That's the motto of the bureaucrat: if something happens more than once, you need a form.
Tom Ricks at the Best Defense passes on an example of one.
Having just watched the DVD No End in Sight (which I liked better than his more recent documentary) I'm not sure the form should be called a parody. See for yourself. BTW, I think "COA" is military for "course of action".
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Monday, June 06, 2011
Erroneous Payments from OPM
Amidst the concern about government agencies making erroneous payments, add another to the list. Apparently OPM has a problem making annuity payments to dead retirees or their spouses. The article says they check the SSA's death data, so it's not clear whether it's an OPM problem or a SSA problem.
On Poor Farmers
There's a double meaning in the title of this post. The usual meaning is farmers whose income is low, low compared to other farmers in the area or nation, low compared to what's needed for a good life in the nation, low compared to someone else. See this Treehugger/Oxfam post.
But the other meaning is farmers who farm poorly, poorly because their land is poor, poorly because they're far away from markets, poorly because they lack the knowledge, the social capital, others have. Many would like to believe in the Lake Woebegone corollary, that all farmers are above average. I regret to inform you that's not true; whichever nation or locality we're talking about, some farmers are good and some aren't. Some land is good, some isn't. Some land is on the railroad, some isn't. Some farmers have learned from experience what works, some are stuck in a rut. Some farmers are open to new ideas and techniques, some are waiting to die.
But the other meaning is farmers who farm poorly, poorly because their land is poor, poorly because they're far away from markets, poorly because they lack the knowledge, the social capital, others have. Many would like to believe in the Lake Woebegone corollary, that all farmers are above average. I regret to inform you that's not true; whichever nation or locality we're talking about, some farmers are good and some aren't. Some land is good, some isn't. Some land is on the railroad, some isn't. Some farmers have learned from experience what works, some are stuck in a rut. Some farmers are open to new ideas and techniques, some are waiting to die.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Alfalfa: I Didn't Know That
" It take alfalfa about a week in hot drying weather to turn into hay. " That's from this post from Life on a Colorado Farm.
In Broome County, NY alfalfa was not a big crop, wasn't even a small crop that I remember. Now I'm assuming that Colorado's "hot drying weather" has lots less humidity than we had. But the big factor would be rain: our usual pattern would be to get rain pretty regularly over the summer, enough to damage and often to spoil any hay in the field. But the timothy/orchard grass hay which was common didn't take that long to cure. Mow one day, rake the afternoon of the next day, and bale on the third day would be the normal pattern. Leave the hay in the field much longer and the risk of rain would be too great.
So that, plus the difficulty of getting a good stand of alfalfa established, probably explains why there wasn't much alfalfa grown.
In Broome County, NY alfalfa was not a big crop, wasn't even a small crop that I remember. Now I'm assuming that Colorado's "hot drying weather" has lots less humidity than we had. But the big factor would be rain: our usual pattern would be to get rain pretty regularly over the summer, enough to damage and often to spoil any hay in the field. But the timothy/orchard grass hay which was common didn't take that long to cure. Mow one day, rake the afternoon of the next day, and bale on the third day would be the normal pattern. Leave the hay in the field much longer and the risk of rain would be too great.
So that, plus the difficulty of getting a good stand of alfalfa established, probably explains why there wasn't much alfalfa grown.
Saturday, June 04, 2011
The World Is Moving Too Fast, I Want to Get Off
Seems only yesterday I was reading about quantum physics, and something called entanglement, and how it might lead to faster computers some time in the future.One of those things you mentally file in the "don't have to worry about this, after my expiration date" folder.
Now comes the Technology Review which posts this--Lockheed Martin just spent $10 million of its hard-earned dollars (they do some work for DOD so some of those dollars used to be yours and mine) for a "quantum computing system".
Now comes the Technology Review which posts this--Lockheed Martin just spent $10 million of its hard-earned dollars (they do some work for DOD so some of those dollars used to be yours and mine) for a "quantum computing system".
Friday, June 03, 2011
Factoid of the Day: Median Age of Adoption in Japan
"median age of adoption in Japan is somewhere twenty-five to thirty?"
From Freakonomics on succession of businesses within families. Also interesting Japan is second to the US in adoptions.
From Freakonomics on succession of businesses within families. Also interesting Japan is second to the US in adoptions.
Bad News for FSA?
From today's Farm Policy, a bit from the chair of House ag:
Chairman Lucas also offered perspective on House action with respect to the timing of drafting the 2012 farm legislation. The Oklahoma Republican highlighted a very important caveat to his current thinking on Farm Bill timing: “Depending on what comes out of Vice President Biden’s working group, if there is a grand compromise on raising the debt ceiling which would entail a substantial cut in spending immediately, that over rules the way I would like to do it. And we could conceivably have a Farm Bill this fall or winter in a hurry-up fashion.” (Related AgriTalk audio available here (MP3- 1:37)).That could be very bad news for FSA bureaucrats for two reasons:
- a hurry-up farm bill to implement a "grand compromise" passed late in the year would give very little time for FSA to implement.
- I assume FSA management has planned their MIDAS project to reach milestones by next summer--that is to get over the hump before they have to switch their attention to the 2012 farm bill. If that's true, and you have to assume FSA management plans ahead, don't you, then a rush farm bill is also going to screw up MIDAS.
Zero
As a counter to the CRS study yesterday which I blogged on, zero is the number of federal employees who make more money than:
- the NCAA Division I football coach in their state
- the average employee salary of Goldman Sachs(2006) 2010
- any full season major league baseball player
- the winner of any PGA tournament
Thursday, June 02, 2011
The Increased Productivity of Barbers
Got a haircut today. Spent my time musing about the increased productivity of barbers. When I first went to the barbershop the barber used scissors almost exclusively, except for using a straight razor and warm lather to trim the areas around the ears and at the nape of the neck. Then they got an electric razor, which first was used to cut the sideburns evenly (what's a single sideburn). Today the barber used only a razor, even to trim my eyebrows.
Presumably the switch from scissors to razor means the haircut takes less time. But there's another reason for increased productivity: more time between haircuts. I think it's fair to say the universal standard for men in the 1940's was the standard haircut about once a month, except maybe for crewcuts (why doesn't the spell checker recognize "crewcut"). I'd assume these days there is no "standard" haircut. Maybe we're more standard than in the 1970's, when long hair was prevalent, but I don't think having the standard haircut is nearly as important now as in the 1940's. (I'll have to check the haircuts on Mad Men the next DVD we get.) So I'd argue that the average time between haircuts is longer today than it was during the 1940's, again increasing the productivity for barbers.
But declining standards for hair grooming isn't the only reason for increased productivity; there's aging. The male population is older these days, meaning the average male has less hair to cut and is also more experienced at receiving haircuts. I'm sure it takes longer for a barber to cut the hair of a 3-year old than a 73-year old.
Presumably the switch from scissors to razor means the haircut takes less time. But there's another reason for increased productivity: more time between haircuts. I think it's fair to say the universal standard for men in the 1940's was the standard haircut about once a month, except maybe for crewcuts (why doesn't the spell checker recognize "crewcut"). I'd assume these days there is no "standard" haircut. Maybe we're more standard than in the 1970's, when long hair was prevalent, but I don't think having the standard haircut is nearly as important now as in the 1940's. (I'll have to check the haircuts on Mad Men the next DVD we get.) So I'd argue that the average time between haircuts is longer today than it was during the 1940's, again increasing the productivity for barbers.
But declining standards for hair grooming isn't the only reason for increased productivity; there's aging. The male population is older these days, meaning the average male has less hair to cut and is also more experienced at receiving haircuts. I'm sure it takes longer for a barber to cut the hair of a 3-year old than a 73-year old.
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