It made sense after Nuremberg to put away a few Nazis during his hour a day in the yard Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess continued to goose step into his 90s and some called his exercise the Spandau ballet it was fitting that Hitler's architect Albert Speer should have been held in an artless hell also appropriate that Wiesbaden should have hosted an American base given it had been Goring's spa as well as Dostoevsky's and Nietzsche's too less safe was Eichmann's extradition from Argentina but Peron would never have surrendered him and anyway justice was served goose stepping to the end.

Yesterday I saw a sparrow playing in the Plus 15 connecting The Bay with the rest of the Rideau Centre he was flying between perches on two indoor trees unconcerned about his own predicament and unmolested by passers by who were pleased to see a bird doing his thing in the breezeway normally occupied only with cell phone chargers the lockers and the key holders and the usual rush to get to the bus or on to the next shop while the money is still burning a hole in pockets no longer used to carrying change or Kleenexes and tell me what is the price of two sparrows Matthew 10:29 one copper coin but not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without his Father knowing I wonder whether the sparrow knew his predicament or was concerned at all to find a way out but I was reminded of Bede who said that we are all like birds who have flown into dark rooms without windows oh king, it seems to me ...

There was a time when we looked askance at granola crunchers who wore Birkenstocks and socks--they made some effort at respectability even then--but that's all in the past now.  Somehow Nietzsche became new age, and Robert Louis Stevenson a herald from Ecclesiastes. If you read the side of a Sleepytime tea box, you'll see a quote from Nitch to the effect that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  So you are meant to sip at your Sleepytime--careful not to let anything slip or drip between the cup and the lip--and therewith drain the day of all ambition, comforting your gray hairs with the realization that you have addressed stress effectively and somehow survived the yoga stretch. Not to be forgotten in this context is Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Granola, which features, on an inside flap a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson--Don't judge a day by how much you reap, but by how many seeds you sew/  Somehow Stevenson is broadcasting for the New Age variation o...

When Nick Phillipson died earlier this year he left unfinished a book on the early modern (16th to 18th century) "Science of Man" project.  Phillipson, an Emeritus Professor of History from the University of Edinburgh, enjoyed well deserved success for eminently readable page turner intellectual biographies of David Hume and Adam Smith.  He lived and breathed Scottish Enlightenment philosophy, and generously shared his enthusiasm with colleagues, visiting scholars, research students (postgraduates), and undergraduates alike for 50 years.  When Adam Smith died, he left on the anvil, and gave orders to be burned, his own great attempt at a Science of Man.  I attempt to provide some hints of what Phillipson's unfinished project may have contained.  I have not personally seen his drafts or notes, but did speak with him about the matter on the telephone before he died. Edinburgh 30 years ago I first came into contact with Dr. Phillipson in the Winter of 1989/90...