The Whale of Ignorance

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57186742011-07-20T18:35:05.510-07:00The Whale of IgnoranceSounds like "Veil of Ignorance"... Notes from Underwater... bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.comBlogger1471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1156905152034583792006-08-29T19:31:00.000-07:002006-08-29T19:32:32.046-07:00

THE WHALE OF IGNORANCE HAS MOVED TO SAVEITFORYOURBLOG.BLOGSPOT.COM

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1135312647540122352005-12-22T20:30:00.000-08:002005-12-22T20:37:27.553-08:00

Five minutes ago I rediscovered this quote from my high school yearbook: "Bliss in the unhappiness of knowledge." I attributed it to Peter Heller. Then I couldn't figure out who the hell Heller was or where I got that quote from. "Bliss in the unhappiness of knowledge" yields zero hits on Google. But through Google Book Search, I was able to find exactly where it came from. Wee!Anyhow, that seems

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1125391400209920642005-08-30T01:43:00.000-07:002005-08-30T01:43:20.263-07:00

What's most f-ed up about this situation described in the NY Times: 1. The 22 year-old man marrying the 14 year-old girl. 2. The man being prosecuted for statuatory rape. 3. The fact that they named their child 'Samara', after the evil little girl in "The Ring".

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1124853508342186582005-08-23T20:18:00.000-07:002005-08-23T20:19:47.140-07:00

Yay Jesse Jackson, in the NY Times: "The Rev. Jesse Jackson called for the Federal Communications Commission to investigate [Pat Robertson's call for Hugo Chavez's assassination], just as it did when Janet Jackson's breast was exposed in the Super Bowl broadcast in 2004. 'This is even more threatening to hemispheric stability than the flash of a breast on television during a ballgame,' Mr.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1118647745937185842005-06-13T00:29:00.000-07:002005-06-13T00:29:06.466-07:00

I've developed something of a soft spot for Mike Tyson (Iron Mike, not Iowa Mike) because, disturbed though he is, he also comes across as surprisingly (maybe pathologically) self-aware in his interviews (one from after his most recent fight, and another from a little while back with The Sports Guy), which is probably not the best attribute for a boxer. Here's a memorable snippet from the more

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1116727989525379792005-05-21T19:10:00.000-07:002005-05-21T21:41:20.303-07:00

Best Mets moment in years: Dae Sung Koo (a lefty, no less) rips a double off a 91 mph fastball from Randy Johnson for his first hit sincce high school in his second Major League at-bat -- more miraculous if you saw his first at-bat where he stood at the outer edge of the batter's box with no intention of swinging. (which I did, thanks to MLB All-Access). Then he scores from second on a sacrifice

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1116662120959238922005-05-21T00:55:00.000-07:002005-05-21T00:55:21.006-07:00

Revenge of the Sith was not very good. However, I watched The Empire Strikes Back afterwards, and was pleasantly surprised that *seeing* the backstory in Sith did make some of the moments in Empire more poignant (e.g., when Luke/Leah have their ESP moment, and the Vader/Luke confrontation), more than simply knowing the backstory had on previous (re)viewings. More striking is how Empire is

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1116483306654953512005-05-18T23:15:00.000-07:002005-05-18T23:15:28.810-07:00

According to the US Census (click on components of class, occupation) database administrators (3rd most esteemed occupation, out of 447) are held in higher esteem than post-secondary school teachers (25th most esteemed).

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1116273287760392482005-05-16T12:54:00.000-07:002005-05-16T12:54:47.766-07:00

Best parasitic sports career ever.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1116226081969610562005-05-15T23:48:00.000-07:002005-05-15T23:50:18.956-07:00

I was reading about Marat Safin and his sister on some tennis forum, and ran across this picture of his girlfriend. Absolutely priceless for the looks she's getting from the spectators -- my favorite is the guy in top row obviously checking her out from behind his shades with his wife giving him the evil eye. Click to enlarge.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1116110698694113322005-05-14T15:42:00.000-07:002005-05-14T22:56:15.130-07:00

Grading papers again. A lot of the recurring grammatical errors are understandable (e.g. "can not" rather than "cannot") but there's one that I always run into that I can't understand -- people who quote, and then cite parenthetically, but with two periods, one before the citation, one after -- e.g. Galileo said "blah blah blah." (Galileo, 94). I just don't see how that could look right to

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1115882057784753782005-05-12T00:14:00.000-07:002005-05-12T00:14:17.886-07:00

Jon Barry is Handles McCrissCross.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1115789597752604572005-05-10T22:33:00.000-07:002005-05-10T22:33:17.890-07:00

Revisit youth with a homemade Orange Julius -- I tried the recipe, it's yummy, Brought back memories of the Queens Center food court, slurping Orange Julius and chomping buttery corn on a cob from Kentucky Fried Chicken.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1115318444234395972005-05-05T11:40:00.000-07:002005-05-05T11:40:44.306-07:00

After being rudely exposed to the god-awful writing of college freshmen these past few years, I was hoping that the new SAT essay section might make things better. Early reports are not good.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1115317857897844462005-05-05T11:30:00.000-07:002005-05-05T11:30:58.273-07:00

Ric Bucher has a most informative piece on the Van Gundy controversy -- see the postcript in particular.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1114918863883977402005-04-30T20:41:00.000-07:002005-04-30T20:41:03.883-07:00

When I teach my intro to moral philosophy course, I'm going to start with this quote: "When you're in the public eye, it's wrong to cheat on someone, unless you're very careful. If you're normal and no one's going to know, then do it." -- Paris Hilton

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1114845125722376722005-04-30T00:12:00.000-07:002005-04-30T00:12:05.723-07:00

"Where's my tango face?"

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1114495581677521472005-04-25T23:06:00.000-07:002005-04-25T23:06:21.676-07:00

Probably not of interest to anyone but myself, but I was at a philosophy conference this past weekend and ran into several grad students who were concerned about the role that "intuition" plays in philosophy. Philosophers often call upon our intuitions about particular cases to provide evidence for or against a given principle. So, for example, Peter Singer thinks that our intuition about what

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1113680838577481362005-04-16T12:47:00.000-07:002005-04-16T12:47:18.576-07:00

Played my first basketball in a few months (herniated disk) -- resolved to talk more trash. Next time I drill a jumper on someone I plan on saying,"Welcome to the ownership society."

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1113501997169469362005-04-14T11:06:00.000-07:002005-04-14T11:07:01.493-07:00

I was tracking the Mets' 0-0 tie through 8 last night and was tempted into buying the MLB TV All-access internet package -- which basically gives live and archived access to every game for every team for the whole year for $99. Not a good productivity move, but it'll be nice to be able to watch Pedro's starts and follow Wright and Reyes in the comfort of L.A., as well as to tune in to Ichiro's

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1112146860973658482005-03-29T17:40:00.000-08:002005-03-29T17:41:00.976-08:00

Another rather stupid article by Slate economist Steven Landsburg (it happens to be about Schiavo, but that's not why it's stupid). He once wrote an article advocating the death penalty for computer worm writers, which I took to be a tongue-in-cheek self-parody of simplistic cost-benefit analyses, but now I'm not so sure -- Keys, maybe you could start a campaign among economists to get him off

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1111897492587329212005-03-26T20:24:00.000-08:002005-03-26T20:24:52.586-08:00

Congressional ridiculousness aside, it's been heartening to see that most (?) people seem to recognize that the Schiavo case is morally (though perhaps not legally) complex, and are not going to get zealous one way or the other. I haven't apprised myself of all the relevant details of the case, but here are some things I think I think: -- it would be morally permissible to keep the tube in as

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1110787194277943712005-03-13T23:59:00.000-08:002005-03-14T00:04:14.683-08:00

The, um, captivating story of the woman in whose apartment Brian Nichols -- the courtroom killer -- surrendered. The Atlanta Journal Constitution requires free registration, but it's worth it...

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1110782191070457942005-03-13T22:36:00.000-08:002005-03-13T22:36:31.070-08:00

Frank Rich's "The Greatest Dirty Joke Ever Told" prompted me to find the South Park version of the joke -- I'd like to see the movie when it comes out.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1110316240591602222005-03-08T13:09:00.000-08:002005-03-08T13:10:40.593-08:00

Two band names from a single Snapple cap:Real Fact #110Frogs Never Drink

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1110072770321690342005-03-05T17:29:00.000-08:002005-03-05T17:32:50.323-08:00

"my mother, whose subjective experience of temperature was notably consistent with low gas and electric bills, claimed to be a devotee of 'fresh air'..."

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1110016187808438842005-03-05T01:49:00.000-08:002005-03-05T01:49:47.806-08:00

“How the hell do I know why there were Nazis? I don’t know how the can opener works.”

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1109981494373323892005-03-04T15:53:00.000-08:002005-03-04T16:11:34.376-08:00

I ran into college classmate John Dolan, who was also dining alone and studying at Buffet City, a predominantly Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurant on LA's Westside with their own website. The food is unspectacular but generally tasty (though virtually everything errs on the side of being overly sweet), and the ingredients are better than one might fear, except for the sushi, which is gross, with

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1109899701238841192005-03-03T17:28:00.000-08:002005-03-03T19:06:42.333-08:00

If you're bored and have 10 minutes, check out this great radio piece on face transplants.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1109642981728743592005-02-28T18:09:00.000-08:002005-02-28T18:38:45.410-08:00

Coincident with Larry Summers, a new theme in the liberal elite internet echo-chamber: the general crappiness of undergraduate education at big name universities (read: Harvard) (and the comparative value of the elite liberal arts colleges, which I buy into just a little bit):From Slate: "If you want to impress a shopkeeper in Yemen, by all means go to Harvard. If you want the best education for

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1109290779352536592005-02-24T16:13:00.000-08:002005-02-24T18:35:30.520-08:00

Where do people get the idea that the US was founded on Christian principles? Intelligent design is similarly stupid and in need of burial -- though I think it's not as dangerous as this Christian nation myth -- but at least it has its roots in a once plausible theory about human origins. Brooke Adams has a succinct rebuttal of this increasingly popular and stupid claim in The Nation -- here's an

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1109140683414920352005-02-22T22:38:00.000-08:002005-03-01T22:33:46.833-08:00

Keys' thoughts on band names and my screwing around on Friendster got me thinking that if I were in a band, it would be called "The Furies" or "Socrates's Toga". Our set would consist of covers of "Common People", "Purple Rain", "Gimme the Loot" and "A Love Supreme". Our lead singer and guitarist would be a woman - a fiery redhead. Our keyboardist would be a Japanese jazz-pianist. Our bassist

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1109053713632427352005-02-21T22:28:00.000-08:002005-02-21T22:28:33.633-08:00

Y'know those restaurants you pass everyday that don't do any business? The ones that make you say, "that's gotta be a front for something"? Well, according to the New York Times it may turn out to be the case for Rice to Riches, a trendy-ish rice pudding store just north of Little Italy that's allegedly been used to launder money for the owner's illegal gambling ring. It's two blocks from my

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1108630265489730402005-02-17T00:51:00.000-08:002005-02-17T00:52:47.303-08:00

I encountered this classic criticism of the moral-shortsightedness of the emotions by Adam Smith (yes, the venerable economist) from "On Universal Benevolence" while reading Martha Nussbaum's _Upheavals of Thought_ , which struck me particularly because it accurately anticipates my own (and, I assume, your) lack of *feeling* about the tsunami disaster, et al.:"Let us suppose that the great empire

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1108534077972088302005-02-15T22:07:00.000-08:002005-02-15T22:07:57.973-08:00

Game night comes to the humble tiki bar.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1108510433272274922005-02-15T15:33:00.000-08:002005-02-15T21:10:53.356-08:00

Having grown up in NYC and gone to Swarthmore, I have no college sports allegiances, but I'm thinking of adopting as my college football team whichever program hires Norm Chow as head coach, which should happen if the Titans have a good 2005. And I'll root for the Titans along with the Giants next year.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1108442010387451542005-02-14T20:33:00.000-08:002005-02-14T20:33:30.386-08:00

"There's nothing more interesting than a wall behind which something is happening." -- Victor Hugo, from an article on "The Gates" in the New York Times.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1108232082250601332005-02-12T10:14:00.000-08:002005-02-12T10:19:58.100-08:00

From a radio interview with the recently deceased Arthur Miller, "Willy is trying to become great without being great, which is what most of us are doing or dreaming about doing."

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1107929673082210612005-02-08T22:14:00.000-08:002005-02-08T22:14:33.083-08:00

Maybe McNabb can get a Dramamine endorsement

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1107910538564839322005-02-08T16:55:00.000-08:002005-02-08T17:07:09.293-08:00

A not-so-interesting discussion of the use of the term 'evil' in forensic psychology in the Times today... A fairly standard thought in philosophy is that an evil act is one that is done with full recognition of the act's wrongness. I mention this because I have intentionally engaged in an evil act recently, to make sure that my hunch that one can do so without guilt was correct (this has some

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1107908750297277482005-02-08T16:25:00.000-08:002005-02-08T16:25:50.296-08:00

I was teaching a section on Kuhn, and thought it would be nice to have case of incommensurability from everyday life on the table before we talked about paradigms. Me: Has anybody seen "Annie Hall"? [no hands go up] Me: That's fine... can someone name a good movie that's a drama? Student #1: Boondock Saints. Me: That's not a drama. Student #2: The Bourne Supremacy. Me: Who *are* you people?

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1107485762645610762005-02-03T18:56:00.000-08:002005-02-03T18:56:02.646-08:00

Malcolm Gladwell talks sports. His advice for Andy Reid: "go no-huddle at random, unpredictable points during the game -- to throw Belichick out of his comfort zone."

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1107481213907385772005-02-03T17:40:00.000-08:002005-02-03T17:40:13.906-08:00

Apparently, there is more than one Chinese restaurant in PR (see comment below).

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1107316104864930702005-02-01T19:48:00.000-08:002005-02-01T19:48:24.866-08:00

Apparently, there is only one Chinese restaurant in Puerto Rico. My sister reports that the owner used to dine at our family's restaurant.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1106867951238421862005-01-27T15:19:00.000-08:002005-01-31T12:34:41.436-08:00

If you are an ESPN Insider, you can read about the greatest baseball player in the history of Swarthmore College in Rob Neyer's column about the best control pitchers of all time.If not, here's an excerpt: "Most of you don't remember Dick Hall, but he's worth remembering. Hall graduated from Swarthmore College in 1951, and signed with Pittsburgh... ...except Hall couldn't hit. Rickey was a

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1106722483850632902005-01-25T22:54:00.000-08:002005-01-25T22:56:59.460-08:00

Did you know that John Elway and Mike Schmidt were philosophy majors?

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1106713534947281892005-01-25T20:20:00.000-08:002005-01-25T20:25:34.946-08:00

I don't know how many of you caught this, but the writers at MNF have revealed that John Madden, not T.O., was the original choice to be opposite Nicolette Sheridan in the infamous Monday Night Football sketch -- which makes a lot more sense from a comedy standpoint. That probably would have been quite amusing, actually.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1106713052839976612005-01-25T20:17:00.000-08:002005-01-25T20:19:38.053-08:00

A surprisingly moving article on George Gershwin's life, from the New Yorker-- I put on Marcus Roberts' version of "Rhapsody in Blue" after reading the intro, which might have contributed to the piece's poignancy.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1106115729804859632005-01-18T22:22:00.000-08:002005-01-18T22:22:09.803-08:00

The temporarily addictive ESP game

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1106113531122626282005-01-18T21:45:00.000-08:002005-01-18T21:45:31.123-08:00

Must read: the deputy chief information officer of Homeland Security and her phony degrees.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1106107471942045402005-01-18T20:04:00.000-08:002005-01-18T20:04:31.943-08:00

I use to think that artificial grape flavor (say, of Grape Bubble-Yum) tasted nothing like grapes, till I discovered Concord Grapes. Which leads me to wonder: are there secret varieties of watermelon that taste like artificial watermelon? And what about cherries and apples?

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105782681150136492005-01-15T01:51:00.000-08:002005-01-15T01:51:21.150-08:00

I should say that Gala Manor (in Flushing, Main Street and 37th? Avenue) was better on the second visit about a week later. One excellent dish was what I can only describe as a taro and diced water chestnut croquette -- the first time I'd seen this dish, and if it's really quite nice. They have a photo of it above their kitchen (which is visable from the dining room).

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105675899585582012005-01-13T20:11:00.000-08:002005-01-13T20:11:39.586-08:00

Googling "steel cut oats" and "rice cooker" reveals that many have had the epiphany before me.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105675490068654022005-01-13T20:04:00.000-08:002005-01-13T20:08:59.043-08:00

It occured to me, tonight, in a rare moment of insight: YOU CAN USE YOUR RICE COOKER TO COOK STEEL-CUT OATS (just don't put on the cover and follow the directions printed for water-to-oat ratio). Old-fashioned, steel cut oats, which must be gaining in popularity after a recent glowing account of them in the New York Times. They're tastier (nuttier) than instant oats, since they haven't been

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105571699689258202005-01-12T15:14:00.000-08:002005-01-12T15:14:59.690-08:00

This is the new ipod shuffle. It has no screen and no way to select particular songs. I guess they're thinking that people will use this while working out, and people don't do typically scroll around for particular songs while working out. But other small flash players have this function, which seems like a nice thing to have even if you don't use it often. So I'll be mildly upset if this thing

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105560193928671512005-01-12T13:03:00.000-08:002005-01-12T15:16:30.273-08:00

From Slate's review on ESPN's new poker show Tilt: "When the action doesn't pause for a poker hand, Tilt is just an episode of Las Vegas (or maybe Dr. Vegas, rest its soul). It's all cheesy dialogue and lame scenarios. My favorite moment: In a back-room game, one guy says (with a carefully scripted blend of anger and accurate poker terminology), "No string bets here, bitch." When his opponent

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105504303456634382005-01-11T20:31:00.000-08:002005-01-11T20:31:43.456-08:00

Interesting exchange between Malcom Gladwell and the author of "The Wisdom of Crowds" on Slate.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105497855452302992005-01-11T18:44:00.000-08:002005-01-11T18:45:35.086-08:00

I had my first section of the quarter today. This picture is not from today.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105415968512871142005-01-10T19:59:00.000-08:002005-01-10T19:59:28.513-08:00

The aforementioned Gray's Papaya.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105415760911606942005-01-10T19:56:00.000-08:002005-01-10T19:56:00.910-08:00

From NYC, seen on the 6 train.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105341491472781642005-01-09T23:18:00.000-08:002005-01-09T23:18:11.473-08:00

This is my main dessert from Chikalicious: a pecan cake with blood orange slices and I forget what ice cream (it tasted like cream). The desserts I saw seemed to share the feature of maintaining the distinctness of the individual components (which I guess is a Japanese trademark of sorts). Overall, a very restrained approach to dessert, which is probably not a bad thing.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105340368603579422005-01-09T22:59:00.000-08:002005-01-09T22:59:28.603-08:00

On my way to the Chinatown van to Flushing.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105340266784667182005-01-09T22:57:00.000-08:002005-01-09T22:57:46.783-08:00

From earlier in the evening, while I was waiting to go to Pylos, which we did not have a reservation for.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1105340210975457122005-01-09T22:56:00.000-08:002005-01-09T23:10:30.456-08:00

I was trying to be sneaky, but I guess Donna of Chikalicious (the eponymous Chika is to the left) saw the camera. Chikalicious is a dessert shop on the Lower East Side, the main attraction being a dessert service of an amuse, main dessert, petit fours and a wine pairing for $19. We sat at the counter, which, as you can see, is in front of the exposed kitchen. I wasn't crazy about the desserts,

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1104886851409161722005-01-04T17:00:00.000-08:002005-01-04T17:00:51.410-08:00

Metaphilosophical Theses: 1. Any philosophy book could be made half as long without losing anything of importance.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1103866394180477892004-12-23T21:33:00.000-08:002004-12-23T21:49:06.880-08:00

New York Food Diary, Day 1. Brunch- Grand Opening of Gala Manor, Hong Kong-style banquet restaurant, Main Street, Flushing: Dim sum Ten minutes and two complaints from dad before tea arrives; inauspicious beginning. Meal features sickly sweet honey-glazed cha siu bao, okay shrimp dumplings, bland and springy stewed tripe, decent chicken feet. Decor is Cantonese psuedo-luxury, with a faux

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1102452846564109712004-12-07T12:54:00.000-08:002004-12-07T12:54:06.563-08:00

Sounds good to me.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1101189842719404882004-11-22T22:04:00.000-08:002004-11-22T22:04:02.720-08:00

CBSNews conducted a poll of registered voters and found that only 13% of them believed that human beings evolved without the guidance of God. Another 27% believe that evolution occured, but with God's guidance. Appalling, really. Then again, I saw a "nutrition expert" on the local news tonight being interviewed for her holiday eating tips say that "most adults gain 5-7 pounds during the holidays

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1100072794768394402004-11-09T23:46:00.000-08:002004-11-09T23:46:34.766-08:00

I think the best way to come to grips with the election result is to make yourself believe that even perfectly random policy decisions would have a %10 chance of outperforming the most well reasoned policies, due to the freakish vicissitudes of the world, thus, being charitable, even a poorly reasoned policy has about a %30 of working out for the best. Which is better odds than you get on an

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1100033426537607062004-11-09T12:50:00.000-08:002004-11-09T12:50:26.536-08:00

Neato maps.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1099504688139033352004-11-03T09:58:00.000-08:002004-11-03T09:58:08.140-08:00

One out of two ain't bad. The W. stands for "Teflon." Not surprising that "moral values" (which I interpret simply as "values") should be important -- though it would be nice to have comparisons of its to previous elections -- since character is (perhaps rightly) what voters most strongly respond to. What is surprising is that the two issues that I assume can trump this speaking historically,

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1099432083352532272004-11-02T13:48:00.000-08:002004-11-02T13:48:03.353-08:00

For the record I predict: 1. Kerry will win. 2. The election will not drag out.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1099270828243484452004-10-31T17:00:00.000-08:002004-10-31T17:00:28.243-08:00

Good news for Kerry.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1099194829066479922004-10-30T20:53:00.000-07:002004-10-30T20:53:49.066-07:00

I'd vote for this.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1098341594580825372004-10-20T23:53:00.000-07:002004-10-20T23:53:14.580-07:00

Why is this Jon Stewart thing such a big deal? I gather that it's feeding into the whole alternate media (blogs, Comedy Central, et al.) calling out maintstream news theme that is all the rage now... But what have the blogs & web sites really contributed to political discourse? Of course some of it has been quite valuable (#1 - accountability/fact-checking of claims made in the campaigns, which

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1098256979694892362004-10-20T00:22:00.000-07:002004-10-20T00:22:59.693-07:00

In line with my annual rite of rooting against the team with the most annoying fans, I've decided to root for the Red Sox to win the ALCS, go up 3-0 in the World Series and then lose four straight, so as to maximize the suffering of their fans. Red Sox fans, are, I think, the most loathsome groups of fans in American sports, largely because so many of them are inordinately proud of being Red Sox

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1096870685794199182004-10-03T23:14:00.000-07:002004-10-03T23:18:05.793-07:00

It recently struck me that the expression, "I owe you an apology" is self-falsifying. Upon further reflection, it seems that this reveals something about apologies, namely, that apologies are superfluous to the recognition of wrongdoing.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1095536241125763002004-09-18T13:36:00.000-07:002004-09-18T12:37:43.346-07:00

Is it wrong to: a. think fondly of the days when the flurry of hurricanes hitting the southeast would cause people to wonder what they had done to deserve these calamities, thus prompting them to oust their leader in November or b. hope that the security flaws in the electronic voting machines will allow Kerry to win?

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1090800380780126882004-07-25T17:02:00.000-07:002004-07-25T17:06:20.780-07:00

Caught some "interesting" previews before seeing "The Bourne Supremacy" (which made me motion-sick). Cellular, alternate title: Supererogatory National Treasure, I say the treasure will turn out to be liberty.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1088921611586746702004-07-03T23:10:00.001-07:002004-07-03T23:13:31.586-07:00

I told my 13 year-old ethics students -- who are, by and large, fantastic -- that I'd no longer glare at them if they were misbehaving in class, since I believe it gives the wrong sort of motivation for them to behave, viz. to avoid a glare and the unpleasant attitude that is presumed to lie behind it. Instead, we instituted a keyword, "pineapple", that is short for, "you are acting

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1088921606246960332004-07-03T23:10:00.000-07:002004-07-03T23:13:26.246-07:00

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1087800372922168162004-06-20T23:42:00.000-07:002004-06-20T23:46:12.923-07:00

My roommate and I bought some pretty japanese choptsticks for her to take home to Hungary. I was reminded of a nice pair that I received at a Chinese wedding last year -- it really is a nice wedding favor, as chopsticks can be a simple but apt metaphor for marriage: one chopstick is pretty useless, but you can do a lot with two (and adding a third, one might add, would just fuck things up).

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1085382031184655342004-05-24T00:00:00.000-07:002004-05-24T00:00:31.183-07:00

The first philosophy book i read was Nietzsche's Human, all too human. The title attracted me as a youngster. one passage has stuck with me ever since I first read it: "Love and respect . Love desires; fear avoids. That is why it is impossible, at least in the same time span, to be loved and respected by the same person. For the man who respects another, acknowledges his power; that is, he

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1085025062099484572004-05-19T20:43:00.000-07:002004-05-19T20:51:02.100-07:00

I learned at Albertson's tonight that best foods mayo (w. of rockies) = hellman's mayo (e. of rockies). not quite hesperus = phosphorus, but more significant for my life.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1084472004241707532004-05-13T11:13:00.000-07:002004-05-13T11:13:24.240-07:00

I've thought for awhile that our commonsense views about metaphysical possibility must be way off - either a lot more is possible than we think (i.e. everything is possible) or a lot less is possible than we think (i.e. only the actual is possible). I've come to think the something similar about sex. Either humans are having a lot less sex than they should be or they are having a lot more than

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1083653213561677612004-05-03T23:46:00.000-07:002004-05-03T23:50:23.576-07:00

Overheard: "What's she like?" he1 asks. "She's very smart," he2 replies. "Category mistake!" he1.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1083377897946022372004-04-30T19:18:00.000-07:002004-04-30T19:21:25.500-07:00

I'm in an intensely good mood at the moment, all because I just wrote a lovely sentence for my paper. I suppose mood is man's measure of all things. The war in iraq seems like a poignant tragedy rather than a harbinger of the apocalypse, the tribulations of my friends seem like opportunities for redemption, and unrequited love seems harmless and charming. If this is what anti-depressants do,

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1082353852473658542004-04-18T22:50:00.000-07:002004-04-18T22:53:47.670-07:00

I discovered that a cookie dough chunk from Ben & Jerry's ice cream will bake into a very respectable-looking little cookie, but it doesn't taste much like a chocolate chip cookie.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1080458047922532672004-03-27T23:14:00.000-08:002004-03-27T23:16:41.606-08:00

In the ninth grade, we played flag football in p.e. in Central Park. On the first day out, while I was lobbing beautiful, high-arcing 40-yard spirals, the loveliest girl in school said to me, "the ball is so pretty when you throw it." Be still, heart. My first thought was to respond, "Not as pretty as you." But I didn't think I could pull it off. So instead, I said the somewhat less flattering,

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1080288161503797742004-03-26T00:02:00.001-08:002004-03-26T00:05:13.373-08:00

Michael Newdow, a true badass, at least for us intellectual types.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1080030716650072522004-03-23T00:31:00.000-08:002004-03-23T00:34:25.280-08:00

Another problem with philosophical therapy - mood (a significant source of mental discontent) seems unhinged (conceptually) from justification, so it would seem philosophy should be powerless to change it.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1080004754591804442004-03-22T17:19:00.001-08:002004-03-22T17:29:01.513-08:00

I was listening to "Affirmative Action" by Nas, for the first time paid some attention to the lyrics and heard this keeper: "Life's a bitch, but God forbid the bitch divorce me." Rather brilliant, I think. This line also reminded me of Kant for some reason. So about that article in NYT Magazine about Lou Merinoff (author of "Plato not Prozac" and founder of the American Philosophical

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1079743124006068852004-03-19T16:38:00.000-08:002004-03-19T16:41:09.246-08:00

I've been reading up on laryngitis, since I've come down with it. They say you should consult a doctor "if you have a deep cough or, in a young child, a cough like the bark of a seal." If my child barked like a seal, I'd have her exorcised. Or put in a zoo. Or on America's Funniest Home Videos. I've also taken to drinking ice-blended drinks, and communicating my order to the cashiers with pen

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1079674535102602792004-03-18T21:35:00.000-08:002004-03-18T21:37:59.436-08:00

Big Blue's customer service guy emailed me back: "Thank you for the suggestion... I will forward your suggestion to our planning department but it is highly unlikely that riders are going to listen to any such instruction from a bus driver." Rather pessimistic, no?

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1079629218333895102004-03-18T09:00:00.000-08:002004-03-18T09:02:42.640-08:00

I have only one pet peeve about people in LA - they keep their backpacks on when they're standing on a crowded bus, thus making the bus even more crowded. And nobody says anything. If you did that in NYC, you'd get shot. Or bitched at. Or at least glared at. Thus, I've sent a suggestion to the folks at the Big Blue Bus that their drivers should instruct people to take off their backpacks just

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1078912235576028972004-03-10T01:50:00.000-08:002004-03-10T01:55:08.686-08:00

I've been trying to remember the grossest falsehoods I've ever believed: Age 3: That I wanted to grow up to be a dragon. Age 5: That 'a thousand' denotes something bigger than 'a million' (importantly, though, not that 1,000 > 1,000,000). Age 20: That free will and determinism are incompatible.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1078246109711150742004-03-02T08:48:00.000-08:002004-03-02T08:50:37.356-08:00

There's a scathing article in this month's Harper's about reality tv. But however vicious reality tv is, i think it must have one salutary effect: it makes its viewers confront the absurdity of human life. Exhibit A: I, um, happened to catch the end of Average Joe: Hawaii tonight. The hot chick dumps the average guy and chooses the hunk. But on day 5 of their prize trip, she reveals to hunk

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1078130221729639412004-03-01T00:37:00.000-08:002004-03-01T00:39:08.186-08:00

Here's a message I almost sent to someone: (Worrying about) implicatures makes writing about a kazillion times harder than it would be otherwise. E.g. - I must think there is something that needs to be communicated if I send this to you. What could it be? I have no clue. But if I send it, there's gotta be a reason - 'gotta' in the normative sense - I *can* send it without a reason, but then I'd

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1077939094677735092004-02-27T19:31:00.000-08:002004-02-27T19:34:26.733-08:00

Philosophers talk a lot about reasons. Reasons for belief, reasons for action, etc. Personally, my favorite reason is, "AWw, c'mon," as in: "You know you want to see that movie." "No, I don't" "Aww, c'mon." "Well, okay." It's suprisingly versatile: "Go ahead, shoot. It's just a cat. It'll be fun" "I'm not sure it's right." "Aww, c'mon." [bang]

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5718674.post-1077671201544179702004-02-24T17:06:00.000-08:002004-02-24T17:08:43.106-08:00

My proposition has morphed into a paper entitled, "Should we care to be love if love is a moral emotion?" It's ostensibly a critique of a moral account of love, but my hidden agenda is to promote that account. Some people think i am seriously underqualified to write about human emotions, but i think my outsider status is a plus. The American people want change, dammit.

bchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16502340342220452252noreply@blogger.com0