Dodo birds aside, what is good often endures.

Yesterday, my This Day in History e-mail was delayed. Scoundrels! I didn't think Presidents' Day affected e-mail. Should you wish to register for your own tardy editions, send a blank e-mail to Reference.com ( joinThisDay@lists.lexico.com )

Anyway, I noticed that yesterday was the anniversary of the 1848 London publishing of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels. I also gleaned that today, in 1630, Quadequine, brother of Massasoit, introduced the English colonists in America to popcorn.

Innovative ideas, like the concept of Cartesian coordinates, have a tendency to want to be born, even occurring independently to disparate thinkers. I'm not convinced there was any way in 1847 to suppress the yet untried hideousness of modern collectivism. However, give innovations at least a century to test out, and one can see which offers the more lasting benefits.

Millions died in the laboratory of communism, but I believe today humankind may say without reservation Thanks, Quadequine!