History

I was thinking about doing a post about how silly the fuss is over the percentage of babies born to "minority" parents being greater than those born to "majority" parents for the first time. But Ronald Bailey at reason.com did a much better job that I could:

This is fascinating -- "15 current technologies a child born today will never use." A few are already practically out the door, like the fax machine, hard drives and movie theaters. Most are so obvious that once you seen them listed, you realize how right he is -- prime time TV, desktops, landline phones. This is one I hadn't thought about:

Phone Numbers

Well, duh:

More than a hundred years after noted historian Baron John Acton coined the phrase 'power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' scientists claim the saying is biologically true.

Stop thinking in terms of economic issues such as profit and loss, says a historian specializing in the American Revolution -- the postal service is a civic institution, not a business:

Finally, someone with the courage to ask the bold question: "Lincoln had one. So did Uncle Sam. Why don't politicians today grow beards?"

Let's at least note in passing the end of an era this week as the space shuttle Discovery took a piggyback ride to its final museum resting place. I've seen two sets of strong opinions on this. One is a sad lament that perhaps we're done in space.

Today's food-for-thought article -- "The Real Reason for the Tragedy of the Titanic." It wasn't hubris or negligence, as the current wisdom suggests. Maritime regulations had not been updated to account for a ship that big, and the Titanic was compliant with all the exiasting rules.

Would Franklin Roosevelt approve of Social Security as it exists today? The question might seem absurd at first, writes Robert Samuelson, but consider that Roosevelt envisioned a contributory pension plan, because a "pay-as-you-go" plan would creater huge debts or much higher taxes as the number of retirees expanded. But that's exactly where he are today:

How depressing might your average newspaper journalist find this piece? Here's a clue: It's titled "When Losers Write History," which is adapted from a chapter in the book, "Will the Last Reporter Please Turn out the Lights: The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done To Fix It."

One of my favorite political books is Virginia Postrel's "The Future and its Enemies." I was so impressed by it when if came out in 1998 that I bought copies for all my staff members so we could discuss it (that was back in the heady days when I still had a staff). Naturally, they just put them on their shelves and never read them.