Miscellany

1)It is hard to find fair-minded writing about Ayn Rand. This piece by Charles Murray is a lovely exception to the general rule.

2)So what are the least bohemian cities in the U.S.? Granted, I was only there for about three days once, but San Diego has to be near the top of any list. It's lovely, but it's not remotely bohemian.

On the other hand, D.C. shouldn't be on the list; there's too much at least Bobo-ishness happening in, say, U Street or the Atlas District or what have you.

Neither should Allentown. It's not cool, and although it technically qualifies as a city under Pennsylvania law, it does have a teeny tiny bohemian subculture. Granted, said bohemian subculture is limited to the block of Nineteenth Street that has Hava Java and the Civic Little Theater, a few ne'er do wells who worked at the same bookstore that I did in high school, and these people whom I also met in high school who were interested in Unitarian Universalism. True, there may also be a block of San Diego that has an independent coffee shop and a small theater that can barely support itself, and probably also there are some ne'er do wells who work at a bookstore and even some Unitarian Universalists. But rent is more expensive there, and the ne'er do wells probably look around at the nice stores and things and conclude that maybe they really ought to apply to law school if they ever want to be able to afford Whole Foods. In Allentown, it's much easier to stay a bohemian ne'er do well because it's harder to know what you're missing by not joining the urban haute bourgeoisie.

3) I'm experiencing weird Sotomayorian empathy for Barack Obama. Maybe he's from Vulcan too.

4)While hell is freezing over, let me note that a Dahlia Lithwick column is making me happy.

5)When I see the words Revolution House, I unwittingly think of Marxist permanent revolution. Marxist revolutions were mostly tragedies, but this Craigslist ad is just pure farce.

6)Markets in everything: online dating assistants emerge as a trend.