prior probability

In addition to a plethora of scholarly papers and sundry blog posts, I am reading the following three books:

1. Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality by David Edmonds. (I am not a big fan of Derek Parfit or his work, but I just ordered a copy of this book on the strength of this book review.)

2. Adam Smith as Student and Professor by W. R. Scott. (This tome was published in 1937 and is the best book on Adam Smith that I have read thus far.)

3. The Physiocrats and the World of the Enlightenment by Liana Vardi. (I am reading this work to learn more about François Quesnay; the book cover is pictured below).

While I was out of town I proofread and made substantial revisions to both of my Adam Smith works-in-progress: Die Adam Smith Probleme and The Balliol College Conspiracy. Enjoy!

What is the opposite of Death by PowerPoint? The tweet pictured below by Gokul Rajaram, which is worth clicking on and reading in full, describes former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s unconventional but thought-provoking approach to PowerPoint: eliminate the use of words!

Today marks the end of my travels … for now! I will be visiting the University of Glasgow in Scotland (the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world) and la Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD) in Chile in a few weeks!

On this day (8 May) in 1794, the father of modern chemistry Antoine Lavoisier, along with 27 co-defendants, are tried, convicted, and put to death by a revolutionary tribunal in Paris. According to a popular legend, the appeal to spare the French chemist’s life so that he could continue his experiments was cut short by the judge in his case, Jean-Baptiste Coffinhal: “The Republic needs neither scholars nor chemists; the course of justice cannot be delayed.” (The judge himself would be executed less than three months later.)

I heard this beautiful ballad–the song “Smile” by Nigerian artist Wizkid–for the first time somewhere in Sin City. Thanks Shazam!

I met the love of my life on the 64th anniversary of Paris Liberation Day (25 August 2009; my birthday!), and today, Cinco de Mayo, is our wedding anniversary! Alas, I don’t have a picture from that fateful day, so this one from ten years later will have to do.