Fictional History in "Fast Times"

The Platt Amendment is real but as far as I can tell, there's no such thing as the Davis Agreement. Which shouldn't be surprising, because Mr. Hand's American history textbook, the "Land of Truth and Liberty", doesn't appear to exist either.

Damone's Special Five Point Plan

Men have died trying to obtain this valuable information.

1. You never let on how much you like a girl.

2. You always call the shots.

3. Act like wherever you are, that's the place to be.

4. When ordering food you find out what she wants and order for the both of you.

5. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.

Philosophers on Common Sense

"[C]ommon sense -- that repository of ancient error."

-Nelson Goodman ('Languages of Art', p. xii)

"Common sense is the metaphysics of savages."

-Bertrand Russell (quoted by Ray Monk in 'What Philosophers Think', p. 168)

Best CD Cover Ever

Got this in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago.

The Absurdity Trap

A long time ago, I proposed collecting moments when philosophers were led to say ridiculous things, things that they simply wouldn't say, take seriously, or take to be important were it not for having been led astray by philosophical argument. Well, add this to the list:

"My point is that we could happily conceive of a photograph where every detail lies outside the photographer’s control, yet nonetheless every one of those details could pierce us in an aesthetically significant way."

(I'm not going to include citation information, though it's easy enough to find it yourself by googling the text.)

I take this statement to be on par with saying something like: "We could happily conceive of a paragraph in which every word was put there by accident but which as a whole gives us a true general theory of the physical structure of the universe." We can conceive of such a paragraph, just as we can conceive of such a photograph. Do any such paragraphs or photographs exist? Nope. Should we spend time thinking about such paragraphs or photographs? Nope. Most importantly: should we take them to be our starting points for thinking about scientific realism or our aesthetic interest in photography? Nope.

Quirky Baltimore

Spent yesterday exploring Baltimore. Here was the itinerary:

10am: left DC and drove to Baltimore. The fun of listening to the Da Vinci Code en route meant that Baltimore's sights had some stiff competition: if listening to the book was more fun than the sights, what would be the point of getting out of the car?
11am: tour of the Star Toys Museum, an extensive private collection of Star Wars memorabilia. Best discovery: Luke's original lightsaber was actually a photo flash grip.
Noon: crab cakes at G&M, which I had last visited about 7 or so years ago. I think Faidley's is better, but that may just be because I like a higher ratio of crackers-to-crab in my crab cakes.
1pm: Druid Hill Conservatory. What's more fun than a tropical rainforest in the dead of winter?
1:30pm: tour of the Amaranthine Museum by the artist's daughter. Anyone who has hung out with me for any length of time knows that I'm a sucker for themed environments created single-handedly by quirky characters. How long will it be before I just spend all of my free time in the backyard working on my own "visionary art"?
2:30: Atomic Books and "The Avenue" in Hampden. John Waters' Christmas cards!
3:00: Hopkins drive-by (for nostalgia's stake)
3:15: Washington Monument drive-by. The City of Monuments, the Greatest City in America, the City that Reads (Breeds).
3:20: Babe Ruth Museum. Babe was a plus-sized dude, but was he really John Goodman-sized?
4:00: American Visionary Art Museum. They still have their restaurant! They've now added a bookstore.
5:00: Tattoo Museum. Should it really be legal to sell tattooing kits via mail order?
5:30: Fells Point drive-by
5:45: Tried going on the submarine tour but it was closed for the day.
6:00: Attman's Deli was also closed for the day, which was probably for the best because I spent a pretty shitty Christmas Day here once.
6:30: Dinner in Federal Hill, right next to the Cross St. Market (the perfect antidote, memory-wise, for Attman's) at the Abbey Burger Bistro.

Sardines

It's too easy to make a tshirt this good.