Intellectual Archive

Best Buy leading the world in workday flexibility

May 4, 2008 · Category: Current Events, Individualism, Intellectual

I am fascinated by what Best Buy has done: [W]hen Hance participates in a morning teleconference with his co-workers or in-house clients, he sometimes is calling in via cell phone from his fishing boat on a lake or from the woods where he's spent the hours since dawn stalking wild turkeys. "No one at Best Buy really knows where I am," he explains. "Nor do they really care." Gone are the days when Hance needed to spend morning until night seated in a cubicle surrounded by papers and charts he'd carefully arranged to ensure that co-workers and bosses who peeked in would ...

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Note to the Media: Fathers Are a Good Thing

April 14, 2008 · Category: Current Events, Intellectual

One of the most incisive things I ever heard from a professor during my years in grad school in clinical psychology was this: "The scarcest resource in the world is a good father." Good fathers not only are "there" for kids, but also help create the child's sense of boundaries, of a container in life -- of what is acceptable and unacceptable. Without this, children can feel profoundly lost in the world, operating at a significant disadvantage socially and personally. So I was very pleased to see this new article in Advertising Age titled "Advertisers: Men Are Not Idiots" (hat tip ...

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In the Mail: Stephan Bodian’s “Wake Up Now”

March 21, 2008 · Category: Adyashanti, Buddhism, Intellectual, Mindfulness

I just received a review copy of Stephan Bodian's new book Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening. Bodian is a long-time student of Adyashanti's, but -- according to a friend of mine who spoke with him -- does not claim to be fully enlightened himself. However, the book is very well blurbed by Adyashanti... Both profound and practical, Wake Up Now guides the reader through the intricacies of awakening as only someone who has walked the walk themselves can do. The clarity and compassion it offers are both rare and welcome. ...and Adya is someone I've come to ...

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How to Write Interesting Stuff

February 12, 2008 · Category: Intellectual, Reviews

Penelope Trunk, who is one of my new favorite bloggers, has a very interesting piece about ... how to write interesting pieces. Huh. She also has the same morning e-mail problem that I do.

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Walter Donway: “The Struggle for Poetry’s Soul”

February 1, 2008 · Category: Atlasphere, Intellectual, Objectivism, Reviews

Walter Donway just sent the following announcement, which explains the significance of his essay as well as anything I might hope to write: My brief essay "The Struggle for Poetry's Soul" just went up on the popular Atlasphere web site. In the essay, I try to suggest why it is important to restore the traditional craft and enduring values of poetry, being lost today in the blizzard of "free verse," deliberate difficulty, and rejection of popular values such as rhyme and storytelling in so much of contemporary poetry. With whatever talent I may have, I am trying to explore the ...

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Liberal vs Conservative? Christ! Oops.

January 15, 2008 · Category: Individualism, Integral, Intellectual, Politics

If you struggle, as I do, with the nutty distinction between being considered "liberal" or "conservative" in modern America, you might share my enjoyment of this thoughtful post by Patrick Stephens. In fact, Patrick's discussion here, and his weighing of the various positions, strikes me as one that comes squarely from a second-tier perspective (in the Integral / Spiral Dynamics model of human development). ...Which already says a little bit, politically, if you're familiar with that model. After reviewing some very sensible arguments from those who are uncomfortable with both of the labels "liberal" and "conservative" -- as well as their ...

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Objectivism, Modern Politics, and the Non-initiation of Force

January 13, 2008 · Category: Current Events, Individualism, Intellectual, Objectivism

A friend made some claims in a friends-only post at LiveJournal, and a disagreement between us ensued. Since it was a friends-only post, I cannot really quote his post here in public. The issues raised were important ones, however, and ones that require some time to disentangle. So I'm posting my reply here where others may add to, and benefit from, the dialogue if they wish. * * * It sounds like we agree that the important overall question is "What major party candidate, if any, is most likely to make America a more free country?" In your original post, you do ...

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Check Out the Cars Made by Biofuel Genius Johnathan Goodman

January 4, 2008 · Category: Current Events, Intellectual

"Motorhead Messiah" is the most interesting article I've read in months. An excerpt: Goodwin leads me over to a red 2005 H3 Hummer that's up on jacks, its mechanicals removed. He aims to use the turbine to turn the Hummer into a tricked-out electric hybrid. Like most hybrids, it'll have two engines, including an electric motor. But in this case, the second will be the turbine, Goodwin's secret ingredient. Whenever the truck's juice runs low, the turbine will roar into action for a few seconds, powering a generator with such gusto that it'll recharge a set of "supercapacitor" batteries in ...

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David Byrne on the Evolving Music Industry

December 23, 2007 · Category: Intellectual, Music

Glenn Reynolds points us to a fascinating article by David Byrne on the changes currently taking place in the music industry. Byrne was a member of the Talking Heads. Some key points: What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that's not bad news for music, and it's certainly not bad news for musicians. And from later in the article: In the past, music was something you heard and experienced — it was as much ...

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Down and Dirty Election Politics

December 15, 2007 · Category: Current Events, Intellectual, Politics

Hat tip to Paul Hsieh for pointing out the best campaign ad so far in this election cycle.

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