Re: Insight Into My Character?

1

You're alright.


Posted by: Isle of Toads | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 5:07 AM
horizontal rule
2

If you are fond of a book, say, "I'll just slip this into my bag when no one is looking."


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:05 AM
horizontal rule
3

[redacted]


Posted by: [redacted] | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:08 AM
horizontal rule
4

Epictetus or Augustine?


Posted by: Zadfrack | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:11 AM
horizontal rule
5

Information wants to be free.


Posted by: cw | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:17 AM
horizontal rule
6

If you are fond of a book, steal it! For then when you spill coffee on it at two AM, you will not be upset.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:17 AM
horizontal rule
7

re. 4: Or Erasmus?


Posted by: JWP | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:19 AM
horizontal rule
8

Loeb classics were always getting stolen-- they had a high resale/return value

And they're small, practically begging to be stolen.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:31 AM
horizontal rule
9

epictetus. and I have to cop to having stolen a few loebs from the columbia classics library, but that was just to read, not to sell...


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:34 AM
horizontal rule
10

I have only ever shoplifted two books (in a single incident): Hegemony or Survival by Chomsky and The Foundations of Arithmetic by Frege.


Posted by: Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:37 AM
horizontal rule
11

Given the subject matter, the appropriate question is were you in control of your kleptomaniacal desires?


Posted by: Matt F | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:40 AM
horizontal rule
12

I haven't shoplifted anything since I was little and I stole a pack of gum. My dad drove me back to the store and made me apologize to the store manager.

I think it was Tidal Wave.


Posted by: Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:41 AM
horizontal rule
13

Ogged, it sounds like you might have something you'd like to apologize for.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:52 AM
horizontal rule
14

I was officially declared a juvenile delinquent by the judge who oversaw the Janklow trial. My shoplifting days are long gone, but I was quite the artful dodger once upon a time.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:57 AM
horizontal rule
15

Ogged, it sounds like you might have something you'd like to apologize for.

No, sorry, just using my imagination.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:01 AM
horizontal rule
16

god, adam; I though I had stolen something nerdy, but you just pwned me with the Frege thing.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:07 AM
horizontal rule
17

I stole condoms - only because I was too embarrassed to buy them outright.

Later I found out our frat had a "Morality Chairman" who would happily sell me such items. Much better.


Posted by: Tripp | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:26 AM
horizontal rule
18

I though I had stolen something nerdy

I stole the box set to the Gamma World RPG. (And umpty-ump other RPG-related items.)


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:31 AM
horizontal rule
19

Aside from copious amounts of digital media and a coaster from a bar (once), I've never shoplifted/stolen anything. Am I missing out? I can start now if necessary.


Posted by: Tarrou | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:34 AM
horizontal rule
20

No, Chopper, stealing the Gamma World RPG is geeky, not nerdy.


Posted by: Zadfrack | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:43 AM
horizontal rule
21

Wait! I thought of something. I once snuck my own 6-pack of beer into a super-crowded shi-shi SoHo lounge with a friend. What we paid for the whole 6-pack would have barely covered one beer, with tip. No one even noticed.

That's not really shoplifting, though. Probably just against the house rules.


Posted by: Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:44 AM
horizontal rule
22

Two cassette-sized speakers and a splicing dongle so I could play music from my Walkman in stereo?


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:45 AM
horizontal rule
23

Are you still a thief, Chopper?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:46 AM
horizontal rule
24

A further, humiliating expansion on 22: I thought that having the capabilities that such a technological setup would provide would win me cool points in the Theatre Tech crowd.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:47 AM
horizontal rule
25

23: No. Being declared a JD and having my father lose all trust in me for a few years kinda knocked it out of me. Then I grew some pride.

(mp3s don't count, right?)


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:49 AM
horizontal rule
26

Rehabilitation!


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:57 AM
horizontal rule
27

I thought that having the capabilities that such a technological setup would provide would win me cool points in the Theatre Tech crowd.

We're a hard bunch to win over.


Posted by: Matt F | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:58 AM
horizontal rule
28

I have some library books I acquired as a child that never made it back to the library. I don't know if this is actually stealing, because I wasn't intending to keep them when I took them out, but I'm certainly liable for conversion.

(A couple of years ago I had occasion to be back in my high school library, and picked up a book I'd taken out more than fifteen years ago. No one had taken it out since. So I console myself that probably no one would have read the ones I never returned.)


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:59 AM
horizontal rule
29

I'm in the same library book boat as LB, regarding a german, complete edition of Lichtenberg's Waste Books. I can't even read them very well.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 9:41 AM
horizontal rule
30

Shoplifted some food a couple of times, long ago, because I had the wacky impulse to have some that week. Never shoplifted a book; instead, had problems with vast numbers of free ones always being available while working in NYC publishing.


Posted by: Gary Farber | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 11:58 AM
horizontal rule
31

"Things in our control are... desire...."

Didn't this come up before?


Posted by: Gary Farber | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 12:04 PM
horizontal rule
32

Who's Afraud if Philosophy by Derrida, several years ago. I rationalized it because it was the campus bookstore, and so I was really just extending my scholarship a bit. Derrida's not half as nerdy as Frege, though. In fact, it's difficult to think of what is more nerdy than Frege.

(mp3s don't count, right?)

mp3s don't count.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 12:52 PM
horizontal rule
33

Who's Afraud if Philosophy

I really hope that was unintentional, but that would be too good to be true.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 1:09 PM
horizontal rule
34

unintentional; i plainly mixed my "i" and "o" buttons, which are right next to each other. See, it's not just that I'm a bad speller; I'm a bad typist.

It is funny, though.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 1:42 PM
horizontal rule
35

Joe D.,

I now completely disregard the signs at movie theatres telling me that outside food is not allowed. There are a couple of local places that get movies just before the DVD where I'll still buy concessions.

Davis Square comes to mind. The tickets are cheap. There's real butter on the popcorn, and the prices aren't absolutely outrageous.


Posted by: bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 1:50 PM
horizontal rule
36

o, u, and i are part uf an eqiovalence class fir Mochael.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 2:08 PM
horizontal rule
37

bin wulfsin.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 2:40 PM
horizontal rule
38

Ah bin wulfsin oll ovur toun. Ah thunk ot wis sumthan ah et.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 2:52 PM
horizontal rule
39

Derrida's not half as nerdy as Frege, though.

Get out. Where I'm from, Frege is a must-read, perfectly respectable, and Derrida is some funny guy they think about over in the English department.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:34 PM
horizontal rule
40

Naw, it's likely that a reasonably well-educated person on the train will have heard of Derrida, much less likely they've heard of Frege.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:38 PM
horizontal rule
41

So much the worse for trainriders! (I'm at least half-kidding.)


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:45 PM
horizontal rule
42

But that's just because Derrida is much more recent than Frege. How long has it been since Derrida's best-known works were published, after all? Not that long. I bet that if you asked a bunch of people in the 1920s, you'd find many more knew who Frege was than Derrida.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:48 PM
horizontal rule
43

Aye. Derrida is for comp lit dilettantes. Frege is for serious thinkers.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:48 PM
horizontal rule
44

I suspect, also, that Derrida's being born in the 1930s might have something to do with that, b-wo.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:49 PM
horizontal rule
45

Oh, surely not.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:52 PM
horizontal rule
46

My dad drove me back to the store and made me apologize to the store manager.

I had this same experience at about age 5 with a roll of LifeSavers. Cured me of stealing until the summer after the fifth grade when I stole a cassette from KMart. '77 by the Talking Heads. I had never heard of them at the time but the band name was so strange to me that I felt I had to have it. At that young age, the music was even stranger, though I fell in love with Psycho Killer. It was pretty much my first foray outside of KISS-Aerosmith territory.

Didn't return to my thieving ways until the interwebs came along.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 3:57 PM
horizontal rule
47

Frege is a must-read

Really? What I was thinking is that not many people would be interested in Frege unless they're specifically studying the philosophy of math or logic. Even other philosophers I imagined, such as bioethicists, likely wouldn't have read him. Derrida, as was pointed out, has a much wider audience. Of course, you may say that there is something flawed with my reasoning that less popular = more nerdy.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 4:17 PM
horizontal rule
48

Derrida is some funny guy they think about over in the English department.

This is, amusingly, one of the pet peeves of the professor I studied Derrida with. I say amusingly because of how he expressed it. He was complaining about some paper a professor in comp lit gave on Derrida, and said something like, "I don't try to teach chemsitry. Why? Because I don't know anything about it. Why are they trying to teach Derrida? They don't know anything about that."

To that one could probably mount some Protagoras-like reply, but the paper in question was bad enough to let it pass.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 4:24 PM
horizontal rule
49

Um, is the non-italicized portion of 39 supposed to provide evidence against (what is claimed in) the italicized portion? Because it sure as heck does not.


Posted by: Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 4:51 PM
horizontal rule
50

frege is totally a must read. I love frege.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 7:44 PM
horizontal rule
51

I really appreciated being forced to read Husserl before Frege. The contrast only makes you appreciate Frege more.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 8:25 PM
horizontal rule
52

Sinn und Bedeutung 4EVA


Posted by: Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 9:03 PM
horizontal rule
53

I had a job whose duties included swiping the mailing label pouches from the Fed Ex box near the building entrance.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 9:37 PM
horizontal rule
54

You were paid for this in dollars, or pickled puppy snouts?


Posted by: Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 9:54 PM
horizontal rule
55

It was at a litigation support company, actually.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 10:20 PM
horizontal rule
56

Re: "Davis Square comes to mind. The tickets are cheap. There's real butter on the popcorn, and the prices aren't absolutely outrageous."

A million dollars for the canyon-o-corn seems to me to be outrageous. So does one cent for the thimble-o-corn...


Posted by: Brad DeLong | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 11:13 PM
horizontal rule
57

It was at a litigation support company, actually.

Is this code for "snouts"?


Posted by: Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 09- 7-05 11:23 PM
horizontal rule
58

According to the terms of the confidentiality agreement required of all employees of that company, I am not at liberty to divulge such information.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 12:38 AM
horizontal rule
59

my capsule review of Frege's Begriffsschriff: gosh this could use a few more jokes.


Posted by: dsquared | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 1:33 AM
horizontal rule
60

That's not bad, dsquared, but some people do this thing called "shorter such-and-such," where they summarize a piece in a way that's pithy, humorous, and ever so slightly uncharitable. It's very funny.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 8:52 AM
horizontal rule
61

Shorter ogged: I'm a nitpicking neovirgin.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 10:17 AM
horizontal rule
62

pithy, humor, and ever slightly uncharitable. 4 stars Chopper!


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 12:09 PM
horizontal rule
63

Can I get a pwn?


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 2:40 PM
horizontal rule
64

even shorter ogged: I might be gay.


Posted by: peter snees | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:44 PM
horizontal rule
65

Is it time to conclude that no one got the joke in 60?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:46 PM
horizontal rule
66

um, yeah, i think we did. nice day today, wasn't it?


Posted by: peter snees | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:47 PM
horizontal rule
67

I'm not convinced.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:49 PM
horizontal rule
68

seriously, there was no end of laughter. and by the way, that granny at the pool, she totally dug you.


Posted by: peter snees | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:55 PM
horizontal rule
69

I assumed it was a Frege-joke, but I truly don't get it.


Posted by: Sam K | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:56 PM
horizontal rule
70

Is it time to conclude that ogged, when confonted with his own inadequacies, will attempt to claim that he was merely engaging in humor, not unlike a lad woefully out of his league attempting to hit on the woman who thinks of him as just a friend?


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:56 PM
horizontal rule
71

The joke, my frenemies, is that dsquared is the originator of the "shorter such-and-such" method.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 3:59 PM
horizontal rule
72

Oh man, you got us.


Posted by: Sam K | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 4:01 PM
horizontal rule
73

god, that's hysterical. it's, like, metablogian humor. somebody get the comedy channel on the blower NOW!


Posted by: peter snees | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 4:01 PM
horizontal rule
74

Nah, I don't think it's quite comedy channel material, but I knew you'd like, pete.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 4:03 PM
horizontal rule
75

to quote a great line from the simpsons, i kid because i love -- at the mineshaft


Posted by: peter snees | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 4:05 PM
horizontal rule
76

I don't see how 71 affects 61 and 70.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 4:08 PM
horizontal rule
77

or 64, for that matter. what about 64? hey, gil wants to know about 64!


Posted by: peter snees | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 4:10 PM
horizontal rule
78

sorry, but i bet apo got that, which would make one more than those who got ogged's foray into "humor"


Posted by: peter snees | Link to this comment | 09- 8-05 4:11 PM
horizontal rule