Matt Yglesias has discovered and aptly critiqued Jennifer Government, discussed briefly by my brother here and by PinkDreamPoppies here.

As I have said before, Barry's first novel, Syrup, is far superior, if less political.

Some time ago Angus Dwyer and others (and I) discussed the merits and demerits of letting the U.S. Supreme Court pick the lower judges who would carry out its work. Maybe Dwyer, Mashaw, and others already knew this, but I thought I should add what I recently discovered-- Magistrate judges (once called only "magistrates", but now granted judge-dom) are selected by the federal district court judges whose work they do. So if anybody's serious about this proposal, it would probably pay to see how well the magistrate judge system works out (I have no idea).

Some time ago John Quiggin posted time-management tips on Crooked Timber. Now Tyler Cowen replies, and I unsurprised by their energy. I was, however, shocked by #5:

5. Blogging builds up good work habits; the deadline is always "now."

Further tips roll in (see below). Jacob Levy can be spotted commenting at Political Arguments about cultural conservatism and at Crooked Timber about Israel.

Immediately below, co-blogger Waddling Thunder wonders if he would be able to tell bologna from foie gras, or whether he would give in to the Milgramish pressures of culinary conformity. He doubts his own confidence, but if experience is a guide, he clearly sells himself short.

I remind readers of his dissenting Il Mulino opinion from earlier this summer:

I'm relatively comfortable being the odd man out at a table. Long years playing the devil's advocate with my European friends has made sure of that. It's not that I disdain people's disagreements - if friends I respect think I'm wrong, that's a clear signal that I should think again. Once I do that though, I've never been too worried about being alone. ... (more)

I don't watch much reality TV, but as I was flipping channels last night, I ran into something called "My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss". The premise, to put it briefly, is that 12 "high flying" businesspeople are meant to compete for a job with a billionaire tycoon - except that the tycoon is fake.

In any case, the show started by feeding the "lucky" contestants five dollar sparkling wine and "foie gras" made of food processed bologna and cream cheese. The unsuspecting stars of the show couldn't contain themselves - "the liver just melts in my mouth", one noted, and another couldn't stop talking about how wonderful the aged champagne was.

That set me thinking. Given all my self inflated knowledge about food, would I have known? I sure hope so. I hope that the instant I put the bologna in my mouth I would have realized that there was no way it was any kind of foie, much less gras. But standing in a mansion, with people nodding happily around you, and a supposed billionaire in evidence, maybe I too would have been tricked. It's unsettling, to say the least.

Those of us who are still in Jacob-Levy withdrawal since his departure from the Conspiracy can get our fix by reading the comments to Belle Waring's I-heart-Libertarianism post (which I've commented on here). Thus far his thoughts appear three times, discussing the ramifications of a new libertarian-liberal realignment.

Waddling Thunder and Amber Taylor plot a new subway. I have some additions:

1: There should not only be maps in the stations, but there should be some maps for those people who have already gone past the turnstiles. When you're transferring at a station, it shouldn't be necessary to go out and pay again just to figure out where you're going.

2: There should be bathrooms, even if dirty and crowded, they would go a long way to discouraging people from peeing on the platform. You could make them cost a quarter if you wanted.

3: The subway system should warn passengers if what it calls a "transfer" between lines is actually a several block walk in an underground tunnel. Two stations don't become any closer to one another just because one gives them the same name and encloses them. Chatelet-Les Halles, I'm thinking of you with particularly bitter rage.

4: Major arteries of the subway system should run 24-hours, even if somewhat infrequently. Lingering on a lady's doorstep for an un-predicted hours-long goodnight kiss shouldn't cause one to miss one's train.

My cab driver, on the way home from the train station:

Him: Are you Jewish?
Me: Nope.
Him: You look Jewish. With the hat on.
Me: (laughs).
Him: But that's not a bad thing to be. Christians, Jews, and Muslims are
all the same, really.