Giving implicit credence to the named sources who described Michael Brown as having his hands up as he was fired on by Officer Darren Wilson, I criticized the use of unnamed sources who offered opposing information: They said that the officer had reason to fear Mr. Brown. I even went so far as to call those unnamed sources “ghosts” because readers had so little ability to evaluate their identity and credibility.
Now that the Justice Department has cleared Mr. Wilson in an 86-page report that included the testimony of more than 40 witnesses, it’s obvious to me that it was important to get that side of the story into the paper.
March 23, 2015
The NYT public editor takes back her criticism of the NYT in the reporting of the Ferguson shooting.
Margaret Sullivan regrets her accusation that the Times reporters enaged in "false balance" and gave "dubious equivalency" to anonymous sources:
"A girl tries to prove her academic seriousness by writing in her application essay that rather than curtail a discussion with her French teacher, she urinated on herself."
"A boy tries to demonstrate his pluck in the face of adversity by writing that he’s undiscouraged by the fact that his genitalia are small."
From a book review titled "In 'Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be,' Frank Bruni Examines College Admissions Mania."
(You can the book here.)
From a book review titled "In 'Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be,' Frank Bruni Examines College Admissions Mania."
(You can the book here.)
"Why should we as Texas want to be reminded of a legalized system of involuntary servitude, dehumanization, rape, mass murder?"
Said a state senator at a hearing over a specialty license plate proposed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans:
The plate was rejected, and today, the U.S. Supreme Court hears argument on whether that rejection violated the First Amendment.
The plate was rejected, and today, the U.S. Supreme Court hears argument on whether that rejection violated the First Amendment.
"What I'd like to know is if he was separated at birth from George McFly."
Says John, commenting (with pictures) on the news story "Ted Cruz to Announce on Monday He Plans to Run for President."
America, my density has brought me to you.
ADDED: Actually, it looked like this:
America, my density has brought me to you.
ADDED: Actually, it looked like this:
I'm running for President and I hope to earn your support! pic.twitter.com/0UTqaIoytP
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2015Hey, look what happened.
It's more than a sprinkling!
The good thing about this is that the kids won't be tricked into going out in T-shirts and shorts. There are many newcomers to Madison who haven't yet figured out that you can't guess the temperature looking at the calendar. There are plenty of others who just don't care what the temperature is and refuse to cover their bare arms and legs in the springtime, but even they, perhaps, will show some respect for the in-your-face cold weather that is snow. At least they won't be out in flip-flops.
March 22, 2015
New Year's Eve, circa 1955.
At our house in Newark, Delaware, this was going on:
(From my edits of old home movies. My mother is the blonde. My father is the one I showed you 3 posts down — that is to say, not the man on whose lap you will see my mother sitting.)
(From my edits of old home movies. My mother is the blonde. My father is the one I showed you 3 posts down — that is to say, not the man on whose lap you will see my mother sitting.)
"Why does law’s power and ubiquity require law school?"
"Because law school teaches students not only what the law is but also what it can be," writes Harvard lawprof Noah Feldman.
Yeah, but do law schools teach subject-verb agreement?
Or am I thinking only of grammar as it is and not also as it can be?
Maybe "law’s power and ubiquity" are — in a subtler manner of thinking, in a truer, better world — really just one thing: the big amazingness of law.
Yeah, but do law schools teach subject-verb agreement?
Or am I thinking only of grammar as it is and not also as it can be?
Maybe "law’s power and ubiquity" are — in a subtler manner of thinking, in a truer, better world — really just one thing: the big amazingness of law.
8mm movies of my father.
I used Legacybox to transfer 10 reels of 8mm movies from the early 1950s to video. An hour and 39 minutes of movies produced about 33 minutes of material that's interesting, intra-family. From that, I'm making some shorter clips. This one is, quite simply, my father, Richard Althouse.
The Badgers and the stenographer.
Those with skills appreciate skills, and because they are Badgers, they appreciate them adorably:
But seriously - have you ever seen the magical powers of a stenographer? pic.twitter.com/36exonv2CG
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) March 21, 2015"But basketball players increasingly cover their lower bodies, mostly out of fashion, partly out of protection, sometimes out of prudish modesty."
"In a trend on full display at the N.C.A.A. men’s tournament, skin is concealed behind the triple protection of shorts hemmed below the kneecap, socks raised to the calf and a base layer of tights underneath."
Time to get rid of the shorts!
Remember that in ballet, men wore shorts over their tights...
Time to get rid of the shorts!
Remember that in ballet, men wore shorts over their tights...
Outré basketball commentary of the day.
I'm not much of a sports person, though I have gone to a few baseball games in my life — including seeing Mark Fidrych at Tiger Stadium in 1976. And — even though, as a teenager, I wished for football to just end — I've come to enjoy sitting around with Meade watching Packers games on television. But I do not like basketball. I want the Badgers to win everything, of course, but I'm a complete outsider to basketball.
So I have my outré commentary. 5 days ago, I called it "the indoor game with unusually large people — men in silky skorts — in a cramped, squeaky place." 2 days ago, I commented on the chairs:
So I have my outré commentary. 5 days ago, I called it "the indoor game with unusually large people — men in silky skorts — in a cramped, squeaky place." 2 days ago, I commented on the chairs:
[T]hey bring chairs out onto the field of play during time outs so they can sit and talk. They never bring chairs out in baseball or football. Chairs! Ridiculous!See what I mean? Outré commentary. You know what outré means, don't you?
bizarre, bizarro, cranky, crazy, curious, eccentric, erratic, far-out, funky, funny, kinky, kooky... offbeat, off-kilter, off-the-wall, outlandish, out-of-the-way, odd, peculiar, quaint, queer, queerish, quirky, remarkable, rum [chiefly British], screwy, spaced-out, strange, wacky... way-out, weird, weirdo, wildSo I'm reading about last night's big upset, fragments of which I saw out of the corner of my eye as I edited home movies from the 1950s, did the Sunday crossword on the iPad, and chatted on the telephone about the TV show "Shameless." "Did a big upset just happen?" I asked upon getting off the phone. Yeah, it kind of did. Good, I like upsets. Upsets seem exciting. So, this morning, I was reading "North Carolina State Adds to Its Lore by Shocking Top-Seeded Villanova" in the NYT:
North Carolina State pummeled the Wildcats in the paint, outrebounding them by 45-32. And the Wolfpack complemented that strong play down low — forwards Abdul-Malik Abu and Lennard Freeman each had a double-double — with dynamic guard play.Outrebounding. What is that, some sort of bizarro, eccentric, erratic, funky, kinky, kooky, outlandish, spaced-out, weirdo, wacky bounding? Now, that I would like to see. I'm just about to express my fascination with this new basketball word I've discovered in the New York Times when I see that it's out-rebounding, not outré-bounding and that my hope for something screwy and oh-but-they're-so-spaced-out about basketball is shattered.
"Think of the safe space as the live-action version of the better-known trigger warning..."
"The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma."
Judith Shulevitz — in a NYT op-ed titled "In College and Hiding From Scary Ideas" — describes a room set up by students at Brown University in response to the news that a libertarian would be debating with a feminist about sexual assault on campus.
Much as I think students should be challenged to think about difficult matters and not babied, I would like to give some credit to the students who came up with that particular safe room, going to such an extreme with the Play-Doh and all. It shows some sense of humor and light-heartedness. Actually, it could be read as making fun of the trigger-warning mentality.
This got me thinking about my favorite poem:
Related: "Grownups Pay Big Bucks to Attend NYC 'Adult Preschool.'"
Judith Shulevitz — in a NYT op-ed titled "In College and Hiding From Scary Ideas" — describes a room set up by students at Brown University in response to the news that a libertarian would be debating with a feminist about sexual assault on campus.
Much as I think students should be challenged to think about difficult matters and not babied, I would like to give some credit to the students who came up with that particular safe room, going to such an extreme with the Play-Doh and all. It shows some sense of humor and light-heartedness. Actually, it could be read as making fun of the trigger-warning mentality.
This got me thinking about my favorite poem:
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,—I'm thinking: The Play-Doh alone will do....
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.
Related: "Grownups Pay Big Bucks to Attend NYC 'Adult Preschool.'"
"But abolishing high school would not just benefit those who are at the bottom of its hierarchies."
"Part of the shared legacy of high school is bemused stories about people who were treated as demigods at seventeen and never recovered. A doctor I hang out with tells me that former classmates who were more socially successful in high school than he was seem baffled that he, a quiet youth who made little impression, could be more professionally successful, as though the qualities that made them popular should have effortlessly floated them through life. It’s easy to laugh, but there is a real human cost... I’ve learned from doctors that you don’t have to have a cure before you make a diagnosis. Talk of abolishing high school is just my way of wondering whether so many teenagers have to suffer so much. How much of that suffering is built into a system that is, however ubiquitous, not inevitable? 'Every time I drive past a high school, I can feel the oppression. I can feel all those trapped souls who just want to be outside,' a woman recalling her own experience wrote to me recently. 'I always say aloud, "You poor souls."'"
From a Harper's Magazine article by Rebecca Solnit called "Abolish High School." You'll need a subscription to read the whole thing, but I wanted to alert you to its existence. The proposal in the title doesn't seem to be more than a rhetorical device, or the attack would be obvious: Isn't the cure worse than the disease? She anticipates that with "you don’t have to have a cure before you make a diagnosis."
From a Harper's Magazine article by Rebecca Solnit called "Abolish High School." You'll need a subscription to read the whole thing, but I wanted to alert you to its existence. The proposal in the title doesn't seem to be more than a rhetorical device, or the attack would be obvious: Isn't the cure worse than the disease? She anticipates that with "you don’t have to have a cure before you make a diagnosis."
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