Surprising Factoid of the Day

According to Joel Mokyr's The Lever of Riches, the Koran was first printed in the 20th century (i.e., Islamic or Arab culture resisted the printing press).

Challenge to White House and USDA--Your Gardens

The snow has finally melted in our garden, so it's time to start work.  Since we live in the suburbs, about half a zone colder than DC, I'd expect the avid gardeners at the White House and USDA to be working the soil and close to planting.  (I bought onion sets today--together with peas they're the first things we grow in the spring.  Some years we've had peas in the ground for a couple weeks by now, but March 15 is the target date.)

Since I'm cynical, I wouldn't be surprised if there's less PR about the WH and USDA gardens this year.  But I'd like to be surprised. So, a challenge--tell your devoted public every day you plant something.  And I hope the WH is making less use of transplants this year.

Least Surprising News from Yesterday

From Farm Policy:

Reuters writer Charles Abbott reported yesterday that, “The House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday rejected President Barack Obama’s proposals to reduce crop subsidies to higher-income farmers and federal support for crop insurance.
“There was little discussion as the committee refused farm cuts requested by the president for the second year in a row. With elections in November, the committee approved a letter saying benefits ‘should be maintained’ at current levels.
“‘We are united and I think we have over-whelming support in the House not to open up the farm bill’ enacted in 2008, said Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson, a Democrat.”

And people think Obama has power. Not so.

Words Not Often Found in the Blogosphere

From Ezra Klein, re: Rep. Ryan:

But in the meantime, let me say how much respect I have for Ryan's willingness to engage with substantive critiques. And the reason he is willing engage like this is that he's confident that he knows his stuff. I've not been convinced by his position, but I always walk away from our talks with more respect for his position. Congress needs more like him.

I Like Transparent Government, But Not This

Tom Ricks posts on an Israeli raid which was canceled because a soldier put it on Facebook.

Funniest Line Today

"In fact, it was the best kind of profile: the kind that confirmed everything I already believed."  Ezra Klein, in a post commenting on a profile of Rahm Emanuel.The content is pretty good too.

The Value of Those Fries

Via the Google News most viewed, here's a graphic and article showing the fast food outlets in the US, with an interesting description of the different strategy used by McDonald's versus all the rest (basically relying on their fries to pull people everywhere).

The 5 Percent (Disaster Payment) Solution

John Phipps earlier expressed his disbelief, so I'm late to the game:

Ken Anderson reported yesterday at Brownfield that, “The chair of the National Cotton Council says disaster assistance for farmers will be included in the new jobs creation bill in Congress.
“Eddie Smith says little is known about the proposal, but speculates it could look much like earlier offerings—most likely tied to a disaster declaration by the Secretary of Agriculture, with producers receiving a payment similar to a direct payment. They would have to prove an economic loss of five percent for at least one crop of economic significance.”

From Farm Policy today.  A five percent loss is well within the natural volatility of agriculture.  The only thing which might, I say "might", make this halfway, or a quarter way reasonable is if the yields being used are still frozen from the mid-90's.  They might be, I've lost track and am too lazy to check.

Government Websites

Matt Yglesias highlights the Senate Finance Committee website, which is optimized for browsers over 10 years old.

Gallup and Job Satisfaction

Ann Althouse links to a Gallup poll which shows most people in most occupations think their jobs are ideal for them.

This seems dubious to me, except as an example of people adjusting to reality.  If an interviewer asks the question: is your current job ideal for you? what are the alternatives:

1. You say "yes".
2. You say "no".

"Yes" means you get rid of the interviewer without raising any unpleasant emotions in yourself.  And possibly you're pleasing the interviewer.

"No" means you have to ask yourself what job would be better, and why you haven't done anything to get the job; in other words, you open a whole can of worms.  And you gain nothing by doing so. It's not as if you were sitting down with a counselor at the beginning of your working life to determine what job is ideal and how to get it.


Personal note: no, I never had an ideal job for me.  For a time there was a good fit between my abilities and the demands of the job, at least in my opinion, but not ideal.