Another item thanks to John Gruber.
The following video is from a commencement speech by a guy named David Foster Wallace. I’d never heard of him prior to seeing the link. Listening to the video, which is about 8 minutes long, led me to read the actual source material.
It’s well worth the read. I found the following bit interesting:
Or, of course, if I’m in a more socially conscious liberal arts form of my default setting, I can spend time in the end-of-the-day traffic being disgusted about all the huge, stupid, lane-blocking SUV’s and Hummers and V-12 pickup trucks, burning their wasteful, selfish, forty-gallon tanks of gas, and I can dwell on the fact that the patriotic or religious bumper-stickers always seem to be on the biggest, most disgustingly selfish vehicles, driven by the ugliest [responding here to loud applause] (this is an example of how NOT to think, though) most disgustingly selfish vehicles, driven by the ugliest, most inconsiderate and aggressive drivers. And I can think about how our children’s children will despise us for wasting all the future’s fuel, and probably screwing up the climate, and how spoiled and stupid and selfish and disgusting we all are, and how modern consumer society just sucks, and so forth and so on.
Highlighted portion is what I found interesting. His audience is actually actively missing the entire point of his speech. To the point he feels compelled to break in and remind them that he’s not actually ranting about “evil, SUV-driving” whatevers.
Man, college kids are dumb.
Here’s the video:
THIS IS WATER – By David Foster Wallace from The Glossary on Vimeo