Granville Hicks, the literary critic, would have been a hundred years old a few weeks ago. Hicks died in 1982, and so he isn't exactly a household name anymore--I didn't know much about him myself until I ran across a copy of "Small Town," his portrait of the village of Grafton, New York, written just at the end of World War II. But the story is worth remembering, both for the unusual life the author led and for the ideas he emerged with after decades of personal struggle.

The auctioneer's cry can still be heard as state and local governments periodically put surplus goods on the block. But governments are finding that selling surplus goods online can be more efficient--and can bring in a lot more money than a traditional auction.

When revenues dry up, states and localities tend to make cuts that leave them less able to deliver services effectively.

Cul-de-sacs have fallen out of favor with many urban planners.

September 11 showed us that our complex communications infrastructure is vulnerable to disruption--yet able to recover rapidly.