AH! Is it just me, or has the formatting on the frontpage gone all screwy? (Using IE)
No, it's screwy for me too (FF). I think he dropped a closing tag.
Chopper, I think he was saying "get yourself fixed."
This column was Krugman's old gig, right?
Is that the same column? Does that mean they've got rid of Landsburg? I really don't like Landsburg.
I don't think there's exclusive authorship of that column. I don't know if they've gotten rid of Landsburg.
I see that Landsburg's column is called "Everyday Economics" and he last published on March 28.
Ah, minions scanning the skies, informing me in minutes of things of interest to me that appear on the internets...
Is this paradise?
ObOggReference: And isn't "paradise" a Farsi word meaning "walled garden"?
What, I'm a minion now? I read Slate, don't let it go to your head Brad.
Re "paradise:" Dictionary says you're right, though I can't think of a Farsi word other than "pardeh" (curtain), which might come from the same root.
Did Brad just call you his bitch?
I think he did.
I wouldn't take that if I were you.
Oh, I thought we'd been discovered by Prof. Delong's minions. Man, I'd be honored to be his minion -- considering who I've been minioning for, anyone would be an improvement.
I'm with LB on this, Brad meant someone had emailed to let him know about ogged's post.
And I'm so totally with Weiner. I hate that guy Landsburg with an unnatural force. He's willing to say the most unbelievably stupid things and then act like he's being unconventionally insightful. He had a series of pieces that revolved around the idea that it was more efficient to peel a banana from the wrong end that were utter bullshit. Has anyone tried that? Guess what, the leverage of the stem makes it easier to peel, dipshit! I actually had a student of Landsburg's for the first semester of PhD microeconomics, and he was no great shakes either.
It would be an incredible step up if Slate canned him for Brad.
No no, I'm the minion in Brad's scenario.
Was it Landsburg who had that disagreement with dsquared at Crooked Timber? If so, yeah, I'm with you guys.
Some people get all the good minioning spots.
Guess what, the leverage of the stem makes it easier to peel, dipshit!
Some secret part of me loves it when professors talk dirty.
Oh, that idiotic argument about passing notes with quantum entanglement? One of dsquared's finest. (Gazes off dreamily into the distance...)
The lemma to Brad's post (or maybe it's a necessary condition?) is that he reads unfogged a lot more than Slate.
Before you scurry off to "think" more in the dark of the bedroom, I remind you that his blog is entitled, "D-squared Digest -- A fat young man without a good word for anyone."
And yes, I have a bit of a man-crush on him.
I think it's just that this site has an RSS feed, but Slate doesn't (or Brad doesn't subscribe to theirs if they do).
Actually, I thought dsquared didn't come off too hot in that argument himself. The real physicists who dropped by basically said they were both wrong, IIRC.
Say, rather, that something went wrong when I tried to subscribe to Slate's RSS feed...
Eh -- dsquared's basic point that, if you had information about what the other guy was doing, it really doesn't mater what the mechanism is, stood up, I thought.
And my love for dsquared is pure and intellectual. I don't care if he's fat.
cw, you chimp, bananas are easier to peel from the side opposite the stem. It opens up much easier. What's this talk about "leverage." What kind of wussy-girly-man are you? I don't need no stinkin' leverage to peel a banana.
That's how I remember it too. And I don't know if he is, himself, fat; isn't that line a quote from somewhere?
Danniel Davies isn't fat. He's the r0x0rz.
bananas are easier to peel from the side opposite the stem. It opens up much easier.
I peel a banana for a two year old pretty much every damn morning and this just doesn't hold in the reality I inhabit. To peel from the bottom, you have to dig your fingers into that scabby part to split it. Slimy and inconvenient - not easier.
from the bottom, you have to dig your fingers into that scabby part
At the Mineshaft.
sir! the banana-reality you inhabit is a false one!
re 29: as it happens I was having a conversation just last night (with my violist friend) about how loving someone intellectually translates physically.
Well, I'm still here writing this damn reply brief, so if you expounded on the conversation it might offer me a moment's distraction.
Damn, are you really still at work, LB? That sucks, I'm sorry to hear it.
We were talking about how or if it works differently than more straightforward physical attraction. My theory was that it's more polymorphous, that every little thing about the person becomes attractive (in the way ankles appeared sexy to the Victorians), as opposed to just being attracted to more obvious bits.
Big tobacco is a cruel master.
On the other hand, I do have access to the secret research that proves that smoking makes your hair shiny.
Certainly, when you're intellectually/emotionally attracted to someone, they get good-looking even if they aren't in any objective sense.
Who said "love is mistaking a pimple for a dimple?"
Socrates, I think—it's in the Republic, isn't it?
The Republic, yes, but I think it's Alcibiades -- in the bit where he's explaining how Socrates turned him down.
smoking makes your hair shiny
Of course! That's to compensate for the number it does on your teeth.
Are you not thinking of the Symposium, Breath?
I am -- I haven't read Plato in donkey's years.
Here we go! This is what I was thinking of. 474d-475a:
"It was proper for another, Glaucon, to say what you're sayingm" I said. "But it's not proper for an erotic man to forget that all boys in the bloom of youth in one way or another put their sting in an erotic lover of boys and arouse him; all seem worthy of attention and delight. Or don't you people behave that way with the fair? You praise the boy with a snub nose by calling him 'cute'; the hook-nose of another you say is 'kingly'; and the boy between those two is 'well proportioned'; the dark look 'manly'; and the white are 'children of gods'. And as for the 'honey-colored', do you suppose their very name is the work of anyone other than a lover who renders sallowness endearing and easily puts up with it if it accompanies the bloom of youth? And, in a word, you people take advantage of every excuse and employ any expression so as to reject none of those who glow with the bloom of youth."
Here's the passage I was thinking of from the Symposium:
And now, my boys, I shall praise Socrates in a figure which will appear to him to be a caricature, and yet I speak, not to make fun of him, but only for the truth's sake. I say, that he is exactly like the busts of Silenus, which are set up in the statuaries, shops, holding pipes and flutes in their mouths; and they are made to open in the middle, and have images of gods inside them. I say also that hit is like Marsyas the satyr. You yourself will not deny, Socrates, that your face is like that of a satyr. Aye, and there is a resemblance in other points too. For example, you are a bully, as I can prove by witnesses, if you will not confess. And are you not a flute-player? That you are, and a performer far more wonderful than Marsyas. He indeed with instruments used to charm the souls of men by the powers of his breath, and the players of his music do so still: for the melodies of Olympus are derived from Marsyas who taught them, and these, whether they are played by a great master or by a miserable flute-girl, have a power which no others have; they alone possess the soul and reveal the wants of those who have need of gods and mysteries, because they are divine. But you produce the same effect with your words only, and do not require the flute; that is the difference between you and him.
Yikes. Except that that foreshadows the trial.
This seems like a good time to ask: for someone without much of a philosophy background, would you recommend looking for specific translations of the major works, or are the ones included in that big complete works collection good enough?
It's been a long while, so I'll defer to the profs. My own answer would be to get the best possible translations--especially of Plato, who is always (always) playing.
I think the complete works edition you link to is the one I bought for my Ancient Phil. course; I'm not certain because I threw away the dust jacket long ago. If it is, my professor thought it was pretty good.
Darned if I know. I'll see if Dr. Oops has an opinion -- she majored in philosophy in an odd little Great Books school that made her take Greek to read Plato and Aristotle.
Wait a sec. Is Dr. Oops your sister, the liver surgeon? And if so, are you fucking kidding me?
As a matter of fact, I have that book in my lap right now. It's certainly a good collection, and the introductions to each book are helpful. However, Ogged is right about all the subcontext in Plato, which you're not going to find in that collection. I don't know of any better editions to recommend, having never looked for them. However, if you do buy the collection, there are certainly resources available. Just google whichever book you're reading, and you'll find summaries and whatnot that discuss the dramatic play going on. If you're really into it, you can check into secondary literature. I like Gregory Vlastos myself, though I have been informed he's a little outdated nowadays.
secret research that proves that smoking makes your hair shiny
And here I thought it just made you cool. Shiny hair--bonus!
I got that complete-works collection for my ancient phil course too!
LB, are you telling us that Dr. Oops attended St. John's?
63: Shiny hair is the mechanism.
Garnier Fructis--empt0r!
Wow, does your shiny, shiny hair stink.
LB, are you telling us that Dr. Oops attended St. John's?
That's her. Very impressive place -- I don't intellectually intimidate easily, but the people she went to undergrad with could talk circles around me.
Damn it. Someone talked me out of applying to St. John's. If I could remember who, I would never forgive him/her.
I didn't know they had majors there. I thought everyone had the same curriculum.
And you would have gotten in -- it was one of those schools that would admit pretty much anyone, on the grounds that the ones who couldn't handle it either would never think of going there, or would drop out fast.
I have to spend more time with Dr. Oops. I've been talking about her so much because I miss her -- what with her schedule, and my schedule, both of which are brutal, we never manage to get together.
They describe it as a philosophy major so as not to confuse people, but you're right, the curriculum is mostly fixed.
LB, this is an extremely personal question, but are you out of debt? Because you don't really seem very happy in your job.
No, and you're right, paying off debt is the only thing I'm doing here.
I like the actual litigating, but I don't like it enough to work the hours I work, and I hate the clients. As soon as I can pull myself out of the hole, I am fleeing for the ACLU. Or some other lefty-impact litigation shop -- it's far enough away that I haven't cocretized any plans.
Concretized. It's bad enough using awkward Latinate jargon, but being unable to spell it is just inexcusable.
Well, if you like the actual litigating that's a big plus.
Doesn't NYU have a loan repayment program?
It does. It's very little use if you're married to someone employed (that is, Mr. Breath's income makes me ineligible for loan repayment, but isn't anywhere near enough to actually pay back my loans).
Further, the kinds of jobs I want were brutally competitive to get out of law school -- getting a six-figure firm job was effortless, but getting a 30K impact litigation job required better grades (mine were top quarter of the class, but not top tenth), journal experience, and prior public interest work experience than I had. I tried the public-interest job hunt and couldn't get anything I wanted. I'm actually quite impressive these days -- solidly partner-track at a huge, reputable firm -- and I'm hoping that my next shot at a public interest job is more successful.
Best of luck with that, when the time comes--how many years at BigLaw are you looking at?
And NYU is supposed to be a good school for those who want to serve the public interest, or so I seem to have been impressed. Bizarre.
Oh, it is -- the LRAP program is very generous -- the calculations just get messed up with another salary in the equation.
Even without LRAP, I would probably have found a way to make it work if I'd managed to get a job I wanted. The problem is that lefty organizations are small and underfunded, so there just aren't a lot of spots, and there are a hell of a lot of very impressive people going after them.
80 was more an expression of how weird it is that it's (comparatively) easy to get ridiculously well-paying jobs, and very difficult to get jobs that pay peanuts, even if you go to a school that's supposed to be good for getting peanuts. It's obvious why that should be so, but it's still weird.
Is it really so hard to get public interest jobs? Liinda is at Leegal Aiid doing housing stuff and I don't think she was top 10%. She made herself sound like she was barely scraping through NYU, but that may just have been modesty.
She was '96, and I know they started giving free rides to public interest people after she left, so did it suddenly get massively more competitive?
(Misspellings deliberate.)
or so I seem to have been impressed
Oboe to fuck, w-lfs-n.
Depends on what you want to do. I could certainly have done Legal Aid or a public defender's office, but that kind of retail, helping people one-by-one, work isn't what I wanted (I applaud L. for doing it -- she's a better person than I am -- but at that scale of helping people who individually need so much more help than you have any way of giving them, I'd burn out in a year. I give money instead.) What I wanted was larger-scale impact litigation, and there's very few positions like that, and those there are are chased by the best of the best.
It's a perfectly sensible thing to say, Weiner. I have that impression. I have been so impressed.
I see. Like this guy in the Who section at the bottom?
And yes, she's a far better person than I am, too. The best, really.
Thanks for the Plato suggestions (now far upthread). I knew this was a good place to ask.
LB-
Do you know anyone who clerked out of school and thinks they made the wrong choice or regrets or what have you? I know that's also highly competitive, but that's what I'm leaning towards right now.
No. No one regrets it.
My Civ. Pro professor, who I thought was great (Alan Morrison -- head of the litigation arm of Public Citizen) did say that it was less important than lots of people think, and that you'll get along fine if you don't. I didn't, and it hasn't closed any particular doors (well, I couldn't possibly get an academic job, but I don't want to be a law prof.).
But no one regrets it -- everyone talks nostalgically about "their judge", and believes that they learned a great deal.