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by JL Wall
I read in The Wall Street Journal about the melancholy of affluence, “Not in all the five millenia of man’s recorded history have so many been so affluent.” Minds formed by scarcity are distorted. The heart can’t take this sort of change. Sometimes it just refuses to accept it. (Humboldt’s Gift, p. 3)
I’m [...]
Filed under: miscellany
by JL Wall
… by television? And India is introducing electricity and late night TV to poor, rural villages — as birth control?
One such survey done in 2006 by an Italian sexologist reveals couples with televisions in their bedrooms had sex half as much as those without it.
Between the article as a whole, the word “sexologist” [...]
Filed under: miscellany
So how in the hell had nobody ever told me about this? I mean, backyard chicken coops made from bunk beds and bottle racks? A kids’ play kitchen made from a supercharged table leg? This is a penny-pinching directions-hating capitalist libertarian do-it-yourself-er’s frigging paradise, and I have to hear about it from Rod? This is [...]
Filed under: miscellany
The internet’s readers collectively jump the shark:
Filed under: miscellany
Levin’s list gets longer.
Filed under: miscellany
Is it okay to buy “End the Cuban Embargo” coffee even if it’s got one of those ridiculous pictures of Che Guevara on the front?
Filed under: miscellany
by JL Wall
Some attentive readers out there may have noticed that, shortly after John went on vacation, I dropped off too — end of the academic year; papers to write and paperwork to fill out and a general need for clearheadedness. I’ll be back sometime next week, but until then, I leave you with an [...]
Filed under: miscellany, personal
1. This is quite interesting. I’m certainly not going to overstate its significance, but in addition to Gallup’s take on the data, Ross’s column from this past Tuesday is absolutely worth a second read.
2. Readers familiar with my penchant for verbally bludgeoning those whose opinions are deemed to be outside the reach of reason – [...]
Filed under: miscellany
Berkeley’s undergraduate library currently has up a blackboard-sized piece of white paper and a bucket of markers, with a request for students to write down their suggestions on how to make the library more “green”. Among the multicolored contributions: F*CK FINALS, and Get reusable condoms for [NAME REDACTED]. (And yes, the redactions are mine.) How [...]
Filed under: education, environment, miscellany
by JL Wall
I have a conflicted and complicated relationship with Yom Hashoah — it’s a lot easier just not to go into it here. But that’s why I decided against writing something about Adam Kirsch’s poem, “Past the off-duty NYPD guard…” (it’s technically an untitled poem, I suppose) which I considered. I find the poem rather [...]
Filed under: miscellany