Daily Office: Friday
¶ Matins: “Is this just the beginning of a depression?” asks Felix Salmon, in response to the very bearish forecast of Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg. “I’m not optimistic.” (But keep reading, at Portico)
¶ Lauds: A self-portrait by Antony van Dyck, one of the deluxiest Old Masters, sold at auction for a record-breaking price. The auction overall, however, was hardly a success. (Bloomberg; via Arts Journal)
¶ Prime: Jeffrey Pfeffer attributes the “too big to fail” phenomenon to lax enforcement of antitrust laws.
The Editor reminds us that, of all the subjects that he studied in law school, antitrust was the most slippery, its principles easily bent to reach whatever outcome the government or the courts desired. We subscribe to Mr Pfeffer’s dislike of very large business entities (we don’t even like merely big ones), but we don’t look to antitrust law for a solution. (The Corner Office)
¶ Tierce: New! A revised deluge hypothesis has been posited for the natural history of the Mediterranean Sea: Why, only 5.6 million years ago… Why is it that the fun stuff like dinosaurs and such happened long before we were around to take notes? Is it a mad desire to participate in geo-catastrophic events that draws us to the deluge hypothesis of Black Sea flooding? (New Scientist)
¶ Sext: At McSweeney’s, “A Former Investment Banker Analyst Falls Back on Plan B,” by Helen Coster. Hint: that would be law school. (via Felix Salmon)
¶ Nones: Responding to violent protests, India will divide the state of Andhra Pradesh in two, creating the new state of Telangana. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh’s capital, will probably go Telangana. The BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder notes concern that the creation of Telangana will open a Pandora’s box of clamoring for further subdivisions within India. In 2000, however, three new states were carved from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar. (BBC News)
¶ Vespers: More from Christopher Tayler, this time from a perch at LRB: a reconsideration of Paul Auster. It’s the autobiographical material that’s winning. A guest room in some vaguely hostile household would definitely be the ideal environment for appreciating early Auster.
¶ Compline: The Awl‘s Abe Sauer went out to visit gay activist Zack P— in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and discovered that Zack is not having an easy time being out there. Overwhelmed by the unfairness of life, Mr Sauer thought of Levi Johnston with outrage.