Vincent van Gogh: What Am I? (Sunday Poem)
What am I in the eyes of most people —a nonentity, an eccentric, or anunpleasant person —somebody who has no positionin society and will never have;in short, the lowest of
Leo Strauss’ Published But Uncollected English Writings
Glenn Ellmers at The New Criterion: Can anyone help us understand the madness afflicting Western civilization? Art, for all its power, is usually better at reflecting or illuminating—rather than explaining—the
Continue readingLeo Strauss’ Published But Uncollected English Writings
Astronomers May Have Found Life Beyond Earth
By Peter Savodnik at The Free Press: We will soon know a little more thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, which NASA blasted into space on Christmas 2021 and
Continue readingAstronomers May Have Found Life Beyond Earth
The Irani Cafes of Karachi
Mishal Zahoor Jamali at Medium: Stepping into High Ceiling and dimly lit Irani cafes with vintage furniture, mosaic chipped floors and tablecloths take one back to old Karachi. These desolate
Saturday Poem: Not With a Bang
There was not even nothingbefore there was anything,then everything enteredall at once, a great chord,all of the notes and all ofthe almost-notes between – yes,all at once.………… So the universebegan
Confirmed. Most Robust Evidence Yet That Plant-based Diets Protect Both Human and Planetary Health.
Emma Bryce in Anthropocene Magazine: People who follow a diet rich in plants cut their mortality risk by almost a third, while simultaneously slashing the climate impact of their food by
Why Moral Progress Feels Annoying
Daniel Kelly at Aeon: It’s not that you don’t care about animal suffering. In other contexts, you actually care quite a bit – you would definitely do something if you
Hollywood Didn’t Know Exactly What to Do With Donald Sutherland – So They Did Everything With Him
Daryl Sparkes at The Conversation: I don’t think Hollywood knew what to do with Donald Sutherland, who has died at age 88. He was not your classically handsome A-list actor
The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes
Elise Cutts at Quanta: We learn in grade school that water freezes at zero degrees Celsius, but that’s seldom true. In clouds, scientists have found supercooled water droplets as chilly
Facts v. Values, Numbers v. Ideology: Which is More Important for a Healthy Democracy?
Osita Nwanevu and Oliver Traldi at Wisdom of Crowds: Dear Osita, You and I both like democracy, and we both want to push back against the theoretical challenges it’s faced
Friday Poem: Inshallah My Cell Phone
left my phone unlockedon the taxi’s back seat,won’t be the last time called it a few timesfinally, the driver picked up he had a fare immediately after mine,and was now headed
“If you Want to Respect the Rule of Law You’ve Got to Start From the Original Law Giver, Which Was Moses”
Liz Wolfe at Reason Roundup: “The Commandments do not confine themselves to arguably secular matters, such as honoring one’s parents, killing or murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, and covetousness,” wrote