A Thinking Reed

  • Primates are not pets

    Or at least they shouldn’t be.

  • The helicopter vs. the airplane

    I’m not sure I have anything particularly insightful to say about it, but I wanted to link to this essay by ecological economist Herman Daly on a steady state economy versus what he calls a “failed growth” one. In the scramble to give a Keynesian boost to our economy the assumption that continued growth is…

  • Friday metal — getting technical

    Ironically, considering it’s a genre of music often dismissed as “just a bunch of noise,” heavy metal has frequently cultivated an intricate, technical, virtuoso style of playing that rivals jazz and progressive rock. This is particularly true of the (aptly named) “technical death metal” sub-genre. See this interesting article for an appreciation. Here’s a clip…

  • Chew the right thing

    I’m surprised I never came across this before, but philosophers David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton have a terrific series of podcasts called Philosophy Bites, which consist of relatively short interviews with philosophers on various topics of interest. The site is here; it’s also available as a free download on iTunes. So far I’ve listened to…

  • Various and sundry

    Sorry for the dearth of posting lately, dear readers. Among other reasons, we spent the long weekend visiting my brother-in-law and his wife in Detroit. Fun activities included bourbon tasting, ice skating, visiting this book store, and worshiping with some local Methodists. One thing that impressed itself on me about the service: it was very…

  • How Ira Glass went veggie

    Here’s the host of NPR’s “This American Life” explaining to David Letterman. The funny thing is that throughout the clip Letterman and the audience are chuckling at the wacky “poultry activist”* who protested Glass’s show because of some feature they had called “Poultry Slam” (full disclosure: I’ve never listened to the show). The audience is…

  • Liberalism, conservatism, choice, and limits

    What now for conservatives? Andrew Bacevich says they should advocate restraint–economic, personal, cultural, and in the foreign policy sphere. He contrasts this with the liberal culture of “unchecked individual autonomy,” “Ponzi scheme” capitalism, and neoconservative foreign policy. Damon Linker replies that what Bacevich advocates is tantamount to a culture of authoritarianism. I agree with Linker…

  • “Radical animal rights agenda” in the White House?

    The “Center for Consumer Freedom” has a hysterical (in both senses of the word) article about the looming threat posed by “radical animal rights activist” Cass Sunstein in his new capacity as President Obama’s “regulatory czar” in the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. I knew but had forgotten that…

  • Lost!

    This week’s episode was good, though not quite as good as last week’s IMO. It seems that this season’s all about (at least in part) expanding on the mysteries of the island’s history that we’ve only gotten bits and pieces of so far. My question: is this going to add up to some kind of…

  • Tasty, well-seasoned carrots are better than sticks

    The city of Cincinnati, as part of its “Green City” initiative, is suggesting that residents eat less meat (via). While this topic’s been getting more press lately, it still seems to get relatively little discussion in environmental circles. Is this because greens are afraid of looking like lifestyle nannies? (See here for more on that.)…