Hot Off The Press

by publius

I just got Yglesias's book this afternoon. I hope to read it this weekend. I've only seen the back cover, but Ezra Klein has a good blurb:

"A very serious, thoughtful argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care." —Ezra Klein, staff writer at The American Prospect

Comments

[cleek]

i wonder what the intersection of Yglesias' readers with people who get that joke looks like...

(i was gonna write that in SQL, but i f'in hate SQL)

[Stephen Frug]

But what makes it brilliant is that it works equally well for those who *don't* get the joke. If you don't get it, it's just a good positive plug. This is what distinguishes an annoying in-joke from a marvelous one.

[Martin]

As I wrote in Ezra's thread about the blurb, it's the world's first dog-whistle blurb.

[ral]

cleek, a quick Google points me to Jonah Goldberg (d'oh!) but how does SQL enter into it? ¡Liberal Fascism, sí, SQL, no!

[Jesurgislac]

ral, I believe Ezra is saying that the book is a fine a collection of arguments to be passed to a SQL function.

In SQL, a good argument means more.

[ral]

Maybe we could write in Anarch style? Something like

R(y) ∩ L = { ? }

[drat! I can't get subscripts to work. Had to use ( ) instead. L = laughing]

OK, I can't come up with a decent joke (L is null). Sorry.

Jes, this isn't an argument, this is abuse. You want room 12A, just along the corridor.

I'll stop now.

[Jesurgislac]

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
I HAS AN ARGUMENT
GIMMEH ARGUMENT
VISIBLE "U SNOTTY-FACD HEAP OV PARROT
DROPPINGS!!"
KTHXBYE

[ral]

"GIMMEH". Now there is a verb that needs a programming language to go with it. You have a big future in standards committees.

[Jesurgislac]

ral, not getting a pun made in SQL is one thing. SQL and PHP are the devil's playthings. But not recognizing LOLCODE when you see it? Dude, what have you been doing on the Internets, you must have been working or something.

Next thing you'll tell us is you don't believe in teh ceilingcat.

"An Ceiling Cat sayed, Beholdt, teh good enouf for releaze as version 0.8a. kthxbai."

[ral]

I love ObWi. I always learn someting new.

[cleek]

the intersection of YglesiasReaders and PeopleWhoGetTheJoke in SQL:

Select * From YglesiasReaders YR
Inner Join PeopleWhoGetTheJoke PWGTJ On Yr.ReaderName = PWGTJ.Name
Order By Yr.ReaderName

[Davebo]

I think you'll want to use select distinct on that one cleek.

[Eric Martin]

Um, huh?

[Warren Terra]

Eric Martin, I think that for this thread you will need to clarify what precisely has you befuddled ... there is something of a profusion of candidates, after all, from the original in-joke to all the programming (or is it formal logic?) and intertubes in-jokes.

[Pooh]

Nerds.

[Warren Terra]

No, no, Pooh, you're doing it wrong. The way you've punctuated the word could so easily be taking as implying a dismissive attitude towards the tribe. I mean, just look at it:

Nerds.

Assuming you, as you should, wish to shout the word gleefully, as an exultant and celebratory cry, the proper form is:

Nerds!

[Anarch]

ral, you are so going to L.

[ral]

Thanks, Anarch, I needed that.

I so look forward to the day when there's a servlet version of LOLCODE so I can write ...

GIMMEH COOKIE

[bago]

500: I HAD A COOKIE, BUT I EATED IT.

[cleek]

IZ COOKIE STALE
YARLY
BTW DO NOT WANT!
NOWAI
VISIBLE "Hai To The Interwebsite!"
KTHX

KTHXBYE

[Mike]

Context, for the uninitiated:

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2007/03/shed_a_single_tear/

[Justin Slotman]

And now that I get the blurb it's hilarious. As is all the LOLcode.

[beckya57]

That totally cracked me up when I read it (on the back of my copy). Ezra is absolutely brilliant.