Good News

From the Calculated Risk blog:

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), real GDP is finally just above the pre-recession peak. The estimate for real GDP in Q3 (2005 dollars) was $13,352.8 billion, 0.2% above the $13,326.0 billion in Q4 2007. Nominal GDP was reported as $15,198.6 billion in Q3 2011.

After nearly four years, the economy is finally back to where it was in late 2007. Sadly, the population is larger, the number of potential workers is larger, but the actual number of workers is smaller. While the total income of the whole population has recovered, the amount going to the bottom 99% is still less than what it was in 2007. The top 1% keep hoovering up any loose dollars and pocketing them which they, in their role of "job creators", then use increase their bank accounts and not create new jobs despite all the propaganda of the Republican ideologues.

As you can see, it is investment in equipment & software that is the engine of the recovery, not construction:

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Here is the bad news and the reason why the OWS movement is growing:

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Among his many shortcomings, the fact that Obama has failed to seriously address the housing crisis has made this Great Recession linger longer and deeper than it needed to have been. A great deal of needless suffering has been shouldered by the 99% because Obama refused to force the banks to swallow the costs of their bad decisions. Instead the bankers got to keep their big bonuses and nearly a trillion dollars of taxpayer dollars has gone to prop up the big Wall Street banks while 25 million are unemployed and 10 million have lost their homes. That is "economic justice" for the 1% but not for the 99%.

Dean Baker gives Kudos for a Media Outlet that Gets the News Right

This is rare. Here is Dean Baker in his Beat the Press blog toasting the AP news service for getting a story right:

AP Gets It Right! The Recession Caused the Deficit

AP did what news organizations are supposed to do; it checked the numbers and showed that politicians yelling about "out of control spending," don't know what they are talking about or are making things up. Its FACT CHECK, printed in the NYT, showed that the deficit exploded because of the recession. There was no issue of out of control spending prior to the increases for programs like unemployment insurance and other spending needed to counteract the effect of the downturn. AP gets an "A" for this one.

Now, if only the other news media picked up on this story maybe Americans could get out of the grips of the deadly Republican idiocy about deficits and debts being "the #1 problem" in the US and get back to the real problem: unemployment!

A True Heroine Steps onto the Political Stage

Here's a post from Paul Krugman on his NY Times blog celebrating the fact that Elizabeth Warren is running for the Senate:

Finally, Someone to Run Against Wall Street

One of the truly amazing things about American politics in the Lesser Depression is that nobody in political life has been willing to run as the champion of ordinary Americans against the financial wheeler-dealers who brought this disaster on us. Republicans won’t, of course, because their worldview says that greed is good and government the only source of evil. But Obama has also been almost weirdly unwilling to express even the slightest populism.

So I’m glad to hear that Elizabeth Warren will apparently run for Senate. She’s no Huey Long — her manner is more schoolteacher than rabble-rouser — but that makes her more credible. And she’s got the best credentials on the financial crisis of any prominent figure in American life.

This should be edifying.

I hope she has the strength to fight the corruption that takes down so many politicians. I'm hoping she and Bernie Sanders will form the core of a "new politics" for America.

Surviving Rabies

This video has an incredible tale of surviving rabies...

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


This was a disease with a 0% survival rate. But according to Wikipedia, the above protocol for treatment now means:

In 2005, the first patient was treated with the Milwaukee protocol, and Jeanna Giese became the first person ever recorded to survive rabies without receiving successful post-exposure prophylaxis. An intention to treat analysis has since found that this protocol has a survival rate of about 8%.

There is more detail in Wikipedia about the use of this "Milwaukee Protocol":

Giese's treatment regimen has since undergone revision (the second version omits the use of ribavirin). There were 2 survivors out of 25 patients treated under the first protocol. A further 10 patients have been treated under the revised protocol and there have been a further 2 survivors.

In June 2011, yet another young child survived infection with rabies without the benefit of treatment. An eight year old girl named Precious Reynolds, of Willow Creek, Calif., contracted the disease sometime in April 2011, but she did not receive medical care till mid May, after her grandmother took her to the doctor because of flulike symptoms that grew so serious her grandmother said they began to resemble polio. The hospital said doctors followed the protocol first established with Giese. Precious was placed in a drug-induced coma as she received anti-viral medications. She spent two weeks in intensive care undergoing the treatments, and immediately showed that her immune system was strong. She was then moved to the hospital's general pediatric unit.

Only two other people have survived documented rabies in the United States - a Wisconsin teenager in 2004 (Jeanna Giese), and a Texas girl in 2009.

This is an incredible story. It is truly amazing how our great collective wisdom -- aka science -- slowly gives us tools to go where we have never gone before and abilities that were previously inconceivable. I can't understand why everybody is not a fan of science. I do know that not everybody has what it takes to be a scientist, but I don't understand why people would rather believe in superstitions and old wives tales than support the advance of science. We are in a constant battle with "nature" and only science gives us the possibility to improve on the hand of cards we've been dealt from the deck that life makes available.

The Joy of Reading... Aloud

CBS Sunday Morning has a nice story about reading to your kids.

...I may have found the secret to successful parenting - not in any one, single book, but in this one, single dad, whose wife left him when his daughter was 10.

"It was just she and I," said Jim Brozina. He says he and his daughter Alice were always close - but around 4th grade, he started worrying they'd soon drift apart.

"After 4th grade, they start looking for their friends," he said. "Could be that we just didn't see each other during the day or talk to one another - it could have been."

Could have been - he says - if not for "The Streak."

"The Streak" was a challenge Jim issued to his daughter that 4th grade year - to see how many nights in a row they could read together.

And here is an interesting story about a few people who have "hit it big" with writing blogs...



I think it is funny to (a) expect to become a "success" with a blog or (b) make money off a blog. Sure, that will happen to one in a million. But most of us live "ordinary lives" and end up writing blogs just to "get stuff off their chest", to remember things found curious/important/interesting, and to "think out loud". I find writing is one way to find out what I think. Nothing like facing a big white space to put some fear into you and make you dig deep and take a stance and have an opinion!

Forget Exercising, Learn to Smile

The secret to long life isn't heart healthy foods or extreme marathons. It is smiling...

An Interesting Book

I stumbled across this video on James Fallows' blog. I haven't read the book, but here is what Fallows says:

The video below gives you the basic flavor, with much more info at the site of his charity, Carolina for Kibera. Gist of the story: ten years ago Barcott, then an undergraduate at UNC - Chapel Hill, went to Nairobi on a project as part of his study of Africa and Swahili. He was in the city's huge slum, Kibera, and formed a close connection with people there -- especially a nurse and a community-organizer. They conceived a plan of creating a community-development organization to promote schooling, sports, medical care, and general uplift for children and families in Kibera. On return to North Carolina Barcott began raising money for this Carolina for Kibera project.

But Barcott, whose father had been a combat Marine in Vietnam, had wanted to "serve his country" and had gone to UNC on a Naval ROTC scholarship. His last year in college was a mix of Kenya-related and ROTC activities, and after graduation in 2001 his active service as a Marine began. He was in the Basic School at Quantico during the 9/11 attacks, and over the next five years he served in Bosnia, the Horn of Africa, and finally Iraq. He left as a captain in 2006, having been an ABC News "Person of the Week" that year. He went back for MBA and MPA degrees and now works in North Carolina for Duke Energy company ... directing sustainability projects.

It Happened on the Way to War from Center for Global Initiatives.

The Fukushima Fifty

From an article in the UK's Daily Mail:

Five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.

The original 50 brave souls were later joined by 150 colleagues and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation spewing from over-heating spent fuel rods after a series of explosions at the site. They were today joined by scores more workers.

Japan has rallied behind the workers with relatives telling of heart-breaking messages sent at the height of the crisis.

...

But it is becoming even more pressing that the Fukushima succeed after it was revealed today that Tokyo's tap water has been contaminated by unusual levels of radiation.

The government have issued a warning to all mothers urging them not to let babies drink the tap water.

...

Nearly two weeks after the twin March 11 disasters, nuclear officials were still struggling to stabilise the damaged and overheated Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which has been leaking radiation since the disasters knocked out the plant's cooling systems.

Radiation has seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater in the areas surrounding the plant.

All energy sources carry a risk. Nuclear is no different except that it is a newer technology and consequently it scares a lot of people who fear anything new. The lessons to be learned from this crisis is good and bad. The reactor was hit by an incredible disaster but didn't completely fail and the radiation is still limited compared to the worst case possible. This means that some will die, but not the large numbers in a Chernobyl-size disaster. But the death toll is still small compared to mine disasters. The good news is that more safety can be engineered into these nuclear plants.

How Do You Spell "Lucky"?

Some very close calls in the Japanese tsunami...

Good News! BC Raises the Minimum Wage

The new premier has just given a big present to minimum wage workers in British Columbia. From the Vancouver Sun newspaper:

The minimum wage in British Columbia is going up, Premier Christy Clark announced Wednesday.

Clark said the minimum wage will increase in increments, starting with a jump to $8.75 per hour on May 1 from the current rate of $8 per hour.

The wage will increase again to $9.50 on Nov. 1, and then to $10.25 on May 1, 2012.

"When fully implemented the full-time minimum wage worker will have close to more than $4,000 in additional dollars in his or her pocket to support themselves and their families," said Clark.

"This is going to help them to succeed and it will help them to create stronger, more stable families."

That's a bit over a 28% increase in their wages. That is good news for lots of people struggling on very low wages. It will also create a ripple effect and move wages for many people up. This means workers in BC will now have the 2nd highest minimum wage in Canada!

Israel: The New Saudi Arabia of Fossil Fuel?

Here's a surprising story that will change power relations in the Middle East. From an article in the Jerusalem Post:

How Israel could revolutionize the global energy sector

By DORE GOLD
03/11/2011 17:04

New data suggests Israel may not only have much larger gas resources than believed, but also the 3rd largest deposit of oil shale in the world.

... The implications for Israel of the West’s growing dependence on Middle Eastern oil are troubling, for obvious reasons. Yet there are two new developments in our energy sector that could well offset these trends and eventually alter our standing in the world, especially with respect to Europe.

First, the gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean, which began to produce commercial quantities of natural gas in 2004, are generally well-known. The Tamar field, which should begin production in 2013, is expected to supply all of Israel’s domestic requirements for at least 20 years. The Economist suggested in November 2010 that the recently discovered Leviathan field, which has twice the gas of Tamar, could be completely devoted to exports.

All the undersea gas fields together have about 25 trillion cubic feet of gas, but the potential for further discoveries is considerably greater, given that the US Geological Survey estimates that there are 122 trillion cubic feet of gas in the whole Levant Basin, most of which is within Israel’s jurisdiction.

After the Leviathan discovery these numbers could go up further. Perhaps for that reason, Greece has been talking to Israel about creating a transportation hub for distributing gas throughout Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean that will come from undersea pipelines.

What is less well-known, but even more dramatic, is the work being done on this country’s oil shale. The British-based World Energy Council reported in November 2010 that Israel had oil shale from which it is possible to extract the equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil. Yet these numbers are currently undergoing a major revision internationally.

A new assessment was released late last year by Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives, at the yearly symposium of the prestigious Colorado School of Mines. He presented data that our oil shale reserves are actually the equivalent of 250 billion barrels (that compares with 260 billion barrels in the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia). ...

There is more, go read the whole article.

I love surprises! Life is always blindsiding you. Anybody who thinks they can linearly extrapolate the present into the future has his head in the sand.

I always enjoy thinking about the fact that for over 80 years experts have been warning that there is less than 20 years supply of fossil fuel. The favourite theory is "peak oil". A theory first propounded in 1956 to warn people to prepare for the coming "end of oil".

I remember teaching a social studies class in the mid-1970s using material telling those kids that they needed to accept that cars would not be in the future. There just wouldn't be the oil there to allow them the luxury of driving.

But if you look at this Wikipedia page you can see that the major producing areas all have "proven reserves" big enough to supply oil at current rates for more than 50 years.

Notice how that page lists the biggest reserve as a puny 267 billion barrels of oil. But if you look at this page from the Government of Alberta Canada, you can see that just this tar sands of Alberta makes Saudia Arabia look like a piker:

Alberta’s oil sands underlie 140,200 square kilometres (km2) (54,132 square miles) of land in the Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River areas in northern Alberta. Together these oil sands areas contain an estimated 1.8 trillion barrels (initial volume in place) of crude bitumen. About 10% of this volume (169.9 billion barrels) is recoverable using current technology and is considered to be a proven reserve.

Other information on Alberta oil sands can be found here.

I think everybody should welcome Israel to the oil barons of today! Lots of energy for many, many years.

Nabokov, a Heroic Tale

I enjoy Vladimir Nabokov as an author but I didn't realize that he was a much maligned scientist who was pushed into obscurity by others who didn't recognize the quality of his work. Since I'm a big supporter of the underdog, I found Nabokov's tale of vindication after 40 years thrilling. You can get the whole story from an article by Carl Zimmer in the NY Times. Here's a taste:

Vladimir Nabokov may be known to most people as the author of classic novels like “Lolita” and “Pale Fire.” But even as he was writing those books, Nabokov had a parallel existence as a self-taught expert on butterflies.

He was the curator of lepidoptera at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and he collected the insects across the United States. He published detailed descriptions of hundreds of species. And in a speculative moment in 1945, he came up with a sweeping hypothesis for the evolution of the butterflies he studied, a group known as the Polyommatus blues. He envisioned them coming to the New World from Asia over millions of years in a series of waves.

Few professional lepidopterists took these ideas seriously during Nabokov’s lifetime. But in the years since his death in 1977, his scientific reputation has grown. And over the past 10 years, a team of scientists has been applying gene-sequencing technology to his hypothesis about how Polyommatus blues evolved. Last week in The Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, they reported that Nabokov was absolutely right.

Go read the Zimmer article to get the full thrill of the "little guy" who got pushed aside being resurrected and his genius now acknowledged. It is refreshing to know that a reputation can be rehabilitated after so many years, to know that the truth can win out in the end. I love science because it is a wonderful example of human collaboration in the service of something much bigger than the individual.

Some Good News Out of Egypt

I've been pretty pessimistic about the situation in Egypt, but here is a bit of good news from Al Jazeera:

12:53pm: Prayers are over and the masses, hundred thousands of people, are chanting "We won't go until he leaves".

Yesterday, NevineZaki posted this picture on Twitter, saying it shows Christians protecting those praying in Tahrir Square amid violence between protesters and Mubarak supporters. She wrote "Bear in mind that this pic was taken a month after z Alexandria bombing where many Christians died in vain. Yet we all stood by each other"

Tahrir Square, Thursday

Here is a bit from a New York Times report about the bombing:

A bomb, possibly worn by a suicide attacker, ripped through a throng of worshipers outside of a Coptic Christian church in the port city of Alexandria, Egypt, early Saturday, killing at least 21 people in the worst attack against Egypt’s Christian minority in recent memory.

Egypt’s Health Ministry said that at least 96 people were wounded in the blast, which occurred shortly after midnight outside the Saints Church as the New Year’s Mass was ending and congregants headed to the doors.

The peaceful interaction of Egyptian Christians and Muslims shows how in a revolutionary situation everything is subject to change and new bonds can be forged. This kind of mutual respect shows that democracy can work if only you get the despots and their thuggish "police" out of the way.

On the other hand... The idiotic statements by Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are a reminder that bad news abounds. From the LA Times:

Iran's spiritual and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the popular uprisings against Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt represent an "irreversible defeat" for the United States.

Speaking amid heightened security during the Friday sermon at Tehran University, Khamenei went on to draw comparisons between Iran's Islamic Revolution and the recent Arab protest movements, characterizing the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and around the region as an "Islamic awakening."

This from the eminence grise who directed Ahmadinejad to bloodily suppress the Green Revolution in Iran. The hypocrisy of a guy like Khamenei to give opinions about a people's movement is astounding. He has no interest in people. He has his theocracy and talks directly to God and will kill anybody who goes against his version of what his "God" wants. He is the furthest thing from a democrat. For him to comment on the people in the streets of Egypt is an outrage.

Good News out of Egypt

Here is the upside of the revolt:



I have to temper the optimism by pointing out that this was a video done by an English-speaking news organization with locals having English signs. That undercuts the 'authenticity' of the moment being recorded. But hopefully my cynicism is misplaced and this is a broader feeling among the people.

I remain deeply skeptical that real change can come peacefully. The longer Mubarak clings to power, the more likely it will require real force to remove him. But maybe I'm wrong. Here is a very recent news report from Reuters via the Guardian blog on news from Egypt:

Now Reuters confirms earlier reports about the Egyptian army's stance, and the army's statement that it would not use force against Egyptians staging protests demanding that Mubarak step down: According to Reuters:

[The army's statement] said "freedom of expression" was guaranteed to all citizens using peaceful means.

It was the first such explicit confirmation by the army that it would not fire at demonstrators who have taken to the streets of Egypt since last week to try to force Mubarak to quit.

"The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people," the army statement said.

"Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody."

It urged people not resort to acts of sabotage that violate security and destroy public and private property. It warned that it would not allow outlaws and to loot, attack and "terrorise citizens".

This solves half the equation. The question now is whether the Army will provide the push to get the stubborn Mubarak out. I do believe violence will be required but it now looks less like a bloodbath of civilians but more of a palace putsch to remove Mubarak, his inner circle, and the palace guards.

And here is some good news for Egypt coming from the US. Jimmy Carter clearly states that Mubarak has to leave office. From an article in The Nation:

Jimmy Carter, who knows the dynamics of the Middle East better than any US president, former or current, predicts that popular opposition to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has grown so intense that “he will have to leave.”

While President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have sent mixed signals since anti-Mubarak and pro-democracy demonstrations—not always the same thing—erupted across Egypt a week ago, Carter is blunt about what he refers to as the “earthshaking” events that are sweeping the Middle East.

And the former president is warning US officials to get on the right side of those events.

“The United States wants Mubarak to stay in power, but the people have decided,” says the former president, who in the late 1970s oversaw the negotiations that established a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.

Unfortunately Carter goes on to make known that he favours Suleiman as the successor. But it is clear from the street that ElBaradei nas the nod for interim leader. Hopefully ElBaradei is smart enough to now want to hold power but to purely serve as an interim leader working to allow an orderly succession of power to a people's choice.

The Message from Tunesia

Here are some details from the Jan 17, 2011 Madeleine Brand show on public radio from southern California.

From a news report in the UK's The Independent:

The end of the age of dictators in the Arab world? Certainly they are shaking in their boots across the Middle East, the well-heeled sheiks and emirs, and the kings, including one very old one in Saudi Arabia and a young one in Jordan, and presidents – another very old one in Egypt and a young one in Syria – because Tunisia wasn't meant to happen. Food price riots in Algeria, too, and demonstrations against price increases in Amman. Not to mention scores more dead in Tunisia, whose own despot sought refuge in Riyadh – exactly the same city to which a man called Idi Amin once fled.

...

Indeed, what was Hillary Clinton doing last week as Tunisia burned? She was telling the corrupted princes of the Gulf that their job was to support sanctions against Iran, to confront the Islamic republic, to prepare for another strike against a Muslim state after the two catastrophes the United States and the UK have already inflicted in the region.

The Muslim world – at least, that bit of it between India and the Mediterranean – is a more than sorry mess. Iraq has a sort-of-government that is now a satrap of Iran, Hamid Karzai is no more than the mayor of Kabul, Pakistan stands on the edge of endless disaster, Egypt has just emerged from another fake election.

And Lebanon... Well, poor old Lebanon hasn't even got a government. Southern Sudan – if the elections are fair – might be a tiny candle, but don't bet on it.

...

Algeria should be as rich as Saudi Arabia – it has the oil and gas – but it has one of the worst unemployment rates in the Middle East, no social security, no pensions, nothing for its people because its generals have salted their country's wealth away in Switzerland.

The World is not All Bad: Muslims Protect Christians

If you follow the news media you are bombarded by bad news and tend to lose perspective. There are good things happening, but the media finds good doesn't sell like bad.

But here is a good story. From BoingBoing:

On New Year's Eve, a Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt was attacked by suicide bombers. For those Coptic Christians, the bombing came with a lot of added tension. Their Christmas, like that of several other Christian sects outside the Western Catholic/Protestant divide, falls after the New Year. Many expected further bombings on that holiday. Here's what happened, instead ...

Egypt's majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.

From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as "human shields" for last night's mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.

"We either live together, or we die together," was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the "human shield" idea.

"This is not about us and them," said Dalia Mustafa, a student who attended mass at Virgin Mary Church on Maraashly. "We are one. This was an attack on Egypt as a whole, and I am standing with the Copts because the only way things will change in this country is if we come together."

How's that for "wonderful things"?

Ahram Online: Egypt's Muslims Attend Coptic Christmas Mass, Serving as "Human Shields"

It is always wonderful to hear of ordinary people stepping forward to help other ordinary people. So much of "news" is on "personalities" or "rich people". So little focuses on ordinary lives, but that is the level at which our qualities as people are truly rooted. If a society is not civil and show concern for all citizens, then it is a sick society headed for a bad future. But when people stand up for each other and protect each other, you are building a stronger society with a better future.

Given all the recent news about Al Qaeda and Muslim religious crazies, it is nice to hear that ordinary Muslims are leading ordinary lives of care for their fellow citizens. This is an antidote to religious bigotry. It is too easy to hate "the other". It is good to meditate on stories like this to bridge the chasm and understand others across a cultural divide. In the end, we are all humans and we live on a "blue marble" planet that we have to share. If we can't all get along, then our future is bleak. But so long as we show generosity of spirit such as the Muslims who showed up as "human shields" for their fellow Christians, we have hope for our future.

Giving Away Your Dreams

Here is a bit from a Globe & Mail article about a Canadian couple who won big in the lottery and gave it all away:

After decades of living modestly, Allen and Violet Large suddenly had the money to fulfill their dreams.

But with $11.25-million in lottery winnings, the retired couple who live near Halifax knew that their dreams were a little different. No sports car, cruise or mansion for them. Instead, they worked quickly to give it away.

After decades of living modestly, Allen and Violet Large suddenly had the money to fulfill their dreams.

But with $11.25-million in lottery winnings, the retired couple who live near Halifax knew that their dreams were a little different. No sports car, cruise or mansion for them. Instead, they worked quickly to give it away.

The couple kept about two per cent for themselves, in case of emergency, and split the rest between immediate family and charities. They are unclear about the tax implications, but say they will deal with that next year.

They won’t get into exact figures but say that recipients range from animal-protection agencies to churches to health-care services. Ms. Large was recently undergoing chemotherapy and facilities where she received her treatment got an extra chunk, her husband says.

That is a wonderful story of civic-mindedness.

By the way... for those Americans who read this post and who are anti-health care. This demonstrates that a proper functioning health care system means you don't have to hoard money to protect yourself in old age. Violet Large is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, but they still gave all the money away. Why? Because in Canada, healthcare is covered by the government (through the normal tax system). You don't have to hoard money to protect yourself against a "worst case scenario".

The point of insurance is to provide this protection. But for essentials like healthcars and old age security, it is best not to leave it up to individual decisions. There will always be a percentage of the population too weak-willed to do the right thing. So government needs to step in and ensure that all citizens are protected. The American system of dog-eat-dog is insane for a developed economy, for a rich country. But Americans seem to relish being assbackwards. They are one of only 3 countries not on the metric system. There were the only developed country with no public healthcare (and even now, the US has a rather anemic version under Obama).

A New Energy Future?

Here's a bit from a post by Robert X. Cringely that is very optimistic about solar energy:

My work on this past summer’s Startup Tour introduced me to a number of energy startups with technologies that will actually make a difference in this age-old pattern of supply and demand. Because for the first time the supplies that are being created are renewable — they generally won’t be depleted. There is no new well involved to come online then peak and then die. There is just slow and steady energy production growth for 25 years or so from the same facility to which is added over time another and another and another machine.

We have one solar startup that is moving slowly and inexorably toward a target of making electricity from sunlight for $0.50 per watt. They are about three years from reaching their goal, at which point they will bring online a manufacturing capacity greater than the world has ever seen — all without spending a cent to develop that capacity (cue spooky music).

Electricity from coal usually costs $2.00 per watt to produce, so $0.50 per watt is amazing. What if this is hype and they are off by a factor of 10? Electricity at $5.00 per watt is still competitive with everything except coal and hydro. It’s still amazing.

I love the positive feeling that Cringely exudes. I sure hope he's right. He sure sounds like this is the real deal:

That low price per watt scares the crap out of BP and will change the geopolitical balance in the world within a decade, making the Middle East maybe a little less important.

Calgary Teaches a Lesson

Here's a bit from The Atlantic about the result of a mayoral race in Calgary, Alberta earlier this week:

Yesterday, Calgary elected a new mayor. His name is Naheed Nenshi. ... Here's one of his first interviews since being elected.

Nenshi, 38, is a professor at Mount Royal University. He graduated from the University of Calgary, where he was president of the students' union, and holds a master's in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. He's also Islamic; his parents immigrated to Canada from Tanzania. Here's how one account in the Canadian press summarized it:

[W]hile much was being made of Nenshi being what's believed to be the first Muslim mayor in a major Canadian city, experts, supporters and even leaders in Calgary's Muslim community were downplaying the role Nenshi's faith played in his election.

"I think it's an overblown situation," said Calgary Imam Syed Soharwardy, the founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

"He's a Muslim. Yes, well so what? Why does it have to be identified that we have a Muslim mayor? I think the most important thing is we have a new person who has been elected by Calgarians."

I enjoyed the Naheed Nenshi interview on CBC. He made the point that religion was not and is not significant in his politics or his campaign. He won because he out-organized, worked harder to bring in a broad coalition, and he fired up the youth vote.

Here's a mini-summary of the election campaign from the Globe and Mail:

His win also proves that the Internet is a key tool in politics and does indeed deliver support – Mr. Nenshi had far more Facebook friends than either of his main competitors, who themselves dismissed that support, saying it wouldn't translate into actual votes.

But Mr. Nenshi had 39 per cent of the vote with 229 of 241 polls reporting, followed closely by alderman Ric McIver with 32 per cent and former CTV anchor Barb Higgins with 26 per cent. Ms. Higgins raced to an early lead before her numbers collapsed, while Mr. Nenshi started slow and then spiked.

Mr. McIver, meanwhile, had campaigned essentially since the last election in 2007, preparing to challenge outgoing Mayor Dave Bronconnier, a bitter rival. When Mr. Bronconnier elected not to run, Mr. McIver became the race’s de facto front-runner, with a significant war-chest and plenty of backing among Calgary's conservatives.

Ms. Higgins entered the race late with little experience but significant name recognition, and tried to position herself as a moderate able to build consensus on city council, which has been bitterly divided for the past three-year term largely because of Mr. Bronconnier and Mr. McIver. Had Ms. Higgins won, she would have been Calgary's first female mayor. However, critics insisted that she didn’t have the experience to take the top job, unlike Mr. McIver the alderman and Mr. Nenshi, a veteran observer of city hall.

There is something special about Calgary. If you look at my earlier post, Religious Tolerance, and click on the link "the Canadian approach" you will see that Calgary is a special kind of town, a very tolerant town. If you read the article, you find bits like this:

There isn't enough space in Calgary area mosques for all the Ramadan worshippers so some Christian churches are opening their doors to Islamic worshippers.

One worshipper, Waqar Butt Islamic, told CTV Calgary, "They really cooperated with us. I met with them and they said warm welcome to you guys. You guys pray here, this is a good opportunity for us, for you guys to pray here."

The reverend of the Airdrie United Church claims hosting the Muslim prayers doesn't conflict with his congregations Christian values, rather it enhances them.

Rev. Dave Pollard of the Airdrie United Church, says, "We are sort of like long lost cousins, so to be able to promote an environment that would mend a rift as opposed to tearing it even further was, I think, a unique opportunity."

A Small Success for Mankind, One Giant Leap for a Better Tomorrow

Here's a NY Times story of a scientific success, just one more in a long line of successes by science that make life better for us:

Livestock Virus Eradicated, U.N. Says

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

In only the second elimination of a disease in history, rinderpest — a virus that used to kill cattle and wildlife by the millions — has been declared wiped off the face of the earth.

Rinderpest, which means “cattle plague” in German, does not affect humans, though it belongs to the same virus family as measles. But for millenniums in Asia, Europe and Africa it wiped out cattle, water buffalo, yaks and other animals needed for meat, milk, plowing and cart-pulling.

Its mortality rate is about 80 percent — higher even than smallpox, the only other disease ever eliminated.

The last case was seen in Kenya in 2001. On Thursday, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization announced that it was dropping its field surveillance efforts because it was convinced the disease was gone. The official ceremony in which the World Organization for Animal Health will declare the world rinderpest-free is scheduled for May.

Go read the rest of the article to get more background on this story.

I'm bothered by the fact that so many people are proud of their scientific ignorance. The world could only sustain about one-fifth the current population if science was removed. We would be back in the dark ages where the only light you had was the fire you could keep. No refrigeration to allow variety in choice in diet. No miracles of science to provide entertainment and transportation. But despite these stark facts, a solid majority of people claim they want to live their lives by some rules drawn up by a wandering nomad tribe nearly three thousand years ago (updated by a near-illiterate from the backwaters of the Roman Empire or a failed merchant from the wild tribes of the Arabian desert). Bizarre. Just look at the Bible to see how much disease and death is in that book. That's what you get is you turn your back on science.