Newmark's Door

Scientists may be within five years of understanding a lot better why we get sleepy.

George Will denounces the huge hypocrisy of McCain-Feingold.

Alex Tabarrok just saw Independence Hall for the first time and he marvels at how small it is. I had exactly the same reaction. But there's something else, something even more amazing. Those men were meeting and debating and writing in the middle of a hot, humid summer. And I heard or read somewhere--I don't have a cite handy--that they kept the windows closed. Because they wanted to keep the debates as secret as possible. And they weren't lounging around in t-shirts and shorts; they had on those heavy clothes 18th century folks wore.

Amazing, simply amazing. I simply couldn't imagine at first how they did it. But then I saw a book, The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition, by W. J. Rorabaugh (Oxford University Press, 1979) that relates in fascinating detail how much people drank in those days. In 1785, consumption per capita for people of drinking age (15 years old or older) of "absolute alcohol" was 6.1 gallons per year (p. 233). The Founding Fathers were probably smashed. I figure that that's how they put up with that tiny room and the awful heat.

QandO notes that Paul Krugman has been strangely silent on the protectionist beliefs of major Democrat presidential candidates. Commenter Pete Harrigan gets off this lovely crack, "Man, that's weird. It's almost as though Krugman has some kind of political axe to grind. I know Krugman is perfectly objective, though, because Brad DeLong told me."

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog insults the Quebecois. Tout le Canada is up in arms. Mark Steyn rallies ably to Triumph's defense.

"What piffle doth the chancellor eat, that he grow so certain?"

Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, aka "The Blogfather," writes:

People's willingness to make donations, sometimes sizable, in support of things they can get for free is something that has surprised me about blogging, and suggests that the portrayal of human behavior I got in Econ 101 was incomplete.

Too bad Glenn didn't take economics from moi. I emphasize early in my intro course that economics is not just about money, it's about whatever people value. So charity is perfectly consistent with economists' "portrayal of human behavior."

It probably can't be repeated often enough how great capitalism is. You're seriously ill. Your doctor is busy, busy, busy and you're not too sure that even if he weren't that he has the right incentives in treating you. What to do? Hire some third-party experts.

The Black List at the Black Table won't be to everybody's taste. Some entires are crude, some are tasteless, some are just plain strange. But there are these little nuggets that keep me coming back. This week's list includes "Partying with Presidential Progeny" and "Atkins Diet, Ephedra and Social Darwinism."

Very tall, and a comedian, too: "Yao Ming, the NBA center, was asked what American music he has learned to like. He said, 'I like the national anthem. I listen to it 82 times a year.'"