“John complains”:http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/001872.html that the version of the two-envelope paradox I give is not theologically accurate. I was trying to come up with a more theologically accurate one, but I couldn’t really. Still, the following is intended to be a little closer to theological reality.
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The “papers blog”:http://opp.weatherson.org is published, featuring “a paper”:http://faculty.smu.edu/bthompso/iswi.pdf, “an obituary”:http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/maynardsmithobit.htm and “a dissertation”:http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emschroed/Slaves%20of%20the%20Passions.pdf.

The “papers blog”:http://opp.weatherson.org is published, featuring “a paper”:http://faculty.smu.edu/bthompso/iswi.pdf, “an obituary”:http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/maynardsmithobit.htm and “a dissertation”:http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emschroed/Slaves%20of%20the%20Passions.pdf.

a philosopher at Wyoming, has a blog: “Close Range”:http://rationalhunter.typepad.com/close_range/ that already has several good posts on it, and some lively discussions. Thanks to “Language Log”:http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000919.html for the link.

So me and “The Waifs”:http://www.thewaifs.com/tourdates.htm are going to be in the Bay Area this weekend, me to attend “FEW”:http://socrates.berkeley.edu/%7Efitelson/few/, they to play a couple of shows.

At first I planned to go to their Saturday show, then I found out it’s part of a “big outdoor festival”:http://www.kfog.com/Events/kaboom/2004/schedule.asp and I’d have to blow off a paper or two to go see them. Well that sounded like an easy decision, so I looked at the “FEW schedule”:http://socrates.berkeley.edu/%7Efitelson/few/schedule.html to see whose I’d be missing. Mine. D’ho!

So I started thinking about their Sunday show. It’s an 8 o’clock kick-off and I don’t have to be on a plane until 11.15, but I’m on a flight out of Oakland and I don’t really think I could make it. Not even with a $60 cab ride from the Regency Center to Oakland. And it isn’t exactly obvious what I would do with my bags during the show. Can you check a weekend’s worth of luggage at the door of a concert?

So near and yet so far.

Sometimes it’s better to keep up with the literature. I was just reading Richard Hanley’s article “As Good as it Gets: Lewis on Truth in Fiction”:http://www3.oup.co.uk/ajphil/hdb/Volume_82/Issue_01/. (Link is to the subscriber-only AJP page.) And my discussion “here”:http://tar.weatherson.org/archives/000952.html of what to say about phone numbers starting “555” in fictions is rather completely anticipated.

It wasn’t a complete waste to write what I did. I agree with “John Quiggin”:http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/001859.html that it’s worthwhile to try deriving results on one’s ownsome from time to time. But still it’s good form to credit those who beat you to the punch.

I was recently reminded of Karen Bennett’s review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy. I think it’s a very good account of what’s good, and bad, about the pop culture and philosophy series. In light of some of the recent kerfuffles here and at CT about that series, I think it bears rereading.

Brian Leiter has a “nice response”:http://webapp.utexas.edu/blogs/archives/bleiter/001241.html#001241 to an article in the _Village Voice_ on “the job market in the humanities”:http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0417/kamenetz.php. I mostly agree with Brian’s points, though this wouldn’t be a blog if I couldn’t find a few nits to pick.

First though one point Brian is too modest to mention. We know a lot about departments, especially top departments, have done recently on the job market. And in large part this is because of the pressure Brian brought to bear on them to release data on their recent successes (or otherwise) at placing grads in jobs. This is really valuable information for prospective graduate students to have, and Brian deserves thanks I think for getting it out in the open.
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No “papers blog”:http://opp.weatherson.org today because there’s nothing to report.

Tomorrow’s “papers blog”:http://opp.weatherson.org is posted a half hour early because I won’t have time for much blogging tomorrow. After no news today, there’s a bumper crop on tomorrow’s post, led by “Ernie Sosa”:http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Philosophy/Sosa/Archives/00000006.php and “Rich Feldman”:http://www.ling.rochester.edu/~feldman/papers.html.