“Free will, in my experience, is tactical rather than strategic; in all the larger shaping of a life, there is a plan already, into which one has no choice but to fit, or contract out of living altogether.”
Stanley Donen, director who filmed Gene Kelly singing in the rain, dies at 94 WaPo. Take heart, this year’s Oscar losers:
For all its later acclaim, “Singin’ in the Rain” drew favorable but not ecstatic reviews when it was released. …“We were ignored,” Mr. Donen told his biographer. “Not that it’s such a big to-do. The year of ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ the best picture went to ‘The Greatest Show on Earth,’ one of the worst movies ever made.”
#AcademyAwards2019, Swag Bags, and the IRS
By Sam Brunson Every year, it seems like there's something in the news about the Academy Awards swag bags (valued at $100,000 this year!) and taxes. And, since the Academy Awards are tonight, and since this is a tax blog, we might as well say something about the taxation of swag bags. And … Continue reading
If I traveled back in time and met younger me on the cusp of that first deanship, after expressing nostalgia for my hair, what would I say?
Social media upends public's Bible quote preferences
The quote John 3:16 had been knocked off its print pedestal by the social media era.
Our Twisted DNA New York Review of Books
Helicopter parents: the real reason British teenagers are so unhappy The Conversation
- NY Times op-ed, Abolish Billionaires: 'Kneecapping The Wealthiest Among Us'
- Michael Simkovic (USC), Billionaire Taxes
New York Times op-ed: Don’t Abolish Billionaires, by Will Wilkinson:
Billionaires are in notably bad odor with many people on the left. Socialists have long held that large stores of private wealth are tantamount to violence against those in need. But regular nonradical folks not on the left are fed up, too. Howard Schultz’s potential independent White House bid is simply infuriating, and it’s maddening to feel helplessly tangled in the gilded web of global intrigue emanating from the president, his plutocrat dictator pals and America’s retail overlord, the philandering Jeff Bezos.
Thanks at least in part to Bernie Sanders and the sizzling rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this dry wick has met a spark. Enthusiasm for radical leveling is whistling out of the hard-left fringe and blossoming into a mainstream mood.
Being Lost Can Be Terrifying And Disorienting. Or It Can Open Your Mind
Lostness has always been an enigmatic and many-sided state, always riven with unexpected potencies. Across history, all varieties of artists, philosophers, and scientists have celebrated disorientation as an engine of discovery and creativity, both in the sense of straying from a physical path, but also in swerving away from the familiar, turning in to the unknown. –The Atlantic
How Leaders Bend History For Their Own Purposes
The Inconveniences Of Truth In A Non-Objective Age
Scepticism about common-sense things has been on the agenda of philosophers for centuries, but only as a plaything confined to the study. It does not spill into everyday life. So, what on earth do people mean when they say we are living in a “post-truth” world? – New Statesman
‘Empire’ Producers Write Jussie Smollett’s Character Out Of Script
“While these allegationsare very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” said a statement from the series’s producers at 20th Century Fox. “We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.” –The Washington Post
A Beginner’s List of Links for those interested in visuals + law Open Law Lab Blog – Margaret Hagan: “I was having a conversation with a professor this morning who is interested in amplifying her work in doing diagramming, drawing, and visualizations in law. We had a great conversation, and I pulled in a range of links for her to explore what’s going on in the world of visual design, law, and public interest work. I share these links here in case they might be helpful starters for others!..”
Using The Oxford Comma Makes You A Hotter Prospect On Tinder
“On an internet occupied by as many finger-wagging ‘grammar Nazis’ as slovenly texters who prefer emoji to verbal displays of emotion, the Oxford comma has become a cause célèbre. This is especially true on dating apps, where many users have deemed the punctuation mark something they ‘can’t live without’ — a designation that’s put it in the same lofty category as cheese, the beach, and Game of Thrones.” – GQ
Philosophy Need Not Be Dense And Unreadable, Does It?
Most people do not realise that Aristotle wrote works designed for the general public. If they did, then perhaps more philosophers would automatically assume that they needed to follow his example. – Aeon
Buddingboom: All you need to know about Australia’s stake in the fast-growing cannabisindustry
Cannabis entrepreneurs are cropping up all over the place in Australia as early movers get ready to cash in on what could become a $1.2 billion industry over the next 10 years, according to figures put together by prohibition partners last year. The Greens, citing Parliamentary Budget Office findings, believe the industry will grow to $2 billion over the forward estimates
Cannabis entrepreneurs are cropping up all over the place in Australia as early movers get ready to cash in on what could become a $1.2 billion industry over the next 10 years, according to figures put together by prohibition partners last year. The Greens, citing Parliamentary Budget Office findings, believe the industry will grow to $2 billion over the forward estimates
Access to What? The access-to-justice crisis is bigger than law and lawyers Rebecca L. Sandefur. © 2019 by Rebecca L. Sandefur doi:10.1162/DAED_a_00534 Rebecca l. Sandefur is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign; and Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation, where she founded and leads the Foundation’s Access to Justice re search initiative. She is also a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. Her pub- lications include Urban Lawyers: The New Social Structure of the Bar(with John P. Heinz, Robert L. Nelson, and Edward O. Laumann, 2016) and Access to Justice (ed., 2009)
The New York Times – Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain –
“And if you’re anything like me — and the statistics suggest you
probably are, at least where smartphones are concerned — you have one,
too. I don’t love referring to what we have as an “addiction.” That
seems too sterile and clinical to describe what’s happening to our
brains in the smartphone era. Unlike alcohol or opioids, phones aren’t
an addictive substance so much as a species-level environmental shock.
