Well, now he has another reason not to change his mind. Seems unwise, even if he's right about everything.

What does "an action that harms another agent" mean? For instance, if I threaten to not give you a chicken unless you give me $5, does "I don't give you a chicken" count as "a course of action that harms another agent"? Or does it have to be an active course, rather than act of omission?

It's not blackmail unless, given that I don't give you $5, you would be worse of, CDT-wise, not giving me the chicken than giving me the chicken. Which is to say, you really want to give me the chicken but you're threatening to withhold it because you think you can make $5 out of it. If I were a Don't-give-$5-bot, or just broke, you would have no reason to threaten to withhold the chicken. If you don't want to give me the chicken, but are willing to do so if I give you $5, that's just normal trade.

"Wanna see something cool?"

Bob Dylan's new album ("Tempest") is perfect. At the time of posting, you can listen to it free on the itunes store. I suggest you do so.

On another note, I'm currently listening to all the Miles Davis studio recordings and assembling my own best-of list. It'll probably be complete by next month, and I'll be happy to share the playlist with anyone who's interested.

Thomas Bergersen is just wonderful. Also, I've been listening to a lot of Miles Davis (I'm always listening to a lot of Miles Davis, but I haven't posted in one of these threads before). I especially recommend In a Silent Way.

Murakami is still the only currently living master of magical realism

Salman Rushdie. Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie. Salman Rushdie.

If you haven't read much other Italo Calvino, "Invisible Cities" is really, really, really great.

I have to say, as a more-or-less lifelongish fan of Oscar Wilde (first read "The Happy Prince" when I was eight or nine), that the ending to Ernest is especially weak. I like the way he builds his house of cards in that play, and I like the dialogue, but (and I think I probably speak for a lot of Wilde fans here), the way he knocks the cards down really isn't all that clever or funny. For a smarter Wilde play, see "A Woman of No Importance", although his best works are his childrens' stories, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", and "Ballad of Reading Gaol" (although it is not, in fact, the case that "Every man kills the thing he loves".)

(Also I should mention that I recently reread "The Code of the Woosters" and laughed myself inside-out.)

You sure about this?

Nope, not sure at all.