A review of “Lafayette: The Lost Hero” (PBS)

“If War should break out between France and Great Britain, during the continuance of the present War between the United States and England, his [French] Majesty and the said united States, shall make it a common cause, and aid each other mutually with their good Offices, their Counsels, and their forces, according to the exigence of Conjunctures as becomes good & faithful Allies.”

“In order to fix more precisely the sense and application of the preceding article, the Contracting Parties declare, that in case of rupture between France and England, the reciprocal Guarantee declared in the said article shall have its full force and effect the moment such War shall break out … ”

– Articles 1 and 12 of the “Treaty of Alliance Between The United States and France” (6 February 1778)

Fellow Americans tend to remember the American Revolution as a time of heroes. The names of Franklin, Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison are known widely in this country. And for many Americans, the Marquis de Lafayette is right up there in the pantheon with these Founding Fathers, even though he was obviously not an American himself. As you may know, he was born a Frenchman, and was a citizen of France throughout his life. He never sought to obtain American citizenship, and was highly patriotic to France. Why, then, is he remembered with such fondness by so many Americans today?

Marquis de Lafayette

A review of “The Dark Ages: An Age of Light” (BBC)

The Early Middle Ages are today remembered as the “Dark Ages.” The art historian Kenneth Clark made this argument in his landmark documentary series “Civilisation.” His first episode is entirely focused on this period, and he concludes that this period was essentially uncivilized. The History Channel documentary entitled “The Dark Ages” also makes the case for these being “Dark Ages.” For example, they point to the lack of literacy and education in the Early Middle Ages. But there have been others, such as Waldemar Januszczak, who have argued that it is a much-maligned age. They point to the fantastic art of this period, as evidence that it is more sophisticated than people thought. This is the case that Waldemar Januszczak makes in this film.

Which interpretation is correct? To a large degree, they both are. I don’t believe that we have to choose between them. The fall of the Western Roman Empire left utter chaos in its wake, and this chaos does indeed define parts of the Early Middle Ages. But it would be a mistake to throw out the baby with the bathwater, as they say. There were islands of civilization even in the Early Middle Ages. More to the point, Waldemar Januszczak seems to be correct that there was fantastic art in this period, which cast doubt upon the most extreme interpretations of the “Dark Ages.”

Waldemar Januszczak, the presenter of this series

What college majors are best for entering the finance field?

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.”

– The greatest Albert Einstein quote that Albert Einstein (most likely) never said

The short answer is that there are five college majors that are particularly helpful for going into finance. These are: mathematics, statistics, economics, accounting, and (of course) finance.

Benjamin Graham, whom some consider to be “the father of investing”

What should I study to go into marketing research?

I should preface this by saying that I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a Concentration in Marketing. I don’t have the kind of personality to succeed in the sales end of marketing, but I never really intended to do that anyway. Rather, I wanted to go into marketing research, and apply my analytical personality to studying consumer behavior.

I believed that doing social sciences might be more appropriate for my personality, and studied marketing with this goal in mind. But for various reasons, this did not work out, and I ended up doing something else instead. Nonetheless, I do have some basic education about the subject, and might be able to advise people about what to study to enter the field. I have some inside information, at least with regards to formal education.

A review of Ken Burns’ “Horatio’s Drive: America's First Road Trip”

“♪ He'd have to get under—get out and get under—to fix his little machine
He was just dying to cuddle his queen
But ev'ry minute
When he'd begin it
He'd have to get under—get out and get under—then he'd get back at the wheel ♪

♪ A dozen times they'd start to hug and kiss
And then the darned old engine, it would miss
And then he'd have to get under—get out and get under—and fix up his automobile ♪”

– “He'd Have to Get Under – Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile),” a Vaudeville hit from 1913

Some journeys are epic, and done for “serious” reasons – such as frontier exploration, political diplomacy, and scientific discovery. Other journeys are not serious at all, and are done more on a whim. “Horatio's Drive” was in the latter category. In the summer of 1903, Horatio Nelson Jackson undertook the first cross-country automobile journey across the United States. It turned into a race, whose prize was nothing more than bragging rights. The cars broke down many times along the way, and they had to wait for supplies to arrive by train at times. Horatio Nelson Jackson brought along a mechanic named Sewall K. Crocker, and his pet pit bull Bud. There were also letters to Horatio's wife Bertha Richardson Jackson back at home. For reasons unknown to history, he called her “Swipes.” Tom Hanks acts as the voice of Horatio Nelson Jackson, adding his talents to the film.

Bud, Jackson's pet pit bull

A review of Ken Burns’ “Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio” (PBS)

Sometimes these three men were friends … At other times, they were cutthroat business rivals

The filmmaker Ken Burns became famous when “The Civil War” came out in 1990. At the time I write this, “The Civil War” is still the most popular program ever shown on PBS. But few today know about another program that he later made, which came out in 1992. The film that I refer to is, of course, the film “Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio.” Although the subject is a bit obscure, it’s actually much more interesting than one might assume from this fact. It’s a biography of three different men (all very interesting), who helped to create the industry of radio. They were pioneers in the invention of a new information and entertainment medium. Some of them were even friends and colleagues with each other in earlier years, but some of them were cutthroat business rivals and bitter enemies later on. This film is thus a bit like doing twin biographies of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, as Ken Burns does in “The Civil War.” But with one exception, no one died in this market competition between these three businessmen; although that doesn’t make it any less dramatic. (The person who did die, incidentally, was one of these three men – I shall not say which one – when he jumped out of a New York City window to fall 13 stories to his death. This suicide was brought on by his being beaten at the game of business, and thus driven to some amount of poverty and ruin.)

What is “Blackstonian property”?

“There is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property; or that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe.”

– Sir William Blackstone's “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (1760's), Book 2, Chapter 1

When William Blackstone wrote his “Commentaries on the Laws of England,” he dedicated the entire second volume of this work to property law. He titled this volume “Of the Rights of Things” – that is, the right to own things as property. One of the very first things that he says in the opening chapter of that volume is that “There is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property; or that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe.” (Source: Book 2, Chapter 1) This is one of the most famous passages in the “Commentaries.” Today, this definition is sometimes referred to as “Blackstonian property.” But right after that, Blackstone said something else that some might take to contradict that. Does it really do so? I shall examine this question below.

Sir William Blackstone