Peter A. Hempel   I am not sad that this rose will die. I have picked it – it scolds me for the cutting short, the pain. I do not choose...

Dr. Peter A. Hempel                                                                        Spring 1988 Intro. to Life and Thought 101  ...

What do we want? We want landscapes, And mountains to climb, And cliffs we can fall from.   Random quotes & observations I judge, therefore I am. “If it can  be done, it will  be done. Ethics are no more than a fart in a windstorm.” ("Prolegomenon to our cryogenic future")   Like every decent person, I abhor hypocrisy on the part of others. Mine own hypocrisy is different – it is gentler, kinder, and a helpmeet to me in my days.   There are moments when I find myself in situa

Judaism, Israel, Gaza, and the Protesters   Peter A. Hempel   I’m writing this to put together my views on the situation in Gaza and the protests It’s a pretty complicated topic, and especially so for me.   My Jewish background   Eva, my birth mother, came from a family that had been Jewish up to the time of my great-grandfather, Barthold. From what I can tell, he seems to have been very social and very successful, and to have made a good deal of money in banking.   He had a

On Boobs and Beavers and Cutting Off Tips Sexual politics and common sense Peter A. Hempel A brief examination of some of the most contentious issues of our time. Boobs B oobs are sex signals. It would seem unnecessary to say something as obvious as this, particularly in a culture where boobs are an essential part of advertising, of movies from rom-coms to thrillers, and where tabloids rejoice in shots of celebrity cleavages, side-boobs, nip-slips, and under-boobs. But the

URSULA K.LEGUIN’S HEROIC PURITANISM - "WOKENESS" GOES TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET The Gethenians do not see one another as men or women. This...

Princeton, NJ No release date set: Confidential – for internal use only A spokesperson for President Christopher Eisgruber of Princeton University announced yesterday that a decision has been reached to go forward with a new deal with a major corporate sponsor that will “deliver extremely important benefits to the university community.” The spokesperson explained, “This plan has been the topic of extended and often quite intense debate among administrators and faculty, as we

The play Hamlet grows out of the tradition of the revenge tragedy, a great favorite of the Elizabethan audience. In the conventional...

"Satan sends us temptations. God sends us opportunities." Dear pastor O, Last week while I was hiking out in the woods for fun, I found a...

The current court cases over affirmative action – this time raised about discrimination against Asians at the most selective colleges –...

Recently there has been renewed discussion of Vladimir Nabokov's once scandalous Lolita , thanks to an article in the New York Times by...

My opening question was inspired by a well-intentioned idea on the part of the committee that organized my 50th high school reunion this...

Age is the money shot in an obit. Followed by cause of death as a close second. My father, Carl G. Hempel, was a professor of...

One of the things that gets a lot of coverage in the news these days is the search for exo-planets circling around other stars in our galaxy and in the universe at large. Recent advances in technology have allowed astronomers to perform ever more sophisticated surveys and analyses on behalf of that search. And indeed, recent results suggest that a sizable number of stars appear to have planets rotating around them. Beyond that, our search is preoccupied with how many of those

“Life is. It goes. And it does not count. That was the hurtling truth that comes to rattle everyone as they grow up, grow old.” Jim...

February 2, 2013 (Warning: spoilers ahead.) I haven’t really kept up with my movie-going lately, but Django stood out for me quite...

January 24, 2012 {Note: This is in response to an article in Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/01/apple_s_e_te...

June 11, 2011 · It's part of Windows 7 I believe. I finally decided to test it out by saying (carefully enunciating) the old phrase:...

May 21, 2010 · In my previous post on this freak, I urged her to accept the offer to do porn movies to actually bother to earn a living...

March 25, 2010 · Octomom, plucky, publicity-seeking mom of 14 kids, including the octuplets who gave her her name in the national media,...