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Brain Surgery
A man walks into a party. Guests are milling around. There is a low hum from the combined conversations of the partygoers, and over it can be heard some faint music. I think it is “Songbird” by Kenny G. Yah, it is. I’d know that song anywhere. Remember 1987? You couldn’t get away from it. …
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My love letter to writing
Writing is one of humanity’s oldest and most transformative inventions. Long before the printing press, long before the Internet, and even long before bound books, people felt the urge to mark symbols onto stone, clay, and parchment. Those early scratches were more than just records of grain or trade; they were the first attempts to…
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Thirteen
This post has thirteen paragraphs; the thirteenth word of every paragraph is 13. I undertook this task partly because today is Friday the 13th, and partly because for all my education (in Philosophy, logic, and rhetoric no less) I am still afraid of the number 13. I have written about this before (here), and triumphantly…
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TaxPoodle’s guide to the sick day call/text
To begin, I think we need to agree on the term. We are describing the act of communicating with your boss, supervisor, manager, whatever-he-or-she-calls-him/herself that you cannot (or will not) perform the agreed upon labor you are employed to accomplish in return for financial remuneration for a period of time, which is usually unspecified but…
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A Day in my Life
While you were basking in the glory of the Seahawks’ Superbowl win, or wallowing in the misery of the Patriots’ defeat, I quietly snuck off to have surgery. I’ve already discussed the why and the what, so I won’t rehash that here. And I’m doing fine… a little tired, a little sore, but at this…
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The ultimate insider’s guide to Palm Springs
You all know I live in Palm Springs, and you may think you know “what” Palm Springs is. A city in the desert. Yes. Renowned as a getaway for the rich and famous. Yes. Winters like the mildest Spring in other parts of the world. Yes. Summers like the surface of the sun. Yes. A…
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Poodlism
The 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, an influence on Nietzsche and a contemporary of Hegel, was known for his philosophical Pessimism. I should explain. To a student of Philosophy, pessimism does not mean negativity or expecting the worse; rather, it is an outlook that views the world as aimless and our existence as one of…
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Please make it stop!
As a joke, I texted my friend and his wife a clip I saw on YouTube over the weekend. The clip begins with a Tammy Faye Bakker-esque woman with her hand on the shoulder of a young boy who looks to be about eleven or twelve. The boy is totally kitted-out in late 80s gear: …
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The cruelty is the point
In case you’ve forgotten, Donald Trump descended his golden elevator in Trump Tower to announce his first candidacy on June 16, 2015. His announcement was a masterpiece of the meandering Trump nonsense we’ve come to know so well that included a joke comparing ISIS to inadequate air conditioning, and this assessment of Mexican immigrants: When…
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There’s a Seinfeld for that
Philosophy, my field of study as an undergraduate, has fallen on hard times of late, and I don’t understand why, given that it is the foundation of every academic discipline; it is the ‘Ph’ in PhD (which stands for “doctor of philosophy”). So your professor with a doctorate in Chemistry actually is a “doctor of…
Your mileage may vary.