Moving Books

We packed up about 70 boxes of books for the move. All but one box of essential philosophy of language went into storage.

Library Fines

I'm closing out my account with the Regenstein Library, returning all my books and paying my fines. I just found the following letter I received from the library a couple of years ago:

"Hello - I have had the opportunity to look over your fine appeals;
let me say that they were articulate and humorous. My problem
is in September of 2005 you had $72 in fines waived; in January
of 2006, we waived $87 in fines. Now you want us to waive $102,
or $261 in roughly a year.

The purpose of a fines are to encourage, if that's the word, people
to comply with library regulations, especially as they pertain to
books other borrowers need. We occasionally waive fines because
we believe that the borrower will not get him/herself in a similar
situation. In fact, it seems that each time you appeal fines,
the amount is larger ($72 - $87 - $102).

So, I am not willing to waive these fines. If you wish to appeal
my decision, please contact [so and so], who is the Head of
Access Services.

Sincerely yours..."

I'm happy to pay the remaining fines--I agree completely with the "Dedicatory Epistle" in James Redfield's Nature and Culture in the Iliad:

The Regenstein Library is very large, very expensive, and it works. Probably no environment better adapted to the activity of scholarship has ever been created. In this library much that had been impossible becomes possible, and much that had been difficult becomes easy.

Frederick the Great's Coffee Recipe and Taste Blindness

About a year ago Jay told me that in Serve it Forth, M.F.K. Fisher describes Frederick the Great's recipe for coffee:




There are many references to Frederick the Great's method of making coffee online, usually followed by expressions of disgust. As far as I can tell, no one who has written about the recipe has actually tried it. But it seemed to me that there was at least the possibility that it could turn out well.

Jay and Dan and I gave it a shot on our recent trip to St. Louis.



It was terrible. But not because of the mustard. Adding mustard actually made it taste better. The problem was the hot champagne. Just the smell of hot champagne was awful.

Fisher's description doesn't rule out a chilled version of Frederick the Great's recipe, however. So her charge of taste blindness might still be disconfirmed.

Graduation! (Part 2)

Hooding ceremony for humanities grad students in Mandel Hall.

Graduation! (Part 1)

Daley Plaza

The fountain is stained red in support of the Blackhawks, and I think the Picasso statue is wearing a Blackhawks cap.

Hyde Park

From Tom & Jenn's terrace.

Playtime

A projection of Jacques Tati's Playtime.

Mind, Meaning and Understanding

Last weekend the University of Chicago held a conference to honor John Haugeland.

"I want to live again"

Christa customized the labels on some bottles of champagne with quotes from Jay's dissertation for his defense.

Cinco de Mayo at Mi Tierra

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo and Christa's birthday at Mi Tierra, which has an enormous central party space and raucous birthday party percussion band.