TAKING MY HEAD OUT OF THE SAND

Now that Lecture Five is prepared and the polls have moved very slightly in Clinton's direction, I can bring myself to raise my head, sniff the wind, and take note of the latest furor in the race.  I have very little reason to believe that the current to-do about a former Miss Universe will make a noticeable difference in the outcome of the election, but it is fun to watch as Clinton baits Trump and Trump, like the bottom feeder that he is, takes the bait hook, line, and sinker.  If schadenfreude is all you've got, then at least revel in it, I say.

By the bye, I have finished the splendid Sapolsky book and am now deep into the Berwick and Chomsky book, Why Only Us?  Language and Evolution.  It is very dense, very compressed, and very slow going, but quite fascinating.  At this point I am almost halfway through the book, which is only 166 pages long, and I think that Chomsky's signature contribution to the subject does not appear until near the end.  I shall report back when I am done.

AT LAST!

Here it is.   Lecture Four, replete with irrelevant stories and deep insights.  Enjoy.

MARKING TIME

Just exactly six weeks to go until the election results come in.  I have finished the Sapolsky book, which was a delight, and  have started on WHY ONLY US:  Language and Evolution, by Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky.  What a difference!  This one is very chewy, very condensed.  

An hour to go until Lecture Four is up and available.  I shall provide a link when it is on YouTube.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LECTURE

Number four is recorded and should be up tomorrow.  This one features stories about Ronald Dworkin, T. D. Weldon, and Peter Strawson, and show-and-tell with fancy boards courtesy of Staples.  Also, a political rant at the end.

Next week, big stuff:  The Subjective Deduction [always a crowd pleaser.]

ANOTHER IDOL SHATTERED

Susan Stamberg, long-time much beloved National Public Radio personality, is among other things the author of the Susan Stamberg Five Second Rule, by which I have lived for years.  The rule states that when you drop a piece of food on the kitchen floor while cooking, if you pick it up within five seconds it is all right to eat it.  Now I learn that scientific tests have proved that the Five Second Rule is false.  Apparently, germs take less time than that to get on food that has fallen on the floor.

This will require an entire reordering of my culinary routines.

Is nothing sacred?

PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS

Tomorrow I deliver and record the fourth Kant lecture.  I have decided to say something briefly about the fact that the election looms over this effort.  It seems odd not even to acknowledge it.  Even though I am still shunning the TV news and commentary and the web commentary, the anxiety remains.  I have been watching some Robert Sapolsky lectures on YouTube, and have learned that high levels of continuing stress are neurologically bad for you.  Not surprising.  Six weeks to go.  How on earth will I survive?

MURDER

I have just watched the newly released video taken during and after the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It was murder, pure and simple.  I have no doubt the officer who killed Mr. Scott will eventually be exonerated.  This is an awful country.