A buzz friend posted this to facebook. I decided to read it because I try to follow healthcare happenings. I read the entire article because what David Ignatous had to say. His point? Do it. Not because it will save money and cut premiums [we could only hope!] but because it is the right thing to do. Hat/tip to Alice for posting this link.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Heart of America Northwest - Hanford turning into a nuclear dump?
Shout out to all Seattle/PacNW residents: Hearings on Hanford as a National Radioactive Waste Dump: A public meeting in Seattle Monday 3/8 7pm. Info session starts at 6pm. Feds want to abandon the cleanup plans, and expand Hanford to start up weapons production again. This hearing is being featured on "Mind over matters" this morning on the kexp.org stream.
From the web site: "Hanford is the most contaminated area in the Western hemisphere. Today radioactive and toxic contamination flows into the Columbia River, which flows through Hanford for fifty miles, at levels as high as 1,500 times the federal Drinking Water Standard. Over a million gallons of deadly liquid High-Level Nuclear Waste has leaked from tanks at Hanford, and over 120 million gallons of these deadly wastes was dumped into the soil. The contamination is spreading towards the River faster than the federal Energy Department (USDOE) claimed was possible.
Heart of America Northwest believes in “Clean-Up First!” - requiring the massive amounts of existing wastes to be brought into compliance and cleaned up before allowing USDOE to dump more waste at Hanford. Please read on, and do not hesitate to call or send us any questions or suggestions. Please join us and sign up to receive email action alerts and to volunteer (we can use volunteers anywhere in the Northwest)."
I am going to try and be there...
Heart of America Northwest
Heart of America Northwest believes in “Clean-Up First!” - requiring the massive amounts of existing wastes to be brought into compliance and cleaned up before allowing USDOE to dump more waste at Hanford. Please read on, and do not hesitate to call or send us any questions or suggestions. Please join us and sign up to receive email action alerts and to volunteer (we can use volunteers anywhere in the Northwest)."
I am going to try and be there...
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Bob Cesca: The Tea Party Is All About Race
Bob really struck a note with me on this one. For the longest time, I have been at a loss to explain "why" the current "tea party or tea baggers" bothered me so much. They appear to be for things that would be good for America, but once you look into it, you are like "that's just wrong...!". I think Bob really has something here... hat/tip -> Bob Cesca.
Bob Cesca: The Tea Party Is All About Race
Monday, November 23, 2009
one person, one vote
[originally published 15-Nov-09 20:21 on refiamerica.org]
The idea: A national, government verifiable way to register internet users as 'voters or opinions', with anonymity resting with an open source organization, community founded, much like nanog [north american networks operators group], or the Gnu foundation [is it a foundation?].
As voting citizens, we prove to the gov't who we are to be able to vote, but when we vote, it is private, anonymous, except for polling location.
What if you could go and re-register to 'vote' in person at your local polling place, and once verified, the gov't official hands the person at the next table a scan code or printed number. The next group is a representative of this open source organization that uses the gov't code to create a secure-id two factor otp [one time password] token that anonymously ties that token to 'a registered voter in this precinct - anonymous". It does not id you personally, it just guarantees that you proved to the voter registration people you are who you say you are.
The voter then registers with a secure web site that is also the web site where they can be polled. We are not talking about voting, this is opinion polls. "Should the US pull out of Afghanistan?" Extremely good accuracy of the count and verification of "one person, one vote". Heck, they even get the accuracy down to zip codes if the user allows that [ok, maybe that is a condition of having the right to cast your certified opinion].
Just something to think about... --egrep
The idea: A national, government verifiable way to register internet users as 'voters or opinions', with anonymity resting with an open source organization, community founded, much like nanog [north american networks operators group], or the Gnu foundation [is it a foundation?].
As voting citizens, we prove to the gov't who we are to be able to vote, but when we vote, it is private, anonymous, except for polling location.
What if you could go and re-register to 'vote' in person at your local polling place, and once verified, the gov't official hands the person at the next table a scan code or printed number. The next group is a representative of this open source organization that uses the gov't code to create a secure-id two factor otp [one time password] token that anonymously ties that token to 'a registered voter in this precinct - anonymous". It does not id you personally, it just guarantees that you proved to the voter registration people you are who you say you are.
The voter then registers with a secure web site that is also the web site where they can be polled. We are not talking about voting, this is opinion polls. "Should the US pull out of Afghanistan?" Extremely good accuracy of the count and verification of "one person, one vote". Heck, they even get the accuracy down to zip codes if the user allows that [ok, maybe that is a condition of having the right to cast your certified opinion].
Just something to think about... --egrep
losing 40 lbs? definitely worth it...
[originally published 03-Sep-09 03:45 on refiamerica.org]
- the idea...
free. Hey, what are brains for if you do not listen to them?
- trying to pitch the idea...
3 years of hell
- running the gauntlet....
hella fun! Try it sometime.
- losing 40 lbs to be able to run the gauntlet...
worth it, believe me
- thoroughly enjoying pitching the idea in a 30 minute one-on-one with the CIO of your company..?
priceless...
Los Cabos, Mexico - evacuated... yikes!
[originally published 02-Sep-09 08:06 on refiamerica.org]
(wow, my first real correction/retraction...)
Apparently, the hurricane will make landfall tonight (right at the entrance to the sea of Cortez. All low lying commnities in the area are on alert, and I thought I heard that they had evacuated my second home, the city of San Carlos on Monday Sept. 1st 2009. I hope all families get out safe and their homes are still there once the storm passes. Jim is up in Colorado helping Becky get everything tied up before they move back down to San Carlos this October. I think Jim's boat is in dry dock, so it should be ok...? Need to ask Jim today if they are all set.
My big worry is for the Soggy Peso Bar, an awesome home-built shanty/restaurant/bar located at 27 degrees 58 minutes north and111 degrees 06 minutes west. The Peso has a unique simple explanation, and is probably the most unique, interesting place to find yourself on a lazy San Carlos afternoon. The Peso is owned and run by Lisa, the woman I hope to convince I just might be worth keeping around when I get down there in October. We will see...
My biggest fear is that she decided to stay and ride it out. The place means that much to her. If she and the Soggy Peso survive, I am sure she is going to need lots of help putting it back together once the smoke clears. --egrep
(wow, my first real correction/retraction...)
Apparently, the hurricane will make landfall tonight (right at the entrance to the sea of Cortez. All low lying commnities in the area are on alert, and I thought I heard that they had evacuated my second home, the city of San Carlos on Monday Sept. 1st 2009. I hope all families get out safe and their homes are still there once the storm passes. Jim is up in Colorado helping Becky get everything tied up before they move back down to San Carlos this October. I think Jim's boat is in dry dock, so it should be ok...? Need to ask Jim today if they are all set.
My big worry is for the Soggy Peso Bar, an awesome home-built shanty/restaurant/bar located at 27 degrees 58 minutes north and111 degrees 06 minutes west. The Peso has a unique simple explanation, and is probably the most unique, interesting place to find yourself on a lazy San Carlos afternoon. The Peso is owned and run by Lisa, the woman I hope to convince I just might be worth keeping around when I get down there in October. We will see...
My biggest fear is that she decided to stay and ride it out. The place means that much to her. If she and the Soggy Peso survive, I am sure she is going to need lots of help putting it back together once the smoke clears. --egrep
Coersion or education. Which works best?
[originally published 02-Sep-09 06:08 on refiamerica.org]
Sunday night, after I had settled in to the hotel, I stopped by one of my favorite watering holes in Glendale CA; a place called Jax. If there was ever a '60's piano/jazz place that survived intact into the 21st century, it is Jax. A lot of things are still the same here in Glendale since I moved up to Washington 2 years ago, and except for 2 new-to-me, interesting bartenders, the place is just as I remembered it. Last night, I got to talking to April (the Sunday night 'tender), and I strayed into what I am trying to get going in the pac nw (what we call the Pacific Northwest), and April looks at me and says "oh, you want to talk to my sister Kristine.
So, on a whim, after I had explored all of the parts of Glendale that _have_ changed (nice job on the Americana guys... cross between an awesome "Universal City Walk" and and Celebration off Disney World). I stopped by Jax Monday night, and finally asked if this interesting person I was talking to was indeed Kristine. Turns out it was and I eventually figured out the connection, a concerned person who was looking to live somewhere where things could be better.
More on why I told her it was time to leave LA in a future post, but where this ties into my question posed in this topic rests with two Apache tribesmen who had just finished up with a cattle auction. Hearing some of the things they talked about made me _really_ want to go over and get into a good spirited discussion on questions about tribal life that have been in my head since the last time I attended an Indian powwow. It was probably the summer of '69, we were in Colorado, probably within a day's drive of Denver and the images and memories I see now, show a great, proud people who just flowed with self assurance as they all danced as one people. I still remember how when I thought no one was looking I used to dance right along with them. Memories sure are a funny thing...
The 'funny thing' is where there is this click, and the pieces making up the players and in the "now" just seem to fall into place. Never having tried to really understand the best way to approach situations where my main thirst is for knowledge, and to share something of what I know in return, I decided about a week before I headed on this trip to try and find out how to pull this off. I have never been good a sales... Don't ask... ;-]
I thought about all the people I have admired up to now in my life, and using pieces of each as needed, I created this simple formula:
Toss an innocuous aside within earshot of someone you want to interact with, but make it related in a positive way to the "now" (where "now" is the moment in space/time you are interacting with). If the person responds in a manner saying "I heard something interesting, please continue", then you follow with an intelligent question, comment, or observation germane to what you are trying to learn (or fix; this works well in preparation for a good compromise too - more later? yeah...). In no time you will either find yourself in a spirited discussion related to that which you seek, or within a few polite comments, you will both agree to let things dissolve as you paths diverge.
So far, I'm batting a thousand. this is so cool! I tossed a comment that allowed the current speaker to hear it; finish what he was saying or speaking to at the time; respond in a positive manner and then pause while I was invited to present an opening statement. Best damn half hour talk I have had in a long time. I really hope the gentlemen email me, because I have even more questions now that I have digested our first talk.
Where is the connection to coercion you ask? Well, most of my life people/companies have been telling me to do these 'things', buy these things, and generally toe the line in conforming to others' wishes. I _know_ I have been guilty of this also, so do not think I am just playing victim here. What I am saying is that you can coerce someone into the end result you seek, but all you gain in the process is a situation where you have bullied someone, and they have learned only resentment in the exchange.
I have thoroughly enjoyed all of my encounters, and feel education is _still_ the best path... Always. You may even end up teaching yourself something good... Just like I did... I'll never go back.
Good to meet you, let's exchange some knowledge. -egrep
Sunday night, after I had settled in to the hotel, I stopped by one of my favorite watering holes in Glendale CA; a place called Jax. If there was ever a '60's piano/jazz place that survived intact into the 21st century, it is Jax. A lot of things are still the same here in Glendale since I moved up to Washington 2 years ago, and except for 2 new-to-me, interesting bartenders, the place is just as I remembered it. Last night, I got to talking to April (the Sunday night 'tender), and I strayed into what I am trying to get going in the pac nw (what we call the Pacific Northwest), and April looks at me and says "oh, you want to talk to my sister Kristine.
So, on a whim, after I had explored all of the parts of Glendale that _have_ changed (nice job on the Americana guys... cross between an awesome "Universal City Walk" and and Celebration off Disney World). I stopped by Jax Monday night, and finally asked if this interesting person I was talking to was indeed Kristine. Turns out it was and I eventually figured out the connection, a concerned person who was looking to live somewhere where things could be better.
More on why I told her it was time to leave LA in a future post, but where this ties into my question posed in this topic rests with two Apache tribesmen who had just finished up with a cattle auction. Hearing some of the things they talked about made me _really_ want to go over and get into a good spirited discussion on questions about tribal life that have been in my head since the last time I attended an Indian powwow. It was probably the summer of '69, we were in Colorado, probably within a day's drive of Denver and the images and memories I see now, show a great, proud people who just flowed with self assurance as they all danced as one people. I still remember how when I thought no one was looking I used to dance right along with them. Memories sure are a funny thing...
The 'funny thing' is where there is this click, and the pieces making up the players and in the "now" just seem to fall into place. Never having tried to really understand the best way to approach situations where my main thirst is for knowledge, and to share something of what I know in return, I decided about a week before I headed on this trip to try and find out how to pull this off. I have never been good a sales... Don't ask... ;-]
I thought about all the people I have admired up to now in my life, and using pieces of each as needed, I created this simple formula:
Toss an innocuous aside within earshot of someone you want to interact with, but make it related in a positive way to the "now" (where "now" is the moment in space/time you are interacting with). If the person responds in a manner saying "I heard something interesting, please continue", then you follow with an intelligent question, comment, or observation germane to what you are trying to learn (or fix; this works well in preparation for a good compromise too - more later? yeah...). In no time you will either find yourself in a spirited discussion related to that which you seek, or within a few polite comments, you will both agree to let things dissolve as you paths diverge.
So far, I'm batting a thousand. this is so cool! I tossed a comment that allowed the current speaker to hear it; finish what he was saying or speaking to at the time; respond in a positive manner and then pause while I was invited to present an opening statement. Best damn half hour talk I have had in a long time. I really hope the gentlemen email me, because I have even more questions now that I have digested our first talk.
Where is the connection to coercion you ask? Well, most of my life people/companies have been telling me to do these 'things', buy these things, and generally toe the line in conforming to others' wishes. I _know_ I have been guilty of this also, so do not think I am just playing victim here. What I am saying is that you can coerce someone into the end result you seek, but all you gain in the process is a situation where you have bullied someone, and they have learned only resentment in the exchange.
I have thoroughly enjoyed all of my encounters, and feel education is _still_ the best path... Always. You may even end up teaching yourself something good... Just like I did... I'll never go back.
Good to meet you, let's exchange some knowledge. -egrep
3d moving real-time camera?
[originally published 17-Jul-09 12:40 on refiamerica.org]
Heard a Science Friday npr broadcast, where an associate professor at MIT 11 years ago was on talking about a "perfect mirror". This turned into a flexible mirror lined tube that does an awesome job of bending and controlling a laser beam that is perfect for specialized surgeries. This allows for many new, innovative types of of endoscopic surgery (no/minimal invasion/incision).
New developments described in a recent MIT paper detail how they developed a fiber based on the same principals that can detect and measure 8 different parameters of 2 wavelengths of light hitting it's surface. Lots of applications. One I dreamed up:
Imagine a fabric that could record all light hitting it. Imagine this being incorporated into a one piece body suit. Imagine a person wearing this suit in a crowd during a demonstration. Since the suit records all light hitting it, and can convert that light into images, this person waring this suit becomes a real-time 3d recording device, and could probably broadcast this data real-time.. Talk about citizen journalism... --egrep
Heard a Science Friday npr broadcast, where an associate professor at MIT 11 years ago was on talking about a "perfect mirror". This turned into a flexible mirror lined tube that does an awesome job of bending and controlling a laser beam that is perfect for specialized surgeries. This allows for many new, innovative types of of endoscopic surgery (no/minimal invasion/incision).
New developments described in a recent MIT paper detail how they developed a fiber based on the same principals that can detect and measure 8 different parameters of 2 wavelengths of light hitting it's surface. Lots of applications. One I dreamed up:
Imagine a fabric that could record all light hitting it. Imagine this being incorporated into a one piece body suit. Imagine a person wearing this suit in a crowd during a demonstration. Since the suit records all light hitting it, and can convert that light into images, this person waring this suit becomes a real-time 3d recording device, and could probably broadcast this data real-time.. Talk about citizen journalism... --egrep
Cap 'n Tax? In a way, yes. Will it really cost more?
[originally published 16-Jul-09 03:06 on refiamerica.org]
Everyone, even dems and the White House agree that the energy bill, with it's inclusion of the Cap and Trade provisions will cost America more money for energy. Since producers will be charged for the amount of carbon their energy production produces (be it generating electricity or burning gasoline in your car), the energy production method that produces the most carbon will pay the highest carbon rates. The production methods that produce the least carbon will pay the least. I suppose that consumers can sit back and blame the government for adding carbon costs when the utilities and others charge us for the difference, but why should we pay it? It is not our fault they burn coal to produce electricity. It's not our fault that gasoline engines average 25 mpg. Is there a silver lining? I think there is. Guess what? A utility that uses solar or wind pays less of a carbon penalty because those methods of producing electricity produce very little carbon. Same with hydroelectric. Ever wonder why some utilities offer the option for you to request that your electricity come from renewable resources. like wind or solar? Bet you can opt to request 100% green sources and not have to pay carbon penalties for your electricity. How long before utilities invest in green technologies if none of their customers are wiling to pay for power that has a high carbon price tag.
So, we can bend over and let the coal and oil companies continue to cut the tops off our eastern mountains, and drill into the arctic preserves to suck out a bit more of our precious petroleum, or we can tell the utilities that we want green, low carbon power now. Utilities usually need Public Utilities Commission approval to raise rates or to apply surcharges to your electric rates. If people go to these meeting and tell the PUC members that they will not pay higher rates because the utility will not convert from coal, then maybe the PUC will deny the rate hike. All of the sudden, the coal burning utility will have to pay the carbon surcharge themselves. hmmmm...
Gee, think this might increase the lagging demand for green energy? Stand up people! Let your legislators know you want low carbon choices. --egrep
Everyone, even dems and the White House agree that the energy bill, with it's inclusion of the Cap and Trade provisions will cost America more money for energy. Since producers will be charged for the amount of carbon their energy production produces (be it generating electricity or burning gasoline in your car), the energy production method that produces the most carbon will pay the highest carbon rates. The production methods that produce the least carbon will pay the least. I suppose that consumers can sit back and blame the government for adding carbon costs when the utilities and others charge us for the difference, but why should we pay it? It is not our fault they burn coal to produce electricity. It's not our fault that gasoline engines average 25 mpg. Is there a silver lining? I think there is. Guess what? A utility that uses solar or wind pays less of a carbon penalty because those methods of producing electricity produce very little carbon. Same with hydroelectric. Ever wonder why some utilities offer the option for you to request that your electricity come from renewable resources. like wind or solar? Bet you can opt to request 100% green sources and not have to pay carbon penalties for your electricity. How long before utilities invest in green technologies if none of their customers are wiling to pay for power that has a high carbon price tag.
So, we can bend over and let the coal and oil companies continue to cut the tops off our eastern mountains, and drill into the arctic preserves to suck out a bit more of our precious petroleum, or we can tell the utilities that we want green, low carbon power now. Utilities usually need Public Utilities Commission approval to raise rates or to apply surcharges to your electric rates. If people go to these meeting and tell the PUC members that they will not pay higher rates because the utility will not convert from coal, then maybe the PUC will deny the rate hike. All of the sudden, the coal burning utility will have to pay the carbon surcharge themselves. hmmmm...
Gee, think this might increase the lagging demand for green energy? Stand up people! Let your legislators know you want low carbon choices. --egrep
"ya pays me now, or ya pays me later"
[originally published 27-Jun-09 13:51 on refiamerica.org]
Hearing the voices against a climate control bill rant how "cap and trade will destroy the economy" and "cap and tax will be the biggest job killer ever voted on by congress", makes me just want to puke. A great quote in a recent renesys blog post sums up where America is right now in the global warming fight, "don't wait until the tanks are in the streets to figure this out, because by that point, you may have already lost the war". Of course reducing carbon is going to increase energy costs to consumers, but hey, "ya pays me now, or ya pays me later"... We can pay the up-front costs now, and the continued higher cost for energy that is so cheap to us now, or we can pay enormous sums of money and watch thousands die when droughts hit and the rising seas shrink coastlines. How secure will America be when unfriendly governments, seeing that their land is being destroyed and their economies are being ruined, decide to lash out at whomever has more resources or whom they think got them into this mess to start with. Yeah, not so secure. You think times are bad now...
Ok, I digress. Bottom line is that we are already way past stopping CO2 from screwing things up, and can only reduce what we can now and in the future and then adapt to the changes that will continue to plague the world for decades to come. NASA GISS recently released a study oh projections of peak oil's effect on the future climate. To quote that article:
Hearing the voices against a climate control bill rant how "cap and trade will destroy the economy" and "cap and tax will be the biggest job killer ever voted on by congress", makes me just want to puke. A great quote in a recent renesys blog post sums up where America is right now in the global warming fight, "don't wait until the tanks are in the streets to figure this out, because by that point, you may have already lost the war". Of course reducing carbon is going to increase energy costs to consumers, but hey, "ya pays me now, or ya pays me later"... We can pay the up-front costs now, and the continued higher cost for energy that is so cheap to us now, or we can pay enormous sums of money and watch thousands die when droughts hit and the rising seas shrink coastlines. How secure will America be when unfriendly governments, seeing that their land is being destroyed and their economies are being ruined, decide to lash out at whomever has more resources or whom they think got them into this mess to start with. Yeah, not so secure. You think times are bad now...
Ok, I digress. Bottom line is that we are already way past stopping CO2 from screwing things up, and can only reduce what we can now and in the future and then adapt to the changes that will continue to plague the world for decades to come. NASA GISS recently released a study oh projections of peak oil's effect on the future climate. To quote that article:
Other NASA studies show that the number at which we start seeing bad effects (the level past which life as evolved on earth starts being affected) is with a CO2 concentration of 350 ppm. Guess what? We have already past that number and are rising at a rate of 2 ppm/year. Not good. So not good that big Large Scale Integrators (LSI) like GE and other multinationals are now shifting resources and money from Carbon reduction research and planning to "Adaptation technologies" to allow regions to deal with rising seas and other climate related changes to their environments. So, the big 20+ year projecting producers in the world are already admitting that it is too late for parts of the world and are developing tech to help countries deal with rising seas. not good. --egrep"Previously published research shows that a dangerous level of global warming will occur if carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeds a concentration of about 450 parts per million. That's equivalent to about a 61 percent increase from the pre-industrial level of 280 parts per million, but only 17 percent more than the current level of 385 parts per million. The carbon dioxide cap is related to a global temperature rise of about 1.8°F above the 2000 global temperature, at or beyond which point the disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet and Arctic sea ice could set in motion feedbacks and lead to accelerated melting."
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