I blame VH1 for the resurgence of meaningless lists over the past decade, since they started with the 100 Greatest Bands of All Time.  (None was more self-serving and ridiculous than Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, which had “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones at no. 1 and [...]

At the farmer’s market down the block every Saturday, I always wonder why, in the land of $1.00/lb heirloom tomatoes and $3.50 10-lb bags of Valencia oranges, you can’t find avocadoes for less than $1 each.  It’s California!  Trader Joe’s in Manhattan has (or had) a “guacamole kit” for $2.99 that contained 2 avocadoes, a [...]

I think the financial crisis has made me into a total structuralist.  A financial system that, since decoupling the dollar from gold in the 70s, increasingly dealt with abstractions could only come toppling down just the way it is.  I don’t think any other outcome was possible.  (And the idea of gold being some objective [...]