First of all, readers, a question: After reading a book of his that I admired very much, I found out one of my favorite philosophers, Paul Feyerabend, was an officer on the side of the Nazis in World War II, and was wounded on the Eastern Front. If you read a book that you enjoyed a lot and found out later that its author had spent time on the Eastern Front taking potshots at Russians, how would it change your feelings about his/her work?

See, the reason I'm curious is because Feyerabend claimed to be an anarchist later in his life, and consistently told interviewers and anyone who would ask that he had been young and stupid and (after all) drafted. It's hard to tell how much his wartime experiences affected his methods. I find myself instinctively assuming bad faith- he actually was a committed Nazi, and the anarchistic angle on sociology of science he adopted for the rest of his life provided a thin veil of atonement. (He taught at Berkeley in the 60s and was a vocal critic of the student uprisings there.) I can't tell if I'm being fair.

Anyway, it's been a wonderful week. The other night we had an office party, and while those're usually toxic, I managed to get two bottles of Bulletin Place shiraz out of it. Easily some of the best red wine I've had in awhile- it has a strong, smoky taste at first that fades quickly into the familiar bitterness. Wine Spectator, who gave it an 82, be damned!

Spending the evening in the company of doctors and lawyers was pretty awful- lots of wives with implants and male chauvinist pigs, plus I kept overhearing people viciously tearing other guests apart- but worth it. One of my coworkers invited me along to see a Devil Rays game on Sunday, and I'm seeing another one tonight.

It's so satisfying to see a team I've adored for awhile now coming into its own. The Devil Rays were always close to being good, but someone would invariably fuck up in the last few innings. I'm sad that their twelve-game winning streak came to a close, but I feel certain they'll put the Marlins in their place.