Author Archives: fustianist

So today Sydney and I had a trial run of being back in academia. We spent a fairly long day on campus, with a luncheon, lecture, a trip to the gym, reading in the lounge, etc. I must say, it … Continue reading →

So earlier in the morning I posted a link to Charles Murray’s article on why fewer people should go to college. Murray relies fairly heavily on the point that a college education is largely irrelevant for a great many occupations. … Continue reading →

1) I will return to wearing dress pants, skirts, and heels, rather than layering thermals, jeans, and sweaters good for lounging on a sofa. I refuse to wear uncomfortable clothing, but it’s nice to look different from my students, who … Continue reading →

So I was sitting on the couch, deep in a book, when Sydney says out of the blue, “So are you going to write a post about the catastrophic lunch we had today?” Note that no such post had been … Continue reading →

Charles Murray on why fewer people should go to college here. I’m quite sympathetic to his argument — I think college is greatly overrated in both the U.S. and Canada. – Sydney

One of my historian friends has posted a contest to see how your pick of influential Americans lines up with those of The Atlantic Monthly‘s panel of historians. I have some issues with the Atlantic‘s methodology (I think the weighting … Continue reading →

So when we picked Arwyn up from the SPCA last January, she came with her name already attached. Rather than spend hours poring over names in literature and agonizing over a new name, we kept the one she had. Our … Continue reading →

The Checkershadow Illusion is one of the coolest illusions that I’ve seen. The point is that A and B are the same shade. Brian Weatherson, one of the philosophy professors here, is preparing for PHIL 101 and has a powerpoint … Continue reading →

A chickadee looking for food on my hand: … and with food in beak: The chickadees especially like looking for sunflower seeds in my shoelaces when I sit outside and read. One chickadee has decided that the best place to … Continue reading →