March

22 03, 2016

Lao-Tzu advises Confucius on the art of life and ruling

By |2016-03-22T20:04:51-04:00March 22nd, 2016|2016, Debate / dialogue, Literature, March, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes|0 Comments

In a political season, Daoist thinking on keeping the measure of things. ------------------ Whoever thinks what matters is to get rich is incapable of renouncing salary. Whoever thinks what matters is to get famous is incapable of renouncing reputation. Whoever is too fond of sway over others is incapable of letting another man take the [...]

19 03, 2016

Edna St. Vincent Millay on human fallibility

By |2016-03-22T20:00:10-04:00March 19th, 2016|Academia, Europe, Everything Else, Literature, March, Philosophy, Quotes, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Her sonnet meditates on human degradation, and self-degradation, in the new Iron Age. From "Epitaph on the Race of Man" Here lies, and none to mourn him but the sea, That falls incessant on the empty shore, Most various Man, cut down to spring no more; Before his prime, even in his infancy Cut down, [...]

17 03, 2016

Better scientists with liberal arts (Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Washington Post)

By |2016-03-17T17:37:38-04:00March 17th, 2016|2016, Academia, Everything Else, March, News, STEM, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

We become better scientists, the more we value the liberal arts. The author recounts how the liberal arts "unlocked" for her the true value of education, and her students in turn became more adroit at their science and their ability to communicate their ideas to others. She writes: Our culture has drawn an artificial line between art [...]

8 03, 2016

Why read the classics

By |2016-11-02T11:52:14-04:00March 8th, 2016|2016, Academia, Arts, Europe, Everything Else, Italy, Literature, March, Quotes, Writing|0 Comments

Why read the classics: Italo Calvino (1923-1985) explains the nature of a classical literary composition, which has various means of speaking to us throughout the different times of our lives. If the books have remained the same (even though they too change in light of a different historical perspective), we ourselves have certainly changed, and the encounter [...]

6 03, 2016

The Clarion Call for STEM (New York Times)

By |2016-11-02T11:52:14-04:00March 6th, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, Economics, Employment, Everything Else, Language, March, News, Philosophy, Politics, STEM, Technology|0 Comments

The clarion call for STEM: state legislatures and politicians -- from both parties -- stress education in the sciences, rather than in the humanities and arts: taxpayers should subsidize, the argument goes, those courses of study most likely to produce better taxpayers. "When it comes to dividing the pot of money devoted to higher education, [...]

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