June 2008
16 posts
Let's teach our kids how to think, shall we?
In response to critics that complain how there is a lot of garbage on the internet, Rodrigo, friend and co-founder of Sonya Labs with Smalter, Nathan and Silas, answers with, “Critical thinking is a skill, not a property of the communication medium of choice.“ Yes.
To be reconciled to the inevitable with good grace is wisdom, so let me in a spirit of resignation accept the fact that you must have an undisturbed opportunity to produce your pictures while I nourish a desperate hope in my mind to find some rest somewhere in the closely-knit days which hold me captive - and to play truant to all obligations that are compulsory. The rich luxury of leisure is not...
Winter on deck. All of the above covered with snow. Christmas music.
Then, spring. A weak sun, then a stronger sun.
You came and fell upon me, I was sitting in the wicker chair. The wicker exclaimed as your weight fell upon me. You were light, I thought, and I thought how good it was of you to do this. We’d never touched before.
- Donald Barthelme, On The Deck, Forty Stories
Have Your Cake and Eat It Too or Bush v. Gore II →
sequentialist:
It’s an odd nation we live in where there is a right to own a handgun “for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home,” yet have no fundamental right to education - a predicate to democratic action. Then again, maybe we need the right to own guns precisely because we do not have a right to education. See Heller and Rodriguez.
In a less heralded 5-4...
Article →
The NYTimes article (can you tell what I read in the morning?) is about companies fighting proposed competitive bidding legislation that would bring down the $ medicare pays for medical equipment (like walkers) which would then filter down to patients. In some ways the system right now has some positive points because Congress effectively outsources research to groups with a vested interest in...
To be or not to be
I picked up a new book on modern Indian history, Vishnu’s Crowded Temple by Maria Misra, but on my way out of the bookstore I realized her first name was Maria and it occurred to me that she might not really know anything about India or its culture. I read some reviews to get the scoop and the take away seemed to be, “eh, give it a read, but make sure it isn’t the only book you...
I’m following myself. So what else is new? Every time I’ve been driving around for more than 15 minutes looking for parking, which happens roughly every other day because of alternate side parking rules, I think the same thing, “this is a waste of time, I hate my life, I am going to drop my car back in jersey this weekend, this isn’t worth it.” and every time, the...
sq=harvard+paycheck&st=nyt →
The NYTimes article talks about Ivy league schools as the breeding ground for Wall Street automatons (myself somewhat close to being among them) rather than public sector workers for the public good. Obama (this guy’s everywhere these days!) said it “betrays a poverty of ambition.” I think he has it wrong. Maybe a poverty of creativity. The one thing most Harvard students...
Only God can judge me
Barack Obama is going against his earlier pledge and opting out of the public financing system. If it works, he will not only win this election but open up the game for the democratic party in the future. He’s already potentially included a new demographic, young people, into the democratic camp and now he might bring in some new states to the “contested” category. If it...
As a strong supporter of affirmative action, I am often asked to debate it. But whether the forum is a television show or a college campus, I always try to decline … Those of us who believe in systematic efforts to attain racial justice should reform the terms of the public discourse … As every debater of any skill grasps, the ability to define the question effectively determines the answer. The...
Michelle on The View
I think there’s a difference between being evasive and being disingenuous. All politicians are evasive, but the bad ones are also disingenuous. On The View when Michelle Obama said, regarding her first time being proud of America comment, that she was referring to the political process, not America, she was being evasive for sure, in that she wasn’t answering the real question, but I...
I've got
a handful of heroes, some of whom I’m ashamed to admit, that give me hope. I think the the thread that connects them is that they are all people who have executed on something perfectly and there’s hope there, that perfection is possible. Maybe it’s some residual juvenile longing for purity. A lot of rappers compare hip hop to chess and that could apply to most music, but rap...
For some reason
I just feared throwing away my used, empty cream tube. The new, full bottle was standing there, but it took everything in me to throw away the old one. For the past few days, as it’s neared it’s end, I thought about throwing it out, in fact, I was leaning towards throwing it out, but I decided then that I would use it until there was absolutely none left. And so I used it for almost...
“An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature. But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in...
Hi Janet!!