In my column today, I dilate on “the tribalist mind.” (I use the word “dilate” in honor of WFB, from whom I heard it a fair amount: “Dilate on that, would you?”) I end with some golf and some language. Find that column here. Mail?
Yesterday, I noted the passing of Robert Solow, the famed economist who taught at MIT (along with other famed economists). I quoted Alan S. Blinder, one of Solow’s students, who teaches at Princeton: “All his former students idolize him — all, with no exceptions.”
A reader writes,
Jay,
Thank you for including Blinder’s comment in your column today. I had a number of left-leaning professors at MIT. Lester Thurow asked me to leave his class, rather than be questioned about his views. In Franco Modigliani’s class, students booed me when I questioned the professor about HillaryCare. I slept through Paul Krugman’s class. But Solow? Wow. Just wow. Yes, I idolized him. He taught an advanced macro class that was immeasurably engaging.
In a post, I talked about Michael Wooldridge, the computer scientist at Oxford (and an authority on artificial intelligence). The first computer he ever owned, he told me, was a Sinclair ZX80.
A reader writes,
That was the first computer I owned as well, before upgrading (rather massively) to an Apple II Plus. The Sinclair was fun. It had a bubble-membrane keyboard (which could only do uppercase and some alternate BASIC commands) and a whopping 1K of memory, which I managed to exceed in writing a trivia-quiz program. . . .
I want to say it was like $199, which was a lot more in 1980 than it is now, obviously, but for technology in those days it was very inexpensive. And it kind of looked like a toy.
In 1980, Senator Bob Dole was a candidate for president. He had been the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 1976. In 1984, he was not running, because the Republican incumbent, Ronald Reagan, was running for reelection. Plus, Dole had the handicap of having me as an intern in his office. Mainly, I answered constituent mail.
Why in the world am I bringing this up? Because I received an e-mail from a reader who lives in Iuka, Kan. In 1984, I got to know a lot of Kansas towns, because I was answering mail from the senator’s constituents. Iuka, I had never heard of, and I was intrigued by the name.
Population 151, in Pratt County. Named after a Civil War battle: the Battle of Iuka, in Iuka, Miss., the seat of Tishomingo County. The population of the Mississippi town is 3,028. Named after an Indian chief.
Let me end on a note from Poland. I have a correspondent who lives in Gdańsk. He says he is feeling more hopeful these days. His city has just commemorated the Jewish Ghetto. (To read a news article about this, go here.) He sends along a few photos from the ceremony:
