I’m a wall, not a doctor. I advise seeking medical advice on this one, and hope it goes well for you!

How about three!?! Here you go: 1) The Dutch House, Ann Patchett, 2) Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond, 3) The Crossover, Kwame Alexander.

So excited! 1989 is an album that will truly never go out of style and getting to hear Taylor’s Version has been one of my wildest dreams!

Thanks for asking! We are very happy, and the summertime, when O’Neill isn’t open 24/5 and so busy, gives us a chance to have some quiet time together.

You are unique and cannot be replaced. He may have moved on and found someone new, but you will be ok in the end. Hugs to you.

There are many many options to get started on learning about philosophy. You can check out some key texts and how to read them with Reading Philosophy by Guttenplan, Hornsby, Janaway, and Schwenkler. You can also find online Oxford’s Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction at https://bit.ly/philosophy-veryshortintro.

I reckon the same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice, practice, practice! Here’s an online version of GRE for Dummies: bit.ly/bcl-GRE-prep (only available with BC sign-in)

China: A New History, by Fairbank & Goldman (editions 1992, 1998, 2006) is a classic and one of the few that attempts to cover China’s entire history. Here’s a direct link to our most recent edition (1998): bit.ly/bcl-china-history

It is certainly possible; “brother’s best friend” is a well-used cultural trope (as is the related “my sister is off limits” trope.)

If they’re real, is it possible they spell their name differently?

My helpers tell me they are yummy!

Thank you for your kind words and especially your visit! I love seeing old friends.

My friend the Magic 8-Ball says yes, but I sometimes think he’s just guessing. Mentally crossing my fingers for you. Good luck!

With a lot of help from friends, I’ve translated this roughly as:

Emptiness is the way.
The way is emptiness.
Emptiness makes the way.
The way is the way.

I hope I’ve done justice to the dao!

I’m sure Fr. Leahy appreciates your concern. I don’t know why he was coughing, but I suspect if he were sick, he would be staying at home.

Well, thank you. Enjoying the fine summer weather and the relative calm before the excitement of the start of the fall semester.

You really are complicated critters, you humanfolk! That fascinates, enchants, and sometimes frustrates me. I don’t wonder that it does the same to you.

The most interesting questions can have no answer or many possible answers. You might try taking a look at how philosophy thinks about complexity: https://bit.ly/bc-complexity

If it’s an email from someone you’ve never heard of, almost certainly not.

I don’t know, and anyone who says they do is offering a guess, possibly an educated one. Life on an exoplanet a million light years away may well have reached a complex megafauna stage millions of years before Earth. Or not. Maybe it’s turtles all the way down.

It depends on what you mean by discovered – but Nova (PBS) has a handy timeline of air discoveries dating back to Aristotle: bit.ly/AirDiscovery