Here is an edited excerpt (without the footnotes) from our latest paper “Misappropriation and The Old Man and the Sea,” which we shall be presenting at the Cuban Research Institute at FIU this Friday: Continue reading
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The young man and the sea
The Gulf Stream–an oil painting by Homer Winslow–depicts a solitary man in a small fishing boat, surrounded by sharks and struggling against the waves of the sea. But at a deeper level, what is it ‘really’ about? According to one art historian (Albert Ten Eyck Gardner), this painting portrays “a particularly enigmatic and tantalizing episode, a marine puzzle that floats forever in a region of unsolved mysteries.” In any case, we wonder if Ernest Hemingway was aware of this painting when he wrote his masterpiece “The Old Man and the Sea”?
23 Feb. 1945
On this day 70 years ago, Joe Rosenthal took this famous photograph during the historic Battle of Iwo Jima. So, is this picture still under copyright?
Posted in History, Law, Questions Rarely Asked
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“Do not cite or circulate”
That is the title of this 13-page paper by Lee Ann Fennell, a law professor at the University of Chicago. Her short essay questions why law professors often attach formulations such as ‘Do Not Cite or Circulate’ to their drafts or works in progress. After all, what’s the penalty for citing or circulating a draft paper? (Hat tip to the amazing Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution.)
Posted in Academia, Questions Rarely Asked
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Black History Year
In place of “Black History Month”, we propose declaring all twelve months of the year 2015 “Black History Year“, for the Thirteenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution–the historic amendment that abolishes slavery and indentured servitude–was formally ratified 150 years ago on 6 December 1865. In addition, check out the map below (via Kevin Levin of Civil War Memory), which shows that Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. were the last countries in the Americas to abolish slavery. Continue reading
Te echamos de menos … (We miss you …)
The artist Chespirito would have been 76 years young today …
Why do people still use LinkedIn?
Check out this critique of LinkedIn from an academic’s perspective. (One of the comments at the link sums up our assessment of LinkedIn to a tee: “The loathing I feel for LinkedIn almost defies words. The amount of spam I get from them — invitation to connect after invitation to connect — is remarkable, and their customer service is nonexistent. Every time I try to complain, they tell me I cannot stop invites from arriving as long as I have an account. Fair enough — but I haven’t had an account for years…“) In a word, LinkedIn is the MySpace of the business world, so why does such a crappy site like LinkedIn still exist?
Theatre of the absurd (Arizona State edition)
Check out Justin Wolfers’s most recent essay “How Arizona State Reinvented Free-Throw Distraction.” Here is an excerpt (edited by us for clarity): Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Probability, Questions Rarely Asked, Sports
Tagged Arizona State, Curtain of Distraction, Free Throws
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prior probability 