To mark the 80th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, we look back at a time when airships were the height of luxury and the future of air travel. But that quickly changed on May 6th, 1937, when the giant zeppelin burst into flames as it landed.

So when political science Professor Kenneth Janda asked if he could write a column making a more academic comparison (instead of just hurling insults), I thought it'd be a great idea.

It seems to me that my contemporaries and I knew so much more when we were growing up than do my grandchildren and their friends. I mean general knowledge -- history, politics, the complicaations of life.