Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup

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That is, on any project, if too many people give orders, the project will fail. Searching for this phrase turns up many references to a short parody video. I tried my search by adding -parody -infomercial.

rollsoffthetongue notes variations such as “too many cooks spoil the… soup, broth, or stew.” They say “this is a very old saying or proverb that exists in many languages. In English, it dates back to at least the 16th century when it first appeared in print,” but do not list the citation.

Phrase Finder lists the phrase as originating in another language but, alas, offers no details.

dictionary.reference.com agrees “it was already considered a proverb in 1575.”

RF_alum and I were discussing this phrase when I complained of contradictory comments in a critique of a novel I’m working on. On the plus side, if comments are contradictory I feel justified in doing whatever I want.

The Raisin Debate in the Supreme Court

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Why did the Supreme Court get involved in a dispute about raisins? George Will explained in an editorial that the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act passed in 1937 was one of the New Dealer responses to the Great Depression. The law required farmers to turn over a significant portion of their crops to the government, which would theoretically drive up prices. Something called the “Raisin Administrative Committee” was formed by regulation in 1949, and that committee accused Marvin and Laura Horne of refusing to turn over a million pounds of raisins. The government wanted the Hornes to pay $700,000 for their failure to comply.  Justice Elena Kagan wondered during the arguments whether this case involves “a taking or it’s just the world’s most outdated law.” Will’s answer is: both. “The law has spawned more than 25 ‘marketing orders’ covering almonds, apricots, avocados, cherries, cranberries, dates, grapes, hazelnuts, kiwifruit, onions, pears, pistachios, plums, spearmint oil, walnuts and other stuff.”

The New York Times reports that the Supreme Court ruled that actions by the raisin committee “…amounted to an unconstitutional taking of private property by the government.” The Hornes successfully defended themselves arguing that the program violated “…the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment, which says private property may not be taken for public use without just compensation.” Eight justices agreed and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan joined Sotomayor in dissenting that the “Hornes should be relieved of the obligation to pay the fine and associated civil penalties.” Breyer wrote that he would have returned the case to lower courts. In his concurrence with the majority Justice Thomas, perhaps showing that even Supreme Court Justices can use puns, “…said such a move would be a fruitless exercise.”

I enjoyed Will’s closing sentences. “Progressives say, ‘Government is simply the name we give to the things we chose to do together. That is not how the Hornes are experiencing government.”

The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

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complete-personal-memoirs-of-us-grantI’ve been busy reading about the U.S. plans for nuclear war with the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and fell behind on reading on other history subjects. No worries, I found a review of Grant’s autobiography in my file when I was writing reviews under the title of “Amateur Historian.” Volume I is 584 pages and Volume II is 554 pages with a 78 page Appendix. The origin of Grant’s books is interesting.  Mark Twain was suffering financial problems and heard that Grant was interested in publishing his memoirs to overcome similar financial problems.  He visited Grant and offered to publish the book with a 75/25 split of profits. Grant knew by the time he accepted the offer that he was dying of mouth and throat cancer.  There are reports Twain furnished Grant with cases of Vin Tonique Mariani, a Bordeaux wine combined with cocaine.  The “tonic” allowed Grant to overcome pain and finish his writing before he died.

Grant’s books details troop movements before, during, and after various battles, complete with names of officers commanding various segments of both armies.  Logistical efforts and geography of the battle sites are described, along with detailed hand drawn maps.  Although I understand the significance of these descriptions, I admit to skimming while looking for anecdotes that would reveal more about Grant. Grant’s actual name was Hiram Ulysses Grant, but he was appointed to West Point as Ulysses Simpson Grant, with the Simpson being taken from his mother’s maiden name. West Point had a policy of not accepting any name other than what was on the nomination form, so the incorrect name stuck. Current lore finds it ironic that the general who led Federal troops at the end of the Civil War had U.S. as his first two initials. His detractors said his initials stood for “Unconditional Surrender Grant.”   Continue reading →

No Rest for the Wicked

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I thought I knew something about this phrase, but I was wrong. I expected to read that it began as “no rest for the weary” and the term “wicked” had been added, perhaps for humor. I think of the phrase as meaning “I can’t get a break” with the speaker referring ironically to themselves.

Wikipedia says the wicked were, indeed, the original subjects and the phrase comes from a common source, the Bible:

  • Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
  • Isaiah 57:20 “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
  • Isaiah 57:21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “to the wicked.”

Phrase Finder states the phrase “was first printed in English in Miles Coverdale’s Bible, 1535… Its use in a figurative secular sense became much more common in the 1930s and it is now usually used for mild comic effect.” Wikipedia lists many uses of the phrase in popular entertainments – I was reminded of it by a character on TV last night.

Wordcourt notes that the common usage simplifies the biblical quote. “At any rate, ‘no rest for the wicked’ has been a set phrase at least since 1876, when it appeared in the caption of a cartoon on the cover of an issue of Harper’s Weekly. As for ‘no rest for the weary,’ superficially it makes more sense, don’t you think? This idea too, though not the exact wording, can be found in the Bible, in the Book of Lamentations: ‘Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest.'” So maybe my memory isn’t so bad after all.

If Your Job Were a Video Game, Would You Play It?

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Our recent Great Recession drew attention to declining participation in the workforce – that is, a growing percentage of our population is unemployed by chance or by choice. The trend started before the last days of Bush 43’s administration – consider the regional depression that accompanies the demise of Youngstown steel mills since the late 1970s. Continuing automation – robots and software, from hospital operating rooms to fast food outlets – is replacing workers. The self-driving car, a true auto-mobile, “could soon threaten driving, the most common job occupation among American men.”

So says Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. (Enter World Without Work in your favorite search engine – the article inspires quite a few responses.) America’s most valuable company in 1964 was AT&T employing over 700,000 workers. Today’s communications giant of similar value is Google, employing 55,000.If the trend continues, the world will look very different at the end of the 21st century than it does today, but “the signs so far are murky.”

Why do people work?

  • For money, of course. Thompson points to the 19th century as a possible model of a time with few wage-jobs, but I have trouble envisioning a nation of subsistence farmers arising. Even if it did, some cash is needed (I think it was in the 19th century, too.) People need food, housing, and also a share of their society’s norms, and money buys those things.
  • For “a routine, an absorbing distraction, a daily purpose… Many people are happier complaining about jobs than they are luxuriating in too much leisure.” Most jobs aren’t fulfilling – Thompson asks, if your job was a video game, would you play it? But unemployed people – including retirees – watch TV rather than pursue their dreams. Even crummy jobs provide structure within a community, and human beings are social animals.

Continue reading →

Atomic Energy for Military Purposes: The Official Report on the Development of the Atomic Bomb under the Auspices of the United States Government

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atomic-energy-for-military-purposesThis report, written by Henry DeWolf Smyth at the request of Major General L.R. Groves (who led the Manhattan Project), is better known the “Smyth Report.” The copyright announcement by Smyth is interesting. “Reproduction in whole or in part authorized and permitted.” Groves wrote in the Foreword that “…there is no reason why the administrative history of the Atomic Bomb Project and the basic scientific knowledge on which the several developments were based should not be available to the general public.” There also are blunt warnings against requesting or releasing additional information “…subject to severe penalties under the Espionage Act.” Smyth explains in the Preface that “The ultimate responsibility for our nation’s policy rests on its citizens and they can discharge such responsibilities wisely only if they are informed.” He explains that the report is written about the construction of atomic bombs for “…engineers and scientific men who can understand such things and who can explain the potentialities of atomic bombs to their fellow citizens.” The book gives a tutorial on the history of research on atomic structure and radioactivity and the basics of nuclear physics.

The administrative history of the research has been well-documented in many sources, but many of them probably used the information in this book. One issue that was considered in depth early on was the need for secrecy about the research that was being considered or was on-going.  A “Reference Committee” was established in the National Research Council “…to control publication policy in all fields of possible military interest.” Journal editors would send copies of papers to the committee for review. The system worked well. Most physicists were soon absorbed into the various projects, “…which reduced papers being submitted to the committee almost to the vanishing point.” The arrangement was voluntary, but scientists in the country cooperated.  Scientists in Germany, the Soviet Union, and other countries recognized that the United States was attempting to develop atomic energy for a weapon based on the sudden absence of research papers being published by scientists in the U.S.

One piece of information that disagrees with many other sources is that Harry Truman was well aware of the project and its magnitude when he was a Senator. He was briefed by Stimson and Groves on the project immediately after FDR’s death and his inauguration, and he kept “…in constant touch with the program.” Continue reading →