Monday, July 27, 2015
Monday, June 01, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Republicans Are Killing Women: US Maternal Death Rate Climbs; Female Deaths Rise In GOP Counties
Republicans Are Killing Women: US Maternal Death Rate Climbs; Female Deaths Rise In GOP Counties
“Today’s mothers are twice as likely to die of pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes than their mothers were. There is no reason, given our vast resources, knowledge and technology, why we should be going backwards in this area.” – Laura Gilkey, coordinator of The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project, a nonprofit based in Sarasota, Fla.Globally, only a few countries have seen a rise in the rate of maternal deaths in recent years. Those include Afghanistan, El Salvador, South Sudan and the United States of America. While at one the US had all but eliminated deaths associated with childbirth, things have changed in recent years, with maternal death rates climbing from 14.5 per 100,000 to 17.8 per 100,000 between 2007 and 2011. As of 2014, the number of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth in the US has risen to 28 deaths per 100,000.
For purposes of comparison, the maternal death rate in nearly all wealthy, developed nations is a single digit number. As of 2014, the US maternal death rate is 7 times higher than that of Austria, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden, all nation’s which have a maternal mortality rate of just 4 deaths per 100,000.
It might surprise conservatives to learn that the maternal death rate in the US is 14 times greater than that of Israel. While right wingers might be under the impression that Israel’s very low maternal mortality rate is the result of strict abortion policies, nothing could be further from the truth. The country has very liberal abortion laws, and women are provided with government subsidized abortion services. The country’s liberal policies regarding women’s health has led to a maternal death rate of just two women per 100,000.
According to an article published in Medical Daily, in October 2014, since the year 2011:
Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Kansas have implemented 14 abortion restrictions — the most of any other state. Arkansas and Indiana were tied for the second-most restriction, while Florida, Arizona, and Alabama were tied for third. And out of all 50 states, it was the ones with more restrictions that also had higher, well, everything: maternal deaths, uninsured rates, infant and child death rates, teen drug and alcohol abuse, as well as lower preventive care and cancer screening rates.
The article cited evidence from a 2014 study conducted by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The study, ‘Evaluating Priorities: Measuring Women And Children’s Health And Well-Being Against Abortion Restrictions In The States‘ found that the states with the greatest number of abortion restrictions scored lowest on indicators of women’s and children’s overall health and well-being.
Image credit: Center For Reproductive Rights
As of 2011, the state of Georgia, which has 11 restrictive abortion laws, leads the nation in the number of maternal deaths,at 35 per 100,000 live births. As it turns out, right-wing anti-abortion policies aren’t only sexist, they are also racist. In Georgia’s Fulton County, for example, the maternal death rate for black women is 94 per 100,000 live births. In the same county, however, the maternal death rate for white women is nearly non-existent. In Chocktaw, Mississippi, one of the three states with the most restrictive abortion laws, the maternal death rate is higher than it is in Sub-Saharan African countries. On a national level, black woman are far more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
The state with the second highest rate of maternal mortality is Oklahoma, according to Sept 2014 report by the Oklahoma Hospital Association. The state also continues to have a much higher than average infant mortality rate. One of just three states in the US that has enacted 14 strict anti-choice laws, Oklahoma is one of the most dangerous places in the country for pregnant women.
The rising death toll in the GOP war on women can be linked to several factors, including decreasing access to abortion and limited health care for women. Other factors include socioeconomic conditions that specifically impact women. Ranked the fourth worst state for women, Mississippi does a terrible job recording and reporting on the number of women who die during pregnancy in the state. According to the state’s website, however, Mississippi has ‘a high rate of maternal deaths.’ The state’s infant mortality rate, and rate of teen pregnancy are the highest in the nation.
It’s not just maternal death rates that are on the increase for women in the US. In March of last year, MSNBC published a report on the spike in female deaths in specific areas of the country. The map below was drawn using the most recently available research, which covers the years 1992 – 1996 and 2002 – 2006.
Image credit: MSNBC
Image credit: MSNBC
On the first day that the new Congress convened in Washington, Republicans attempted to pass five more restrictive and dangerous anti-abortion laws at the Federal level. These attacks are only going to get worse, as the religious fanatics in Washington give more and more rights to fertilized eggs, while taking more and more rights away from US women. They claim their fanaticism is ‘pro-life,’ but Republican laws result in death, not life.
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Friday, March 20, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Novatec unveils stealth mid-drive system
Novatec unveils stealth mid-drive system
TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) ─ Mid-drive systems from Bosch, Panasonic and Shimano require frames designed around their drive units. Novatec took the opposite approach with Eram, introduced at Taichung Bike Week. It looks like a crank with thick bash rings fitting a standard bottom bracket, but it packs a 250-watt punch.
"We kept the size of the motor system small — it's really not that much larger than a triple crank," said Allen Shih, Novatec's sales specialist. "It fits any full-suspension mountain frame without interfering with any suspension function."
Since a suspension frame's jumble of tubes makes finding a place to mount a battery difficult, Novatec is offering a backpack-able battery option so a rider doesn't need to mount the battery to the frame. With smartphone control, there is no reason to run wires to a handlebar control.
The preproduction prototype weighs 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), and the company is shooting for 1.1 kilos (less than 2.5 pounds) for production versions. And though small, the motor still packs more than 60 Newton-meters of torque. Since the motor is on the non-drive crankarm, the system allows the use of standard chainrings and a front derailleur.
Novatec didn't mean for its electric mid-drive system to be stealth; the company just didn't want it to get in the way of bike designers. So compacting the drive system to keep it out of the way pretty much meant it had to fit within the envelope of a traditional crankset. Novatec packs a powerful motor within the space normally occupied by three chainrings.
Although the company has a wide range of electric vehicles in its catalog, from electric scooters and mopeds to cycles for people with special needs, this is its first electric drive system. The compact packaging and bottom bracket mounting suggest it would retrofit well to an existing bike, but the company emphasizes it's targeting OEM spec.
"Its small, compact size and our range of battery options gives bike makers complete freedom to incorporate the system to their bike," Shih said. "They can design their bike to look the way they want and not worry about how our drive system is going to change that look," he said.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Want to avoid toxins on your food? Shop the “Clean Fifteen”
Here’s the Clean Fifteen list:
1. Avocados
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapple
4. Cabbage
5. Sweet peas (frozen)
6. Onions
7. Asparagus
8. Mangos
9. Papyas
10. Kiwi
11. Eggplant
12. Grapefruit
13. Cantaloupe
14. Cauliflower
15. Sweet potatoes
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
This Billionaire Governor Taxed the Rich and Increased the Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One of the Best in the Country
"When he took office in January of 2011, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton inherited a $6.2 billion budget deficit and a 7 percent unemployment rate
from his predecessor, Tim Pawlenty, the soon-forgotten Republican
candidate for the presidency who called himself Minnesota's first true
fiscally-conservative governor in modern history. Pawlenty prided
himself on never raising state taxes -- the most he ever did to generate
new revenue was increase the tax on cigarettes by 75 cents a pack.
Between 2003 and late 2010, when Pawlenty was at the head of Minnesota's
state government, he managed to add only 6,200 more jobs.
During his first four years in office, Gov. Dayton raised the state income tax
from 7.85 to 9.85 percent on individuals earning over $150,000, and on
couples earning over $250,000 when filing jointly -- a tax increase of $2.1 billion. He's also agreed to raise Minnesota's minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2018, and passed a state law guaranteeing equal pay for women. Republicans like state representative Mark Uglem warned against Gov. Dayton's tax increases,
saying, "The job creators, the big corporations, the small
corporations, they will leave. It's all dollars and sense to them." The
conservative friend or family member you shared this article with would
probably say the same if their governor tried something like this. But
like Uglem, they would be proven wrong.
Between 2011 and 2015, Gov. Dayton added 172,000 new jobs
to Minnesota's economy -- that's 165,800 more jobs in Dayton's first
term than Pawlenty added in both of his terms combined. Even though
Minnesota's top income tax rate is the 4th-highest in the country, it has the 5th-lowest unemployment rate in the country at 3.6 percent. According to 2012-2013 U.S. census figures, Minnesotans had a median income that was $10,000 larger than the U.S. average, and their median income is still $8,000 more than the U.S. average today.
By late 2013, Minnesota's private sector job growth exceeded pre-recession levels, and the state's economy was the 5th fastest-growing in the United States. Forbes even ranked Minnesota the 9th-best state for business (Scott Walker's "Open For Business" Wisconsin came in at a distant #32 on the same list). Despite the fearmongering over businesses fleeing from Dayton's tax cuts, 6,230 more Minnesotans
filed in the top income tax bracket in 2013, just one year after
Dayton's tax increases went through. As of January 2015, Minnesota has a
$1 billion budget surplus,
and Gov. Dayton has pledged to reinvest more than one third of that
money into public schools. And according to Gallup, Minnesota's economic
confidence is higher than any other state
Gov. Dayton didn't accomplish all of these reforms by shrewdly manipulating people -- this article
describes Dayton's astonishing lack of charisma and articulateness. He
isn't a class warrior driven by a desire to get back at the 1 percent --
Dayton is a billionaire heir to the Target fortune. It wasn't just a majority in the legislature that forced him to do it -- Dayton had to work with a Republican-controlled legislature for his first two years in office. And unlike his Republican neighbor to the east,
Gov. Dayton didn't assert his will over an unwilling populace by
creating obstacles between the people and the vote -- Dayton actually
created an online voter registration system, making it easier than ever for people to register to vote.
The
reason Gov. Dayton was able to radically transform Minnesota's economy
into one of the best in the nation is simple arithmetic. Raising taxes
on those who can afford to pay more will turn a deficit into a surplus.
Raising the minimum wage will increase the median income. And in a state
where education is a budget priority and economic growth is one of the
highest in the nation, it only makes sense that more businesses would
stay.
It's official -- trickle-down economics is bunk. Minnesota
has proven it once and for all. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong.
"
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Friday, January 30, 2015
10 Facts That Republicans should Know
10 Facts That Will Blow Right-Wingers' Minds
1. The United States is not a Christian nation, and the Bible is not the cornerstone of our law.
Don’t take my word for it. Let these Founding Fathers speak for themselves:
John
Adams: “The government of the United States of America is not in any
sense founded on the Christian religion.” (Treaty of Tripoli, 1797)
Thomas
Jefferson: “Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common
law.” (Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814)
James
Madison: “The civil government … functions with complete success … by
the total separation of the Church from the State.” (Writings, 8:432,
1819)
George Washington: “If I could conceive that the general
government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of
conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be
more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the
horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious
persecution.” (Letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May
1789)
You can find a multitude of similar quotes from these men
and most others who signed the Declaration of Independence and/or
formulated the United States Constitution. These are hardly the words of
men who believed that America should be a Christian nation governed by
the Bible, as a disturbingly growing number of Republicans like to
claim.
2. The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a socialist.
The
Pledge was written in 1892 for public school celebrations of the 400th
anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. Its author was Francis
Bellamy, a Baptist minister, Christian socialist and cousin of
socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy. Christian socialism
maintains, among other ideas, that capitalism is idolatrous and rooted
in greed, and the underlying cause of much of the world’s social
inequity. Definitely more “Occupy Wall Street” than “Grand Old Party” by
anyone’s standard.
3. The first president to propose national health insurance was a Republican.
He
was also a trust-busting, pro-labor, Nobel Peace Prize-winning
environmentalist. Is there any wonder why Theodore Roosevelt, who first
proposed a system of national health insurance during his unsuccessful
Progressive Party campaign to retake the White House from William Howard
Taft in 1912, gets scarce mention at Republican National Conventions
these days?
4. Ronald Reagan once signed a bill legalizing abortion.
The
Ronald Reagan Republicans worship today is more myth than reality.
Reagan was a conservative for sure, but also a practical politician who
understood the necessities of compromise. In the spring of 1967, four
months into his first term as governor of California, Ronald Reagan
signed a bill that, among its other provisions, legalized abortion for
the vaguely-defined “well being” of the mother. Reagan may have been
personally pro-life, but in this instance he was willing to compromise
in order to achieve other ends he considered more important. That he
claimed later to regret signing the bill doesn’t change the fact that he
did. As Casey Stengel liked to say, “You could look it up.”
5. Reagan raised federal taxes eleven times.
Okay,
Ronald Reagan cut tax rates more than any other president – with a big
asterisk. Sure, the top rate was reduced from 70% in 1980 all the way
down to 28% in 1988, but while Republicans typically point to Reagan’s
tax-cutting as the right approach to improving the economy, Reagan
himself realized the resulting national debt from his revenue slashing
was untenable, so he quietly raised other taxes on income – primarily
Social Security and payroll taxes - no less than eleven times. Most of
Reagan’s highly publicized tax cuts went to the usual Republican
handout-takers in the top income brackets, while his stealth tax
increases had their biggest impact on the middle class. These increases
were well hidden inside such innocuous-sounding packages as the Tax
Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, the Deficit Reduction Act
of 1984 and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987. Leave it to a
seasoned actor to pull off such a masterful charade.
6. Roe v. Wade was a bipartisan ruling made by a predominantly Republican-appointed Supreme Court.
Technically, Roe
v. Wade did not make abortion legal in the United States; the Supreme
Court’s decision held only that individual states could not make
abortion illegal. That being said, the landmark 1973 ruling that
Republicans love to hate, was decided on a 7-2 vote that broke down like
this:
Majority (for Roe): Chief Justice Warren Burger
(conservative, appointed by Nixon), William O. Douglas (liberal,
appointed by FDR), William J. Brennan (liberal, appointed by
Eisenhower), Potter Stewart (moderate, appointed by Eisenhower),
Thurgood Marshall (liberal, appointed by LBJ), Harry Blackmun (author of
the majority opinion and a conservative who eventually turned liberal,
appointed by Nixon), Lewis Powell (moderate, appointed by Nixon).
Summary: 2 conservatives, 3 liberals, 2 moderates.
Dissenting (for
Wade): Byron White (generally liberal/sometimes conservative, appointed
by JFK), William Rehnquist (conservative, appointed by Nixon). Summary:
1 liberal, 1 conservative.
By ideological orientation, the
decision was for Roe all the way: conservatives 2-1, liberals 3-1,
moderates 2-0; by party of presidential appointment it was Republicans
5-1, Democrats 2-1. No one can rightly say that this was a leftist court
forcing its liberal beliefs on America.
7. The Federal Reserve System was a Republican invention.
Republicans,
and, truth be told, many Democrats, despise the Federal Reserve as an
example of government interference in the free market. But hold
everything: The Federal Reserve System was the brainchild of financial
expert and Senate Republican leader Nelson Aldrich, grandfather of
future Republican governor and vice president Nelson Rockefeller.
Aldrich set up two commissions: one to study the American monetary
system in depth and the other, headed by Aldrich himself, to study the
European central banking systems. Aldrich went to Europe opposed to
centralized banking, but after viewing Germany's monetary system he came
away believing that a centralized bank was better than the
government-issued bond system that he had previously supported. The
Federal Reserve Act, developed around Senator Aldrich’s recommendations
and - adding insult to injury in the minds of today’s Republicans -
based on a European model, was signed into law in 1913.
8. The Environmental Protection Agency was, too.
The
United States Environment Protection Agency, arch-enemy of polluters in
particular and government regulation haters in general, was created by
President Richard Nixon. In his 1970 State of the Union Address, Nixon
proclaimed the new decade a period of environmental transformation.
Shortly thereafter he presented Congress an unprecedented 37-point
message on the environment, requesting billions for the improvement of
water treatment facilities, asking for national air quality standards
and stringent guidelines to lower motor vehicle emissions, and launching
federally-funded research to reduce automobile pollution. Nixon also
ordered a clean-up of air- and water-polluting federal facilities,
sought legislation to end the dumping of wastes into the Great Lakes,
proposed a tax on lead additives in gasoline, and approved a National
Contingency Plan for the treatment of petroleum spills. In July 1970
Nixon declared his intention to establish the Environmental Protection
Agency, and that December the EPA opened for business. Hard to believe,
but if it hadn’t been for Watergate, we might remember Richard Nixon
today as the “environmental president”.
Oh, yes - Republicans might enjoy knowing Nixon was an advocate of national health insurance, too.
9. Obama has increased government spending less than any president in at least a generation.
Republican campaign strategists may lie, but the numbers don’t.
Government spending, when adjusted for inflation, has increased during
his administration (to date) by 1.4%. Under George W. Bush, the
increases were 7.3% (first term) and 8.1% (second term). Bill Clinton,
in his two terms, comes in at 3.2% and 3.9%. George H. W. Bush increased
government spending by 5.4%, while Ronald Reagan added 8.7% and 4.9% in
his two terms.
Not only does Obama turn out to be the most
thrifty president in recent memory, but the evidence shows that
Republican administrations consistently increased government spending
significantly more than any Democratic administration. Go figure.
10. President Obama was not only born in the United States, his roots run deeper in American history than most people know.
The
argument that Barack Obama was born anywhere but at Kapiolani Maternity
and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii, is not worth
addressing; the evidence is indisputable by any rational human being.
But not even irrational “birthers” can dispute Obama’s well-documented family tree on
his mother’s side. By way of his Dunham lineage, President Obama has at
least 11 direct ancestors who took up arms and fought for American
independence in the Revolutionary War and two others cited as patriots
by the Daughters of the American Revolution for furnishing supplies to
the colonial army. This star-spangled heritage makes Obama eligible to
join the Sons of the American Revolution, and his daughters the
Daughters of the American Revolution. Not bad for someone 56% of Republicans still believe is a foreigner.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
8 Logical Fallacies
8 Logical Fallacies That Fuel Anti-Science Sentiments
1. False Equivalence
Balanced reporting is important, no question. But that doesn't mean every single perspective on a contentious issue deserves equal air time or consideration. Such is the fallacy of false equivalence, the assertion that there's a logical equivalence between two opposing arguments when there is none.
False equivalence is a logical fallacy which describes a situation where there is a logical and apparent equivalence, but when in fact there is none. This fallacy is categorized as a fallacy of inconsistency.[1] It would be the antonym of the mathematical concept of material equivalence.
False equivalence is occasionally claimed in politics, where one political party will accuse their opponents of having performed equally wrong actions.[2] Commentators may also accuse journalists of false equivalence in their reporting of political controversies if the stories are perceived to assign equal blame to multiple parties.[3] False Equivalence should not be confused with false balance – the media phenomenon of presenting two sides of an argument equally in disregard of the merit or evidence on a subject (a form of argument to moderation).
See also: the argument to uncertainty and the universal skepticism fallacy.
2. The Appeal to Nature & The Naturalistic Fallacy
Fewer things have done more to undermine scientists and their work than the appeal to nature and the naturalistic fallacy. The former is the belief that what is natural is "good" and "right" and the latter deducing "ought" from "is." Both have been used to argue that progress in science and technology represents a threat to the natural order of things. It's a line of argumentation that lauds the inherent wholesomeness of all things natural, while decrying the unhealthiness and unsavoriness of all things unnatural.
3. Observation Selection
Many critics of science deliberately (and sometimes unconsciously) select and share information that serves to undermine specific proclamations of science, while ignoring information that works to support credible hypotheses.
4. Appeal to Faith
I'm not interested in the evidence — I just have faith that what I believe is true.Arguing about God is useless because God is beyond scientific reasons or arguments.I refuse to believe in all this global warming doom-and-gloom. I have faith that God wouldn't let such a bad thing happen to us.Sound familiar? These are common refrains repeated by people who have appealed to their faith when making an argument — a fallacy in which religious convictions are conflated with reason and evidence. But while many of these people believe they're acting rationally, the truth is of the matter is that the choice to believe in something is no substitute for science.
The "appeal to faith" is often used in a different way by theists - who claim that all forms of thought rest upon faith. This claim, which was created to undermine reason itself, is false. There is no need for a baseless belief when one has reasons to believe, be they axioms or pragmatism. See the quote under the Stolen Concept Fallacy for more on this.
Faith, by definition, relies on a belief that does not rest on logic or evidence. Faith depends on irrational thought (i.e., a desire) and produces intransigence. Faith has never been shown to be anything more than believing what you want to believe no matter the reality. Historically, people "of faith" have used the very next appeal that follows "to alter the opinions" of their opponents.
5. God of the Gaps
Science
does not have all the answers, nor does it pretend to. We still don't
know how consciousness works, we don't know what instigated the Big
Bang, and there are still holes in our understanding of how certain
traits emerged via natural selection. That's not to say these are
intractable problems; it's quite possible we'll solve these some day. In
the meantime, it's important to gather evidence, posit hypotheses, and
assume the naturalistic paradigm (i.e. all phenomenon can be explained
without having to invoke the actions of a divine force).
6. Appeal to Consequences
Appealing
to consequences can be seen as a kind of precautionary principle, an
injunction to not engage in activities or scientific endeavors that
raise threats of harm (or undesirable outcomes) to human health or the
environment on account of a unforeseen series of cascading events (which
is related to another fallacy, the slippery slope). In many cases,
however, anti-science folks intertwine the boundaries between their
disputes of a particular scientific line of inquiry with alleged
philosophical and moral consequences.
For
example, there's a fear that belief in evolution will lead to genocide,
or that it will lead to the opinion that humans are just another animal
in the forest (i.e. the negation of human exceptionalism). Another
common concern is that atheism/materialism will lead to an unfulfilled,
immoral life.
7. Withholding of Consent
It's just a theory.
No, sometimes it's not just
a theory. Okay, sure, scientific principles like natural selection and
general relativity are theories, but there comes a point when
explanations or models become so instructive and so damned useful that
they graduate to the level of axioms — a statement or proposition that's
so established, accepted, or self-evidently true that we should refrain
from withholding our consent, because to do otherwise would be simply
unreasonable.
8. Playing God
Think of
this as the nonsecular corollary to the naturalistic fallacy. Though not
a formal logical fallacy, it is an error in thinking — the idea that
humanity should not tread on what is traditionally God's domain, and
that by doing so, we're being hubristic, reckless, and irreverent.
Labels:
fallacies
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Monday, January 12, 2015
Ivy League’s meritocracy lie: How Harvard and Yale cook the books for the 1 percent
How Harvard and Yale cook the books for the 1 percent
"Now that is a correlation! This is what I refer to as the “Volvo effect.” In Crazy U, Ferguson talks about how the parents of his son’s friends and classmates were spending $30,000 to $35,000 to prepare their children for college. That isn’t the amount they had to pay for a premier boarding school mind you—that was the amount they paid to hire someone to tutor their child on the SAT and to help them write their “statement of interest” essays on their college applications. When these students get in to a particular college we say that this process reflects the fairness of the meritocracy, but really it only reflects the fact that the elite dominate the entry to higher education. These students aren’t smarter than the other students. Or to put it another way: they may be smart, but they are not necessarily those most likely to contribute to our society; they simply come from families that have more money to pay people to prepare them for the SAT, to test-prep them for their high school grades, and to pay for viola lessons so they can stand out more in the admissions process. The SAT’s most reliable value is its proxy for wealth. It is normed to white, upper-middle-class performance, as numerous studies have shown when the test is viewed through the lenses of race and class. The figures below, from 2013, show this in stark relief."
Labels:
SAT
0
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London's Guerrilla Gardeners
Throw It, Grow It: London's Guerrilla Gardeners by Kendra Wilson
" When Richard Reynolds moved into a tower block in central London's Elephant and Castle district, he was not intending to become a guerrilla gardener. He simply decided to take a DIY approach to the wasteland around him. One night, Reynolds went out after midnight to do some weeding, soil conditioning, and planting near the front door. He didn't own the land, but he enjoyed improving it. He began to do more and more, tackling traffic islands and roundabouts further afield. Tree pits seemed like the perfect place to grow flowers, in the dusty square surrounding the base of a tree. In 2004, he began Guerrilla Gardening, a blog that documents the beautifying effects of what he calls "illicit cultivation" by guerrilla gardeners around the world."
Labels:
Gardening
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Sunday, January 11, 2015
Solar Bike Project
"Our first search was to find an efficient electric drive motor and a way for it to drive the bike. Since we wanted to be able to go up hills at optimum efficiency, it was attractive to use a chain-driving motor or “mid drive” that allows for gear changing via the derailleur. The best of these is made by Ecospeed of Portland, Oregon, which we saw operating firsthand on one of Brent Bolton’s bikes. We took careful measurements of the motor’s size and from these Russell made a foamcore model, which we used to figure out where in the hell the thing would fit on our existing bike’s frame. An obvious spot was in the triangle behind the captain seat and in front of the rear crank. But would it fit? The foamcore model proved it would, so we mounted the EcoSpeed motor to a quarter-inch thick aluminum plate connected to the frame with four stout U-bolts. Ah, it worked.Key to using both human power and an electric motor is to make the motor independent of the crank, so the riders wouldn’t have to spin their legs. Each power source needs a freewheel, so we found an oddball freewheel gadget once made for Vision tandem bikes. It was called the IPS or Independent Pedaling System, basically freewheels that made the chainrings for the captain and stoker independent of each other. Thus we could drive a chainring on the rear crank from the motor, and another chainring on the same crank with the pedals, and make them independent (the motor having its own freewheel). We had some problems keeping the chainline aligned at first with the new freewheel, but eventually using a chain tensioner and structural reinforcement we got it right.
Every solar vehicle needs batteries, and to choose the right type we carefully calculated the amp draw and distance requirements we’d need to make for an efficient system. We’d need batteries to store surplus solar power to keep us going during cloudy weather, in tunnels, or when shaded by trees. More to the point, we knew that hill-climbing would demand more energy per hour than our solar panels could produce, so we needed as large of a buffer as we could carry. That battery would have to be charged and discharged quickly, maybe 50 amps of current drain over some tens of minutes, so that narrowed the available (and affordable) battery chemistries.
In the end we settled on a new design of the old standard lead-acid battery. We began testing our system using two Optima yellow-top deep-discharge batteries, 55 amp-hour capacity. The batteries are heavy, at 42 pounds each, and they store only about 15 watt-hours per pound. But they’re just what we need – they will quickly accept a full charge in just two hours of morning sunlight and then charge up again in a couple of hours at the end of the day. In the meantime, we set about designing our system so that it would run almost-completely on solar power in the middle of each day."
Labels:
Solar power,
Tandem,
trike
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Monday, January 05, 2015
Electric Velomobiles
Fast and Comfortable as Automobiles, but 80 times more Efficient
You would think that a vehicle that is 80 times more efficient than an electric car, and offers a similar speed and range, would be encouraged by governments worldwide. However, the opposite is true.
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Electric Velomobiles
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Friday, January 02, 2015
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Reverse Alzheimer's
Pioneering Doctor Working to Reverse Alzheimer's Offers 36 Ways to Help Avoid the Disease
1. Eliminate or greatly reduce simple carbohydrates and processed foods from your diet, including sugar, grains and other starches, since they can stir up inflammation in the brain. 2. Add probiotics to your diet 3. Take 5,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 daily. 4. Take a good multivitamin daily. 5. Take Vitamin B6 daily. 6. Take Vitamin B12 daily. 7. Take CoQ10 daily. 8. Add fish oil to your diet. 9. Take coconut oil daily. 10. Exercise rigorously, 30 to 45 minutes, 5 days a week 11. Sleep 8 hours a night. 12. Fast for a minimum 3 hours between dinner and going to bed. 13. Fast a minimum 12 hours between dinner and breakfast 14. Take turmeric daily. Consider taking Ashwagandha and Bacopa monniera daily. 15. If you eat meat, make it chicken, non-farmed fish, and occasional grass-fed beef. 16. Floss your teeth at least twice daily. 17. Meditate daily: adequate sleep and exercise improve blood flow to the brain and instigate neuron generation. 18. Hormone replacement therapy is indicated for women who have a hormonal imbalance that may be affecting brain function.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Thursday, October 23, 2014
CONSERVATIVES ARE THE REAL AMERICAN PATRIOTS! Conservative Reality No. 1 This concept would be laughable, if it wasn't so tragically perverse. Far from being patriots, conservatives are too often reckless and dangerous citizens, consistently veering very close to being actual traitors, and they've actually stampeded across that line several times in American history. Consider the American Revolution. Conservatives were against it! Yes, they were the "Party of No" back then, too. Remember that the definition of a conservative is one who wishes to promote, preserve and/or restore traditional "values," hierarchies and institutions. True to form, in 1776 they wanted no part of breaking away from English tradition and their much-beloved British monarchy. They liked being the king's subjects. They were called "Tories", the name still used for the conservative party in England. So conservatives started off on the wrong side of American history, and that's where they've been ever since.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Abbott’s Houston raid didn’t end with arrests, but shut down voter drive
On an overcast Monday afternoon, officers in bulletproof vests swept into a house on Houston’s north side. The armed deputies and agents served a search warrant. They carted away computers, hard drives and documents.
The raid targeted a voter registration group called Houston Votes, which was accused of election fraud. It was initiated by investigators for Attorney General Greg Abbott. His aides say he is duty-bound to preserve the integrity of the ballot box.
His critics, however, say that what Abbott has really sought to preserve is the power of the Republican Party in Texas. They accuse him of political partisanship, targeting key Democratic voting blocs, especially minorities and the poor, in ways that make it harder for them to vote, or for their votes to count.
The investigation was closed one year after the raid, with no charges filed. But for Houston Votes, the damage was done. Its funding dried up, and its efforts to register more low-income voters ended. Its records and office equipment never were returned. Instead, under a 2013 court order obtained by Abbott’s office, they were destroyed.
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Greg Abbott
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Saturday, August 30, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
KFC Original Recipe Chicken
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
3 beaten eggs
4 tablespoons oil
For the coating
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons paprika
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
Directions:
1. Sift together all the coating ingredients and place in a clean plastic bag. Coat each chicken piece first with the beaten egg, then with the flour mixture in the bag. Make sure you coat each piece completely with the flour.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet. Brown the chicken in oil slowly, uncovered. Once browned, cover the skillet and keeping frying on a very gentle heat until the chicken is fully cooked. Place on paper towels to drain out the excess oil.
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Recipe
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Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Saturday, August 09, 2014
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Saturday, August 02, 2014
Economic Analysis
Cornell University's Robert H. Frank--Author of: Luxury Fever: Weighing the Cost of Excess (2010), The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas (2008), The Principles of Economics (2001), The Winner-Take-All Society: Why A Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us (1995), Microeconomics & Behavior (1991), Passions Within Reason: The Strategic Role of the Emotions (1988), Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest For Status (1987)
Friday, August 01, 2014
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
13 Logical Fallacies
13 Logical Fallacies and How Conservatives Use Them to Distort the Facts
Posted by: Cass Steele in Economic Issues, Most Popular on AATTP, TEApublicans in Action, The Gun Control Debate July 26, 2014 The following are logical fallacies we see a lot:
13. Ad Hominem. Latin for “against the man,” this logical fallacy is a favorite among the Teabagger crowd. The ad hominem attack will first go after the character of the person, then against the claim being made. For example, climate change deniers malign Al Gore then maintain that, since he is obviously unreliable (or greedy, or whatever), then his claims about climate change are invalid. Of course, a person’s character, actions or circumstances have no bearing on the facts of the argument being made. An extension of ad hominem is ad hominem tu quoque, or the “you too” fallacy. Rand Paul used this to discredit Rachel Maddow and her exposing him as a plagiarist.
12. Appeal to the consequences of dis/belief. This posits the conclusion is true/false because if it were not, there would be negative consequences. Or that the conclusion is true/false because I want the conclusion to be true/false. That last one is wishful thinking and we see it a lot. Birthers live by this fallacy: “I want Obama not to be President.” So they believe that he was not born in America because it supports their faulty conclusion. As we can see, the consequences of belief or disbelief have nothing whatever to do with whether a point is true or false.
11. Appeal to authority. This is a fallacy that uses perceived authority to support a claim. The Wall Street Journal‘s publication of an op-ed by Suzanne Somers in its “The Experts” section is a great example. They set her up as an authority on the American health care system and the ACA, when she is nothing of the kind. The talking heads on cable news are often referred to as “an authority” or “expert” on an issue when, in fact, they are a paid shill or someone with an axe to grind or agenda to promote. Any claim made by a self-identified expert must be in their area of expertise, which must be a generally recognized discipline. Being an expert in one area, doesn’t automatically make you an expert in everything.
10. Appeal to Fear. You might say that this one of the right’s go-to strategies. They present a claim that is intended to produce fear — say, that Obama will take away your guns. Then present another claim (that may be related to the first, but need not be): the Administration will be rounding up and imprisoning gun lovers. It’s easy to get fearful people to believe anything that validates their fear. Just ask Fox News.
9. Appeal to Ridicule. Here, mockery is the substitute for reasoning. For example, Rush Limbaugh makes fun of Sandra Fluke, calling her a slut and opening her to ridicule. Therefore, covering birth control is a bad thing. He expects his listeners to say, “That’s ridiculous!” And they do. This is a specious argument because making fun of someone who holds a position does not affect its validity. If it did, Limbaugh would be unemployed.
8. Appeal to popularity. This one always crops in in relation to Fox News. “Well more people watch Fox than watch MSNBC.” You can almost the added, “Nyah!” That’s fine and good for them. But that does not make the information they present factual. This is best summed up with a quote from Anatole France: “If 50 million people believe a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing.”
7. Begging the Question or Circular Reasoning. The premise is put forward in which the truth of the conclusion is assumed, therefore the claim is true. The best known example of this is using the Bible to prove that the things in the Bible are true. For the right, many things are true because one conservative cites another conservative as proof. For example, Sean Hannity might “prove” his conclusion that President Obama is weak by citing Bill O’Reilly, who may cite Hannity at some later point. This is the basis of the right-wing echo chamber.
6. False choice. This presents only two choices when there are, in fact, many. The right often does this with instances of aggression. For example, when Putin took the Crimea, it was either go to war or be weak and this is how most of them presented the situation. As we know, diplomacy and sanctions were also, and sanely, in play. This fallacy is best demonstrated in the right’s tendency to see any issue in a bad/good paradigm, ignoring reality and eschewing nuance.
5. Straw Man. Oh, the many times this appears in comment threads… These sort of fallacies are similar to the “slippery slope” but are more subtle. With a straw man argument, the original position against which the argument is made is misrepresented (usually to make it sound weaker), or exaggerated. Then the misrepresentation is refuted. By refuting the weaker, made-up position, the original position is seen as having been refuted. For example, you argue that we ought to spend more money on infrastructure to which your opponent responds with questioning why you don’t want America defended properly. She then can argue why the defense budget shouldn’t be cut while you are still on infrastructure.
4. Generalization. You know how this one goes: “Obama wasn’t born here because his birth certificate is fake!” your Teabagger friend spouts. Let’s see… jumping to a huge conclusion? Check. Based on little or no evidence? Check. Or maybe it’s “All Muslims are terrorists!” A stereotype based on a few examples? Check. Sometimes known as painting with a big brush or a blanket statement. No matter what you call it, it’s lazy thinking.
3. Slippery Slope. Here’s Rick Santorum’s favorite. If we allow gays to marry, then the next thing you know people will be marrying their dogs. Or horses. Or their car. Whatever. There is no actual connection between the premise and the feared outcomes. Also known as leapfrog logic.
2. Shifting the burden of proof. Hugely popular on Fox News, this argument often begins, “Some say…” or “It’s commonly known…” Anytime someone begins with those or something similar prepare for the burden of proof to be shifted to you. Some say that climate change is a myth. Over to you to prove that it’s not. Don’t fall for it. Demand they prove their position with facts.
1. False Cause. In this fallacy, it is claimed that because event B happened after event A, it actually caused event B. To which the smart liberal replies, “Correlation does not indicate causation.” For example, Obama went golfing just before the Malaysian jet was shot down over Ukraine. The conservative will say that the jet was shot down because Obama went golfing, a patently ridiculous claim. This is often used in climate change debates so be on your toes.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Sunday, July 06, 2014
Saturday, July 05, 2014
Friday, July 04, 2014
Thursday, July 03, 2014
COULD WE LOSE THE MONARCH MIGRATION IN OUR LIFETIME
Monarchs need your help NOW! This year AGAIN marks the lowest number of over wintering Monarchs in the Mexican mountains in the last 20 years...and we have only known about their over wintering sites for a little more than 20 years!. There are 97% fewer than at their recorded height and 50% less than there were last year. This is a back to back 50% decline in their overwintering numbers. Researchers are worried we may lose a large part of their migration this year if immediate action is not taken and severly threaten all Monarchs if the pattern continues. This is a crisis situation! In 1991, over 75% of the wintering Monarchs from North America froze to death in Mexico as a result of three days of rain and sub-freezing conditions. Their numbers showed some recovery but now there is a nationwide shortage of milkweed. Freak weather patterns destroy habitat and kill millions of helpless Monarchs. But these natural events are not the only challenges that face the Monarch. Pesticide application and genetically modified crops cover important parts of the Monarch's migratory path and serve as killing fields for any Monarch that pass through these millions of acres of toxins and biological agents that kill them and their young. They are unintended casualties in a war to protect crops. Are our Monarchs worth our efforts to protect? Do we even know the total effects on our environment from the use of these agents? The Monarch habitat must be protected now to ensure their survival, before we see the day when this miracle of nature is only a memory. The Monarchs need your help NOW. Please plant seeds and ensure their survival. A Milkweed in every yard!
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
New Seat
The stock seat on the Disk Trucker was painful, replaced it with a slightly larger one that has some cushy gel padding. Have not had a chance to ride it yet, will do so in the morning. There maybe some trial and error finding a seat that works for me.
I'm really out of shape, well its the main reason I got the bike. My workouts:
May 20, 2014 1.16 miles around the neighborhood 8.28 minutes at 8.2 mph. Raised seat height.
May 20, 2014 1.24 miles 9.41 min at 7.7 mph.
Went on vacation.
May 30, 2014 1.99 miles 13.24 min at 8.9 mph.
July 1, 2014 2.83 miles 19.06 min at 8.9 mph.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Friday, June 20, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Sustainable nuclear energy for a new generation
Scientist puts forward a sustainable energy plan where nuclear fuel is created using magnetic or laser fusion. News accounts are coming in daily confirming that the reliance on fossil fuels for energy is adversely affecting the world we live in: the National Climate Assessment detailed how climate change is creating havoc with our planet today and lists the burning of fossil fuels as the predominate cause; two teams of scientists just reported the irreversible glacial collapse of an Antarctic ice sheet as a result of warming ocean temperatures; and California's record drought and heat are producing wildfires and driving up food prices. It is evident that we must invest in alternative methods of energy production as soon as possible. Nuclear energy produces carbon free energy, and is responsible for 13% of the world's electricity today, but fission-based reactors present environmental hazards and utilize less than 1% of the fuel. Nuclear fusion has held promise that the process will provide clean energy with a limitless supply of fuel. However, decades of research have not produced a viable nuclear fusion power plant. Is there another path forward? In the June issue of the Journal of Fusion Energy, Dr. Wallace Manheimer has laid out a plan that would enable Fusion Breeding as a means to meet mid-century energy needs, based on the scientific underpinnings of current fusion technology and on current nuclear infrastructure. In this approach, a Fusion Reactor is designed to not only produce electricity, but also to create nuclear fuel that can run thermal nuclear reactors. A fusion breeder is about ten times as a prolific a fuel producer as a fission breeder, i.e. a fast neutron fission reactor such as the Integral Fast Reactor. The process, called Fusion Breeding, uses the energetic fusion neutrons to create fuel as well as heat water for the production of electricity. A Deuterium-Tritium fusion reactor is surrounded by a blanket that contains Thorium-232 and other materials to slow and multiply the neutrons. The additional neutrons can be used to breed uranium-233, an especially good nuclear fuel that can be used in today's light water reactors. The waste products from the U233 reactor come in two forms; fission products like strontium 90 which have half lives of about 30 years, and actinides like plutonium which have half lives of 24,000 years. The fission products could be stored for a few hundred years until they become inert. However the actinides, which would have to be stored for hundreds of thousands of years, can serve as fuel for an Integral Fast Reactor. The fuel produced by a single Fusion Breeder could supply at least 5 thermal nuclear reactors of equal power, and a single IFR could burn the plutonium waste of about conventional 5 light water reactors. This is the basis of the mid-century energy architecture suggested in the paper. The requirements for creating a fusion breeder in regards to power multiplication, wall materials and fractional on time are considerably relaxed when compared to a pure fusion reactor. Even making the most optimistic assumptions about pure fusion, fusion breeding would be achieved decades earlier and could serve as a bridge technology of real economic value. Dr. Manheimer's plan would leverage current research facilities, such as ITER in Southern France and the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to facilitate an energy source that is sustainable, proliferation resistant, safe, and economically and environmentally sound. Dr. Manheimer, currently a consultant for Research Support Instruments in Lanham, Maryland, has gained extensive knowledge of both magnetic and laser fusion during his 44 years as a scientist for the Naval Research Laboratory. This paper represents 15 years of researching a more practical approach to fusion energy production. The paper is open access and can be read at on the Journal of Fusion Energy website. More information: Manheimer, Wallace. "Fusion Breeding for Mid-Century Sustainable Power." Journal of Fusion Energy 33, no. 3 (2014): 199-234. Provided by Research Support Instruments
Saturday, June 14, 2014
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• Key Players in the Plame Affair
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