10-25-14 Hodgepodge

A Decade Ago...

... I started this blog.

It is hard to believe I have been doing this on most days for ten years, particularly over the past three and change, with my very young children eating into my writing time and usually interrupting what has been left of it. About halfway through this post, for example, I had to start holding Little Man, badly congested from a cold, on my chest so he could sleep.

Almost fittingly, this anniversary sees me at home, alone with the kids, while my wife is away at a medical conference. It is possible she will make connections with her first post-training employer there, ultimately leading to a permanent position for her and making our next move, if there is one, permanent.

I have found blogging to be a good, although not wholly satisfying, outlet for my desire to write about politics, culture, thinking, and a little about everything else. I am somewhat optimistic that I shall soon be better able to write more demanding pieces again.

I'll keep the rest of the introspection that such an anniversary prompts to myself: It's for my sole benefit and is incomplete anyway. I'll make the following exception, though: I'd like to thank the readers, supporters, and friends who have come my way due to this activity: Your companionship has been a rich reward and, for someone inclined towards introversion (to put it mildly), a very pleasant surprise.

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank my wife for putting up with her "bitchy blogger" for so long, and with such good humor.

Weekend Reading

"[A]ll good advice should have an 'if/then' component." -- Michael Hurd, in "The Advantages and Perils of Advice-Taking" at The Delaware Wave

"[I]f one uses [alcohol] to stop thinking, or to distort reality in order to act in counterproductive ways, then I consider that abuse, even if it involves only a single drink." -- Michael Hurd, in "Alcohol Use and Abuse" at The Delaware Coast Press

"Keynesianism is a theory about what kind of orders the state should issue to its serfs." -- Harry Binswanger, in "Keynesianism Is Government Force Blocking Reality" at RealClear Markets

"Overall, I think Dan Diamond strikes the right balance in his piece, 'It's OK To Worry About Ebola In NYC. But You Shouldn't Panic.'" -- Paul Hsieh, in "Why You Should Be Concerned but Not Fearful About Ebola in NYC" at Forbes

My Two Cents

It is amazing how succesfully moral intrincism stunts thinking about alcohol. I suspect that few, if any,  of the critics Michael Hurd brought up in his column about the subject would have thought of the case (quoted above) of a single drink constituting abuse.

From Here to Agloe and Back

If you liked the story of how a raccoon "became" an aardvark through a prank at Wikipedia, you'll appreciate this similar one by NPR: "An Imaginary Town Becomes Real, Then Not. True Story "

--CAV