Comments for axe, pen, & bell

Comment on Against nerds by Kwame

Kwame — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:41:04 +0000

The Karl Marx puppet looks more like Harry Frankfurt…?

Comment on For the cure by chelsey

chelsey — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:47:26 +0000

I suppose that *selfish wearing of charity badges & doing sponsered events in order to look good* = *more money for people in need* so…

though it really annoys me when people pretend to be doing a selfless thing when really, like you say, they are actually doing it to get sympathy, attention or to raise their profile.

Comment on Walking heads: on ‘Examined Life’ by Doug Bruns

Doug Bruns — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:08:38 +0000

I saw this movie too and have no truck with your observations. You are dead on. That said, I still get excited by Cornell West’s back seat soliloquy. How can one help otherwise? It is exciting to find individuals, like West, who can think and talk like an NBA player can move a ball. Perhaps it is nothing more than that, sport of the mind. But, hey, I bought a ticket (or got the Netflix membership).

The thing I find comfort in regarding Socrates admonition is it’s looseness. He didn’t say come to a conclusion, or use this formula or even measure against this set of criteria. Yes, it is negative, which is a good point. But the implication, the examined life is worth living, is a valid observation, starkly simple and without pedantic weight. Sadly, the lemmings of modern society, I think, on the whole, lack the capacity to examine much of anything, let alone life.

Comment on going to the wall: birthdays on facebook by Michan

Michan — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:47:40 +0000

Great.The list is so useful,HA-HA!

Comment on The evolved mind by William James on evolution « axe, pen, & bell

William James on evolution « axe, pen, & bell — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:34:05 +0000

[...] organisms to do things, a point I was trying to make in an earlier post, ‘The evolved mind.’ When you think of something as designed, even by a ‘blind watchmaker’, the [...]

Comment on Irony in the unreal America by Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:03:58 +0000

Good insight on modern irony. I would just add that “eternal irony” is somewhat of a more persistent historical theme – how do we manage the recursive or pragmatic fact of immutable incompleteness (of knowledge)? I see eternal irony as pointing in a very hopeful direction – it forces each of us to examine things in context and, most ultimately, learn to appreciate the grander project of understanding (as opposed to the less grand project of generating knowledge) through reading, appreciating, and working together. As a writer, this is what I attempt to convey in my work. Hopefully the message makes it way out as I intend it.

Thanks, and keep up the good thinking.

Comment on A libertarian fallacy about government by Matt

Matt — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:40:35 +0000

Constitutionality is a separate (but important!) issue. Wilkinson’s point is that even if the ban on corporate advertising were constitutional it would still be counterproductive, and it’s his argument for this point that I was criticizing.

Comment on A libertarian fallacy about government by Kwame

Kwame — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:22:48 +0000

Maybe tag under “would need a constitutional amendment”; under same heading: “line-item veto”?

Wilkinson’s argument looks much better than Obama’s argument: “The Supreme Court’s ruling will have bad consequences; therefore, they made the wrong decision.” Apparently, on Obama’s view there are no such things as legal rights — only expediency.

I guess Obama isn’t qualified to be a lawyer either.

Comment on Notes on conspiracy theories by Joe

Joe — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:00:37 +0000

Great post. Negligence can still be criminal.

Comment on Populism and pettiness by 152

152 — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:11:11 +0000

I’d have to respectfully disagree with your opinion.