Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Reading Irish history
I see Matthew Yglesias has taken to reading Irish history. I’d been envisioning a pretty two-sided British/Protestant versus Irish/Catholic kind of history. But no! You’ve got your Anglo-Irish, your Old English, your Dissenters, etc., etc., etc. Quite the mess. Lee is perhaps the funniest historical writer I’ve encountered in a good long time (perhaps ever).…
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Fallen angels
In my opinion religion has only two positive consequences. Firstly, in times of trouble, like the death of someone close, it can be of great comfort. Secondly, religion can be useful in maintaining stability in society in general. Every other aspect of religious belief is negative. War, death and destruction, unnecessary guilt, discrimination, stunting of…
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Currently Reading
Following on from watching Robert Kaplan’s interview on Book TV, and on the advice of both my uncle and indeed Peter, I have started to read the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. It is the Rex Warner translation published by Penguin, and after reading the first part involving the dispute between Corinth and…
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C-SPAN
Since my DSL was upgraded to 1Mb, allowing 110k/sec downloads, I have become addicted to watching C-SPAN. Lengthy and in-depth, interesting interviews – indeed Steve Clemons was on Washington Journal yesterday. And you can watch the entire and very interesting John Bolton and John Negroponte hearings too. Ah how did we ever live without broadband?
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Weekend hiatus
Yes I know you all missed me like crazy over the weekend, but I did manage to catch Be Cool and the Ring 2, buy the Economist and watch Man On Fire.
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Lacking posts
Lots of stuff to post on, just too busy lately to do it. Do take a look at the this very long profile/interview of Robert Kaplan in streaming RealVideo. The latest issue of the Atlantic has arrived, I hope to post about the best bits over the weekend.
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Google Satellite
I spent a little too long playing with Google’s new toy yesterday. To be blunt I am pretty shocked at the quality of the product, that it’s free, and that it works so incredibly well. When Maps BETA originally came out I was very impressed, but adding satellite imagery has stunned me, though I guess…
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De demon drink smuggling
A couple of hours out to sea from Tel Aviv, on a hot Mediterranean night in the 1980’s, I carefully picked my way towards the armoured personnel carrier secured on the afterdeck. My job was to remove a HiFi and a 12-bottle box of spirits hidden beneath the troop seating section of the vehicle The…
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Big Bite Blog
Well I have finally returned to the County. I have yet to watch the stint of me or my fellow bloggers on TV, but judging by the reactions around the Irish blogosphere, most are happy with our performance. I actually managed to surprise myself, whether it was the company or the pre-studio cup of tea,…
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Mailing from vodafone
Does anyone know what the correct settings are for having Pop email access via Vodafone? I have tried various access points and means to get it to recognise POP addresses but to no avail. The Vodafone website is pretty unhelpful in this regard. Thanks to Bernie to pointing me in the direction of boards.ie, I…
Got any book recommendations?