Moving…

All content on this blog from Tim McGhee has moved to the Tim McGhee Substack, and soon, Lord willing, will be found only on that Substack.

Saturday, June 30, 2018

1,000 Days of Writing

Today I am 15,000 days old.

I've had it in mind this month to take on 1,000 days straight of writing.

I'm not one to take on small things first. I find it easier to jump in big.

In third grade, when I was supposed to come up with a project, I decided my topic was “computers,” and against the wise advice of my teacher and parents, I steadfastly refused to narrow my topic any further than that.

The first book of the Bible I decided to memorize is not the shortest, but is in fact the longest of Paul's letters in the New Testament.

1,000 days from now is Friday, March 26, 2021. Lord willing we'll have another presidential inauguration by then. I have no idea what this will look like over that time, much less all the world holds or all my life holds between now and then. Maybe that's what makes it exciting.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Justice Kennedy: To Swing or Not To Swing

It seems the reviews on Justice Kennedy are mixed.

Monday, June 18, 2018

Book Excerpt on The T'ang Dynasty

At the funeral of Tai-tsung his successor, Kao-tsung, saw Wu, one of his father's concubines, who pleased him so much that, contrary to law, he took her into his own harem. Raised to the rank of empress and left mother of an infant son, she swayed the sceptre after Kao-tsung's death for twenty-one years. Beginning as regent she made herself absolute.

A system of civil service examinations which had sprung up with the revival of learning under the Hans was now brought to maturity. For good or for evil it has dominated the mind of the Empire for twelve centuries. Now, however, the leaders of thought have begun to suspect that it is out of date. The new education requires new tests; but what is to hinder their incorporation in the old system? To abolish it would be fraught with danger, and to modify it is a delicate task for the government of the present day.

That the scholar should hold himself in readiness to serve the state no less than the soldier was an acknowledged principle. It was reserved for the statesmen of T'ang to make it the mainspring of the government. To them belongs the honour of constructing a system which would stimulate literary culture and skim the cream of the national talent for the use of the state. It had the further merit of occupying the minds of ambitious youth with studies of absorbing interest, thus diverting them from the dangerous path of political conspiracy.

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