Monday, January 06, 2003

Report from last month's American Philosophical Association convention: Philosophy job fair, for the few, the profound, by Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer. The most basic reason I'm here, explained [Jesus] Aguilar, pleased to have arrived with three prearranged interviews, is I would like to make a living doing the thing I love. 11:42:05 PM    comment []

Joshua Allen speaks up, eloquently, for The Semantic Web. [Scripting News] 5:21:52 PM    comment []

They Buy all the Albums, but Trade Concert Bootlegs [New York Times: Technology] 5:19:50 PM    comment []

I edited the Pew Internet Report story I did earlier today, making the urls work and the imgs include properly. 5:16:39 PM    comment []

Making It: Love and success at America's finest universities. By David Brooks, The Weekly Standard. This is the point at which us fogies are supposed to lament the decline in courtship. Indeed, I was out drinking late one night with a group of students, and a woman to my left mentioned that she would never have a serious relationship with someone she wouldn't consider marrying. That sounds traditional, I said to her. She responded, I didn't say I wouldn't f--- anyone I wouldn't consider marrying. . . . Now the first thing to be said about this state of affairs is that every recent survey of youth sexual activity I've seen over the past several years reveals that young people are having less sex than their predecessors were 10 and 20 years ago. Young women may talk more baldly about sex, but it is simply not true that they are more promiscuous or casual about it. Instead, their conversational style is a reflection of the amazing self-confidence of the women on these campuses. The single most striking--if hard to define--difference between college campuses today and college campuses 20 years ago is in the nature and character of the female students. They are not only self-confident socially. They are self-confident academically, athletically, organizationally, and in every other way. . . . Because many bright college students don't have a clue about the incredible variety of career paths that await them. They don't have the vaguest notion as to how real people move from post to post. Some students believe that they face a sharp fork in the road. They can either sell their souls for money and work 80 hours a week at an investment bank, or they can live in spiritually satisfied poverty as an urban nursery school teacher. In reality, of course, the choices between wallet and soul are rarely that stark. Other students operate under the assumption that there are only six professions in the world. There are doctors, lawyers, corporate executives, and so on. They haven't really been introduced to the massive array of unusual jobs that actually exist. As a result they fall into the familiar ruts. In a weird way, the meritocratic system is both too professional and not career-oriented enough. It encourages prudential thinking, and a professional mindset in areas where serendipity and curiosity should rule, but it does not really give students, even the brilliant students at top schools, an accurate picture of the real world of work. These young people are tested and honed from birth, from when they get their Apgar score until graduation, when they get their honors degree. Then the system spits them out into the world when they are in their twenties, and suddenly there is nothing--just a few desperate years as they search for some satisfying spot in the universe. 1:38:50 PM    comment []

Women Publish From Prison: Victim Advocates Question Book Sales, by Dwight F. Blint, Hartford Courant. "Couldn't Keep It To Myself," is a series of autobiographical stories written by 10 women at the Janet S. York Correctional Institution in Niantic who were participants in [Wally] Lamb's writing workshop. The book details the women's lives and the events that led to their incarceration. It is scheduled for release at the end of the month. It is also raising concerns among victims' rights advocates who question whether Lamb, who volunteers at the prison, and the women, should be allowed to profit from its publication. 1:38:45 PM    comment []

Pew Internet Report: Modest increase in Internet use for campaign 2002: Political Sites Gain, But Major News Sites Still Dominate Read the Full report as a PDF document, or (if the url doesn't break in mail-to-post) browse it online. 12:38:11 PM    comment []

Washington Post editorial: The Tax Cut Trap LET'S SEE IF we have this right. President Bush plans to propose a stimulus plan the centerpiece of which will have little or no stimulative effect. At a time when some people badly could use help, Mr. Bush's tax cut mostly will help those who need it least. And while the president is warning Congress to restrain its spending on basics such as education and aid to the poor, the tax cuts will further inflate his growing budget deficit. No wonder that Mr. Bush, even before officially unveiling the plan tomorrow, waved his magic "class warfare" amulet, seeking to obscure the obvious -- another tax cut for the rich -- by preemptively accusing his accusers. 6:41:19 AM    comment []

Andrew Orlowski has a story about Microsoft's cellphone. [Scripting News] 6:38:03 AM    comment []

Between A (VVS) Rock And A Hard Place - Hip Hop Sells Out. Plastic::Music::Music:Hiphop: " The Nation offers readers a taste of how hip hop's cognoscenti look at trends in rap music." [Plastic: Most Recent] 6:36:59 AM    comment []

There were none The only African American Republican in Congress is headed home. Can the GOP afford the loss of J. C. Watts? in The Washington Post Magazine. 6:33:09 AM    comment []

Vaporware 2002: Tech up in Smoke?. In an unusual turn, three products out of the 10 to receive the Wired News 2002 Vaporware Award also appeared on last year's list. Tech-hungry readers wonder: Why can't these developers get it together? [Wired News] See also mentions last month at A blog doesn't need a clever name, and last week. 6:31:03 AM    comment []