Ludwig und Yeezy.
I’m at my desk listening to the new Kanye West album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I’m not going to argue with the pop critic consensus: it’s good. When the staff of the music...
Daily Archive: November 23, 2010
Speaking of plagiarism…
Sometimes I fantasize while struggling through this *#$&! dissertation, but I ever actually did plagiarize, I think I’d have a nervous breakdown with worry. If I was a tenured academic authoring a Congressional study,...
Undergraduate education and the aura of expertise
Rufus, our rogue classicist, has written a smart response to that Chronicle of Higher Education article on a guy who makes his living writing students’ papers. In the original post, I kinda-sorta gestured at...
Dealing with the DPRK
Image via Wikipedia Given that I’m very far from an expert on East Asian politcs — and that North Korea is the most opaque nation on the planet — I recognize a certain need...
Virginia Postrel on the Allure of Having Friends and Enemies
(Cross-posted from @TAC.) Virginia Postrel argues this weekend that environmentalists favor high-speed rail and wind power not because they reduce carbon emissions but simply because they look good. “These technologies,” she writes, aren’t just about getting from...
My Most Popular Post From My Personal Blog
Apparently, I’m one of the few places that reproduces this letter from Robert Reed (Mr. Brady) to the producers of the show bitterly criticizing its writing by comparing it to Shakespeare (Reed was a...
On Politics and Pigeonholes
Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others. — Groucho Marx When I was young, politics was easier to understand. Liberals let you live as you please in return for...
Security Theater in One Lesson
“What are all these people complaining about? It’s like getting an X-ray. I would do absolutely anything if it makes air travel safer.” “Okay, great. Just one more security measure, then. Would you kiss...
Good News, Bad News
The good news: a promising new HIV prophylaxis regime. I’m not really up on HIV treatments, but I understand that antiretrovirals are pretty harsh on the body all by themselves. Taking them every day...
Labels Redux, or That Darned Right-Wing Librul!
In a recent post, E.D. Kain ponders the issue of labels, particularly self-labeling. I would just note that the self-labeling acrobatics in question are not merely to find an appropriate label for myself, but...
