Newmark's Door

UCLA has a course that matches my youth

"America in the Sixties: Politics, Society, and Culture, 1954-1974."

"The 16 Greatest Cities In Human History"

Ayutthaya, the "world's largest city in 1700 AD," was new to me.

"How Corporations Created Our Time Zones"

"That a single industry, even a large one, could impose so fundamental a change in the habits of the American people remains a remarkable achievement. The railroads were a conservative, even stodgy, industry. But their leaders were sometimes capable of thinking big."

Why don't we learn more from history?

Maybe because some people keep rewriting it.

You know who.

"Coffee and the Age of Reason"

2.5 minute video by economist Simon [Steven--thanks, Alex] Johnson on how the switch from booze to caffeine helped revolutionize the world.

"Divers find 13th century wreck from Kublai Khan's Mongol invasion fleet"

The fleet that was destroyed by the Kamikaze.

Part 2 of ""Secular Theocracy: The Foundations and Folly of Modern Tyranny"

New from David Theroux. 

Link to part 1.

"God and man and William F. Buckley"

From a professor of law at Roger Williams University:

It is paradoxical that William F. Buckley Jr. — who, more than any other individual, infused the conservative movement with the sentiment of battling evil — enjoyed warm relationships with liberals such as John Kenneth Galbraith, Murray Kempton, Allard Lowenstein and George McGovern. Buckley was a crusader, but he was also a person of great and essential goodwill.

That should be Buckley's greatest lesson to all of us, whether on the right or the left. If there is something that can save us — from our own excesses, our own foolishness, even our own brilliance — it is essential goodwill.

Yes, but nominate me a prominent person on the Left--politician, pundit, or "personalty"--who has any "essential goodwill," let alone one who was as cheerful and respectful as Buckley or Milton Friedman. I might accept Hubert Humphrey but he's almost 34 years dead.

Bob Hope's secret of getting rich

"He was the first comedian to run himself as a business, and he succeeded brilliantly.Time magazine reported in 1967 that he was worth half a billion dollars. Asked about the figure, Hope said, 'Anyone can do it. All you have to do is save a million dollars a year for 500 years.'"

Link via Stan Liebowitz.

"The Incredible Story Of How De Beers Created And Lost The Most Powerful Monopoly Ever"

Sooner or later--and bet on sooner--monopolies not protected by government will fall.