Tbe Rough Beast

It's Here

Bridge over the Seine behind Notre Dame Cathedral. Lovelocks. Return to Underbelly.

Who Said It? Too Intellectual

That would be Jean-Luc Mélenchon, flanking the socialist frontrunner from the left, as quoted in the newspaper Le Monde.  The speaker continues: 

Then he held up some sheets of paper and announced: "I will do something we never do in a meeting:   read you a passage of the greatest populist novel, that of Victor Hugo, Les Misérables." And now, before this enchanted audience, the great writer's words revive the rioters of 1793: "those bristling men who in the early days of revolutionary chaos, ragged, howling, ferocious, the bludgeon raised, the pike high, rushed on the old Paris in an uproar ...

In the original: 

"On m'a dit que mon problème avec vous, c'est que je suis trop intellectuel..., a-t-il commencé. J'ai répondu que je ne l'étais pas assez. Car le peuple est bien plus cultivé que ne le croient les puissants, et lorsqu'il ne l'est pas il aime quand même les belles choses..." Puis il a brandi quelques feuillets et annoncé : "Je vais faire quelque chose qu'on ne fait jamais dans un meeting : vous lire un passage du plus grand roman populiste, celui de Victor Hugo, Les Misérables." Et voilà que, devant ce public enchanté, les mots du grand écrivain ont fait renaître les émeutiers de 1793, "ces hommes hérissés qui, dans les jours génésiaques du chaos révolutionnaire, déguenillés, hurlants, farouches, le casse-tête levé, la pique haute, se ruaient sur le vieux Paris bouleversé..."

Back to the question here.

Who is the Lucky Child?--Answer

"Luck" is, as always, relative.  The answer is Tony Judt, who died last year after a heroic struggle with Lou Gehrig's disease.  The quotation comes from a stunning memoir by his wife, Jennifer Homans, free content in this week's New York Review of Books.  For a dialog between Tony and his 15-year-old son, go here.

"Remembering" Alton B. Parker

He was the Democratic nominee in 1904, the only Democratic nominee in 16 years who was not William Jennings Bryan.  Wiki reminds us that he lost to Theodore Roosevelt.  Wiki calls it a "landslide," but in terms of electoral votes, it was only 336-140. which to Alf Landon and George McGovern would appear almost a squeaker.    I remember him only because I tend to remember things like "the most forgettable president in the 20th Century."    But can he truly hold his ground against Dukakis?  Can't say for sure, but Alton B. Parker never let Willie Horton out of jail, and never pretended to drive a tank.

How Many Do You Recognize?

They are all winners of The Economist's annual innovation awards, though how anyone could match this record of achievement every 12 months is beyond me.  I deliberately left of Jeff Bezos as too obvious; also Steve Jobs who gets a (posthumous) 10-year award. Hard to say who is the most visible among the remainder; perhaps Paul Buchheit, Google's "Employee #23," who has his fingerprints on both AdSense and Gmail.  For raw improvement of the human condition, I'd have to give top marks to Koska, whose non-reusable syringe is credited, per the E, with saving 5 million lives since 2001.  I can hear Saint Peter now: I don't se anything interesting on your resume.  Oh, wait...

Who Said It (Economic Man)?

The answer is Frank H. Knight, capo di tutti capi among freshwater economists--and in so many ways a far more subtle thinker than so many of his successors.   It's the opening paragraph of The Economic Organization (1933), famous in folklore as the default alternative to the textbook he never wrote.  Folklore has it that Knight's sketch formed the framework for early editions of Paul Samuelson's textbook.  For a discussion, go here.