Nathanael D Snow

Forty or fifty years ago the size of families tended to be a little larger. Sure, there was less birth control, but people also seemed to want to have more kids than they want today. Smaller families are a luxury good, like clean water and air. Half a century ago futurists dreamed of agricultural methods that would produce huge vegetables, genetically modified, on minimal land capable of feeding multitudes. Today we eschew genetically modified foods, etc. in favor of organic foods, even when we have no naging reason for doing so. Organic foods, are indeed a luxury good, just check their prices.

Indexed shows us all how it ought to be done, a must read for every into econ student. Nod to Cafe Hayek .

I'm now helping some Ap Micro students. This is our blog.

My good friend Br. Chris Coucheron-Aamot has written a wonderful paper on Justin's Apology . I thoroughly enjoyed every word of it, but especially appreciated this paragraph. Philosophers then contain some truth, but can't be wholly trusted. They are like witnesses who can be trusted in a few areas, but not in others. This is consistent with the paradigm of a legal defense: one doesn't ask an expert witness questions that are outside of his area of expertise because he is not authoritative outside of his area of expertise. Philosophers, then, are authorities on matters that can be deduced from the world by properly applied exercise of the intellect without the benefit of special inspiration. These matters can be surprising, such as the Stoic belief in the destruction of the world, or Menander's comedy against the worship of crafted idols. It seems like much of that truth which is learnable is accessible through Reason; the exception being truth that concerns the nature...

Thomas Sowell provokes us to ask: are you greedy? If I offered you $100 right now would you take it? What if I offered you $200? Well, shucks, looks like you are greedy. Or maybe you just aren't stupid. What about me, the guy offering you the money, am I greedy? Am I stupid? Which brings us to Sowell's point, "Why do other people choose to pay corporate executives so much?" Because there's a competitive market out there for guys who can earn companies millions of dollars, and as long as the wage doesn't exceed diminishing marginal returns it will be paid. He goes on to remind us how it is that we all got so wealthy, by specializing in those activities in which we enjoy a competitive advantage.

The Wall Street Journal has had a short series of op-ed pieces by CHarles Murray discussing education this past week here , here , and here . Similarly, Newmark's Door linked us to a couple of essays by Arnold Kling. One quote, " My recollection from my career in government and business is that written communication skills still matter. Out of over 100 students in my class at George Mason, no more than a handful could function in any capacity in a job that required writing a memorandum. Over half of the students are utterly incompetent when it comes to grammar and syntax." This is why some of us will always be able to get a job. Together these articles mean that some people are just smarter than others. I could never be a quantum physicist. Well, maybe I could. But there are lots of people I know who couldn't, and shouldn't even try. All this struck terribly close to home at the beginning of the school year. The younger younger Snow (to borrow from Mungowitz)...

Walter Williams latest here. My favorite part: The kind of rules we should have are the kind that we'd make if our worst enemy were in charge. My mother created a mini-version of such a rule. Sometimes she would ask either me or my sister to evenly divide the last piece of cake or pie to share between us. More times than not, an argument ensued about the fairness of the division. Those arguments ended with Mom's rule: Whoever cuts the cake lets the other take the first piece. As if by magic or divine intervention, fairness emerged and arguments ended. No matter who did the cutting, there was an even division.

You may have seen this one already. But now you need to see this.

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school for my daughters. Teacher asked them to bring in 100 things to count. This was fun, and it gave me an idea for all you out there. Find 100 things in your house that you can do without. Stuff you don't want back. Put it in a bag. Then throw it in the trash. Repeat. Variation: Trade bags with someone else. Throw it in the trash. Repeat.

Banks, Libraries, Post Offices, and the Stock Markets were closed today. Federal employees had the day off in rememberance of President Ford. Who gave them the day off? I suppose the Prsident did, but who do all these people work for? Supposedly you and me. Did you give them the day off? Did I? Did they get the day off with pay or without? If it was with pay, were they required to use one of their vacation days? If not, will I get a refund for 1/365.25 on my tax bill? I think not.