Thomas Cole. Oil on canvas, 1834, 39 ½ x 63 ½ in. Collection of The New-York Historical Society, 1858.2. The day is further along than in "Savage State". Clouds dance slowly around the mountains. A small village has been established near the bay. Nature and humanity are in harmony. Peasants engage in simple pleasures. From … Continue reading The Course of an Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State
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The Course of an Empire: The Savage State
Cole's first work in The Course of An Empire series. Depicts the dawn of civilization, the entirety of the picture being in a state of motion. The mysteries of nature swirl about, as if molded from nothing with the outset of the fog. Primitive people dance around a camp fire. Men organize in tribal governments … Continue reading The Course of an Empire: The Savage State
All Ideas Are Not Created Equal
Thoughts, feelings, and beliefs alone are unsubstantiated. They are truth to you and you alone through the schemas and perceptions that your inherently flawed mind creates. Nobody cares what you think, feel, or believe because not all ideas are created equal. And your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs alone are at the bottom of the "weight of an argument totem pole".
The 3 Degrees of Purchase
Understanding the Third Person Transaction is paramount to understanding government spending. The idea of your taxes being used to make responsible transactions that will benefit you is diametrically opposed to the nature of the third person transaction. There is no necessity for efficiency or quality. And responsibility is so diffused that any legitimate call to accountability will yield you a a low-level scapegoat if you're lucky and a self-righteous speech on the importance of transparency.
“My Mom is Dead” – The Misuse and Abuse of the Personal Account
Over the course of a boy's middle school free time, he will inevitably hear or participate in the male contest of "yo mama" jokes. In case you're unfamiliar, "yo mama" jokes are generally framed as "Yo mama is so (adjective, usually 'fat') she (some sort of thing that she does that describes the previous adjective)". This usually went around for awhile, with no one really getting that offended, until you had the wise guy in the group decide he was going to shut down the party. He waited patiently for someone to make fun of his mother, or he initiated the attack by making fun of their's first, and when their quip was finished he responded with these silencing words:
A Lawmaker’s Litmus Test
Ours is a country of laws. Every problem, every grieving mother, every offended 20-something year old results in some statute or another. Every public shooting, every racial incident, and every sex offense seems to spawn an extra measure of legal ink. And why is this? Because it feels good.
THIS LIFE OF OURS
The next morning he opened his eyes to darkness. The clock said 5:42. She was fast asleep as an island next to him, and would remain there for at least four more hours. He got up, put some running clothes on, and took off down the road along his three and half mile morning trail. He had managed to stay in excellent health, despite an injury to his knee he received in Afghanistan. It bothered him the first mile, but after that it became almost unnoticeable.
Neighborliness & Collective Sympathy
No man is an island. The life of an island has no purpose. Dares nothing. Helps nothing. Feels nothing. Affects nothing.
The Digital Prism: A Thought Experiment
If we are to agree to the assumption that all ideas are paramount to the progress of intellectual consciousness, personal and collective, then we must submit that the protection of all ideas outweighs the damage some of those ideas may wreak in their full fruition.
THYMOS 