I’m back! Happy New Year! I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2016. It will be an interesting year for personal and political reasons. Let’s start with the personal. My wife received a job offer from a non-profit organization based in New York. I can’t really explain how proud I am of her for working so hardContinue reading “Weekend Links”
Author Archives: dsfjr
On Finding A Way to Talk About Guns
In the last post, I wrote about guns in the US. Since then I’ve heard from a few people I love and respect about how I’m being too harsh on gun owners. The argument seems to be that owning guns, keeping them locked in a safe place, and using them in controlled spaces only for recreational purposesContinue reading “On Finding A Way to Talk About Guns”
Weekend Links
Snow will likely remain on the mountains here in Dali, Yunnan Province, China for the rest of the winter. It’s beautiful in the morning and evening lights. The above pictures taken during my walks to and from work yesterday don’t really do the scenes justice. While the views are lovely in winter, the season comes withContinue reading “Weekend Links”
Weekend Links
I had no idea just how powerful this blog could be until yesterday. Recently, I wrote about how we used to have Beijing-style roast duck for Thanksgiving. On Saturday, a student who had just come back from Beijing brought me a duck from the very restaurant about which I had written. No way that kid readsContinue reading “Weekend Links”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving came early this year to Dali, Yunnan Province, China. That’s because Thanksgiving is not actually a holiday in China and not wanting to teach our Friday morning classes in a post-feast stupor, Collin (pictured with me above) and I decided to host Thanksgiving dinner for students in our adult classes on Wednesday night and giveContinue reading “Happy Thanksgiving!”
Sweet Potato Pie Guest Post
The following is a guest post by my wife, Ligaya Beebe. Her sweet potato pie was the star of our Thanksgiving dinner, which I’ll write about later in my own post. Anyway, take it away Ligaya: This recipe is a relatively faithful adaptation of this recipe which is itself an adaptation from Cook’s Illustrated. PieContinue reading “Sweet Potato Pie Guest Post”
Weekend Links
Our annual Thanksgiving tradition when I lived in Xining, Qinghai Province, China was to go out for Beijing-style roast duck. We were lucky enough to have an outlet of the famed Quanjude chain of restaurants, and over my 11 (!) years in China I must have spent five or six Thanksgivings there, feasting on delicious Chinese turkey. ThisContinue reading “Weekend Links”
Links Concerning Paris and Its Aftermath
I’m better informed after reading the following pieces. I have no value to add to them. I’m still trying to sort out why I was dead set against invading Iraq in 2003, skeptical at best about invading Afghanistan in 2001, yet am ambivalent about what France, the US, or other interested parties should doContinue reading “Links Concerning Paris and Its Aftermath”
Weekend Links
Such awful news out of Paris. I never understand what these attacks are meant to demonstrate or accomplish. The world is always worse off. Apparently ISIS is claiming responsibility and some preliminary evidence points in its direction. So France will have a target, and a lot of allies, and we’ll see what happens. Nothing good will come ofContinue reading “Weekend Links”
The Agony of Debate: Voodoo Economics Cannot Fail, They Can Only Be Failed
The verdicts are in, and there seems to be agreement that tonight’s Republican debate, hosted by Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal, was better and more substantive than the turd show on CNBC a few weeks ago. If you missed it, here’s a good recap at The Guardian‘s website. Even though the moderators did an okayContinue reading “The Agony of Debate: Voodoo Economics Cannot Fail, They Can Only Be Failed”
Nonsense Consensus 