February 2012
5 posts
1 tag
Happy Super Bowl
Planet Money’s weekly podcast surveys how large, national sporting events (e.g. the super bowl) don’t make as much money as promised. That part of the money promised, though, normally ends up in with companies with headquarters elsewhere. The positive economic impact locally appears to be a sort of mythical being. Also, it causes art galleries close. This is simply an atrocity.
...
4 tags
London is projected to get around 4 inches of snow...
London is about as prepared for snow as Louisville. This may pose problems.
In other news: Beer and cheese night. Pictures to come.
Victoria and Albert Reading Room Playing Gangta's...
January 2012
18 posts
2 tags
1 tag
Went to Bill Gates lecture yesterday -
There was a live twitter trending feed projected on the wall. The event was simulcasted online, but a good majority of tweets came from those within the theatre. This is a fantastic and terrible idea. Although, a number of times witty tweets caused the audience to roar with laughter. There was a false start of sorts, music lowered and everyone hushed but no gates - “awkward silence for...
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ellievator asked: Hey Mr. Brandon. Do you have Pitter with you?
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Fulbright Finalist
I’m not sure how many years this will extend my student days.
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Going to see Mario Monti next week.
If it wasn't my bedtime I'd send fan mail. It's my...
This is what your brain looks like on analytic philosophy.
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Think > Read
This might be a better point, one that is far more difficult to take root: think more than you read.
Stylistic Flourishes Count for Nothing: Aim to be...
Quote from my prof’s slide on ‘philosophical writing.’
I can do that.
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Introducing Italians to Serenity
You hear music coming from the building. Do you:
(A) Walk inside.
(B) Go home.
>(A)
Walking inside you realize you have entered an artists commune, aka an old victorian with squatting tenants. Dayglow paint strewn on the walls, anarchy signs sprayed on steps, and drink cups stacked in corners - up the stairs and into a once main hall a DJ booth and a speaker system act as backdrop. You leave after a few hours of dancing and talking to a...
December 2011
19 posts
Has anyone ever been to Philadelphia?
Is it a liveable city? Would I enjoy it there? Good theatre? Good parks? Good frisbee?
NYTimes Article on Bourbon:
Dennis Withey of Louisville used to be a big Scotch drinker, but not any more. On Tuesday night, Mr. Withey and a drinking buddy, Bob Engle, were enjoying a $3 shot of Very Old Barton, chased by beer at the Silver Dollar, a new restaurant and bar in Louisville. By 8 p.m., every seat at the 42-foot bar, in a renovated 1890s firehouse, was taken, and Kentucky-made whiskey was flowing freely.
...
Christmas!
It is a strange, strange place to have Christmas. Although I did attend midnight mass at St. Paul’s. If every mass included a full brass band, a grand organ, a boys choir, fanfare to end most ‘hymns,’ and witty British canons, I might go to masses more often.
In other news: THANK YOU for my awesome Christmas presents, those aforementioned potentially life-altering gifts. I am...
I need a favor:
Who wants to show my brother around Bellarmine (take him to classes, etc.) next term?
He is an apathetic high school senior who needs motivation (direction will come later, just general motivation now).
Please?
I have excellent friends who send me things...
and then threaten me if I open them right away. But that’s cool…I can wait.
Thanks Ellie, Ry!
(Forgive the peanut butter slipping out. I am looking forward to an omega-3 enriched snack later.)
1 tag
Kim Jong-il Dies Means Kim Jon-il Looking at...
Introducing: Kim Jong-un Looking at Things
In at Penn Law.
Because my former university still thinks I'm a...
A Poem by President McGowan informing the staff to go home for Christmas:
‘Tis Not Quite June
The name’s McGoon,
An occasional loon —-
When full the moon!
Christmas is soon,
So here’s a tune
To sing or croon…
“This ‘Dec’ twenty-two,
Toot your bassoon,
Loose your balloons,
And leave at noon!”
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I don't have to go to my lectures technically. I...
This means I can attend the UCL English Department’s MA in Modern Culture courses and seminars. I wonder if I’d be able to get two degrees out of this if I talked to the right people.
There is a single paper standing in the way of my...
This paper is due by midnight. It is for an un-assessed course and it is an un-assessed essay.
I am hoping to finish this quickly. Also, Skype session later tonight if anyone is interested. I want to get all of this done by 7ish over here (2 in Louisville). Would 10-ish over here (5ish there) work?
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While I adore public transport
I miss the experience of being in a car with friends.
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Against Me! - “Pints of Guinness Make You...
1 tag
I received Birthday present packages in the mail...
I have left most untouched, but a few things were unwrapped. My grandmother always buys me underwear (whose doesn’t?) but this year I am the new owner of ‘sean john’ boxer-briefs. I wasn’t aware those existed until today.
David Milch, HBO, and Faulkner
Excitement. I am willing a series focused on the Snopes family.
5AM
willmedley:
I be studyin, studyin, studyin. By test time, my body will be running solely on coffee.
Also, is it bad that I prayed to the Chief’s Nixon so I may have the fortitude to continue to study and the ability to pass each exam?
There is nothing wrong with that at all.
November 2011
24 posts
2 tags
The LSE has the whole 'we produce a lot of world...
This doesn’t always mean those leaders are pleasant people or good leaders, but it does mean we get the bi-weekly lecture by President/Prime Minister/Dictator X.
I just left a lecture given by the Austrian president, Heinz Fischer, who provided a much better experience than President Santos from Colombia last week. Austria recently welcomed President Abbas from Palestine. Someone in the...
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Screw this:
I’m going to lit. school in two years.
Berated in the Coffee Shop for Being a Philosophy...
This goes under the oddest and rudest things that have happened to me. I was reading Kant and getting through The Groundwork with the full Metaphysics of Morals on the table in front of me. Over the last year or two I have developed a note taking system while reading a text with note cards, so imagine note cards strewn on the table. A woman sits down - 30s, 40s, not 50s. This is fairly normal in...
Just received an excellent Philosophy party...
It is time to get your Nudge on. On Tuesday December 6th, the Philosophy Department rock ‘n’ roll band, ‘The Critique of Pure Rhythm’, will be playing at the Philosophy Society Christmas party in the Quad, at LSE. There will be drinks from 6:30, after which the band will play at 7:30. All are welcome. From the reviews of previous parties:
Philosophy parties appear to have...
I should be able to give a proper update later...
This week has been crazy.
-Turned in three papers on Monday.
-Met the Colombian President on Tuesday. I have very mixed feelings about the man.
-Found books for my dissertation. Also, I’m falling for Adam Smith’s sentimentalist morality. I suggest reading anything by him on ethics (skip Wealth of Nations for now, Theory of Moral Sentiments or Lectures on Jurisprudence are good...