No Meaning to Life
Why are we here? Why do we live? What is the meaning of life? These questions are poorly phrased as neither “why” nor “meaning” has a distinct definition. To begin with “why”, it can refer either to...
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Bookshelves
I’m now in that state of summer leisure mixed with the responsibility of providing entertainment for the kids that causes a man to forget what day it is of the week. And so a week’s fun is no longer...
View ArticleChasing after the Wind
I was brought up to believe that I am special. I was told that I am unusually smart and gifted. Whether or not this is true, it has given me a deep-seated expectation of myself to do great(ish) things,...
View ArticleCute Train Lesbians
A funny intermezzo caught me Saturday on the train from Brussels to Liège. Across the aisle, two young pretty lesbian couples were seated. And they spent most of the ride necking furiously. I suppose...
View ArticleBlackbird Evensong
On Friday the blackbirds opened their concert season. Here’s what I wrote about them four years ago. Oh, still my heart — I just heard the year’s first blackbird serenade! I opened the kitchen window a...
View ArticleDrugs and Me
In the podcast liner notes to his new album (starting at 14:21), George Hrab talks to Milton Mermikidis for a space about how neither of them does any heavier drugs than caffeine. I realised that in...
View ArticleInvesting Your Twenties
A pop musician’s and a mathematician’s twenties are a precious part of their life. During those ten years of early adulthood, there seems to be a residual childlike creativity or randomness in the...
View ArticleBirthday Party Speech
For forty years I’ve been one of the most fortunate people I’ve ever heard of. Starting from the global perspective, there is of course hardly a single country on Earth where people live under such...
View ArticlePostcard from Hazor
My cousin Annika kindly forwarded me this postcard from a budding archaeologist just out of high school and on his first dig. I translate: * Hazor-Haglilit July 15th, 1990, 12:05 [Sunday] Shalom!...
View ArticleAvuncular
Teaching 20-year-olds for the past term has begun to make me feel a little avuncular. But yesterday I had this sudden surge in my avuncularity. First, in the morning I finally took the step of shaving...
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White Linen Granny
Certain experiences during my mid-teens a quarter of a century ago left me with this strong Pavlovian reaction to a ladies’ perfume called White Linen. It’s not very popular any more, and not at all...
View ArticleWolf Hound and Dachshund
We interrupt this transmission for some adolescent self-examination. My high school Swedish teacher – I’ve forgotten her name – played the saxophone and kept an Irish wolf hound. They’re pretty wussy...
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