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Will Gen Z Make America Socialist?
October 18, 2020 /in Articles /by Hunter Hastings
Every Monday, Mark Shupe posts an article here at Center For Individualism analyzing We The Living, Ayn Rand's novel of Russia in the 1920's, after the communist revolution. He draws insightful parallels with America in 2020. The novel's young heroine tries in her own way to resist socialism. Are we Reliving We The Living? Today's young people in America seem to be pulling towards socialism, not away from it.
Last week, I wrote about a proposition on the California ballot that would give 17-year-olds the right to vote in some California elections. California's push for the youth vote got me thinking about how recent college graduates and others entering the workforce are dealing with the economic and career implications of 2020.
On a recent episode of the financial podcast Business Casual, New York Times economics reporter Eduardo Porter shared his thoughts on the market, the economy, and what lies ahead. He thinks a financial recession could push younger Americans to the political left.
Porter cited research about how generations that come of age during a recession have moved to the left.
A 2009 working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, "Growing up in a Recession: Beliefs and the Macroeconomy", gives us additional clues on how recessions could change generational perceptions on hard work versus luck.
It argues, "that large macroeconomic shocks experienced during the critical years of early adulthood shape preferences for redistribution. Individuals who grew up during a recession tend to support more government redistribution and believe that luck is more relevant than effort in determining economic success in life."
The paper estimates that voter opinion swings could be as high as 15 percent due to impact of economic shocks on younger voters.
Looking to history, the findings are not far-fetched. Many notable economic downturns have related to political shifts to the left – the Great Recession and President Obama and the Great Depression and FDR to name two.
I also looked for any studies on the impact of smaller recessions on American voting preferences. "Economic Conditions and Electoral Outcomes: Class Differences in the Political Response to Recession," was a 1978 study on voting during the 1958 and 1960 congressional and presidential elections in the American Journal of Political Science.
The study found that voters tended to blame incumbents for bad economic policies, regardless of party affiliation, and vote them out accordingly, "One basic finding to emerge from this study is that voting behavior is responsive to economic conditions, as these are reflected in the financial situations of families and individuals." Interestingly, a 1975 study found similar conclusions, but noted "economic upturns have no corresponding effect."
If the eyes are the window to the soul, as Cicero, Shakespeare, or the Bible claims, then polls are the window to political leanings.
A May 2019 Morning Consult poll found that Gen Z, the youngest generation entering the current job market, and Millennials, my generation, were more likely to feel positively toward socialism. Another footnote in the survey; Gen Z said that the 2008 financial crisis was the least likely to impact their worldview.
Those findings were further solidified in a follow-up poll in the spring of 2020 by Morning Consult. The "Gen Z Worldview Tracker" talked to 1,000 Americans aged 13 to 23-years-old about social justice issues like Black Lives Matter, their support for President Donald Trump, and the impact of the coronavirus.
Respondents viewed capitalism as the least favorable compared to socialism, social justice, and more. Thankfully, democracy had the highest score on this question – so that's something to cheer.
In an Axios poll from October 2019 of 2,100 American respondents, 70 percent of millennials surveyed and 64 percent of Gen Z said they would vote for a socialist candidate. A May 2020 Vice article on Gen Z political leanings headlines the quote of a college student who said, "It's much more stigmatized to say you're a capitalist, in my experience."
The push back against capitalism is not limited to younger generations. On The Roth Effect, Pacific Research Institute economist Wayne Winegarden and host Carol Roth had an enlightening conversation about the growing resentment of anything considered "capitalist." Roth even pointed out that capitalism is a dirty word these days and she uses "free market" instead.
Due to COVID-19, the coronavirus shutdowns, and a decent look at the coming generation of youth voters, America could be at the start of a shift in public policy. It looks like younger generations could favor policies more common in socialist countries, setting the stage for the start of the new decade.
The impacts of the lockdown, arguably one the most severe economic shocks in modern history, will also impact the decision made this November and may be the driving force between younger Americans and adherence to our classic economic and political theories.
Evan Harris is a media relations and outreach manager at PRI.
Millennials' Ignorance Of Economics Will Recreate The Starving Times.
July 11, 2020 /in Articles /by Hunter Hastings (Republished)
As a conservative social worker, I stand out like a tar pit in a snowstorm. My family leans to the left like a genetic tower of Pisa and I live in a state that is heavily dependent on federal jobs. How this has happened is beyond me, but there it is. I'm surrounded. And baffled by what I hear.
When I've asked my friends and family why they want socialism, generally the response is terse: "To help people." When I've asked why they reject the existence of nation states and hope for a socialist one-world order, none could provide a clear answer. Mostly they retreated to the sound bite: "It would be nicer." "We have to share the planet." Only one older family member had a clear position, "Because of all the atrocities perpetrated by nationalism."
I countered by asking: "And would socialism eradicate toxic nationalism?"
He said, "I hope so."
So, I asked, "How does the state taking over production prevent future atrocities?"
He answered, "I don't want to talk about it anymore. You're being hostile."
And that sums up many of the dialogues.
He was right about one thing. He will need a lot of hope because progressive ideology is based on one part wishful thinking and the other part, well, wishful thinking. Did Russia stop behaving like a nation-state after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917? Did it stop brutalizing its own people when the state took over production? Did post-Mao China retreat into its own borders and cease interfering in world politics? Did it allow unfettered immigration? Was anyone actually sharing anything? And, by the way, how's Venezuela doing these days?
All socialism does, like its kissing-cousin, communism, is put a greater concentration of power in even fewer people than national capitalism does, and the corruption continues without any impediment because human nature remains unchanged and unredeemed.
Millennials, as a group, don't seem perturbed by the possibilities. They are even more affiliated with the progressive tenets of the Democratic party. They are strongly anti-national, anti-religious, and, despite being skeptical of institutions, they are more than happy to give ever-increasing power to the federal government.
The other problem progressive millennials have is that, as a group, they don't concede that there is even such a thing as human nature, replete with base impulses. To them, humanity is perfectible (with a little government help and a lot of regulation).
The truth, however, is that human nature is bifurcated and fallen. As such, there will be atrocities and power grabs no matter what economic system we have. The question more appropriately becomes not which system is "nicest," but which economic and social system best deals with the reality of human nature, its innate indolence and selfishness, its ambition and creativity, to corral and utilize all of it so the best outcome can be enjoyed by the most people. So far, based on worldwide experience, a gently regulated capitalism seems to produce the most good for the broadest segment of humanity.
I tried to explain the pitfalls of socialism to one young person who professed an open mind and saw himself as good-hearted.
"It doesn't have to be the way it is in the world," he said. "All we need to do is take care of the poor."
"Yes, we do. And although that's not all we need to do, charity is an ethical obligation. The question is who's responsible for it? If it's the government, where does the money come from?" In my mind, charity really does begin — and flourish — at home, in churches, and in small communities, not on Capitol Hill.
"From the rich, the people who work," he said. I didn't point out that not everyone who works is rich and often it's the rich who invest the capital so people can work.
"So, you go and buy yourself a bowl of ice cream and someone walking by takes half of it."
"Well, that's not right. That's stealing."
Couldn't have said it better myself.
But, let us take it further. Let's say you willingly shared half. What about when someone else wants the other half? And let's say you really are a good guy and gave that up, too. What's next when you have no more ice cream? Where does the ice cream come from for all the federal ice cream programs, after the ice cream production is taken over and exhausted, when the workers give up because they can just as easily get benefits from a federal handout program as work 40 hours a week to pay for the ice cream they never get to eat? When that happens, the government has to start eating itself. And lest anyone delude himself, when the going gets tough, the word government really does eventually come to mean nation, which, ultimately comes to mean you and me…
As the 1607 socialist experiment at Jamestown brilliantly demonstrated.
Under the banner of King James, over a hundred men and boys came from England and built their fort in a fertile valley, overflowing with enough wildlife, fruits, and berries for the picking, fresh water, and tillable land to sustain a city. Yet within three years most of those able-bodied men were dead. According to George Percy, governor of the colony, most of them died from starvation. Why?
Their economy failed. They had a common store, no private property, and an attitude of indolence. Many of the colonists were indentured servants. As such, they were expected to contribute all the fruits of their labor to the common store, from which they could also take what they needed. But as any student of human nature knows, people who do not benefit personally from their hard work tend not to work all that hard. The upshot was that more was taken than given. Imagine that.
Enter John Smith, whose colonial version of tough love was the motto, "Work or Starve." He instituted a work program in which every able-bodied settler performed a minimum of four hours of farming a day. And for a while, things got better until Smith suffered an injury and had to return to England in 1608. That misfortune for Smith turned out to be a disaster for the colonists who returned to their habitual indolence and entered what is called the Starving Time. One colonist ate his own wife.
To me, the danger of socialism is plain. Now, how do we convince the millennials before the starving times begin again?
Democratic Socialism Will Not Save The Millennials. More Capitalism Will.
April 1, 2019 /in Articles /by Hunter Hastings
The outlook for the millennial generation, those who were born in the two decades before the new millennium, is bleak. Student debt is only one of the burdens. There is also the lack of attractive jobs. Even worse are the inclinations toward socialism that comes attractively packaged as more democracy. Yet there is a solution.
This way out is more capitalism. In as much as free market capitalism works as an engine of rising productivity, their living standards can rise. Capitalism creates wealth and promotes prosperity.
Millennials need not worry when their income gives them high purchasing power. Then, even a precarious job situation will provide a good living, quite different from the overall misery that would come with more socialism.
The vision of a capitalist order with a highly productive economy and a stateless society stands in stark contrast to the contemporary social-democratic, 'liberal' system of governance which marches on to more government spending, more public debt, more regulation, lower productivity, and less purchasing power of the salaries.
The inner workings of the present social-democratic system lead to higher taxes and more contributions. Public debt continues to rise. The endpoint of the existing system of party democracy, social welfare, and state capitalism is not stability, wealth, and liberty but state bankruptcy, misery, and suppression.
The policy agenda of the modern democracy asserts that government could prevent and cure unemployment, economic crises, recessions, depressions, inflation, deflation, and inequality and that the state could provide education, healthcare, and social security for all. The promises of rising incomes and employment dominate the political campaigns. Yet politics has never attained these assertions. In the time to come, these claims will be even less fulfilled.
Socialist policies do not work. They do not work by necessity because they destroy productivity, and productivity is the key to prosperity. The answer to the challenges of the new millennium is not more state interventionism, but to eliminate politics and the state. We must do away with the conventional economic and social policies. Not more welfare state and government intervention are the answer but less state and more free capitalism.
What took place with manufacturing and basic services will encompass sophisticated workplaces. Machines will take over. Job security is a thing of the past. A college degree serves no longer as an insurance policy against unemployment. Yet the new technologies contain the solution of the problems they present. While technological progress destroys occupations, innovations make the economy more productive. Not growth and jobs are the key to the future but higher productivity.
Democratic socialism will not save the millennials, but capitalism will.
New tools will make the political apparatus obsolete and allow the privatization of the functions of government, of public administration, and of the judicial system. With the end of party politics and of the monopolistic state dominance, a colossal financial burden will fall from the shoulders of the population.
In a world without a state in the conventional sense, the cost of living would be a fraction of today and obligatory contributions would take only a negligible part of income. Productivity would be so high that the purchasing power of the salaries would do away with the anxieties about job security and of paying the bills.
Without a change to a libertarian order of a stateless society, the road leads to a system where the new technologies may become the deadly instruments of a comprehensive state control in the hands of a totalitarian regime.
In order to avoid a new totalitarianism, the answer is more capitalism and less politics. Such a libertarian order would do away with party politics through a system which has the legislative body selected by lottery.
A political system free of party politics together with a market-based monetary order and the private provision of law and of public security would minimize and finally abolish the state as a monopolistic organization of dominance.
A capitalist order of this nature would open the way for the new technologies to do away with the avalanche of public policies and regulations and thus eliminate the present system, which is so inefficient, corrupt, unjust, and which is in its essence also undemocratic.
Over the past two hundred years, since the Industrial Revolution, technology has transformed human existence more than in all history. In the coming decades, innovations will change the world even more than happened in the past two hundred years.
Free capitalism together with the drastic reduction of the state and the abolishment of politics would do away with the financial burdens that afflict the modern citizen. State intervention in economic life does not lead to prosperity. The path to affluence is the withdrawal of the state and the end of politics.
The new millennium will belong to those societies that discard the administrative state and move towards a form of capitalism that is free of the state and of politics.
Capitalism beyond the state and politics is the future.
Antony P. Mueller is a German professor of economics who currently teaches in Brazil. See his website www.capitalstudies.org or send e-mail to: [email protected]
Hayek Anticipated That Millennials Would Be Skeptical Of Free Markets.
May 12, 2018 /in News /by Hunter Hastings
The Millennial generation has been described as hating competition, or at minimum misunderstanding it. According to this theory, they were raised on participation trophies which engendered a "no-one loses" culture.
In an alternative theory, they are so meritocratic that they become hyper-stressed at the sorting, sifting, and ranking by schools, universities, the workplace, and social media that they feel institutionally compelled to strive, perform, and achieve even though they are not comfortable with doing so.
It's probably futile to attempt to capture the feelings and motivations of an entire generation, which perhaps accounts for the wide disparity in theories. But there is consistent data from surveys and behavioral analysis (such as in voting for Bernie Sanders) that the Millennial generation is warm to the idea of socialism and skeptical about capitalism.
Disparate Information Results In Disparate Outcomes.
F. A. Hayek, in Law, Legislation and Liberty, anticipated Millennials' discomfort with free markets. The "no-one loses" culture is, he declares, contrary in principle to free markets. The moral energy of the market applies at the individual level. Each of us is free to use the information available to us in order to design our service to others in the pursuit of rewards. Often, this information is not known to others. The individual uses education, and knowledge of time and place and existing circumstances, as well as the history of his or her predecessors in their position, in the process of choosing how to contribute in the marketplace. There are billions of other individuals who have different knowledge, and they are making equally unique choices on the basis of their unique information. The outcome of these simultaneous and interacting choices based on disparate information can not be known.
The Economic Game.
Hayek compares market activity to a game. In fact, he employs the Oxford English Dictionary definition of a game: "a contest played according to rules and decided by superior skill, strength or good fortune." Like any game, winners and losers are not pre-determined. And outcomes can change as circumstances change, often unpredictably.
In the case of "the economic game", the players participate because doing so improves the chances of all, and leads to "an increase of the stream of goods and the prospects of all participants to satisfy their needs". But the outcome for any individual is not guaranteed. And Hayek emphasizes the role of luck: rewards may have no connection with merit, and might therefore be thought – erroneously – to be unjust.
Within this economic game, there is a particularly important role for "negative feedback". (Hayek points out that economists have recognized the role of negative feedback for a long time, and cites Adam Smith as one of the first to see it clearly.) Negative feedback means that some players in the game will find out that their efforts have been misdirected. Negative feedback tells players what not to do. They are forced to change their tactics and look elsewhere for new means to achieve their goals.
At the same time, some players will find out that things have turned out better than they expected. The disappointed players may resent those whose rewards are higher. But that does not mean there is "injustice".
The economic game proceeds, as do all games, according to rules and information that guide the actions of all players. The aims, skills and knowledge of those players are different. The consequence is that the outcome will be unpredictable and there will regularly be winners and losers. Some will have to change their mode of play – but they could not have foreseen this in advance. They must adapt. This is not a matter of merit. In spite of the best efforts of which they were capable, and for reasons they could not have known, their efforts were less successful than they had reason to expect. Doing the "right" thing cannot always be a matter of merit – it's determined independently by the market in a way that the individual can not know in advance.
And for those that win, there is no "unearned" benefit. Each individual's share of the total product of the market that, in Hayek's words, "accident or skill assigns to him" will be as large as we, as a population all playing the game, know how to make it. The determination of the magnitude of one individual's reward "does not depend on anyone's will and desire, but on circumstances which nobody knows in their totality".
It is easy to imagine that a generation brought up on "participation trophies", not understanding the role of competition, might be uncomfortable in these circumstances. Because they are hyper-sensitive to sorting, grading and ranking, they might want to be protected against what Hayek calls "an unmerited descent from the material position to which they have become accustomed". On the contrary, the obligation is to "abide by the results of the market when it turns against us".
In The Economic Game, There Is No Such Thing As Social Justice.
Many Millennials are often identified as Social Justice Warriors. Hayek's conclusion is that we must resist all thinking about so-called "social justice". In fact, he calls the chapters of Law, Legislation and Liberty from which the foregoing quotes have been drawn The Mirage Of Social Justice. The word justice is inapplicable to a game where the knowledge, skill and luck of the players are different. He sounds very modern when he says:
It seems that among the younger generation the welfare institutions into which they have been born have engendered a feeling that they have a claim in justice on "society" for provision of particular things which it is the duty of that society to provide.
Such a claim is meaningless. First, there is no such thing as society. This personification suggests that society has a will, and can act to direct outcomes in a specific way, which is not the case. The market creates equal chances for individuals to play the game, not certainty as to which of them will benefit from the outcome. If it were otherwise, if government is used as a method to determine outcomes, it will result in "the destruction of all values of a free civilization". Why? Because only a totalitarian government can attempt to exercise this kind of control. Freedom means that, in some measure, we entrust our fate to forces we do not control.
Hayek feels so intensely about this that he uses very strong language to make his point. The idea of social justice, he says, is the product of "primitive thinking". It is "vacuous" and "naïve", and the concept is "empty" and "meaningless", and even "fraudulent". And the possibility of its translation to coercive acts of government is "the greatest threat" to civilization.
The Millennial generation's desire for participation trophies, and fear of sorting, sifting and ranking, is the source of that threat.
Road to Individualism: Millennial Parents Are Saying Yes to School Choice
March 3, 2018 /in Articles /by Brittany Hunter
Millennials are no longer the youngest kids in town. As the currently unnamed "Generation Z" takes center stage as the new up and coming generation, millennials are now settling down and having families of their own. And this is having a significant impact on education.
As discussed previously, choice and personal control over education choices are both essential to individualism. And if recent polls are any indication of where millennials stand on this issue, then the future of individualism is looking bright and decentralized.
Millennial Parents
Recent polls suggest that millennial parents aren't making the same educational choices that their parents made for them. And this is a good thing. Our parents were largely educated by traditional means, which led many to sentence their own children to the fate of traditional public schools.
But as public education kept perpetually failing to properly educate kids, more options became available, which is great since millennials love options.
Millennials grew up surrounded by abundant choice. Whether choosing from several hundred cable television stations or choosing from a variety of music available at the click of a button, we have never wanted for options. The same is true of our parenting styles. Millennials like going against the norm when it comes to parenting.
A recent report released by EdChoice found that young Americans tend to have a highly favorable opinion towards school choice. In fact, when asked specifically about charter and private schools, the millennials polled expressed a positive view as opposed to the percentage who reported having negatives opinions towards these alternatives to public education.
Additionally, when compared to other generations, Millennials were three times as likely to give positive feedback towards the overall institution of charter and private schools. For those young Americans who currently have school-aged children attending a charter or private school, the positive responses were even greater.
Homeschool Revolution
But what is perhaps most fascinating about the millennial approach to education, is the favorability for homeschooling. Scoring a few points above other generations, many millennials support this as a viable option for their children.
And it is no wonder. In previous generations, homeschoolers were viewed almost as societal outcasts, having a social disadvantaged over traditionally educated children. But time has dispelled these rumors.
Homeschooled children are not only better at taking tests than the children forced to take them throughout their educational careers, they are also more socialized. Many of the children struggling to speak to their own counterparts were off-putting to many, eager to critique homeschool students. But when those students were put in a room with older children or adults, they were able to socialize at levels far beyond children their own ages. What was once seen as being weird and a disadvantage is now being recognized as a strength.
And the social aspects do not even account for the educational advantage of homeschooling. As the Common Core Curriculum began nationalizing education more so than at any other time in the past, many parents were concerned with the one-size-fits-all approach to education. As millennials are fans of many market options, this didn't bode well for many of them. Since many charter schools and private schools agreed to use the Common Core Curriculum out of convenience, this left few options to escape this system. This led many parents towards homeschooling and unschooling since they were in full control of their children's education.
As the Millennial generation continues to age, these approval ratings are expected to continue their upward trend. While the public education system has done much to disappoint many Americans over the years, it is no wonder that the generation accustomed to choice in every aspect of their lives, favors more educational opportunities for their own children.
How One Millennial Fought Back Against Red Tape
November 4, 2017 /in Articles /by Brittany Hunter
Millennials have been major catalysts in changing the rules of the traditional marketplace. Impatient and eager to move on to the next big thing, we are a generation born to innovate. But venturing into uncharted territory, though groundbreaking, means that we have to force the traditional market to evolve with our revolutionary methods.
From the sharing economy to food trucks and hipster-made craft beer, millennials have found a way to make money in a manner that fits their unique lifestyles. As with most successful market endeavors, the only thing preventing millennials from making an even greater impact on the economy is government bureaucracy.
Rebecca Mueller left her career in the finance world to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. After graduating from fashion school in Chicago, Mueller decided not to relocate to greener pastures and instead set out to contribute to the local economy.
Planning to buy all her supplies from local vendors, Mueller wanted to open up a mobile boutique that would operate like a closet on wheels. Confident in her interpretation of the city statutes on peddler licenses, Mueller headed to City Hall full of hope and ready to make her dream a reality. It didn't take long for her dream to turn into a bureaucratic nightmare. At City Hall, she was denied her peddler's license.
Mueller had purchased a 25-foot truck and had planned to stop at different locations around the city and sell her original clothing. Unfortunately, the city informed her that in order to qualify for a tradition peddler's license, she would not be able to park her mobile boutique and set up shop. This is a problem that many foods truck owners have faced while attempting to start their businesses.
The city assured Mueller that they were working on legislation to cater to innovative businesses like hers, but there was no clear answer as to when this would actually happen. After months without any real answers, Mueller was no closer to opening up her boutique.
Enter Institute for Justice
Desperate to get the wheels rolling, she decided to seek help from Institute for Justice's (IJ) law clinic on the University of Chicago campus. IJ was able to tell Mueller what the government neglected to, that in fact there was a license available that would allow her business to operate her unique business.
The "emerging business license" was created in 2012 to accommodate for innovative businesses which do not fit into preexisting regulations. The emerging business license gives the entrepreneur two years to operate their business. The understanding being that in those two years, the local government will work to create reasonable regulations. However, prior to Mueller's inquiry, the license had only been issued once since 2012. Fortunately for Mueller, she was able to get approved for the emerging license and after large amounts of time and money were spent, her mobile boutique was able to open up earlier this month.
When it comes to innovative Millennials trying to start new businesses, Mueller's sentiment expressed in her local op-ed really drives the point home:
I hope the next novel business to make its way to City Hall is met with a red carpet instead of a maze of red tape.
Thank Millennials for Creative Destruction in the Marketplace
October 9, 2017 /in Articles /by Brittany Hunter
Millennials are shaking up traditional industries and refusing to conduct business as usual. As a result, our economy is becoming more specialized and better able to cater to the unique interests of the individual. But with each new millennial innovation comes a displaced industry that can't keep up with new competition.
And as outdated industries are being replaced by the new, the world now has access to ever-improving commodities. This should be cause for celebration. But instead of praise, millennials are being chastised for murdering the industries their innovative ideas are replacing.
Market Preference
Each day, an article is released accusing millennials of "ruining" previously well-established market commodities. Oddly enough, the rest of the country seems to view this in a negative light rather than seeing the value millennial consumers and entrepreneurs bring to the market.
Over the last several years, young people have been blamed for ruining grocery shopping, napkins, chain restaurants, and diamonds, But this is only a small percentage of the comprehensive list of sectors millennials are "responsible" for destroying.
Young people born between the years of 1980-2000 now make up the majority of the American consumer base. This means the millennial generation is largely responsible for fueling market demand. The way we spend our dollars is impacting which businesses survive, and which do not.
And, as demonstrated by our market preference, we have very different wants and desires than the generations that preceded us. But our willingness to spend $20 on avocado toast rather than purchasing a home does not make millennials the enemy of the minority of consumers. On the contrary, millennials are arguably making life more convenient by means of creative destruction.
Creative Destruction
To blame millennials for ruining entire industries would be somewhat understandable if we weren't also replacing those industries with options that are far better, more efficient, or more practical to our budgets.
When millennials were denounced for the plummeting sales of napkins, for example, it was simply because millennials preferred to use paper towels instead. Previously, households had purchased both paper towels and paper napkins. Millennials saw this as a costly redundancy and corrected the problem.
Likewise, when articles lambast millennials for ruining the supermarket industry, primary attention is given only to the supposed destruction of that industry. If critics would instead focus on the innovative improvements that have sprung up in the wake of these dying industries, they may not be so quick to judge.
Sure, young people may not be grocery shopping as much as older generations did, but we still have to consume food. And that food has to be purchased from somewhere.
Millennials have hectic schedules and many hold multiple jobs in order to pay off student loan debt while still earning a living. The lack of precious time has led millennials towards quicker and more convenient alternatives that do not involve having to both grocery shop for items and then having to prepare a meal.
As a result, the popularity of meal delivery services in on the rise, providing a viable alternative for young professionals.
Companies like Blue Apron and HelloFresh have been extremely popular with younger consumers because they eliminate the hassle of grocery shopping. Instead, millennials select from a menu and have the ingredients sent to them in pre-measured containers. All the consumer need do is open the box delivered to their front door and follow the instructions.
This replacement of one commodity for another is what economist Joseph Schumpeter called "creative destruction." Schumpeter even describes free market capitalism as the "the perennial gale of creative destruction." In order for economies to evolve and grow with the wants of consumers, outdated products and services must be destroyed in order to make room for the new.
This is exactly what millennials are demonstrating today. While critics may focus only on the loss coming from this destruction, what we should be focusing on is the gains. New jobs are created and new commodities contribute to the foundation of what will someday be the next round of this destructive creativity. It is all part of the market process.
Consumption Pioneers
Older generations may be hesitant toward change, but luckily, millennials are making the adoption of new products and services that much easier through feedback.
Young people have an opinion on everything and we want to share it with everyone. As a result, we have become consumption pioneers, willing to boldly try new products and then share our experiences with other consumers.
Whether feedback is posted online or through word of mouth, it has been helpful in easing the fear that comes with the adoption of new products. Individuals are far more likely to try a new service if they know someone who has tried it first and can attest to its quality.
When the ridesharing industry came into fruition, millennials were among the first to try its services. As a DC resident unwilling to pay for a cab, I used Uber frequently in its earlier days. My parents may not have understood why I felt so comfortable jumping into an "unregulated" cab, but the service spoke for itself. For me, it was a safer and less expensive option than hailing a cab on a dark lit DC street.
After a year or two of being a loyal Uber patron, my parents called me one evening to talk them through their first Uber ride. A few months later, they were already using Airbnb instead of traditional hotels. Once they spoke to me and got a firsthand encounter of what they could expect from ridesharing, their opposition to it disappeared.
Over the last several years, as millennials were coming of age and becoming major market participants, chain restaurants began seeing a major decrease in sales. This was recently met with negativity from media outlets who were blaming millennials for their favorite restaurants shutting down. But just like Uber depends on consumers willing to trade money for a ride, restaurants exist to cater to the demand of the consumer, and not the other way around. If there are not enough consumers buying your product, you have no reason to keep your doors open.
But when it comes to the millennial market destruction, what is most interesting is what happened after millennials stopped patronizing grocery stores: their parents followed.
Using census data, economist Mark Perry found that for the first time on record, consumers were moving away from using grocery stores and instead using their food budgets eating out or using meal delivery services. So even though there was initial hesitation, just like my parents with Uber, older generations have eventually gotten onboard with younger market trends.
Sure, millennials may be exhibiting different market preferences than our parents. But that doesn't make our ideas dangerous or inferior to those that came before us. By catering the market to our specific modern needs, we have made the world a better, more convenient place to live.
So instead of getting worked up next time another chain restaurant bites the dust, thank a millennial for providing you with market options that won't make your stomach hurt afterward.
Why Millennials Prefer Capitalism to Socialism, Even If They Don't Know It
In a recent Reason-Rupe Survey, fifty-eight percent of Americans ages 18-24 said they viewed Socialism favorably. However, when asked if they favored a free market economy or a government-managed economy, sixty-four percent of Millennials said they favored the free market. How is it possible for Millennials to favor both a socialist government and a capitalist economy? The answer is simple: Millennials simply do not understand what either of these words really mean, especially capitalism.
Denying the Appeal Of "Capitalism"
The word capitalism is generally unpopular on college campuses around the country. In pop culture, it is rare, though not impossible, to find a story where the capitalist ends up being the hero. All day long we are bombarded with anti-free market propaganda.
Oddly enough, most of this anti-capitalist rhetoric is available to us through mediums that exist only because of the free market. For example, every time a young, enthusiastic socialist tweets about the injustices of capitalism from his or her iPhone, they are living proof that Millennials love the free market.
If there is one thing the Millennial generation struggles with, it's patience. We have grown up in a world where everything has been available to us with the click of a button. We have never had to use encyclopedias or spend hours doing research in a library. Instead, we Googled whatever it is that we were looking for and in a matter of seconds, we had a plethora of sources.
Socialism is not generally associated with quick results. Instead, extreme bureaucracy usually tends to make things take even longer than they otherwise would, much like a government breadline.
Likewise, a government-run healthcare system usually results in longer waiting periods even for simple office visits.
Millennials hate waiting. I am willing to bet that if these self-proclaimed socialists were to spend some time in a socialist country, they would not last very long.
Millennials love quality, one of a kind products. Platforms like Etsy have served the Millennial generation as a sort of online farmers' market where strangers from around the world buy and sell handmade goods from each other.
Whether you're looking for a beard warmer or craft BBQ sauce, Etsy has it. Likewise, we live in a world fueled by Amazon Prime. Not only do we have access to almost anything we could possibly need or want, we are also having these items shipped to our door in two days.
Both Etsy and Amazon are wonders brought to us by the free market. So, as Millennials log in to Amazon to purchase a copy of The Communist Manifesto, they might want to consider the fact that the book is delivered to them in 48 hours all thanks to capitalism.
Free-Market Ambitions
Millennials are entrepreneurs. We are using technology to our advantage and making the world run quickly and efficiently. Though some might speak loudly in favor of unions and collective bargaining, on a late night when no cabs can be found, a Millennial knows that a safe ride will be available to us in minutes by opening our Uber App.
Apps like Square, Venmo, and PayPal have allowed us to start small businesses and collect payment with ease. Sites like YouTube allow us the opportunity to gain exposure and promote whatever it is we are working on or selling without ever leaving our homes. We have the potential to be the most entrepreneurial generation our country has ever seen.
Millennials love to actively participate in the market process. Active participation is one of the fundamental principles of the free market. If we are not willing to give feedback and review our purchased consumer goods, we will not get the most innovative processes or the best quality products available.
Millennials have grown up in a world where every thought and opinion is shared on social media. Platforms like Yelp have become important tools in the hands of young consumers who are either pleased or completely outraged about the goods or services they received.
As a result, Millennials, more than any other generation, are reading online reviews of a company or product before making the decision to buy. According to Forbes, 33 percent of Millennials said that they read reviews of a product before deciding to buy.
Intellectual Innovation
Millennials love to learn and have more access to the market of ideas than any other generation that preceded us. Khan Academy, YouTube, and Wikipedia offer us a chance to become experts in almost any field we desire. Millennials are using these free market mediums to educate themselves in a way that has never been seen before in our world.
We are not relying solely on the opinion of college professors or our parents. We are doing the research and finding new ways to learn. Along those same lines, we also have a natural distrust for authority. We have seen the economy crumble as a result of the poor decisions made by the baby boomer generation. We do not trust others to make our decisions for us. We are coming up with entrepreneurial solutions to government-created problems and we are doing this through online learning.
Yet, in spite of all of these aspects of the Millennial mindset, Millennials still claim to identify with socialism. Growing up in a post-Iron Curtain era has jaded our perception of what a pure welfare state really looks like. We have not grown up hearing first-hand accounts of the woes of socialism in the Iron Curtain era.
We are living in a technological world brought to us because of the free market's perpetual triumph over socialism. However, we don't understand history well enough to realize how fortunate we are to live in a society that where the free market is allowed to flourish. Millennials see large unemployment statistics, a struggling economy, and high costs of living and attribute it to the very system that gave us our iPhones, Amazon, Spotify, and Netflix.
The problem at hand is not that too many Millennials are socialists; the problem is that too many Millennials don't understand that in almost every aspect of their lives, they are capitalists. If Millennials truly want to dedicate themselves to the ideals of socialism, they will have to surrender their iPhones, their Amazon accounts, their Uber accounts, their craft beer, the hipster beard accessories, and pretty much every other aspect of their daily lives.


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Hans Goldmann
peoplepill id: hans-goldmann
Swiss physician
Intro Swiss physician
Was Physician Professor Educator
From Switzerland Austria
Type Academia Healthcare
Birth 21 November 1899, Chomutov, Czech Republic
Death 19 November 1991, Bern, Switzerland (aged 92 years)
Star sign Scorpio
Graefe medal 1965
Hans Goldmann (20 November 1899 in Komotau, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire – 19 November 1991 in Bern) was an Austrian-Swiss ophthalmologist and inventor.
Goldmann completed his Gymnasium education in Komotau (now known as Chomutov). At the urging of his father, from 1919 he studied medicine at the Charles University in Prague although he originally wanted to study astronomy. In 1923 he completed his studies and received his doctorate in medicine. From 1919 to 1924 he was an assistant to the physiologist Armin von Tschermak-Seysenegg at the Institute of Physiology of Charles University and was assistant to the ophthalmologist Anton Elschnig at the eye clinic of Charles University.
In 1924 Goldmann went to Bern as assistant to August Siegrist at the eye clinic of the University of Bern. In 1927 he became there a senior physician (Oberarzt). In 1930 he received his ophthalmic Habilitation and became a Privatdozent. In 1935 he married Erna Renfer. In 1935 he also succeeded Siegrist as the clinic's director and professor of ophthalmology. From 1945 to 1947 Goldmann was the dean of the medical faculty. In 1964/1965 he was the rector of the University of Bern. In 1968 he retired as professor emeritus. He was the eye clinic's director continuously from 1935 to 1968. He was the author or co-author of more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Goldmann was especially interested in the optics, physics, and development of ophthalmic instruments. He improved and developed in collaboration with Haag-Streit AG (Aktiengesellschaft) several ophthalmic instruments, including:
slit lamp,
colorimeter,
Goldmann's perimeter (1945 development),
Goldmann's tonometer,
Goldmann's indirect goniolens,
Goldmann-Weekers Dark Adaptometer™, and
fluorophotometer.
He was the author of more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. At the eye clinic of the University of Bern there is a Hans-Goldmann-Stiftung (Foundation) for orthoptics. His name is attached to Goldmann-Favre syndrome.
1962 — Gonin Medal
1962 — honorary doctor, University of Uppsala
1965 — honorary doctor, University of Strasbourg
1976 — honorary doctor, University of Geneva
Fankhauser, F (1992). "Remembrance of Hans Goldmann, 1899–1991". Survey of Ophthalmology. 37 (2): 137–142. doi:10.1016/0039-6257(92)90077-7. PMID 1455297.
Fankhauser F (1994). "Hans Goldmann". Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers and Imaging Retina. 25 (1): 8–12. PMID 8152740.
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 17 Apr 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
https://books.google.com/books?id=v0oL8xDJ0VEC&pg=PA12
//doi.org/10.1136%2Fbjo.76.6.384
//pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19882521
//doi.org/10.1023%2FA:1002765024774
http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2663.html
//doi.org/10.1016%2F0039-6257(92)90077-7
//pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1455297
http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/d/D14382.php
http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/f/F14382.php
http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/i/I14382.php
http://webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu/ips/PerimetryHistory/5-standardization.htm
https://d-nb.info/gnd/140365966
https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/014382
http://isni.org/isni/0000000073816773
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2002087088
Timo Meier
Swiss ice hockey player
Jean-Jacques Bourdin
French journalist
Axel Lehmann
Laura Müller
German female sprinter
American actress and comedian
Henri Laaksonen
Swiss-Finnish tennis player
Paul Burkhard
Swiss sculptor
Georg Gotthart
Swiss poet and ironmonger
Wilhelm Lutz
Swiss dermatologist
Karl Elsener (inventor)
Swiss inventor

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Siemiątki () ist ein kleiner Ort in der polnischen Woiwodschaft Ermland-Masuren. Er gehört zur Gmina Nidzica (Stadt- und Landgemeinde Neidenburg) im Powiat Nidzicki (Kreis Neidenburg).

Geographische Lage
Siemiątki liegt in der südwestlichen Mitte der Woiwodschaft Ermland-Masuren, vier Kilometer südöstlich der Kreisstadt Nidzica ().

Geschichte
Die kleine Landgemeinde Schimiontken wurde 1874 in den neu errichteten Amtsbezirk Kandien () im ostpreußischen Kreis Neidenburg eingegliedert. Am 8. Dezember 1893 schlossen sich die beiden Landgemeinden Alt Borowen (1938 bis 1945 Seinsheim, polnisch Stare Borowe, nicht mehr existent) und Schimiontken zur neuen Landgemeinde Schimiontken zusammen. Die Zahl der Einwohner belief sich 1910 auf 16.

Am 30. September 1928 wurde der Gutsbezirk Sagsau (polnisch Zagrzewo) in die Landgemeinde Schimiontken eingegliedert, und nur wenige Wochen später – am 20. Oktober 1928 – wurde Schimiontken in "Sagsau" umbenannt.

Für die Zeit bis 1945:

Nachdem 1945 in Kriegsfolge das gesamte südliche Ostpreußen an Polen überstellt worden war, wurde das einstige Schimiontken wieder eigenständig und erhielt die polnische Namensform "Siemiątki". Es ist heute eine Ortschaft im Verbund der Gmina Nidzica (Stadt- und Landgemeinde Neidenburg) im Powiat Nidzicki (Kreis Neidenburg), bis 1998 der Woiwodschaft Olsztyn, seither der Woiwodschaft Ermland-Masuren zugehörig. Im Jahre 2011 zählte Siemiątki 33 Einwohner.

Kirche
Bis 1945 war Schimiontken (Sagsau) in die evangelische Kirche Kandien in der Kirchenprovinz Ostpreußen der Kirche der Altpreußischen Union sowie in die römisch-katholische Kirche Neidenburg im Bistum Ermland eingepfarrt. Heute gehört Siemiątki zur Kirche Kanigowo, jetzt im Erzbistum Ermland, und evangelischerseits zur Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche Nidzica in der Diözese Masuren der Evangelisch-Augsburgischen Kirche in Polen.

Verkehr
Siemiątki liegt an einer Nebenstraße, die bei Grzegórzki (Gregersdorf) von der Woiwodschaftsstraße 604 abzweigt und über Piotrowice (Piotrowitz, 1932 bis 1945 Alt Petersdorf) nach Kanigowo (Kandien) führt. Nidzica ist die nächste Bahnstation und liegt an der Bahnstrecke Działdowo–Olsztyn ().

Einzelnachweise

Ort der Woiwodschaft Ermland-Masuren
Gmina Nidzica

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
For a Polish Jew Like Me, the War on Ukraine Is About Our Shared Futures
Konstanty Gebert
By Konstanty Gebert
As a Jew growing up in Poland, I participated in the Polish democratic opposition of the 1970s, then the pro-democracy Solidarity movement and finally the anti-Communist underground of the 1980s.
I was very painfully aware that some of my fellow militants were antisemitic, and that at times this antisemitism, not a love of freedom, could be the main motivation of their actions.
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Yet I had no doubt that if we won and secured freedom for all, antisemites included, it would have been well worth it. Thirty years of an independent and free Poland have given me no reasons to question that commitment, even though antisemitism remains a visible presence, occasionally threatening and always obscene.
When Russia first invaded our eastern neighbor one month ago, some around the world were puzzled about how Jews could so easily support Ukraine, given what Jews suffered there during the Shoah. Neither have Poles forgotten about the fierce Ukrainian-led massacres of World War II, which claimed the lives of 120,000 Poles, and even if they remember the Russian occupation up to World War I and after World War II.
But here in Poland, and in neighboring countries in Central Europe, there was no question about supporting Ukraine. Figures and institutions like the chief rabbi, the Union of Jewish Religious Communities, the Polin Museum and local Jewish community centers, as well as other Jewish institutions and organizations, immediately expressed solidarity with Ukraine.
To understand this, you need to consider the value of freedom.
Freedom is something many outside observers take for granted, having, like their parents, enjoyed it all their lives. Even I, though I have spent more than the first half of my life deprived of its blessings, no longer think twice about writing and publishing what I think, under my own name, and without fear of repression.
Similarly, the Ukrainians, despite the dysfunctional, heavy-handed and corrupt state that emerged after independence, eventually won their freedom at the price of blood, during the Maidan Revolution of 2013–14. This is the freedom Russia would now take away from them.
The yearning for freedom is why I publicly endorsed the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004. Some other Jewish observers, no less knowledgeable about East Central Europe, criticized me by stressing that "Ukraine is not Poland." In other words, they reasoned, the Polish experiment in democracy could not be expected to succeed in its eastern neighbor — and, given the heavy legacy of Ukrainian antisemitism, did not deserve to be supported there.
Their fear was legitimate, but has proven unsubstantiated: There is less antisemitism in Ukraine today than in Poland, even if the organized presence of extreme nationalists there gives grounds for serious concern.
Set aside the fact that Jews and Poles taking a common position on anything since World War II — or 1989, to be more generous — is in itself a stunning development. Those who do not understand our support for Ukraine overlook another fundamental thing: This is not about the past. It is about the future.
As Marta Kubica, executive director of the Poland office of the European Leadership Network, an NGO dedicated to strengthening European-Israeli relations, has said: "Political quarrels have been set aside, and we're finally looking in the same direction: the future. It's regrettable that it took a war for this to happen, but hopefully we can remember this feeling and use it to strengthen our future relationship."
To be sure, Ukrainians have not yet fully owned up to the unspeakable suffering they inflicted on Jews and Poles alike, if not equally, during World War II. But Poles, too, have yet to fully acknowledge their own role in the violence against Ukrainians and Jews before, during and after the Second World War. Ukrainians, Poles and Jews who lived under the former Soviet Union will, like the Russians, have to make a reckoning of their roles as both victims and servants of the bloody Soviet system.
This is not to say that history is just a cruel mess, full of unacknowledged and unpunished crimes everybody is guilty of. We can make sense of history, and different crimes are not equal to each other. But in order for this reckoning to take place at all, we need freedom.
And freedom is what the war is all about. You might have seen the brief scenes, bravely recorded on smartphones in occupied territory, of a Ukrainian woman in Sumy explaining to the Russians manning a military checkpoint that, under the Ukrainian constitution and the country's privacy laws, she is not obligated to show them her ID. Or unarmed civilians in Melitopol blocking the way of a Russian army convoy, chanting "Go home! Go home!" — and not stopping or scattering even as a nervous infantryman starts firing into the air. Or elderly ladies singing the Ukrainian national anthem in front of the Russian-occupied city hall in Berdyansk.
Only after denying Russians their freedom could Putin send his army into Ukraine to deny Ukrainians the same. Poles and Jews support Ukrainians under the old Polish revolutionary slogan, "For our freedom and yours." The Russian army could adopt a counter-slogan: "For your oppression and ours." Russia had become a corrupt and lawless dictatorship just as Ukraine was ceasing to be one. Their smaller Western neighbor was becoming, to Russians, an alternative to their dictatorial present. The only way to protect that present was to destroy the alternative. Hence the missiles against Kyiv.
The Polish Jewish community has prepared reception centers for Ukrainian refugees near the border, and in Lublin, Łódź and near Warsaw. Thousands of people have already been assisted. "How many of them are Jewish?" a journalist from a haredi publication asked in a phone interview with Poland's Chief Rabbi, Michael Schudrich. "I don't have the faintest idea," answered Schudrich, "but I know they were all God's children." The journalist hung up, and a minute later called again – not to apologize, but to angrily comment that he "doesn't need to be preached at." "Oh, but he does," Schudrich told me.
Freedom is never given once and for all. Shameful democratic backsliding, not just in Poland but in Hungary and Slovenia, demonstrates this all too clearly. And there is no guarantee that Ukraine, if it manages to repel the Russian onslaught, will become a democratic showcase, happily engaging in debate about the sins of its past. It is legitimate to be skeptical.
But there can be no doubt that if Putin wins, freedom will not have a chance. Just look at Russia today (or at Russia Today, before it abruptly shut down). Or imagine Poland after such a victory, say, 10 years from now. Between Putin's brutal terror, and our homegrown autocrats, freedom would not stand much of a chance.
Should Jews care? If this were a Monopoly game, and if there were a "Get out of history free" card, I wouldn't blame those who would grab it in order to show it to the next jackbooted thug who came to break down their door. But good luck to anyone who thinks the men with guns will play by the rules of the game. Or believe it's a game at all.
Konstanty Gebert is a veteran Polish journalist, Jewish community figure and former underground activist in Warsaw.
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New Music: Queen Naija Ft. Mulatto "Bitter"
Good cake too sweet to be bitter. Queen Naija's feeling bittersweet on her new single featuring Mulatto. On the groovy breakup tune, Naija bids her man farewell, while Mulatto celebrates her independent status on her bossy verse. Queen Naija's debut album missunderstood drops Friday (Oct. 30).
New Music: Omarion Ft. Wale "Mutual"
Ride if you wavy. Omarion keeps the love mutual on his new single featuring Wale. Taken from his upcoming The Kinection dropping on October 30, Omari woos his lady with his one of a kind love., while Folarin charms his sweetheart with his stimulating metaphors.
October 27, 2020 Popular
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Butch Vig Says 'Nevermind' 'Would Not Have the Same Cultural Impact' Today
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Jordana – "I Guess This Is Life"
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New Music: Berner, Larry June Ft. Devin The Dude "Orange Chances"
Just do it. Berner and Larry June rolls the dice on their new single featuring Devin The Dude. Over melodic hums and piano keys, Berner and Larry June detail the risks of the streets, while Devin laces the track with an inspiring hook and a straight focused verse. Berner and Larry June's joint album Cooks […]
Empress Of – "You've Got To Feel" (Feat. Amber Mark)
Lorely Rodriguez released her third album as Empress Of, I'm Your Empress Of, in March of this year. Today, she's back with a new track called "You've Got To Feel" that features Artist To Watch Amber Mark. It's the first release on Rodriguez's own newly launched label Major Arcana. It's a groovy protest song that […]
Blood From The Soul – "Calcified Youth"
Way the hell back in 1993, Napalm Death's Shane Embury teamed up with Sick Of It All's Lou Koller to form an industrial-influenced side project called Blood From The Soul, and they released one album, the excellently titled To Spite The Gland That Breeds. Now, 27 years later, Embury is bringing back Blood From The […]
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Brian May, beloved Queen guitar icon —and astrophysicist — has chronicled his recent health problems on social media, but he went on Good Morning Britain to delve deeper into topics including the stomach hemorrhage caused by the medication prescribed following his heart attack. He told the show's hosts he's "grateful to be alive" following a raft of […]
Told Slant – "Whirlpool"
Told Slant's latest album, Point The Flashlight And Walk, is out in a couple of weeks. We've heard "Family Still," "No Backpack," and "Run Around The School" from it already, and today Felix Walworth is back with another one, "Whirlpool," which is about the intangibility of missing how a relationship used to work. "I just […]


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Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays
By Joan Acocella
Used Price: $2.34
A Year in Reading: Heather Scott Partington
Heather Scott Partington
A few days after the 2016 presidential election, I did a weird, sobbing thing. I copied Walt Whitman's "A Noiseless Patient Spider" onto a card and posted it in my office. "And you, O my Soul, where you stand,/ Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space," I wrote. 2017 began, and that space had become everything; I just sat alone in the middle of it, swaddling myself in anxiety. I blocked myself from reading social media because I was afraid to feel angry about my friends and family. Every day was another national crisis; my husband and I started redirecting our money and attention to newspapers, charities, and organizations that protect —we've deemed these civic tithes. But I felt scattered and incapable of sustaining a thought, let alone a life of critical reading, or engagement with my government. I wanted to slip into a dark crack and hide there, unnoticed. I didn't want to read. I didn't want to move.
To borrow from Whitman, my 2017 in reading was about the bridge I needed out of that dark space; the tentative, then hopeful casting of webs until something caught. Two books I read early in the year were bridges for different reasons. Courtney Maum's novel Touch celebrates a future where the latest trends are freedom from technology, and physical human connection. That thought was a balm. The second was David McCullough's collection of speeches, The American Spirit. Frankly, it gave me hope because it reminded me that America has been in dire straits before—awful messes—but is built on imperfection and persistence.
I was reminded that books are products both of when they are written, and the world they are born into. I read Viet Thanh Nguyen's phenomenal short story collection, The Refugees, the same week the president first cruelly called for a ban on all refugees entering the country. Many books I read—both fiction and nonfiction—in 2017 started to coalesce around the same idea: we don't believe each other. Whether we're talking about political needs, or allowing immigration, or honoring the story of someone who has been abused, belief is the central tenet of the conversation. Nguyen's stories, like Roxane Gay's memoir, Hunger, Hillary Clinton's post-election memoir, What Happened, Mohsin Hamid's magical novel Exit West, and Jesús Carrasco's novel, Out in the Open, all deal in some way with the questioning of personal truth. This makes sense to me, given how we've treated truth like a toy for the last 10 years. I find that exhausting.
I caught up on titles I've missed from years past, finally immersing myself in things like Phil Klay's Redeployment, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad. I read George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo like everyone else and, like everyone else, was amazed. Two books from 2017 that stood out were Attica Locke's smart thriller Bluebird, Bluebird, which moves beyond easy tropes of good guy/bad guy to tackle real issues of race in East Texas, and Andrea Lawlor's gutsy, hopeful, gender- and shapeshifting novel, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl.
I read wonderful books by people I adore: Liska Jacobs's novel, Catalina, Tod Goldberg's sequel to Gangsterland, Gangster Nation, JoAnn Chaney's thriller, What You Don't Know, Natashia Deón's novel, Grace, Deanne Stillman's historical nonfiction Blood Brothers, and Elizabeth Crane's short story collection Turf. I read a funny memoir about a brain tumor: Mike Scalise's The Brand New Catastrophe. I read Joan Acocella's Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints and wondered if I'll ever be the kind of critic I want to be. But all of these books were daring, moving, life affirming. And when I couldn't handle the all-conflict-no-resolution scroll of social media, these words brought me back to myself and back to a sense of my place in the world. If there's a slow words movement, like slow food, I want to join it.
Most importantly: This summer I attended a teacher institute at the Library of Congress, and worked on a research project about the WPA Federal Writers' Project—a time when our government prioritized putting writers to work by having them collect personal histories and write regional guides—writers like Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, and Zora Neale Hurston. I knew that the Library has a vast array of online and physical resources, but what I didn't know is that it relies on an almost parallel network of human historians. As I navigated my way through the various reading rooms, I was guided by experts in American Folklife who showed me slides of Hurston in Florida and played recordings of her singing; I was handed boxes of photographs of Federal Writers' Project Book Fairs by WPA experts in the Prints and Photographs room, and in Manuscripts, an excited WPA expert pulled four boxes of FWP minutes, hand-written notes, and records for me to read. I kept wondering why they were letting me look at all of that stuff. (What if I sneezed on something?) But all I needed was my library card. My most powerful moment in reading was sitting in those quiet, beige rooms in D.C. with American history in my hands. Libraries are still a beautiful democracy of ideas. Despite the sky falling every day in 2017, we have that. It was the thread of connection I needed. O my soul.
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By Trine / September 28, 2008 in Restaurant. 17 Comments Tags: Oud Sluis.
Please note that Oud Sluis is located in the city of Sluis, which is not in Holland, but in the Zeeuws-Vlaanderen region of the Zeeland province, The Netherlands. So it would be correct to say Oud Sluis in The Netherlands.
(1)What is the closest airport to Old Sluis? I do not drive. Only my wife drives, and frankly for a romantic travel I do not want her to bother with driving. I am planning to just take a plane and fly over to Amsterdam and from there, flying to a nearest local airport to Old Sluis.
(2)We speak only French and English: do you think that this will be an issue?
I would recommend Else's bed & breakfast in the summer time (I have only been there once). In month of October I would prefer to be closer to the restaurant and Sluis centre. Laurent from Gastros on Tour http://gastrosontour.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/got-a-oud-sluis/ quite liked this hotel Dikke van Dale Sluis http://www.dikkevandalesluis.nl/english/index.html so I think I would try and book there.
No, you're right. Not many people has fine dining as their hobby. I know very few in Copenhagen. Most foodie friends have I found abroad. In Germany there is Ingo on High-End Food – Ingo has been to most of the ones on your list and to Sergio Herman as well.
the Essigbrätlein do not have a home page and do no marketing, the two cooks Andre Köthe and Yves Ollech are exploring a lot, if you like to I send you a photo out of one book. Their recipes are so genious. If you would like to go there in the future, give me a call. In El Bulli I was very lucky in 2007 to get a table. I will keep my fingers crossed for you!!
It is not that easy to find people, who are that enthusiastic for high end food. I only knew one friend here in Germany. Do you know many people, who share this hobby??
Geez, Trine, what a post…. speachless.
This is probably one of the best you've done, and the pictures are fantastic !
This give me now more regrets because i had to cancel the booking i made there for end of this month as i'll be at Alinea the same day 🙂 – didn't pay attention when booking my US flights. My booking at Oud Sluis is now on January 11, far, too far, but i had no choice and maybe this could be a good start for the new year !
I've been recently to Ledoyen and Troisgros, very interesting, Ledoyen will probably be my meal of the year (except if Alinea or WD50… ), i'll post them soon.
In that case, I'll look forward to your an Oud analysis from your hand. And to Japan. One day.
Stockholm har også meget at byde på. Er i gang med at planlægge en tur her i efteråret eller i foråret.
Är man i närheten av Oud Sluis ska jag definitivt glida förbi och hoppas på ledigt bord. Närmast ska vi ta oss i kragen då vi har försökt ta oss ner till Köpenhamn i flera år för att testa alla härliga krogar ni har. Av ngn anledning hamnar man alltid i Stockholm istället.
Wow. Everything looks amazing! And that last dessert sounds like one of those things that look so bizarre on paper, you just can't help but try it (especially because I love aloe).
The churros made me chuckle. 😉 I guess it's like high end fish and chips?


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text:
Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes
Daniel L. Childers, Fred H. Sklar, Stephen E. Hutchinson
Estuarine ecosystem dynamics have evolved around and respond to landscape-level influences that are dynamic in space and time. The estuarine water column is effectively the physical and biologial integrator of these landscape inputs. In this paper, we present a floating window Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) technique to statistically compare and contrast aquatic transect data that were taken at different times and under different tidal conditions, yet were geographically parallel and spatially articulate. The floating window ANCOVA compared two transects by testing whether the means of the dependent variable were significantly different while also testing whether the slopes of patterns in the dependent variable were significantly different. By varying the size of the floating window where the ANCOVA was run, we were able to examine how scale affected the magnitude and spatial pattern of that variable. The percentages of total models run, at a given window size, that generated significantly different magnitudes (means) and patterns (slopes) in the dependent variable were referred to as the "degree of dissimilarity". Plots of window size versus degree of dissimilarity elucidated temporal and spatial variability in water column parameters at a range of scales. The advantages of this new statistical method in relation to traditional spatial statistics are discussed. We demonstrated the efficacy of the floating window ANCOVA method by comparing chlorophyll and salinity transect data taken at the North Inlet, SC estuary during flooding and ebbing tides in Winter, Spring, and Summer 1991. Chlorophyll concentrations represented the biological characteristics of the estuarine water column and salinity represented the physical processes affecting that water column. We found total dissimilarity in the magnitude of salinity data from one season to the next at all scales, but inter-seasonal similarity in spatial patterns over both short (hourly) and long (monthly) time scales. We also found a large seasonal dissimilarity in the magnitude of chlorophyll levels, as expected. Spatial patterns in phytoplankton biomass (as chlorophyll concentrations) appeared to be largely controlled by the physical processes represented with the salinity data. Often, we observed greater dissimilarity in biological and physical parameters from one tide to the next [on a given day] than from one season to the next. In these cases, the greatest flood-ebb differences were associated with landscape-level influences - from rivers and the coastal ocean - that varied greatly with direction of tidal flow. We are currently using spatially articulate aquatic transect data and the floating window ANCOVA technique to validate spatial simulation models at different scales. By using this variable-scale statistical technique to determine coherence between the actual transect data and model output from simulations run at different scales, we will test hypotheses about the scale-dependent relationships between data resolution and model predictability in landscape analysis.
ANCOVA
aquatic transect data
floating window
variable scale analysis
Dive into the research topics of 'Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
covariance analysis Earth & Environmental Sciences 100%
analysis of covariance Agriculture & Biology 93%
floating Social Sciences 91%
transect Earth & Environmental Sciences 89%
chlorophyll Earth & Environmental Sciences 55%
water column Earth & Environmental Sciences 48%
salinity Agriculture & Biology 47%
water Social Sciences 46%
Childers, D. L., Sklar, F. H., & Hutchinson, S. E. (1994). Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes. Landscape Ecology, 9(2), 127-141. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00124379
Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes. / Childers, Daniel L.; Sklar, Fred H.; Hutchinson, Stephen E.
In: Landscape Ecology, Vol. 9, No. 2, 06.1994, p. 127-141.
Childers, DL, Sklar, FH & Hutchinson, SE 1994, 'Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes', Landscape Ecology, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 127-141. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00124379
Childers DL, Sklar FH, Hutchinson SE. Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes. Landscape Ecology. 1994 Jun;9(2):127-141. doi: 10.1007/BF00124379
Childers, Daniel L. ; Sklar, Fred H. ; Hutchinson, Stephen E. / Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes. In: Landscape Ecology. 1994 ; Vol. 9, No. 2. pp. 127-141.
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title = "Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes",
abstract = "Estuarine ecosystem dynamics have evolved around and respond to landscape-level influences that are dynamic in space and time. The estuarine water column is effectively the physical and biologial integrator of these landscape inputs. In this paper, we present a floating window Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) technique to statistically compare and contrast aquatic transect data that were taken at different times and under different tidal conditions, yet were geographically parallel and spatially articulate. The floating window ANCOVA compared two transects by testing whether the means of the dependent variable were significantly different while also testing whether the slopes of patterns in the dependent variable were significantly different. By varying the size of the floating window where the ANCOVA was run, we were able to examine how scale affected the magnitude and spatial pattern of that variable. The percentages of total models run, at a given window size, that generated significantly different magnitudes (means) and patterns (slopes) in the dependent variable were referred to as the {"}degree of dissimilarity{"}. Plots of window size versus degree of dissimilarity elucidated temporal and spatial variability in water column parameters at a range of scales. The advantages of this new statistical method in relation to traditional spatial statistics are discussed. We demonstrated the efficacy of the floating window ANCOVA method by comparing chlorophyll and salinity transect data taken at the North Inlet, SC estuary during flooding and ebbing tides in Winter, Spring, and Summer 1991. Chlorophyll concentrations represented the biological characteristics of the estuarine water column and salinity represented the physical processes affecting that water column. We found total dissimilarity in the magnitude of salinity data from one season to the next at all scales, but inter-seasonal similarity in spatial patterns over both short (hourly) and long (monthly) time scales. We also found a large seasonal dissimilarity in the magnitude of chlorophyll levels, as expected. Spatial patterns in phytoplankton biomass (as chlorophyll concentrations) appeared to be largely controlled by the physical processes represented with the salinity data. Often, we observed greater dissimilarity in biological and physical parameters from one tide to the next [on a given day] than from one season to the next. In these cases, the greatest flood-ebb differences were associated with landscape-level influences - from rivers and the coastal ocean - that varied greatly with direction of tidal flow. We are currently using spatially articulate aquatic transect data and the floating window ANCOVA technique to validate spatial simulation models at different scales. By using this variable-scale statistical technique to determine coherence between the actual transect data and model output from simulations run at different scales, we will test hypotheses about the scale-dependent relationships between data resolution and model predictability in landscape analysis.",
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T1 - Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes
AU - Childers, Daniel L.
AU - Sklar, Fred H.
AU - Hutchinson, Stephen E.
N2 - Estuarine ecosystem dynamics have evolved around and respond to landscape-level influences that are dynamic in space and time. The estuarine water column is effectively the physical and biologial integrator of these landscape inputs. In this paper, we present a floating window Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) technique to statistically compare and contrast aquatic transect data that were taken at different times and under different tidal conditions, yet were geographically parallel and spatially articulate. The floating window ANCOVA compared two transects by testing whether the means of the dependent variable were significantly different while also testing whether the slopes of patterns in the dependent variable were significantly different. By varying the size of the floating window where the ANCOVA was run, we were able to examine how scale affected the magnitude and spatial pattern of that variable. The percentages of total models run, at a given window size, that generated significantly different magnitudes (means) and patterns (slopes) in the dependent variable were referred to as the "degree of dissimilarity". Plots of window size versus degree of dissimilarity elucidated temporal and spatial variability in water column parameters at a range of scales. The advantages of this new statistical method in relation to traditional spatial statistics are discussed. We demonstrated the efficacy of the floating window ANCOVA method by comparing chlorophyll and salinity transect data taken at the North Inlet, SC estuary during flooding and ebbing tides in Winter, Spring, and Summer 1991. Chlorophyll concentrations represented the biological characteristics of the estuarine water column and salinity represented the physical processes affecting that water column. We found total dissimilarity in the magnitude of salinity data from one season to the next at all scales, but inter-seasonal similarity in spatial patterns over both short (hourly) and long (monthly) time scales. We also found a large seasonal dissimilarity in the magnitude of chlorophyll levels, as expected. Spatial patterns in phytoplankton biomass (as chlorophyll concentrations) appeared to be largely controlled by the physical processes represented with the salinity data. Often, we observed greater dissimilarity in biological and physical parameters from one tide to the next [on a given day] than from one season to the next. In these cases, the greatest flood-ebb differences were associated with landscape-level influences - from rivers and the coastal ocean - that varied greatly with direction of tidal flow. We are currently using spatially articulate aquatic transect data and the floating window ANCOVA technique to validate spatial simulation models at different scales. By using this variable-scale statistical technique to determine coherence between the actual transect data and model output from simulations run at different scales, we will test hypotheses about the scale-dependent relationships between data resolution and model predictability in landscape analysis.
AB - Estuarine ecosystem dynamics have evolved around and respond to landscape-level influences that are dynamic in space and time. The estuarine water column is effectively the physical and biologial integrator of these landscape inputs. In this paper, we present a floating window Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) technique to statistically compare and contrast aquatic transect data that were taken at different times and under different tidal conditions, yet were geographically parallel and spatially articulate. The floating window ANCOVA compared two transects by testing whether the means of the dependent variable were significantly different while also testing whether the slopes of patterns in the dependent variable were significantly different. By varying the size of the floating window where the ANCOVA was run, we were able to examine how scale affected the magnitude and spatial pattern of that variable. The percentages of total models run, at a given window size, that generated significantly different magnitudes (means) and patterns (slopes) in the dependent variable were referred to as the "degree of dissimilarity". Plots of window size versus degree of dissimilarity elucidated temporal and spatial variability in water column parameters at a range of scales. The advantages of this new statistical method in relation to traditional spatial statistics are discussed. We demonstrated the efficacy of the floating window ANCOVA method by comparing chlorophyll and salinity transect data taken at the North Inlet, SC estuary during flooding and ebbing tides in Winter, Spring, and Summer 1991. Chlorophyll concentrations represented the biological characteristics of the estuarine water column and salinity represented the physical processes affecting that water column. We found total dissimilarity in the magnitude of salinity data from one season to the next at all scales, but inter-seasonal similarity in spatial patterns over both short (hourly) and long (monthly) time scales. We also found a large seasonal dissimilarity in the magnitude of chlorophyll levels, as expected. Spatial patterns in phytoplankton biomass (as chlorophyll concentrations) appeared to be largely controlled by the physical processes represented with the salinity data. Often, we observed greater dissimilarity in biological and physical parameters from one tide to the next [on a given day] than from one season to the next. In these cases, the greatest flood-ebb differences were associated with landscape-level influences - from rivers and the coastal ocean - that varied greatly with direction of tidal flow. We are currently using spatially articulate aquatic transect data and the floating window ANCOVA technique to validate spatial simulation models at different scales. By using this variable-scale statistical technique to determine coherence between the actual transect data and model output from simulations run at different scales, we will test hypotheses about the scale-dependent relationships between data resolution and model predictability in landscape analysis.
KW - ANCOVA
KW - aquatic transect data
KW - coastal landscapes
KW - comparative statistics
KW - estuaries
KW - floating window
KW - variable scale analysis
JO - Landscape Ecology
JF - Landscape Ecology


Do you like A Pobra do Caramiñal?
After about a 20 minute walk, we arrived at this wonderful place. It is a charming place, especially if you go early because around 13h it is very full. Even though you can still go in the different pools. Here is a link I found with the location of the pools.