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by Cliopatria

John Kenneth Galbraith has died. A year ago I wrote about him here.

I remember writing that essay on the airplane back from Helsinki, where I was at a conference. Galbraith had always impressed me as a man engaged with the world, rather in contrast to academics who shuttle hither and yon, trading views that drop into the void, and that impression felt rather deeper that day than usual.

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Melvin Small - 5/3/2006

John Kenneth Galbraith offered lecturers a useful tip during his address to the Cranbrook Peace Foundation in Birmingham, Michigan in 1988. Somewhere near the two-thirds point of his talk, he paused and then dramatically announced, "Finally"...
After more than the usual rustling from the crowd, he then admitted that he was nowhere near through but that he often used that word to awaken members of the audience who were close to dozing off. I have used that lecturer's trick ever since with great success and much amusement.