Technology and the Library of Congress Reading Room

For someone bookish living in the DC area I hate to admit my last visit to the Library of Congress reading room was 35 years ago (while researching CRT-based word processors, if you can believe it). It seems that the Internet, or our decline as a civilization, one or the other and take your choice, has resulted in a decline of readers actually physically using the reading room. See this piece from AHA.

It goes on to discuss other topics--how historians start their research (from the mountaintop, not from the path) and the dreaded "link rot"

(Every innovation has its downside, and link rot is one of the Web's)

Salmonella

There's criticism of our industrial food system because it allows salmonella in tomatoes. But the raw milk system allows salmonella in milk (see this MSNBC piece).

Personally, I think the food system is rather like the transportation system. Commercial airliners are the safest way to travel: very regulated, very industrial, very centralized, very much scrutinized. Your private car is one of the most unsafe ways to travel (bicycles are worse): not very regulated, very decentralized.

So too for the food system--the centralized, industrialized food system is regulated (perhaps not quite as much as it should be) and very safe. But when someone screws up, the consequences are very visible, just as when an airline pilot screws up and the safeguards don't work. The decentralized system means the consequences of a screwup are limited, and not very visible.

I believe in Murphy's law--if humans are involved, someone will screw up. So keeping human involvement to a minimum in a system will result in a safer system. Mostly true.

Comparative Advantages in the Home

NYTimes magazine has an article on equality in parenting. Interesting, particularly the bit about the negotiations in same-sex marriages with kids. I've always wondered though if any economist has applied the "comparative advantage" theory of international trade to parenting. (The idea is that, all other things equal, two countries who trade with each other will end up specializing in the product/service which they're best at (even though their best may be worse than the other).

How Bush Ticks Off the Europeans

Remember when Bill Clinton shut down a LAX runway to get a haircut. Bush shuts down an airport with his aerial caravan, apparently causing cancellations of multiple flights. See Jim Manxi here. Or the direct link here.

Warning: this sort of thing is liable to be distorted and next year we'll find President Mcbama doing the same.

Dane County Trials and Tribulations

Ann Althouse is back in Wisconsin, so her pictures are short on NYC skylines and city streets and long on flowers. And she's interested in the conflict between the long time rural residents and the newcomers in Dane County, as described here.

(It's the same sort of thing that's occurred in Loudun County, VA and other nearby areas. Different strokes for different folks as we used to say. I've sympathy for both sides. I don't like change, I value history, and I like control--so I'd resent outsiders who want to impose their values. I'm also skeptical of those who search for a suburban dream house, most likely oversized, with a big yard and would prefer farms to suburbia. On the other hand, I don't have that much sympathy for NIMBY's who move in and either complain about smells or those who come after.

Sarkozy Has Tight Security

Interesting contrast in the security arrangements for President Sarkozy of France, as shown in this post by Mr. Beauregard. (Two cars? And two smallish cars? Are you kidding me? Amazing.)

George Will, Man of the Century

The nineteenth century, that is.

From his column today, using "numbers" for each paragraph, the last:

2016.Assuming, not rashly, that Barack Obama wins, 2016 is the next time Hillary Clinton, who will then be 68, can seek the Democratic nomination. By then, the median age of the electorate will be 47, so for many millions of voters, Bill Clinton's tenure will seem only slightly less distant than Grover Cleveland's, the last Democratic presidency that did not make sensible citizens wince.

Dedicated Teachers

This was taken from our local freecycle site:

My classroom desperately needs a makeover. I'm hoping to find 2 to 6
gallons of colorful indoor wall paint. I can mix and match any colors
that would make a suitable learning environment--soft, neutral tones
or bright and bold! I can arrange a convenient pickup time. My
students next year will thank you!

Funniest Mistake I Read Yesterday

From a NY Times article on the rising popularity of gardening:

Last year she kept a small garden. This year it has tripled in size into a five-by-seven-foot plot because, Ms. Gartin said, “The cost of everything is going up and I was looking to lose a few pounds, too; so it’s a win-win situation all around.”

What We May Assume--Women's Lib

Here's an interesting story, via someone I should recognize but missed, on women's lib, arguing that the advent of bicycles changed things and liberated women. It mentions riding sidesaddle. Now one could assume that the Victorian Age constraints on women were focused on the Anglo-saxon world, given Queen Victoria reigned over the British Empire and we concede that much of American popular culture followed the Brits. (Anyhow, that's the way my mind would work.)

But, separately there's an article in the NYTimes on Mexican rodeos ("a charreada") in the U.S. as Mexicans incorporate some of their traditions in their U.S. life. One of the features is a parade of women in petticoats riding sidesaddle. Whether Hispanic culture was as Victorian as U.S. was I don't know.