Sentential Links #91

Here we go now!

:: Unions appear to have, at most, modest and variable effects on student outcomes. Even the most hostile reading of the evidence doesn't come anywhere close to suggesting that unions are the single biggest obstacle in the way of educating our children properly. And it doesn't come within light years of suggesting that it would be worth doubling spending to get rid of them.

:: Recently, as I was enthusing about my obsessive love of all things Battlestar Galatica, someone asked, "Why do you waste your time on that weirdo, geeky, sci-fi crap?"

:: I can't wait for THE NEW SPACE OPERA, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, which we'll publish in June. (I can't either, dammit!)

:: Anyway, it was nice to see a movie with no explosions or car chases or knife fights or profanity. Just good old lust, jealousy, bitterness and spite.

:: Can you imagine the radical change in conditions it would take to rouse fat and happy Americans from their couch potato slumber to violently oppose their government? They can't even be bothered to vote!

:: Why a String Quartet? What is it that has given it its exalted reputation and mystique? Why have so many composers regarded it as the perfect medium of expression, though it is perhaps the most demanding to write for?

:: I personally find tuxedos to be a ridiculous and distracting choice of male concert fashion. They fail to convey the intended seriousness and instead make players look like uncomfortable groomsmen. Informal all-black attire would be better.

:: And the next thing I know I'm planning on doing a whole series of 100 posts, talking about each of 100 pages.

All for this week. Clear ether! (Wow, I wish I knew some E.E. "Doc" Smith fans in real life -- I'd love to be able to walk around telling people to "Clear ether".)