Announcing my first book, with my style of longform narrative journalism and philosophy. It's about the clash between governing by top-down rules versus discretionary decision-making, in law, in sports, in the household. Pre-order now. @wwnorton wwnorton.com/books/fewer-rul…

The daughter and mother wanted to spend $143,000 in 1991 for that wedding in Father of the Bride. That’s $351,000 in today’s dollars. George Banks is then depicted as the crazy cheap dad.

Parents and college-age students who have been reading all the reporting that we're in a reading and math and learning recession, with rampant AI cheating, should learn from economic recessions. Now is the time to buy low.

Would Peter Singer count as a “scholar activist”?

History lesson, well known to analytic philosophers. The president of Rockefeller University wanted a report on the research of its small humanities unit. The report said a faculty member was researching the meaning of proper names. The President closed the whole program.

Would recommend a quick read of this excelletn little book. Although I like the idea and I think we really must explore it further as we are clogged up with rules and bureaucracy and process which greater discretion might help unlock - I’m really not convinced I trust current elites with greater discretion. I think the idea works in less politicised periods perhaps with more homogeneous less polarised states. The Liberal idea of Rule by Law was intended to reign in tyrannical or arbitrary monarchs. In an increasingly politicised world there may still be a role for this . Also, as with anything that requires change teansitional issues are importsnt. You cannot just change the system and expect better people to emerge to wield the discretion overnight. @ProfBarryLam @UnderSneege @RollingHedge

Imagine claiming for real estate what people claim for college. "Buying that house is not worth it, it costs $200,000 and you have to take $100,000 in debt." The median debt for college is $35,000 and average ROI over a lifetime is >$500000

It just occurred to me that young people might not know what a dial tone sounds like.

College students & their parents: "There aren't going to be any jobs left for me in the future." Me: We've had a chronic shortage of physicians, engineers, STEM teachers, skilled trades, aviation and maritime workers. Them: I don't mean those jobs.

This is a pan-Asian adaptation of King Lear staged in Singapore in 1997. King Lear is, famously, a Celtic monarch.

I want to normalize saying complimentary things after “It’s not personal, but…” “It’s not personal, but your writing is amongst the best I’ve read.”

Amongst many other reasons, maybe the young-uns aren’t drinking and screwing because the rent is too damn high and they’re still living with their parents.

Besides for doctors, veterinarians, engineers, scientists, nurses, pharmacists, accountants, lawyers, judges, architects, quantitative analysts, teachers, military officers, forestry and land management, historians and museum archivists, what is the practical value of college?