News That Stays News

What’s the matter with Kansas? March 31, 2011

1. In Slate Bill James has an article about why we don’t develop young writers as well as we develop young pitchers. He begins by considering a demographic point I’ve always been curious about:

The population of Topeka, Kan., today is roughly the same as the population of London in the time of Shakespeare, and the population of Kansas now is not that much lower than the population of England at that time. London at the time of Shakespeare had not only Shakespeare—whoever he was—but also Christopher Mar­lowe, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, and various other men of letters who are still read today. I doubt that Topeka today has quite the same collection of distinguished writers.

From Emerson’s Self-Reliance: “to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.”

2. The language of the King James Bible, from the obituaries editor of the Economist in More Intelligent Life.

3. The city of Chongqing (municipal population: 31.4 million) in Western China appears to be ruled by an outspoken & charismatic reformer, Bo Xilai, and a gangster, Weng Zhenjie. Could theirs be a mutualistic relationship?

4. Emails from the men in the cockpit at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant.

5. Paul Allen has some grievances with Bill Gates left over from his time at Microsoft. An excerpt of his book popped up in Vanity Fair– it provides a pretty curious look at Microsoft’s early days.

Finally, a photo:

Microsoft in the early days. Paul Allen is at the bottom right. I’m not sure who Bill Gates is, but I suspect bottom left. Via the WSJ.

Credits: The Browser