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Earthdebate

Earth May Reach Tipping Point 

Published on 14th June 2012 09:30 AM

A group of scientists from around the world who are part of The Berkeley Initiative in Global Change Biology (BiGCB) is warning that an ever-growing population and widespread destruction of natural ecosystems may be driving Earth toward a planet-wide tipping point, an irreversible change in the biosphere with unpredictable consequences. Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, is the lead author of a review paper about this issue in the journal Nature.

For full story: NewsCenter.berkeley.edu


Currently being debated here: 

Things I like

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd - Voltaire

Cleveland

A river got so polluted it burned...
Some 40 or more years ago I was in Cleveland and the Cyahoga River fire was big in the news so I wanted to just go see it while I was there. It was along the steel mill and oil refinery section and it is still in my mind... how ugly a river it was. Had to be the biggest pollution story of the century to that point. The rivers had killed almost all the fish in Lake Erie. Randy Newman wrote a song about the burning river"




There's a red moon rising
On the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's a red moon rising
ON the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

Cleveland city of light city of magic
Cleveland city of light you're calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember
'Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin' through my dreams

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on
Now the Lord can make you tumble
And the Lord can make you turn
And the Lord can make you overflow
But the Lord can't make you burn

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on

 ====================================
It has been cleaned up and lake Erie is pristine once again.

Cracked Rib

Man they hurt. Cant cough or sneeze or laugh. But then the last one is impossible today.... HURTZ

Anyone can buy a Treasury bond

The US Treasury offers bonds at very low interest rates. How about 0.18 %?  For a one year note of $1,000,000 they promise to pay back $1,001,800 after a year. The Chinese buy them on an open market as does California State Teachers Retirement fund or Great Britain or your uncle. It is an open market and there are buyers all over the world seeking the safest investment they can find....us!

And yet Moodys or some other bond rating company has down graded Treasury bonds which is the same as upgrading the risk. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. Want to know how stupid? When the market crashed billions in bonds were bought up at negative interest. The world was so scared that they PAID for the privilege of buying our Treasuries.

LINK

Just another example of how people believe what the media tells them to believe.

Hot

Hottest day of the year

Congrats to Nick

Not only did Nick become dept chairman after I left and not only did he get his EdD along the way, he has now been promoted to Dean of Tech! Way to go cheese freak!

on a different note to my Cerritos Colleagues: RIP Ted.

Carroll Shelby Died

That's not really news but It got me to reading about him again... bought two new Kendal books. Anyway I was thinking about the really great documentary they did on his Cobra on Discovery. There's some great American History there if you would like to watch it. Shelby went after Enzo and spanked his ass with Old Fashion American Street Rod know how. One of kind American pride. I still get chills watching the Daytona and Le Mans film.

Carfact 32 - The Hemi

The "Hemi" is a trademark of Chrysler Motors. It is the shortening of "hemispherical head". The Hemispherical head was not invented by Chrysler but they did make them famous by putting them in the 300s in the 50's and 60's. They became more famous when they were removed from the cars and rebuilt for dragsters.

But is Hemi today a "Hemi".

They sum it up real well with "Even though it isn't a genuine hemi, this engine still packs a powerful punch as a marketing ploy."

Another Econ fact

Most nations have national debt
As a percentage of GDP
USA 103%
Japan 208%
Greece 165%
Portugal 130%
Singapore 118%

Yes most countries are far below this but still not worried

Many people however do not understand that national debt is all the debt of the nation AND the people. Your mortgage contributes to the national debt. It is not all gov spending.

But.. you know. People believe what they want to believe so...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_national_debt

Home econ 101

Every family has struggled with debt from time to time. Well not "Every" but most have.
Some people buy a home on credit (mortgage) or borrow against an annuity to put their kids through college. Or buy a new car on payments or use credit cards. Its only when your debt exceeds your income that you go under water. So most people maintain their debt payments as a percentage of their income. So if a family has $100,000 income then they would probably want to keep total debt payments well below that.
Let say mortgage payments are 25,000 per year and the other debt is $25,000 per year so they enjoy life and make their payments. But what do they OWE? they could owe $400,000 on the house (they got a super low interest rate) and they could owe another 100k on cars and medical bills and what not. So this family is in debt at five times their yearly income.

Now lets say someone else has an income of $1,000,000 per year. He can afford $500,000 in dept payments for a mansion or three and two new BMWs and a boat or whatever.

Both families render 50% of income to debt and are in debt five times their yearly income.

Now how to translate that to a nations debt?... "income" would be Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and debt would be what the treasury comes up with as a deficit for that year. What is the GDP today? one year's worth of productivity in the USA? $15trillion dollars. What is the debt? About $15 trillion. in other words the USA is in debt one years worth of income (GDP). 100% of GDP for the government and 500% for lots of ordinary families.

 Not worried.

****** addendum  "what the treasury comes up with as a deficit for that year" should have read "what the treasury tells us what our national debt is".

Thanks, Didi.

Wild Wild Southwest

Spring and summer bring out the best in our local wild life. A far cry from our past concrete and asphalt  world. The nicest part of being close to the wild critters is feeling that your part of their world too.  The cliffs around our house are home to bobcats, hawks, ravens, rabbits, coyotes and even mountain lions; never seen a mountain lion but the old timers tell us they're up there in the high cliffs. Yes, there are rattlesnakes but in our twelve years here I've never seen or heard one .. they have a tendency to stay away from human habitats. And I am not one to go tramping about in the underbush and poking under dead tree trunks. So with a little luck and good sense, I'll live and die without ever having a close encounter with the snake population.

We do have some small critters that enter the house ( I suspect our two cats find them in the enclosed breezeway and then bring them inside for our approval ) . So far this week I've rescuded one tiny mouse and two lizards. Now you must remember I'm a big city girl so these unwelcome creatures weren't part of my upbringing but I have learned how to pick lizards up by their tails and drop them outside ( where they belong ), When you pick them up they freeze and stop moving so there's no chance of being bit.

The mice are easy ... we have "no kill" traps. Put some peanut butter in there and they head in the open door and get trapped, the door shuts and they feast. Once the door shuts you pick up the trap and you can open the back trap door and let them loose outside. The cats are disappointed because they no longer have something to chase and pouce on but I'm relieved to have them outside in their world while we relax in ours.

Welcome to the wild wild southwest!  Liz

They were there to see Sugarland. I wanted to re-post this for some reason. 

Memorial: Indiana Fair Grounds

re post

http://ronandliz.blogspot.com/2011/05/tony-matolla.html

New house/land links

$700,000 five lots west
Listing

$789,000 out near the highway
Listing

Read and think

1-taxing the uber-rich cannot erase the deficit
2-taxing the populous can
3-you cant raise taxes on the populous in a weak economy
4-there is no such thing as trickle down economics
5-Taxing the "job creators" does not effect their expansion and hiring

Watch MSNBC and listen to Rachel Madowe lie to you
Watch Fox News and listen to Hannity lie to you.

Dont let them lie to you.. please don't. Have some courage. Think wider.

Sunday, lucky Sunday

It is a glorious day to be alive. I am so happy today. Feeling so powerful and spiritual. It is Sunday!
Lucky Sunday... out of seven days it happens to be the day I am feeling this wonderful.
Sunday is lucky. No... I don't mean Sunday is lucky for "me"
I mean Sunday is lucky to be the day I feel so good. Monday didn't get me. Saturday didn't get me. Just lucky Sunday is blessed to have me today.


Ron... maybe reading too much Norman Vincent Peale

Another Album I wore out

I wore out Yellow Brick Road first... but this one was a close second.
There was a movie about it but now there is a resurrection of the wall as a Rock Opera produced and directed by the main man in PF,  Roger Waters... now 68 years old. It is a sell out all over the globe.

This on 60 minuets

"Pink Floyd's the Wall is one of the most intriguing and imaginative albums in the history of rock music. Since the studio album's release in 1979, the tour of 1980-81, and the subsequent movie of 1982, the Wall has become synonymous with, if not the very definition of, the term "concept album." Aurally explosive on record, astoundingly complex on stage, and visually explosive on the screen, the Wall traces the life of the fictional protagonist, Pink Floyd, from his boyhood days in post-World-War-II England to his self-imposed isolation as a world-renowned rock star, leading to a climax that is as cathartic as it is destructive.

From the outset, Pink's life revolves around an abyss of loss and isolation. Born during the final throes of a war that claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 British soldiers (Pink's father among them) to an overprotective mother who lavishes equal measures of love and phobia onto her son, Pink begins to build a mental wall between himself and the rest of the world so that he can live in a constant, alienated equilibrium free from life's emotional troubles. Every incident that causes Pink pain is yet another brick in his ever-growing wall: a fatherless childhood, a domineering mother, an out-of-touch education system bent on producing compliant cogs in the societal wheel, a government that treats its citizens like chess pieces, the superficiality of stardom, an estranged marriage, even the very drugs he turns to in order to find release. As his wall nears completion - each brick further closing him off from the rest of the world - Pink spirals into a veritable Wonderland of insanity. Yet the minute it's complete, the gravity of his life's choices sets in. Now shackled to his bricks, Pink watches helplessly (or perhaps fantasizes) as his fragmented psyche coalesces into the very dictatorial persona that antagonized the world during World War II, scarred his nation, killed his father, and in essence defiled his own life from birth. As much as this story told mostly from Pink's point of view tips toward nihilistic victimhood, there also runs a strong existentialist countercurrent in which freedom cannot be separated from personal responsibility. Culminating in a mental trial as theatrically rich as the greatest stage shows, Pink's tale ends with a message that is as enigmatic and circular as the rest of his life. Whether it is ultimately viewed as a cynical story about the futility of life, or a hopeful journey of metaphorical death and rebirth, the Wall is certainly a musical milestone worthy of the title "art."

As with most art, Pink Floyd's concept album is a combination of imagination and the author's own life. The album germinated during the band's 1977 "Animals" tour when frontman Roger Waters, growing disillusioned with stardom and the godlike status that fans grant to rock stars like himself, spit in the face of an overzealous concert-goer. Horrified by his disenchantment, Waters began drawing on these feelings of adult alienation as well as those springing from the loss of his own father during World War II to flesh out the fictional character of Pink. The wild stories surrounding Pink Floyd's original frontman, Syd Barrett - including his drugged-out escapades and subsequent withdrawal from the world - provided Waters with further inspiration for the moody rock-star. The contributions of bandmates David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright provided the final brush strokes for a contemporary anti-hero - a modern, existential everyman struggling to find (or arguably lose) self and meaning in a century fragmented by war."

From  http://www.thewallanalysis.com/main/

Garden three weeks later

Compare to three weeks ago. Mounding up potatoes is more obvious.
The seed potatoes were planted 6" deep in the bottom of the V-troughs. As they grow you keep hoeing dirt up on them covering the lowest leaves even. The dirt came from the center mound and the two sides of the V-trough and now they are growing on the top of the mound while the V-troughs are middle and two sides.

Data

Many quote fiscal data. Hardly anyone knows if what they are quoting is true.

Look at this PDF file http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2008-TAB/pdf/BUDGET-2008-TAB.pdf

 This an "official"  historical summary of the US Budget since the republic was formed. It is from the Government Printing Office, the keeper of all accounting books.

Ok so when the news-puppet tells you what the deficit or surplus is in any given year you can check it.

You can also download the same data in an XLS file here http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/
With an XLS (spread sheet) you can segregate data and do what ifs and create graphs and pie charts.

So now when the politicians start lying you can do your own fact-check. Meaning you will be very busy or will forever believe what they tell you so there's no point.

Enjoy

You're welcome :)

Facebook... no thanks

Another article that explains almost to a tee why I am no longer on Face-ache.
LINK

Len Kleinrock, 77, says Facebook is fine for his grandchildren, but it's not for him.

"I do not want more distractions," he says. "As it is, I am deluged with email. My friends and colleagues have ready access to me and I don't really want another service that I would feel obliged to check into on a frequent basis."

Kleinrock says his resistance is generational, but discomfort with technology isn't a factor.

After all, Kleinrock is arguably the world's first Internet user. The University of California, Los Angeles professor was part of the team that invented the Internet. His lab was where researchers gathered in 1969 to send test data between two bulky computers —the beginnings of the Arpanet network, which morphed into the Internet we know today.

"I'm having a 'been-there, done-that' feeling," Kleinrock says. "There's not a need on my part for reaching out and finding new social groups to interact with. I have trouble keeping up with those I'm involved with now."

For me too, Face-thingie is old news. There is nothing they invented that has not been around for 30 years.
Forums? Been there.
Messaging? Been there.
Chat? Been there.
Groups? Been there.

We did it on dial up acoustic modems with monochrome monitors and called it a BBS (bulletin  board service). Like this...




So all I can see that Face Book did, besides modernize it,  was to get people to give them the password to their email accounts so they could then invite all of their contacts to join who would then give all their own email passwords etc. Even Zuckerberg was amazed that people would do that.


I'm very happy to be in the minority here.


PS yes I was amazingly stupid to sign up in the first place.

Building

Lots of new construction in town. Many retires coming out and building their custom homes. Three lots east on a lot our size (five acres)  they are building a beautiful southwestern flat roof. Its got to be close to 4000 sq ft. I walked around inside during construction. Three or four lots west on our street with  the same lot size they put another big home on a hill... dint last long. The gentleman's wife passed and he is moving back to Tucson I think. On the market for $750k right now. Hope he gets it.



There are also quite a number of people who moved here after visiting Best Friends and like us sold their other retirement property and bought and built here. There is a big new house going up down Six Mile Gap. Gotta be worth a couple million as they have a huge amount of land and a mansion of a home. Land values are rising again after falling steep. Here is listing of 1400 acres for $4,400,000 ($30k plus per acre unimproved). Lots along our side of Red Cliff are about $50k per acre (water, phone, electricity). It normally follows that per acre price is higher for smaller lots.



A not-too-near neighbor did a reverse mortgage five years ago and tells me he got 40% more than he could get now. I think he thinks he was smart. I think more like lucky. But maybe he was lucky-smart. Neighbor George (his brother) put his gigantic custom home on the market... he has a huge metal building attached big enough to park four motor homes... really! it is that big. He's asking $789k.. hope it sells. Only two acres.

 Link

So it looks like the real estate bubble burst has started to patch itself up here.. starting maybe as long as a year ago. All the contractors tell me they are very busy. So come take a look people! Now's the time to for you guys to take your CalStrs and come on out.

Bird watching

We have some migratory birds passing through in the spring and the fall. We see them just briefly as they water in our bath.

Saw an Oriole today.. don't think we saw one last year.

We may see a Yellow headed black bird heading back to British Columbia

And tons of yellow warblers (I don't think they migrate more than 20 miles from the mountains)

We had the bird bath up close to the window a few years ago and a fledgling red tail hawk came down and took a bath in it. Oblivious to us just six feet inside...he couldn't see us. Was one of the wonderful wild animal moments we have had in Utah.

They Jays come back in the fall and stay most of the winter.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers everywhere.

Venus curl

She sits there in the window above the window every night looking at us.
She is beautiful and never fails to show it off.
It is comforting to watch TV and glance a wink at her.
Always in the same place.
Every night.
A curling orbit in the black sky.

Going on my second year now...

... of new-car withdrawal. I want a new truck. I have not driven a ten year old vehicle for maybe thirty years now.... ummm, except for now... and except for my '70 Ford F150 which was a project truck (man I took a beating on that... but 'twas fun).

I never had a good truck until the ranger. Had the hot-Subie before that. So now the Ranger is 11 years old I can't stand it! I need a new one... but they stopped making them last year.. closed the twin cities plant. It gets 15mpg when I tow the Casita... the newer rangers have more towing capacity and would get me 18 mpg towing.

But that is not enough I guess... I heart my truck. I have topper, and Firestone air springs, and compressor and so much installed I have it just like I want it and it has only 120k miles. Today a car with 120k miles is like having a 60 Buick with only 35k on it. It used to be that if you got 100k out of a car it was probably on its last legs. This Ford can get 250k with ease. Although I have been putting money in it... new seat belts $500, new cruise control $300, new air-springs $300, complete new front end which I ruined on the hard roads of Alaska $700, new tires $1000, and other stuff too. But... I am torn. I love this ranger... it is perfectly suited to me but the new-car sprite calls from over the hills, "come buy... buy... buy".

Dammit even.

Another boring victory for the USA middle class

"For several years now, the anecdotal data has been tantalizing:
Caterpillar is building a $120 million plant to make giant earthmovers in Victoria, Texas, including some models that were previously built in Japan and shipped back to North American customers. The Japan plant is now free to devote more capacity to the booming Asian market.
Master Lock, in Milwaukee, landed a visit from President Barack Obama in February after its decision to bring 300 jobs back from China.
General Electric reversed a decision to build a new “green” refrigerator plant in Asia and decided instead to invest $93 million in refurbishing a plant in Bloomington, Indiana, saving 700 jobs. The company followed up in 2010 by investing $80 million in a water heater plant in Louisville, Kentucky, preventing another 400 jobs from heading east.

Not to be outdone, GE competitor Whirlpool decided to break ground on a new $200 million plant in Cleveland, Tennessee rather than send the 1,500 jobs overseas. The facility is part of a four-year, $1 billion American investment campaign.
Dow Chemical, the cash register company NCR, Sauder Woodworking and the machine tool firm GF AgieCharmilles have all brought overseas production back to the US market in the past three years"

From the Global Post

 Of particular interest to me is my long held belief that manufacturing is becoming local. If the buyer is in North America the products will be manufactured in North America. Which is what Caterpillar is doing.

I'm a dink

"DINK" Dual Incomes No Kids

Liz and I were quite dinkish there for some years. Having no kids to account to -- or for -- opens up doors. Travel and dining and sail boats and stuff when we were still young enough for dancing and staying up late and being groupies of our favorite local bands and stuff. It was a real great time. Now we're too old for that but we do have memories.

I think the best dink memories I have are the restaurants. During some stretches we ate out three or four times a week. We went to every five star restaurant in Orange county (many times over) and most of them in Eastern LA county. I learned about wine... good wine. Learning the gourmet part was more subtle and took longer to appreciate but we did get fairly good at it eventually. Even to the point that we cooked out of gourmet cook books on those nights we were not out eating out. We had our friends over for dinner and loved to see them blown away gastronomically while they ended up begging us to give them the recipe. That was fun back then.

Anyway the dinks have landed and are all partied out and take naps and grow gardens now. Now we are more like HINKs Half the income :)

Are you an extrovert?

People are either introverted or extroverted. The extent of the introversion or extroversion is very measurable with psychological testing. And that is the point to me. It is the "extent" that matters in ones life.

Liz and I took the Meyers Briggs personality test 30 years ago and were amazed that we are so much alike. A psychologist once told us, when reviewing our test scores, that we were not just uniquely suited for each other but that couples like us make up less than 5% of the populous.

The the Myers Briggs test is coupled with the book, "Please Understand Me" by David Keisery

You can take a similar test here

The results can be analyzed here

And the book is here

Liz is an INTJ and I am an  INTP

But the really unique thing is we score way out there as introverts. We are introverted but you will probably have to do more research to find out that introversion does not make you  a shrinking violet or wall flower. I spent the last 15 years of my working life teaching. My voice wasn't weak or shaky. Nor did I break out in cold sweats... and Liz would never be accused of that either since she conducted meetings and spoke publicly all her working life as an Executive Officer. Being an introvert in psychology is usually simplified this way: While most people get their internal batteries charged by going to people events like parties, socializing, church. Introverts like us recharge our batteries by being alone. It is good for us to be alone. It makes us very happy and gives us peace.

BTW it is not a genetic thing one way or the other. It is personality type generated during the formative years by ones surroundings. People should understand this and try to account for it within their family, workplace,  or other social  surroundings.

Tour of the garden

Lots of ravens out this morning.. walked around the garden explaining stuff... you can hear them in the video.

The High Price of College Tuition and Student Debt

This problem will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. It opens up Community Colleges as an alternative since they can do several things for the student.
1) chop half the cost off the four year college tuition by taking freshman and sophomore classes at the CC.
2) give students a chance to graduate from a CC with an Associates degree and a technology or trade major
3) Fast track a technology or trade credential without the AA.

We need trained technicians and tradesman badly. There are millions of jobs out there for them if they are simply trained at a CC.

However one problem remains. How to convince the CCs themselves that vocational training is really important. Some years ago the Cerritos Mission Statement read something like: "The college offers vocational training, transfer to a four year college, and remediation". Now it reads something like "The college offers transfer to a four year college, vocational training,  and remediation". The difference is simply the order. The Academicians in the CC are the ones who rule and the wanted "transfer" to precede "vocational". Meaning they wanted to emphasize transfer above all else. This is an error they are still making and is the biggest stumbling block to setting up for hard core vocational programs. Voc-ed is still managed by academicians and they will never get it. There should be separate schools withing the district in my opinion.

88 degrees today.. my gawd it's still April! LOL
The warmers are having great "i told you so" fun with it. The Fox-cons are quiet. Until their comes along an abnormal cold spell then it will be they who take up this extrapolation nonsense.

"Here, here" I say, "Is a barrel of black and white marbles. Thousands of them. Step up and take a few.
How many did you take randomly?
Three? two black and one white?
So what can you deduce about the number of black and white marbles in the barrel?
What?
You can say that there is a likelihood that they are mostly black?
How likely?
66% you say.
Well throw those three back in the barrels and mix them up and this time randomly take ten out of the barrel.
What did you get?
Six black and four white?
What can you now deduce?
You say its more evidence that there are more black than white marbles in the barrel?
How likely?
60% you say.
So throw those back in and mix them up and this time randomly take 100 marbles out.
So what was the number of black and white marbles?
Whoa!
47 black and 53 white?
So what does that tell you about the barrel and what does it tell you about your first two assumptions?
You now think the barrel has more white?
How likely?
53% more likely you say?
Yet before you were more sure that it contained more black.
Of the three samples which one do you think shows you the greatest degree of scientific accuracy when extrapolating the contents of the barrel?
The last one? why?
Because it was a larger sample?
Good!
Can you postulate something from this?
EXACTLY! the greater the sample the greater the degree of certainty.
What?
Well not exactly because I happen to know that there are equal numbers of black and white in the barrel but at least you can see that small samples are usually not as accurate as large samples. If you would have plotted the sampling on a graph it would have plotted a straight line through the neutral 50/50 axis.
You did good"

Good LA Times article on reshoring

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-manufacturers-abandoning-china-20120420,0,3679186.story

The more I read them the more accurate the reporters are becoming. They are finally getting it. Asking the right questions and parsing the answers and inserting them into a fine article.

I like this quote:
“Not long ago, many companies regarded China as the low-cost default option for manufacturing,” said Michael Zinser, a partner with the consulting group. “This survey shows that companies are coming to the conclusion surprisingly fast that the U.S. is becoming more competitive when the total costs of manufacturing are accounted for.”

What I've been saying for almost ten years.

When sour-crout is not sauerkraut

I was raised on the canned stuff. Sauerkraut and hot dogs and fried potatoes. YUM YUM YUM!
But it wasn't until I took other's advise and got off the canned stuff that I realized how bad it is.
You can find deli sauerkraut in almost any super market. It is in the cold section and usually in a glass jar. Why cold? because it would not last in a can. There is not enough vinegar/salt in it to keep it from going stale.

So here is my UN-sauerkraut recipe for sauerkraut and onions.

Slice onions and saute in butter.
Take a jar of deli-kraut out and rinse it thoroughly to get rid of all the vinegar.
Drain it very well and then toss it into the butter and onions.
Add caraway seed.

The taste is so far removed from canned sauerkraut that you wont recognize it. You will taste cabbage,

Yum

Can you keep a dry eye?

This poetry and song from Markita tells the story of a boy and a girl growing up together and what drugs did to them. Listen closely and read the lyrics and watch the video.



Step by step
Heart to heart
Left, right, left
We all fall down
Like toy soldiers

It wasn't my intention to mislead you
It never should have been this way
What can I say
It's true, I did extend the invitation
I never knew how long you'd stay

When you hear temptation call
It's your heart that takes, takes the fall
Won't you come out and play with me

Step by step
Heart to heart
Left, right, left
We all fall down
Like toy soldiers

Bit by bit
Torn apart
We never win
But the battle wages on
For toy soldiers

It's getting hard to wake up in the morning
My head is spinning constantly
How can it be?
How could I be so blind to this addiction?
If I don't stop, the next one's gonna be me

Only emptiness remains
It replaces all, all the pain
Won't you come out and play with me

Step by step
Heart to heart
Left, right, left
We all fall down
Like toy soldiers

Bit by bit
Torn apart
We never win
But the battle wages on
For toy soldiers

We never win

Only emptiness remains
It replaces all, all the pain
Won't you come out and play with me

Step by step
Heart to heart
Left, right, left
We all fall down
Like toy soldiers

Bit by bit
Torn apart
We never win
But the battle wages on
For toy soldiers

Step by step
Heart to heart
Left, right, left
We all fall down
Like toy soldiers

Bit by bit
Torn apart
We never win
But the battle wages on
For toy soldiers

Most people mistake this for an anti-war song. It would be the best ever made if it were. EMENEM thinks that is what it is. But that's ok... I forgive him.

So snow last night

Man what a spring.

Did ubuntu really think?

man what a moronic attempt to replace Windows.
Linux was poised to be a warrior competing with Vista and the I-dont-know-where-we-are mac-OS.
They failed.
Gnome was OK
Ubuntu was just plain stupid.
Why do they think users want to sudo this and sudo that. I don't mind but I go back some years. They missed their op.

Hot

81 today
The peach trees have all blossomed and did the birds-and-the-bees thing except just with bees. There should be a lot of fruit set. We'll see.

Got the two raised beds set for taters.. have the first crop of candy-onions planted. Have reds coming any day now. Will plant a couple watermelon and a couple of cantaloupe and some squash. Tomatoes and broccoli will be in the enclosure. Should have planted the broc last month. Corn will be seeded soon too.

Dallas Tornado

Talked to my son in Dallas on this day. Got close to him and his.
Funny thing though he has a three car garage but can get only his wife's and his daughter's car inside so he took his pickup down to the local coin op car wash to ride out the hail storm! LOL

Go to prison and pay your penalty.

The eighth amendment has to be the most abused amendment other than maybe the second amendment.

If you are a criminal you should go to prison and "suffer" the consequences. What is with all this penal social mingling and conjugal rights? Damn! Everyone of them should be locked up in stir (isolation) with no social contact. You think that would not set them straight? You think criminals would be "ok" with going back to prison then? LIBERALS! saying that stir would be cruel and unusual and a violation of the eighth amendment. You see? Liberal abuse of the eighth and conservative abuse of the second. I hate them both. I really do. Time for a third party.

TEXAS BBQ

I just ordered some texas BBQ from Black's BBQ in Lockhart Texas. On their online store.
http://www.blacksbbq.com/store/blacks_bundles.aspx

I'll report back how it goes.

Peach trees going bezzerk.... how you spell that?

The are a gillion honey bees out there sucking nectar out of huge peach blossoms. The peach trees have been fooled. No fruit this year. They will get frost burned soon and die. Reminds me of life.

Interseting thing about Mexico

Mexico has a dozen well respected Med Schools! shock. Further, Mexican's go to the US for med school and many Americans go to the Mexican Med schools. That got me to thinking about the whole medical education system and why those Caribbean Med Schools exist (remember Grenada). Well there are hundreds of them spread around the world and many Americans that cannot get into, or cannot afford, American Med schools go to these offshore substitutes. Well, one may ask, "can they practice in the Untied States?"....they can and do and inhabit clinics and hospitals all over the nation.

I realize the strong headed ones insist that our horrendous cost of medicine is because we have the best medical care. We don't and haven't for decades. Also here is another one.

We have the most expensive but not the best. I only wonder if the hard liners will take the time to investigate it. My guess is probably not because if they would discover that Healthcare providers are raping us and they won't want to know that... too too modest, they.

long week.

Our dog Dudley passed. We have been expecting it. Hollow feeling when I look over at that place on the floor and see that it's just a place on the floor now. Having the cats helps a lot. Staggering pet ages is a good idea if you have more than one.

Liz had minor surgery last week in St George so that added to it too. She is doing fine.

Trying to work out a way to do some videos and animations for Western Gear's ISO9000 documentation.
If  you go to youtube you will find my pseudonym, "Allen Wrench" and a gillion of them I have uploaded

Wood Stove

We traded in our pellet stove for a little stick burner. Easy to clean and burns nice.  Wood is cheap around here and now I don't have to carry those 40 pound bags of pellets... or unload a pallet of them every year.

    

Born

The day I was born on 10/12/1942. On our planet sixty two thousand pair of human eyes saw light for the first time. Of them only 6% or 3800 were born in the USA. When I think about that I have to reflect on the  94% who WERE NOT born in the United States.

Have you had a good life? A bad life? Are you always bitching about your ugly lot in life? the things that got in the way? the sometimes impoverished other times politically murderous people who were luckier than you... or not as lucky as you?

I am so lucky to be born in the USA on that day. The life I have lived since does not compare to the others who have not had my good fortune. I have lived such a casual, informal, lucky life here. Yes, I've had my Janis Ian times. We all need to reflect on those things now ad then but perhaps we should be a little hesitant to paint it so grossly... in comparison. Should I want gross I would think about my 50% chance of being born in China on that day in that year.

Janis knows how lucky she was no matter the pain or the hate and remorse of her ugly duckling 17. She is appreciative of being born an American. She told me this in fact sometime after this now famous reflection.

 I learned the truth at seventeen that love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles who married young and
then retired.
The valentines I never knew, the Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful. At seventeen I learned the truth.
And those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces,
Desperately remained at home, inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say, "Come dance with me," and murmured vague
obscenities.
It isn't all it seems at seventeen.
A brown-eyed girl in hand-me-downs whose name I never could
pronounce
Said, "Pity, please, the ones who serve; they only get what they deserve.
The rich relationed hometown queen marries into what she needs.
A guarantee of company and haven for the elderly."
Remember those who win the game lose the love they sought to gain.
In debentures of quality and dubious integrity.
Their small-town eyes will gape at you in dull surprise when payment
due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen.
To those of us who know the pain of valentines that never came,
And those whose names were never called when choosing sides for
basketball.
It was long ago and far away; the world was younger than today
And dreams were all they gave for free to ugly duckling girls like me.
We all play the game and when we dare to cheat ourselves at solitaire.
Inventing lovers on the phone, repenting other lives unknown
That call and say, "Come dance with me," and murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me at seventeen.

Janice knows that only here in the USA would her lyrics mean anything.

 

Janis know how lucky she was, at seventeen, compared to those many more her exact age who were being murdered by  Idi Amin Dada in Uganda. She really does and has said so to me in so many words...

Daylight Stupid Time

Which states have a brain? Arizona is one. There are some others who don't change time for gawd knows what reason. I think I post this every year but every year I want to bitch about it.

You want to knwo what lobbyist do? this from wiki:

 "Clorox (parent of Kingsford Charcoal) and 7-Eleven provided the primary funding for the Daylight Saving Time Coalition behind the 1987 extension to U.S. DST, and both Idaho senators voted for it based on the premise that during DST fast-food restaurants sell more French fries, which are made from Idaho potatoes"



To sell more fries or more charcoal.
We are a nation of robots subservient to lobbyist and Rush Limbaugh.
I don't love my country anymore.. I tolerate it.

Once between jobs

I forget when but to make some money (without the unemployment office knowing) I took a job signing up voters. We (two of us) sat at a table in front of the White Front store pestering people who entered, "are you registered to vote"? It was not a job paid for by any political party. It was some guy who paid me for registering voters demo or repub or indy. I got so much money for each. Never made much but I remember once in awhile taking my daily pay over to the burger joint and buying dinner for the family.

So anyway at the end of the day this guy came by and counted the registrants and paid us per piece. I found out later that he took those to the local registrar but before he did, he copied them and put them into Demo, Pub, and Indy piles and "sold" them to the local politicos. He made money from the county and the Republican Party and the Democratic party. Cute bux, eh?

So this got me to thinking about what some people are calling voter fraud. I mean I could have made up names and addresses and filled the forms out myself. I didn't but I could have. Would that have been voter/election fraud? No that would have been registration fraud. Voter/election fraud is a Federal offense. Making up names and address for registration is not a Federal offense unless somebody named "Micky Mouse" turns up to vote on election day. You can turn in all the fake registrations you want and you have committed no federal crime and have given no one an advantage or disadvantage in an election.

Lots of wailing and gnashing of the teeth by many of the ignorant but absolutely zero cases of election fraud  via the registration process anywhere. Ask the FBI.. just ask them. No election fraud comes by way of registration fraud. NONE!

Am I to make a point about this? no.. I could and you know why I could but this isn't the place for it...  it is just a damned cold hard fact that your news channel wont tell you.

sun snow and sun and snow

We have had days sunny and in the 60s followed by snow followed by sun and 60s followed by...

What a crazy pattern out here this year.

Thank god that USA has had a mild winter. Winter went to Europe this year.

We don't need no stinking Europe

Fuel prices rise worldwide

Not just here. We are not the center of world like some believe. Prices are up in Europe, South America, Australia... every where. It is a world market not just a US market. But adding to this is that fuel consumption in the US has been steadily falling for seven years.
Two reasons for this: people are justnot driving as much and new cars are getting 25% better millage than your old 20th century carriage. The result is that weekly gasoline bill has stayed about the same with the high prices.

But the real interesting news is that oil companies in North America are producing gasoline like we were still driving lots of miles in a gas guzzler. This has led to a surplus of Gasoline, Jet fuel, and especially diesel fuel which is being "exported" from North America as I type. In other words we have a surplus of oil right now.

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mkjexus2&f=m

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/02/us-exported-more-gasoline-than-imported-last-year/1#.T1ETdIHLKAg

Ok and one more thing. Oil companies in North America keep pumping at a rate that keep the stock holders happy. They don't slow down pumping when the USA has all it needs. No, they send it too Japan or China or wherever but they never ever stop pumping.

A piece of trivia: the Alaskan pipe-line is encumbered with a law that all of the north slope oil must go directly to US refineries. That would be Seattle, Oakland, and LA/Long Beach. So we are not exporting crude now, we are instead refining it and "then" exporting it. No one wrote a rule about what happened to it after the refinery.

And the drill-baby-drill crowd is simply ignorant. The more we drill the more we will export. Yes, we could say flood the market (not really) and make prices drop "worldwide" but what good will come of that? We will be making oil cheaper for China. The world-people will decide how much petroleum they need and in the process set the world price.

The US and Canada are siting on Saudi Arabia size petroleum reserves and will ultimately be the last to drill and distribute it... along with Russia. That will make us even more powerful. Don't drill now. Drill much much later.

One more thing on Cars. Have you read Car and Driver for the last decade? If not you would be surprised to see how the economics play out with electric vs gasoline cars. You can spend $15k on a new Ford Fiesta that gets 41mpg or you can spend $33k for a Prius hybrid that gets 49mpg. These used to be subsidized by the USA for around $4k tax credit (meaning you will pay $33k for it and get $4k back from Uncle). But not anymore. You simply cant beat a little gas engine at less than half the price of a so called "green" car. You would never find a place where the cost line and return line would meet in a graph.

Rat's nest is best!

I think I have the computers where I want them now. Table level, off the ground, and with "all" of the cables connecting in the FRONT of the computer and nothing in the back. I used every kind of short extension cable imaginable. Monitor, USBs, SATA disks, all! It makes a rat's nest but at least its a nest I can sort out without bending over or pulling computers out just to get to the back.
Here is a pano of the office with some numbers.

1- laser printer Brother $99 free shipping at Amazon

2- standby el cheapo color HP inkjet on sale at Amazon for $29 free shipping. Its not even hooked up. It may sit there forever un-used.

3- eight port hub...have Liz and Laptop and shop computers networked here.

4- el cheapo Canon scanner $50 uses no power. fully USB driven.

5- new dell Vostro Windows 7 w/XP virtual emulator.

6- one terabyte USB backup disk

7- uninterrupted power supply will easily keep everything running for 60 seconds before outside generator kicks in.

8-Home built running Linux

9- Old dell with two 2-terabyte internal hard disks. C: ghosts to D: every midnight

10 - KVM switch four port using three.Allows to switch instantly between computers with only one monitor, one mouse, and one keyboard (all wireless of course). Don't throw your old computers away... keep them and run them parallel with a KVM

White Winter Gift

I've been basking in the warm winter we've had this year until today! Woke up to a light snow which has been falling and blowing around us all day long. Lovely to look at from the warmth inside the house and I am glad I got all my downtown chores done yesterday, not sure I could find my way down the driveway. The forecaters said it would quit snowing at noon ... no way it's 4:30 and still going strong. As long as the groceries and electicity hold out we'll be fine. They're predicting 54 degrees for tomorrow .. really!?

The only family member whose had a difficult time is Dudley .. being a short legged Jack Russell makes for cold wet bathroom visits in the backyard. The snow is up to his chin so he hops from point A to B. Cats don't care, their litter boxes are in the covered breezeway.

A warm fire, a good book and a sofa .. what more would you want in a snowstorm? Liz

in-and-out winter

Snowing lightly today after many sunshiny days in the mid 50s. Strange winter all over the planet. Nothing normal at all. This got me to thinking about the future and water rights.

Well before the Glenn Canyon Dam was erected Colorado river water rights were distributed equally between Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. At that time no one thought for a minute that AZ and UT and NV would/could use much of it and it would all go to California minus the Nevada share which wasn’t that much until the Las Vegas boom. But change change change. Southern California still gets the bulk of its water from the Colorado river aqueduct at Parker Dam... they pump it up and over and through the mountains in its way. They took all of the AZ and UT water too since they weren't using it.

Sometime in the 60s construction on the Central Arizona Project began. It moved water into the Phoenix Area 250 miles away One had only to look at the outskirts of Phoenix to see many square miles of farms where only shrub and cactus grew before. And this took a big share of the Colorado rights. Arizona is now close to removing their 1/4 share leaving California’s share plus Utah share (Utah has never taken a drop of it)  still pumping 1/2 of the water.

Now things are getting dicey. Utah is building a large pipe line from Lake Powell up over the mountains and down to Hurricane where a lager new reservoir is being built.

So where it used to be that California got all of their share and all of Arizona's share and most of Nevada’s share they will soon be back to their one quarter share which wont be enough.

Utah has big plans for growth in the southern portion of the state by calling back their loan of the water shares to California.

The southern Utah aqueduct/pipe will pass just south of Fredonia. Plenty of water out here for awhile. Not enough water in southern California forever.

PS Don't confuse Los Angeles water with Southern California water. The CRA serves 18million people. The Mullholand and California Aqueduct combined serves many millions less.

Culture wars

I have been hearing a lot about this.
Class warfare
Culture wars
Class conflict
Etc.

I can see the connection now. This from Pastor Ray Mummert the pastor at Brethren in Christ church , Berlin Delaware while he was addressing a City Council meeting said,
“We’ve been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of our culture.”

I can only assume therefor that he was speaking on behalf of the "slow minded",  "uneducated" segment of our culture. There are many millions of them today!
Where did this regression come from?

Affrimative action

Affirmative action is intended to promote equal opportunity. It is often instituted in government and educational settings to ensure that minority groups within a society are included in all programs. The justification for affirmative action is that it helps to compensate for past discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture,^[3] and to address existing discrimination.^[4] The implementation of affirmative action, especially in the United States, is considered by its proponents to be justified by disparate impact.

Our AA was based on inequities historically visited upon blacks and females.

If you google it enough you can find that it is historically broad based in many countries with many cultures and goes back more than 100 years. So we didn't invent it. But it has pretty much done it's job here. It will take time for the Rev Al types to wind down their brand of racism but when this is all said and done we did it and should be proud.

Commodites

A commodity is

: an economic good

: a product of agriculture or mining

: an article of commerce especially when delivered for shipment <commodities futures> c 

: a mass-produced unspecialized product <commodity chemicals> <commodity memory chips>

So corn is a commodity as is oil

If corn has a bad year the cost goes up. The commodity trader puts the corn he owns (bought from the farmers) on the open market and since there is not much corn on the market that year the price goes up. Who ever bids the highest wins and it is traded world wide. US corn is sold to China or India or Germany or somewhere.. whoever bids the most for it gets it.

Oil is no different.  It is bought and sold by oil brokers. If Iran says they are not going to ship oil to the United States, so what? It will go somewhere else which will bloat that area and the buyers will shift to cheaper oil coming from elsewhere. So when we say we depend on Mideast oil we don't. We depend on the world wide oil market. It doesn't matter where it comes from because it is a world commodity.

Only by manipulating the volume pumped can that make a difference in the world market which is what OPEC does.

Oil producing nations.. there are lots of them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production 

Cut and Paste

This blog does not have a purpose. Some of my posts here are just cut and paste from the many other forums and blogs I frequent and means no more when they migrate here than the did there. It's like a Readers Digest blog I guess.

Had snow

We had some snow a few days ago but it's gone and the sun is out again. Nothing much going on except juggling.

Casey's job

Casey is a welder. Not an ordinary welder but a certified licensed welder. He's a guy who put in 200 hours of intense training in arc,mig, tig, plasma, and torch. After two years of night school he took the AWS test and got his license. Only licensed welders can work on skyscrapers and bridges. All of their weld seams are certified and that is important.. and profitable. He just got a raise to $40/hour. He works ten hours per day now.. and most Saturdays too. Like most people he gets time-and-half for anything over 40 hours. So with ten hours per day six days a week he is getting the equivalent of 40+20+10, 70 hours per week. which is $2800 per week which is $145,000 per year. And you know what? Contractors are begging for more welders like Casey but cant find any... they are importing Asian welders now and yes, they are AWS certified.

Most people would not believe a welder can make that kind of money. Most of them have never come close to it and some "some" even begrudge him making that money... and hate the unions for providing it. Most anti union people I have known have never made a decent wage in their life and are simply jealous. In fact I do not know one person getting union wages who ever hated the union after they get the job... only before. Reminds me... I got a job at a trucking company once because I knew the neighbors brother. He got me in. Teamsters paid 30% more than I could make in the machine shop and I was making decent wages then. Lost my drivers license so lost my job.

Union hatred is deep seeded and goes a long way back and it's too bad.

For Hirsch and Pippe 7 vs XP

First of all 7, as so many articles have said, is very similar to XP. Navigating around is almost like what I was used to but even if I got a little lost there were no frustrating dead ends like in Vista. It networks itself. Just click on network and it finds everything on the hub or wifi. That part I really like. Windows 7 is loaded with tools that I used to have to download install and pay for. Microsoft is doing just what they have always done. If some tool is popular they copy it under their brand and bundle it with their OS thus putting them out of business (Netscape anyone?).

The Virtual XP emulator is flawless. It won't let you get into Admin and do all the system stuff but that is understandable because all the old tools are there in the control panel. They even kept the command window and all the old DOS commands! wheeee!

Anyway there is nothing much for me to learn here. I got the 64 pro just for the virtual XP but did not need to. They learned a big lesson with Vista: people who have been semi computer literate for some time don't want to unlearn all they learned about XP operation. They just reintroduced XP with some new bells and whistles. BUT BUT BUT the 64 bit OS is astonishingly quick. 64 bits doesn't make it just twice as fast as the old 32. It is orders of magnitude faster. I want to upgrade all of me graphics software to the 64 bit releases... HOT ROD!.

As usual the new Vostro is Dell-perfect. I have the old DELL ruining XP with two (countem!) TWO 2-TERRABYTE disks. That is 2000 gigabytes each. I'm going to pull all the old videos I have stored on DVDs and load them in... I will be over the first Terrabyte soon. The new Vostro is running W7 and the old hand-built computer is still running Linux. I have a four port KVM to switch between them. Never give up your old computer guys... just run it along side of the new one for awhile on a KVM button. One monitor one keyboard one mouse and a switch between the two (or theree) computers.

So all this angst for not.. repeating Microsoft learned their lesson: XP was always the better OS. Now they have just made if 64 faster.

OH! if your old 32 bit programs wont work in W7 they "will" run on the vitual XP emulator :)

The kids are smarter and other stuff

The kids will insist on cost cuts and revenue increase to pay the dept. They will see tax rates and the cost of govt health care in Europe and ask why we cant do that. "Why can't we have lower corporate tax rates than Europe?" and their parents will tell them "we don't wanna be no stinking Europe" and they wont listen to them anymore. And they will understand that debt is not evil but can be misused just like their credit cards. They will get smarter than us and they will be fine.
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A little snow over the last few days melted fast. Makes for "soup dinners" when its cold outside. So I like it :)
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Keeping very busy with the Ebay store. Items are selling fast which is not necessarily good. It may sometimes mean the prices are too low. This last stuff I won at auction (Chrysler Kenosha Engine Plant) was a gold mine. People can make a good living doing this stuff (if they want to work that hard). All the income is tax free until the feds figures a way to tax garage sales and the like. I'm getting really good at freeing up rust-locked machine parts and with makeup painting, and metal surface refinishing. Plus good photography can sell nearly anything.
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Dudley is aging fast. Will be a difficult separation for us. But our new kitten is two years old and has become the most wonderful companion we could ever hope for. If God really did give man dominion over the animals I'll take issue with those who read it as a right to kill them. Think obligation to care for them instead.
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Morning coffee is still the greatest treat imaginable as long as it's hot and black. Those Europeans ruined it with milk and sugar and Starbucks foam. We don't wanna be no stinking Europe!

30 years without playing Bridge

How did I manage? LOL
30 years not playing is three times longer than I wasted playing.
I don't even recall it as being much fun. :(

What? No no no no

90% of Catholic women use contraception.  That's a lot of votes! what is the matter with these people ? Every day that goes by gives Big O a bigger lead. Wackos! 

Oh.. correction.. 90% of the sexually active women Catholics... that sort of follows I'd say.

Hate

Not good.
Too many hated W
Too many hate the O!
You only get one vote and despite the magnitude of your hate you just can't convert it to two votes.

Do doctors get kick backs for drug prescriptions ?

I hate phony conspiracy theories. They are all over the media these days. But this one is illegal isn't it?
I got to wondering when an ENT in St George prescribed a very expensive antibiotic for me. It was three to four times more pricey than any other I could find. I took the drug.. it worked for about two months then the infection came back. I didn't like the doctor anyway so went to Page to visit a youngish ENT. I showed him the drug bottle and he whistled, "that stuff is expensive". So after taking a swab of my nose and sending it to the to the lab it came back as an  uncommon infection that responds to a different sulfa drug 1/3rd the price of the other. That made me think that "maybe" the first doc was getting rewarded for prescribing the expensive drug. So I did some research.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Of course kickbacks are illegal and that made me think all of these are just Beckish conspiracy theories but then I read this:  "To skirt the laws, instead of cash bonuses, the kickbacks now consist of tangible goods as well as vacations".

If it is true its another example of big pharma and big insurance ethic$
Time to scrub them up.

Another one for us

It is very gratifying to be a futurist who is actually right.

Reshoring NBC (my reply at the bottom of their page under comments)

Notice the title includes "manufacturing cost" and says nothing about wages: a distinct difference.

One of the reasons this information wasn't out four years ago is that the foreign trade gurus are all economists and don't understand manufacturing in any scope less than Alcoa, Boeing, or GM. They have no clue. I have pestered the heck out of them for years. It's good to be ahead and watching them tail along.

Those who can don't

There is an old highly inaccurate saying, "Those who can do. Those who can't teach."
Too general at best, a slap in the educators face at worst.

I agree that most of the teachers I know have never done but many have. Many like me got into teaching after doing half their life. But the most overlooked part of can't is that unless one has the opportunity to do then we should not conclude that some are incapable of it. Many of them are simply stuck in a career that gives them very little opportunity to experiment in the real world.

I have had this conversation with many colleagues who have worked a good portion of their life in the economy and then changed to teaching later on. I have also discussed it with some great educators who made the shift to industry and have shown precisely that yes; they can.

Most of us who did before we started teaching are of the same opinion: academia and academicians are pretty horrible managers and overseers of those of us who did. They simply can't grasp the notion that teaching technology by technologist is not like English, History, Math, Art, taught by certified lifelong academics. The deans and mangers and vice presidents are almost all inveterate educators without ever doing anything. Indeed they are very bright and highly educated and one cannot make it to even the lowest rank without a Masters Degree... and the vast majority have a more advanced degree in education which is most often an EdD from a soft college of extended education like The University of Phoenix . They know how to teach for sure but they know nothing of the real world outside. So this makes it difficult for technology types to teach without constant "academic" suggestion from theorists. For example I stopped using a book to teach CNC programming because "text" books were horribly written and oft times incorrect. So I taught with notes and handouts and computer lab software. But they hit me on it. When I went to renew the justification for the course one of the supercilious academics pointed out that I hadn't put a book title in the course outline and she would not accept my reasoning. The course would not be approved unless there was a text book assigned which of course milked the student out of $50 and made money for the book store. So these educators can't.

As an aside a good program at Cerritos is the requirement that all full time teachers take further education classes or seminars or go to conventions and such. I learned a lot that way... in fact I learned all of my teaching theory by going to the trade shows  and the like and attending the breakouts and lectures. They helped me a lot. End of aside.

Now as for those teaches who left for industry I know many. One particular lady who worked out of Cal State LA (the best school for web authoring online learning) taught me a tremendous amount about producing, asset collecting, videography, etc. She ended up taking the job of Vice President of Education at Boeing Aircraft in San Antonio. Not only does she make five times the money but she daily demonstrates without a shadow of a doubt that she can.

I think that academics come to understand that they can't and for those who are afraid to go out into the real world and learn they carry a grudge of some sort against those of us who have done. I think many of them are really angry about it all but it's not the doers fault. They need to understand that.

In conclusion I think that those who teach technology should have worked professionally in the subject for a good long time which gives them, and only them, the perspective from both sides of the fence.

Manufacturing 101 part IIVMCI

Another indication of reshoring. This is a good and accurate article.
http://www.areadevelopment.com/LocationUSA/LocationUSA2012/US-competitive-revival-reshoring-trends-272726.shtml

Two major things here.

1) the emphasis is once again on the education of the Manufacturing work force. Why is it that the common citizen has this idea that there is no such thing as an educated US worker anymore? They all seem to know without doubt that education has failed completely. There is difference between failing completely and simply failing our expectations.

2) TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). Industrial Engineers are charged by the bean counters to know to the penny what the cost of manufacturing is. Most use a "fully burdened cost" to calculate. It works something like this. Pay, +, benefits, + taxes, + insurance (PBTI) shows a real cost per hour per employee. But it doesn't end there. If you are reporting to the bean counters it must be all inclusive and include all of the ancillary costs such as rent, and, supplies, and even toilet paper, PLUS management's PBTI. You are trying to find what the actual cost per hour per employee is when the employee is "fully burdened" with their share of other costs. China is losing more and more of the full burdened cost race.

Adding this: ROI means return on investment and is what the manufacturing engineer calculates to show what the profit will be if, for example, a new production line is built and installed in a facility. ROI is usually not considered in TCO since there is no history until it is actually built. ROI is what you need to give the bean counters to get the money to do it.

Science or math?

Do you believe the polls? You should... maybe.
This article from the NY Times is a sort of grade ranking for the numerous polls.
NY Times article near the bottom

Notice that the errors nearly always go in the Republicans favor a little. Why is that? Read the article but recognize the most important part. Land lines vs Cell phones. More and more people are shifting to cell phones only and they are much younger than the land liners. So the polls are always biased in favor of the land lines.. the more conservative older voters because the cell phone numbers are not available to [the polling companies]

Cell phones are taking the place of land lines even among the poor because they can buy a disposable cell phone for $20 that includes 100 minutes free for 90 days. Just up your minutes every 90 days so that you stay current and keep your phone number. These phones are popular with the young and the poor and is why the polls are in trouble.

Please note that Rasmussen has a pronounced right house-lean (the bias in their questions). They also do the Fox polls under the Pulse Opinion Research banner. They will lean far right until two months before the election and then  they "correct" by leaning back towards the other polls over two months or so. See how accurate the polls are here.

So polls are slowly becoming insignificant unless someone can find a way to include the young and the poor.

Some quotes

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie presumably understands the GOP. A strong Romney supporter, Christie has excoriated Gingrich. "He was run out of the speakership by his own party," said Christie. "This is a guy who has had a very difficult political career at times and has been an embarrassment to the party." Jim Talent, former senator from Missouri and another former Gingrich colleague, also supports Romney, and attacks Newt lustily. "He is not a reliable and trustworthy conservative," Talent says, "because he is not a reliable and trustworthy leader." Ouch.
Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, who worked closely with Gingrich when Newt was a top GOP leader in the House, has also thrown in his lot with Romney -- and has also volunteered to swing the hatchet. Sununu basically called Newt nuts, telling CNN, "You can't have somebody that's really as irrational and perceives himself as Winston Churchill or the equivalent of Margaret Thatcher or Charles de Gaulle."
Ari's White House colleague during the Bush years and current CNN colleague, David Frum, wrote Monday, "Over a political career of nearly 40 years, Gingrich has convinced almost everybody who has ever worked closely with him that he cannot and should not be trusted with executive power."
And if we may engage in speculation, then we would say that the closer you are to Gingrich, the more likely you are to be a Republican and the less likely you are to vote for him. Just recently, columnist George Will wrote in The Washington Post, "Gingrich, however, embodies the vanity and rapacity that make modern Washington repulsive."
Former Rep. Susan Molinari, who served with Gingrich in the House, has made an ad for Mitt Romney in which she rips her former colleague for "leadership by chaos." Molinari knows Newt well, as she was the keynote speaker at the 1996 Republican convention. Surely, she must know something about the Republican Party. When asked whether she would support Gingrich if he defeated her candidate for the nomination, she demurred, saying, "It would be very difficult for me to support Newt Gingrich for president."

 From CNN.com

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I don't think the GOP will allow Gingrich the chance everyone thinks he has.  The things they can do to stop him are manifold. If you have thought, with justification, that Republicans will line up like trained ducks to vote the ticket you are incorrect this time around. The GOP is fragmenting.

Finally Winter again

No snow for more than a month or maybe way more than a month... back in November

 

Funny Funny

The primary is a RIOT!
I don't know what they are trying to accomplish? Its silly. They are so anti-Romney that they will support anyone else and are getting close  to nominating  a fat old political white man 

Be careful what you wish for they say.

credit cards

I'm sometimes amazed at the kids online. One of them complained that his girlfriend was paying 24% interest on her credit card debt. I mentioned that they might consider getting a 0% visa card available at any bank.
"WHAT" they yelled. "YOU CAN'T GET A 0% VISA! YOU'RE FULL OF S-word". Sure you can. It's called a visa debit card that takes money out of your checking account and costs nothing. Then when you spend more than you have the debit VISA wont work anymore. It called NOT going in debt. They actually blew up at that with, "nobody does that.. you are a moron". It seems credit is a firm way of life theses days and the big banks know it and count on it and even encourage it. So don't blame all the nations problems on the government. Blame the kids and the banks too.


Of course I was a kid once and just as stupid, so....

How not to get a factory in your state.

Bureaucracy makes creating jobs a nightmare. I have seen this happen a zillion times. Politicians are just DUMB!


http://www.compositesworld.com/news/aircraft-manufacturer-kestrel-faces-financing-challenges-may-go-to-wisconsin

Garden

This time last year I had broccoli seed in their little planters, and put up the freeze barrier on the green house.
This year I have done next to nuthin.

The Kenosha tooling arrived and I have been sorting through it and and stuff. Even have a storage space I rented downtown. It was a good buy.
But I have to get back to the garden... soon!

Saudi Arabia to make cars

 Saudi Sport Ute Link

"Saudi economic analysts are optimistic that automobile manufacturing in the kingdom will help reduce the economy’s reliance on oil exports. Yet roadblocks persist. Already the goal to manufacture car parts next year is in jeopardy as infrastructure and a trained labor pool are not in place. It begs the question of whether Saudi Arabia can pull off a massive undertaking within its stated timetable or even come close to it."

The highlighted is always always the problem.


I wonder if there will be a union organizer down there soon (snickering).

More great weather

My guy James came over to clear the garden weeds.
All done and I'm ready!

I'm a Christian

As is 80% of the nation says PEW
It is interesting to me that 26% of the nation is evangelical,  18% traditional protestant, 25% Catholic
I wish to send a message to all three:
You don't speak for all of us.

Incredible weather

I have been running around "like a hoop legged indian"* for the last few weeks... the sun is out. It has been in the high 50s to low 60s for two weeks or so now. My knee is finally accepting the stress from walking around. Man it took a long time to heal. More than a year but so sooooo glad I had them cut on me again.

Working in the shop/garage is standing on concrete for a long time and now my feet hurt from cheap shoes!!!!

But love it! SO happy I am good again as is Liz... 2012 is going to be a good year.

* it's a phrase Liz told me that her dad used when she was running up and down the stairs and making noise and otherwise acting like a six year old girl. Have no idea how that fits but...