January 05, 2003
A Request Half-Fulfilled

InstaPundit quotes Brad DeLong's request for a Greek-derived word meaning "rule by those with nothing better to do", e.g. the kind of professor who has plenty of time to serve on committees. That's a toughie, but 'phaularchy' might do in a pinch: that would be "rule by the petty or trivial". It even contains a small (perhaps even trivial) pun, since 'phaul-' rhymes with 'foul' (and 'fowl', for that matter).

Posting will continue to be sparse as I try to regain control of a seventh-grade class that's openly trying to drive me to quit.

The low point of my weekend was around 6:00 PM Friday, as I watched a car slowly pass me on the New York State Thruway just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge in heavy slush and driving sleet. Nothing remarkable about that, except he only about 10 feet in front of me, passing from left to right, and travelling down the road at 40 miles an hour sideways. Fortunately, I was only going 40 myself, and he continued crosswise into the ditch at a lateral speed of about 5 mph. Everyone else had long since figured out that the fastest speed that was even close to being safe for the weather conditions was 40, and most of us were sticking to the middle lane to allow room for error. This bozo decided to pass us all on the left at 50, until he spun out. He seems to have made a relatively soft landing in the ditch on the right side of the road, which is more than he deserved, just missing another car to my right. I hope he was stuck there for a while.

Posted by Dr. Weevil at January 05, 2003 10:38 PM