Heroes.

Of the people I would like to take as heroes at this time in my life, it’s a bit disturbing how many have committed suicide. I’m trying to figure out what the significance of this is.

Thermal belts.

Back in high school, I spent a lot of time listening to WNCW, an NPR station that was rebroadcast in Charlotte. WNCW’s studio was up in the mountains, in Spindale, North Carolina, on the campus of a college with a curious name: Isothermal Community College. I always wondered how a college would get such a science-y sounding name. Well, North Carolina Miscellany points to a page on Isothermal’s website that explains what thermal belts are. Farmers found that in certain regions they’d get phenomenal crop yields despite regional cold weather. Though scholars had trouble pinning down the exact boundaries of these locations, it was hard to deny that they existed. Thermal belts may have something to do with temperature inversions, which happen when a slope is warmer than the valley floor below it. Apparently, it’s one of those things that’s better understood in folk wisdom than in formal study. Anyways, read the whole thing.

How conservative is this?

A germ of a thought: Insofar as I have one, my basic political principle is something along the lines of “The government’s level of access to resources should significantly, though not directly, constrain government action.” More colloquially: “If you can’t afford to do something, you generally shouldn’t do it, no matter how badly you want to.”

This sets me at odds with both parties in practice, though I could reconcile myself with segments of either in theory.

In a utilitarian scheme, what’s the proper way to compare not doing something about present suffering against putting those who come after you in an impossible position?

I should be less vague and centrist-cowardly before trying to adapt this for the big blog.