3-3-12 Hodgepodge
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Quote of the Day
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." -- Robert Frost (HT: Futility Closet)
In my experience, there can be many reasons for people to lose their tempers during intellectual debates, but this quote pithily reminds me of a common one: The person losing his temper has discovered on some level that he does not completely understand his own position.
Weekend Reading
"On hearing of a 'safe, effective, and potent' vaccine, 'factory whistles blew, children cheered, car horns honked and parents wept with relief.'" -- Jonathan Hoenig, in "We Need More Apples, Fewer DMVs" at SmartMoney
"More than just venting, moods need challenge and correction using facts, reason and logic." -- Michael Hurd, in "Bad Mood? Not So Bad" at DrHurd.com
"Americans today face a choice: Do we want to be on our own -- or continue as society's servants?" -- Yaron Brook and Don Watkins, in "The 'On Your Own' Economy" at Forbes
"[E]ven the most propitious tax reform becomes a mere re-arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic if no effort is made simultaneously to severely restrain and reduce the size, scope, and cost of illegitimate government functions..." -- Richard Salsman, in "Romney's Welcome But Wobbly Walk on the Supply Side" at Forbes
My Two Cents
Brook and Watkins take on an assumption implicit in advocacy of the entitlement state -- that we can choose only between being "taken care of" or starving in the streets -- and indicate both that it is a false dichotomy and that accepting the former comes at a steep price.
Good Week for This Fan
Two soccer teams I follow had big wins this week. Arsenal trounced archrival Spurs 5-2 in the English Premier League after falling behind 2-0 in the first half. The win might help salvage what has been a frustratingly uneven season so far.
I got to see the second half of the first game live, but I missed seeing the U.S. Men's National Team defeat Italy for the first time in history. My favorite American player, Clint Dempsey, scored the only goal of the game, as seen above.
-- CAV
Updates
Today: Corrected title.
2 comments:
Yo, Gus, Robert Frost had some nice wit to him. My favorite is the time that Rolfe Humphries dismissed him as counter-revolutionary. Frost replied that Humphries was a "bargain counter revolutionary."
Nice, and strangely worth keeping in the back of my mind for possible use in conversation, what with OWS and the Organizer-in-Chief up for reelection and all.
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