The old saying is: give a boy a hammer and he'll see everything as a nail, as something to hit with the hammer. It's true enough--we get set in our ways so we use the same approaches to every problem. And when we have a tool there are opportunities.
But I realized today you can change the saying, almost reverse it. Suppose the boy has a nail to pound and no hammer? Then everything he sees becomes a potential hammer. It's "necessity is the mother of invention" time.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Silos: Culture Versus Change
I've written before on the problems of combining organizations--typically I've seen the problem through the lens of organizational culture--for example, ASCS and SCS had very different cultures when I was working.
But I saw something today which caused me to think of another consideration. The story: I was doing my morning walk, coming through the Hunters Mills shopping center, which now is your standard strip mall. In a couple places I saw they'd placed cobblestones and fine stone next to the curb. The places were at the corner of an intersection and the logic of placing the stones was to handle cases where the turning radius of a long tractor trailer was larger than the radius of the intersection, meaning the rear wheels of the trailer would jump the curb and put ruts into the grass.
I came up with a "just so" story to explain this: back in the day when Reston's roads were designed, some 30-50 years ago, tractor trailers were shorter than they are now. So you had one organization working on road design standards and other organizations designing tractor trailers to provide the most cost efficient transportation. Each organization had its own focus and its own evolutionary history and impulses, their culture. But what's important is the changes happening within the organization, not any cultural conflict between the two organizations.
So, coming back to ASCS and SCS--the bigshots in USDA could look at them and see a static picture, meaning changes ordered by management would be the only thing going on (particularly when IT types were ignorant of programs).
But I saw something today which caused me to think of another consideration. The story: I was doing my morning walk, coming through the Hunters Mills shopping center, which now is your standard strip mall. In a couple places I saw they'd placed cobblestones and fine stone next to the curb. The places were at the corner of an intersection and the logic of placing the stones was to handle cases where the turning radius of a long tractor trailer was larger than the radius of the intersection, meaning the rear wheels of the trailer would jump the curb and put ruts into the grass.
I came up with a "just so" story to explain this: back in the day when Reston's roads were designed, some 30-50 years ago, tractor trailers were shorter than they are now. So you had one organization working on road design standards and other organizations designing tractor trailers to provide the most cost efficient transportation. Each organization had its own focus and its own evolutionary history and impulses, their culture. But what's important is the changes happening within the organization, not any cultural conflict between the two organizations.
So, coming back to ASCS and SCS--the bigshots in USDA could look at them and see a static picture, meaning changes ordered by management would be the only thing going on (particularly when IT types were ignorant of programs).
Monday, December 10, 2018
The Farm Bill and Payment Limitation
The Post editorial page says that Rep. Conaway got his nieces/nephews provision (see my previous post under this label) included in the farm bill, which will be included in the final appropriations bill, assuming Congress and the President can come to some agreement on it.
This seems to fit a long lasting pattern where public attention is limited in both time and scope. So when people pay attention to how the farm bill is being put together in House and Senate payment limitation will get attention. Attention means that the power of the lobbyists and "special interests" is somewhat diminished as the more fringe players have more of a place at the table.
But when public attention moves away from the subject the lobbyists/special interests then have more power. Typically they exercise their power by adding provisions to appropriations bills or omnibus "must pass" legislation where the voices which oppose the provision, like the Post editorial writers, are drowned in concerns over the bigger picture--as now, whether or not part of the government will be shut down, mostly over a dispute over the President's "Wall".
This seems to fit a long lasting pattern where public attention is limited in both time and scope. So when people pay attention to how the farm bill is being put together in House and Senate payment limitation will get attention. Attention means that the power of the lobbyists and "special interests" is somewhat diminished as the more fringe players have more of a place at the table.
But when public attention moves away from the subject the lobbyists/special interests then have more power. Typically they exercise their power by adding provisions to appropriations bills or omnibus "must pass" legislation where the voices which oppose the provision, like the Post editorial writers, are drowned in concerns over the bigger picture--as now, whether or not part of the government will be shut down, mostly over a dispute over the President's "Wall".
Sunday, December 09, 2018
Update on Vertical Farming
Via @TamarHaspel, here's a piece on Medium assessing the current status of vertical farming. Bottom line: the vertical farming startups are very close-mouthed about their data, which leads the writer to doubt whether many of them will succeed.
Given that current farms focus on greens sold at premium prices, there's also skepticism over whether the concept can achieve more than niche status.
Given that current farms focus on greens sold at premium prices, there's also skepticism over whether the concept can achieve more than niche status.
Saturday, December 08, 2018
Dairy in Japan
Google's official blog has a post on a big (900 cow) dairy in Japan.
While most/many Asians may be lactose-intolerant, there seems to be enough exceptions to support a dairy industry.
Some googling found this paper by the Japanese Dairy Council which covers the ground from a to z.
A couple highlights--no. of dairy farms has declined from over 400,000 in the 60's to 20,000 in the 2010's, number of cows has been relatively steady at about 1.4 million or so. Consumption is about half in milk and half in cheese/butter. For anyone with more stamina than I there's an explanation of how milk is marketed and how the government's subsidy/regulation setup works.
While most/many Asians may be lactose-intolerant, there seems to be enough exceptions to support a dairy industry.
Some googling found this paper by the Japanese Dairy Council which covers the ground from a to z.
A couple highlights--no. of dairy farms has declined from over 400,000 in the 60's to 20,000 in the 2010's, number of cows has been relatively steady at about 1.4 million or so. Consumption is about half in milk and half in cheese/butter. For anyone with more stamina than I there's an explanation of how milk is marketed and how the government's subsidy/regulation setup works.
Friday, December 07, 2018
Late-Life Discoveries
Sometimes it's amazing how stupid, or not exactly stupid but unaware, I've been.
I discovered yesterday that I comb my hair with my left hand. That's surprising because I write right-handed and do everything else right-handed, although I have retrained to use my left hand to mouse when I developed carpal tunnel in the right. The retraining took a while, but I got it done.
Partly this is triggered by a tweet replying to L.D.Burnett's tweet about typing, when I recalled how muscle memory kicked in towards the end of my half-year typing class in HS and suddenly I was typing 45-50 wpm instead of 10.
It now makes sense of a childhood memory of adults conferring over my head on which side of my head the part should be. Someone, I forget who, perhaps a barber or my father quoting a barber, saying to leave me to discover which way felt natural to me. Somehow I did, though it still seems a little strange to see a photo where my hair is parted differently than the mirror shows.
I discovered yesterday that I comb my hair with my left hand. That's surprising because I write right-handed and do everything else right-handed, although I have retrained to use my left hand to mouse when I developed carpal tunnel in the right. The retraining took a while, but I got it done.
Partly this is triggered by a tweet replying to L.D.Burnett's tweet about typing, when I recalled how muscle memory kicked in towards the end of my half-year typing class in HS and suddenly I was typing 45-50 wpm instead of 10.
It now makes sense of a childhood memory of adults conferring over my head on which side of my head the part should be. Someone, I forget who, perhaps a barber or my father quoting a barber, saying to leave me to discover which way felt natural to me. Somehow I did, though it still seems a little strange to see a photo where my hair is parted differently than the mirror shows.
Thursday, December 06, 2018
Movie Review: Green Book
The movie has attracted some flak in the media, but my wife and I enjoyed it.
In a way it reminded me of movies like "Pretty Baby Woman [Freudian slip]"--the standard plot about people with different personalities who change each other, especially the one where with the romantic stereotypes of the spontaneous, earthy, joi de vivre type gets the uptight person to seize the day
The movie does that plot well. It's relieved from being too corny because in this movie the black character is the WASP buttoned up one and the white character is his opposite. To me that dynamic is more important to the movie than the racial issues--the prejudices of the 1960's and the segregation in the South--though it's the racial aspects which seem to attract media attention.
And the acting is great--we've liked Mortensen from past performances, ever since Witness and then LOR. Despite the 50 pounds he may have added for the role, and the weight he may have added doing all the eating in the script, he still comes across as capable and intelligent. And the only thing wrong with Ali is I can't spell his last name.
It hasn't been doing well at the box office, but it just picked up five Golden Globe nominations for the movie and its actors.
In a way it reminded me of movies like "Pretty
The movie does that plot well. It's relieved from being too corny because in this movie the black character is the WASP buttoned up one and the white character is his opposite. To me that dynamic is more important to the movie than the racial issues--the prejudices of the 1960's and the segregation in the South--though it's the racial aspects which seem to attract media attention.
And the acting is great--we've liked Mortensen from past performances, ever since Witness and then LOR. Despite the 50 pounds he may have added for the role, and the weight he may have added doing all the eating in the script, he still comes across as capable and intelligent. And the only thing wrong with Ali is I can't spell his last name.
It hasn't been doing well at the box office, but it just picked up five Golden Globe nominations for the movie and its actors.
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
My Thoughts on the "Greatest Generation"
A reply to a Wendell Pierce tweet:
"
As you can tell, I'm ambivalent, as usual, particularly about making moral judgments on the past. We're all stuck with the history we inherit. The best we can expect of anyone, whether individual, generation, or nation, is to do better than their predecessors.
As the media reflects on the passing of the Greatest Generation, they should remember that generation was flawed. It allowed segregation &watched Americans kill others trying to exercise their right to vote.Greatness was their ability to change & live up to their professed values
"
Flawed, as every generation is flawed: failing to fully correct evils they knew of, and failing to recognize clearly evils their descendants see all too clearly.
As you can tell, I'm ambivalent, as usual, particularly about making moral judgments on the past. We're all stuck with the history we inherit. The best we can expect of anyone, whether individual, generation, or nation, is to do better than their predecessors.
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
Nieces and Nephews in Farming?
AEI notes the House Ag chair is pushing to allow nieces and nephews to be "persons' for payment limitation purposes:
"In the midst of this week’s negotiations over the farm bill, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) is pushing to remove any limits on subsidy payments to farms through what has become known as his “nieces and nephews” provision. This provision would increase the number of people eligible to receive up to $125,000 in subsidy payments under one of two major income transfer programs, whether the people in question really participate in the farm business or not.* * *Currently, only two people per each farm business can be eligible for these programs — called Price Loss Coverage and Agricultural Risk Coverage — capping total payments to a farm business to $250,000. However, the “nephews and nieces” provision proposed by the current chair of the House Committee on Agriculture would substantially increase the number of people eligible for a payment. For example, an agribusiness owner with four “nieces and nephews” described as “actively engaged in farming,” because they participate in an annual earning’s conference call, would be allowed to classify those four people as “actively engaged” because of that call. The owners would then be able to increase the subsidy paid to the farm business up to a limit of $1.5 million a year.
Monday, December 03, 2018
Did the Elite Used To Believe in Service?
The current assessments of George H.W. Bush's life often include a statement to the effect that in the past the elite, as exemplified by Bush,, used to believe in service to the nation, in noblesse oblige. Such statements seem to be accepted unthinkingly, without question.
I'm not so sure there's that much difference between now and the past. When you look at the business elite, the big shots with the big bucks, there seems to be a mixture of plutocracy and service. For every Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie Foundation created decades ago you can match similar efforts by Gates and Buffett.
Charlie Wilson famously said what's good for the U.S. is good for General Motors, and vice versa. Our current elite knows better to say that, but I suspect they think it. Wilson headed DOD under Ike. Trump has had his own set of rich men, members of the elite albeit rather second level, serving in his administration.
My bottom line is that there's always been a mixture of motivations for public service: some people want new fields to explore (think Sen. Corker), some people want a career in politics moving in and out of government depending on which party is in control, some just fall into it.
[Update: Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns, & Money visits the grave of Joseph Choate, touching on some of the good and bad aspects of the old-time elite beliefs. Choate's brother founded the Choate private school, now Choate-Rosemary Hall, attended by many elite, including JFK. ]
I'm not so sure there's that much difference between now and the past. When you look at the business elite, the big shots with the big bucks, there seems to be a mixture of plutocracy and service. For every Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie Foundation created decades ago you can match similar efforts by Gates and Buffett.
Charlie Wilson famously said what's good for the U.S. is good for General Motors, and vice versa. Our current elite knows better to say that, but I suspect they think it. Wilson headed DOD under Ike. Trump has had his own set of rich men, members of the elite albeit rather second level, serving in his administration.
My bottom line is that there's always been a mixture of motivations for public service: some people want new fields to explore (think Sen. Corker), some people want a career in politics moving in and out of government depending on which party is in control, some just fall into it.
[Update: Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns, & Money visits the grave of Joseph Choate, touching on some of the good and bad aspects of the old-time elite beliefs. Choate's brother founded the Choate private school, now Choate-Rosemary Hall, attended by many elite, including JFK. ]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)