With the Mac turning 40, a question going around is: What was your first Mac? Mine was … the first Mac, in all its 128k glory. Bought (with a bank loan arranged by my mom, who worked in a bank) in early 1985. I wrote my dissertation on it; everything I have ever published was written on a Mac.
Why don’t Arsenal win every game 5-0? It seems such an obvious solution to their problems. ⚽️
Noteworthy, I think, that neither this Becca Rothfield review of The Geography of the Imagination nor John Jeremiah Sullivan’s introduction to the new edition give you any real sense of what it’s like to read Guy Davenport. Nothing does that except … reading Guy Davenport.
In which I explain what I did on the first day of a new class – and then go on a wild-eyed rant against Spotify.
Systematic theology? I don’t need no stinkin' systematic theology – I have Joe Mangina’s “Figural Graffiti,” in forty-nine rhymed couplets. Seriously, when people ask me what my theology is, I’ll show them this.
This $100 million gift to Spelman College ought to be praised to the skies. The megarich need to direct their money towards institutions that can seriously benefit from it. Giving money to Harvard is like giving money to Microsoft.
John Gruber – aka @gruber – on a theme I discussed yesterday, the difference between Apple’s view of the Mac platform versus iOS/iPad: “Developer uncertainty regarding the viability of selling Mac software is the last thing needed for a platform that is already facing a dearth of new original native software. Apple doesn’t have to make a platform-destructive money-grab policy change to ruin the Mac. They can ruin it simply by planting the seed of doubt that they might.”
Robin Sloan says of me, “Alan can make anything sound terrific, when he loves it,” which is one of the best things anyone has ever said about me. I’m not even sure it’s a compliment, but I like it anyway. (And I hope Robin reads Cahokia Jazz, which really is wonderful.)
What Dracula is
If, as some think, deepfakes will become undetectable, that just might force a long-overdue reckoning with our reliance on online “information” and “evidence.”
I added some links, fixed some bad links, and generally updated things at my home page.
I think DHH is right about Apple.
Lazy day.
Just discovered that Terrence Malick, Marilynne Robinson, and Joni Mitchell were all born in November 1943.
Something I often think, prompted tonight by seeing Jamal Murray (6'4") standing next to Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid (both 7'0"): If you’re an NBA guard, you spend your working life around people who make you look tiny, but then everywhere else you’re an unusually large person. The contrast must be weird.
Damon K: “A positive, progressive change to this system benefiting more people is not going to come from the top - that is what these latest facts and figures illustrate above all. It is up to the rest of us to find a way to make streaming technology work for the majority of musicians. At UMAW, we have been developing a plan to bring more streaming income to more recording musicians, and we will be going public with details very soon. Support us when we do. And join us if you can!”
The mysterious Roman dodecahedra.
A wonderful collection of Milton Glaser book covers.
Listening to the legendary Bill Evans Trio Village Vanguard sessions. Forty-five years later, I got to hear Motian play with Bill Frisell and Ron Carter a few blocks from the Vanguard at the Blue Note. They were wonderful. 🎵
Blizzard conditions in Waco
I wrote a bit about what I’m teaching this term and how it will affect my blogging.