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2hr ago
There's also a section on other ways to utilize the interior space. I disagree that attached garages are a net negative, but the argument is not purely aesthetic.
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1d ago
"Money," by Pink Floyd has an epic tenor sax solo by a session pro in the song's primary 7/4 meter, preceding the more epic guitar solo in the easier to play 12/8. "Doctor Wu," by Steely Dan famously featured jazz-great alto saxophonist Phil Woods. (Also, jazz-great Wayne Shorter on "Aja," but that song's a bit pretentious.) And any Joni Mitchell song with Wayne Shorter.
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1d ago
Perhaps someone at the FedSoc can help you work backwards from your career goals to the necessary law school application.
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1d ago
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1d ago
"The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties," by Christopher Caldwell, which argues that both the Great Society and Reaganism were misguided. Caldwell seems scrupulous, so I'm enjoying it.
I've forgotten the name of a writer, whom I think was introduced to via The Motte: The webpage that was linked to was a long piece on female physical attractiveness to men, with good examples of convergence in art (e.g., depictions of fertility goddesses) and less persuasive evidence from porn and sex dolls. The author also had an argument that almost no homes should be built with attached garages, and a zoning scheme that would purportedly accommodate everyone having a SFH with a detached garage. (He was much more persuasive that attached garages generally make facades ugly than that attached garages are a net negative. Part of the argument was that cars don't strictly need to be stored indoors, and other things could be stored in a shed. However, most of the things you would store in a garage are things that are designed to be used outdoors, but would benefit from being stored indoors, and cars are far and away both the most expensive of these things and the most likely to be resold to fund their replacement - if you can park in a garage, you should.) Anyone recognize this description?
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3d ago
"betrayed" is an awfully strong word for "asked people to not do something in association with the name of his blog."
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10d ago
Good books are more engrossing, detailed and better written than good tv shows.
Are the top n% of books better than the top n% of tv shows, or does a book need to clear a higher bar to be "good?" I've been re-watching some favorite tv shows and they're all proving their re-watch value. Take "Mad Men" as an example of how engrossing and detailed a good tv show can be: the tvtropes page for anachronisms has only inconsequential examples, suggesting that the motivation for compiling examples is an appreciation for the show getting everything of consequence right.
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11d ago
I do not agree that critiques of Trump's authoritarianism and corruption are valid, not because he is not authoritarian or corrupt, but because I have observed that those arguments do not generalize, and do not believe this will change without significant disruption of the existing system. I am not going to cooperate with the coordination of Trump- or Populist-specific anti-authoritarian or anti-corruption measures. I am not going to cooperate with people who have a long history of defecting against my interests and are poised to do so again.
Can you elaborate on "those arguments do not generalize?"
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11d ago
such that rather than a Jan 6 retcon there were always significant voices on the American right that disagreed with blue-tribe framings
Yglesias gives specific examples of criticism:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/01/what-happened-on-january-6/
So far as I know, the National Review has been consistently Trump-critical, not endorsing any presidential candidate in 2020 or 2024 (someone please correct me if this is wrong), but McConnell?
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11d ago
Substitute whatever criticisms you think are warranted; Yglesias's observation of doublethink isn't dependent on people not making a specific criticism, it's that refusal to criticize someone for their history of at least failing to avoid the appearance of authoritarian or corrupt behavior can be a tacit admission of fear that the person is, in fact, authoritarian or corrupt. The question I asked is the bounds of when we should make that inference.
Matt Yglesias made a good point about Trump and authoritarianism:
But here’s what worries me. Nobody agrees with the presidential candidate that they prefer about everything. It is completely normal and appropriate to vote for someone with some reservations or points of criticism. If, all things considered, you preferred Trump to Harris, notwithstanding Trump’s election lies, encouragement of violence, and promises to let the perpetrators off the hook, then that’s your right. There were plenty of other issues in the mix in 2020 as well. What I see, though, from the billionaires who disavowed Trump only to come back to his side, isn’t people saying, “That really was an awful day and I hope he doesn’t follow through on the pardons, but I decided that taxes and energy are more important.” Instead, they’ve gone totally silent on the points of criticism.
And there’s an alarming doublethink about this.
If I were to say, “It’s irresponsible to back Trump regardless of your views on taxes and energy because he’s an authoritarian menace,” these people would say I’m being a hysterical lib.
But if I were to say, “It’s fine to vote for Trump while still strongly disagreeing with what he did around 1/6, I’d just like to hear you say that in public,” the response would be that everyone knows it’s best to avoid Trump’s bad side.
If you’re not willing to voice criticism of the president, even while generally supporting him, because you’re afraid of retaliation, that seems at least a little bit like Trump is an authoritarian menace. I have concerns! And what I would love more than anything is for Trump supporters in the business world or at conservative nonprofits to set my mind at ease, not by arguing with me about whether Trump is an authoritarian menace, but by showing me that they don’t fear him and can offer pointed, vocal criticism of his conduct and strong condemnation of these potential pardons.
That’s how pluralistic politics works: You agree with people when you agree with them, but you don’t shy away from disagreeing when you disagree. And to a considerable extent, the fate of the country hinges more on what right-of-center people choose to say and do if and when Trump abuses his powers than on what anyone in the opposition does.
The article starts with examples of conservatives criticizing Trump in the wake of the 2021 riot and says "...I also respect (or at least understand) the decision of those who’ve decided they care more about other things than about Trump’s low character and basic unfitness for office. But what disturbs me is the extent to which the entire conservative movement has retconned not just the events of four years ago, but their own reactions to those events, such that these days, to be disturbed by them is considered some form of lib hysteria." At what point are Trump's allies tacitly seconding accusations that Trump is an authoritarian and his "movement" a cult of personality, by treating him as though the accusations are true?
Edit: I think discussion of whether or not the 2021 riot should be a factor in the 2024 election is missing the point. Substitute whatever criticisms you think are warranted; Yglesias's observation of doublethink isn't dependent on people not making a specific criticism, it's that refusal to criticize someone for their history of at least failing to avoid the appearance of authoritarian or corrupt behavior can be a tacit admission of fear that the person is, in fact, authoritarian or corrupt. The question I asked is the bounds of when we should make that inference.
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20d ago
Is "FAGMAN" and autocorrection of "FAANG?" Either way, what does it mean?
So, are the WITCH firms hiring foreign workers and then placing them at other companies as contractors? I'm unclear what they do. What were they sued for?
Can anyone corroborate anti-H1b/possibly anti-Indian comments like this?
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21d ago
I have a question: I've read anecdotes (not all from H1B opponents) that Indians in tech have strong preferences for hiring other Indians - has this ever been formally studied? I know something happened in California that got a bill about caste discrimination through the legislature (albeit vetoed), but I don't care to guess what political pressures were behind that bill.
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26d ago
People generally don't have as many children as they want, so there's no need to "capture" women.
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1mo ago
"Juror #2," Clint Eastwood's new film, is excellent. Watching it at home just made me doubly disappointed that it didn't get a wide theatrical release. (Not a single screening in my top-n-by-population USA city, where n is a small number.) I unreservedly recommend it being the next heavy* drama film you watch.
*Plot elements include plea bargains, homicide, alcoholism, a high-risk pregnancy, spelling "voir dire" correctly, etc...
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1mo ago
When I said that jazz was difficult, I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't easy on the ears. It's difficult in the sense that it's hard for someone accustomed to pop music to appreciate, especially if they don't have any musical training.
If it's easy on the ears, you can expose yourself to it until you passively begin to appreciate it on an unconscious level or find something that gives you a musical foothold. (I disliked violin-centric music until I heard this Julia Fischer performance of the Third Movement of the Brahms Concerto in D - it turns out that the things I disliked about a lot of violin performances weren't universal.)
And how can you say that this is Jaco's best work and not his solo album? It's obviously very good, but he's clearly a sideman here and doesn't get to show his full potential. Pretty much every track on that Jaco Pastorius exhibits a new possibility for what the bass guitar can be, particularly "Portrait of Tracy". And "Opus Pocus" is probably the only example in recorded music of menacing-sounding steel drums.
His showcase album is the best recording of him showcasing his superior potential to innovate; "Bright Size Life" is the best example of him playing superior jazz bass.
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1mo ago
I have a ton of thoughts on this. First, I want to revive an ancient Reddit comment I once made in MaleFashionAdvice in answer to the question "What is Tacky?” To define good taste, we must first define poor taste:
"Tacky" find its closest synonym in "uppity" with all the racist and classist implications thereof. Tackiness is when an actor attempts to signify higher status or class through a social act (whether a verbal statement, wearing clothing, throwing a party), but fails to signify higher status and instead reveals their lower status by 'cheaping out' on some aspect of the presentation. It is in the eye of the beholder, and depends on the simultaneous judgments that the act was intended to signal high status and that it failed to do so.
I think that's a good contribution to the conversation.
Public Architecture... What counts isn’t the space, it’s what goes on there. Going to a ballgame is inherently a meaning making experience, naming the stadium for a bank doesn’t change anything. Kids who are now the age I was when the Vet was demolished were born ten years after the Phillies moved to Citizen’s Bank Park.
When looping back to the conversation about modern architecture, we have to consider that much of it was incidentally or purposefully uncomfortable to use.
What is a better interpretation of these pieces of art?
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