Reading Rat - January 2018

Articles, Essays, Reviews

Let's get a candid assessment of the state or order — and disorder — in schools, by Alan J. Borsuk, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

How the Great Books Are Revolutionizing College Admissions Tests, by Mary Clare Amselem, The Daily Signal

Wyoming Catholic’s Great Adventure: Great Books College Celebrates 10 Years, by Stephen Beale, National Catholic Register

Browsing at the Strand: Fred Bass died on January 3rd; The manager of the world’s largest secondhand-book emporium was 89, The Economist

The Dead's Online Accounts, by Sarah Waldeck, at Jotwell Trusts & Estates, reviewing Alberto B. Lopez, "Posthumous Privacy, Decedent Intent, and Post-Mortem Access to Digital Assets, 24 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 183 (2016)

How can you get families to come to Mass? Check out what this parish did. By Deacon Greg Kandra, Aleteia

St. John’s College: Driving positive graduate outcomes, Study International

What Right Not to Be Offended?, by Ben Shapiro, National Review

Mattel H2O Two Stage Missile from 1958, Toy Man Television, YouTube

How to increase your chances of surviving a nuclear blast

The Economist reported last week that, if you are close in relative to the size of the explosion, nothing will help. But further away,

"An explosion would generate a fireball of light many times brighter than the sun. Do not look at it or you may go partially blind. Instead, do as the cold-war safety film featuring Bert the Turtle advised: duck and cover. Lie down, ideally underneath something. This is to prevent serious burns from a thermal pulse, or heatwave, lasting several seconds that will sear through the area, setting off fires. It is also to avoid shattered glass and flying debris as a blast wave, with hurricane-strength winds, follows.

"The energy from the fireball would draw a column of dust and debris three miles into the atmosphere for over ten minutes; its top will flatten into the cap of the mushroom cloud. During that time, blast survivors need to find shelter. Radioactive fallout—highly contaminated debris that settles on surfaces—follows. It is most lethal just after the blast. ... ."

Once in Trump's lifetime...

(via Ian Miles Cheong)

Build. Burn. Repeat?

'The historic devastation wrought by wildfires in 2017 offers a strong case for a new approach to creating wildfire-resistant communities. Experts say we could create those communities today. If that's true, then why is it so hard to get it done?'

Jesse Roman reports at NFPA Journal,

"'I believe, and I think most professionals in the field believe, that we could build ignition-resistant communities today where people wouldn’t even have to leave their homes during a wildfire—the wildfire could pass right through the neighborhood, and not affect any of the structures,' said Gary Marshall, the former longtime fire marshal in Bend, Oregon, who also teaches wildfire home ignition courses for NFPA [National Fire Prevention Association]. 'We hear all the time that this wildfire problem is just a forest health problem, but it’s not. It’s a structure problem.

"Jack Cohen, one of the nation’s preeminent experts in wildfire structure ignition, spent 40 years as a researcher with the U.S. Forest Service studying the various ways that wildfires can cause homes to catch fire. In the vast majority of cases, he says, houses are ignited not through direct contact with the wildfire itself, but by embers blown in from the fire front. Through housing design and construction material choices—metal roofs, screens over gutters, gravel instead of mulch landings, decks made of composite materials rather than wood—homes can be sufficiently hardened to prevent firebrands from setting them ablaze. Keeping the space 100 feet around the home clear of things like dry brush, tall grass, and wooden fences can cut off other paths the fire can take to reach the house. Combined, these methods have demonstrated, in dozens of experiments, the ability to dramatically reduce the likelihood of home ignition, Cohen said. And they are all steps that local governments can mandate through codes and ordinances during the building permitting process."

Tony Schwartz shocked

Maya Oppenheim reported at The Independent, August 18, 2017.

"The co-author of Donald Trump’s memoir The Art of the Deal has predicted the US President is going to resign by autumn if not sooner.

"Tony Schwartz, who claims to have ghostwritten the 1987 best-selling business book, argued Mr Trump is on the brink of stepping down and said he would be shocked if his presidency lasts until the end of the year. ..."

11 Predictions for 2017 Politics

Steven Walters, senior producer for the nonprofit public affairs channel WisconsinEye, at Urban Milwaukee.