someone I was arguing with online posted screenshots of our respective Google Scholar pages to prove he was smarter, except he grabbed screenshots from the Google Scholar page of Philip Bunn, the UK economist. So I had to explain that I was even LESS important than he first assumed.
Same.
Guilty
The real heft of Project 2025 was never the 900 pages of random policy positions everyone was exaggerating and hand-wringing about, it was the ready-made database of vetted people to staff the admin. I thought that would be obvious.
Since this website is a safe space, is it okay to admit I actually enjoyed the John Green novels I've read?
My latest at Current magazine, a defense of Dead Poets Society against its detractors.
currentpub.com/2024/11/14/n...
I don't know if I have the willpower to fully shift to this site, but if you all prove entertaining, I'll at least consider it.
My latest Substack essay is on what I’ve learned about being a bibliophile on a budget.
open.substack.com/pub/everythi...
Amazing
That is almost exactly how many boxes it was to move last time, and I think I’ve acquired at least 10-20% more since… a real culling is probably in order next move.
I make sure to take all these things off the shelf and pile them on my desk on occasion so I can justify how much space they take up.
Having a large personal, physical library is a luxury, but one I try to take advantage of. Having a huge file of searchable eBooks is a real boon for research and writing. Having some kind of *access* to physical media (libraries etc) will always be essential. Split all the differences!
I had the chance to review Aurelian Craiutu’s new book “Why Not Moderation” over at Front Porch Republic today. It is, predictably, a book bound to irritate both sides’ extremists, but provides an argument well worth considering in fraught political times.
www.frontporchrepublic.com/2023/10/walk...
We did have a scoutmaster who had an amazing knife/sword collection, and showed us a katana he purchased in Japan and had restored. Very neat, great crossover event for loser me.
Eagle Scout and katana-owner, here
The Other Website suppressed Substack so I largely stopped sharing my posts outside the app, but I do regularly log my casual reading and write the occasional essay over there. Here’s my September reading recap!
open.substack.com/pub/everythi...
Not a lot of time to ourselves with a 6 month old who doesn’t sleep, thankful for gin bars and date nights and remembering how to be humans.
When I was a TA leading discussion sections in grad school, I got one student eval that said “he doesn’t ‘lead discussion’ so much as ‘sits there looking awkward’,” and that’s stuck with me.
