Daily Office: Wednesday
¶ Matins: Among all the dumb things that Wall Street has been up to in the past 25 years, James Surowiecki reminds us of one that I’d forgotten: the folly of going public.
¶ Lauds: Andy Borowitz nails it:
Given that Internet porn is the only fundamentally sound engine of the American economy…
¶ Prime: My friend, George Snyder, author of 1904, has been tinkering with a new blog, No Talking Cure. Yesterday’s imposing entry has stuck with me.
¶ Tierce: Barbara Ehrenreich has said it before, but maybe now people will listen: positive thinking is for dopes.
¶ Nones: Given the size of my — CD collection, I am often asked, “What’s a great disc for a first date?” The question invariably arouses a great blush, because I am so madly tempted to give very bad advice. The “48”. Charles Ives singing “Over There.” (Heard that one, have you?) Dorian Lynskey at the Guardian can’t believe that Debrett’s recommends Sexual Healing.
Oremus…
§ Matins. They used to say, you know, that Wall Street would never invest in Wall Street’s. The traders and money managers would never put up, that is, with an industry as poorly run as their own — if it were there to be bought into. Now we know: as to the long term, they were right.
§ Lauds. Lasciviate oleaginously as Andy quietly raises the stakes, from five million to twenty billion. What? Only one billion? Andy, do I have to do everything?
§ Prime. If you’re reading this blog, you probably know some older, unattached men or women who may be closer to needing institutional assistance than they wish to admit. How do we handle that? How do we get them out of their apartments and into an ambulance? George sifts through the difficulties.
§ Tierce. Like any ideology, positive thinking simplifies life nicely — until it screws it up apocalipstickly.
§ Nones. Dorian recommends Kind of Blue — a great choice for any kind of first date. (For an edgier encounter, I was about to suggest the soundtrack to Blow-Up, but Herbie Hancock’s music has not yet been released on CD and costs a small fortune on vinyl.