Latest Posts
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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
We watched the movie, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” last night. It is haunting, the tale of a man, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in his early forties, has a massive stroke that leaves him completely paralyzed, save for the… Continue reading
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Mao Fed People to Animals
A new book about the Great Leap Forward has been published. It’s in Chinese; the title is Mubei (Tombstone) and is written by Yang Jisheng. I have not seen it myself yet but a review is available in yesterday’s (July… Continue reading
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More on Dunhuang
As some readers might remember, I am a fan of Dunhuang. So, I was quite happy when I discovered today this article in tomorrow’s NYT that gives a nice description of the place. An accompanying slide show is included. … Continue reading
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And Still Another Taoist July 4th
I’ve run this post before; but, what the heck, it’s summer and internet traffic is down, so maybe you haven’t seen it before….. It may seem improbable but I think we can find a Taoist angle on the US… Continue reading
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Summer School
One of the reasons I have gotten behind in blogging is my work with a summer program here at Williams. I am the director of Summer Humanities and Social Sciences, which brings 18 in-coming first year students to campus for… Continue reading
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Three Years
I have been a bit remiss on posting for the past week. Work has a way of obstructing blogging at times…. In any event, July 1st marked the third anniversary of The Useless Tree. Let’s take a minute… Continue reading
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On Being Powerful
Good news today on the foreign policy front: the US has finally started to make progress in opening up its relations with North Korea. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing but disdain for the government of NK. But the… Continue reading
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Wandering in the Tao Te Ching
Perusing the book, worrying about work and how much I am not getting done, I put this down here as a reminder to us all: To work at learning brings more each day.To work at Way brings less each day,… Continue reading
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A Chuang Tzu Video
Just found this on youtube. It's a fun five minutes. Continue reading
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Confucian Innovation
An interesting profile in today's NYT of John Kao, a renaissance man of sorts who now focuses his thinking and working of issues of innovation and entrepreneurship. One thing that caught my eye was how moving between two cultures provided… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 