Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Mikey Doesn’t Like It. Neither Do I.

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Timothy Burke

A basic point: if the Transportation Security Administration is permitted by the executive branch to “mythbust” on its web pages, it should be instructed to fully and accurately respond to public confirmations that the putatively busted myths are in fact … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Comments Off on Mikey Doesn’t Like It. Neither Do I.

The Gathering Twilight, Part the Second

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Gary Jones at Muck and Mystery takes on a piece about Jaron Lanier’s new book that caught my eye as well. My negative reaction to Lanier’s views wasn’t quite as strong as Gary’s was, but I had some similar feelings. … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming, Popular Culture | Comments Off on The Gathering Twilight, Part the Second

Reading the Not-Yet

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I really like John Holbo’s point about teaching Descartes’ actual writings as an introduction to “modern philosophy” in this Crooked Timber post. There’s a general pedagogical point here about intellectual history. When we teach canonical texts that are commonly held … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Production of History | 3 Comments

The Gathering Twilight, Part the First

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Timothy Burke

In a review of Elena Gorokhova’s memoir of childhood in the Soviet Union, there’s a quote of her youthful realization about Communism: “The rules are simple…They lie to us, they know we know they’re lying, but they keep lying anyway, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 9 Comments

Dragon Age

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I finished a full run through Bioware’s Dragon Age. I’ve always liked Bioware’s approach to RPG design, and this is definitely their best to date. Not because of the setting, which is at times painfully generic or derivative. (The dwarven … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming | Comments Off on Dragon Age

Bring Out the Dead?

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Timothy Burke

BloggEd, a really excellent blog by a family who are all involved in higher education one way or the other, has been talking about William Pannapacker’s Chronicle of Higher Education column that advises potential doctoral students in the humanities to … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 7 Comments

The Bestest Native of All

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Some readers will remember that I defended District 9 against some of the criticisms levelled against it. I don’t know that I’d do the same for Avatar, at least not its plot. My position on the film otherwise is pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture | 5 Comments

Disposed to Propose

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I’ve done a fair bit of judging proposals for grants over the years, and a recent experience doing so pushed me to finally assemble some notes and thoughts I’ve been collecting. These are specific to undergraduates: graduate and faculty proposals … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa, Politics | 2 Comments

The Problem of Organizations

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Timothy Burke

This is an old idea, particularly in the branch of sociological thought that descends from Weber, but it really seems to me that the political problem of the 21st Century is not a problem of markets or capitalism, not of … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 3 Comments

Fantasy Bests

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Timothy Burke

It’s a New Year, so I’m going to get back in gear on this blog, which I’ve had to leave a bit moribund for a while as I concentrated on some other things and did some travelling. Many entries to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 13 Comments