Creating American Icons

Having lived through the Civil Rights movement and the development of PC's, I see some similarities.  In both cases there were many people involved, important people who played big parts in the developments.  In both cases there was lots of conflict, false starts, and coulda-beens.  In both cases the passage of time has led to creation of a handful of icons:  Martin Luther King reigns as the icon of civil rights, in the form of a simplified plaster saint of non-violence and Bill Gates reigns as the icon of personal computers, becoming a sanctified elder statesman of altruism.  I don't mean to denigrate either man, just to suggest that similar processes are at work.  We need a simple narrative, so the number of heroes is ideally one, and we don't like humanity, so the number of vices acceptable is maybe one as well, but zero is better.

John Phipps and the State of Agriculture

John has a blistering post here criticizing farmers for seeing themselves as victims, closing ranks, and  disclaiming responsibility (i.e., as fertilizer runoff).  Instead he believes agriculture should be accountable for its actions.

He calls agriculture a "tiny industry"  ;-) something my sainted mother would roll over in her grave at. 

Estonia Revisited

"Today, Estonia is regarded as one of the most advanced e-governments in the world. The use of technology and digital services is widespread in both the public and private sector. We can set up a new company and have it legally up and running within 20 minutes. Nearly 95 percent of Estonians declare their income online, because it takes less than five minutes and no accountants. All this brings tax administration costs down to only 0.3 percent of net tax revenues, and saves each citizen an average of 5.4 workdays a year."

From a World Bank post on  how Estonia got there.

Farm Kids and "Our Kids"

Reading Robert Putnam's "Our Kids"

Farm kids seem naturally to have a childhood closer to that enjoyed by those with highly educated parents these days than kids with parents in standard-issue suburbia.  There's differences, of course.  The cultural/intellectual environment isn't as rich and you can't assume a lot of emphasis on words.  I suspect there's less diversity among the kids in a rural school these days than there was in my time, but still more than in most suburban settings.

Grazing Allotments and Base Properties

Nathanael Johnson continues to impress me.

His piece on the Oregon Malheur sit-in/occupation offers a new piece of info: grazing allotments are connected to "base properties" and their value is capitalized into the market price of the property (much as tobacco allotments were capitalized into the value of the land to which they were attached).

[Update--apparently the local FSA office in the area was closed as a precautionary measure--not clear whether it's still closed.]

RIP Alan Rickman

I seem to be on a culture kick this week.  Alan Rickman died at age 69.  The obits talk about Harry Potter and Die Hard, and the stage.  I'd like to mention the Barsetshire Chronicles, a BBC series based on the Trollope novels in 1982.  Rickman played Obadiah Slope in a memorable performance.  Slope is an ambitious young clergyman, a villain, but whose love for the girl almost redeems him.  The books were great, but Rickman's performance is greater.

El Chapo's Escape Is Not a Crime

I was looking back to see when I first started blogging.  It was January 2005 and my first post linked to a Post article on an escape from Mexican prisons. According to the article, merely escaping from prison was not a crime in itself.

On "Whippersnapper"

As a geezer, I often use the word "whippersnapper".  To me it means someone younger than I who is less serious and more assertive than I.  It's definitely ageist,  (Ageism is perhaps the one dichotomy which will last the longest.  We've seen race and sex and gender being dissolved away, distinctions fading, epithets being outlawed.)  But everyone is young and everyone will be old. Only if we finally conquer death will the distinctions between the generations fade away.)

 Today I wonder about its origin.  Google shows that the origin is fuzzy, perhaps from "whip snapper".   However a British site says it's a combination in the 17th century of "whip snapper" and "snipper snapper".   From meaning a street boy who had no ambition but lazily snapping a whip for recreation it came to mean "A diminutive or insignificant person, especially a sprightly or impertinent youngster" in the sites definition.

Another Cultural Disconnect--Star Wars

We just saw the new Star Wars movie today.  While I saw and enjoyed the original Star Wars movie, I have to admit I never saw any of the others.  I suppose that impaired my enjoyment of the new one.  While I enjoyed parts of the movie, particularly the Harrison Ford bits (he's about a year younger than I) it didn't turn me on.  Using the Netflix 5 star rating system, I'd give it a 3, while apparently most critics are giving it a 4, even a 5.

Cultural Disconnect--Bowie

I've never been up on popular culture, but the reaction to the death of David Bowie shows how far off I've been.  For me, the name was familiar but I never followed his music or his movies or whatever else he did.  From the reaction today it seems he was a much more significant figure than I would have guessed.