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Book Review: “The Blizzard” by Robert Bahr

I grew up in the Buffalo suburbs. The Blizzard of ‘77 is a prominent feature of my childhood.* As a robust 12 year-old, my parents wouldn’t let me out the door into the yard for 5 days!

Recently I read The Blizzard by Robert Bahr. It’s one of the few books you can find on Amazon about it.

This is the worst book I’ve ever completed. How would I describe it? How about as the novelization of a Weather Channel special?

* The vXwife and I decided that Roots would be a good thing to watch on family movie night (nights, as it happened). Watching it reminded us that it premiered and ran on consecutive nights when Buffalo was paralyzed by the Blizzard. Afterwards, she bought me some blizzard memorabilia, including this book and a video. Bless her heart for being thoughtful.

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Cool Speculation: Stonehenge Is All About Sound

This is way out there, but lots of us have done this experiment in physics class, and no one has made the connection before Steven Waller, a doctoral researcher at Rock Art Acoustics USA:

If two pipers were to play in a field, observers walking around the musicians would hear a strange effect … At certain points, the sound waves produced by each player would cancel each other out, creating spots where the sound is dampened.

The theory is highly speculative, but modern-day experiments do reveal that the layout of the Stonehenge ruins and other rock circles mimics the piper illusion, with stones instead of competing sound waves blocking out sounds made in the center of the circle.

In support of the theory, Waller pointed to myths linking Stonehenge with music, such as the traditional nickname for stone circles in Great Britain: "piper stones." …

Waller experimented by having blindfolded participants walk into a field as two pipers played. He asked the volunteers to tell him whenever they thought a barrier existed between them and the sound. There were no barriers in the field, but acoustic "dead spots" created by sound-wave interference certainly gave the volunteers the impression that there were.

"They drew structures, archways and openings that are very similar to Stonehenge," Waller said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/17/stonehenge-inspired-by-sound-illusion-archaeologist-suggests/?intcmp=features#ixzz1mktzlUYh

Technorati Tags: stonhenge,piper,stone,sound,cancellation

Quote 31 from Sowell's "A Conflict of Visions"

Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles points out that:

... A vast chasm between the existing intellectual and moral capabilities of the common man and those of the intellectual elite has been an enduring characteristic of the tradition of the unconstrained vision.

...

While the unconstrained vision has featured egalitarianism as a conviction that people should share more equally in the material and other benefits of society, it tends to see the existing capabilities of people as far more unequal than does the constrained vision. [pg. 146]

So, inequality in intellectual and moral capabilities is a given, but inequality in results is something to be remedied (presumably by those with appropriate intellectual and moral capabilities).

Photo Booth with an Attitude

From Leno.

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Quote 30 from Sowell's "A Conflict of Visions"

Sowell's A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles now gets to the core of the disapprobation shown by so many with the unconstrained vision:

Many of those with an unconstrained vision and a passionate opposition to inequality of results assume that those who oppose them must be in favor of inequality of results, either on philosophic grounds or as a matter of narrow self-interest. [pg. 144]

It's never been clear to me why this argument, which is so silly when couched in terms of footraces or exams, is treated axiomatically when it comes to income or wealth.

Goofy Incentives: Elementary School Cafeteria Edition

The vXgirl is a cafeteria helper at her school.

A bunch of kids start work at the same time.

The ones that finish washing their hands first get to serve food.

The ones that take the longest to wash their hands get to do cleanup.

OMFG.

Of course, everything I’ve heard indicates that hospitals have problems with doctors following the same sort of rules.

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Quote 29 from Sowell's "A Conflict of Visions"

Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles lays out the approach of the constrained vision:

... The constrained vision does not defend existing inequalities, or any given pattern of economic or social results, as just. According to Hayek, "the manner in which the benefits and burdens are apportioned by the market mechanism would in many instances have to be regarded as very unjust if it were the result of a deliberate allocation to particular people." [pg. 139]

This is starting to get to the heart of the matter: the constrained think inequality is unjust only if it is deliberate, while those with the unconstrained vision think it is just to do something deliberate regarding inequality. No wonder they don't agree.

What About Health Insurers?

Holman Jenkins explains why the insurers support Obamacare:

Insurers were never the enemy of ObamaCare that it suited President Obama to pretend. That much is clear …

…

Insurers choose their words carefully, but in effect they note that ObamaCare doubles down on the policies that have already made the industry's product an unaffordable, overpriced luxury for millions of Americans.

Technorati Tags: insurer,healthcare,affordable

Regionals

Congrats to the vXgirl, who won her Science Fair. We're at regionals right now.

The tension is so thick the parents can cut it with their kid's knife.

Quote 28 from Sowell's "A Conflict of Visions"

Thomas Sowell sums up the position of A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles :

In short, attempts to equalize economic results lead to greater-and more dangerous-inequality in political power. [pg. 137]

And that inequality doesn't get discussed in polite society.