Birthday gifts

I received for my birthday; a Moleskine diary, a print of Hokusai's The Great Wave, and a nice Routledge edition of Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy. The chapter on The Epicureans should be useful for the essay I have on the subject, due Monday. I especially like this passage on Epicurus;

Although his mature philosophy owes more to Democritus than to any other philosopher, he never expressed anything but contempt for Nausiphanes, whom he alluded to as 'The Mollusc'.

My task now is to decide which of my antagonists I'd like to refer to as 'The Mollusc'. I spent some time last night reading through Chapter 14 of Kegley & Wittkopf's Global Politics: Trends & Transformations. I find the writing style lacks the lubrication of imagination, and its dryness is making for a slow, painful journey through its pages. It's a pity the whole subject (PLT120) is based on this single text.