A good long piece here defending "Culinary Modernism" (fast food etc.) against the snobbery of the food movement. "Rachel Laudan is a historian and philosopher of science and technology. She is the author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History. The following essay originally appeared in Gastronomica."
Sunday, May 31, 2015
USDA "Receipt for Service" Initiative I
USDA's Office of Advocacy and Outreach published an FR notice of a June meeting on USDA's "Receipt for Service" initiative.
What is the initiative? Damned if anyone could tell from the notice. There's no description of what it is, beyond a reference to a paragraph in the 2008 farm bill, and an amendment in the 2014 farm bill. No links, no nothing.
But I've belatedly discovered that one can highlight a phrase, right click, and get an option to use Google to search for the phrase. So what did I discover?
Three years after the 2008 farm bill, in 2011, OCIO published a department reg requiring the field agencies to issue AD-2088 when requested. In January 2012 FSA issued a notice on it, NRCS issued the equivalent, RD apparently didn't issue anything, at least unlike the first two they don't show up on the first page of Google results. The AD-2088 basically provides blanks for a narrative description of what service the farmer requested, and what happened to the request. Importantly, the 2008 provision only required the AD-2088 be issued if the farmer requested it. Also important--the Department reg didn't require any reports. I suspect, without researching it, that reports were never required.
Exploring further, it seems Congress, in their wisdom, in 2014 amended the 2008 provision to require issuing a receipt in all cases. As a result, NRCS, FSA, and RD got together and did an on-line app, one which requires a 27-page manual: "Web Receipt for Service (webRFS) User’s Guide". FSA issued a notice, CM-753, which includes a memo signed by the Food and Agriculture council, to the state directors plus the Q&A's for FSA. [Note to self: how'd I miss it last fall?]
Apparently webRFS is the front-end to a database, which is searchable, and presumably will support statistical reports.
Now, back to the meeting: the material on the webRFS says that it's "Phase I" and that there will be an evaluation of the webRFS and the need for any additional action.
What is the initiative? Damned if anyone could tell from the notice. There's no description of what it is, beyond a reference to a paragraph in the 2008 farm bill, and an amendment in the 2014 farm bill. No links, no nothing.
But I've belatedly discovered that one can highlight a phrase, right click, and get an option to use Google to search for the phrase. So what did I discover?
Three years after the 2008 farm bill, in 2011, OCIO published a department reg requiring the field agencies to issue AD-2088 when requested. In January 2012 FSA issued a notice on it, NRCS issued the equivalent, RD apparently didn't issue anything, at least unlike the first two they don't show up on the first page of Google results. The AD-2088 basically provides blanks for a narrative description of what service the farmer requested, and what happened to the request. Importantly, the 2008 provision only required the AD-2088 be issued if the farmer requested it. Also important--the Department reg didn't require any reports. I suspect, without researching it, that reports were never required.
Exploring further, it seems Congress, in their wisdom, in 2014 amended the 2008 provision to require issuing a receipt in all cases. As a result, NRCS, FSA, and RD got together and did an on-line app, one which requires a 27-page manual: "Web Receipt for Service (webRFS) User’s Guide". FSA issued a notice, CM-753, which includes a memo signed by the Food and Agriculture council, to the state directors plus the Q&A's for FSA. [Note to self: how'd I miss it last fall?]
Apparently webRFS is the front-end to a database, which is searchable, and presumably will support statistical reports.
Now, back to the meeting: the material on the webRFS says that it's "Phase I" and that there will be an evaluation of the webRFS and the need for any additional action.
Friday, May 29, 2015
NRCS e-Site
From NRCS, part of their new site for farmers.
I'm pleased to see the SCIMS and USDA login--one small step on the path to having a universal government login process. But I do wonder about the back end. Are the conservation plans and practices going to be layers in a USDA GIS. Will the "aerial maps" of your property be displayed from such a GIS?
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Learn how to obtain a SCIMS record and eAuthentication Account to access Conservation Client Gateway
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Request technical assistance or advice for your conservation needs. Access technical information, such as the Web Soil Survey, the National Plants Database, and the National Conservation Practice Standards and Specifications to learn more about soils, plants, and conservation practices. |
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Apply for conservation program financial assistance. Manage your applications, contracts, conservation plans and the associated documents through Conservation Client Gateway. Report practice completion and installation, and request information and modifications to your conservation plans and contracts. |
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View, sign, and submit documents related to your conservation request. View and track the status of your requests for technical and financial assistance. View aerial maps of your property where you have requested technical or financial assistance. |
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View
and track the status of your financial assistance conservation program
payments for completed conservation practices in your existing contracts. |
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Be a Social Analyst
The Times has a post which is different. We're used to taking a survey and having our results compared to the average of previous survey takers, but in this case you're asked to draw a graph.
Specifically, you're asked to plot the relationship between family income and probability of going to college. They give a midpoint, and when you're finished compare your line to those of the previous takers and discuss the reasons for the result. Like many people I drew an S curve, but it turns out the true graph is a straight line. A straight line relationship is also true for some other social factors.
Specifically, you're asked to plot the relationship between family income and probability of going to college. They give a midpoint, and when you're finished compare your line to those of the previous takers and discuss the reasons for the result. Like many people I drew an S curve, but it turns out the true graph is a straight line. A straight line relationship is also true for some other social factors.
"Intriguingly, the relationship between parental-income rank and teen pregnancy is also quite linear, and some of the same forces are probably involved. So is the relationship between parental-income rank and a child’s future income rank.
Not every relevant relationship is linear, however. The chances that a student enrolls in the highest-quality colleges, as measured by their students’ future earnings, are a bit more complicated. These chances accelerate as incomes grow.
And enrolling is not everything. While rich children born around 1980 were nearly three times more likely to go to college than poor children, they were six times more likely to graduate, according to a study separate from the one we're showing here.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Comment on "Actively Engaged"
The Blog for Rural America criticizes the draft rule on "actively engaged". He may be picking up comments from the Coalition for Rural America, which I commented on here.The opportunity for the public to offer comments expired yesterday.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Why No Registry of Debts?
"Bad Paper" by Jake Halpern reads quickly, has a number of colorful characters, and tells a depressing story of brokering debts and debt collection in the days before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued new rules. It's not clear that CFPB will change the situation. Basically banks and others who make loans to consumers, auto loans, credit card debt, etc. would try to collect delinquent debt. Very quickly they would sell the obligations for cents on the dollar through brokers to debt collectors. The collectors would collect some of the debt and sell the unpaid obligations down the line. At each level the collectors operate closer to the legal line, using tougher tactics. Debt collecting turns out to be a good profession for ex-convicts whose criminal record keeps them out of other jobs. Halpern devotes little attention to the debtors, just enough to evoke sympathy.
One of the problems in the system is that what's sold seems to be spreadsheets of debtors on flash drives, which can easily be copied/stolen. The biggest problem is the whole system depends on trust and honesty but the reality is that the weak get the shaft.
Halpern uses the epilogue to argue that the Feds should implement a debt registry, which tracks a debt from issuance through resolution, no matter how many times ownership of the obligation changes hands. Makes sense to me.
Sidenote: I was surprised to learn that in a third of the states people can go to prison for unpaid debts.
One of the problems in the system is that what's sold seems to be spreadsheets of debtors on flash drives, which can easily be copied/stolen. The biggest problem is the whole system depends on trust and honesty but the reality is that the weak get the shaft.
Halpern uses the epilogue to argue that the Feds should implement a debt registry, which tracks a debt from issuance through resolution, no matter how many times ownership of the obligation changes hands. Makes sense to me.
Sidenote: I was surprised to learn that in a third of the states people can go to prison for unpaid debts.
Monday, May 25, 2015
A Woman Professor at Georgia in 1918!
Moina Belle Michael is even famous enough to rate a wikipedia page but her fame is due to her involvement with poppies as a symbol of remembrance. What I'd like to know is what she was teaching at the University of Georgia in 1918? I don't know how many female professors there were outside of women's colleges but she has to have an interesting back story.
Notable Bureaucrats: Jager and Lauter
Harald Jager and Gerald Lauter deserve places in the bureaucrats hall of fame. Their roles are described in The Collapse by Mary Elise Sarotte, the book I blogged about yesterday , on the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Jager has a bit of fame, sufficient to rate a wikipedia page. He was the lieutenant colonel in charge at a major Berlin crossing, who ultimately made the decision to open the gates and let East Berliners cross to the other side without facing rifle fire.
Lauter doesn't get that much fame, but arguably was the more important player. He was the second level bureaucrat who led a group of 4 bureaucrats from different agencies which produced the directive on a changed policy on travel to the West. As Sarotte tells it, he didn't think much of the policy memo he was given to implement, so the group wrote a new one, including two important provisions: the new policy to take effect immediately and to include Berlin. He wasn't a good bureaucrat, because there was a big omission--travelers needed to obtain a visa before traveling. (The policy types really wanted only to allow permanent emigration of selected individuals but Lauter believed that wouldn't work.)
So Lauter writes the directive, a PR type holds a news conference and answers questions by reading the directive, the media reasonably interprets the directive and answers as announcing free travel to the West, East Berliners gather at the crossing points, Jager is faced with a decision of using force or opening the crossing and his superiors are no help. He finally makes the right decision.
Why do I consider them candidates for a hall of fame: both deviated from mindless obedience to orders from above, resulting in gains for freedom and human rights. And both found themselves in situations which other bureaucrats can sympathize with: stupid policy decisions from management (Lauter) and failure by superiorss to provide helpful and reasonable decisions, leaving the bureaucrat on a limb.
I do recommend the book. The epilogue draws some conclusions with which I agree--both on the fall of the wall and the general sense in which history happens, accident and luck, individuals and not plans often rule.
Jager has a bit of fame, sufficient to rate a wikipedia page. He was the lieutenant colonel in charge at a major Berlin crossing, who ultimately made the decision to open the gates and let East Berliners cross to the other side without facing rifle fire.
Lauter doesn't get that much fame, but arguably was the more important player. He was the second level bureaucrat who led a group of 4 bureaucrats from different agencies which produced the directive on a changed policy on travel to the West. As Sarotte tells it, he didn't think much of the policy memo he was given to implement, so the group wrote a new one, including two important provisions: the new policy to take effect immediately and to include Berlin. He wasn't a good bureaucrat, because there was a big omission--travelers needed to obtain a visa before traveling. (The policy types really wanted only to allow permanent emigration of selected individuals but Lauter believed that wouldn't work.)
So Lauter writes the directive, a PR type holds a news conference and answers questions by reading the directive, the media reasonably interprets the directive and answers as announcing free travel to the West, East Berliners gather at the crossing points, Jager is faced with a decision of using force or opening the crossing and his superiors are no help. He finally makes the right decision.
Why do I consider them candidates for a hall of fame: both deviated from mindless obedience to orders from above, resulting in gains for freedom and human rights. And both found themselves in situations which other bureaucrats can sympathize with: stupid policy decisions from management (Lauter) and failure by superiorss to provide helpful and reasonable decisions, leaving the bureaucrat on a limb.
I do recommend the book. The epilogue draws some conclusions with which I agree--both on the fall of the wall and the general sense in which history happens, accident and luck, individuals and not plans often rule.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Bureaucrats and MLKing: the Collapse
Reading "The Collapse", a very good narrative description of the events leading up to the demise of the Berlin Wall. Having lived through that time and followed it in the media, even though it predated Internet news, I came to the book with good background.
I was surprised to be reminded by the role M.L.King played in the demonstrations leading up to the fall; East Germans knew and were impressed by his example and followed it in their own actions.
The political decision making and the bureaucracy to implement the decisions was notably defective. A change in leadership, the need to clear decisions with the Soviet Union, the aftermath of a long holiday, the miscoordination of two parallel bureaucracies (the regular bureaucracy and the Communist Party), all made for a dysfunctional system, even worse than our system today.
I was surprised to be reminded by the role M.L.King played in the demonstrations leading up to the fall; East Germans knew and were impressed by his example and followed it in their own actions.
The political decision making and the bureaucracy to implement the decisions was notably defective. A change in leadership, the need to clear decisions with the Soviet Union, the aftermath of a long holiday, the miscoordination of two parallel bureaucracies (the regular bureaucracy and the Communist Party), all made for a dysfunctional system, even worse than our system today.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Presidential Management and Sidney Blumenthal
Some styles of presidential management:
Eisenhower, very structured, staffed, bureaucratic.
Carter, less structured, very micro-managed,
FDR, intentionally unstructured, free-flowing.
Back when I was in college, Ike was dismissed as too old and dated. FDR was defended for intentionally creating conflict in his administration, and making effective use of Eleanor to gain information from outside formal channels. (Carter was running the peanut operation.) The idea, the historians and political scientists said, was to ensure that issues were forced upwards and onto his desk for decision. (By contrast Ike used his Cabinet extensively, leading to the criticism that he never saw significant issues.)
With the release of Hillary Clinton's emails, her long-time friend and supporter Sidney Blumenthal has come to prominence again. He sent many emails to her, and was involved in business initiatives in Libya etc. Clinton's defended his input as part of an effort to get outside the "bubble" which can surround and entrap Washington politicians/government executives. Since she's just a little younger than I, she may be channeling the same sort of professorial wisdom as I received back in the day. What I don't know is whether the professoriate has updated their ideas in the last 50 years. I know Ike's reputation has risen, so maybe the answer is "yes"?
Eisenhower, very structured, staffed, bureaucratic.
Carter, less structured, very micro-managed,
FDR, intentionally unstructured, free-flowing.
Back when I was in college, Ike was dismissed as too old and dated. FDR was defended for intentionally creating conflict in his administration, and making effective use of Eleanor to gain information from outside formal channels. (Carter was running the peanut operation.) The idea, the historians and political scientists said, was to ensure that issues were forced upwards and onto his desk for decision. (By contrast Ike used his Cabinet extensively, leading to the criticism that he never saw significant issues.)
With the release of Hillary Clinton's emails, her long-time friend and supporter Sidney Blumenthal has come to prominence again. He sent many emails to her, and was involved in business initiatives in Libya etc. Clinton's defended his input as part of an effort to get outside the "bubble" which can surround and entrap Washington politicians/government executives. Since she's just a little younger than I, she may be channeling the same sort of professorial wisdom as I received back in the day. What I don't know is whether the professoriate has updated their ideas in the last 50 years. I know Ike's reputation has risen, so maybe the answer is "yes"?
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