"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it."

It seems to me that "Banned in NYC" would be a good marketing tag for drinks aimed at the younger generation.

If you can't do the book, there's an hour long podcast about

"The Forgotten Man" with Amity here: 

 http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/amity_shlaes/ 

The USGS publishes a really cool tool for Google Earth here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/catalogs/eqs7day-age.kmz

You can see tremors around the world updated every 5 mins.

It looks like Nevada has been a lot more active than N. California lately. 

 James,  

If you want to combine your daughter's anime interest and "the simple pure passions of unsullied youth", look up "Kimi ni Todoke". It's the story of innocent Japanese teens who blush at the thought of holding hands. My 8-yr old girl enjoyed it. We found it on the Internet, of course.