Fire and Knowledge » General

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Josh Sowin — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:05:48 +0000

Due to popular demand (okay, not really) you can now subscribe to this site through e-mail. Or if you only want to receive the “quote of the day,” there is an email subscription for that, too.

Did you know…

Josh Sowin — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:17:27 +0000

The first clocks did not have dials or hands at all. They did not need them, since their use was to sound the hour.

–Daniel Boorstin, The Discoverers (1983), p. 39

Did you know…

Josh Sowin — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 14:09:38 +0000

It was around 1330 that the hour became our modern hour, one of twenty-four equal parts of a day.

–Daniel Boorstin, The Discoverers (1983), p. 39

Updated Design

Josh Sowin — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:58:26 +0000

As a digression from all these quotes, I wanted to let you know, dear reader, that I’ve updated the site design to be a little cleaner. I moved the page navigation to the sidebar, moved the sidebar to the left, and made the sidebar grey instead of white. I moved the “about” and “latest essays” to the top, as I thought that would be a good introduction. I also reduced a lot of clutter on the sidebar through expandable sections. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

The Site’s New Clothes

Josh Sowin — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:02:34 +0000

The site got a new pair of clothes today along with an upgrade. Goodbye red, hello blue.

Sorry RSS readers!

Josh Sowin — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:19:08 +0000

I don’t know what happened to my RSS feed, but there’s been an error there for a while and I just noticed and fixed it. So you will now be getting my posts regularly again. My apologies for any inconvenience.

Book Lists

Josh Sowin — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 13:27:49 +0000

I don’t normally ask questions to my readers, but humor me: what are your favorite books?

Thoughtful Articles of the Week

Josh Sowin — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 19:04:58 +0000

Jane Jacobs (Interviewed by Jim Kunstler)

Ties That Bind at Mealtime (Jonathan Yardley)
Sitting and eating a meal is something a struggling family needs. Strong families are already doing it.

Extremism USA (Douglas Groothuis)
Everything in America has to be biggie size. Groothuis says, “We crave stimulation, bigness, and bravado to hide our inner emptiness and to impress others. But beneath it all is the same needy, shabby self, which can never be cured by the excesses of the flesh.”

Private FEMA: In Katrina’s wake, Wal-Mart and Home Depot came to the rescue.
The beauty of the free market system.

Thoughtful Articles

Josh Sowin — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 22:20:56 +0000

Here are a few articles that have caught my attention this week and I think are worth your attention.

Why the Internet Isn’t the Death of the Post Office (James Fallows)
Birth, death, balls and battles [On War and Peace]
Was Katrina Intelligent Design? (John Piper)
New Orleans had a failing public school system. Its children deserve better. (Brendan Miniter)
We’re Going West… (Jonah Goldberg)

Dave Barry on Television

Josh Sowin — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:24:41 +0000

Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but television’s message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom and world peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that offers whiter teeth and fresher breath.

—Dave Barry, Kids Today: They Don’t Know Dum Diddly Do