Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Scattered Notes
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2004 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
- I am on item 303 of a list of 800+ items. I began working through this list yesterday. I do not think I will finish it today.
I'd say "stay in school, kids," but I think that would mean I should go to grad school. Since my only real postgraduate options are law, academe, and education of mewling brats, I'll instead say "try not to graduate during a recession, kids."
- Dave and Betty are okay. They are beginning to recognize that the flakey bits that suddenly arrive on top of the water each morning are food. Betty goes after them more vigorously than does Dave, but I've seen Dave poop, so I know he is eating.
- I adore Daniel Davies, among other things, for giving me a link to a grumpy definition and history of Antinomianism. Basically, it's the bit that always bothered me about predestination/saved-by-grace theologies: if you're already saved, you can do anything you want and it doesn't matter!
As it turns out, this is the Antinomian Heresy that polite society imputed to Anne Hutchinson, which got her kicked out of Boston, which helped lead to Rhode Island becoming the kind of contrarian state that kept defeating consensus attempts in Congress during the Articles of Confederation (the League of Nations' Mini-Me!). (Robin Einhorn pointed out the no-consensus-for-you! bit in Rhode Island's history when I took American History with her at UC Berkeley.)
I remember the word "Antinomian" mentioned in public school in the same breath as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Mostly I remember an explanation involving salvation by faith and not needing churches. I wish I'd learnt the more interesting heresy of which Hutchinson was accused. But in a sense, I don't want kids to have access to such dangerous intellectual weapons. If I have kids, they won't get to read Max Weber till they're out of my house. I don't want to ever hear, "your authority over me is only traditional! I want a rational-legal framework and I want it NOW!"
- An economic critique of Pound on usury and on interest in general. (Stephen Berkowitz, honors government/econ teacher, Tokay High School, 1997/1998. "What is the price of money?...[let seniors muddle through]...Interest." Magic.) Insurance and risk: steps one can take, and steps one can't take back. More reasons I'll buy Daniel Davies a drink any time he visits SF.
- If I could be as good as Robin Einhorn and Stephen Berkowitz, academe and mewling-brat-babysitting wouldn't be so bad.
- Item #318. The mills of Sumana grind exceeding slow.
