Mao's Little Red Aircraft Carrier

Freakonomics readers know that a baby’s name reveals more about its parents than about the baby. That’s also true of naval ships. The Christian Science Monitor reports that China’s online community has taken a strong interest in naming the country’s first aircraft carrier — if it ever gets built. The most favored name? Mao Zedong. China’s state newspaper approved, with one caveat: if an aircraft carrier named after Mao is damaged in battle, “it might hurt ordinary people’s feelings.” That’s not a bad point. Even your hard-hearted blog team winced a little at the trailer for Roland Emmerich‘s apocalyptic film 2012: the preview ends with the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy surfing a tidal wave directly into the White House. [%comments]