February 2012
4 posts
January 2012
9 posts
“The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it...”
– Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond? - The Atlantic, 1982
“We are the legacy of fifteen billion years of cosmic evolution. We have a...”
– Carl Sagan (via mymindseesaws)
“Awareness that the Government may be watching chills associational and...”
– United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. ____ (2012) (Sotomayor, J. concurring)
“Man is the one who desires, woman the one who is desired. This is woman’s...”
– Venus in Furs
“[W]oman, as nature has created her, and man at present is educating her, is...”
– Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
December 2011
8 posts
The Frogs Asking for a King
The Frogs, grieved at having no established Ruler, sent ambassadors to Jupiter entreating for a King.
He, perceiving their simplicity, cast down a huge log into the lake. The Frogs, terrified at the splash occasioned by its fall, hid themselves in the depth of the pool. But no sooner did they see that the huge log continued motionless, than they swam again to the top of the water, dismissed their...
“Yet certain men in their offices have decided the war is over. One of them...”
– Jean Paul Sartre, The End of War (via cocktailsfortwo)
the miser
The Miser sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at daily. One of his workmen observed his frequent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements. He soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the lump of gold, and stole it. The Miser, on his next visit, found the...
the wolf and the crane
A Wolf who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a Crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the Wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed: “Why, you have surely already had a sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and...
a life freely chosen.
series of tweets I impulsively posted in response to @EpicureanDeal’s tweet criticizing “women throughout history” for looking for a husband who could be a “provider” while men looked for a partner. rough thoughts, but I don’t want to forget about them and plan on expanding on the topic later.
* * *
Can’t believe I didn’t know that historically...
November 2011
1 post
Big C, little c
normantive:
“Small c conservatism”, useful in distinguishing the madness occasionally descendent upon right-wing parties. The absence of a similar dichotomy in communism, just as useful.
October 2011
5 posts
“Brian Moynihan is here tonight. He’s the C.E.O. of Bank of America. As many of...”
– Steve Schwarzan
2 tags
September 2011
7 posts
1 tag
1 tag
Investment Banker Risks
Matt Taibbi did once again what Matt Taibbi does best: make sweeping generalizations about industries he does not understand. A gem from his latest piece declares “Investment bankers by nature have huge appetites for risk.” Clearly Mr. Taibbi has never met an investment banker. Or, more likely, he characterizes everyone who works in an Investment Banking Division - from Sales & Trading to...
August 2011
12 posts
“It is notoriously difficult to fix labels of merit in such a way that they do...”
– Virginia Woolf
“There is no justification for present existence other than its expansion into an...”
– Simone de Beauvoir
Market Commentary: Bad Money Thing Make New Scary... →
Chris Christie is tired of dealing with crazy...
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s comments on the “backlash” to his appointment of Sohail Mohammed to the New Jersey Superior Court:
Ignorance is behind the criticism of [New Jersey Superior Court nominee] Sohail Mohammed. Sohail Mohammed is an extraordinary American, who is an outstanding lawyer, and played an integral role in the post 9/11 period in building bridges between...
“It seemed to him that all his life he had followed the ideals that other people,...”
– W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage
July 2011
10 posts
“The woman who achieves virile independence has the great privilege of carrying...”
– Simone de Beauvoir
“[The Senate] may be sometimes necessary as a defense to the people against their...”
– James Madison, The Federalist Papers No. 63
American Girls - Weezer