Worth Reading for October 2006

10/31 In Der Spiegel: Europe’s white trash problem. In Africa, an interesting experiment in rewarding non-dictatorial politicians. And Victor Davis Hanson on where the Dark Ages are alive and well. (Via TIA Daily.)

10/30 Professor David Mayer’s thorough explanation of the dysfunctionality of the minimum wage, morally, economically, and constitutionally. And EclectEcon reports Rebekah’s anecdote from a small shop affected by the minimum wage.

10/28 At Slate: What were the net effects of pre- and post- Enlightenment colonialisms? Here’s a fine podcast of Johan Norberg on globalisation. And in the Washington Post, Marcela Sanchez has an optimistic take on poverty among Hispanic immigrants.

10/27 Steven Hayward on Al Gore as Martin Heidegger’s protegé. (Thanks to Roger for the link.) And Bill Nye updates astrology since the Babylonians.

10/26 Artist Michael Newberry discusses his recently-completed Artemis, including its development and pictures of other Artemises in the history of art.

10/25 A charming review of a William Clark’s new history of the university. And here is a fascinating recent survey of university faculty political beliefs.

10/24 Professor John Palmer explains how he price-gouges his desperate students. Here’s a summary of a talk given by Walter Williams in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. And Will Wilkinson evaluates the arguments for Peter-Keating-ism as public policy.

10/23 Creative advertising images. And for fans of 24, previously unknown Jack Bauer truths. (Thanks to Beverly for the link.)

10/21 The collected papers of Charles Darwin online at Cambridge University. And a chilling article in The New York Times on biology and maternal love.

10/20 Censorship in higher education: At Marquette University, Thou shalt not make jokes about the government. At Fisher College, Thou shalt not insult administrators.

10/19 Compulsion on behalf of the disabled: A federal judge allows a suit that argues Target’s web site discriminates against the blind. (Thanks to Beverly for the link.) Compulsion against the able: Hair braiders must attend government-approved schools.

10/17 A vastly-informative essay in Wired by George Gilder on the Desktop-to-Internet migration and the future of information networks. (Via Arts & Letters Daily.)

10/16 At the Reason Foundation: what would a property rights and free markets approach to climate change look like? Panelists include Shikha Dalmia, Don Boudreaux, and Julian Morris. (Via Not PC.)

10/14 Education round-up: Professor Reisman identifies the philosophy of Romanticism as the root cause of the failure of contemporary education. Russell Roberts argues that government education has the Sadim touch. David Boaz asks a good question: Where are the conservatives? And Stephen Browne is on a roll, with a post that distinguishes the ignorance-education and stupidity-intelligence dimensions.

10/13 Fascinating: divorce rates for religious and non-religious couples. (Via E pur si muove!)

10/12 Daniel Griswold on immigration and The Battle for Brainpower. Key quotation: “Half the Americans who won Nobel prizes in physics in the past seven years were born abroad. More than half the people with Ph.D.s working in American are immigrants. A quarter of Silicon Valley companies were started by Indians and Chinese. Intel, Sun Microsystems and Google were all founded or co-founded by immigrants. But now India and China are sucking back their expats, and America’s European competitors have woken up to the importance of retaining their talent. To cap it all, the immigration authorities [in the United States] are making life harder for foreigners.”

10/11 Thomas Sowell on local government and socialism for the rich. And architect Peter Cresswell has three sad anecdotes on red tape lag in building.

10/9 Fortune magazine’s list of the 50 most powerful women in business. Update: China’s richest man is a woman.

10/7 Americans and Eastern Europeans: Stephen Browne is on a roll with a fascinating series of first-hand vignettes.

10/5 Founder Fred Smith’s speech on how FedEx became so successful. (Via TomPalmer.com.)

10/4 Café Hayek excerpts John Tierney’s brief summary of public choice economics in action.

10/2 Philosopher Lester Hunt analyzes the psychology of wacky conspiracy theories. It’s not a pretty sight. And the BusinessPundit weighs in on the sometimes-idiocy of crowds.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *