Comments on: Happy Saturnalia!

By: ChrisTS

ChrisTS — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:44:35 +0000

Oh, joy. My favorite holiday. I’m so happy to see all the VC gang being quirky. But wait, that’s the norm so…

By: kumquat

kumquat — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:33:25 +0000

As compelling a candidate as J. Aldridge is, I’m going to have to vote for Sarcastro as Lord of Misrule.

By: BK

BK — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:12:32 +0000

Prof. Somin,

I would be happy to grade the exams for your Con Law I class. I’m pretty sure I will be able to identify which one is mine.

By: Patent Lawyer

Patent Lawyer — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:19:07 +0000

Drinking, noise, games, and dice? Well, I was planning on heading down to the wargaming club to play out a simulation of Operation Barbarossa on Christmas Day, so that actually shouldn’t be too hard to do.

By: Dennis N

Dennis N — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:05:31 +0000

Anderson: I honestly can’t figure which would be more repulsive to others, my nakedness, or my singing.Probably the latter.

LOL! I'm the only guy I know who was asked by the pastor to sing more quietly. Something about making Salve Regina sound like a drinking song.

By: ChrisIowa

ChrisIowa — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:01:47 +0000

theobromophile: That, too, is a tradition that needs inverting: Prof. Somin, you need a Lady of Misrule!

Since traditions are being inverted, the the Lord of Misrule should be a lady.

By: alittlesense

alittlesense — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:59:26 +0000

Sol Invictus? Didn’t he used to have a men’s wear store down at the corner of toity-toid and toid?

Right next to R. Stiltskin’s metal recycling business.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:08:13 +0000

I honestly can’t figure which would be more repulsive to others, my nakedness, or my singing.

Probably the latter.

By: Dennis N

Dennis N — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:55:49 +0000

I’m all for the singing naked part.

By: Dan Weber

Dan Weber — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:48:15 +0000

KEEP SATURN IN SATURNALIA!

By: rarango

rarango — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:19:02 +0000

Before my comment is moderated, would like to apologize to professor Somin–This was his post, and not professor Posners.

By: geokstr

geokstr — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:11:35 +0000

Wow! You mean, inverting, like, government employees and congresscritters would have to work for me for a change?

I could get behind that idea. Too bad it would only be for one day a year; still, that would be one day more than we get now.

By: Dudeman

Dudeman — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:46:30 +0000

“…[s]laves were treated as equals, allowed to wear their masters’ clothing, and be waited on at meal time in remembrance of an earlier golden age thought to have been ushered in by the god..”

Two questions:

When is dinner?
Do you have any suits in a 52 Xtra-Long?

By: Joseph Slater

Joseph Slater — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:10:40 +0000

See also the Jubilee celebrations, historically.

By: Fedya

Fedya — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:57:50 +0000

Nobody is celebraing Festivus instead?

By: rarango

rarango — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:18:40 +0000

Wow–Professor Posner has just described the US Senate!

By: Happy Saturnalia! | Liberal Whoppers

Happy Saturnalia! | Liberal Whoppers — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:57:08 +0000

[...] post: Happy Saturnalia! Share this [...]

By: U.Va. Grad

U.Va. Grad — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:38:16 +0000

All that remains to do in order to properly celebrate a VC Saturnalia is to choose our official Lord of Misrule.

J. Aldridge, of course. DRINK!

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:30:28 +0000

Even in Florida, it's getting a little nippy for going around singing naked. Give it a week or two, maybe even just a few days, and things will be back to their Haulover Beach norms...

By: theobromophile

theobromophile — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:51:56 +0000

All that remains to do in order to properly celebrate VC Saturnalia is to choose our official Lord of Misrule.

That, too, is a tradition that needs inverting: Prof. Somin, you need a Lady of Misrule!

By: Chris Travers

Chris Travers — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:41:07 +0000

The reverse of social order seems relatively common at least in pagan Europe during either Winter solstice type celebrations or yearly transitions. I suspect our cultural practice of sending kids around begging/threatening our neighbors in Halloween is a good example (and similar begging was seen in yule celebrations in Scandinavia).

May have something to do with tearing the world down to build it anew if Mircea Eliade is right.

By: Soronel Haetir

Soronel Haetir — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:23:35 +0000

There is only one proper nominee, he of the deadly drinking game.

By: 24AheadDotCom

24AheadDotCom — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:55:21 +0000

Can I delete posts from this blog that make me look bad, make me feel uncomfortable, or that interfere with my career goals, such as of part of the GOP machine? (Note: that’s not a reference to Somin, at least not yet).

By: Eric Rasmusen

Eric Rasmusen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:25:15 +0000

Since Saturnalia is a traditional time to put off grading exams, take a look at the post I wrote a few days ago on "Christmas, Saturnalia, and Sol Invictus", for another example of how what we've all heard is the consensus is probably wrong.

By: Eli Rabett

Eli Rabett — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:13:17 +0000

Does that mean that those of us who comment, get to put up posts and close off comments when the Volokhs get mean?

By: Avid reader, reluctant poster

Avid reader, reluctant poster — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:59:16 +0000

Not only would I rather take my own exam than grade the ones I have to, I’d even rather take your exam than grade. I’d take the LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, MRI, GRE, IQ or ultrasound – anything. In fact, I’d rather hit my head repeatedly against a brick wall than grade. FantasiaWHT’s proposal is the stuff of nightmares this time of year, sound though it may be in theory.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:56:01 +0000

Within the family, a Lord of Misrule was chosen

Coincidentally, word is that Bernanke is to be re-confirmed.

So a blogging Saturnalia might not be too much different from business as usual.

Indeed. Saturn, lord of the internet …. I’m reminded of the wonderful weird book Saturn and Melancholy by Panofsky et al., on the iconology of — you guessed it — Saturn and melancholy, w/ particular focus on Durer’s Melencolia I. I think that if Durer had etched that today, a laptop computer, probably running Windows Vista, would appear in the corner. Anyway, the book is definitely worth investigation by all Saturn-lovers.

By: PeteP

PeteP — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:53:24 +0000

the ‘frenzied hand clapping’ has always been my favorite ….

By: EMB

EMB — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:45:37 +0000

I was once asked to grade homework for a class I was taking. Fortunately, another qualified grader was found.

By: FantasiaWHT

FantasiaWHT — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:28:24 +0000

You know, that might be a fairly good “test” of student’s knowledge – have them all grade an essay you wrote on the class topic, having them praise what you got right and correct what you got wrong, excoriate you for what you missed, etc. Then you grade their grading.

By: guy in the veal calf office

guy in the veal calf office — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:23:40 +0000

All that remains to do in order to properly celebrate VC Saturnalia is to choose our official Lord of Misrule.

We already did.

(Thank you, I’ll be here all week).