Sorry for my silence, I've been preoccupied. Next week I should be back with some original thoughts, but for now, here's some thoughts from other people, which let's admit, are probably better anyway.

The remarkable story of how ancient papyri fragments became crucial clues in a possible theft and illegal sale scheme.  Involving Oxford dons.   

This is a piece that points to research done at the Brookings institution over the past decade on the current situation and future prospects of the middle class, the definition of which is part of the issues under debate. This post is a bit of an advertisement for Brookings, so please dismiss that part of the post, but it does actually point to some valuable information.  After all, "modernity" is really about the rise of the middle class, in many ways. Thinking about these issues is in no way a marginal or silly matter.

A nice piece on Randolph Bourne, a still-underappreciated American genius.

Pew did an analysis of American sermons, found online--49,719 of them, in fact.  Lots of tidbits in here; some people have focused on the average length of time, but somehow I think the distinctive word choices among the groups studied--Roman Catholic, White Mainline Protestant, White Evangelical, Black Protestant--are more interesting as topics to ponder.

This is sobering.   “Conservative Christians believe their rights are in peril partly because that’s what they’re hearing, quite explicitly, from conservative media, religious elites, partisan commentators and some politicians, including the president. The survey evidence suggests another reason, too. Their fear comes from an inverted golden rule: Expect from others what you would do unto them. White evangelical Protestants express low levels of tolerance for atheists, which leads them to expect intolerance from atheists in return. That perception surely bolsters their support for Trump. They believe their freedom depends on keeping Trump and his party in power.”

But let's not end the work-week on a negative note.  This is really great:

"From “Go, Dog. Go!” — my first book way back in prekindergarten — it was only a short skip to the poems of William Butler Yeats; “The Myth of Sisyphus,” by Albert Camus; the guerrilla ontology of Robert Anton Wilson; and the 10,000 mostly nonfiction books in my home library on Irish history, African-American history, my Pagan spiritual path, world religions and metaphysical matters, the Middle East, quantum physics, the Beatles and rock music, yadda yadda yadda."

A collection of letters from readers of the NYTimes about books that changed their lives.  Middlemarch is on here; so is Camus. And surely I am alone in being unsurprised that one guy, whose father gave him Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript, was named, presumably by his parents, "Barth"?  

Happy weekend!  May you all rest and reflect.