Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Popular Culture, Social Commentary

Remembering Borders

13 Comments

Like Ann Arbor native Jay Nordlinger, I remember when there was just one Borders, and what an amazing place it was in the seventies. I wasn’t shocked that it became a chain, though I wondered why such a chain would have just happened to have started in the town where I went to school. But the owners didn’t have the foresight of Jeff Bezos, and anticipate the future. But even if they had, it’s not clear that they could have saved the brick and mortar. Even the best buggy-whip manufacturers didn’t survive the advent of the automobile. Like, Jay, though, I wonder how we will be able to browse on the Internet, and how to capture the scents and the social experience of discovering a wonderful book for which you hadn’t been looking.

Michigan native (and resident once again) John Miller has more thoughts, as does Rich Lowry, with some relevant commentary on creative destruction and the moribund stasis of government bureaucracies.

[Update a while later]

Many commenters note, both here and at the links, that Borders committed suicide by losing touch with what made it attractive in the first place, so it wasn’t even one of the better buggy-whip makers. It’s also worth noting that some of the carriage makers survived into the auto age by adapting (e.g., Fisher Body in Flint and later other places as part of GM, and Studebaker).

Political Commentary

Complete Lack Of Self Awareness

No, this doesn’t pass the laugh test.

The sad thing is, one laughs so one doesn’t cry. They really think that this is a reasonable argument. I hope that the judge actually laughs while turning them down.

Seriously, what kind of political dementia would imagine that the purpose of the judiciary is to ensure a results-oriented outcome for a political party, when the Constitution doesn’t even recognize political parties? The same sort, one suspects, that drive most egalitarian impulses of leftists. As long, of course, that some are more equal than others.

Business, Economics, Mathematics, Social Commentary

Non-Intuitive

23 Comments

A few years ago, on a Delta flight, I noticed that the airline was boarding people in the middle first. I asked the flight attendant about it, and he said that studies had shown that it was faster than back to front, which surprised me, because the latter had always been conventional wisdom and industry practice. Now, American claims that, based on simulations, random boarding is better yet. I’d be interested to see a plausible explanation for this, if true.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

It’s A Feature, Not A Bug

2 Comments

…Steny:

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) said on the House floor last night that if the balanced budget amendment Republicans are supporting is ratified and included in the Constitution it would make it “virtually impossible” to raise taxes.

Gee, wouldn’t that be awful? Does he really think this helps his case?

There are actually a lot of problems with the BBA, but this isn’t one of them.

Economics, Education, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Academic Bubble

4 Comments

Is it about to burst? Given the degree to which it’s been driven by government money, and the coming fiscal meltdown, I’d say so.

…consumers seem to be reading the cues in the marketplace.

An increasing number of students are spending their first two years after high school in low-cost community colleges and then transferring to four-year schools.

A recent Wall Street Journal story reported that out-of-staters are flocking to low-tuition North Dakota State in frigid Fargo.

I went to community college my first two years before transferring to Ann Arbor, where I picked up all the basics for engineering — calculus, physics, chemistry, etc. I’m convinced that I got both a cheaper and better education there than those who were freshman and sophomores at Michigan, based on their descriptions of their classes (giant lecture halls taught by grad students for whom English was a second language). But I missed out on a couple years of the “college experience.”

[Update early evening]

The bubble will pop this decade, and here’s one reason why.

[Bumped]

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!