Monday, January 21, 2013
Continuing …
… Why I Want My Students to Read Jared Diamond’s Latest Blockbuster, Part II | Cross-Check, Scientific American Blog Network. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Bottoms up …
… Book Review: Drinking With Men - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Many retired drinkers can tell you much about what they call "the lure of the neon."
Dave also sends along this: The Tavern as Tabernacle: Rosie Schaap on Drinking... — The Barnes and Noble Review.
Many retired drinkers can tell you much about what they call "the lure of the neon."
Dave also sends along this: The Tavern as Tabernacle: Rosie Schaap on Drinking... — The Barnes and Noble Review.
Thought for the day …
Progress will always have as its recourse to exaggerate what it cannot surpass.
— Franz Grillparzer, who died on this date in 1872
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Hmm …
… Previously unknown Sandburg poem focuses on power of the gun | News Bureau | University of Illinois. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
A REVOLVER.
Can't say I think much of it as a poem. Nor do I find it especially persuasive. Maybe that's why he never published it.
Can't say I think much of it as a poem. Nor do I find it especially persuasive. Maybe that's why he never published it.
Becoming a human …
… Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to birth -- visualized | Video on TED.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In his own words …
… Nassim Taleb Talks Antifragile, Libertarianism, and Capitalism's Genius for Failure — Reason.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Well, I must say that anyone whose bête noires include Friedman, Krugman, and Samuelson has to have a lot going for him.
Well, I must say that anyone whose bête noires include Friedman, Krugman, and Samuelson has to have a lot going for him.
A contest …
My friend Julie Chovanes found herself at a loss for words while adding a comment this pts of mine: Imagine that …
The always resourceful Dave Lull then suggested that we have a contest trying to finish Julie's sentence. So go to, folks.
The always resourceful Dave Lull then suggested that we have a contest trying to finish Julie's sentence. So go to, folks.
Time on one's hands …
… Anecdotal Evidence: `I Could Scarce Trust Myself With Myself'.
As Noël Coward said, "Work is more fun than fun."
As Noël Coward said, "Work is more fun than fun."
Inquirer reviews …
… I review Simon Tolkien's latest: A mystery behind whodunit.
… At 71, able to cast a child's eye on the world.
… A full-length memoir in comics, honest and charming.
… The making of a great reporter.
… Quest for a place to call home.
… At 71, able to cast a child's eye on the world.
… A full-length memoir in comics, honest and charming.
… The making of a great reporter.
… Quest for a place to call home.
Thought for the day …
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin, who died on this date in 1900
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Imagine that …
… Belief in Evolutionary Psychology May Be Hardwired, Study Says — Pharyngula. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Biologists have long assumed that evolutionary psychology, a controversial branch of psychology that ascribes many common social behaviors to genetics, is a muddled blend of half-understood evolutionary biology, selective data mining and resentment of women’s changing roles in society.
A new study, published in today’s issue of the German publication Unwirklichen Genetikjournal, does not challenge that assessment. But it does suggest that some men may be genetically predisposed to believe in evolutionary psychology, a finding that may well suggest future methods of treatment of the psychological malady.
Hmm …
… Julie Burchill, transphobia and hostility towards the victims of oppression | Dean Burnett | Science | guardian.co.uk. (Hat tip, Julie Chovanes.)
Could it be the Just World Hypothesis? This dates back to research byMelvin Lerner which showed that subjects asked to evaluate someone undergoing painful electric shocks (they were fake, don't worry) tended to rate the victim far less favourably if they were told their suffering would continue. If they were told they'd be rewarded in the end, people rated the victim far more favourably. The worse the victim apparently suffered, the worse the subject's opinion of them was.
Thought for the day …
I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6,000 years ago.
— Edgar Allan Poe, born on this date in 1809
Friday, January 18, 2013
Prisoner of vocation...
...The Fun Stuff by James Wood: review
As he admitted in an interview to mark the publication of his debut novel 10 years ago, Wood feels reviewing is merely “a long gestation, an apprenticeship” to writing fiction. His The Book Against God – narrated by an atheist son who rebels against his priest father – relied heavily on the model of Bellow’s Herzog, but lacked the American writer’s warm capaciousness. Tellingly, Wood admitted he could “write a very full negative review” of his own novel.
Q & A …
… Vladimir Nabokov on Literature and Life: A Rare 1969 BBC Interview | Brain Pickings. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Like no church on earth …
… ‘Going Clear,’ Lawrence Wright’s Book on Scientology - NYTimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Hear, hear …
… Francis Poulenc | More Than Almost Great | Sightings by Terry Teachout - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I agree completely. There's also Poulenc's one-act La void humaine:
I agree completely. There's also Poulenc's one-act La void humaine:
Minority report …
… Steven Poole: My problem with George Orwell | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Actually, this piece makes some good points, though I would note — pedantically perhaps — that in advising "never use the passive where you can use the active" Orwell is not, in fact, suggesting that one should "always [avoid] the passive."
Actually, this piece makes some good points, though I would note — pedantically perhaps — that in advising "never use the passive where you can use the active" Orwell is not, in fact, suggesting that one should "always [avoid] the passive."
Poisoning the metaphorical well …
… Fragile Reasoning in Nassim Taleb’s Antifragile: An Enlightenment Transhumanist Critique — Transhumanity.net. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
An antifragile system or entity, per Taleb’s definition, is one that benefits from volatility instead of succumbing to it. Beyond mere robustness, which withstands volatility intact, antifragility is the derivation of advantage from volatility. The concept itself is an intriguing one, but Taleb makes a crucial error in assuming that most antifragility is normatively preferable. He does make an exception for “antifragility at others’ expense” – but only in a limited context. For instance, he is outraged at career intellectuals who do not have “skin in the game” and do not suffer for making wrong predictions or recommendations (more on this later) – but he explicitly praises the antifragility of biological evolution, a process that has resulted in the brutal deaths of most organisms and the extinction of about 99.9% of all species in history. Even within his premise that modernity contains “fragilizing” elements, Taleb presupposes that fragility is necessarily undesirable. Yet a beautiful vase is fragile – as is, for that matter, an individual organism. Fragility is no justification for dismissing or opposing an area of existence that has other intrinsic merits. Perhaps the proper response to certain kinds of fragility is extra care in the preservation of the fragile – as shown, for example, in the raising of children and small animals.
Q&A...
...Irwin Shaw, The Art of Fiction No. 4
But don’t forget that almost every writer will tell you that events that happened to him before he started writing are the most valuable to him. Once he starts writing he seems to observe the world through a filter. I believe that’s true about writers: that the unconscious observation of things, a kind of absorbing of life that goes on before he becomes a writer, that is what is most useful to him. When he starts observing things professionally and taking notes and trying to remember, he may collect a lot more but he loses the spontaneous quality and the flow. He becomes too systematic. It’s his job to be, but he never gets anything as valuable as what he got unconsciously. He has become the observer rather than the actor.
Thought for the day …
All phenomena are real in some sense, unreal in some sense, meaningless in some sense, real and meaningless in some sense, unreal and meaningless in some sense, and real and unreal and meaningless in some sense.
— Robert Anton Wilson, born on this date in 1932
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Looking ahead …
… Life After Blue | Via Meadia.
At the heart of the enduring liberal ideal is a truth that is often forgotten in today’s political debates: the relationship between order and liberty does not have to be zero sum. More government canmean less freedom, and more freedom can mean less government—but things don’t always work out that way.
Something new …
… Is it time for the National Book Awards to change? Yes. - latimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Dave also sends along this: Mediocrity is not the solution: on the new National Book Awards.
Dave also sends along this: Mediocrity is not the solution: on the new National Book Awards.
Adventures in pigeonholing …
… Christopher Hitchens faces posthumous 'prosecution' in new book | Books | guardian.co.uk. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
God forbid that anyone should change his mind.
God forbid that anyone should change his mind.
Plus ça change …
… Magazine Success Story: The Saturday Evening Post Keeps on Going | Observer. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Neti, neti …
… Abraham Lincoln | The Power of the Negative | By Douglas L. Wilson - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Heroic entrepreneurs …
… Book Review: Conscious Capitalism - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
"With few exceptions," the authors write, "entrepreneurs who start successful businesses don't do so to maximize profits. Of course they want to make money, but that is not what drives most of them. They are inspired to do something that they believe needs doing. The heroic story of free-enterprise capitalism is one of entrepreneurs using their dreams and passion as fuel to create extraordinary value for customers, team members, suppliers, society, and investors."
Freelance explorers …
… Anecdotal Evidence: `A Little More Populous With Visionary Shapes'.
Years ago, I saw William F. Buckley interview Paul Goodman, and Goodman made the point that kids were more likely to want to read if their parents did, because kids like to know the codes the grownups know.
Years ago, I saw William F. Buckley interview Paul Goodman, and Goodman made the point that kids were more likely to want to read if their parents did, because kids like to know the codes the grownups know.
Insider …
… James Wolcott reviews ‘Selected Letters of William Styron’ edited by Rose Styron and R. Blakeslee Gilpin — LRB 24 January 2013. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Given the grandiloquent gunk of so much of his prize-winning prose and the mottled portrait of his character that has surfaced since his death, the Selected Letters offer a surprising, substantial, likeable lift, an act of literary restoration that shows us the dedicated man inside the sacred monster and doubles as a time machine travelling through a championship season of American letters, when writers were more than content-providers and had the medals and scars to prove it. The novelists and poets in these pages – the stellar cast includes Lillian Hellman, Mary McCarthy, Truman Capote, Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Hardwick, Robert Penn Warren, Peter Matthiessen, Philip Roth, Irwin Shaw and the always vivacious William Burroughs (‘He is an absolutely astonishing personage, with the grim mad face of Savonarola and a hideously tailored 1925 shit-coloured overcoat and scarf to match with a grey fedora pulled down tight around his ears. He reminded me of nothing so much as a mean old Lesbian’) – may have drunk, drugged, whored, boasted, feuded, flipped out and ploughed their talents into misbegotten mammoths (Jones’s Some Came Running, Mailer’s Ancient Evenings), but, even through a distorting lens, larger-than-life beats the small-time pantomime we have today.
Hmm …
… A Wealth of Words by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., City Journal WInter 2013. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I'm not so sure about this. A large vocabulary alone won't do you much good if you lack the skill to use it. "The proper words in their proper places," as Dean Swift put it.
I'm not so sure about this. A large vocabulary alone won't do you much good if you lack the skill to use it. "The proper words in their proper places," as Dean Swift put it.
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