The Daily Office:
Monday, 28 June 2010
Matins
¶ As proponents of the idea that “building to last” is nowhere near as desirable as “building to upgrade,” we’re piqued by Robin Sloan’s Snarkmarket entry, “Only Crash.” What begins as a sort of hygeinic principle for writing code swells out like a sail in a high wind.
Lauds
¶ All we can think of is the Emperor’s New Clothes: Terry Teachout, having gotten his hands on a 1988 study entitled “Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems,” began thinking that Modernism’s more complicated masterpieces might “never find an audience” because they take too long to apprehend. (About Last Night)
Do click through to the WSJ piece. You wouldn’t want to miss the zinger at the end, James Joyce’s astonishing demand. We can remember when such imperatives were intimidating. Now, like those “new clothes,” they only seem grandiose.
Prime
¶ A Federal Reserve economist, Kartik Athreye, has brought down the wrath of the Blosophere upon himself by suggesting that “economics is hard” — and therefore not to be trusted to hoi polloi without advanced degrees. From the ensuing kerfuffle, Tyler Cowen sounds a truly grown-up note.
Tierce
¶ A word about “blind taste tests.” (You Are Not So Smart)
Sext
¶ Gen McChrystal seeks the Directorship of the Institute of Dead and Dying Languages. (Emdashes)
Nones
¶ Now that there is talk of a pipeline running from Iran to Pakistan, it’s really time for the United States to develop a policy that comprehensively ecompasses Afghanistan and the western Muslim rump of India. And to begin, we might listen to Pakistanis themselves. Cyril Almeida, writing at Dawn, does not seem to be sure of very much, but perhaps that’s the point. (via RealClearWorld)
Vespers
¶ One paragraph of Richard Eskow’s “appropriating” review of David Schields’s Reality Hunger stands out, not because it’s the funniest, but because it handily dispatches the entire book-review problem. We refer to the paragraph numbered 18. (3 Quarks Daily)
Compline
¶ Dick Cavett remembers Arthur Godfrey. We remember Arthur Godfrey, although we’re not sure why. We’d forgotten, though, how sharp he was. His faintly sidelong manner is hard to describe, but easy to see in the video that accompanies Mr Cavett’s reminiscence. (Which — and why is this still disappointing — turns out to be mostly about Mr Cavett’s relationship with the Nixon White House.) (NYT)
Have a Look
¶ Catalog Living: why bother with Sims or Second Life, when you can spend well-appointed hours with Gary and Elaine? Who knows what tragedies — not to mention inconveniences — lurk in their airbrushed interiors? (via MetaFilter