[Update: This post is the first in an ongoing series about the Uncanny Valley. Click here to read them all.] A couple of weeks ago when I was teaching Descartes’ Meditations, one of my students made reference to something called the “uncanny valley,” which I had never heard of before but which sounded really fascinating….
Read MoreThe interwebs are all a-buzz right now about women in philosophy. Wait, correction: they’re all a-buzz about the LACK OF women in philosophy. An article by Brooke Lewis in The Philosopher’s Magazine entitled “Where are all the women?” confirms what just about anybody could have guessed: Philosophy departments in the U.S. and U.K. trail FAR…
Read MoreI just returned home from four days in the hospital, having been taken there by ambulance last Friday morning. I should say at the outset that I’m not exactly a stranger to hospitals. I’m a Type 1 Diabetic and about 10 years ago I was also diagnosed with a mysterious condition that my doctors called…
Read MoreIn all my busy-ness recently, I somehow missed the occurence of a major marker on this blog: ***OVER 30, 000 HITS TO DATE! ***If you’re reading this, then you’re one of those 30K. Thanks for stopping by. And thanks to all the rest of you who have kept this blog alive. To celebrate, I’m opening…
Read MoreLast night, I participated in a panel discussion of global issues entitled “What’s Wrong with the World Today?” as a part of Rhodes College’s “Think Globally, Act Locally” week. My co-panelists were two colleagues of mine, one from Economics and one from International Studies. It was a lively and productive discussion, I think, and I…
Read MoreOne thing you CANNOT say about Memphis is that it doesn’t have a sense of humor about politics. Especially mayoral politics. Remember, this is a town that has not one, but TWO, mayors (one for the city and another for the county). We also had the same Memphis City Mayor, Willie Herenton, for five consecutive…
Read MoreIn light of the (somewhat reductionist, mostly exaggerated) stereotypes of different United States’ regions evidenced in the comments section of my post a few days ago, I thought I might remark briefly on this rather unfortunate phenomenon. (Please click on the image to the right to see what I mean.) “Regionalism” expresses itself both positively…
Read MoreFor all the hype about big, mean bully Kanye West and his poor, innocent victim Taylor Swift, you’d think that somebody died at the VMA’s a few days ago. But, alas, it was just a bit of garden-variety entertainment drama. No real biggie. Even still, since everyone else in the Universe, including the President, feels…
Read MoreToday marks the 3rd Anniversary of the creation of this blog. Thanks to all of you who have kept it interesting and active over the years.
Read More[NOTE: I hope you’ll forgive the obviously provocative title of this post. Hopefully, it will become clearer by the end.] Given the popular story that is told in this country about the differeneces between the North and the South, you would think that those of us who have spent most of our lives below the…
Read More
Recent Comments