.
I don't have a lot of research to quote, but I think it's clear that a person's perspective is often a result of the paradigm they use or the culture they're part of and that seeing things from another person's point-of-view isn't easy. I know that a change of paradigm can be very very difficult, particularly when the new thing isn't well-defined or explained. Therefore, it is all the more difficult to "think outside of the box". But, there are events, situations and people who would confine us to their view of the world -- if only by simply repeated expression of their view -- and that makes it difficult for us to be free to think of anything without bias. Consider the way critics have viewed television as a dumbing-down medium and how its repeated selection of speakers shaped/shapes our view of the world and our evaluation of people and events. Consider that you can't go to a store and buy something that's not on their shelves -- they control those boxes. This is entirely different than not having money to buy something you know exists. If some product exists and we are never made aware of it by some advertising, then how can you even consider buying it?
Thinking outside the box requires imagination, creativity, rule-breaking (in a sense) and some degree of mental freedom to ignore other voices or to at least consider them without being overwhelmed by them.
Think of how you would hold contrary beliefs if you were in 1930s Germany and you heard that the Jews were the nation's problem. How would you feel about Capitalists and Capitalism if you were raised in Russia in the 1960s? How would you have felt about African-Americans or women if you were young in the Deep south of America in 1950? How would you have felt about slavery if you were an Egyptian in the era of Moses? The prominent point of view which respects no other is hard to ignore or to criticize.
My recent study of how we think has revealed several sources which indicate our minds tend to 'connect the dots' even when some aren't present. We fill in the gaps of past, causes, even the present and the future. We do that for historically important reasons of survival and it serves us well, but it can also mislead us. That's why some cynical people can attempt to push us to buy products or ideas by presenting some accepted facts and some dubious or nonsensical ideas. They are propagandists or liars disguised as salesmen or politicians or relatives asking for money. They lead us to believe something which, if we knew the truth, would make us laugh or be angry. Learning who does this is important, but learning HOW they do it is useful too. Learning how to avoid being boxed-in or how to simply develop your own beliefs is really quite necessary in this modern world.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
New Technology can do Wonders, but Republicans...
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New Technology
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/06/2404071/habitat-decathalon-electricity-bill/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/22/new-crowdfunding-site-jumpstart-fund-hopes-to-launch-new-startups/
http://www.solarroadways.com/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/26/graphene-as-thin-as-an-atom-and-200-times-stronger-than-steel-is-the-worlds-new-wonder-material/
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/graphene-21st-century-miracle-cure-out-work-lawyers
The Republican Counter-offer
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/the-cost-of-solar-vs-bank-bailouts-and-iraq-war-39514
GOP Filibuster
and, of course, repealing Obamacare.
New Technology
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/06/2404071/habitat-decathalon-electricity-bill/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/22/new-crowdfunding-site-jumpstart-fund-hopes-to-launch-new-startups/
http://www.solarroadways.com/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/26/graphene-as-thin-as-an-atom-and-200-times-stronger-than-steel-is-the-worlds-new-wonder-material/
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/graphene-21st-century-miracle-cure-out-work-lawyers
The Republican Counter-offer
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/the-cost-of-solar-vs-bank-bailouts-and-iraq-war-39514
GOP Filibuster
and, of course, repealing Obamacare.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Imagine a World Where Solar Power were Everywhere and FREE
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The people at Solar Roadways intend to build roads of a material which is also a solar panel. This could possibly transmit power directly to cars (built for that purpose). Their current product is made of a glass, but they're hoping to develop one using recycled plastics. Imagine solving our self-pollution of plastics with our need for solar and our desire to use less petroleum (used to make asphalt roadways). We may be able to solve our problems.
http://firedoglake.com/2013/08/24/come-saturday-morning-these-guys-just-might-save-us-all/
http://www.solarroadways.com/
Somehow the world of science and technology is a lot more exciting and hopeful than that of politics and government seems to be.
The people at Solar Roadways intend to build roads of a material which is also a solar panel. This could possibly transmit power directly to cars (built for that purpose). Their current product is made of a glass, but they're hoping to develop one using recycled plastics. Imagine solving our self-pollution of plastics with our need for solar and our desire to use less petroleum (used to make asphalt roadways). We may be able to solve our problems.
http://firedoglake.com/2013/08/24/come-saturday-morning-these-guys-just-might-save-us-all/
http://www.solarroadways.com/
Somehow the world of science and technology is a lot more exciting and hopeful than that of politics and government seems to be.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Minimum Wage or Busted Economy
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Republicans and business people have been saying you can't raise the minimum wage without job losses. Here's an example: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/22/2509161/mcdonalds-minimum-wage-kill-jobs/
Walmart says something similar: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/15/why-are-walmart-stores-underperforming-blame-their-terrible-wages.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
[ I have no idea why that URL is so long. ]
These gas bags made me think of an old song and here's Tommy Emmanuel (perhaps the greatest guitar player of our era) via YouTube.com to play it on the geetar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-YBUgfNlhY
The fact is household incomes are lower now than when the recession ended in 2010 and they've been going down a long time: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/chart-day-stagnant-household-income
Without money to spend both Walmart and McDonald's will not sell as much and won't be hiring or expanding.
Raise the minimum wage!
Republicans and business people have been saying you can't raise the minimum wage without job losses. Here's an example: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/22/2509161/mcdonalds-minimum-wage-kill-jobs/
Walmart says something similar: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/15/why-are-walmart-stores-underperforming-blame-their-terrible-wages.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
[ I have no idea why that URL is so long. ]
These gas bags made me think of an old song and here's Tommy Emmanuel (perhaps the greatest guitar player of our era) via YouTube.com to play it on the geetar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-YBUgfNlhY
The fact is household incomes are lower now than when the recession ended in 2010 and they've been going down a long time: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/chart-day-stagnant-household-income
Without money to spend both Walmart and McDonald's will not sell as much and won't be hiring or expanding.
Raise the minimum wage!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
How we Think: Curiosities and Important Things
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Our intuition is terrific, if we have much knowledge and are perceiving the current situation well. But, if you don't have much knowledge your intuition is likely to be superficial (or as Andy Warhol used to say "I am deeply superficial") and if your perception of the current situation is incomplete your intuition will also be. The idea of using each, not to fight one another, but to inform the person in two different ways makes great sense.
Our imagination isn't nearly as strong as we would like to believe it is. In chess I have seen a zillion times a person picks up a piece, moves it to a square and the instant they release it they then realize it's a big mistake. Somehow, only when the fact is before their eyes, do they see. One of the key mental skills necessary for anyone to become a good player is to restrain that initial desire to play a move without some kind of confirming analysis (we generally call it 'blunder-check'). This isn't possible in action sports or extemporaneous speaking. But, how often do we hear a politician speaking very very slowly, as if mentally retarded, to avoid saying something embarrassing or wrong? They're doing blunder-check as they go. The effort to do this is very unnatural and tiring.
Mental focus is a peculiar thing since we think we're paying attention all the time. But, in fact, to solve a problem or to create a complex thing requires a specialized focus on smaller and smaller things rather than the general free-wheeling attention we normally use. This too is unnatural and tiring, so we shouldn't do it all the time. The way to avoid tiring from it is to shift in and out of focus to relax and then work. But, and this is the horrible catch, to shift out of focus and then back in can take about 15 minutes. Some situations don't allow us that luxury and so we have to stay focused for long stretches. That's where tiring happens and we can begin to lose control.
The Left-Brain Right-Brain model is interesting, but the Triarchic model is more correct and not much harder to understand. The Reptilian core, the Mammalian middle and the Primate outer brains have their own functions developed over millennia. For problem solving and other higher order thinking we definitely need the capabilities of the aloof intellectual Primate brain. That's where we do maths and all kind of logical thinking, including writing and planning and dealing with abstractions of all kinds. Thus, to distract someone it may be as easy as leading their brains to begin dealing with non-primate issues by engaging the other parts of their brain. Encroach on someone's territory, especially young men, and they'll become Reptilian. Another terribly unobvious thing is that the Primate brain is the newest and least capable, so using that thinking is slower and much more tiring. Overwork it and it may collapse and leave you responding only from emotional fear or sensual needs.
Perhaps on of the curious things is how there are prodigies. They only exist in a few areas: music, chess, mathematics and perhaps religious preaching. For most people the development of the Left-Brain Primate intellectual skills comes quickly (especially with some teaching), but knowledge takes time and experience. So, how do the prodigies get by without so much experience? Oftentimes they begin very young and practice like mad to gain the experience (some say 10,000 hours is necessary for mastery). But, how many very young kids are capable of that kind of sustained effort? It's rare.
An amazing thing I've heard of in the martial arts world is 'time stopping'. This is when a person is overwhelmed with objects and speed and their intellectual Left-Brain Primate brain isn't getting the job done, so something more primitive takes over. The Primate brain is slowest, though precise, but the Mammalian or Reptilian brains can handle billions of perceptions regularly and can 'take over' to deal with life & death issues in moments of crisis. During that, I've been told, time seems to slow or stop. Everything continues apace, but our sense of the events is that of a person who is super-focused and noticing everything without feeling rushed. This is definitely 'the zone'. How well we can perform in an intellectual way during that would depend upon practice I suppose. Anyway, they say time flies when you're having fun, so I suppose it makes sense that time slows when we're feeling threatened. Maybe we just lose interest in 'time' when we're really really into doing something.
Another area of our thinking which is peculiar is how we perceive without consciously realizing something. Some blind people can still perceive with their eyes. Some parents are said to have 'eyes in the back of their head'. The autistic savant in "Rain Man" could look at a pile of toothpicks and count them instantly. There have been numerous stories of sales personnel being able to read the body language of their customers very well and use that to help them close the deal. Much of this is done unconsciously and therefore it's a curious thing that one person might be able to move that to the conscious intellectual level and use it while another person might not realize anything is being perceived at all. This, among many things, shows how separate are our different brains and how we aren't so integrated as we generally believe.
One example from the political world: a friend of mine claims to be a Libertarian. They generally favor less government and more private individual freedom. We discussed the Obamacare law and one provision in particular where government subsidies for indigent care would go away (or at least shrink) as individuals got their own insurance to pay bills. He couldn't understand why a government program which was working should be changed. So, I asked him, if he is for small government and personal responsibility in theory, then why didn't he favor the Obamacare individual mandate (to buy insurance) instead of favoring the government involvement subsidizing indigent care? He had no answer because it had never occurred to him to compare his actual belief with his 'ideas'. He doesn't care to combine or compare his ideas with his 'real' beliefs. Peculiar that.
Enough for now.
Our intuition is terrific, if we have much knowledge and are perceiving the current situation well. But, if you don't have much knowledge your intuition is likely to be superficial (or as Andy Warhol used to say "I am deeply superficial") and if your perception of the current situation is incomplete your intuition will also be. The idea of using each, not to fight one another, but to inform the person in two different ways makes great sense.
Our imagination isn't nearly as strong as we would like to believe it is. In chess I have seen a zillion times a person picks up a piece, moves it to a square and the instant they release it they then realize it's a big mistake. Somehow, only when the fact is before their eyes, do they see. One of the key mental skills necessary for anyone to become a good player is to restrain that initial desire to play a move without some kind of confirming analysis (we generally call it 'blunder-check'). This isn't possible in action sports or extemporaneous speaking. But, how often do we hear a politician speaking very very slowly, as if mentally retarded, to avoid saying something embarrassing or wrong? They're doing blunder-check as they go. The effort to do this is very unnatural and tiring.
Mental focus is a peculiar thing since we think we're paying attention all the time. But, in fact, to solve a problem or to create a complex thing requires a specialized focus on smaller and smaller things rather than the general free-wheeling attention we normally use. This too is unnatural and tiring, so we shouldn't do it all the time. The way to avoid tiring from it is to shift in and out of focus to relax and then work. But, and this is the horrible catch, to shift out of focus and then back in can take about 15 minutes. Some situations don't allow us that luxury and so we have to stay focused for long stretches. That's where tiring happens and we can begin to lose control.
The Left-Brain Right-Brain model is interesting, but the Triarchic model is more correct and not much harder to understand. The Reptilian core, the Mammalian middle and the Primate outer brains have their own functions developed over millennia. For problem solving and other higher order thinking we definitely need the capabilities of the aloof intellectual Primate brain. That's where we do maths and all kind of logical thinking, including writing and planning and dealing with abstractions of all kinds. Thus, to distract someone it may be as easy as leading their brains to begin dealing with non-primate issues by engaging the other parts of their brain. Encroach on someone's territory, especially young men, and they'll become Reptilian. Another terribly unobvious thing is that the Primate brain is the newest and least capable, so using that thinking is slower and much more tiring. Overwork it and it may collapse and leave you responding only from emotional fear or sensual needs.
Perhaps on of the curious things is how there are prodigies. They only exist in a few areas: music, chess, mathematics and perhaps religious preaching. For most people the development of the Left-Brain Primate intellectual skills comes quickly (especially with some teaching), but knowledge takes time and experience. So, how do the prodigies get by without so much experience? Oftentimes they begin very young and practice like mad to gain the experience (some say 10,000 hours is necessary for mastery). But, how many very young kids are capable of that kind of sustained effort? It's rare.
An amazing thing I've heard of in the martial arts world is 'time stopping'. This is when a person is overwhelmed with objects and speed and their intellectual Left-Brain Primate brain isn't getting the job done, so something more primitive takes over. The Primate brain is slowest, though precise, but the Mammalian or Reptilian brains can handle billions of perceptions regularly and can 'take over' to deal with life & death issues in moments of crisis. During that, I've been told, time seems to slow or stop. Everything continues apace, but our sense of the events is that of a person who is super-focused and noticing everything without feeling rushed. This is definitely 'the zone'. How well we can perform in an intellectual way during that would depend upon practice I suppose. Anyway, they say time flies when you're having fun, so I suppose it makes sense that time slows when we're feeling threatened. Maybe we just lose interest in 'time' when we're really really into doing something.
Another area of our thinking which is peculiar is how we perceive without consciously realizing something. Some blind people can still perceive with their eyes. Some parents are said to have 'eyes in the back of their head'. The autistic savant in "Rain Man" could look at a pile of toothpicks and count them instantly. There have been numerous stories of sales personnel being able to read the body language of their customers very well and use that to help them close the deal. Much of this is done unconsciously and therefore it's a curious thing that one person might be able to move that to the conscious intellectual level and use it while another person might not realize anything is being perceived at all. This, among many things, shows how separate are our different brains and how we aren't so integrated as we generally believe.
One example from the political world: a friend of mine claims to be a Libertarian. They generally favor less government and more private individual freedom. We discussed the Obamacare law and one provision in particular where government subsidies for indigent care would go away (or at least shrink) as individuals got their own insurance to pay bills. He couldn't understand why a government program which was working should be changed. So, I asked him, if he is for small government and personal responsibility in theory, then why didn't he favor the Obamacare individual mandate (to buy insurance) instead of favoring the government involvement subsidizing indigent care? He had no answer because it had never occurred to him to compare his actual belief with his 'ideas'. He doesn't care to combine or compare his ideas with his 'real' beliefs. Peculiar that.
Enough for now.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Get the Lead Out! Stop supporting destructive drugs.
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Sometimes the public, and government leaders, don't know as much as they think they do. Here are a couple of examples:
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/murder-rate-down-40-Jamaica
Kevin Drum has been following an interesting correlation for a couple of years now: that the reduction of lead in gasoline and paint has led to the reduction of violence and this story shows it in Jamaica. No, Ray Kelly (police commissioner of NYC) it might not be 'stop & frisk'.
I haven't (and won't) read this next story. The idea is too depressing. But, if you live somewhere methamphetamines and other drugs area a big problem you might be interested. Congress certainly should take notice.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/meth-pseudoephedrine-big-pharma-lobby
Does the pharmaceutical industry actually support illegal drugs?
Another thing the public doesn't know much about is their own government. They regularly think 'foreign aid' is huge when it's tiny and they apparently don't know much about the way the Obama administration has been spending and cutting spending.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/deficit-opinion-reality-poll
I suppose this also shows how woefully inadequate our news media are at educating everyone.
Sometimes the public, and government leaders, don't know as much as they think they do. Here are a couple of examples:
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/murder-rate-down-40-Jamaica
Kevin Drum has been following an interesting correlation for a couple of years now: that the reduction of lead in gasoline and paint has led to the reduction of violence and this story shows it in Jamaica. No, Ray Kelly (police commissioner of NYC) it might not be 'stop & frisk'.
I haven't (and won't) read this next story. The idea is too depressing. But, if you live somewhere methamphetamines and other drugs area a big problem you might be interested. Congress certainly should take notice.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/meth-pseudoephedrine-big-pharma-lobby
Does the pharmaceutical industry actually support illegal drugs?
Another thing the public doesn't know much about is their own government. They regularly think 'foreign aid' is huge when it's tiny and they apparently don't know much about the way the Obama administration has been spending and cutting spending.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/deficit-opinion-reality-poll
I suppose this also shows how woefully inadequate our news media are at educating everyone.
Technology Stories
.
Are you interested in how well your car does in your state with regards to carbon pollution?
http://www.climatecentral.org/wgts/filetracker.php?file2dl=ClimateFriendlyCarsReport_Final.pdf
This is a great report and it's easy to read with plenty of lists and graphs & visuals. It shows that my state West Virginia uses coal for nearly all energy production and that there are some traditional gasoline-powered internal combustion engine cars which are about as good as hybrids. But, not quite as good since hybrids using gasoline are still going to be better. Vermont and Rhode Island are quite the opposite, using practically no coal for energy and therefore great places to use all-electric cars.
Have you ever wondered when (or if) wind & solar and other non carbon-based energy sources would take over? Here's one indication of where things stand: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/14/top-u-s-nuclear-weapons-facility-to-be-powered-by-the-wind/
Sometimes the government can take the lead on things when the general public can't afford to or simply isn't ready to. In World War II and soon after the U.S. military had African-American units and was integrated. The public fought it for quite some time after that. Today the government is doing more with non-carbon energy sources and the corporate world is gradually finding it economically advantageous to do the same. Apple Corp, for example, has built non-carbon source energy supplies next to their various data-storage sites around the country. They use a tremendous amount of energy and this way they can provide their own.
We're not the only people moving this direction.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/18/fossil-fuel-power-plants-to-be-shut-down-in-germany-because-theyre-no-longer-competitive/
Recently Congress hasn't been very active in any useful way, but there are some old laws which might need to be updated: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/3-most-outdated-tech-laws
Are you interested in how well your car does in your state with regards to carbon pollution?
http://www.climatecentral.org/wgts/filetracker.php?file2dl=ClimateFriendlyCarsReport_Final.pdf
This is a great report and it's easy to read with plenty of lists and graphs & visuals. It shows that my state West Virginia uses coal for nearly all energy production and that there are some traditional gasoline-powered internal combustion engine cars which are about as good as hybrids. But, not quite as good since hybrids using gasoline are still going to be better. Vermont and Rhode Island are quite the opposite, using practically no coal for energy and therefore great places to use all-electric cars.
Have you ever wondered when (or if) wind & solar and other non carbon-based energy sources would take over? Here's one indication of where things stand: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/14/top-u-s-nuclear-weapons-facility-to-be-powered-by-the-wind/
Sometimes the government can take the lead on things when the general public can't afford to or simply isn't ready to. In World War II and soon after the U.S. military had African-American units and was integrated. The public fought it for quite some time after that. Today the government is doing more with non-carbon energy sources and the corporate world is gradually finding it economically advantageous to do the same. Apple Corp, for example, has built non-carbon source energy supplies next to their various data-storage sites around the country. They use a tremendous amount of energy and this way they can provide their own.
We're not the only people moving this direction.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/18/fossil-fuel-power-plants-to-be-shut-down-in-germany-because-theyre-no-longer-competitive/
Recently Congress hasn't been very active in any useful way, but there are some old laws which might need to be updated: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/3-most-outdated-tech-laws
Worker Productivity, Corporate Profits, Minimum Wage
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Listening a minute to FOX News today I heard one of their regular show hosts and a guest saying there have been many studies showing that when minimum wage is increased companies don't have money for more hiring and sometimes have to lay off workers ... (and then the key point) ... when productivity doesn't increase.
What happens when worker productivity goes up and corporate profits increase?
Should the minimum wage also be increased?
Listening a minute to FOX News today I heard one of their regular show hosts and a guest saying there have been many studies showing that when minimum wage is increased companies don't have money for more hiring and sometimes have to lay off workers ... (and then the key point) ... when productivity doesn't increase.
What happens when worker productivity goes up and corporate profits increase?
Should the minimum wage also be increased?
Sunday, August 18, 2013
My View of the Middle East from Far Away
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There is apparently a deep split between the Islamic and even secular groups in the Middle East. It's unfortunate this causes them as much trouble as their recent revolutionary search for better government which can give them some prosperity. Though Americans have seen the Israeli-Palestinian 'conflict' for decades they haven't always focused on the surrounding countries.
I think the revolutions are entirely justifiable, though they need resolution and not just continued fighting. Oddly, the Israelis and Palestinians are now in the ideal "fly on the wall" situation to watch how their neighbors in Iraq (first) and Libya and Syria and Egypt handle this. Sure, the religious differences with the Israeli Jews is different than between Islamists and non-religious groups or between the militant jihadists and the non-militants, but leaving that aside there is the immediate forcible change from dictatorship (or monarchy) to something else.
In Iraq America put its feet on the ground and made a mess. Sure, they deposed Saddam Hussein, but they also killed a lot of people when a quicker end to the fighting would have been better. Ignoring that to focus on the present we see the Iraqis are still fighting among themselves and trying to establish some kind of national identity in terms of its international relations: for America's taste they're too close to Iran. Why can't they settle things? Well, how long did it take the Irish and British? Or the countries of the Yugoslav confederation after the Soviet Union fell? Some feuds are very old and some political fights are just very difficult to settle.
Libya seems to have settled down a bit. Certainly we haven't heard much from Tunisia recently. Perhaps the bigger problem for Syria and Iraq are outside influences, the flow of arms and simply the major split in the people in the streets.
In Syria the split is mostly between the powerful Syrian leader Assad and the people who outnumber him, but who are split among themselves and simply don't have as much money & armaments. In Egypt the people are divided and the military is playing an odd role as the third leg of the 3-leg stool. I suspect in Egypt it's the will of the people which will eventually prevail. So far the military hasn't shown much interest in forming a military government. That's good. Hopefully the people will do more than kill one another and will find peace to be preferable. For that to happen they need a government which is not "winner take all" as Morsi appears to have tried to do. This, to me, is one of the best lessons for the Iraqis, Syrians and Israelis & Palestinians to observe.
We in America have a system which, from it's creation, enables all interest groups in the public to have a voice and for those who vote to exercise that from within the halls of Congress or the White House. We don't have winner-take-all government (even in exceptional circumstances) and at times it appears nothing can get done because of that. But, this is as the founders of our government planned. The figured that nothing happening is better than many bad things happening.
I hope the Israelis and Palestinians, in particular, recognize the real experiences they've had with Democratic elements of their governments and can use that to build some kind of long-term peace with a formal arrangement (instead of the current disarrangement). I hope this might even serve as a guide for the other peoples of the Middle East, the Iraqis are close to this, but don't have great experience with multi-group governance. The Egyptians are far from this and need every bit of guidance that can be provided.
The alternative is bloody civil war forever and everyone should view this with horror and a feeling they must seize the moment, recognize the urgency of now, to work quickly toward solutions they can live with.
As always, America stands ready to help anyone who wants peace and prosperity, so I would hope Sec. of State John Kerry and his assistants would be very busy in coming years to work on and solve these problems. Everyone can look to others who have succeeded and build on that experience.
There is apparently a deep split between the Islamic and even secular groups in the Middle East. It's unfortunate this causes them as much trouble as their recent revolutionary search for better government which can give them some prosperity. Though Americans have seen the Israeli-Palestinian 'conflict' for decades they haven't always focused on the surrounding countries.
I think the revolutions are entirely justifiable, though they need resolution and not just continued fighting. Oddly, the Israelis and Palestinians are now in the ideal "fly on the wall" situation to watch how their neighbors in Iraq (first) and Libya and Syria and Egypt handle this. Sure, the religious differences with the Israeli Jews is different than between Islamists and non-religious groups or between the militant jihadists and the non-militants, but leaving that aside there is the immediate forcible change from dictatorship (or monarchy) to something else.
In Iraq America put its feet on the ground and made a mess. Sure, they deposed Saddam Hussein, but they also killed a lot of people when a quicker end to the fighting would have been better. Ignoring that to focus on the present we see the Iraqis are still fighting among themselves and trying to establish some kind of national identity in terms of its international relations: for America's taste they're too close to Iran. Why can't they settle things? Well, how long did it take the Irish and British? Or the countries of the Yugoslav confederation after the Soviet Union fell? Some feuds are very old and some political fights are just very difficult to settle.
Libya seems to have settled down a bit. Certainly we haven't heard much from Tunisia recently. Perhaps the bigger problem for Syria and Iraq are outside influences, the flow of arms and simply the major split in the people in the streets.
In Syria the split is mostly between the powerful Syrian leader Assad and the people who outnumber him, but who are split among themselves and simply don't have as much money & armaments. In Egypt the people are divided and the military is playing an odd role as the third leg of the 3-leg stool. I suspect in Egypt it's the will of the people which will eventually prevail. So far the military hasn't shown much interest in forming a military government. That's good. Hopefully the people will do more than kill one another and will find peace to be preferable. For that to happen they need a government which is not "winner take all" as Morsi appears to have tried to do. This, to me, is one of the best lessons for the Iraqis, Syrians and Israelis & Palestinians to observe.
We in America have a system which, from it's creation, enables all interest groups in the public to have a voice and for those who vote to exercise that from within the halls of Congress or the White House. We don't have winner-take-all government (even in exceptional circumstances) and at times it appears nothing can get done because of that. But, this is as the founders of our government planned. The figured that nothing happening is better than many bad things happening.
I hope the Israelis and Palestinians, in particular, recognize the real experiences they've had with Democratic elements of their governments and can use that to build some kind of long-term peace with a formal arrangement (instead of the current disarrangement). I hope this might even serve as a guide for the other peoples of the Middle East, the Iraqis are close to this, but don't have great experience with multi-group governance. The Egyptians are far from this and need every bit of guidance that can be provided.
The alternative is bloody civil war forever and everyone should view this with horror and a feeling they must seize the moment, recognize the urgency of now, to work quickly toward solutions they can live with.
As always, America stands ready to help anyone who wants peace and prosperity, so I would hope Sec. of State John Kerry and his assistants would be very busy in coming years to work on and solve these problems. Everyone can look to others who have succeeded and build on that experience.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Saving Energy
.
I've been interested for many years in various means of building houses to conserve energy. It has seemed to me there is enough technology to do that to save energy without having to invest a lot in something new or complicated. Now there is a Passive House which does just that.
And, there is always new technology which can be used: window coating that electrically regulates heat and light passing through.
Not all technological change has to be scary or confusing. Sometimes all you have to do is read a chart to pick the car with better fuel mileage or better clean energy consumption rate.
http://www.climatecentral.org/wgts/filetracker.php?file2dl=ClimateFriendlyCarsReport_Final.pdf
What's the best-fit car for where you live?
I've been interested for many years in various means of building houses to conserve energy. It has seemed to me there is enough technology to do that to save energy without having to invest a lot in something new or complicated. Now there is a Passive House which does just that.
And, there is always new technology which can be used: window coating that electrically regulates heat and light passing through.
Not all technological change has to be scary or confusing. Sometimes all you have to do is read a chart to pick the car with better fuel mileage or better clean energy consumption rate.
http://www.climatecentral.org/wgts/filetracker.php?file2dl=ClimateFriendlyCarsReport_Final.pdf
What's the best-fit car for where you live?
More on the Minimum Wage
.
Most of my life the argument Conservatives, and indeed even some Democrats, is that raising the minimum wage takes money from companies which prevents them from increasing employment (if only a bit). In today's economy that has to be counterbalanced against the fact the minimum wage, or more appropriately household incomes, haven't been going up very fast for a very long time. This isn't the 1960s or 1970s when household incomes were already going up pretty quickly. Today household incomes are flat, people work with less than full-time and thus have fewer benefits and both adults in a family of four generally work to earn the income one person earned in 1979. I know that for a summer I worked at a local glass plant I earned $ 15 / hour in the 1970s. That was a long time ago and today my niece earns just over $ 10 / hour with less than 40 hours / week. Something is wrong.
http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rediscovering-government/debunking-minimum-wage-myth-higher-wages-will-not-reduce-jobs
http://www.upworthy.com/one-fact-about-raising-the-minimum-wage-is-so-unbelievable-i-had-to-fact-check-it-like-5-times?c=tkp1
Let's renew the American Dream for everyone, not just the 0.1 % who are super-rich.
Most of my life the argument Conservatives, and indeed even some Democrats, is that raising the minimum wage takes money from companies which prevents them from increasing employment (if only a bit). In today's economy that has to be counterbalanced against the fact the minimum wage, or more appropriately household incomes, haven't been going up very fast for a very long time. This isn't the 1960s or 1970s when household incomes were already going up pretty quickly. Today household incomes are flat, people work with less than full-time and thus have fewer benefits and both adults in a family of four generally work to earn the income one person earned in 1979. I know that for a summer I worked at a local glass plant I earned $ 15 / hour in the 1970s. That was a long time ago and today my niece earns just over $ 10 / hour with less than 40 hours / week. Something is wrong.
http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rediscovering-government/debunking-minimum-wage-myth-higher-wages-will-not-reduce-jobs
http://www.upworthy.com/one-fact-about-raising-the-minimum-wage-is-so-unbelievable-i-had-to-fact-check-it-like-5-times?c=tkp1
Let's renew the American Dream for everyone, not just the 0.1 % who are super-rich.
Honey Beeezzzzzzzz
.
We may be destroying the oceans, lakes and rivers with plastics.
We may be destroying the air with carbon (from burning coal & oil).
We may be destroying our foods with genetic modifications.
We may be destroying our food supply by hurting the honey bees.
Republicans sometimes say there is no climate change or that God caused it. I hope the scientists can convince them man can change his ways to save the climate, the oceans and the food supply.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-PEN-Save-the-Bees-Bef-by-Joan-Brunwasser-130810-8.html
http://my.firedoglake.com/cal222/2013/08/10/what-causes-colony-collapse-disorderccd/
We may be destroying the oceans, lakes and rivers with plastics.
We may be destroying the air with carbon (from burning coal & oil).
We may be destroying our foods with genetic modifications.
We may be destroying our food supply by hurting the honey bees.
Republicans sometimes say there is no climate change or that God caused it. I hope the scientists can convince them man can change his ways to save the climate, the oceans and the food supply.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-PEN-Save-the-Bees-Bef-by-Joan-Brunwasser-130810-8.html
http://my.firedoglake.com/cal222/2013/08/10/what-causes-colony-collapse-disorderccd/
Saturday, August 10, 2013
The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Don't Seem to Count Anymore
.
The rich get richer.
The poor are still poor.
Maybe if the mainstream media weren't all corporate behemoths with their eye on making more profit there would be some compassion and reporting on the plight of the 99% of Americans who are not super-rich.
The fact corporations and the rich are taking an ever growing share of the profits of the nation would be bearable if there were more for everyone else too, but there isn't. Corporate 'greed' is killing us. Internationalization has been the main new opportunity for business in the last few decades and the Republicans have (largely) been in control of government during that time. They preferred deregulation and letting corporations do what they want. They have even gone so far as to let corporations and corporate groups like ALEC write the legislation. Now the job off-shoring and declining American manufacturing has flattened middle-class incomes. It's time for people to act to save themselves from this madness.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
In a World Where Great Things Are Created There Are Still Crazy Things
.
In a world where great things are discovered or created ...
New Antibiotic that attacks MRSA
Why Habitat for Humanity's newest homeowners might never pay an electricity bill.
There are still people who think like this...
Saving money by simply giving people less for their money!
and treat their fellow American like this ...
80 percent of Americans near poverty
Home-care workers press administration for minimum wage
And then there are the weird and terrible things which know no bounds ...
Rules of English spelling revealed by British linguist And, I had always said English was a language which evolved and nobody would have created from scratch. I was sooo wrong.
Not to beat up on the British, but there is also 15-tonne ball of congealed fat removed from London sewer
At least there are some timeless good things we can lean on ...
I can see clearly now by Jimmy Cliff (via Youtube.com)
In a world where great things are discovered or created ...
New Antibiotic that attacks MRSA
Why Habitat for Humanity's newest homeowners might never pay an electricity bill.
There are still people who think like this...
Saving money by simply giving people less for their money!
and treat their fellow American like this ...
80 percent of Americans near poverty
Home-care workers press administration for minimum wage
And then there are the weird and terrible things which know no bounds ...
Rules of English spelling revealed by British linguist And, I had always said English was a language which evolved and nobody would have created from scratch. I was sooo wrong.
Not to beat up on the British, but there is also 15-tonne ball of congealed fat removed from London sewer
At least there are some timeless good things we can lean on ...
I can see clearly now by Jimmy Cliff (via Youtube.com)
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