Keith Burgess-Jackson

Here is a scene from today’s stage of the Dauphiné Libéré, won by Kazakh Maxim Iglinsky. Frenchman Christophe Moreau is now the overall leader, with one stage to go. American David Zabriskie lies fifth, 2:16 behind Moreau.

One of my readers just posted a long, interesting comment on my “Conservatism” post of 31 May. I thought I’d draw your attention to it.

Dear Professor Burgess-Jackson,

In case you are interested, here are a couple more notes on your phishing post. You might want to know that the anti-phishing feature/software that you use is part of Internet Explore 7. It is not a part of OneCare. I believe OneCare is designed to integrate with the IE 7 anti-phishing function. For instance, I believe you might be able to turn on or adjust the phishing settings of IE 7. Nonetheless, the anti-phishing is part of and being done by IE7, not OneCare. Also, the advice that you kindly and helpfully give your readers about how to delete temporary data applies to users of all recent versions of Internet Explorer. (People do not need OneCare to follow your advice.) In addition, people do not need to have the anti-phishing feature of IE 7 turned on in order to follow your advice and delete temporary data with IE 7 (or IE 6, etc.). By the way, I do hope you will check out CCleaner. I think you might really like it, especially given how much you seem to have liked discovering the delete temporary data function of Internet Explorer.

Take care.

Note from KBJ: The anonymous writer of this letter also informed me (in a separate e-mail message) of a free Clean Up Scan by Microsoft. Although I subscribe to Windows Live OneCare, this scan is not part of my package. I just used it to clean my computer. It took only four minutes. I plan to use it monthly from now on.

To get people to think morally it is not sufficient to tell them how to do it; it is necessary also to induce in them the wish to do it. And this is not the province of the philosopher.

(R. M. Hare, Freedom and Reason [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963], 224)

Note from KBJ: I’m done mining this book for quotations. I hope you enjoyed them.

Here is a review of a new book about Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. In case you’re wondering, he is my favorite Supreme Court justice. It has nothing to do with conservatism. It has to do with his approach to judging, and, specifically, to the importance he assigns to federalism.

To the Editor:

“Newspapers Trimming Classical Critics” (Arts pages, June 9) is prompted by position eliminations or reductions in cultural reporting in major cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta and New York.

My cause for alarm in this area is not because music criticism is an age-old ritual of literature, or because audiences need to be told what is good and what is not (although that is certainly fair game for the critic), but because critics play a crucial role in raising consciousness about music and the arts, and a major role in a city’s sense of self as a cultural community.

Critics help develop audiences, interest and passion. Sometimes we agree with them and sometimes not. But the point is, they have an important role to play in fostering the arts across America, and that is time and money well spent.

Fred Bronstein
Dallas, June 11, 2007
The writer is president and chief executive of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Note from KBJ: You can tell me until you’re blue in the face that X is a good song, but if I don’t like it, I don’t like it. You can tell me until you’re blue in the face that X is a bad song, but if I like it, I like it. If you object that goodness in music is distinct from “liking it,” then my reply is that I don’t care about goodness in music.

Here.