e Ends (196) // (Steven Hayward)

* John Yoo is currently in Italy– once-–for yet another academic junket. He sends the following story via email from Rome:

Just now, I was in the Lufthansa lounge at Munich airport while on my way from Munich to Rome. A tall, German-looking man appears.

Q. Are you John Yoo?

John: Yes.

Q. I listen to your podcast!

John: Really? Is that Germany?

Q: No! Finland!

John: What??? How?? ?

Q: I have lived in America. We love Lucretia!! !

John: Do you know who she is?

Q: She must be a character, but it’s not true. I feel sorry for Steve.

John concludes that “you can’t make it up!”

* What a complete buzzkill for a otherwise pleasant weekend!

Manuscript treasure chest may provide new understanding of Hegel

A biographer who was researching Hegel, the German philosopher, discovered a huge treasure trove of lectures that were previously unknown. This could change the perception of Hegel as one of the most important figures in modern western philosophy.

Klaus Vieweg found more than 4,000 pages notes on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s lectures in the library of the archdioceses of Munich and Freising. . .

He stated that a quick reading of the notes had led to a new understanding of how Hegel developed his influential ideas on aesthetics and philosophy around beauty, and how he used Shakespeare’s plays as a tool to help him develop his ideas.

Thank you, I think I’ll pass.

* They’re only trolling us, c’mon man.

The Freudian Origins Of Facebook

Freud’s bizarre theories about sex are popular today. He has had a huge influence on scholarship, public thinking. . .

In fact, it turns out that Facebook was Peter Thiel’s fault.

Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal and early investor at Facebook, said that he learned from Rene Girard how social media can be powerful.

Thiel stated in a New York Times article that he gave Facebook its first $100,000 investment as he saw Professor Girard’s theories being confirmed in the concept of Social Media.

Freud had an influence on Girard, who in turn influenced Thiel. Freud was the inspiration for Facebook.

That certainly seems like solid logic.

* The Harvard Crimson:

There are approximately 1.45 administrators for every academic employee at the University. This ratio rises to 3.09 if you only consider faculty. Harvard has 7,024 full-time administrators total, which is slightly less than the undergraduate population. What do they do?

The article’s sensible headline is “Fire them All.” God Will Know His Own.” I wonder how many Harvard undergraduates will be able to recognize the reference. It’s probably less than 5 percent, I’d guess.