Philosophy On Tap
Essays in this category were originally posted to Nancy's first blog, "Pieces of My Mind". They've been moved here for preservation as the original website at NancyBabcockWrites.com has been taken offline.
I love Harry Aleo, and I'll tell you why. For starters, Harry Aleo loves horses--and he puts his money on the line to prove it. Harry is the 86 year-old owner of a small string of race horses, stabled in San Francisco. Money is not the name of Harry's game, it's all...
There seems to be a lot of confusion about where this war that preoccupies our hearts and heads is taking place. I'd have thought that by now--four years later--we'd at least know the name of the place. Early into it, CNN and war correspondent Christiane Amanpour...
I've been re-reading the fourth book in the Harry Potter series--I know I'm a bit behind as I've had to back-track, but I think something has tampered with my memory. Thank heavens for J.K. Rowling, the author of these books, who has the perfect explantion. It's...
I've decided to move. In itself the news is not exactly shocking--after all, isn't this the American way? It seems like everyone I know is from somewhere else and likely to go somewhere else from where they are today. Are we Americans obsessed, and if we are, how did...
Until about six weeks ago, I had never heard of Bode Miller. Apparently I have been living under a rather large pile of rocks. People in Europe have known his name for years. There he's on a level with a rock star, and by now, pretty much everyone in this country has...
We are constantly exhorted to "live in the moment," to "be in the present," to "be present in the moment." Does that cover all the variations on the theme? All well and good except for one small problem. As soon as you manage to find and then place yourself "in the...
There I was on an elevator in the building of a major corporation and headed to the 20th floor when about half way up a man joined me in my ascent. It was just the two of us for the rest of the ride. Soon after joining me he asked, "Isn't that periwinkle you're...
Remember Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz? Of course you do. She was the one in that blue dress and white pinafore and had that cute little dog that escaped capture by that horrid Miss Gultch by jumping out of the basket on the back of her bicycle. Then, both Dorothy and...
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Charles and Camilla doing the colonies. And here they were, right on their former colonial shores. Poor Camilla! Can you imagine anyone having to try to walk in the shadow of Diana, the paragon of beauty, sophistication, and...