The Most Unfortunate Wording I've Noticed Today

"There’s a fairly decent chance that we’re going to have a famine in hundreds of places all over the world, and hunger growing everywhere - including here - all for no reason whatsoever. "

Decent? decent? Please. (Note--while I read the blog I often don't agree with the author.)

Oh for the Days of Old--Destroyed FSA Office

The flooding has hit an FSA office in Bartholomew County, IN, according to this piece.

Reminds me of old times, coordinating with our Kansas City IT people on restoring files. (Not that we had more than 3 or 4 over 12 years or so, and not that I did much of any significance--it was mostly the IT types ("automation coordinator" was the title then) in the state office with help from KC. But it's the old, run to the pumps, instinct to help when disaster strikes.

(Given the changes in the IT environment and the unclear description in the piece, I can't even guess whether the office is in good or bad shape. I'd hope FSA isn't distracted from preparing for physical disasters by the emphasis on security of data from terrorists and hackers.)

Fly Boys and Cargo Humpers

Max Boot has an interesting op-ed in the NYTimes this morning. He notes the new AF chief of staff is neither a bomber pilot, in the mold of Hap Arnold and Curtis LeMay, or a fighter pilot, in the mold of the last 30 odd years, but a cargo man. He observes the differences it makes in how the Air Force works and runs, and what it buys (like two new fighter jets), mentioning the problems with pilotless drones and the A-10 Warthog (close support).

There were/are similar problems in the Navy--between the brown shoes and the black shoes--one set is the carrier types (who long ago vanquished the big gun battleship people) and the other is the submariners (Admiral Rickover's engineering heirs, like ex-President Jimmy Carter and Agweb's John Phipps).

"Culture" makes all the difference, whether it's in a big bureaucracy or a family setting--the Post has a piece on how hopeless engineers are in helping their kids do homework.

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.