POINT-COUNTERPOINT. Is there too much commuting in the United States? John at Crooked Timber suggests there might be, viewing favorably the arguments that the modern big-box store shopping cluster leads to more time spent on shopping trips, and more traffic congestion in the large, space-consuming parking lots. Kevin at Truck and Barter suggests that analysts consider the role of zoning codes and other legislation. A jurisdiction can pass a law making the construction of a superstore more difficult. The law does not have the effect of suppressing the demand. The store locates elsewhere, and takes its traffic congestion with it.

Possible dissertation topic: what are the efficiency and equity consequences of making your community a Wal-Mart free zone?

RONALD COASE, CALL YOUR OFFICE. Wisconsin Lawmakers look to limit obesity cases. No suits have yet been filed alleging that the restaurant made the patron fat, but some people just can't be too careful.

LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE? Carnival of the Vanities No. 72 calls at A Perfectly Cromulent Blog.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

To put the question another way: what are the professional obligations of someone who is expected to perform the work of a professional under conditions of deprofessionalization?

That's from Invisible Adjunct, who has resumed publishing.

My economist's reaction.
To employers: You get what you pay for.
To employees: He who sells his product for a lower price know what it's worth.

The comments at the Invisible Adjunct post are worth looking at. I have reservations, however, about drawing parallels between adjunct appointments and apprenticeships, given the existence of a tenure track. There are, however, some old and mostly ignored principles on academic freedom and tenure that long-term temporary employees of academic departments ought to be more aggressive about invoking.

THE LUMP OF LABOR FALLACY. Virginia Postrel treats a blunderer kindly. My reaction to statements such as "There are only a finite number of jobs in the US economy - once a critical mass number have been offshored we enter the cascading unemployment phase - when those jobs dependent on the offshored jobs and industries likewise disappear." Put bluntly: Jobs can neither be created nor destroyed, only changed in form. Scarcity of resources, with competing uses, implies at any time there is more work to be done than workers to do it. The trick is to convert the work into a form where workers (particularly those with a poor understanding of calculus and a high opinion of themselves?) can do it.

SETTING THEM UP FOR FAILURE.

What it does to those poor kids is criminal. They're so disoriented, totally fish out of water. They don't have a clue how to behave, how to dress, how to talk, how to read and write at the level of the freshmen accepted at the competitive northeast institutions. It's truly pathetic. Their classmates spend vacations skiing, going to their cottages at the beach, traveling, they have their own cars, their own plastic, etc. As far as the quota kids are concerned, they may as well be from outer space. The reaction is to act up and act tough further alienating themselves. It's an awful system.

That's from a letter to Andrew Sullivan about the boondoggle called "admit unprepared students and call it 'access'." One has to wonder whether or not such "access" doesn't provide support for unfavorable stereotypes in students who have been brought up all their lives to reject such thinking as prejudice.

SECOND SECTION: Number 2 Pencil provides extensive context, with cross-references.

FOURTH TURNING ALERT?

Older priests today often complain that their younger colleagues are arrogant, pompous, and rigid, and that they love to parade around in clerical dress. The image that comes to mind is young versions of the old ethnic monsignors of the Depression era.

That's Father Andrew Greeley (via Betsy's Page) on a generation gap in the priesthood. Regular readers of Cold Spring Shops will understand that rebelling against the establishment is not equivalent to leftward ho!

THE DEATH OF HOBBIES? Apartment 11-D suggests people are just too busy:

We’re too busy. Everyone is spending more hours at work. More time raising kids. There is the computer to eat up spare minutes. And 100 channels on the TV. Technology and work have spelled the end to stamp collecting, gardening, crocheting, quilting, canning, pickling. I don’t think I would categorize blogging as a hobby. Since I use blogging as a means for brainstorming ideas and as a rough draft of future writing projects, it falls under work for me.

Up to a point. It's not clear that everyone is spending more hours at work, but that's a conversation we've had before. Kids can be a great catalyst for hobbies. Model railroaders use Thomas the Tank engine as a recruiting dodge all the time. It's not unknown for a mom to pass along her enthusiasm for tropical fish to her kids. Get the picture?

The secret is to make the time, rather than lament its lack. Turn off the television (easy for me to say, there are 100 channels of nothing here.) Turn off the computer and go to your workbench. Build.

There is a connection between the outsourcing debate and the disappearance of time-intensive hobbies Dr. Laura noted. Go here and scroll down to the bargain purchase that requires work. It is one of what will prove to be three Boston and Maine 4-8-2s in the roundhouse: the reassembled one from this engine, a kit that I recently bought, and a ready-to-run one from China. If you figure the opportunity cost of my time and the tooling I have to put together to reassemble the one and build the kit, the ready-to-run one from China will be cheaper, and on technical points it might be better put-together out of the box.

OUTSOURCING ROUNDUP.

I tend to be simple-minded about it and say that outsourcing will continue until the wage in each country equals the value of marginal product of that country's workers. Put another way, the high productivity of US workers will place a finite upper bound on the outsourcing of tech jobs.

That's Knowledge Problem. Never understimate the power of a no-arbitrage condition. Read the whole thing, and the Marginal Revolution roundup of the arguments she suggests.

Noneconomist visitors to Cold Spring Shops note well: the immiserization of Americans will not be the fault of foreign workers accepting lower wages. It will be the fault of an education establishment that destroys the human capital that makes the high productivity happen.

QUESTIONING MY CHEESEHEAD CREDENTIALS? The American Mind claims That's Not Wisconsin Chili. I admit to doing some improvising, but if you go to Chili John's in Green Bay or Real Chili in Milwaukee, you'll find something similar, if perhaps a bit tamer.

The Wisconsin chili Mr Hackbarth is referring to is what we know as camp chili, because it's particularly easy to prepare over a Coleman camp stove or something similar.

In a 4 quart kettle, brown 1 pound ground beef. Chop one large onion and one green pepper and saute them along with the meat until the onions become transparent. Drain the grease.

Add one 12 oz can tomato soup and one can water. Stir in one 12 oz can chili beans (or red kidneys, in a pinch you can even use what passes for baked beans in the Midwest, it is a waste of proper New England baked beans to dump them in a chili), one handful elbow macaroni, 1 tsp. chili powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, and a pinch of parsley.

Simmer until the elbow macaroni is cooked and all flavors are blended, about 30-45 minutes.

CLASS ACT. Never mind the two fading celebrities and the accidental-or-not exposure of Janet Jackson. Let us pause a moment to note that Beyonce Knowles sang the National Anthem correctly, without any made-up words, and with the ending sounding as properly march-like as you can do with 3/4 time.

CARNIVAL OF THE CAPITALISTS visits the Field Museum Deinonychus antirrhopus.

TONIGHT'S RECOMMENDED READING. The Engineering Department of Cold Spring Shops recently received a copy of Atlantic: The Well Beloved Engine (details or compare prices.) The book makes a provocative statement about the world speed record for steam locomotives.

The passing of the Hiawathas left the usual legacy of enigmas which surround the Atlantic type. Were they the fastest of all locomotives? This is contentious territory. The LNER A4 Pacific Mallard holds the official world speed record for steam locomotives at 126 mph, but reliable sources have spoken of Hiawathas [which the Milwaukee classed as the A type, and unofficially referred to them as "Milwaukees" rather than Atlantics -- SHK] running capably at 120 mph, where the calibration of the speedometer ran out. Alfred W. Bruce (The Steam Locomotive in America, 1952) stated that during time-schedule stabilising runs "... the hand of the speed indicator was often reported against the pin at 128 mph. Exactly what maximum speed was reached is not known -- but it was plenty!"

There is nothing quite so interesting as a discussion about a moot point. The Superintendent has long maintained that the fastest steam locomotives in the world were the Milwaukee type's successors, the F-7 class Baltics, and that either Milwaukee speedster beats the Gresley Streaks account the latter's greater propensity to come apart at speeds in excess of 80 mph (they'd barely protect Amtrak's current timings on the C&M with that, let alone the 1938 timings). There is a line drawing in Atlantic (also in the February Backtrack) that illustrates how much bigger the Milwaukees were than their British rivals. Alas, the fastest steam locomotive in preservation in Hiawatha territory is ... a Gresley Streak.

ADDING TO THE DECK OF CARDS. First, an update. Bill and Mary's Timothy Sullivan continues to behave like he's been hit on the head with nine clubs. Discriminations notes that Mr Sullivan is one of those people who is quick to find "hurtful" the actions of others who disagree with him. His own actions are simply imposing desirable correctives. Critical Mass has more.

Second, Messrs. Schneider and Schwarz have concurred with the Superintendent's suggestion that Pitzer's Laura Skandera Trombley be the eight of hearts.

Third, Joanne Jacobs has identified a good candidate for the nine of diamonds, Chester Finn. This designation may strike some readers as a bit unusual, but there are good reasons for making Mr. Finn a relatively weak trump card (it can be used by the defenders to frustrate a Player or Players with a weak hand, but it must be viewed with some care by its holder, should the holder be in the position of picking up the blind.)

Chester Finn is the nine of diamonds as a caution to those who would seek to turf out the existing academic mindset that there are weak trumps and strong trumps that can accomplish the turfing-out. Mr Finn's argument is a relatively weak argument. It takes something to beat nothing. Unfortunately, Mr Finn has taken the case against empty curricula and competition for students on the basis of amenities and used it to make some more controversial suggestions about the role of the university. Consider "A fee-for-service basis for college-delivered services that not all students avail themselves of: placement offices, art studios, psychological counseling, health care, etc." Would it really be better to contract out the hiring to the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees? Would it be prudent to have a residential campus without a clinic? And does Mr Finn envision a curriculum without any of the visual or performing arts? Or consider this proposal: "Faculty paid well but worked hard: a full teaching load, no tenure, and the expectation that their job is to teach. (Those wanting to engage in research raise grant dollars and "buy out" some of their teaching time.)" First, define "full teaching load." Does Mr Finn envision a few faculty members each meeting four or five large lecture classes per semester, or will there be ample opportunities for group projects, interactive learning, and frequent assignments, promptly graded. Second, does Mr Finn propose to turn into research only that which can be funded (if it is of commercial value, let the businesses or government agencies hire Ph.D.s and pay them proper salaries; if there is to be a government agency such as National Science Foundation funding the research, the academic politics do not go away.) Has he considered the possibility that independent and creative research (with perhaps some revised incentives to produce stuff that others will read) has its value? A student at a university where nobody does any research is in the position of a wallflower at a party, watching others engaging in the intelligent conversation. (Thanks to Steven Landsburg for this metaphor.) It does not follow that restoring Aristotle and Aquinas to the curriculum means there are no open questions for the philosophers and political theorists (and others) to explore. The act of exploring such ideas goes by the name of research.

Most importantly, the for-profit no-frills university Mr Finn hails is really making its money off of failures elsewhere in the system; it is not a substitute for a serious university education.

Third, higher education has developed a fast-growing sector that (no thanks to me) follows the no-frills formula: the proprietary sector, characterized by the University of Phoenix and kindred vendors of efficient and relatively inexpensive postsecondary schooling. Entrepreneurs have figured out a formula for delivering an acceptable level of instruction and training at reasonable cost to people who are willing to pay for it. More remarkably, while traditional suppliers weep over their deficits and deferred maintenance, the proprietors of these new institutions are making money!

Sure, charge people a few hundred bucks to get together with colleagues in related business, let them talk shop, and issue them a certificate. The companies might be willing to pony up some of the money to subcontract their employee training to others. But the exchange of a few marketing strategies or production tricks is not the same thing as a real university degree, and the act of writing some business memoranda for college credit is just paying twice for something the high schools should have done.

All is not perfect in higher education. Change for its own sake, however, is not equivalent to improving the service.

TRULY A WORLD WIDE WEB. Reform K-12 links back to this map after receiving a visitor from Cold Spring Shops who was reading Cold Spring Shops from Iraq!

For full credits, I discovered this map while visiting Sgt. Hook's chili competition, and he discovered it at Blackfive (not to be confused with the Stanier Five or Henry the Green Engine) who, it transpires, is posting from the lake shore of Greater DeKalb.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, CHARLIE BROWN?


create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

GREEN BAY CHILI. Herewith the Cold Spring Shops entry in Sgt. Hook's Chili Competition.

Pour the contents of a 12 oz can of beer and half the can of water into a two quart crockpot. Stir in 1/2 Tbsp. paprika, 3 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 Tbsp. Accent, 1 Tbsp. garlic powder, 1 Tbsp. ground cumin seed, 1 tsp. ground white pepper, and 1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper. Turn the crock pot on low and toss in a 1 oz unsweetened chocolate square.

In a skillet, brown 2 lb. coarsely ground chuck (or 2 lb. stewing beef cut into cubes). Saute 1 medium onion chopped with the meat. Drain the grease and add the cooked meat and onions to the crock pot.

Chop fresh hot peppers to taste. (My most recent batch used six jalapenos and 4 habaneros.) Stir the chopped peppers into the crockpot. Cover and let it cook at low heat for 3 or 4 hours.

Serve over cooked chili beans or elbow macaroni.

Real Wisconsin chili comes with a vinegar dressing. Drop 3 or 4 cayenne peppers into a cruet, and pour vinegar over the peppers. Keep on hand for your chili feeds.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE? Opinion Journal snarks at etiquette experts, but it would be mannerly of you to read the article cited.

CROSSOVER VOTING. It's been Instalanched, but read Citizen Smash's discovery of the requirement to declare a party identity in order to vote in the California primary. It is worth remembering that the primaries are primarily a party function, and citizens who skip the primaries are not presumptively derelict of their civic duties. The parties go to great length to prevent crossover voting, the phenomenon of voting for the candidate you least like in order to enhance the chances for the candidate you most like. The Making of the President 1960 (details or compare prices) has some rather colorful passages about the effects of crossover voting.

CARNIVAL OF THE VANITIES NO. 71 visits the frozen tundra at The American Mind.