In college and grad school, I had an above-average ability to pull all-nighters. Does that count?

Patagonia, Proper Cloth, Devold.

Red wine, lager, Pilsner. Mirabella schnapps.

I support many of the social welfare policies of the left, yet retain a limited faith in the operation of "free markets" and a deep distrust of Democrats. <p>Chief influences: Marx, Foucault, Bourdieu, Luhmann, Abbott, Bayes. Human action fundamentally centers about status, which is a social commodity. The modern social-economic nexus probably revolves more around consumption than production (thus, Marx was wrong), where consumption involves the production and the re-production of self in a way that perpetuates social inequality and social conflict. Participation in political life therefore frequently amounts to little more than the consumption of a cultural good.<p>It is possible, in principle, to have objective political discussions. Only, not right now.

(1) Catholic; (2) the chief (religious and political) problems of the 21st century will revolve around the acceptance of authority in any form.

Chamber music, particularly for strings. Drawn to composers from the Romantic and Late Romantic eras, and British World-War I era composers, as well as: Beethoven, Shostakovich, Janacek, Aerosmith (pre-"Done With Mirrors"), Black Crowes, Led Zepplin, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dire Straits, Van Morrison.

Lou Holtz: Speed doesn't do you much good if it's going in the wrong direction.

There's nothing as practical as a good theory, provided its approached from a scientific rather than an ideological perspective.

I love the smell of beets.