Betty White: The Musical

An amazing performance of the most immediate of theatre. Williams is an amazing place: only here can an idea born of a hat's theme and a playwright's imagination for a 8 hour writing spree be turned into a full fledged musical, staged in a former dining hall with a talented cast.

:)

One disadvantage of working in an airport

Except for responding to requests/helping people, my productivity is absolutely shot. Announcements, airport TV, and people talking all make for a litany of distractions that keep pulling me away from my tasks.

Airline Delays

I'm enjoying a few hours in Albany Airport on my way out of state, and beyond appreciation for the free Albany WiFi, I'm reminded of how amazing it is that my 1000 mile trek can be accomplished in a day.

The world is fairly amazing, actually. Income inequality is up, yes, and there are a whole host of problems, but altogether, I think the progression of technology and development worldwide is a strong case that this is the best time in history to be alive. I can sit in this airport and access movies, TV shows, news, and my work, all without breaking a sweat.

So am I annoyed that I can't enjoy on campus? Yes. Am I going to lose a bit of sleep? No.

Oddly, my optimism has been restored by bad airport luck.

From Ben Smith:
Donald Trump used his New Hampshire press conference this morning to announce how "proud" he was to have made the fringe issue of Obama's birth certificate a central one, then to have forced the White House's hand in releasing another birth document.
Then he pivoted, in a tour de force performance, to a tone that his 2012 rivals will have to reckon with: Raw, unadulterated anger, which began with calling Obama stupid and demanding his college transcripts.....

This is a really dumb situation for Obama to be in - he's released the legally valid document, and now there's going to be a continuing standard of having to go above and beyond legal requirements if you don't "feel" American to people. This is made worse because he would have been "natural born" even if he had been born in Kenya, due to jus sanguinis. My question for WSO is a different one, though: should presidential candidates have to release their college transcripts, as this op-ed suggests?

The standards of privacy have obviously changed - the press corps that covered up Kennedy's affairs is no longer above tabloid fare, but I can't shake the feeling that candidates shouldn't have to be held responsible for what happened when they were 18-22: people change, right?

Do you think college transcripts are relevant to your future career, and public scrutiny?

What a week and weekend

Williams put me through a few tests, problem sets, and papers this week, but I survived. After a Easter Vigil and working for a charity even from 2-3am, though, its time to sleep.