I've never been able to read anything on a computer screen. As you might imagine, my toner bill gets quite large. I actually got incredibly lucky a couple of years back and found a hardbound copy of the book in the local Goodwill store. That was a day to remember! But there have been many times that...

What a superlative book. Unfortunately, copies are going for $35 and up these days, and those generally are the ones in tattered condition. I got the impression that Craig and MediumTex (never knew his real name) were working on some projects with the heirs. Does anyone happen to know whether there ...

I've come to embrace fear. Far from a mind-killer, it's one of the most efficient learning tools we have. Research has shown that organisms adapt far more efficiently to negative reinforcement than to positive; you touch a hot stove once and never again. The so-called "negative" personalit...

And what do you think she wants? Besides death threats and public shaming by 30% of the population, that is? Just as predicted: Christine Blasey Ford, the California psychology professor who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct 36 years ago, received a $1 million windf...

It's a painful stretch to call this a "civil war." In fact it's about as goofy as calling a two-year-old's tantrum a family crisis.

I've never been sure what is meant by "post-modernism," so I looked it up: Postmodernism, also spelled post-modernism, in Western philosophy, a late 20th-century movement characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and an acute sensitivity...

I"ll just say that having learned a little bit about the circumstances, I can only feel respect for Jackson's choices. 'Nuff said.

I'm still raising a 22 year old millenial. She was adopted so she she's not infected with my baby boomer genes. On one hand I could commend her for the minimalist lifestyle she is leading. She doesn't drive a car but walks to work every day to her part time job that provides her with all the money ...

I'm still raising a 22 year old millenial. She was adopted so she she's not infected with my baby boomer genes. On one hand I could commend her for the minimalist lifestyle she is leading. She doesn't drive a car but walks to work every day to her part time job that provides her with all the money ...

Speaking as a late boomer myself with millenial kids, if the crime rate is lower it's because they are too lazy to go commit them, or need one of us to show them how. :P Or because there are cameras in every aisle and all the merchandise that has any appeal to young people is now contained in theft...

Diversity and globalization don't help these people. But neither do corporate tax cuts and the military industrial complex. And free healthcare, tax-credits, and other safety nets sure as f'k DO help them, yet they eschew those options in favor of a bombastic clown because they see themselves as te...

She's not asking anyone to believe her wholeheartedly without evidence. She's just asking that her testimony be given as evidence to his character. If he did what she claims, I think she has every right to come forward whenever she pleases. Nobody's questioning her right to come forward. Nor has an...

I taught a class to high-school aged kids not long ago and was struck by the extent to which young people are seemingly unable to distinguish reality from a position asserted with the object of convincing others of its truth. It seemed to be much more than a political or ideological preference; rath...

"Playing hard to get" is simply evolutionary biology at work, don't you think? I mean it's like, "okay guys, who is the fittest among you who would like your genes to survive with me - show me what you got". Rape is when someone takes away the woman's power of natural selection ...

"Playing hard to get" is simply evolutionary biology at work, don't you think? I mean it's like, "okay guys, who is the fittest among you who would like your genes to survive with me - show me what you got". Rape is when someone takes away the woman's power of natural selection ...

I tend to agree with you WiseOne, that something probably did occur, but most likely it involved drunkenness, mixed messages, the usual teenage fumbling, and a good dose of Saturday morning remorse. But that's a far cry from what's being alleged. We live in a culture where much of communication cons...

As all of these women's testimony unravels, the response of the "true believers" has become even more shrill and even hysterical. I was the unfortunate attendee of an agricultural seminar last weekend in which the topic turned, without warning, to the Kavanaugh hearings. Several of the wom...

Thanks for your thoughts on this, WiseOne! I was secretly hoping you might send a kernel of advice my way! Fortunately I've got nothing else tugging at me today, so I'll get this squared away one way or another. I did take a look at the CDC stats on tetanus--200-something cases in the U.S. in 7 year...

I'm not sure this anecdote is exactly on point, but it does go to show how myopic the system can be when it comes to coercing patients into needless preventive care. Just yesterday I managed to fall onto a barbed wire fence and sustained a deep puncture wound. It's been eons since my last tetanus va...

And so it seems that Kavanaugh is either a perfect exemplar of judicial expertise and impeccable moral conduct, or he is a lying rapist determined to destroy and control the lives of all women. Ghomeshi is evil, and granting any space for such a monster to defend or account for himself is itself an...

They're going to force you to sit through a training session designed to publicly cast you and your fellow female colleagues as fragile little girls whose vulnerabilities require understanding and intervention? Sounds discriminatory to me.

Remember that Sen. Feinstein has had this information, which was subsequently passed on to the FBI, since July. There is no chance in hell that this matter has not been investigated from top to bottom since that time. And the result: Absolutely nothing in the way of corroboration, and not even a cre...

Public shaming? Because in this society (particularly within her peer group) chastity is such a sacrosanct value? Seems that this woman has just been given more time to "decide" whether or not to pursue her allegations. "Decide?" Gee, it didn't take much deliberation on her part ...

It's amazing how the interpretation of events changes to fit the mood of the day. Remember Anita Hill describing how Justice Thomas cracked a joke, in the company of a whole group of law clerks, about there being a pubic hair on his coke? It didn't take a lot of imagination--then or now--to picture ...

Brings to mind the scathing commentary on "date rape" by Camille Paglia aired on 60 Minutes at least three decades ago. Nothing like a feminist-lesbian-liberal cultural critic with a penchant for truth-telling to put things in perspective.