Bitching at OPM

Trying to be good and do taxes early this year.  Need my statement from OPM.  Their website has not, to my eyes, been updated in some years.  Usually these days a commercial site has a "Sign in" button in the upper right corner which allows access to the customer account.  Not so for OPM.  They have "Services Online" stuck in the middle of the page.  It should be obvious to the observant, but it wasn't to an old geezer.

Next, for some reason my password manager and OPM's software are allergic to each other. Over the years I've tried a few times to get into the site.  I've never been able to manage it, without having to reset my password (part of the problem is the weird way they handle account numbers). 

Finally they have two questions to determine whether you can request a new password by email or by snail mail.  That's fine, except who remembers whether one's accessed the site within the last 15 months and set up security questions?  I certainly don't.  Consequently, OPM may be stuck not using an automated process to reset my password. 

Where Does Wisdom Lie

Often between the extremes, is my answer. 

Steven Hayward, a blogger at Powerline (meaning middle right), mentions my favorite blogger, Kevin Drum here:

"Anyway, one of the writers in Mother Jones who is actually worth reading is Kevin Drum, because he does some good original reporting, and sometimes departs from leftist orthodoxy or at least offers some original thoughts. Yesterday on the Mother Jones blog, Drum beat his drum: Over the past few weeks I’ve written five posts making the following points:

1. The acting Oscars are not really all that white.
2. Flint is not a public health holocaust.
3. The 1994 crime bill didn’t create mass incarceration.
4. Photo ID laws probably don’t have massive turnout effects.
5. Social welfare spending has gone up a lot over the past three decades, and welfare reform had very little impact on either this or the deep poverty rate."

How We Handle Dangerous Animals

This is triggered by posts on Prof. Moskos' blog, Cop in the Hood. (He was a cop and is a sociology prof.)

Occasionally we have cases where the authorities have to deal with dangerous animals.  Maybe a leopard escapes from a zoo, or a cattle truck overturns and a bunch of steers are running wild, or a bear wanders into the burbs to raid garbage cans, or ...  Sometimes these situations end with death for the animal, sometimes no weapons are fired, sometimes a tranquilizer dart gun is used.

Occasionally we have cases where the authorities have to deal with dangerous humans.  Maybe a man is running naked with a knife, or a youth is carrying what appears to be a rifle, or...

My question: is there a good reason for not approaching the two sets of situations in the same way?

My theory is that animals don't send the adrenaline flowing in quite the same way as humans, but is that a reflection of our culture or is it innate?

Famous People and Breast Cancer

ScholarlyKitchen passes on a 12 minute video of the scientist who found the BRCA1 gene (breast cancer) describing a little bit of what went into that.  For a scientist she tells a funny story.

Midshipman Nicholson and Louisiana Purchase

A reminder that anonymous bureaucrats and functionaries play an indispensable role in history--see this description of the paperwork which went into implementing the actual purchase of Louisiana.  Some 30 documents.

The Sausage Machine Described

 A law review article reveals the sausage machine which is Congress writing laws.

The truth is that members of Congress do not write the laws; they (or a few of them) decide policy, which gets transmuted into law by staff and staff attorneys employed by members and committees. And when there's omnibus legislation, different people write different parts, not necessarily using the same terminology or legal theories.

This is true now, it was true even with the Constitution.  Anyone who has had experience of a group trying to produce a written product knows the paper does not  magically reflect a group mind, but compromises which fully satisfy no one.

Against Corporate Farming

From Blog for Rural America, what do Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa all have in common?

It might seem that they are the homes of big corporate farms. But no, they all passed laws restricting corporate farms within the last 100 years.  The post explains some of the challenges to such laws.

Love It--the Eternal Silos of FSA and NRCS

Just realized I hadn't heard from NASCOE in a while so I checked the website, which has been completely redone.

Here's what I love.

NATIONAL OFFICE RESPONSE: (combined sources)
At this point, FSA employees with access to existing systems can access FSAfarm+ using their employee eAuth Level 2 login; however, we have not added NRCS employees to the list of authorized users. The website was built as a customer self-service portal and FSA employee access has been authorized so employees may assist our customers with questions regarding the website. NRCS FSAfarm+ access has been discussed with leadership and they are looking into obtaining the required approvals.

They've got a new process for submitting field office concerns and getting responses from DC.  This response is to a request that FSA give NRCS access to their records.  This was Sec. Madigan's concept back in 1991.  As you can see from the response, those silos are still standing tall.

The Revenant Is an Oscar Favorite?

Just saw the movie.  Maybe an old geezer doesn't have the patience for 5 minute shots with nothing much happening, but I did not like it.  Yes, DiCaprio's efforts must be respected and I wouldn't have a problem with him getting best actor.  And the picture making is fine, though the scenery is cold.  But a movie is supposed to tell a story and there wasn't much there, certainly not enough for 2 hours 30 minutes.  Maybe chop an hour out and it would play, but there's no way I see it as a best movie candidate.

Great Work--NRCS

"Agriculture’s “Natural Resources Conversation Service dropped 13 places to rank 25th overall in the 2016 Index – no other agency fell further,” the analysts said"

This is from a Government Executive article on a survey of plain language in government websites.

Not sure how well done this is--the study dings USDA generally, but only NRCS is listed in the detailed results table.