blog

you don’t need a japanese chisel

you don’t need a japanese chisel

but you might want one. what’s the difference between a western and japanese chisel? my facetious answer is usually that a japanese chisel cuts on the pull-stroke but, of course, you’d be an idiot if you took that seriously. a japanese chisel is the same as a western chisel in use. it’s the construction that differentiates them. sort of. there’s actually less construction difference than you might originally think for…

say it in french

say it in french

french pronunciation is a mystery to those outside the language. it looks a little like english, a lot like spanish, more like italian and sounds like — well, it sounds like nothing else. french might be the most distinct of linguistic sound groups of the modern languages. you can identify it without hearing any of its words at a long distance because there’s simply nothing else with the same cadence…

in search of mastery

in search of mastery

i have had many questions from students and friends about grad school. there’s a massive amount of writing about student experiences in doctoral programs (almost all horrendous and that’s definitely what i could add to the mix, though i’m not sure there’s much point as i think it’s mostly already been said — the system is broken and it needs to be fixed but the system is self-perpetuating and has…

compounding error with literalism

compounding error with literalism

religion is a twitchy topic. it’s easy to judge people who are religious for being stupid but it’s a very dangerous place to go — many religious people are stupid but many non-religious people are stupid and there are vastly-intelligent people on both sides of the equation. but there are two questions that come up (and have this week from students) about what a religion is (as opposed to philosophy)…

share on social media...
thank you for reading. your eyes have done me a great honor today.