It was a slow news week this week in the world Judex inhabits. That happens sometimes, which makes it difficult to draft a Legal Briefs post. Usually when that occurs, I just skip the post. However, I thought I may try something new this week. I am interested in lots of things that do not necessarily fit into the scope of Judex, but that readers may enjoy. So, this Bonus Materials post consists of some of those things. It may or may not be a continuing feature. It depends on how you like it. Please let me know what you think.
Fancy Farm
Last weekend, Erin and I attended the St. Jerome’s Picnic in Fancy Farm, Kentucky. The St. Jarome’s Catholic Parish has been hosting this annual fundraising festival for 148 years. It is colloquially referred to as the Fancy Farm Picnic. It includes carnival rides and games, bingo, raffles, and tons of great food. The main feature, though, is the political speaking. Political officeholders and candidates from both parties are invited to speak. The tradition is that the speakers engage in a no holds barred, savage roast of each other. The crowd gets in on the action too. This year did not disappoint. I haven’t seen anything like it since Dirty Dutch Mantel punched Danny Libka in the face that one time Ohio Valley Wrestling came to town. If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Here is a link to a short video about it.
Rob Henderson
I subscribe to Rob Henderson’s Substack. If you like Judex, you might like Rob Henderson. He is a Ph.D. psychologist who writes about human nature, psychology, social class, and political and social divisions. His weekly newsletter includes a segment called “Three interesting findings,” where he has a quick summary of recent studies in the areas he writes about. This week, one of the findings he highlighted is the following: despite encompassing only 3-4% of the male population and 1% of the female population, psychopaths are responsible for over 50% of all crimes in the U.S. Here is a link to Rob’s Substack.
David Foster Wallace
Wednesday’s post this week was inspired by the incomparable writer David Foster Wallace. Wallace’s essay Tense Present, which you can and should read here, is a book review of a dictionary. I know what you are thinking, but trust me on this one. Wallace starts the essay with a list of words and phrases he does not like. I pretty much stole the idea for Words from him. If you are interested in reading more of Wallace, I recommend starting with a commencement speech he gave to Kenyon College called This is Water (click here), and a book of his essays called Consider the Lobster. You can work your way up to his novel, Infinite Jest.
Zach Bryan
Country music singer songwriter, Zach Bryan, was on the Joe Rogan podcast this week. Maybe everyone knows about Zach already, but if you don’t you should check out his music. He made his first album, DeAnn, in an Airbnb he rented with his friends. It’s raw, but I think it is his best.
Oppenheimer
My family and I recently saw the Oppenheimer movie. It’s well done. It made me curious about the whole story, so I picked up the Oppenheimer biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. The book is 750 pages, so clear your schedule if you decide to tackle it. I’m about a third of the way through it and am finding it readable and fascinating.