Megan McArdle's remarkable new book proves what we all know inherently about the U.S. identity -and which Michael Barone conveniently reminds us of: Americans learn to succeed by learning from failure; perseverance and motivation matters; @MichaelBarone, @asymmetricinfo

Megan McArdle's remarkable new book proves what we all know inherently about the U.S. identity -and which Michael Barone conveniently reminds us of: Americans learn to succeed by learning from failure; perseverance and motivation matters; @MichaelBarone, @asymmetricinfo

My mother sent me an interesting email this morning from Central Florida about author Megan McArdle's new book because she heard her interviewed today on the Diane Rehm Show, which as I've mentioned many times here previously, I listened to every weekday for 15 years when I lived and worked in the Washington D.C. area from 1988-2003, but less so since returning to South Florida 10 years ago.
When I read her email, I recalled that Michael Barone had written something positive about it recently, below.

Many years ago, probably the late '90's, there was a huge storefront window display on the ground floor of a large office bldg. on K Street & 15th in Washington where a client I did work for frequently had an office.
It's the Southern Railway Building in the Federal Triangle area of D.C. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/5176785130/ 

It featured some red, white and blue bunting and had numerous photos of Abraham Lincoln -whom I'm distantly related to via the Holmes family- and consisted of a list of the number of times that Lincoln ran for elective office -and lost.
Lost over-and-over and then some.
But he kept persevering -and he learned from his mistakes.

Wish I'd had both a top-quality camera and a blog back then, so I could share the photos of that display with you here!

You can hear Megan McArdle discuss her book here:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-02-17/megan-mcardle-side-down

Americans learn to succeed by learning from failure http://t.co/ihAxHaqGk8
— Michael Barone (@MichaelBarone) February 5, 2014

Washington Examiner
POLICY: ECONOMY
Americans learn to succeed by learning from failure
BY MICHAEL BARONE 
FEBRUARY 5, 2014 AT 5:00 PM

America succeeds because Americans fail and forgive. That's the intriguing message -- or part of it -- of Megan McArdle's new book The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success.

McArdle, a Bloomberg blogger and columnist, stands out among economic writers, and not just because she’s the only woman among them who is 6-foot-2. She combines a shrewd knowledge of economics and practical experience with a writing style that every so often segues into comedy monologue.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/americans-learn-to-succeed-by-learning-from-failure/article/2543527

More from Megan McArdle at @asymmetricinfo:
https://twitter.com/asymmetricinfo

You also might want to check out one of my all-time favorite books, The Corporate Steeplechase: Predictable Crises in a Business Career by Srully Blotnick, from 1984.
More insight into business, human behavior and personality types than you'll read just about anywhere.
http://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Steeplechase-Predictable-Crises-Business/dp/0871968401/ref=la_B001HOF9T0_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392663618&sr=1-4

The historical inaccuracies depicted in Steven Spielberg's much-lauded film "Lincoln" DO matter, even if screenwriter Tony Kushner claims they don't, and besides, don't we know he's got artistic license; Contrast with John Ford's "Young Mr. Lincoln" with Henry Fonda; Kushner needs to take his lumps like a man for his own mistakes and stop whining about being picked-on

criterioncollection YouTube Channel: Henry Fonda on Young Mr. Lincoln - Henry Fonda describes working with John Ford and playing Abraham Lincoln. Uploaded December 4, 2012. criterioncollectionhttp://youtu.be/c7dj36eo4Vc

The historical inaccuracies depicted in Steven Spielberg's much-lauded film "Lincoln" DO matter, even if screenwriter Tony Kushner claims they don't, and besides, don't we know he's got artistic license to say things that are NOT true; Contrast with John Ford's "Young Mr. Lincoln" with Henry Fonda; Kushner needs to take his lumps like a man for his own mistakes and stop whining about being picked-on

TheWrap
Tony Kushner to Congressman on Inaccuracy: 'Lincoln' Is Drama, Not History

By Alexander C. Kaufman

Published: February 08, 2013 @ 9:11 am

Tony Kushner hit back on Friday at a Connecticut congressman who complained about historical inaccuracies in the Oscar-nominated "Lincoln," saying his factual tweaks added to the film's drama.

On Tuesday, Democratic Connecticut Rep. Joe Courtney wrote an open letter to director Steven Spielberg, about the inaccuracies. In the film, two congressmen from his home state vote against 13th Amendment and two voted for -- but  archives in the House of Representatives show that the entire Nutmeg State's delegation said "yea" to the abolition of slavery.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/tony-kushner-factual-inaccuracies-lincoln-added-drama-76826

So you mean the J.L. Chamberlain of Gettysburg fame wasn't really a woman that looked like Rachel McAdams? Damn them!


Meanwhile, later yesterday afternoon...


The Washington Post

Joe Courtney gets in spat with Tony Kushner over ‘Lincoln’, 

Posted by Rachel Weiner on February 8, 2013 at 3:03 pm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/02/08/joe-courtney-gets-in-spat-with-tony-kushner-over-lincoln/

When he did 'Young Mr. Lincoln' with Henry Fonda, director John Ford did NOT engage in a multi-month, multi-media publicity tour around the world to pat himself and his production team on the back when telling journos about how much time and care the crew took to be as historically accurate as possible. 

He acknowledged that his awesome task in bringing to the screen a telling snapshot of the early history of such a legendary man would inevitably require incorporating some aspects of the Lincoln legend as well, and he was more than willing to do so to help paint the larger picture. 

So that's what he did.

This scene is fiction:

Young Mr. Lincoln -- (Movie Clip) Blessed Are The Merciful
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/347152/Young-Mr-Lincoln-Movie-Clip-Blessed-Are-The-Merciful.html

Ford made no excuses for that, and audiences well-understood that when they entered the theater in 1939 to see the film, that it was not a scrupulously-footnoted treatise, rather it was an honest attempt by a very talented director and cast to make better known the character traits of a beloved and martyred American's early life, so they'd better appreciate and understand the later actions and difficult choices he made once elected president in 1860 of a country about to come apart at the seams.

Contrast that with what we have all witnessed with the marketing of this film, Lincoln. 

That's the difference right there -false advertising. 

Be what you want to be, but don't keep patting yourself on the back and taking bows for going the extra mile when it's not honestly earned.

Watch Young Mr. Lincoln in its entirety above at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJKWguqabUU

Might I strongly suggest that anyone planning on doing a Revolutionary War pic anytime soon -not that there is one- avoid the temptation to rewrite American history as has been done here, and have someone other than Caesar Rodney of Delaware be the person depicted as the sickly delegate to the Continental Congress who rode by horseback for 80 miles to get to Philadelphia.

After all, Caesar Rodney's vote in Philadelphia was as important as the ones cast by Adams, Jefferson or Hancock, but outside the Mid-Atlantic states, few people know of his important role in creating the Declaration of Independence, since he wasn't known as an orator.
But guess who's on the U.S. quarter representing the State of Delaware?
And in Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol building?
Caesar Rodney.

Why?

The reverse was designed and engraved by William Cousins.

Because once there, Rodney -and Delaware- cast the DECIDING vote to make the Declaration of Independence more than just words on a piece of paper, but a living, breathing document.

That's why he's the person on the U.S. quarter representing the State of Delaware -and in Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol building.

http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/national-statuary-hall-collection/caesar-rodney


Then as well as now, one brave person can make a positive difference.

And isn't that the whole point of the new film?

Americans and film-goers around the world who do NOT know the true facts about certain aspects of U.S. history, for instance, the vote depicted in 'Lincoln,' will believe what they see in the film. 

I know this because I received an object lesson in this first-hand while visiting Stockholm for over a week in January.
While there, I had a chance to speak to some very well-educated and well-informed people at a social gathering, who at one point mentioned that they'd recently seen the film and liked it very much.

http://www.sf.se/filmer/Lincoln/

Those particular movie-goers, along with many others around the world and across the U.S., believe the film to be the gospel, in large part because of the high caliber of the people associated with the film, starting from the top.

It wasn't my intention to rain on their parade, but I felt that since they seemed pretty bright, they'd appreciate knowing the truth.
But when I told them that there were, in fact, some inaccuracies in the film, they told me that "Spielberg would never do that in a film about a real person" and looked at me angrily.

There's your problem in a nut-shell -facts do matter.

Tony Kushner got caught. 

He needs to take his lumps like a man for his own mistakes and stop whining about being picked-on.

Alonso Duralde at TheWrap: 'Lincoln' is Steven "Spielberg’s finest work in decades"; Daniel Day-Lewis radiates integrity; Opens nationwide in U.S. on November 16th, opens in U.K. in January

LincolnMovie video: Lincoln Trailer. Uploaded September 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/qiSAbAuLhqs

TheWrap

'Lincoln' Review: Riveting Tale Separates the Man from the Monument

By Alonso Duralde

November 7, 2012

There are few dramaturgical tasks as difficult or as thankless as telling the life story of a Great Man (or Woman), particularly when that historical figure has become the sort of legendary icon featured in national monuments and on currency.

Reads the rest of the review at:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/lincoln-review-riveting-tale-separates-man-monument-64136?page=0,0

International trailer

Reminder: Film is 150 minutes long, so don't drink a lot before or at the theater.

Trivia: Both of Abraham Lincoln's parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, had

a father named Abraham!

Hmm-m...

The Daily Mail

Still a silver fox: Daniel Day-Lewis keeps his Lincoln look post-filming... as he shows off his grey hair on lunch date

By Kimberly Dadds

PUBLISHED: 05:43 EST, 7 November 2012 

UPDATED: 06:52 EST, 7 November 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2229087/Daniel-Day-Lewis-shows-grey-hair-steps-lunch-following-wrapping-Lincoln-biopic.html

And for you regular readers of the blog, what have I had written at the top of this blog since Day One?
"Trust me when I tell you, this part of Florida is NOT the Land of Lincoln."

-----

Official website: http://www.thelincolnmovie.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/lincolnmovie

http://www.lincolnmovie.org/

Mayor Joy Cooper's inexplicable emails are just the tip of the iceberg in HB, as Comm. Ross & Comm. Sanders seem never to have even heard of email...

Above, 1923 three-cent U.S. postage stamp featuring president Abraham Lincoln.

Hallandale Beach is NOT the Land of Lincoln in any way, shape or form.

-----

BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes

Almost-Great Ideas

Hallandale Beach Mayor Not Exactly Forming Coherent Responses to Constituents

By Matthew Hendley

August. 25 2011 at 12:42 PM

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/08/joy_cooper_hallandale_beach_mayor_continu.php

More egregious than even Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's chronic and well-known syntax and spelling problems, described above, is something that is NOT even remarked upon in the Broward NewTimes article but which in my mind is even more contemptible -the complete disconnect that two of the HB City Commissioners, Dorothy "Dotty" Ross and Anthony A. Sanders, have with the majority of the community that DOES pay attention to what actually happens in this ocean-side town, and at HB City Hall in particular.

In fact, most pay far more attention and are far more engaged than either of the two commissioners themselves, who on and off the dais evince the persona of sleepwalking people looking for a bed to crawl back into.

In Hallandale Beach, it might well be easier to find an authentic letter written in the hand of Abraham Lincoln than it is to find a single letter or email from Ross or Sanders responding intelligently or with any sense of understanding to a constituent/neighborhood's concerns.

I know from personal experience and from listening to my friends complain for years that Ross and Sanders simply do NOT respond promptly by email, either intelligently or any other way.

It's as if computer email was never created in the first place and we're all still using the Pony Express.

But we aren't, are we?

No, we aren't.

Likewise, since 2008, neither Ross or Sanders meet -individually- at regularly-scheduled meetings that they host themselves with residents and business owners in venues where the public is welcome, as is the case with Comm. Keith London.

Why not?

If you were them, wouldn't you want to know fairly regularly what residents in your city think?

It seems like the most obvious thing in the world, but they are clearly afraid to do so.

Personally, I suspect that it's because Ross and Sanders can NOT satisfactorily answer questions themselves that are put to them by HB citizens, and most of my friends share this same belief.

They need City Manager Antonio or his staff whispering the answers to them.

But they're his boss, NOT the other way around.

The other thing that's completely obvious to anyone coming to a HB City Commission meeting for the first time is that both Ross and Sanders lack ANY discernible curiosity at all, and are perfectly content to say very little when a lot of questions and more accountability are precisely what's required.

They are simply NOT up to the job.

It's very disheartening to see that at least two of the five elected people sitting on the dais are completely disconnected from reality when there are SO MANY other people in this ocean-side community that are fully capable of sitting there and taking their position of authority seriously.

And fully capable of showing more attention, of being better prepared for the public meetings, and, most of all, of demanding more of themselves.

Combined, that means a more energized City Commission demanding more serious and frequent answers from staff and Dept. heads instead of the prattle that so often masquerades as information exchange at Hallandale Beach City Hall, mortifying citizens like me and my friends.

The City Commission's job is NOT to be everyone's pal and to tell every single city employee that comes before them what a great job they're doing.

Clearly, a lot of them are doing a completely inadequate job, and we can all see the results of that ineptitude and lack of attention to detail all around us.

It's everywhere.

So why did Ross and Sanders run for office if they are not prepared to perform the necessary tasks expected of them, including occasionally meeting with constituents and answering their questions?

The seats of both Ross and Sanders are up in November of 2012 and in my opinion, both have very, very little to point to in the way of positive accomplishment or active engagement with the whole community to commend them.

And in Sanders' case in particular, his ridiculous and self-serving intimation that HE is THE representative of NW Hallandale Beach, is both galling and a canard.

Perhaps he has to believe that in order to go thru the motions or walk around town, I don't know, but in this small city of under five square miles, all city commission members are At-Large.

Yet Sanders has amply demonstrated thru both action and word that he has VERY LITTLE active interest in anything going on in the city east of U.S.-1, which is where most of the city's population is located.

Whether it's the longstanding mess at the public beach under the mis-direction of the city's DPW Dept. under John Chidsey, Mayor Cooper's anti-democratic Golden Isles overlay plan, NE's longstanding objections to Ben Gamla, etc, etc.

He was AWOL on those important issues just like Ross was AWOL from two months of meetings so far this year.

Ross is not running for re-election and Sanders is clearly pinning much of his hopes for re-election on a repeat performance of the 'Obama effect'.

Both of them have been solid and consistent votes for the crony capitalism that has plagued HB City Hall for years under Mayor Cooper, where taxpayer money and resources have been regularly squandered, with little positive to show for it, and genuine opportunities to noticeably improve the Quality of Life here have been blown left-and-right.

They both have got to go if this community is going to be anything like what it ought to be already, given its location and resources.

Instead, it continues to stagnate with incurious and disconnected people at the helm, golden opportunities slipping thru their fingers everyday.

-----

For more fascinating images of Abraham Lincoln, see these at the Indiana Historical Society's website:

http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOBOX1=Lincoln&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=all

And 150 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln became our 16th President and changed history forever...

United States Post Office -1923 Abraham Lincoln 3-cent stamp

------

2009 Bicentennial Lincoln Penny

Lincoln educating himself while working as a rail splitter in Indiana.

------

Lincoln Addresses the Nation

By The Editors of the New York Times,

March 4, 2011

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/lincoln-addresses-the-nation/

-----

And on this 150th anniversary, here in Broward County, the people that still control power, the puppets and the strings are lobbyists and land development lawyers.
Sadly, corrupt Broward County is still NOT The Land of Lincoln.
Just like I say at the top of my blog.


excerpt from a May 25m 2008 email of mine:

What's been the central point that everyone been going on and on about over the past 18 months regarding Doris Kearns Goodwin's award-winning Lincoln biography,Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
http://www.doriskearnsgoodwin.com/team-of-rivals.php ?

That Lincoln wasn't afraid of putting very ambitious and capable people in his cabinet. People who had said terrible things about him and who'd actively sought to deny him the Republican nomination. He put the interests of the nation above his own.

-----

The Atlantic
Channeling, But Not Exactly Paralleling, Lincoln's Trip
By Marc Ambinder Posted: 17 Jan 2009 09:18 AM CST

PHILADELPHIA, PA --
The land of Lincolner embarks this morning on a 20th century version of Abraham Lincoln's dozen day trek from Springfield to Washington ahead of his inauguration.

Lincoln spoke more than 100 times during the train trips, often tailoring his remarks to his audience, and even more often, surprising his political handlers by provocatively challenging Southern secessionists.

In Steubenville, Ohio, just across the river from Virginia, he remarked that Virginians were entitled to their rights, but only the people collectively could express those rights.

Elsewhere, he spoke mainly of the country's Constitutional binds.

At Cooper Union in New York: "I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, this Constitution and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle."

Lincoln, visiting Philadelphia and Independence Hall: "I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence."

Ironically, the Philadelphia to Baltimore trek was canceled at the last minute because Allan Pinkerton's intelligence indicated that Lincoln would be gunned down as he entered Baltimore's Calvert station. So Lincoln improvised, leaving Harrisburg, PA in the dead of night, hopped aboard a passenger train, crammed into a back seat, slid through Baltimore at 3:30 in the morning, head down, wearing a "gentleman's shawl," and arrived in Washington, D.C. the next day at 6:00 a.m.

Lincoln's caravan was fairly short: three cards and a locomotive. Historian Harold Holzer writes that Lincoln's compartment was flecked with patriotic flourishes, "warmed by modern heaters," lit by candles, had four "cozy" reading chairs and a black walnut table. The wall paneling was "curled maple" offset by zebra wood, gilt moldings and plush furnishings. The locomotives were called "The Union" and the "Constitution."

The national railroad superintendent personally supervised the trip along the "Great Western" tracks. All other trains had to give the right of way. Security, until Philadelphia, was light.

All the big journalists of the time accompanied him; journalists had ready access to Lincoln's car.

http://www.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/channeling_but_not_exactly_par.php

FYI: The paternal side of my family is based out of the same Steubenville, Ohio mentioned above in Marc Ambinder's essay, and they were there before Ohio was a state, and was part of the Ohio Territory.

Paternal ancestors of mine living then -along with the rest of Steubenville- saw Lincoln when he arrived and spoke on his way to his Inauguration, and some of them were later part of the volunteer force who made the Underground Railroad a reality.
Among them were some relatives of Lincoln's, since our own family is connected to the Lincoln family thru their Holmes connection, of early 18th-Century New Jersey and earlier, 17th-Century Rhode Island.

One of those Holmes descendants and ancestor of mine was a man that I've referenced here before on the blog, who, during the Revolutionary War, served as a spy for General Washington and the Continental Army against the British.

Twenty-plus years earlier, in 1755, when he was MUCH younger, he marched with Washington and British Major-Gen. Edward Braddock, commander-in-chief of the British Army in North America, on their famous ill-fated Expedition from Alexandria (VA) to take French-controlled Fort Duquesne on the forks of the Ohio River, in what's now present day Pittsburgh.

They ultimately failed in their efforts and Gen. Braddock and many other were killed, but some, including my ancestor and Washington, survived to make their way home and, yes, live to fight another day.

For his service to the fledgling country in their war with Great Britain, he was awarded acres of land in the distant Ohio Territories, in an area that is now a few miles north of Steubenville and Jefferson County.
Three-hundred years later, many of his descendants still make that part of Ohio, near Pittsburgh and across the Ohio River from West Virginia, their home -my father's hometown.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X58RPS665V0

For more information:

http://www.in.gov/lincoln/
http://www.lincolnindc.com/
http://www.abrahamlincoln200.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braddock%27s_Expedition

Perfect film casting? Aussie as Honest Abe? Maybe says Jeff Sneider in TheWrap: Eric Bana as "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"

Above, 1923 Abraham Lincoln three-cent stamp

But Eric Bana won't be starring in Steven Spielberg's historical film "Lincoln," which was originally going to star Liam Neeson as the 16th U.S. president, but which will now feature Daniel Day Lewis, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443272/ but rather in a very different sort of film, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051509/

Here's the exclusive story with casting Bana as Honest Abe as I came to learn it last Thursday in my daily First Take email from Sharon Waxman's savvy Santa Monica-based entertainment industry news site, TheWrap, http://www.thewrap.com/
And you know how I love Santa Monica!

The Wrap
Exclusive: Eric Bana Circling 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'
By Jeff Sneider
December 16, 2010 @ 11:52 am

EXCLUSIVE
Hollywood may be looking to continue to outsource the role of Abraham Lincoln.

British Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis was recently set to play the 16th President in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," and now another foreign import is being eyed to play Honest Abe.

Australian actor Eric Bana is circling the title role in 20th Century Fox's big screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" TheWrap has learned.

While Bana hasn't landed the coveted role yet, he's scheduled to meet with director Timur Bekmambetov soon, and is certainly in contention for the part.

Read the rest of the exclusive story at
http://www.thewrap.com/deal-central/column-post/exclusive-eric-bana-testing-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-23294

The last time we saw Daniel Day Lewis in buckskins was 1992's The Last of the Mohicans, which I've seen about a dozen times.
Hope DDL wears some as Abe!



-------

Eric Bana's upcoming film is Joe Wright’s Hanna, co-starring Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett, which opens in the U.S. on April 8th, 2011.

As you can see for yourself below, the trailer really grabs you from the get-go!



Hanna (2011) HD Official Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bucFp1tQ0z8

"Sometimes, children are bad people, too." -Marissa Wiegler

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993842/maindetails


TheWrap YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/thewrapnews

Why does Google honor Charles Darwin's bicentennial today instead of and/or Lincoln's?

What I see on my Google screen on February 12, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. :

		Advanced Search Search Preferences Language Tools

I could certainly live with them running something today for both Lincoln and Darwin, born on the very same day

200 years ago. In fact, I rather expected it.

But honestly, just Darwin?

The Times of London's Charles Darwin archive: 

http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1887-11-19-07-001&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1887-11-19-07

What you see when you click the photo above:

http://www.google.com/search?q=charles+darwin&hl=en&ct=charlesdarwin_09&oi=ddle

Really, less than a few hours before the entire U.S. Congress and President Obama gather to honor

Lincoln at the U.S. Capitol?

http://travel.latimes.com/articles/sns-trvrail3-wk1-feb10

As someone who has read Allen Guelzo's fabulous books on him, been to Lincoln's birthplace in KY, his childhood home in Indiana, his law office in Springfield and walked Gettysburg, and who actually used to run over to the Lincoln Memorial on my morning runs or bike rides for 15 years while living in the D.C. area, and actually knows what's written on the walls there, that slight by Google doesn't go down well with me at all.

I mean, I actually mention Lincoln at the top of this blog, do I not?

See also: http://www.lincolnbicentennial.gov/ and http://www.lincoln200.net/