On Homicide

Megan McArdle has a twitter thread going on the rise in homicide rates. (Kevin Drum has pointed out that while homicides have risen, violent crime hasn't.   

I'm going to write a longer column on this but I think that the people reassuring each other that the urban crime spike is only homicide, while other violent crime fell last year, should not assume that those trends will keep diverging.

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) May 25, 2021

I offered two comments in twitter, neither totally serious.  One was recalling a past discussion on the impact of medical advances on homicide rates--ER's might save more victims.  The other was suggesting that criminal gangs were losing revenue from the effects of the lockdown and the legalization of pot, so they might be fighting over a shrinking pie.

I'm wondering how the trends will evolve.  

On Reading But Not Understanding

 Bob Somerby today has a post about Godel and Wittgenstein. It seems he got deeply into philosophy in his college days, and he often refers to them, as well as others (like Bertrand Russell just last week).  Douglas Hofstadter wrote a famous book in 1979 on Godel, Escher and Bach.  I was one of those who bought the book but never finished it.

I'm someone whose identity is tied up in their mind--i.e, all my life (almost) I've been "smart", so I don't like to admit there's stuff I can't understand. Bob is a mix of the esoteric, the cranky, and the right-on, whom I find mostly worthwhile to read, but I do skip paragraphs and occasional posts. 

Inflation Worries

 Seeing media stories about the possibility of inflation.  Apparently the Biden administration is not worrying, nor is the Fed.  

I understand the logic--prices may rise for food and gas, but the underlying trend may not be above the Fed's target for long. And the rise in wages for restaurant and food service workers is good; it helps the lowest paid. 

But my cynicism is up today.  I'm worried about people on fixed incomes--the retired--will be disproportionately affected by the inflation that occurs. And worried that people vote more on the basis of what they've lost than what they have gained, meaning Democrats in 2022 will lose more elderly votes than they gain from the wage gainers.

Hidden Factors in Economic History

 I'm intrigued by the idea that some hidden factors account for economic gains:

• The invention of eyeglasses. That must have significantly improved the capabilities of a segment of the population 
• The change from women as housewives to women as teachers to women as professionals.  Those changes raised the average intelligence of the (paid) workface, while lowering the average for the teaching profession.
• The opening of "virgin land"--meaning the exploitation of fertility accumulated over years
• The invention of the container ship.  (Good book on that.)

[Updated 1: The invention of writing of course was important, as were the inventions of libraries, and public libraries, and lenses which were prerequisite for glasses and then Ben Franklin's bifocals.

Updated 2:  The adoption of uniform time zones in the 1880s]

 

First Post-Pandemic Joint Outing

 Wife and I drove to Purcellville today. First time we've ventured out together on a trip for pleasure, even if it was only a brief one.

Words--"Profession"

 One thing I got from my reading of "The Light Ages" is the etymology of "profession".   The source at the link doesn't say, but I'm guessing that the progression was from a "profession of faith", meaning a solemn vow of belief, which would have been required of Catholics, particularly those entering monasteries and becoming monks.  Given the evolution of universities from monastic and church schools where it seems that monks, or aspirants, were the dominant (only?) students and then teachers, the term becomes applied to the legal, medical, and theological professions.

How Things Change--Vaccine

 Early in the year we were amazed that West Virginia was leading the way in vaccinating their people.  My cousin in Massachusetts was griping about the way the governor was mishandling vaccination there.

Today it seems that West Virginia has fallen back, almost into the lowest tier of states, while Massachusetts is in the top tier. 

A Use of CRA

 Dems use the CRA on civil rights. Why use it on this, and not other regulations? The article explains why the EEOC is different.

Our Chaotic Times Are New?

 Seb Falk in "The Light Ages" quotes the fourteenth century poet John Gower"

"For now at this time

men see the world on every side

changed in so many ways

that it well-nigh stands reversed."

I'm just through the first two chapters, and I like it very much.  Particularly enjoyed the explanation of math operations using Roman numerals (turns out to be not that hard with the tools and processes which had been invented). 

How We Talk, and What It Means

 Slate has a long interview with someone studying Black American accents, how they vary from place to place and in time. 

Anyone who's seen My Fair Lady is likely to be interested in the subject.  Apparently it's harder to nail American accents down to a locality than English English, or maybe the parties to the interview weren't Professor Higgins.

I remember telling an employee back in the 1970's that her occasional use of black English might limit her promotion opportunities.  I think it was a true statement at the time, but over the years I've felt guilty about saying it.  

Toward the end of the interview they get into a discussion of trials, like George Floyd, in which interpreting the language of the black victim was at issue.  There's some skepticism over whether the defense attorneys were honest in their misinterpretation of what was recorded. Perhaps I'm insufficiently cynical but I can accept that in the instant a policeman could interpret what he/she heard as being white English words, rather than black English language. It's problematic, but just an instance of how difficult it is to bridge social and cultural issues.