November 2006 Archives

Friedman was my intellectual hero in high school and college. "Capitalism and Freedom" probably influenced me more than any book I read at that time. The BBC obit mentions that he was reputed never to have lost a debate, a claim that anyone who ever saw his performance would have no trouble believing.

Here is the NYTs obit, and here is a vintage performance from the 1970's "Open Mind" TV show. Finally, here is the Financial Times obit (quite good).

Milton Friedman was a great man who had a tremendous and positive influence on the well-being of mankind. RIP.

Bad reviews are so much more fun than good reivews:

Sarah Ruhl is officially trendy. Not only did the 32-year-old playwright just win a MacArthur "genius grant," but she's making a high-profile New York debut: "The Clean House," which has been staged at the Yale Repertory Theatre and numerous other top regional houses and was a Pulitzer finalist last year, has now come to town in a glossy production starring Blair Brown and Jill Clayburgh. As if that weren't enough buzz for one human being to generate, Ms. Ruhl says she's working on a new play about the history of... the vibrator.

If I sound skeptical about Ms. Ruhl, there's a reason. It's possible to be both trendy and talented, and I suppose it might be possible to write a good play about vibrators, too. I can even think of a few genuine geniuses who've won MacArthurs. But when all these suspicious-looking items turned up on the same résumé, the red light on my Faux-O-Meter started blinking, which is why I wasn't surprised when "The Clean House" failed to live up to its hype. It's clever -- too clever by at least half -- but scrape away the postmodern trickery and it's nothing more than a soap opera for pseudointellectuals.

Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal (excerpted in Terry's blog).

TELEPHONE, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

Bierce would undoubtedly have been horrified by the cellphone, though —perhaps—somewhat mollified by the invention of Caller ID.

Educated, driven, and financially successful, Japanese women are dissatisfied with marriage to an old-fashioned Japanese man. They don't want to quit their jobs and become a full-time homemaker, while their husbands spend most of their time at the office.

Honda to the rescue with the amazing ASIMO!

Rumor has it, you can rent your very own ASIMO for $150,000 per month, though it isn't known if ASIMO throws its dirty shirts on the floor.