I just stumbled across a reader comment from early last year by a teacher in Massachusetts, Camille Napier Bernstein, who begins each day with a “stillness” exercise for the first few minutes each day in her classroom. The students are not only receptive, but sometimes enthusiastic about how valuable it has become to them.

She has written about her ( Read more... )

This moving message just landed in my inbox, from friend Ross Barlow.

Honoring “The Chosin Few” in the Korean War from 27 November 1950 on into December 1950. The battle of Chosin Reservoir. It was intensely brutal combat in temperatures sometimes down to minus-35 degrees in the mountains. A frozen Hell.

Honored warriors there were from the US ( Read more... )

A friend on Facebook lamented the fact that academics tend to equate libertarian thinking with Ayn Rand - “And it’s never her ideas of anything like self-ownership or individuality that get cited either. It’s always her batshit personality quirks,” like “Her creepy admiration of William Edward Hickman, a serial killer.”

My reply:

I’ve heard that ( Read more... )

Earlier this month I relocated to Malta, chiefly for its English-speaking culture, beautiful sights, and sunny weather - ranked #1 in the world for its desirable climate per International Living. I’m liking it a lot so far, though I’ve scarcely begun to explore the island properly.

Among other things, living in a new country always entails ( Read more... )

This Thursday, September 24th, The John Stossel Show on Fox Business Network will air a show with the theme “What if Libertarians Were in Charge?”

The last seven minutes of the show will include a segment featuring Michael Strong and Magatte Wade, discussing how Free Cities will reduce poverty and create jobs, hope, and prosperity in the ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

This post inspired me, in turn, on multiple levels: what children are capable of, what parents are capable of, and how valuable it is to treat one another as (basically) responsible adults.

I’d heard people talk about being inspired by their kids before, and didn’t really believe it as I hadn’t had the experience. But last night, Tovar inspired me.
( Read more... )

A quote that really struck me today, from the Almaasary of quotes from A.H. Almaas:

What determines whether a soul has basic trust? Basic trust is the effect on the soul of a particular aspect or quality of Being that we call Living Daylight. We call it this because if one’s perception is subtle enough to visually see and kinesthetically feel the ( Read more... )

From Wikipedia.

As told by Aristoxenus, and after him Cicero (De Offic. 3.45), Diodorus Siculus (10.4), and others, around the 4th century BC, Pythias and his friend Damon, both followers of the philosopher Pythagoras, traveled to Syracuse. Pythias was accused of plotting against the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius I. As punishment for this crime, ( Read more... )

A writer I’ve never heard of before, named Yasuhiko Genku Kimura, has a very interesting article titled “The Virtues of Enlightened Selfishness” that begins:

The human being has two wings, the wing of universality and the wing of individuality, with which to fly above the earth and to soar into the heavens. The wing of universality grows in the ( Read more... )