Up snow creek without a shovel

The snow here in northern Virginia is surreal. Three foot icicles on most houses.  Snow drifts up to the top of our bakyard fence.  Plus the whole weirdness of walking over to the neighbor's house for the Super Bowl party through a snow canyon that is our street. With all of our munchkins, this many days off from school has been fun, but is fading quickly to a Nicholsonesque redrum feeling of dread.  I think the 3-year old will snap first.

Just the other day, I was finishing up the last bit of snow shoveling on the driveway. It was at the point where perfectionists like myself enjoy cracking the ice layer and making the driveway totally liberated of all moisture. I was down to the last wedge, masterfully sliding the shovel between the pavement and the iceslab (old Michigan kids know this requires a deft acceleration with the pitching hand). Next came the pivot, ice cracked perfectly, and then another sound. It was a second unwelcome crack of the shovel head itself.

When I went to toss, the snow went sailing over top of the end-of-driveway-igloo, and with it, half of our snow shovel. Our family's ONLY snow shovel.

Sigh ...

Serious thoughts about the Blizzard of 2010? 

First, the name.  I know it is popular to give these kind of big events cute names, but I am particular to old fashioned words that Mark Twain would find in his dictionary. Blizzard fits. The print media - great defenders of the English language - are alternating between Snowpocalypse and Snowmageddon (and now Snoverkill!).  Honestly, those are cute and made me smile, so I am not a total crumudgeon. Still, it bothers me that every scandal is nicknamed affixed "-gate" and every non-scandal seems to get a cute name.  Seriously, is it Toyotagate, yet? (Nah, just 6,600 Google references so far)

Second, Climategate. (We do have irony in abundance here). Subtitle: Does Snowpocalypse Disprove the Climate Warming Pseudo-Consensus? Scientifically, of course not. But this certainly can't help the whole climate change guilt industry. And don't try to pin me down as a "Denier" -- I've favored hefty gas taxes since I started thinking geopolitically back in precocious 1981. Although it is the greatest hoax of our lifetime (and duly deserves the name "The Climate Hoax" instead of lame-o "Climategate), the fact is when the leading "experts" of your movement have corrupted the very name of science they wrap themselves in, and their own universities investigate and report (Penn State on Michael Mann) their behavior, "may be undermining public trust in science," a record-setting blizzard does not help hide the scandal. 

Sure enough, there are snarky and politicized cannon blasts about Deniers not knowing the difference between weather and climate, but as I said, that's really not the point. Partisans use weather to make their climate case all the time. Just look at Al Gore, who loves to open speeches with references to the weather whenever it's ... um ... convenient.

No, the good news in all this is that the Blizzard of 2010 will add pressure to the Climate Hoax, not that climate change isn't happening, but that science was corrupted by politics to overemphasize the case. Why is this good news?  Because the scandal exposes the exploitable weakness of the scientific process. Namely, the weakness of "peer-review" has been exposed. Its hostility to the non-anointed, its clubbishness, its arrogance. Anonymous peer review has its place, but that place is surely not a tyrannical hold of authority. The revolution in academic publishing is the beneficiary: long-simmering changes like open-access, post-publication review, non-anonymous refereeing, and so on. 

Third, Government Failure.  I can't evaluate overall government competence based on this anecdotal experience alone.  But I've seen too many others weigh in on what the blizzard (or say, Katrina) says about the need for bigger government to let this pass. A few years ago, John Edwards (yes, that John Edwards) asked me to attend a nerd-studded group for a 1-day event at UNC about poverty in America. It so happened that Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast a few days prior to the event, and it became a topic of discussion. Senator Edwards thought the hurricane had exposed hidden poverty in America. I thought it exposed how nature is terrifyingly powerful, suggesting we not read to much into its lessons for government, partisan views, and so forth. What bothered me then is how much government was getting in the way of grass-roots relief efforts (e.g. turning away volunteer firefighters who did not have proper political correctness certification, e.g. gun-wielding law enforcement from nearby communities turning back walking refugees at bridges around New Orleans). I pointed to the efforts of Wal-Mart, a private firm, using its logistics prowess.

The blizzard today is a small-scale problem compared to Katrina. And yet, coinciding as it does with the somehow relevant victory of the Saints in the Superbowl, I still think there is a lesson here.  Local roads in many places are clearer than major roads. Why? Spontaneous efforts by private citizens are clearing the neighborhood roads, while small-town government is in charge of the major roads.

Some major roads, in fairness, are fine, and God bless the workers in snow plows working night and day. But many stretches are treacherous and filled with slush, mainly the "medium" streets that are not state roads and not neighborhood streets. Why can't governments handle this? Seriously, you should see my neighbor Russ in his Bobcat. The experience confirms for me the danger of big government that overextends its capacity into areas where it should not operate, and by doing so hinders its efficiency in areas of core competency.  Plus, if I am nice to my neighbors on the blog, maybe they will lend me a shovel ...

Fourth, I love technology.  And not just the hot tub and central heating technologies. I love the Internet, the Amazon Kindle, the iPhone, Netflix and FIOS movies on demand which all combined trump the boredom and worry families felt during the Blizzards of 1977 and 1978. Even our local paper, the Washington Post, which was not delivered in recent days, was readable on the web. Which is cool. Blizzard cool.

Comments

[save_the_rustbelt]

As a kid from Michigan you should know serious snow shoveling is done with a grain scoop (not for the old or those with bad backs though).

A good grain scoop you can use for years and one of your children can inherit it.

Check out the local tractor and farm supply after the storm subsides.

(During the Blizzard of 1978 I was going to catch up on my reading and sip brandy when one of my union buddies drafted me to run a front end loader 16 hours a day. I was able to clear my drive in 30 seconds though, four days later.)

[Tim Kane]

Grainscoop! You have given me fresh enthusiasm, STR.

[David Miller]

My 3 yr old has been loving this and I am sorry to hear about your shovel. Born and raised in Chicago, we always made sure we had at least 3 shovels in the garage. Also, we used to have an ice chipper to finish the job as you describe.

I agree with many of your thoughts/insights on life in America through the prism of snOMG (my favorite name for the last week). We too had a neighbor with a small piece of construction equipment and he rocked it.

Finally, yes, technology made this whole experience unlike any other snowin I have experienced. That said, we were fortunate that our power never went out.

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