More Amazon News

Amazon has a new game. Now that it has agreed to collect sales taxes, the company can legally set up warehouses right inside some of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation. Why would it want to do that? Because Amazon’s new goal is to get stuff to you immediately—as soon as a few hours after you hit Buy. It’s hard to overstate how thoroughly this move will shake up the retail industry. Same-day delivery has long been the holy grail of Internet retailers, something that dozens of startups have tried and failed to accomplish. (Remember Kozmo.com?) But Amazon is investing billions to make next-day delivery standard, and same-day delivery an option for lots of customers. If it can pull that off, the company will permanently alter how we shop. To put it more bluntly: Physical retailers will be hosed.

-- Farhad Manjoo at Slate.com

I was wondering why that sales tax was popping up on my orders. I cannot say I find this news very exciting, though I like the idea of Wal-Mart taking a bath. I generally find two-day delivery to be great, but I'm an easy-going person.

More Amazon News

Amazon has a new game. Now that it has agreed to collect sales taxes, the company can legally set up warehouses right inside some of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation. Why would it want to do that? Because Amazon’s new goal is to get stuff to you immediately—as soon as a few hours after you hit Buy. It’s hard to overstate how thoroughly this move will shake up the retail industry. Same-day delivery has long been the holy grail of Internet retailers, something that dozens of startups have tried and failed to accomplish. (Remember Kozmo.com?) But Amazon is investing billions to make next-day delivery standard, and same-day delivery an option for lots of customers. If it can pull that off, the company will permanently alter how we shop. To put it more bluntly: Physical retailers will be hosed.

-- Farhad Manjoo at Slate.com

I was wondering why that sales tax was popping up on my orders. I cannot say I find this news very exciting, though I like the idea of Wal-Mart taking a bath. I generally find two-day delivery to be great, but I'm an easy-going person.

This God Thing

"Speaking for myself, anyway, I can say this much. When I was an undergrad I came across the saying that learning a little philosophy leads you away from God, but learning a lot of philosophy leads you back. As a young man who had learned a little philosophy, I scoffed. But in later years and at least in my own case, I would come to see that it’s true."

-- Edward Feser

Well, I blew a good day on that, a long essay on that philosophical journey away from faith and then back again. In the end, no matter how smart and how educated you are, the real lesson seems to be that you always end up believing what you really want to believe anyway. If you are more intelligent and better learned, then you just have a lot more impressive evidence at your beck and call, and a lot more persuasive skill in laying out your case.

Daimon says, "You just cannot give up on it entirely, this God thing, cripes!"

Pi says, "I suspect Monk never truly will. There will always be this little part of him that is like a little boy on Christmas eve who still believes in Santa Claus and hopes there is a new bike under the Christmas tree."

I blame my busted life. Having failed this life so miserably, I badly need a second life. And I badly need the promise of paradise. And if one gets to enjoy bliss for an eternity, so much the better.

Daimon says, "Well, if you really believe what you say - that a person always ends up just believing what he wants to believe - then why don't you just simply believe that Christ popped out of a virgin snatch to save the world and lead the way to heaven?"

A deficiency of imagination?

This God Thing

"Speaking for myself, anyway, I can say this much. When I was an undergrad I came across the saying that learning a little philosophy leads you away from God, but learning a lot of philosophy leads you back. As a young man who had learned a little philosophy, I scoffed. But in later years and at least in my own case, I would come to see that it’s true."

-- Edward Feser

Well, I blew a good day on that, a long essay on that philosophical journey away from faith and then back again. In the end, no matter how smart and how educated you are, the real lesson seems to be that you always end up believing what you really want to believe anyway. If you are more intelligent and better learned, then you just have a lot more impressive evidence at your beck and call, and a lot more persuasive skill in laying out your case.

Daimon says, "You just cannot give up on it entirely, this God thing, cripes!"

Pi says, "I suspect Monk never truly will. There will always be this little part of him that is like a little boy on Christmas eve who still believes in Santa Claus and hopes there is a new bike under the Christmas tree."

I blame my busted life. Having failed this life so miserably, I badly need a second life. And I badly need the promise of paradise. And if one gets to enjoy bliss for an eternity, so much the better.

Daimon says, "Well, if you really believe what you say - that a person always ends up just believing what he wants to believe - then why don't you just simply believe that Christ popped out of a virgin snatch to save the world and lead the way to heaven?"

A deficiency of imagination?