Thinking skeptically about thinking

One of the best books I've read in 2013 was Robert Burton's "A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves." The title was of interest when Jill was in the process of being diagnosed about why she had her car wreck back in December. The book revisits issues from the philosophy of the mind that I studied in undergraduate days, namely how can we ever figure out how the mind works when we've only got our minds to figure with. Notwithstanding the discussion of technology and philosophy, the book is accessible and interesting.

On Roy Wolfe

I understand that Roy Wolfe, the former United States Magistrate, passed away this week. He was someone I saw every day during my clerkship in Abingdon, during the last few months before his retirement. He was a good-humored man who liked to egg on Judge Williams to tell stories, even though he knew as many himself, and he thought it was hilarious that one of the demonstrators outside the courthouse hollered out "there goes the judge and his henchman" as Roy and the judge walked to a car. Evidently, he was also a lion in the courtroom, back in the day. He was a good friend to me who helped make my year at the courthouse the great experience it was.