Go here.
BBC Radio just did a hilarious broadcast about this but I haven't found a link yet on the BBC web site.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Style over Substance
Newspaper reports have it that Tom Daschle, former Senator from South Dakota, earned roughly $5,000,000 in the short time since leaving office (involuntarily) and that he did so mainly by providing "strategic advice" for people who have dealings with the federal government. (Daschle also earned money by giving speeches.) When in office, Daschle was politically liberal; his political leanings suggested his sympathy and concern for the downtrodden. Daschle is also a soft-spoken fellow. Given the sources of his post-Senatorial income, is Daschle an example of how personal demeanor can very effectively camouflage avarice? (Of course, the attitudes of those who paid Daschle for speeches and strategic advice may be equally unattractive.)
the dynamic evidence page
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Europe between the Oceans
Everyone must buy this book: Barry Cunliffe, Europe between the Oceans: 9000 BC - AD 1000 (Yale University Press (2008).
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Is There Something Wrong with This Business Model?
I am a "faithful listener" of (to?) National Public Radio. But sometimes it is hard to be faithful; sometimes I must stop up my ears. Why? Because NPR -- for years! -- insists on putting on (almost always at the end of an hour) a review (and sounds) of some recent iteration of rock music. What's going on? Is it that the people who run NPR are boomers who just can't reconcile themselves to the fact that they are no longer 20 somethings cavorting in the 1960s? Or is it because NPR feverishly chases the "youth market" -- even as its listenership ages? I suppose a bit of both is the explanation. Well, I can't help NPR about coping with (non-)intimations of mortality. But I can suggest to NPR that it embrace the idea of an adult listenership, a sophisticated adult listenership that grows weary of repeated attempts to discover the Bob Dylan of the 21st century. Old folks, you know, aren't always bad. Some of them have money. Some of them participate in making public policy. Some of them still have some intelligence and creativity in their grey matter. Embrace grownups, NPR! By doing so, b'gosh, you might just find that you attract some young'uns who yearn to be grownups. And who knows: your marketing people might just finally take note that older folks generally have more money. Or maybe not: your marketing people might still be hung up over the fact that they've gotten older and can no longer play the way they once did. But consider this: there is nothing more unattractive than an old person trying to act like a child. Grow up!
the dynamic evidence page
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Market Crises versus Market Ajustments
A major cause of the current financial crisis, it is said, is the "depressed" real estate market. But "depressed" implies that real estate prices are too low. One could also easily say -- and many people did say -- that real estate prices were "inflated." On the whole, it is a good thing that the price of residential housing has declined -- and let's hope that efforts to pump up prices to their previous "inflated" levels fail.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Philosophy Teacher
Jonathan Mahler, "The Thinker," NYTimes (Sept. 19, 2008):
Jolley's notion that his philosophical endeavors in the classroom ought to be pitched to the best students rather than to average students is perhaps questionable. But his commitment to rigor is admirable. I, any event, admire his courage and his quite-literal idealism.
After class, [Professor Kelly] Jolley and I walked across Auburn’s mostly deserted campus and into town for lunch. It was oppressively hot and humid; Jolley wore a fraying straw boater to keep the sun off his face. Over pizza and iced tea, I asked him if he ever wondered whether his style of teaching might be inappropriate for a large state school like Auburn — if the cost of his approach is that he’s teaching to the few rather than the many. “My view is that you really fall into a trap when you start allowing what you believe about your students to dictate how you teach your discipline,” he answered. “Too often these days we end up setting up our courses in light of what we believe about our students and we end up not teaching them. At best, we end up housebreaking them.”
[snip, snip]
In Jolley’s ideal world, every student would catch the philosophy flame, but he knows this will never happen. He says that philosophy requires a certain rare and innate ability — the ability to step outside yourself and observe your own mind in the act of thinking. In this respect, Jolley recognizes that his detractors have a point when they criticize his approach to teaching. “It’s aristocratic in the sense that any selection based on talent is aristocratic,” he told me. “I know it offends everyone’s sense of democracy, this idea that everyone’s equal, but we all know that’s just not true.”
Perhaps the dispute between Jolley and his critics boils down to how you define great teachers. You typically think about them as being devoted, above all, to their students. Jolley says his first priority is to philosophy itself. “I care about the discipline of philosophy more than the academic fate of any individual student — and I think I should,” he said. “Otherwise I’m just a baby sitter who occasionally breaks into syllogism.”
Jolley's notion that his philosophical endeavors in the classroom ought to be pitched to the best students rather than to average students is perhaps questionable. But his commitment to rigor is admirable. I, any event, admire his courage and his quite-literal idealism.
One has the sense or hope that Prof. Jolley thinks the "best" students are the most inquisitive. And with that thesis it is hard to disagree.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
One Trillion for Wall Steet but Not One Farthing for Social Security or Medicare?
Social Security is going bankrupt (it is said) and we can't continue down that path!
Medicare is going bankrupt (it is said) and we can't continue down that path!
Wall Street is going bankrupt (it is a fact) and we can't continue down that path. Throw the Street a trillion dollars! That'll fix things. But ... Social Security ... Medicare? Well...we can't afford such profligacy, now can we?
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Nature of Visibility
The weather forecaster just said that it is a beautiful day and that "visibility is as far as the eye can see."
Well, gee, that's an interesting proposition. Or not?
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Freedom of the Press Russian Style
Philip P Pan, "Russian Activist Shot Dead By Police," washingtonpost.com (Sept. 1, 2008):
A leading opposition figure in Russia's volatile Ingushetia province was shot and killed Sunday after being detained by police, authorities said. His colleagues issued a call for protests in response, and human rights groups demanded an investigation.
Magomed Yevloyev, a businessman and the owner of a Web site that angered Kremlin-backed local leaders with its coverage of official corruption and police abuse, suffered a gunshot wound to his head while in a police car taking him to a station for interrogation, a spokesman for the Russian prosecutor's office told the Interfax news agency.
258,000 houses destroyed by earthquake?
It appears that another terrible tragedy has taken place in Sichuan Province in the People's Republic of China. An earthquake has leveled 258,000 houses. So AP reports that Xinhua News Agency reported today.
But how did the Chinese news agency manage to come up with this large number just two days after the earthquake? Is there a chance it might be a bit high? A bit low? A bit too precise?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Personality Cult
The country worries about Hillary Clinton's psyche. Or some of the country does. And HR Clinton seems to encourage us to worry about her psyche.
In some countries the public worries about the psyche of the Great Man. Now are to worry about the psyche of the Great Woman?
Disgusting. We've got more important things to worry about.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
What about MY Catharsis?
The NYTimes reports that "Mrs. Clinton is in the midst of a 'catharsis.'"
the dynamic evidence page
Well, I'm in a midst of a catharsis too. So why am I not getting press and media attention? Darned unfair, I say.
the dynamic evidence page
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