Author Archives: Fenster

About Fenster

Gainfully employed for thirty years, including as one of those high paid college administrators faculty complain about. Earned Ph.D. late in life and converted to the faculty side. Those damn administrators are ruining everything.

Niall Ferguson on Free Speech

Posted on August 8, 2018

Fenster writes: Niall Ferguson is liberalism’s favorite apostate.  He is not predictably conservative.  He is reliably contrarian but the liberal mind savors a little intellectual frisson, especially if it is put across in an erudite way.  He is not crude … Continue reading →

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Low and Dishonest

Posted on August 4, 2018

Fenster writes: Fake news is mostly a matter of not covering certain things.  But it can also be a matter of indirection. Squirrel!! At its worst it dives right in and absolutely bathes in the warm waters of dishonesty, naked … Continue reading →

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A Not-So-Distant Mirror

Posted on August 2, 2018

Fenster writes: Swedes are different from Norwegians and Lord knows they are both different from those crazy Finns originally from some place way far to the East.  But Danes are distinctive too. The manner by which they have chosen to … Continue reading →

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Swedes and Norwegians

Posted on August 1, 2018

Fenster writes: My ancestors emigrated from Sweden, close enough to the Norwegian border as to have my mother speculate that we might be part Norwegian.  She never explained the difference and so I grew up thinking the two nationalities were … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal reflections | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Rule(s) of Three

Posted on July 24, 2018

Fenster writes: Why do so many things come at us in threes? Perhaps I should not put it that way.  To me it is less that the world is ordered into threes than it is that our minds may be … Continue reading →

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The Dog that Didn’t Bark, con’t.

Posted on July 23, 2018

Fenster writes: Being able to spot a fake news story is a valuable skill but truly “fake” news is a somewhat overblown issue.  Media literacy nowadays is at least as much a matter of what Sherlock Holmes termed “the dog … Continue reading →

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Two Elsewhere Links

Posted on July 15, 2018

Fenster writes: A friend of UR posts at a different site and sometimes his thoughts seem in line with the UR vibe. So FWIW here are two: –a post on diversity as experienced in the vicinity of Harvard Square, and … Continue reading →

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