Countercultural Rebellion

Posted by Valerie on April 19, 2008

You’ve known it for a long time. Now, here’s proof at Expelled Excels.

Morality and Academic Freedom

Posted by Valerie on April 12, 2008

“Given sufficient time, the non-random survival of hereditary entities (which occasionally miscopy) will generate complexity, diversity, beauty, and an illusion of design so persuasive that it is almost impossible to distinguish from deliberate intelligent design.”–Richard Dawkins

For Dawkins, the only thing that distinguishes Survival of the Fittest from Intelligent Design is the assumption that beyond humanity there is not even one more complex, beautiful, or intelligent being in the entire Universe.

Where is the Scientific Method in this assumption?

If evolution is true, then it is probable that there are more complex, beautiful, and intelligent beings in the Universe.

If evolution is not true, then it’s a Certainty.

He is clinging to improbability.

Very Old Books

Posted by Valerie on

My four best tips for buying very old books.

First, books have value only when people know they exist and want to buy them. There is little or no market interest in at least 95% of very old books. Old doesn’t sell. Content and importance sell, regardless of age.

Second, avoid anything published by published by A. L. Burt, Hurst, M. A. Donohue, Altemus, Mershon, or Goldsmith. Also avoid Grosset & Dunlap except for the juvenile series books (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and so on).

Third, look for cloth or nice leather covers and white or light-colored paper. The better publishers produced most of the better books, and better publishers typically used better materials.

Fourth, classics became classics because they were printed from the very beginning in enormous quantities. Pirated editions and reprints are common.

A very, very old copy of Tom Sawyer or 20,000 Leagues under the Sea is unlikely to have significant value. (If it has brown, fragile pages and was published by Donohue, it’s probably best recycled.)

If you choose the most interesting, most attractive, best illustrated and bound books from what’s left you just might pick a winner!

A Little Luxury

Posted by Valerie on April 10, 2008

Have you seen this article?

I dress my eleventh baby, Gunnar, from thrift stores.

I definitely didn’t buy him 70 toys in his first year, and I’ll homeschool him for next to nothing.

But not every luxury is measured by its cost.

See this list.

The ipod’s electronics will become obsolete.
The airline ticket has been spent.
Flowers die.
The pizza was eaten.
The bomber will rust.
The island will disappear due to Global Warming. (Or not.)

Someday the game will be over, but Lord willing our baby Gunnar will live forever.