Spreading Innovations II

Posted earlier on the problem of spreading innovations in the US Army.  Another example, which may be familiar: anyone who has a reputation for knowing technology, for being able to program VCR's or whatever the current standard is, perhaps has had this experience.  You show someone who is less knowledgeable, perhaps an older relative, a neat way to accomplish something they'd like to do: find out the weather in Dublin by doing a Google search for "dublin weather".  They're duly impressed and seem to comprehend what you've demonstrated.  But, next week or next month, a similar situation occurs and the person doesn't use the knowledge you've passed on.

Obama Defends Government, Not Bureaucrats

Obama spoke at the University of Michigan, asking for civility and defending the necessary role of government.  That's all fine, just as motherhood and apple pie are fine (though rhubarb pie is better), and honoring "Older Americans" as you all are supposed to do this month is fine.

But when is someone going to speak out in praise of the poor "faceless bureaucrat"? You can't have government without faceless bureaucrats.

[Updated--this is Public Service Recognition week.  Though how one recognizes the faceless I'm not sure.]

My Suspicions Confirmed, College Students Are Slackers

Tyler Cowen passes on a report which claims to show students in my day worked 40 hours a week on their studies (plus another 20 working their way through school, at least for some like me), whereas now they work 27 hours a week.  Of course, it could be that the use of Powerpoint has improved the transmission of knowledge so much that less studying is needed because more is accomplished in class.  Or it could be youth are going to pot.

$500 an Hour for Law School Graduates?

Piece in the NYTimes on the people handling the bankruptcies in the financial sector, particularly Lehman Brothers.  Apparently the time of associates in law firms (the worker bees familiar from John Grisham's novels who are 1, or 2, or 3 years removed from law school) can be billed at $500 an hour.  If they worked 2,000 hours in a year, that's a cool mill. And associates, if Grisham is right, are expected to bill 60 or 70 hours a week.

Remember that when right wingers talk about government bureaucrats being paid more than private--I double damn guarantee no Federal lawyer is in the same ballpark as these people.

The piece offers some justifications for the charges, and there is some oversight.  But my bottom line is: pigs at the trough, making hay while the sun shines (to mix farm metaphors). The creditors of the bankrupt institution don't have the ability effectively to monitor the firms and serve as a countervailing interest to abuses.

What Does a Crofter Do? [Updated}

A nice post at Musings from a Stonehead describing what a crofter (small farmer) does: walk and carry. He's not walking behind horses, but the farm is small enough not to need a riding tractor.  That's one reason old time farmers had no problems with their weight.

Meanwhile, just to prove small farms are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, StonyBrookFarm has a post about the concept of "cool boredom", which he sees as part of doing chores on a farm:

Lugging around water buckets, wheeling out bales of hay, standing still and running the hose for ten minutes to fill a fifty gallon water trough, walking from pasture to pasture, paddock to paddock, barnyard to barnyard, following a rote routine multiple times a day, day after day, are the stuff for me of cool boredom on the farm.

Both posts are worth reading in their entirety.

How Much Has Politics Changed?

Mr. Brookheiser, in his memoir of Bill Buckley, recalls that 2 weeks after LBJ became President, the National Review declared his honeymoon was over.  (How'd I like the book--it was a quick read with a number of good lines in it.  I don't think much of his politics, but the guy writes well.)

Spreading Innovations

I'm always fascinated by the processes by which new ideas spread, or don't spread, through society.  One reason is purely egoistic--over my working career I had some new ideas, some of which spread, some didn't.  Some survived my departure, most didn't. The flip side is why are bureaucracies and societies resistant to change.

Today the US Army presents an example.  Tom Ricks at the Best Defense presents a post in which the writer argues that even though General Petraeus ushered through a new Field Manual on Counter Insurgency, and there are high-ranking officers who've bought into the ideas, COIN isn't safely embedded in the Army's culture. New bureaucrats, whether they be Presidents or political appointees, often believe if they can just get something done on paper, whether it be a law or a directive, the job is done.  Wrong--it's just starting.

One-third Lose Jobs in SEC Porn Scandal

Somehow that seems a fairer title for this story than saying "No one fired"

Those Speedsters at FSA

From the FSA press release on new software supporting the direct loan program:

Development of the new software began in 2004, Coppess said, and the first phase, to improve the loan making process was launched in 2007. Since then, more than $3 billion in new loans have been obligated through the system, including many made as a result of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

It's not real clear what's going on--the release talks of a major upgrade, and the first release must have been out for a while, if $3 billion has been made through the system.  So I guess it's not right to mock this as a 6 year development project.  No mention of the cost of the software project, but at least it turned out to be usable.

Why I Love Congress--Improper Payments

Government Executive reports on a bill which passed the House requiring government agencies to recover payments they make improperly.  Why the title of this post?  Because a number of years ago Congress passed a law requiring FSA to let farmers keep payments which were made improperly.  Talk about double-faced!

To be fair, I should add this is all based on my memory, which is fallible; the law permits FSA to recover payments if the recovery can be made within a period (90 days maybe?); and the reason for the law was that farmers claimed they didn't realize they had been overpaid, so they used the money in their operations and felt it was unfair to be required to repay when it was FSA which made the mistake. Regardless, my Calvinistic heritage rebels at that.