prior probability

Below are some college courses that have caught my attention:

1. English 183ts. Taylor Swift and Her World (Harvard)

2. Forbidden Courses (Austin)

3. Jurisprudence (Chicago)

In honor of Gary Larson‘s 74th birthday, which was two days ago (14 August), see below:

I will be taking the day off, for today (the 15th of August) Catholics around the world celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (see here or here), and in Mexico, our Lady Mary or the “Virgen of Guadalupe” is also celebrated every December 12.

In addition to reading Peter L. Bernstein’s Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk (the cover of which is pictured below), now that I’m back home I am preparing a book proposal for Palgrave Macmillan and writing up a new paper on a possible connection between an anonymous pamphlet from 1763 titled Richesses de l’etat and Adam Smith’s magnum opus–specifically, his maxims of taxation in Book 5, chapter 2 of The Wealth of Nations. But this is just a small sample of my scholarly sabbatical activities, I will post further updates soon.

This Spanish courtyard in Winter Park is one of my favorite places in Central Florida. It’s just a few minutes from my abode, and I often like do my reading and writing there in the morning hours when it is mostly empty.

See also this report by Whitney Afonso: “Local sales tax laws: state by state details“.

I am attending the 100th meeting of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) in Washington, DC, and it’s been a busy whirlwind weekend for me. Among other things, I presented a paper on business ethics, The Friedman Doctrine Revisited; introduced a work-in-progress (with Justin Evans) about the possibility of property rights in Low Earth Orbit, Outer Space Problems; and was a finalist at the Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher Competition.

1. Yup, AI is basically just a homework-cheating machine (Katie Notopoulos, Business Insider)

2. Professors want to ‘ChatGPT-proof’ assignments, and are returning to paper exams and requesting editing history to curb AI cheating (Aaron Mok, Associated Press)

3. Hug the robot? AI and the humanities (Joel Miller)

4. The AI Rights licensing platform for creators (waitlist)

5.

Earlier this week, federal judge Amit P. Mehta posted a 286-page opinion explaining why Google violated federal antitrust law to maintain an illegal monopoly in the online search market. I hate to be that guy, but the court’s book-length opinion is a purely symbolic one. In fact, I will not even bother to read it. Why? Because Judge Mehta does not specify what penalty, if any, should be imposed on Google for its supposed antitrust violations. (See here, for example, or the YouTube clip below.) In any case, I expect the decision to be overruled on appeal.