Newmark's Door

Two on car names

"Ten Most Optimistic Car Names Of All Time".

"How Carmakers Play the Name Game".

Toddler won't fall asleep . . .

. . . so Dad gets very creative.

But then Dad gets stuck.

Two more "best of 2009" lists

"The Top Internet Memes of 2009". (If you haven't seen the baby dancing to Beyonce--#5--it's a treat.)

"The Ten Most Innovative Viral Video Ads of 2009".

"The View from the Seven Highest Mountain Passes on Earth"

Saves us the time and trouble of actually going.

"A Former Investment Banker Analyst Falls Back on Plan B"

From McSweeney's. Short and funny.

Bureaucrats, politicians, and dopey managers of all kinds . . .

. . . Scott Adams continues to have your number.

Think you're a big shot?

Think your life has Large Meaning? Using data gathered by the Wide Field Camera aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers now estimate that the observable universe contains "about 100 billion galaxies".

We're, all of us, pretty small.

But "Where Are They?"

Darn good question.

There are an estimated 250 billion (2.5 x 10¹¹ ) stars in the Milky Way alone, and over 70 sextillion (7 x 10²² ) in the visible universe, and many of them are surrounded by multiple planets. . . .

The odds of there being only one single planet that evolved life among all that unfathomable vastness seems so incredible that it is all but completely irrational to believe. But then "where are they?" asked physicist Enrico Fermi while having lunch with his colleagues in 1950.

"The Redemption of Billy Cannon"

This I believe: on any given day, almost anybody can be redeemed.

Should public schools accept advertising?

One education professor doesn't think so.

Longtime educator Todd DeMitchell has a dark vision: He can see the day Staples has its logo splashed across school flooring it helped fund, or when Nike's trademark swoosh looms over the entrance of a high school's "Nike Gymnasium," or when "McLectures" take place at schools benefiting from the fast-food company's advertising. . . .

He calls it the "Googlization" of public education, reasoning that, like Google, schools can find themselves providing students with something they don't pay for while marketing them as a captive audience to deep-pocketed advertisers. . . .

But even more than that, he said commercializing schools calls into question a "societal shortcoming and shortsightedness" that strikes at the heart of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared education the most important function of government. 

I wouldn't want advertising to appear on tests. Otherwise, I don't yet see any reason to oppose it.

More sad, scary news about state finances

Brought to us by Mish Shedlock:

"Pennsylvania Teachers' Plan Will Blow Up In 2012".

"Sales Tax Revenue Plunge in Texas".

"The Decade's Hottest Colleges"

According to Kathleen Kingsbury at The Daily Beast.

USC (CA) ranks #1. NC's own Elon College ranks fourth.

"The Duct Tape Programmer"

Joel Spolsky tells us about this admirable gentleman:

". . . you’re not here to write code; you’re here to ship products.”

Something you didn't know about 9/11

Sigourney Weaver:

I volunteered to serve food to the workers at Ground Zero after 9/11. There were dogs trained to find living people. The people who worked with the dogs became worried because the day after day of not finding anyone was beginning to depress the animals. So the people took turns hiding in the rubble so that every now and then a dog could find one of them to be able to carry on.

Richard A. Epstein on the Reid Bill

Professor Epstein supposes, for the sake of argument, "that Congress has the power under the Commerce Clause to pass comprehensive regulation of health care in this form". He argues, however, that the Reid Bill has serious conflicts with Fifth Amendment protections.

He concludes ". . . there is also little doubt that its central arrangements are unconstitutional, and will face serious legal challenge for years to come."

Cry havoc and let loose the . . . lawyers. 

"The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S."

Subhead: "Spend more. Get less. We’re the city that knows how."

Amazing, amazing story about San Francisco. You won't know whether to laugh or cry. But I'm putting it on the reading list for one of my courses.

It's time to face facts: San Francisco is spectacularly mismanaged and arguably the worst-run big city in America. This year's city budget is an astonishing $6.6 billion — more than twice the budget for the entire state of Idaho — for roughly 800,000 residents. Yet despite that stratospheric amount, San Francisco can't point to progress on many of the social issues it spends liberally to tackle — and no one is made to answer when the city comes up short.

The city's ineptitude is no secret. "I have never heard anyone, even among liberals, say, 'If only [our city] could be run like San Francisco,'" says urbanologist Joel Kotkin. "Even other liberal places wouldn't put up with the degree of dysfunction they have in San Francisco. In Houston, the exact opposite of San Francisco, I assume you'd get shot."

. . . .

Finding books in the library is easy: There are logical, organized systems in place. Finding where the money to build libraries went — that's hard. Last year, the Civil Grand Jury could not find — we reiterate, could not find — up-to-date budget numbers for the city's Branch Library Improvement Program. The numbers that were available aren't pretty: Voters approved a $106 million bond in 2000 to rebuild 19 libraries, and $28 million more was ponied up by the state and private donors. That money was spent without a coherent building plan being formulated between the Library Commission and Department of Public Works — leading to such large cost overruns and long delays that the commission abandoned five of the projects. In 2007, the city went back to the voters, asking for another $50 million for libraries — without publicizing that this would fund the five unfinished projects voters had already paid for. Voters approved it. After all, who doesn't like libraries?

Be sure to see the sidebar, "San Francisco’s Annals of Incompetence," too.

A much better alternative to "The People's Romance"

I've been interested for a while in why some people are so deeply enamored of Huge Government. Probably the best explanation I've come across is Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions. But another explanation that appeals is one offered by Daniel Klein in "The People's Romance". Briefly, Klein argues that many people treasure participating in large groups that are working toward some "big" purpose. Government, Klein concludes, seems to offer them that .

When I saw this story, about how New Orleans this year is loving--loving--the Saints, I thought: if only we could give every city an excellent sports team. Wouldn't that be much cheaper--and much better for human liberty--than huge government?

Don't applaud, just send me money.

(The story was quite nice and worth reading, even if my idea has some unfortunate workability problems.)

Where do you even begin? Maybe you describe the couture shops that have replaced the latest fashions on the storefront mannequins with Saints T-shirts? Maybe you tell how vampire novelist and native New Orleanian Anne Rice, never much of a football fan and now living on the West Coast, recently ordered a Drew Brees jersey with "Anne" on the back. Maybe you use numbers: 84 percent of the televisions in town were tuned to the recent Monday night game against the Patriots. Maybe you use bizarre trends, such as an NOPD cop telling me the 911 calls almost stop when the Saints play and there's been only one murder during a game this year.

"Kill these job-killers"

Charles Lane of the Washington Post(!!) writes:

Here's a thought: Instead of trying to "create" jobs by tweaking this tax break or increasing that spending program, why not stop doing things that destroy jobs?

First among his suggestions is to "End federal protectionism and price supports for sugar".

I support that 110%.

"What Happens When California Defaults?"

Bill Watkins speculates, and it ain't pretty:

The worst case would be the mother of all financial crises. According to the California State Treasurer’s office, California has over $68 billion in public debt, but the Sacramento Bee’s Dan Walters has tried to count total California public debt, including that of local municipalities, and his total reaches $500 billion. Whatever the amount, the impact of default could be larger than the debt amount would imply. Other states – New York, Illinois, New Jersey, for example – are in almost as bad shape as California, and they could follow California’s example. The realization that a state could default would shock markets every bit as much as when Lehman Brothers failed. Given the precarious state of our economy and the financial sector, another fiscal crisis would be disastrous, with impacts far beyond California’s borders.

"Princeton's Victory Over Grade Inflation"

The author thinks Princeton's success could be replicated. I'm not optimistic.

What is needed most -- but is probably in shortest supply -- is strong leadership from the top. The kind of successful grading reform that has taken place at Princeton is probably only possible if a university president, provost, or senior academic dean takes the initiative and shows an extraordinary level of resolve. Such is not the stuff of which most academic administrators are made, even at the elite institutions. But the path will at least be more easily traversed now that Princeton has shown the way. If one or more of the other Ivy's begins to fall in line, something like a bandwagon effect could take place that will encourage others to follow suit. I wouldn't bet the farm on it happening, but we can always hope.

"Top 6 Hangover Cures"

As they say on the car ads, your mileage may vary.

"20 Mind-Blowing Celebrity Houses"

See how modern royalty lives.

U2, Fergie, and Mick

Doing a fine version of "Gimme Shelter" at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert.

(I haven't watched it all, but so far, I think U2 and Buddy Guy submitted the best performances.)

SI's 2009 Sportsman of the Year . . .

. . . is Derek Jeter. A nice story. (Evidently Jeter contrasts sharply with some other folks in the news recently.)