Wednesday links: Child mortality, nuclear disaster, penicillins (not the pharmaceutical), and more!
RWL #341
Happy Wednesday from the University of New Hampshire! I’m still recovering from my whirlwind trip down to Pilly this weekend (shot above is Philly’s China Town) - it was so great to see family and be able to be part of my niece and nephew’s growing up. I really hate flying, and Philly is just far enough for us that it is on the bubble between flying or driving. On a good day, it’s about 6 hours from here. On a bad day, on the George Washington Bridge… well, we just don’t like to think about that. Regardless, it is so easy to take for granted just how crazy it is that we are flying in comfort, 30,000 feet above the ground. Why aren’t we all just pressed against the windows awestruck the whole time?
Anyway, we are in the final countdown for the semester. I taught my last Tuesday class this week. Monday is the last day of classes, and the last time I’ll see my juniors before they head out for their internships. Everyone who is taking the internship this year was placed by the end of March, which is a new record for me. It helps that we have an unusually small class, but who’s counting? I’m excited for them and I can’t wait to visit them this summer.
As usual, willing good for all of you!
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Read
What: Our World in Data, Mortality in the past: every second child died
https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality-in-the-past
Why: I get a little depressed sometimes with the state of domestic politics, the foolishness of energy policy (both domestic and global) that has led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese building up their military to challenge the global peace… and then I read a report like this that reminds me just how good we have it. From the dawn of history until about 100 years ago, half of children died before the age of 15. Think about that. Half. There was a reason we had families of 8-10 kids. You were shooting for a family of 5-6 to help out on the farm and be your retirement support, so you had to have twice that many just to get them to adolescence. That’s bonkers. And then the industrial revolution happened, capitalism thrived, we got rich and everything changed.
There is a big chart in the middle of the report that shows the timeline, and then there is an animated graphic at the end that shows the decline of child mortality since the 50’s globally. It’s breathtaking to think about how much less suffering there is in the world today. That is a good thing, if we can step back and appreciate it.
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What: Pirate Wires, Nuclear Disaster
Why: Germany has shut down its last four nuclear reactors even as Russia tries to squeeze Europe by cutting off natural gas supplies. I cannot understand this logic, and neither can Mike Solana, the author of Pirate Wires.
The actual record of nuclear power in terms of harm to humans, including Chernobyll and Fukushima, is such a tiny fraction of the actual harm done by every other type of energy source that it is jaw-droppingly dumb that we aren’t doing the exact opposite and trying to build more nuclear plants as fast as possible.
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What: Ted Kooser, Applesauce
https://poets.org/poem/applesauce
Why: Kooser is one of my favorite poets. His poems are about the common, but his language is subtle, elegant, accessible, and fun. From this poem:
her kitchen filled with the warm,
wet breath of apples, as if all
the apples were talking at once,
as if they’d come cold and sour
from chores in the orchard,
and were trying to shoulder in
close to the fire.
Taste the whole thing.
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Watch
What: ZDoggMD.com, Doc Vader on Micromanaging Administrators (1 min)
Why: As I mentioned above, the wife and I spent the weekend in Philly with my sister and her family, and my father. My sister, brother-in-law, and father are all doctors (real doctors, not like me - I just talk about doctors. They do the real doctor stuff.). So maybe after a few penicillins the iPhones came out and we started watching Doc Vader videos and having a really good time talking about RVUs and HCAHPS and whatnot. I know, you wish you could have been there, now. But the penicillins were great. And so was Doc Vader. I hadn’t watched ZDogg in a while - but man, he has some great content. Even if you aren’t in healthcare, this one is funny. Everyone hates being micromanaged. And no boss ever has thought s/he was a micromanager.
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Listen
What: Uncommon Knowledge, Cold War II: Niall Ferguson on the Emerging Conflict with China (61 min)
Why: Niall Ferguson is one of my favorite historians. I read and listen to him whenever I have a chance. Here he offers a chilling discussion of the emerging and evolving conflict with China. (Check out his book, The Ascent of Money - phenomenal.)
Closing quote from the pod:
It’s very tempting not to pay the up-front costs of deterrence… You have to invest in deterrence. It’s cheaper than fighting a world war. That’s the lesson of British history, and America needs to learn that.