Tim Burke’s new blog is up and running. With comments!!

Who said that women don’t like smart debate? Check out “Jane Galt’s” excellent responses to my post on poverty in Sri Lanka.

Family History My dad, who isn’t supposed to be reading this blog, sent in a correction about my great-grandfather’s employment.

You’ve melted together Grandpa Norton and Grandpa McKenna. Grandpa Norton, of the spaghetti rows, went on to a fulfilling career as a bellboy, a “knocker” in a Chicago slaughterhouse, a paving-gang boss, and, capping it off in his 80s, a janitor in a wire-drawing factory. Grandpa McKenna was the one who ran the train through the station a number of times before they fired him; he later became a stationary engineer. They both drank, but Grandpa McKenna was a binge-drinker while Grandpa Norton kept to it steadily. Love, Dad

If you have a subscription to Atlantic Monthly, you can read more about Grandpa Norton here.