From the May 11, 1908 NYT:

One night in jail was enough for Edwald Siebert. Rather than pay a fine of $10 and costs, assessed on a charge of being disorderly, Siebert, who is 60 years old and reputed to be worth $60,000, declared he would work it out in the county workhouse.

After spending last night in a cell, Siebert sent for his secretary and had him go to Justice Wangelin's court and pay $18.50, the fine and costs.

$10 in 1908 ias approximately $226 in 2006 dollars. It seems that Mr. Siebert had a mistaken impression of the net costs of jail. However, given that his information set had changed, particularly that the value of time behind bars was considerably less than the value of time not behind bars, at least Mr. Siebert had a buy-out option (for $418 2006 dollars).

City Journal has a retrospective of of the 1968 student protests, most notably the May 1968 Paris unrest. Six accomplished contributors talk about the political, sexual, journalistic, and other cultural inheritances of the 60's. I don't pretend to know a lot about those days; I'm barely a sixty-niner myself (born with 33 days left in the decade). But these six essays leave me with the impression that the events of 40 years ago had an influence that was narrow and misdirected. See below the fold for my top three excerpts. The whole thing is worth a read. Hat tip, Emilio Pacheco.

Read More »

Sun- and keg-filled yards
Dozens tossing “cornhole” bags
One group playing Jarts!

Good summary statement from the NYTimes:

In truth, movie plots operate according to a self-contained value system that has only an occasional relationship with the real. In movie-think, media figures, at least lately, tend to be much worse than they really are. (One hopes.) Think of Meryl Streep as the nightmare magazine editor in “The Devil Wears Prada,” or Katie Holmes as the skunky reporter in “Thank You for Smoking.”

Dumb slackers, by contrast, are basically good. So it will be in the coming “Pineapple Express,” about a couple of dope smokers on a tear; “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantánamo Bay,” also about a couple of dope smokers on a tear; and “Step Brothers,” about a couple of feckless middle-aged men who get stuck with each other when their parents marry.

But those who produce things or manage wealth have almost always been the worst.

From "How 'Dallas' Won the Cold War":

Joseph Stalin is said to have screened the 1940 movie "The Grapes of Wrath" in the Soviet Union to showcase the depredations of life under capitalism. Russian audiences watched the final scenes of the Okies' westward trek aboard overladen, broken-down jalopies -- and marveled that in the United States, even poor people had cars. "Dallas" functioned similarly.

"I think we were directly or indirectly responsible for the fall of the [Soviet] empire," [Actor Larry] Hagman told the Associated Press a decade ago. "They would see the wealthy Ewings and say, 'Hey, we don't have all this stuff.' I think it was good old-fashioned greed that got them to question their authority."

In Romania, "Dallas" was the last Western show allowed during the nightmare 1980s because President Nicolae Ceausescu was persuaded that it was sufficiently anti-capitalistic. By the time he changed his mind, it was already too late -- he had paid for the full run in precious hard currency. [...]

After the dictator and his wife were shot on Christmas Eve 1989, the pilot episode of "Dallas" -- with a previously censored sex scene edited back in -- was one of the first foreign shows broadcast on the liberated Romanian TV. Over the next few years, Hagman became a ubiquitous pitchman in the country for firms such as the Russian petroleum company Lukoil ("The Choice of a True Texan").

The dog attack, shark attack, mountain lion attack, or, in general, the "fill in the blank" attack story is a prime example of how the media can generate a crisis even in the face of overall declines in such attacks. The lowly pit bull has been through a rocky patch for the past ten to fifteen years, although I understand that there is some inherent danger with those and other particular breeds.

The old adage "if it bleeds, it leads" is a common criticism of today's media, but the adage simply represents the form of competition in which local news outlets, especially, find themselves engaged. My guess is that the two, three, or four local news outlets find themselves in a prisoner's dilemma where all of them run with the "worst" of local incidents because the perceived (or actual) benefit of leading with the "good news" isn't as great.

Nevertheless, the "dog bites child" story is evidently not new (go figure), as the April 25, 1908 NYT reports:

ELIZABETH, N.J. - While playing with a pet bulldog near her home, 310 Morris Avenue, here to-night, Bessie Berglund, 8 years old, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Berglund, was bitten so severely on the right thigh that she will probably have to have her leg amputated to save her life. It was necessary for Frank Scheer, a neighbor, to shoot the dog before he would release his grip.

The story itself is sad, but on brief reflection I wonder how many law suits derived from this incident in 1908 relative the number that would accompany a similar incident today.

Paul Koontz goes to North Korea:

No mention is made of a grand architectural achievement. I wonder what Howard Roark would say?

From the April 9, 1908 NYT (if true):

ST. PAUL, Minn - Knute Ohnstead died here to-day from starvation, after an attempt to fast for forty days in order to demonstrate his theory that the mind controls the body and that the mind is mightier than matter.

Ohnstead's fast lasted 31 days.

Wow.

Fans of CBS' "Moonlight" are so passionate about the vampire drama that they're willing to sacrifice their own blood to keep the series on the air.

Teaming with the Red Cross and online protest rally point YouChoose.net, "Moonlight" viewers are organizing a nationwide blood drive to garner network support for a second season. They claim that more than 3,000 fans have pledged to donate a pint.

I hope they succeed--my sister works on the show. Source.

By email from Emilio Pacheco, COO of Liberty Fund:

John Milton born in 1608 is celebrated in two exhibitions, at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, and the University of Cambridge Library. The links below will take you to the websites for these exhibitions.

http://www.cems.ox.ac.uk/citizenmilton/index.shtml

http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darknessvisible/index.html

The latter has a series of worthwhile yet breezy essays on Milton's influences. The little section on Milton's and today's pop culture is interesting. I found a nice connection to one of my favorite novels and novelists:

Several modern novelists have also drawn a lot of inspiration from Milton's work. Pullman aside, the poet has also deeply inspired the American novelist Paul Auster, whose postmodern New York Trilogy (1985-86), picks up several Miltonic themes including the nature of Paradise and the relationship between words and things (both works are haunted by the idea of a perfect language).

I first read Paradise Lost in its entirety for a Liberty Fund conference. A conference on Milton and Auster would be a good one. Hmmmm....

From the March 8, 1908 NYT:

Time is money, but we can't pay our debts with it.

We wouldn't mind the unexpected if it didn't happen so often.

A sermon is sometimes based upon a text, and sometimes upon a pretext.

On March 4, 1908 in Cleveland, Ohio, a fire at Lake View school in Collinwood killed 165 children and 2 teachers (one died while guiding some children to fire escapes). The entire student population was 310 children, thus more than half died in the fire.

The story unfolds much like we have come to expect. The fire started in the basement from an unknown source (perhaps arson), the fire gong was sounded but everyone acted as if it were only a drill. Thus, only those on the first of three floors were able to get out of the building in time. It is claimed that the doors opened inward and therefore the press of panicked students from the upper floors precluded opening the doors.

All drills had used the front door as the primary exit, but the front door was inaccessible by the time the kids from the upper floors reached the first floor. This, in turn, made progress to the back door of the school somewhat chaotic. Then, it turns out the rear door was locked. Those children who made it to the bottom of the stairs tried to return to the upper floors but were met with more students coming down the stairs. The article points out "[w]hat happened at the foot of that first flight of stairs will never be knwn...[a]fter the flames had died away, however, a huge heap of little bodies, burned by the fire and trampled into things of horror, told the tale."

The paper provides a list of those children who had been identified. In total, they listed 120 of which 100 had ages reported. Here are the descriptive statistics and a histogram:

    Variable |       Obs        Mean    Std. Dev.       Min        Max
-------------+--------------------------------------------------------
          age |       100        9.97    2.341781          6         15

Thank goodness these type of events are incredibly rare.

Wikipedia Entry (with pictures) here: The Wikipedia entry reports that the doors didn't open inward. The original NYT article suggests that the building was designed with doors that opened outward but that it was not clear how the doors had been installed.

Admittedly, I usually get creeped out most of the time while listening to NPR's Morning Edition. But today was especially creepifying. The headline on the website sounds great: "Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control." Unfortunately, the actual story is about stifling creativity:

In a normal preschool, playing bookstore would be a pretty casual affair. They would just pick up some books, set the shiny toy cash register on the table by the blackboard, and get down to business.

But this isn't a normal school. It's based on the Tools of the Mind program. In other words, it's a school where almost every moment of the day is devoted in some way to teaching the kids — mostly low-income children who live in the poor surrounding community — how to regulate their behavior and emotions.

So before Emmy and Zee even think about picking up a toy, they sit down with their teacher at a small classroom table and fill out some paperwork.

Basically, the kids write out a plan of what and how they are going to play. I know, the "plan" part seems to diminish the "play" part. Am I wrong to be creeped out by the idea that kids may feel obligated to get permission or seek assurance from an authority figure before they can satisfactorily play?

"Regulating behavior." "Play plans." I know Hayek is dead, but he did win a Nobel. I guess the idea of unregulated socities resulting in spontaneous order is passe.

From the Feb. 27, 1908 NYT:

A $12,000 pearl and diamond necklace was reported to have been lost this afternoon in Poinciana Garden, and a $500 reward was this evening offered for its return to "Frank of New York."

There seems to be a good deal of mystery about the affair.

I wonder how that worked out. Perhaps it was not advisable to advertise the value of the necklace along with the substantially lower reward.

The alias might have been an attempt to avoid a black-mail situation, but revealing the value of the necklace [about $270,000 in 2006 dollars] would seem to have invited whoever has the necklace to ask for a higher reward or to fence the item at a value between $12,000 and $500.

This is nothing new but interesting, I hope. I've recently been reading different sorts of parables. I'm struck by the economics and policy implications in many of them.

Some of my favorites:
-Absence makes the heart grow fonder (diminishing marginal utility).
-A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (depends on your discount rate).
-Don't cry over spilt milk (sunk costs).
-Don't put all your eggs in one basket (diversify your portfolio).
-Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater (heterodox schools of thought).
-Don't lock the stable door once the horse is gone (sometimes it's better not to rebuild).
-The game isn't worth the candle (information costs).
-Good fences make good neighbors (property rights).
-Life is short; art is long (structure of production).
-There's no accounting for tastes.
-Too many cooks spoils the broth (diminishing marginal product).
-You can't have yoru cake and eat it too (opportunity cost).
-You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs (creative destruction).

Tyler Cowen's favorite Haitian proverbs offer similar implications.

Menken speaks to Art's post below about systematic voter beliefs.
"Noone ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." (Of course, we know it's the low costs of being wrong, not intelligence, at issue.)

A good Chinese proverb for the classroom:
-He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask is a fool forever.

A couple of Mexican proverbs I managed to retain,
-Hay mas tiempo que la vida (there is more time than life).
-Salud, amor, dinero, y tiempo para gustarlo (health, love, money, and time to enjoy)

The Bartleby Dictionary of Cultural Literacy has a nice introduction in its entry on Proverbs:

Well, back to work. As they say, it's best to make hay while the sun shines.

Do you have some favorites, comments open.

An article concerning the march of prohibition across the South from the Feb. 21, 1908 NYT includes the following poem:

Lay the jest about the julep in the camphor ball at last,
For the miracle has happened and the olden days are past,
That which made Milwaukee famous doesn't foam in Tennessee
And the lid in Alabama is as tight locked as can be
And the comic paper Colonel and his cronies well may sigh,
For the mint is waving gaily
And the South is going dry.

By the stillside on the hillside in Kentucky all is still,
And the only damp refreshment must be dipped up from the rill.
North Car'lina's stately Governor gives his soda glass a shove,
And discusses local option with the South Car'lina Gove.
It is useless at the fountain to be winkful of the eye,
For the cocktail glass is dusty,
And the South is going dry.

It is water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
We no longer hear the music of the mellow crystal clink
When the Colonel and the General, and the Major and the Judge
Meet to have a little nip to give the appetite an edge,
For the eggnog it is nogless and the rye has gone awry,
The punch bowl holds carnations,
And the South is going dry.

From the Feb. 9, 1908 NYT:

Poets are born, not paid.

Too many cooks spoil the intelligence office.

All things come to those who wait on themselves.

Be careful how you grasp a red-hot opportunity.

Sometimes an exploded theory doesn't even wake up the theorist.

An expert is a man who is able to impress us with how little we know.

The philanthropy of some men consists of a willingness to pass the hat.

Pride goeth before a fall, and it doesn't soften the bumps any at that.

The trouble with some people is that they believe twice as much as they hear.

Would you wear this?

Okay, let me rephrase. Do you think you'd see anyone wearing this in public?

What you see is part of Carolina Herrera's fall 2008 collection shown Monday in New York. Here are some more moderate examples based on the same ideas. And here are some other design goodies of various wearability.

As Carolina Herrera said in a related interview, fashion week is not about every day life. For her it is about "fantasizing." Yes, mass market apparel has little resemblance to runway offerings, especially during the showcase that is fashion week. However, the experiments that occur at that high level of abstraction--those ideas--are crucial to the designs that appear in stores the following season.

High-level, abstract ideas can at first only be appreciated by niches of expertise and taste. Through analysis, imitation and reformulation, such abstract ideas can be diffused to broader and in some cases eventually mass populations.

I don't understand any of the programming that makes this blog possible. To me it's as difficult to comprehend as it would be to see a woman on her morning commute wearing Herrera's feather tweed hat. But the fact that programming-dummies like me click at the keyboard, as I'm doing now, is the sole motivator of the experts at MovableType. The consuming public doesn't think about spontaneous orders, but those abstract ideas matter to "how Paris gets fed." Cell phone users don't know the difference between a Becker-DeGroot-Marshak and a Vickery auction, but these made over 200 million cellular subscribers possible.

With fashion, we get a visual on the general relationship between the abstract and the concrete. Tracing ideas "from the catwalk to the sidewalk" offers clues for how ideas matter generally and for social change more broadly. Because fashion ideas enjoy little intellectual property protection, the imitative force is very strong. Many of the design ideas that are now appearing at fashion week will not take long to cascade down through the boutiques, department stores, and eventually big boxes. Even a modest income can afford to have a look that is both in taste and in fashion. Paris gets clothed, too.

Whenever I get the bright idea that I might want to write something, you know really write something real, not a journal article or book that no one cares about, but something interesting that real people might want to really read, I read something by James Lileks, and crawl sheepishly back into my dark cave.*

Check out Lileks' latest about a contest at Freakonomics to create a six-word motto for the U.S.:

Hundreds of snippets of derisive snark. You can picture the satisfied little grins on the authors’ faces; you can imagine the whole tableau – the computer (which most people in the world will never touch, let alone use, let alone own) the TV in the corner connected to a network that has channels catering to every taste, the iPod stocked with music hoovered up free of charge without consequence, the fridge stocked with food – the light comes on when you open the door, too, unless it’s burned out, and then you go to the store and get another one; they always have another one. The soft bed, the coffee machine, the well-fed pet, the vast panoply of free information and unfettered opinion flowing 24/7 from the internet. You can drink alcohol without being sentenced to death; you can be a girl alone in a room with a man without earning a public stoning; you can stand up in a room and argue for the candidate of your choice without being arrested; you stand in a society that allows for astonishing amounts of freedom, comfort and opportunity. But.

*nice run-on sentence dontchathink?

According to a survey of 3000 UK residents taken by UKTV Gold television,

nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real. … 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist. … Meanwhile, 58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed …

Hat tip: Fleeman

When less is more.

Fashion is one of the greatest forces in present-day life. It pervades every field and reaches every class. Fashion leads business and determines its direction. It has always been a factor in human life but never more forceful, never more influential and never wider in scope than in the last decade, and it gives every indication of growing still more important.

I'd bet even the fashion statement-making New York Giants wouldn't guess what year those words were published. The quote is the opening paragraph of the preface of The Economics of Fashion by a Professor Paul H. Nystrom, published in 1928. A decade after the end of war, and nearing the end of a 21-month economic expansion on the eve of the depression. Any recession coming up is likely to be pretty mild historically. Our current expansion is going on 75 months and the one before that was 120. But still. Nystrom's words seem to ring pretty solid today.

Is the fashion industry procyclical? Of course it is. Fashion is a luxury good, so demand for it moves in the same direction with income. Everyone expects a recession. Consumer confidence is down. Job growth is dead in the water. Luxury brands are in for lean times, just like people are expecting lower spending on vacations, cosmetic surgery, and domestic help. So designers are competing for slices of a shrinking pie. But couldn't this easily spur even greater creativity and innovation, so that despite being in an economic slump the fashion cycle is booming? At fashion week, necessity is all that (!), plus the mother of invention.

Certainly, less business will be done than usual, and some designs will be muted, industry experts say. But at the same time, some designers will interpret the financial downturn as an excuse to turn up the fashion excess.... Just when you would think things would be more conservative, there are likely to be more lavish, extreme displays on the catwalk, Aguiar said. "If anything, people will be more desperate to get attention that they think is going to generate business,"...

Does anyone know what spending on fashion is annually, or maybe how cyclical it is?

Had too much stimulus? Not super psyched about football? Then grab your Manolos and give New York's fall fashion week a try beginning Friday through Feb. 8. New York's is the oldest, but dozens of cities globally now have fashion weeks. Wikipedia's list of cities with fashion weeks is good but incomplete. From the official website:

The international coverage of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week shines the spotlight on New York City and the many talented designers presenting on the runways in Bryant Park. Over 100,000 guests are expected to attend, including some 3,000 members of the press and fashion industry from around the world. The journalists, photographers, broadcasters and bloggers convening in the iconic tents, designed this season as a Greco Roman "Temple of Fashion," will bring the Fall 2008 Collections to fashion-lovers worldwide.

Emphasis added... Why should DOL readers care about fashion? I'll take a stab at that with a series of posts in the week to come.

Okay - I admit to a misleading title. The Jan. 23, 1908 NYT reports:

RIFLES FOR SCHOOLBOYS

Congress May Aid Public Schools in Encouragment of Marksmanship

---

It is probable that within two weeks a bill will be introduced in Congress with a view to the encouragement of marksmanship among the schoolboys throughout the country, and supplying them with rifles and ammunition. The bill wil have the indorsement of President Roosevelt, who is known to favor the project...

Shooting is a growing sport among the schoolboys of this State,and the lads have made marked progress in their work during the past two years...

It is clear that any attempt to pass a similar bill today would flame out in about two seconds. However, here is an interesting thought experiment: Would state sponsored marksmanship increase, reduce, or have no effect on school shootings in which students and teachers are the victims rather than paper targets?

[Update: A helpful reader points out that up until 1996 this program existed as the Department of Civilian Marksmanship of the U.S. Army. In 1996, the program was privatized and renamed the Civilian Marksmanship Program.]

From the local fish wrapper,

With corporate and private donors stretched thin, taxpayers might be the best hope for solving the immediate financial problems of the Columbus Symphony.

The symphony is pinning its hopes on a city-county arts package -- dubbed Thrive in Five -- to help eliminate its deficit this year. The fundraising campaign would provide $4 million annually for 16 arts groups -- including $1.2 million for the symphony the first year.

Sigh. At least they're not selling it as an "economic stimulus package".

Btw, welcome back Larry. We all hope you're doing well!

Contemporary threats to punish parents for childhood obesity sound novel and to many a bit of an over-reach by government schools. Yet, perhaps the idea isn't as new as we think.

The Jan. 19, 1908 NYT contains is a story concerning hygiene in the public schools:

This plan calls for the establishment of a Department of School Hygiene under the control of the Board of Education. This department would consist of a corps of physicians and nurses, under the direction of a medical expert skilled in the diseases of children. It would be clothed with the power, according to Dr. Maxwell [City Superintendent], not only to make physical examinations, but to prosecute parents who fail to put their children in proper physical condition to profit by the work of the school.

Prosecute parents? Wow.

Education economists today discuss the "education production function" for which the inputs are the student, her teachers, her peers, and the infrastructure. This is the same intuition being offered in the 1908 plan, that undernourished and otherwise physically unfit children are not efficient inputs to the education production function.

The good Dr. Maxwell (of 1908) offers some reasons for why city kids are not physically fit:

Lack of exercise, city children seldom having to walk more than two or three blocks to school, and having little work to perform about the home that would develop muscles and breathing capacity; crowding in poorly lighted and poorly ventilated apartments, which results in various forms of tuberculosis; lack of space for free play; lack of interesting occupation outside of school hours; excessive noise; lack of sufficient sleep; insufficient or unwise feeding; uncleanly habits of person...

Many of these reasons are now applicable to the suburban dweller as well, except, perhaps, the crowding in poorly lighted and ventilated apartments. After substituting asthma and other respiratory problems for tuberculosis, the list is almost exactly the same as we hear directed towards both city and suburban dweller. How many kids are washing dishes and cutting firewood in the suburbs today?

Dr. Maxwell then points out the effects of these maladies:

These conditions tend to produce various forms of nervousness, lowered vitality, defective eyesight, defective teeth, and probably growths in the nose and throat which restrict respiration and drive the child into reckless mischief and defiance of authority.

Is the nervousness of yesterday the ADHD of today? (Note: Although my two kids are 3.5 and 1.5 yrs old, I have no experience with ADHD) Is the "lowered vitality" of 1908 the "couch potato" or "video game fatigue" of today? Is there evidence that the maladies of today lead to poor eyesight and teeth? If so, then it would seem that after dedicating untold billions of dollars (and the efforts those dollars represent) to these problems, we haven't come all that far.

Dr. Maxwell then proposes the "make an example of somebody" approach to getting the parents in line:

If half a dozen parents were fined or imprisoned for failures, after repeated warnings to provide their children with necessary eyeglasses or to have adenoid growths removed, the example thus set would do more lasting good than any preaching on the subject.

At least he didn't suggest throwing one or both of the parents up against the wall.

I would suggest that Dr. Maxwell's plan was just about 100 years ahead of his time, although perhaps his plan will be implemented for a radically different reason.

From the Jan. 19, 1908 NYT:

The fellow who blows his own horn may come out at the little end of it.

Sometimes fate makes a hero of a man, but he can't always hold the job.

So long as a man isn't miserable he ought to be happy.

Many a man complains that he is misunderstood when he is really unintelligible.

From the Jan. 15, 1908 NYT:

THE CONSTITUTION

Old George the Third of merry fame
Possessed a great Big Stick,
J. Caesar had another one
With which he loved to lick;
O. Cromwell armed himself with one
To smite his fellow-man;
In fact, each tyrant, good or bad,
Had one since earth began.

When this Republic's fathers met
To make a nation free,
They took all big sticks in the world
That were or yet to be;
They ground the wood into a pulp,
A deed of might note,
And on the paper thus produced
The Constitution wrote.

McLandburgh Wilson

Perhaps Mr. Wilson was a bit optimistic?

The Jan 5, 1908, NYT reports on a pending battle in the war on smoking, this time from Germany:

War has been declared by the German medical authorities against the familiar apparatus in use in cigar stores all over the world for cutting off the ends of cigars. It is said to be a prolific source of disease, especially tuberculosis and other infectious maladies whose germs are transmissible.

The danger doesn't lie in the cigars themselves, but in the habit of many smokers who insert the cigars in the little guillotine arrangement after the tobacco has already been in their mouths...

It is proposed that the cutting machines shall either be abolished or the smokers warned of the dangers lurking therein by huge placards hung up in all the places where cigars are sold. The apparatus used in private houses and clubs is described as equally deleterious. [emphasis mine]

It would seem that the personal cigar cutter would be a practical market solution, perhaps they weren't available at the time? Moreover, why weren't customers more demanding of their local tobacconists? I suppose there could be lack of information on the part of consumers, but are we supposed to believe that men (and women?) were generally okay with the status quo?

From the Jan. 5, 1908 NYT:

We never know what we can do till we try, and then very often we are sorry we found out.

The bigger the fish the less necessity for lying about it.

A white lie is seldom as immaculate as it sounds.

The best time for a girl to marry is when the fellow is willing.

The hardest part of knowing some people is to conceal our opinion of them.

A diplomat is a man who doesn't say everything he thinks, or think everything he says.

Adam and Eve, it must be clear, had not a pedigree, and yet from all the tales we hear they had a family tree.

The December 31, 1907 NYT reports a government outrage:

OKLAHOMA CITY - Twenty-three hundred barrels of beer, valued at $17,500 and belonging to the New State Brewery to-day were emptied into the sewers by Internal Revenue Collector Charles Howard.

The brew was completed after Oklahoma became a state. The State would not permit its sale and shipment from the state.

The horror.....the horror.

On January 1, 2008, the state of Illinois will ban almost all smoking in enclosed public spaces, including private restaurants and bars. Moreover, it will be illegal to smoke a cigarette in a car in which children less than 18 years of age are riding (enforcement issues would seem to abound with this one) [more state laws going into effect 1/1/08].

In the December 30, 1907 NYT there was a rather different policy concerning smoking:

On New Year's Eve "all ladies" may smoke cigarettes in any of the rooms of the restaurant [Cafe Martin], at Twenty-sixth Street and Fifth Aveneu, and this privelege may become permanent thereafter, if all goes well. With his shrewd eye on his guests, Mr. Martin will determine whether New York is ready to follow the precedent of Paris and London...

Said Mr. Martin yesterday:

"On New Year's Eve all ladies who come to the Cafe Martin may smoke if they so desire. After this one night I may or I may not withdraw this privelege. Smoking by ladies is never objectionable. The smartest women in New York smoke, so why should puritanical proprietors rule against this mode of procedure any more than against the drinking of cocktails or highballs."

From the Dec. 23, 1907 NYT:

Residents of Newark, N.J. have been made the victims of a Christmas swindle in the last few days. The trick consists of collecting charges on worthless packages. Men appear at houses with bundles addressed to persons living at the addresses, and state that there is a special delivery charge of 50 cents of $1. The amount is nearly always paid without question, in the belief that the package contains a Christmas gift. When opened the box or pacel contains only old papers.

It would seem a) the sender would pay the delivery fee; b) you wouldn't accept a package without some indication about who sent it. Perhaps it was much different one hundred years ago.

From the Dec. 22, 1907 NYT:

According to a special committee of the Board of Education, which is investigation the advisability of restoring corporal punishment in the schools, there is a strong feeling among Superintendents, Principals, and teachers that the use of the rod should be permitted. Of about 1,000 opinions received by the committee, the majority take this view of the question.

Under the present system of discipline it is impossible to maintain order in the schools, say most of the persons from whom the committee solicited opinions. It is recommended by most persons...that the power to punish in this particular manner should be vested in the Principal and regulated by rules.

...Only nine of the thirty-nine largest cities in the country bar flogging from the schools. These nine are New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Jersey City, Louisville, Newark, Charleston, Syracuse, and Toledo.

I wonder about the results of a similar survey given today.

When Baby New Year pops on the scene, what fashion statement will his swaddling garments make? That depends partly on color, at least if we can take seriously this New York Times fashion article, Pantone's Color of the Year Is....

At least one color authority, Pantone, has taken the plunge and announced its favorite color for 2008. [...] In a statement, Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said: “Blue Iris brings together the dependable aspects of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.”

Uhm.... Okay. Somehow I sense that Pantone realized "hey, no one else is doing this" and took the opportunity. Which is cool. But so what?

It's nearly tautological that colors come and go with fashion. But it's empirically interesting to ask which colors and why? For starters, is Pantone actually the leader it's posing to be, or does the designation of blue iris reflect the net leanings of fashion's myriad of tastes and designs?

There has indeed been a surge of blue on the runways in the last year, beginning last February with Raf Simons’s dresses and pantsuits, in an Yves Klein blue, for Jil Sander and extending into the spring 2008 collections with Nicolas Ghesquiere’s explosive floral prints for Balenciaga. Mr. Elbaz used a deep lagoon blue in his spring Lanvin show, and one found lighter but no less robust shades in collections by Marni and Chloé, and in the men’s lines of Prada and Alexander McQueen. Dolce & Gabbana called its new fragrance Light Blue. And JWT, the advertising and marketing company, just named blue as one of the top 10 trends for 2008, saying that “blue is the new green”...

Never mind all the name dropping. I think this is interesting because it suggests (albeit mildly) a catallactic understanding of trends--that trends, like market prices, can be traced to the points where individual actors make choices among alternatives. More on this to come.

Tyler Cowen gives a thoughtful list here. The gist is to learn to evaluate various forms of information, from marketing to information to knowledge to judgment. While Tyler gives some hard suggestions (date foreigners, for example). I would add:

1. Study logic.
2. Join a debate team.
3. Write something everyday.
4. Defy your comfort zones. Practice tolerance, e.g.

If all else fails, remember the song "Not the Sunscreen"by Safran John, opening lines below:

Ladies and gentleman of the class of '98 people often ask me if I have any advice to offer and when they do, I tell them this:

If you're unsure about what you're going to do with your life try to remember some of the most interesting people didn't know what they were going to do at age 22 or even at 40, and nearly all of them are unemployed drug addicts forced to live on cat food. ...

Ahh, the heady 1990's....

The Dec. 15, 1907 NYT has three recipes for "Christmas Cheer." I wonder if any of these really taste all that good?

Egg-nog:

To make a gallon of this eggnog will require a pound and a quarter of pulverized sugar, twelve fresh eggs, a quart of cognac, half a pint of champagne, two quarts of fresh milk, one quart of rich cream, and about a tablespoon of powdered nutmeg. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, then incorporate with them the yokes of the dozen eggs that have already been beaten to a froth. Stir persistently and steadily until the blend is perfect; pour the result into the well-chilled punch bowl.

Punch with a punch?

The "Van Cortlandt recipe" has been constantly used since 1775. It may, therefore, be said to have stood the test of time:

Pour a quart of rare old Jamaica rum into a punchbowl with two quarts and a half of water and enough loaf sugar to sweeten agreeably. Put the peel of three lemons into the mixture and let it remain for about twenty minutes while you stir the ingredients together. At the expiration of this time, remove the lemon peel; let the bowl stand undisturbed for a full half hour; then add a lump of ice and serve.

An "ordinary" punch:

If it is merely an ordinary punch that is to be prepared, however, here is a recipe that has been served by one New England family every Christmas for more than fifty years...

Squeeze the juice of five lemons into the punchbowl, being careful to insert no pips or pulp; add half a pint of water and the same quantity of sugar, and stir until the latter has dissolved. At this moment add three pints of fine whisky, about a third of a jar of Maraschino cherries, with their liquor; a whisky glassful of Jamaica rum, and about three bottles of club soda, or its equivalent in some other carbonated water. While mixing stir constantly that the blend may be perfected. Just before serving add some thinly sliced bits of lemon, and two more bottles of soda to produce an effervescent effect. Although ice may be put into this punch it is better to ice if from the outside.

From the December 15, 1907 NYT (I know, I am reading ahead a couple of days but I am heading out of town until next Monday and I will be off the grid):

Ask a truthful woman what she enjoys most about Christmas, and she will tell you the bargain sales afterwards.

No Christmas present is so worthless that you can't pass it on to some one else next year.

Remember that it is better ot give than to receive - the things you don't want.

Take off the tags. Many a friendship has been severed by the price mark on a Christmas present.

It's all right to pity the poor at this peace-on-earth season, but it is also well to remember that sympathy doesn't fill an empty stomach.

From the Dec. 3, 1907 NYT:

Women who smoke cigarettes in public are still generally accounted vulgar, if not actually wicked, in a land where the prejudices of Puritanism still survive...

No thoroughly sophisticated American woman of good breeding would think of lighting a cigarette in a New York restaurant, because she would know that the men puffing cigar smoke in her face would consider the act unladylike. When you are in Europe you may do as you please...

Perhaps a few years more the last traces of our Puritanism may disappear. Perhaps not. There may be a revival of old prejudices and beliefs. Meanwhile the managers of our hotels are to be commended for prohibiting cigarette smoking by women, because they are acting in accord with public opinion.

Nevertheless, everybody who knows the ways of the world at all, knows that women smoke cigarettes nowadays, and knows also that the cigarette habit is no worse for them, morally or hygienically, than it is for the men. We are no better than the Europeans, and they know it; wherefore our pretenses make them smile.

Customer-based discrimination may have been a reason to ban smoking (at least of women) in 1907, much like it seems to be a reason to ban smoking in 2007. However, the key statement is that the bans were voluntary on the part of the restaurant and hotel managers; the bans were not legislated by local, state, or federal officials.

I would wager that most of today's temperance movements, whether directed toward narcotics, cigarettes, smoking, or trans-fatty acids for that matter, would not admit to "Puritan prejudices." However, the similar outcomes of yesterday and today, i.e., limiting the actions of other people, offer food for thought.

Is there another source of temperance movements beyond "public opinion"? Or has it always been "public opinion" but this "opinion" is "formed" by different organizations or incentives in different eras?

From the Dec. 1, 1907 NYT:

It is said that wealth doesn't bring happiness, but most of us are willing to try the experiment.

Adam looked out for number one, and his descendents have been doing the same thing ever since.

The fool jumps at conclusions, the wise man jumps away from them.

It is hard to preach total abstinence when lemonade costs more than beer.

Many a fellow has fallen in love with a peach, only to discover that fate has handed him a lemon.

Strange as it may seem you can save yourself a lot of trouble by not borrowing any.

An ounce of scare is often worth a pound of advice.

My own daughter is twelve, has a myspace page, and this NYT article scared the $hit out of me:

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo., Nov. 21 — Megan Meier died believing that somewhere in this world lived a boy named Josh Evans who hated her. He was 16, owned a pet snake, and she thought he was the cutest boyfriend she ever had.

Josh contacted Megan through her page on MySpace.com, the social networking Web site, said Megan’s mother, Tina Meier. They flirted for weeks, but only online — Josh said his family had no phone. On Oct. 15, 2006, Josh suddenly turned mean. He called Megan names, and later they traded insults for an hour.

The next day, in his final message, said Megan’s father, Ron Meier, Josh wrote, “The world would be a better place without you.”

Sobbing, Megan ran into her bedroom closet. Her mother found her there, hanging from a belt. She was 13.

Six weeks after Megan’s death, her parents learned that Josh Evans never existed. He was an online character created by Lori Drew, then 47, who lived four houses down the street in this rapidly growing community 35 miles northwest of St. Louis.

I don't say this often, but there oughta be a law. Heck forget the law, this calls for an angry mob with torches and pitchforks.

UPDATE: No I am not joking.

[HT: Al]

An interesting question is posed in an article in the Nov. 23, 1907 NYT:

In an article headed "Breakfast Food and Literature," The Saturday Evening Post supplies an excellent reason for reading the New York Times Saturday Review of Books. Thus the Saturday Evening Post:

Suppose you should see several solid pages devoted to advertising some fifty kinds of breakfast food, and the advertisements were all just like this:

Crisplets
15 cents per package

The color is a deep, rich brown - The Critic
Fresh, invigorating, wholesome - New York Sun
Well cooked, appetizing - Chicago Tribune
One of the best breakfast foods of the season - The Nation

Krinkles
15 cents per package

The color is a deep, rich brown - New York Sun
Not only well cooked, but appetizing - The Nation
Wholesome, invigorating, and fresh - Chicago Tribune
One of the best breakfast foods we have eaten this year - The Critic

Cranklets
15 cents per package

Wholesome, appetizing - New York Sun
Well cooked, invigorating - The Critic
We cannot too much admire the rich, brown color - Chicago Tribune
few of this year's breakfast foods please us better - The Nation

Which breakfast food would you buy?

I have often felt the same about movie and music reviews, as well as whatever the so-called news channels report. Interesting that the problem of relatively homogeneous reviews (perhaps a symptom of a principal-agent problem between publishers and reviewers?), doesn't seem to be a new problem.

A follow up on yesterday's discussion of turkey prices, the Nov. 19, 1907 NYT reports the following prices for Thanksgiving staples (perhaps an undergraduate paper lies in these data?):

Pudding maker sells cans at 22, 40, 50, and 75 cents for one, two, three, and four pound cans.

Canned plum pudding sauce can be bought at 16 and 30 cents a can, large and small sizes.

Mince pies vary in size and price from 75 cents, $1, $1.25, and $1.50. Pumpkin pies are the same price.

Sterilized figs are 25 and 50 cents in one and two pound baskets.

Baskets of stuffed figs and dates are 55 cents, large jars 90 cents.

Assorted glace fruits are 35, 65, $1.75 and $2.50 for half pound, one, two, and five pound boxes.

Apricot glaces are 90 cents and $1.60, one and two pounds.

Cherry glaces are 65 cents a pound.

Prunes stuffed with ginger or walnuts are 50 cents a pound.

Chinese cumquats, little Chinese oranges, are 50 cents a pound.

Crystallized pineapple is 50 cents a pound.

Crystallized strawberries are $2 a pound.

Chocolate maraschino cherries are 50 cents and $1 for half-pound and one pound.

Chocolate cream peppermints are 40 cents of a half-pound box and 20 cents for a quarter pound.

Cream peppermint or wintergreen wafers are 25 cents for a half-pound box.

One dollar in 1907 is approximately $22 in consumer price index adjusted 2006 dollars.

From the Nov. 15, 1907 NYT:

Convicted of selling cocaine without a physician's prescription, Charles W. Hitch, who has a pharmacy at Mott and Worth Streets, was sentenced yesterday to serve six months in the penitentiary by the Justices of Special Sessions.

Hitch was fined twice before in Special Sessions on similar charges. Last December he was fined $75 [$1,659 in 2006] and in April $250 [$5,532 in 2006]...

Health Inspector Masterson testified that on July 26 he bought 25 cents' worth of cocaine at the Hitch pharmacy. This had been analyzed and found to be 99 per cent. pure...

When Hitch was sentenced he turned pale and staggered. His defense was that he was out of town when it is charged the drug was sold.

How times have changed. In 1907, those caught driving an automobile faster than the posted speed limit were immediately arrested, thrown in the holding tank, arraigned, fined (or released on bail), and given the perp-walk treatment, as I have pointed out here and here

A courageous town government steps forward to rescue our culture.

From the Nov. 12, 1907 NYT:

Trinidad, Colo. - Miss Catherine Vosbaugh, who for nearly sixty years passed as a man, died at a hospital to-day.

Miss Vosbaugh was born in France eighty-three years ago. When a young woman she found it difficult to make her way on account of her sex. Adopting men's clothes, she obtained employment as a bookkeeper in Joplin, Mo. this position she held for nine years and then accepted a position in a St. Joseph, Mo. bank.

While in St. Joseph she married a woman, with whom she lived for thirty years as "Charles" Vosbaugh. The two women came to Trinidad two years ago. After the death of the "wife" Miss Vosbaugh worked in various capacities until she became so feeble that last year she was taken to a hospital. It was then that her sex was discovered. But even after her recovery she refused to change her clothing, and continued to wear her masculine habiliments to the end.

Somehow I don't think her sex was "discovered" at the hospital.

I don't know what it all means, except that perhaps the movie "Tootsie" wasn't all that original.

Dennis Miller has a three-hour daily syndicated radio show, which I listen to if I'm driving between 10am and 1pm. On it he’s libertarian some of the time, witty much of the time, but occasionally half-witted when he cheerleads for the Iraq war or Rudy Giuliani.

On Tuesday night, Miller debuted a weekly one-hour sports-themed TV talk show, Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller, on the Vs. cable channel. The first show wore me out, with Dennis on camera for the entire 60 minutes, starting with a 15 minute (!) monologue. (See a more detailed critique here.)

Now come reports that Miller will host a new game show on NBC-TV, "Amne$ia". No more than once a week, I imagine. But still, with all this on-air time, how many hours a day will the poor man have left to watch old movies and vintage TV shows? How will he continue to keep his obscure pop-culture references fresh?

From the Nov 3, 1907 NYT :

Lots of us won't listen to advice unless we are giving it.

True dignity doesn't stop at a frock coat and a high hat.

Enthusiasm doesn't accomplish much without a certain amount of hustle.

In politics it's the man who sells his vote who is corrupt, not the man who buys it.

Many a man secures a place in history as an also-ran.

Another list of quips from the same issue:

Graft and the world grafts with you.

Silence might be golden but you can't always convert it into cash.

A man has to have a certain amount of wisdom to realize what a fool he is.

From the October 27, 1907 NYT:

In society many a bud blossoms into a wallflower.

Life is a game of chance in which the cards are often stacked.

Perhaps Justice is blindfolded because she so often gets a black eye.

The smaller the bribe the greater seems to be the disgrace.

Love knows no law, unless we except [sic] the mother-in-law.

From the Oct. 20, 1907 NYT:

The man who thinks twice before he speaks doesn't do a great deal of talking.

Some people are so refined they object to even having common sense.

Many a fellow has become all tangled up in a string of lies.

The first requisite of a good husband is a good wife.

One foot in the grave is worth two in the same place.

A man is known by the company he keeps and the friends he gives away.

A few of the days I did not get a chance to read the NYT from a hundred years to the day contained the musings of the anonymous "gentle cynic." Here are a few of his/her(?) better quips:

Sept. 1, 1907

The girl who marries a man to reform him is generally spoiling a good husband for some other girl.

It may be true that wealth doesn't bring happiness, but most of us only know it from heresay.

Some actors get fabulous salaries and some get imaginary ones. There's a difference.

An optimist is any man who thinks it might have been worse.

Money talks, but lots of us only hear the echo.

A man may speculate in wheat without having a grain of common sense.

Sept. 8, 1907

Luck won't overcome laziness.

There are times when we are also thankful for what we don't get [wasn't there a country song about this?]

Some men are so versatile that they never know which side they are on.

Few of us get what we want, but most of us get what we deserve [wasn't there another song about this, okay substitute "need" for "deserve"?]

Wine is a mocker, especially when you haven't the price.

Egotism is always willing to work overtime without extra pay.

Sept. 15, 1907

When you have a chance to get something for nothing, look carefully for the concealed price tag.

Perhaps silence is golden, because it is so scarce.

Many a fellow will stand up for himself even when he has to lie to do it.

October 13, 1907

The trouble with an ideal is that after we attain it we are always looking around for another.

Some of us descend from our ancestors, and some of us rise above them.

In the New York Times today, Charles Taylor reviews Anupama Chopra’s new book King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema. As Taylor notes, it’s remarkable that a book on a foreign movie star, virtually unknown in the US outside the South Asian community, is being published by a major US press (Time Warner).

Taylor writes: “At the moment no one represents Bollywood more than Shah Rukh Khan. It’s not just that this epitome of Hindi cinema is a Muslim, which makes Khan an unusual star. Part leading man, larger part buoyant goofball, Khan looks something like the offspring of John Stamos and Jerry Lewis.” I agree with the first and third sentences. But a Bollywood star being Muslim isn’t so unusual. It's less unusual than (say) a Hollywood star being black. Consider just the list of other leading men surnamed Khan: Aamir, Feroz, Saif Ali, Salman, Sohail, Zayed.

This is a matter of taste, but I think Taylor also errs in calling SRK’s most famous film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), “wonderful”. It’s a sappy romance with far too much mugging by Khan and pouting by his co-star Kajol. The most vital films in Bollywood, for my money, are the gangster flicks.

Anupama Chopra was the author of Sholay: The Making of a Classic, a well-written book that I had to import from India (via eBay). Even though I’m not a fan of SRK, I look forward to being able to buy her new book domestically.

There will soon be another O. J. Simpson trial. He is going to plead not guilty on all charges. Get ready for a huge shift in what the American public debates talk about.

No, not, freak show Michael Jackson--beer hunter Michael Jackson:

“He was simply the best beer writer we’ve ever known,” said Tim Hampson, chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers. “He told wonderful stories about beer, breweries and far away places. He told the story of beer through people, and he was humorous and erudite at the same time,” Hampson told The Associated Press.

Jackson especially loved Belgian brews. His books “The Great Beers of Belgium” and “World Guide to Beer” introduced them to many export markets, including the United States.

By identifying beers by their flavors and styles, and by pairing them with particular foods and dishes, Jackson helped give birth to a renaissance of interest in beer and breweries worldwide that began in the 1970s, including the North American microbrewery movement.

His TV documentary series, “The Beer Hunter” — which popularized his nickname — was filmed around the world and shown in 15 countries.

He worked as a beer critic for more than 30 years, writing in newspapers and gastronomic magazines, holding seminars and giving speeches, appearing on U.S. talk shows and writing books about beer and whiskeys published in 18 languages.

Jackson knew he would never be as famous as Michael Jackson the rock star, and that was reflected on the beer critic’s Web site. “Hello, my name is Michael Jackson. No, not that Michael Jackson, but I am on a world tour. My tour is in pursuit of exceptional beer. That’s why they call me the Beer Hunter,” it says.

HT: Kara

The New York Times reports that Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, son of 1960s Bollywood stars Sunil Dutt and Nargis, was sentenced to six years today for his conviction on illegal weapons charges from 1993. Dutt obtained the illegal weapons from Muslim gangsters who were setting off terror bombs in the city of Bombay. He said he was worried about defending his family against Hindu rioters who were targeting Muslims in retaliation for the bombings (his mother was Muslim). After a long trial Dutt was convicted of the possession charges in November 2006, though cleared of involvement in the bombings.

Dutt rose to stardom playing gangsters in such (recommended!) movies as J. P. Dutta’s Hathyar (1989) and Mahesh Manjrekar’s Vastaav (1999). In recent years (out on bail pending conclustion of his trial and sentencing), his biggest hits came playing a gangster who becomes a medical student in the comedies Munna Bhai, MBBS (2003) and its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) (I haven't seen either one). He also played a gangster named Munna Bhai in the (not recommended!) comedy Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (2002), a Bollywood adaptation of Hollywood’s Analyze This.

Man v. Wild star Bear Grylls is under fire for faking parts of his show including staying in hotels on some occasions when he's supposedly been out in the wild.

There's also some questioning about his real service in the "British Special Forces", his being airlifted off Everest after his successful summit, and some of his survival advice.

From the July 24, 1907 NYT:

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress receive many strange requests from their constituents, but probably the most curious one ever received came to a representative from Minnesota recently from Capt. J. F. Allen of St. Paul. Capt. Allen asked the member to look up his arm, which he had lost at the battle of Antietam.

Capt. Allen learned that the surgeon who performed the operation had preserved the member and sent it to the Army Medical Museum. Capt. Allen expressed a desire to have a photograph of the arm, and as he was a very influential man in the district, the Congressman instructed his Secretary to make an investigation.

The arm of the Captain was found at the museum in an excellent state of preservation and a photograph was forwarded to Capt. Allen.

From the July 23, 1907 NYT:

PRESENT LITERARY DEMAND From the London Times:

The demand for all kinds of reflective writing is now very small, and the vehicles for such writing are diminishing in number. The paying public of to-day want to be told how to do things, where to go, what to read, how to dress and behave, and how to keep string in a string box; in short, how to do the things which their parents did every day of their lives by common sense and mother wit. At present it is indifferent to essays and poetry and every kind of pure literature.

I spent all day (12 straight hours) reading the book yesterday. My wife read it all day Saturday. We spent most of the evening going over the twists and turns.

Now the kid has it but will take a few days I'm sure for her to finish it.

All this for $35!

Frankly I feel guilty that J.K. Rowling didn't get more from us--we would've paid much, much more! Bottom line: She deserves every penny she has. Maybe I should send her some more money? Nah.

Toy ovens + children = burned fingers. Who would have suspected?

As I relocate to the Charlotte, NC area, this story from the July 17, 1907 NYT caught my attention:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The trial of twenty citizens of Anson County, this State, charged with lynching J.V. Johnson, a white man, which was begun yesterday at Monroe, continued to-day.

Miss Alice Bogan, daughter of the Sheriff, resumed her testimony, detailing how the mob broke into the jail on the plea of having a prisoner to commit, how they seized and held her father, took the keys to Johnson's cell from him, released Johnson, and, after tying him with ropes, dragged him down the road to the point where he was lynched. She positively identified several of the indicted men as being members of the mob.

One wonders how the world would respond if a story similar to this one from the July 17, 1907 NYT was to occur today:

Returns of deaths from the plague in India show the appalling total of 1,060,067 for the six months ended June 30. The monthly total is at present decreasing, however, the death roll for June being placed at 69,064.

The total for the first six months of 1907 already surpasses that for the entire twelve months of 1904, when 1,022,000 persons died. It is the highest ever recorded previous to the present year.

Whilst Larry spent his weekend doing the Hookie Lau, I spent several hours myself at the Origins International Game Expo here in Columbus.

Once upon a time I was into board wargames (especially Squad Leader) but haven't played in years. Still it was great fun to see all the new games and game systems that have come out in recent years.

By the way, if you want to feel normal and socially well-adjusted I suggest a few minutes at a gaming convention.

I spent the weekend in Chicago absorbing some culture, specifically Polynesian decorative arts and the indigenous folk music of Southern California. In other words, tiki collectibles and instrumental surf music. The occasion was a music fest called Exotica 2007. 2 bands / 3 sets on Friday night, 8 bands / 9 sets on Saturday, 2 bands / 2 sets on Sunday. Exhausting but fun. Highlight was Saturday night’s headlining appearance by the legendary Trashmen (of “Surfin’ Bird” infamy). For “gramps with amps” they sounded great!

The July 6, 1907 NYT reports:

The Lusitania, the new liner of the Cunard Line, has been carrying out her experimental trials this week. The results are regarded as extremely satisfactory. The steamer twice covered a measured mile in 144 seconds, giving her a speed of 25 knots. Considering the fact that the Lusitania was not running under full pressure and has still to be dry-docked, her performance is considered remarkably promising.

Tie a quirky flavor variation on a well-known candy bar to a revered dead celebrity? Yes! It’s the new Reese’s Collector Edition Elvis Peanut Butter and Banana Creme Cup!

Elvis, as every pop-culture otaku knows, loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Collect all four Collector Edition packages: Leather Jacket Elvis, Crooning Sweater Elvis, Vegas Jump Suit Elvis, and Hawaiian Lei Elvis!

The June 30, 1907 NYT has the following story:

A newspaper published in Suffolk has somehow become the vehicle of a discussion of the Rev. Mr. Campbell's so-called new theology. It seemed as though every man and woman in England who could write had turned theologian and was sending letters for publication in this paper. The editor got very tired of these effusions, but did not dare say he would have no more of them. His wife told him what to do, and now there is a notice running in his paper that whoever wishes to express his opinions on the new theology must pay five shillings an opinion, the money to go to a local hospital. It is almost needless to say that the hospital is not getting rich.

Now that's a smart wife...

From the June 30, 1907 NYT:

In some circles a gentleman is a man who gets drunk with a dress suit on.

He who has implicit faith in his fellow man is apt to lose that faith with his umbrella.

We all appreciate the good things of life; but few of us want to be the "good things."

The egoist is the first to recognize egotism in those who pay no attention to him.

A man is a failure when he is willing to sell his experience for less than he paid for it.

There's a lot of difference between what we think we know and what we know we think.

When a fellow has money to burn, it is natural for the rest of us to make light of his fortune.

Old friends are like old shoes. They are very comfortable, but we are sometimes ashamed of their shabbiness.

From the June 24, 1907 NYT:

Can you explain why Mark Twain, while visiting London to accept a complimentary degree from Oxford University, whould consider worth while to make such a spectacel of himself as he appears to have done by appearing in the foyer of one of London's best hotels in bath gown and slippers...As a reasonable American I should like to know what treatement would be meted out to any Englishman behaving in a like manner in the Waldorf-Astoria or Astor Hotel. Every newspaper in the city would howl its indignation at the insult offered our beautiful city, especially if it it occured, as it has done in London, during the season. Is it any wonder our manners are sometimes called into question.

Today, we celebrate such behavior. Oh, how times are changed.

From the June 23, 1907 NYT:

It's the things we don't get that often make us happiest.

We are often accused of not listening when we really have no reason to listen.

From the June 16, 1907 NYT:

It's always the under dog that yells for fair play.

The man who nurses a grievance must expect it to grow.

Every man is entitled to his opinion, even the weather man.

The minute a man begins to feel that he is popular, he becomes a bore.

Don't try to convince the mother of a first baby that we are all born equal.

The June 8, 1907 NYT reports on an early attempt to kill "Jim Crow":

Whether railroads have the right, under the law, to provide separate cars for white and colored passengers in Inter-State traffic practically is the question which was argued to-day before the Inter-State Commerce Commission.

The case was that of Georgia Edwards against the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway Company...The complainant alleged that on Aug. 31, 1906, she purchased a ticket from Chattanooga, Tenn. to Dalton, GA.., and was compelled by the defendant company to ride in an inferior coach, popularly known as a "Jim Crow" car, although on the same train white passengers were permitted to ride in first-class coaches....

In the hearing of the case it was asserted by the railroad company that the facilities afforded the passengers in the car set apart for the negro passengers were equal to those in the cars set aside for white passengers, although not necessarily identical.

I am so glad that I did not grow up in a Chattanooga (and country in general) characterized by such blatant racism, although the practice surely still exists today. The whole separate but equal argument was such a farce it is amazing to me that it worked for so long. How much further along would we have been if Georgia Edwards was remembered the same way as Rosa Parks?

From the June 8, 1907 NYT:

There are people who could help more by giving less advice.

You can take many a man's measure by pints and quarts.

When a woman needs sympathy, cry with her; when a man needs it, swear with him.

A pessimist is merely a man who expects to get the worst of it sooner than the rest of us.

The trouble with the truth is that most of us are too polite to tell it.

A man convinced against his will will have to be convinced all over again the next time you meet him.

Don't worry about what the world thinks of you. The world has several billions of people to think about.

Given our advantage of historical perspective, stories from 100 years ago in the New York Times often merit a little extra interest based on who is being described in the story - a few days ago I mentioned a baseball story with the headline claiming that Cy Young had beaten St. Louis.

In the June 6, 1906 NYT:

The Brothers Wright, whose negotiations for the sale of their airship to the German Government were announced exclusively in the cables of the New York Times, left Paris to-day for Berlin to conclude arrangements for the construction of a number of airships.

It is understood that they will be paid $10,000 for each machine constructed by them.

In 2005 dollars, that's $250,000 each.

From the June 2, 1907 NYT:

We are constantly adding wings to our castles in the air.

The cost of experience is generally money well invested.

The trouble with the average bread-winner is that he wants cake.

There's a lot of difference between forgetting what we ought to know and knowing what we ought to forget.

When a man likes to be different from other people, the other people are generally quite satisfied to have him so.

The root of all evil seems to thrive in any soil.

It is when duty calls that we are apt to send word we are out.

It isn't until a man lives to learn that he really learns to live.

Besides gathering no moss, a rolling stone gravitates down hill.

Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30 until 1971. May 30, 1907 was a Thursday, whereas May 31, 2007 is a Thursday. Therefore, the May 31, 1907 paper reports on those activities that took place on the day of the week if not the day of the month as in 2007.

Now that I have confused everyone, two articles concerning the 1907 Memorial Day celebrations were noteworthy.

The first concerned activities south of the Mason-Dixon:

RICHMOND, Va. - The twelfth annual reunion of the Confederate Veterans began here to-day. Gen Boiling called the convention to order. Gen Stephon D. Lee was the presiding officer and delivered his annual address.

The session adjourned at noon for the unveiling of the equestrian statue of Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. The parade started at 2 P.M. and was a brilliant pageant.

The second concerned activities north of the Mason-Dixon:

Nearly sixteen thousand men, soldiers and sailors, veterans of three wars, regulars, militiamen, and cadets,, marched in review along Riverside Drive before General O.O. Howard yesterday, constituting the annual Memorial Day parade of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was a great parade...notable, too, for the decrease in the number of veterans...

Interest in the parade ebbed and flowed, the crowd growing enthusiastic when the Seventh and the Twelfth passed, all the time waiting for the veterans, for they, of course, were the real attraction of the day. When the hove in sight round the turn of the drive there was a buzz of expectancy and whispers: "Here they come."

So they passed along, the old and grizzled soldiers of the civil war, post after post. In some ranks there were less than a score of men and no post had very many...But as they passed the crowd stood and cheered, seemingly realizing more than ever the purport of the whole idea of Memorial Day.

From the May 28, 1907 NYT:

Next Thursday is Memorial Day, and if you will permit me, I would like to express a little sentiment regarding the day and its observance through your columns...in an attempt to rouse a little more thought and patriotic zeal in the reverence and honor which all true Americans should feel for the American soldier, and especially for those gray-headed veterans who are yet with us of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Last Memorial Day I was struck with the absence of cheering and of enthusiasm when the veterans of one of the greatest wars in history marched past, bearing their tattered battle flags, torn by shot and shell, and stained with the blood of some of the finest, bravest, manliest men whom God has seen fit to place upon our earth.

When next Thursday comes and the street is echoing with the step of marching feet, the beat of the drum and call of the bugle, let all of us rend the air with cheers to make those blue-clad veterans realize that, although forty-two years have dawned since their leader said "Let us have peace," that we have not forgotten them who at the call of the Nation left the desk, the forge, the plow in the furrow, left mothers, sisters, sweethearts, and went willingly forward to the Nation's altar to offer their own bodies as a living sacrifice that this Nation should live, and that we are not ungrateful or unmindful of their unselfishness and sacrifice.

Yet a little while, a score of years at most, and they will no longer be with us; therefore unto the fathers of our Nation render what is of a right theirs, the appreciation of another generation who as yet have not tried, but if the time comes, pray God, as they were not, we shall not be found wanting.

CADET SERGEANT MAJOR.

From the May 26, 1907 NYT:

Even wisdom may be only skin deep.

All men are equal - till they are found out.

Many a fellow sows his wild oats and reaps a grass widow.

A wise woman never quarrels with her husband till after pay day.

The worst thing about common sense is that is it so unfashionable.

No search warrant is necessary in looking for trouble or finding fault.

File this in the "things never change" drawer.

In the May 25, 1907 NYT is this nugget:

There is no prejudice in this country against honestly acquired wealth, however large - Judge William J. Gaynor, speaking in Kansas City.

That has been said thousands of times. It may have been true once. It is not true now, and the phrase might just as well be dropped from the formulas of declamation and agitation.

The LA Times brings back culinary memories for those of us who spent four years in the Westwood area on a grad student's income.

Hat tip: Craig Newmark.

You know the lyrics: “Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me …”. But did you ever stop to wonder: how can anyone be expected to play a song melody on a tambourine?