Pandemic Data Problems

 I've posted a time or two on the need for the federal government to improve its statistical/data collection processes.  

Here's a long discussion of the problems with the covid-19 data collection.

Spring Is Here

Got into the low 80's in Reston today, with lots of wind.  But the daffodils are blooming, some trees are blossoming, the cherry blossoms will be out next week, the peas, lettuce, spinach, and radishes are sprouted and above ground.  

It's good to be still alive today.  

Republicans--Original Practitioners of Identity Politics?

 Current reading in David Reynolds' "Abe" showed me this cartoon attacking Lincoln and the Republican party.  If the captions are too small to read, below is the Library of Congress summary: 

Abraham Lincoln's supporters are portrayed as radicals and eccentrics of various stripes. The satire is loosely based on an anti-Fremont cartoon from the previous presidential race, "The Great Republican Reform Party" (no. 1856-22), also issued by Nathaniel Currier. Here Lincoln, sitting astride a wooden rail borne by Horace Greeley, leads his followers toward a lunatic asylum. Greeley instructs him, "Hold on to me Abe, and we'll go in here by the unanimous consent of the people." Lincoln exhorts his followers, "Now my friends I'm almost in, and the millennium is going to begin, so ask what you will and it shall be granted."

•  At the head of the group is a bearded man, arm-in-arm with a woman and a Mormon. He claims to "represent the free love element, and expect to have free license to carry out its principles." The woman looks at Lincoln, saying "Oh! what a beautiful man he is, I feel a 'passional attraction' every time I see his lovely face." The Mormon adds, "I want religion abolished and the book of Mormon made the standard of morality."
•  They are followed by a dandified free black, who announces, "'De white man hab no rights dat cullud pussons am bound to spect' I want dat understood."
•  Behind him an aging suffragette says, "I want womans rights enforced, and man reduced in subjection to her authority."
•  Next a ragged socialist or Fourierist, holding a liquor bottle, asserts, "I want everybody to have a share of everybody elses property."
•  At the end of the group are three hooligans:
•  one demanding "a hotel established by government, where people that aint inclined to work, can board free of expense, and be found in rum and tobacco." 
• The second, a thief, wants "the right to examine every other citizen's pockets without interruption by Policemen."
•  The last, an Irish street tough, says, "I want all the stations houses burned up, and the M.P.s killed, so that the bohoys can run with the machine and have a muss when they please." Source: Reilly.

More USDA Programs

Secretary Vilsack announced new programs and more money for existing ones. 

I didn't see any more money for FSA administration but I just skimmed.  

Lincoln's Shoemaker Was Lynched

  Reading David Reynolds' "Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times".

Some Springfield, IL blacks did well, including Lincoln's barber and shoemaker. But in the 20th century the shoemaker was lynched. William Donnegan, page 410.

Court Decision on Organic/Hydroponics

 Judge has ruled USDA can include hydroponics in the "organic" category.

Followers of Rodale, like my late mother, will not be happy.

Hard Working Row Crop Farmers

 This is dedication, or perhaps just the usual spring-rush routine. Never lived on a row crop farm so I don't really know.

What Are Socially Disadvantaged Farmers?

 CRS has an explanation which should cause every reader to shed a tear for the poor FSA personnel who have to deal with the different definitions.

Here's a table showing the numbers:

The Pull of the Familiar, the Push of the Foreign

Both the Post and Times  had Sunday articles discussing the Asian American community in Atlanta. The Post had a map showing its recent growth, which was concentrated in certain areas.

What struck me was the likelihood that the concentration mostly reflected the choice of the immigrants, the desire to live in areas with people with whom you might share something.  (Since "Asian-American" covers some 20 countries or so, you might not be able to speak your neighbor's language, but presumably you might have neighbors more accepting of you than in a 95 percent white, or 95 percent black, community.)  

It's always hard to untangle the factors behind residential concentrations (I almost wrote "segregation" but concentration is the better term.)  All other things being equal, a person might decide where to live based on the likelihood of finding people with similar backgrounds, tastes, opinions, values, or based on the fear of having to deal with strangers. 

Then moving from the viewpoint of the person moving into a residence to the viewpoints of the potential neighbors you bring up other factors.  I'd venture that in most cases in today's America the weight of the emotion involved is heavier on the side of the mover, than on the side of the neighbors.

Back in the day we had "lily-white" areas, so someone moving in of a different race could cause the potential neighbors to have a lot of emotion.  I don't think we have "lily-white" areas much these days, so there's less emotion.  Where you get emotion is NIMBYism, questions of zoning in particular.

Fox Versus Hedgehog; Goats Versus Sheep

 The philosopher Isaiah Berlin made his name with the essay The Hedgehog and the Fox, where the hedgehog has one big idea, the fox knows several smaller ideas.

Someone has investigated sheep and goats--turns out goats are better problem solvers than sheep, possibly because goats forage for their food, exploring everything which might be edible, while sheep specialize in grass., even though they're related species and both were domesticated early.