
On Being the Right Size (1928) - sergeant3
http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html
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JetSpiegel
This is another of those texts I read and go "They knew THIS in 1928?"

> Such are a very few of the considerations which show that for every type of
> animal there is an optimum size. Yet although Galileo demonstrated the
> contrary more than three hundred years ago, people still believe that if a
> flea were as large as a man it could jump a thousand feet into the air.

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pndmnm
One of my favorite essays! Anyone interested in the topic should find
themselves a copy of D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's book "On Growth and Form" and
give it a read. Fascinating discussion of the sizes & shapes of living
creatures from physical principles.

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maxforce
Apparently the "right size" for a federal government is unlimited:
[http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hiscox/files/democracyfeder...](http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hiscox/files/democracyfederalismsizeofstates.pdf)

