New Digs

We’ve got ‘em! And we’ve got a fancy new logo, too:

So check it out! And update your bookmarks, blogrolls, RSS readers, etc! The new domain is:

http://www.amconmag.com/schwenkler/

And the new posts feed is here, and the comments RSS here. No doubt there are still a few wrinkles to iron out, but we are … live.

Filed under: personal

Big News

American Conservative readers who’ve received the latest issue – out here in the People’s Republic we tend for some reason* to run about two weeks late – may already have noticed that, in addition to having averted the threat of suspending publication and switched from a biweekly to a monthly format, the magazine that gave me my first big break has got another bit of news tucked away at the bottom of page 4:

… we’ll soon be welcoming John Schwenkler and J.L. Wall’s highly regarded “Upturned Earth,” the first of several upcoming additions.

Well. I just thought I’d note that, yes, this is for real – there are still a few little things to iron out, but the switch should be completed very soon. Many thanks to all of you for, uh, regarding us so highly. (Or not.) Stay tuned for the details, and here’s to the future …

Oh, and check out the redesigned main page, now crawling with enough uncompromised conservatism to make you wish it could come each week!

* Possible theories: Leftie postal employees trying to mess with us; crypto-conservative postal employees unable to resist a good read; tired carrier pigeons dozing off somewhere over the Great Plains; a city that prides itself on similarities to Western European economics ending up with postal workers with French-style work ethic. Further guesses, especially at the expense of the French worker, are always welcome.

Filed under: media/culture, personal

“Against Thought-Experiments”

At the Scene, I explain why thinking clearly about torture means thinking clearly about real circumstances, rather than imaginary ones.

Filed under: morality, personal, philosophy, torture

Why Torture Is Wrong

I pretty much shared Daniel’s opinion of Jim Manzi’s demand for a non-pacifist case against torture, but I’ve got a brief post up at the Scene trying to meet the challenge with some good ol’ Phil 101ing.

Filed under: morality, personal, philosophy, torture

“One Straw Man Leads To Another”

At the Scene, I’ve got a post up responding to Ramesh Ponnuru’s criticisms of my recent defense of Alice Waters.

Filed under: conservatism, food, personal

Summer is Here!

Or at least that’s how it feels in Berkeley – it’s been in the 80s since Sunday, and with nary an air conditioner to be found we’ve got the windows and doors wide open every morning and evening to suck in the Bay breeze. Our food is in the mood, too: we had friends over for roasted chicken salad (tossed with the pan drippings, natch) on Sunday, then had pasta with raw tomato sauce and asparagus yesterday and beans and tomato rice with homemade tortillas and mangos this evening. Plus Jack got a new bathing suit and splashed around in the inflatable pool this evening, and earlier today he also got his very first haircut:

The heat wave isn’t going to last forever, thankfully: apparently there’s some thought that it might actually rain this weekend, which is pretty much a winter-only occurrence in NorCal. But hey, we can deal …

Filed under: family, personal

Introductories

by JL Wall

Greeting, everyone!  First, a little technical thing — as you’ve probably already noticed, my name will appear in bold on whatever I write over here, to distinguish me from John.  Unless I forget to do so, in which case he will hopefully remind me that he didn’t write it.

Secondly, who am I?  Well, I’m a student — I study Classics (primarily Greek) and English literature.  As you’ll figure out sooner or later even if you don’t read this, I’m a native Kentuckian.  Back in his old digs, William Brafford categorized phaidimoi logoi in his blogroll as “Culture, Classics,” which was more or less fitting for what I talk about things in relation to.  John and I both write sometimes about religion — though my perspective is Jewish, rather than Catholic.  Pesach begins tomorrow night at sundown, so I imagine there might be some future Passover-blogging.

More substantive things to follow shortly.

Filed under: personal

Big News

So I’m really, really excited to announce that JL Wall, who blogs at phaidimoi logoi and was a guest-blogger here during my absence last November, has signed on to co-blog over here in perpetuity – or at least until he’s ready to move on to bigger and better things. JL’s a student at Northwestern, a terrific writer, and an absolute natural with the blogging medium. Impossible as it may have seemed to you a moment ago (ha!), this place is about to get a whole lot smarter.

Filed under: personal

Blogorrhoea

So people blog a lot.

I mean, you knew that, but now Jim Henley – and congratulations, Jim! – has got the proof. Indeed, my own RSS feed attests to the crazy state we’re in: some two dozen posts already waiting in the queue before dawn this morning; nearly 4,000 read (or “read”) items over the past 30 days; and a present pace that averages over 150 posts per weekday even after I did a major purge the other week that eliminated a few inactives and several heavy hitters. Add to this the fact that – ahem – a pair of much-loved recent additions have got this tendency of churning out what often seems like several thousand-word missives per day and you quickly get to the present state in which I, like Jim, have been making disturbingly frequent appeal to the “RSS Bankruptcy” mechanism, aka “Mark all as read” key, in the past few weeks: a sign of admirable personal restraint, perhaps, but an unfortunate scenario nonetheless.

But I’m doing my part! After several straight months of a hundred-plus posts through the late summer and early autumn (peaking at 155 in September!), I’ve been down in the low 40s for both of the past two months. Which just goes to show – take note, Mr. Yglesias – that it can be done! But I still like Jim’s proposal:

There will be a cap-and-trade system in effect for the blogosphere beginning April 16th (to give people time to do their taxes), with auction. Proceeds will fund – me! We face a serious collective-action problem in the blogosphere which individual initiative alone cannot solve, as evidenced by my own futile attempt to singlehandedly reduce the global average blog posting rate since the fall. We need to all work together, as a team or a family, and it needs to benefit me and my cronies. Thank you.

Which reminds me that I’ve got to do my taxes, dammit. But I wonder: What will we do about all those developing bloggers who need to post in huge amounts in order simply to get their traffic up to the minimal levels that the established powers take for granted? The plan can’t work without their cooperation, but it is it really fair simply to squash their aspirations to those standards of blogging that so many of us simply take for granted?

Filed under: media/culture, personal

Back (With Photos)

Monterey was nice, the drive was gorgeous, and the aquarium was very cool:

Sporadic blogging should recommence shortly.

Filed under: personal