On Idiot Bigot Folksinger Surprises Old Fans By Being Bigoted Idiot
For "Idiot Bigot Folksinger" I would read "Folksinger with untreated mental illness." Most bigots are just bigots, but when people who have not been bigots suddenly start spouting bizarreness in public, that's probably untreated mental illness. I'm guessing paranoid schizophrenia.
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On How Short-Selling Works
@grandpa27 You can buy stock on margin as well as sell short.
My point was that if short sellers are "manipulating" the market because their selling can affect the market price, the same is true of longs, whose buying can affect the market price.
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On How Short-Selling Works
Note that the same analysis applies to buyers ("longs") as well. If I buy a million shares of NewsCorp at $15.80 because I think their senior management is likely to skate and the stock is going to go to $20, buying a million shares will likely drive prices up. That's how prices come about in a market.
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On David Foster Wallace's Self-Help Books Removed From Archive
It's a good thing the Ransom Center pulled those books. It would be terrible if people somehow had an erroneous impression that DFW suffered from depression or other mental illness.
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On Ask Polly: Should I Make The First Move On My Dream Girl?
Advice to LW1: Seeing this woman socially as often as you do has become a hardship to you, and you need to cut it back. It's certainly not her fault, and you don't need to cut her out of your life entirely, but for your own sake, you need to see her socially less than you do. No painful and awkward explanation is required -- simply politely decline some of the social invitations that would involve seeing her. Once you've moved on emotionally, perhaps you'll be able to see her more often.
Recommended listening on this subject: Ira Glass, "When You're In Love, The Whole World Is Jewish."