Containerization

Economist Marc Levinson previewed his new book, The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger (Princeton Univ. Press, 2006) in a column in this morning's Financial Times (April 25, 2006, 17). This sounds like a "must read" for those interested in the history of business, technology, and globalization.

Anyone interested in this topic should also keep an eye out for a forthcoming book by Shane Hamilton, asst. prof. at the University of Georgia and a former undergraduate of mine, on truck drivers and the post-WWII food economy.

Another try

So my efforts last year to be more concise and therefore more regular in blogging failed abysmally. Also, like so many others, I've been completely overwhelmed by email for the last year.

Techno-twit that I am, I am now trying out a new technological fix to both problems: an amazing little Windows Mobile-based smartphone called the HTC Universal, made by a Taiwanese company. I have Cingular's version of it, simply called the Cingular 8125. Amazing is an understatement. (The screen doesn't actually swivel; it slides. But who cares, given its other capabilities.)