Listening to what Atrios calls the "atrocities." Idiots all 'round, Or is it just that they're trapped by the fact that they're all 'merikans and can't offend the mass? I'd say 'masses' but there's a diffference: the masses have many opinions, the 'mass' is the sum total of opinion, defined as a void. Gerhard Richter says: "Opinions are dangerous, so I don't have any." but of course he was speaking as a German.

Following this thread.
A line to remember (it's mine):
"Analytics talk as if blackjack were the only game in town. The house is “the world” and all that stands between you and money are numbers and odds.
You should try poker sometime."

Language represents the world; but a map is not a mountain. That idiots can imagine otherwise amazes me. And yet defenders of art fall into the trap of defending idealism, 'meaning,' 'spirituality' and other such crap, so what can I say? A pox on both your houses; or a bullet in the head.
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Also from the NYR: Andrew Delbanco on the modern university.
The beginning of part 2 is here, but you have to pay.
The article is quite nasty about the academic bed hopping that the 'leftist' Brian Leiter spends so much time documenting, and celebrating. But at the same time Delbanco misses something. He quotes Learned Hand in reference to questions then current concerning jewish problems at Harvard: "A college may gather together men of a common tradition, or it may put its faith in learning"
All too true. But universities have become technical colleges, popping out mechanics, and that in itself is a problem. Blackjack teaches you nothing about the world away from the table.