Rationality, if you think about it, is the least celebrated form of heroism. It has no anthem, no flag, no stadium. Yet it has saved more lives than courage ever did. Commander Spock, that calm half-human mirror to our chaos, is the perfect metaphor: the eyebrow that rises when others shout, the voice that says “calculate” when everyone else says “pray.” Logic, done properly, is erotic — not in the … Read the rest
If the universe had a mood, it would be Monday. Entropy marches, coffee cools, batteries drain, and socks vanish into an event horizon behind the washing machine. Against this cosmic backdrop, optimism can feel like a form of bad arithmetic. Yet here we are—hairless apes who invented anesthesia and sourdough starters—still arguing about whether the glass is half full, half empty, or a … Read the rest
By Eric Le Roy
Content 18+ I have a new Russian student, a freelance workaholic living now in a foreign country, who is still on the right side of 40 and full of ideas seasoned with a tasty pinch of wisdom. We discuss many things during our lessons (it’s not a grammar arrangement), and I spend most of the time listening and absorbing what he has to say.
The other … Read the rest
by Eric Le Roy
Content 18+ I am blessed by the fact that my students and other friends are always sending me interesting things to read. One I got recently was an excellent article by a writer I hadn’t heard of named Cody Delistraty on the theme of what he termed the “relentless, competitive” quest for ‘Happiness” and how people today often make themselves miserable trying to obtain it.
I … Read the rest
Content advisory 12+ We were driving in our Japanese car down the road, xenon headlights breaking the darkness. Suspension, invented by a Scotland-origin man was preventing us from jumping on the bumps. We were driving through the forest to the border through the protected zone.
Back then, in the age of tribes, being banned from your settlement was sometimes worse than a death sentence. Wild beasts, hungry hunters, weather, lack … Read the rest
