Insights du Jour - 2015-02-23

[J.
Jonah

  • Good for J.K. Simmons, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor last night. Nice to see someone from my demographic (bald 60-something white guys) win something.

    Like many Oscars, I see this as really an acknowledgment that Oscar failed to honor him for his work as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man (2002).

  • In other Oscar-related news, Monica Guzman did not care for The Imitation Game.

    Instead of an inventor, it shows a stereotype. Instead of a machine, it shows an obsession. And instead of inspiring us to follow in the footsteps of a person who shaped technology, the film inspires us only to get out of the way of the next genius who can.

    Monica is (like my kids) a graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School of Dover, New Hampshire. She's turned into a perceptive and successful journalist. Good for her. (Unfortunately, her take on "Network Neutrality" is dreadful, but you can't have everything.)

  • A recent NYT op-ed discusses "The Government’s Bad Diet Advice (the URL gives a possible alternate title: "When the Government Tells You What to Eat").

    It's short, and depressing for those of us who took that advice seriously for way too long. But I can't improve on Philip Greenspun's summary: "What happens when you combine the world's two most arrogant organizations?". Those being? The US Government and Harvard University.

    Fun fact: Phil's blog is hosted by Harvard Law School.

  • Does Obama love America? I think this guy has his finger on the truth:

    (Need an explanation? Here you go.)


Last Modified 2019-01-09 5:11 AM EDT