Try Not To Buy Seafood At Meijer

Sustainable Seafood Rankings

The bottom ranked chains are:

18. Meijer
19. H. E. Butt (H.E.B., Central Market)
20. Price Chopper

Recent Earth Science News Of Interest

Wired: Proof That Meteors Could Have Sparked Life on Earth

The simulation, conducted by a team of Japanese planetary materials scientists, produced compounds required to form the first cell and every subsequent organism.

"We use shock experiments to recreate the conditions surrounding the impact of chondritic meteorites into an early ocean," wrote the researchers in Nature Geoscience. "Organic molecules on the early Earth may have arisen from such impact syntheses."

Discovery: Life and Minerals Evolve Together

Before life evolved on Earth, the slow, inexorable grind of plate tectonics created a total of 1,500 mineral species. Now, Hazen said, most minerals require living creatures to spring into existence.

"That's about as far as we think you can get without life," he said. That means about two-thirds of all known minerals depend on Earth's living creatures to survive.

Chestnuts On The Verge

Perhaps just 150 years away to full reforestation!

See: Blight-resistant American chestnut trees nearing reality

General James Jones

12/11/2008 Update
Security Adviser Pick Stresses Oil Independence

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Gen. Jim Jones

The more I have read about Obama's pick for National Security Adviser the more impressed I have been.

USAToday: Jones not regarded as 'political general'

Slate: The Enforcer

Mmmm... Perchlorate

Words fail.

See: Feds Set to Eliminate Water Regulations for Neurotoxin

Among the Bush administration's final environmental legacies will be a decision to exempt perchlorate, a known neurotoxin found at unsafe levels in the drinking water of millions of Americans, from federal regulation.

Asteroids Scare Me

I have an unusual phobia about getting hit in the head by an asteroid. Glad to see the threat is getting more attention

See: World 'must tackle space threat'

Space Beer

ISS Space Barley Beer

A colloborative effort between the Russian Academy of Science, Okayama University and Sopporo Breweries in Japan has developed a beer that uses 100-percent barley grown on the International Space Station.

The Year Of Butanol

If 2007 was the year for biodiesel to become well known; 2008 the year for ethanol; then I believe 2009 will be the year for butanol.

See->
TechReview: Cheaper Butanol from Biomass

BW: Researchers push butanol as biofuel answer

Eco Links

Eco Friendly Flooring Guide is a Great Resource

New LED Light Bulbs Can Replace 100W Incandescents

"Designed To Cheat"

It is all about the chemistry of contraception and it sounds like a plausible hypothesis to me. From what I know of my friends who have divorced it was always the woman who left the relationship.

SciAm: Birth Control Pills Affect Women's Taste in Men

Recent research suggests that the contraceptive pill—which prevents women from ovulating by fooling their body into believing it is pregnant—could affect which types of men women desire. Going on or off the pill during a relationship, therefore, may tempt a woman away from her man.

But for a real eye-opener listen to an interview at CBC's Quirks and Quarks: Sniffing for Sex

Caprica

Sci Fi Greenlights Caprica TV Series

We only have to wait until 2010.

Tina Fey In Vanity Fair

Text by Maureen Dowd, photographs by Annie Leibovitz: What Tina Wants

"Get Your Hopes Up"

Mlive: 'Arrested Development' movie is a go. Rejoice!

and "come on George Michael": Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard Closing Deals for 'Arrested Development' Movie

While reading this update is certainly good news for Arrested Development fans, there's one catch. Word on the street is that one of the original cast members hasn't signed on to do the film and may not participate at all. Though sources aren't naming names, many are pointing their fingers to Michael Cera, who played young George Michael Bluth, as he was previously quoted as saying the film wasn't being made and shouldn't be made.

Granola Types

Outdoors people like to watch wildlife

A recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the participation rates and economic impact of hunting and fishing now trail those of wildlife watching.

A Talking Bear

Bear Grylls: How are we going to face up to energy crisis?

Fruit Fly Science

During the 2008 Presidential campaign Sarah Palin mocked fruit fly research in a speech about special needs kids and was subsequently made a fool of; and rightfully so.

See: Palin takes on fruit flies--And loses

Now fruit flies have provided more insight into childhood disorders.

See: Fruit fly discovery generates buzz about brain-damaging disorder in children

Nothing But Streets

Street View

Data visualization guru Ben Fry has created a unique map of the United States by displaying all of the nation’s 26 million roads—and nothing else

The iPhone Of Cars

TDI killed the ethanol star.

See the NYT: A High-Mileage Masterpiece

After my long 48-m.p.g. run, I started over and switched personalities, transforming into a late-for-school Autobahn instructor. Never dipping below 75 m.p.h., flogging every curve, the Jetta still returned a reasonable 36 m.p.g. When I flowed with traffic at 65 to 70 m.p.h., and made no effort to goose the mileage, the VW posted 42 m.p.g. And in city driving, the Jetta hit 32 m.p.g, again topping its official rating.

Yet my thrift was no match for Helen and John Taylor. In September, the Taylors, from Australia, drove a production Jetta TDI to a Guinness world record, averaging an incredible 58.8 m.p.g. for a 9,400-mile run through the 48 contiguous American states. The Taylors used just 11 tanks of fuel over 20 days, averaging 850 miles for each tank.

Real American Hero

Via SeriousEats: Grilled Doughnuts, Better Than Regular Doughnuts

Jawbreaker + Crimpshrine = Are You F'ing Kidding Me!?

God bless you Blake.

See Exclaim.ca: Ex-Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil Front-man Blake Schwarzenbach Reveals Thorns of Life

Suburbs Are Not Intrinsically Evil

It is how they're usually built that is so bad.

See:

MJ: How to Build Smarter Suburbs

Greener Prospects - "a unique consulting firm that bridges the gap between land-use planning and land conservation"

Recent Links About Neuroscience

Alternet: Are Human Beings Hard-Wired to Ignore the Threat of Catastrophic Climate Change?

The researchers also found that when proposed solutions to global warming clash with people's worldviews, those people are more likely to reject evidence of the problem altogether. For example, in one experiment, Kahan and his colleagues gave two groups of people two contrasting newspaper articles about global warming. Both reported the problem in similar terms: temperatures were rising, human behavior was the cause of climate change, and global warming could lead to disastrous environmental and economic consequences if left unaddressed. But the articles then went on to offer different solutions: one called for increased regulation of pollution emissions, while the other called for revitalization of nuclear power.

When people with a hierarchical worldview received the article that called for increased regulation-policies currently associated with a more egalitarian and liberal worldview-they were more likely to reject that global warming was a problem than when they received the article that called for a revitalization of nuclear power.

FT: Entrepreneurship is all in the mind

Scientists have shown what many have always suspected – that entrepreneurs’ brains are different to those of managers.

A study at Cambridge university, published on Thursday in the journal Nature, found that entrepreneurs’ brains were more active in the region responsible for taking “risky or hot” decisions.

WSJ: Journey to the Center of Warren Buffett's Mind

This detachment, I think, is one of Mr. Buffett’s greatest strengths. He has the ability to hover over his own actions and judgments, as if he were having an out-of-body experience, looking down and evaluating the man who made them as if he were someone else entirely.

In person, Mr. Buffett is as warm and empathetic a person as anyone I have ever met — but he also seems, in Ms. Schroeder’s telling, to be forever observing himself from a distance as well. There is, in her portrait of him, a streak of something at least mildly reminiscent of autism: a photographic memory, an effortless command of complex mental computations, an enduring obsession with collecting and measuring everything imaginable

Peanut Allergy News

This makes sense to me.

Early exposure to peanuts may prevent allergy

The researchers analyzed the prevalence of peanut allergy and diet histories for 5,171 Jewish children from the UK and 5,615 Jewish children from Israel.

They found that children from the UK had a prevalence of peanut allergy that was 10-fold higher than that of children from Israel...

"The most obvious difference in the diet of infants in both populations occurs in the introduction of peanut," they note. Approximately 69 percent of infants in Israel consume peanuts by 9 months of age, compared with just 10 percent of those in the UK.

Likewise, when compared with the UK mothers, the Israeli mothers consumed significantly more peanuts during pregnancy, Du Toit and colleagues point out.

The researchers suggest that recommendations to avoid peanut in early infancy could be behind the increase in peanut allergy in the UK, Australia and the US.

Won't Someone Please Think About The Children?

There are reports of wealthy New Yorkers pulling their children from private schools. Is there no God?

See: Pricey Schools Prepare for Problems

New Study Shows Health Benefits Of Urban Parks

Interesting British study showing that access to green spaces and parks improves people's health and also "counteracts the effects of poverty on deprivation".

See TH: Urban Parks Help Defeat Inequality

IEA Says Oil Production Will Peak By 2030

See: Energy agency sees oil price rising to $200 a barrel

The era of cheap oil is over, the International Energy Agency warned yesterday as it predicted crude values would soon rebound to above $100 a barrel and double again by 2030 as fields in the North Sea and elsewhere in the world declined faster than expected.

Watching Nader Become Irrelevant

I never cared for Ralph Nader politics. Now as his influence wanes he's become shrill and revealed as a one-trick pony.

See:
Nader: Obama might not protect consumers

Nader Defends Obama Slur

Revisiting McVeigh

Vanity Fair re-posted an article by Gore Vidal : The Meaning of Timothy McVeigh

Red, Blue, And Purple

Professor Newman has his 2008 Presidential Election Results Maps up.

2004


2008


CSMonitor has maps at Patchwork Nation.

WashingtonPost.com has 2008 Presidential Election results by county too.

Autism = Genes + Environmental Trigger

Scientist are now looking to identify the environmental triggers.

See:
Study showing evidence of a major environmental trigger for autism

Emasculation

I think this is a story we'll be hearing more about soon.

See: The disappearing male

More and more boys are being born with genital defects and are suffering from learning disabilities, autism and Tourette's syndrome, among other disorders.

Male infertility rates are on the rise and the quality of an average man's sperm is declining, according to some studies.

But perhaps the most disconcerting of all trends is the growing gender imbalance in many parts of heavily industrialized nations, where the births of baby boys have been declining for many years.

Vanity Fair's Latest Kate Winslet Interview

Isn’t She Deneuvely?

For someone whose résumé includes five Oscar nominations—at 31, she became the youngest actress to have achieved that milestone—Winslet exhibits a refreshing lack of pretension.

"It's Blowing Peace And Freedom"

Great Lakes states are getting ready for windfarm proposals.

See: Great Lakes eyed for offshore wind farms: 100,000 turbines could provide third of electricity needs for entire U.S.

The New Presidential Vehicle

See NYT: Presidential Power on the Road

Rolling Stone's 2005 Profile Of Rahm Emanuel

Ballet dancer and the basis for the West Wing's Josh Lyman.

See: The Enforcer

Serious Eats Second Alton Brown Interview

See: Chewing the Fat: Alton Brown on Race, Class, and Food

Also available as a video podcast.

Static, No. Dynamic, Yes.

I never was much of a stretcher and had my own routing of jumping rope before sporing events. Now I have been vindicated by science.

See NYT: Stretching: The Truth

Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them.

The Winner

Some great pictures at Boston.com: The next President of the United States

Additional insight from Newsweek:
Highlights from NEWSWEEK's special election project.

- The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.
- On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers—Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons—met to decide whether to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."
...
- The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

Chapter 1: How He Did It

Yes. We. Can. - the music video made from Obama's South Carolina post-primary speech.

Mother Earth Interviews Michael Pollan

The Michael Pollan Prescription: How to Eat Better and Avoid the Industrial Diet

Obama's Leadership and Experience

Most people who are reluctant to vote for Obama, despite their sympathies, usually argue that he lacks experience and/or has never led. However, key people in key industries are trusting in his abilities.

Deployed troops are giving by 6 to 1 to Obama.

And CIA folks want Obama in charge. See: Why CIA Veterans Are Scared of McCain and The Spies Who Love Obama

As has become painfully clear since 9/11, intelligence is only as good as the worldview of the person receiving it. The team of former intelligence professionals who have come together to advise Barack Obama describe a candidate who they believe is open-minded and intellectually inclined to absorb information—not just the recognized current threats (terrorism, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, a resurgent and more belligerent Russia), but the ones on the horizon (nuclear terrorism, water wars, climate change and the conflicts it could generate).

Investors are hoping for an Obama presidency too. See: Obama Bests McCain Among Bush-Backing Bankers

My Palin Problem

Before the Republican convention I didn't think Sarah Palin would be chosen because the Republicans would want to avoid the Senator Stevens connection. However, once she was named as the Vice Presidential pick I initially gave governor Palin the benefit of doubt. But that soon changed.

It wasn't because she is incurious and duplicitous.
See: Letter from Anne Kilkenny
What about that Anne Kilkenny e-mail?A: The facts in the e-mail message about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are mostly correct.

It wasn't because Tom Brokaw of all people found her debate treatment of the moderator disturbing.
See: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/08/10/16.php#22989

It wasn't that McCain's own treatment of her seems odd.
See: Is McCain's Treatment of Palin Sexist?

It was not because she needed to use notes during her interview with Katie Couric.
See: Sarah Palin used cliff's notes

It was not because she is a compulsive liar.
See: The Truth About Sarah Palin

It was not because she acts as though she is above the law.
See: Group Posts E-Mail Hacked From Palin Account and State funded Palin kids’ travel and Palin’s response to Troopergate report is ‘downright Orwellian

No, it is because as a parent, I could never imagine subjecting a child who was going through a difficult time to worldwide media scrutiny. And this is what Governor Palin did by accepting the VP nomination. She put her own child through a magnifying glass no parent should ever subject a minor child to, no matter what that child may say. If Governor Palin is willing to do this to her child what will she do to the country?

Fortunately Senator Obama put an end to the media coverage of Palin's pregnant daughter by telling his staff that anyone who discussed the issue would be fired. That immediately made it a non-issue. I am not sure McCain/Palin would have treated the Obama's the same way.

Full Palin coverage at the Anchorage Daily News Special Sarah Palin section

John McCain 2008 Is Not John McCain 2000

McCain's change from 2000 is what has most bothered me about his campaign. In July I was looking forward to a presidential election with two pleasing candidates; but then McCain changed.

People have compiled lists of his changes
See:
John McCain’s 44 Flip-Flops

Jukebox John keeps changing his tune: The John McCain Flip Flop list

So why do McCain’s flip-flops matter? Because all available evidence suggests his reversals aren’t sincere, they’re cynically calculated for political gain. This isn’t indicative of an open mind; it’s actually indicative of a character flaw. And given the premise of McCain’s presidential campaign, it’s an area in desperate need of scrutiny.

The perception people have of McCain is outdated, reflective of a man who no longer has any use for his previous persona. What’s wrong with a politician who changes his or her views? Nothing in particular, but when a politician changes his views so much that he has an entirely different worldview, is it unreasonable to wonder whether it’s entirely sincere? Especially when there’s no other apparent explanation for six dozen significant reversals?

McCain has been in Congress for more than a quarter-century; he’s bound to shift now and then on various controversies. But therein lies the point — McCain was consistent on most of these issues, right up until he started running for president, at which point he conveniently abandoned literally dozens of positions he used to hold. The problem isn’t just the incessant flip-flops — though that’s part of it — it’s more about the shameless pandering and hollow convictions behind the incessant flip-flops. That the media still perceives McCain as some kind of “straight talker” who refuses to sway with the political winds makes this all the more glaring.

And a small sampling of articles on how McCain has changed since 2000:
The New McCain: More Aggressive and Scripted on the Campaign Trail

For anyone who has covered Mr. McCain over the last decade, this new version of the candidate can be a striking sight.

Selling His Soul

In fact, America is weaker on almost all fronts today than we were eight years ago. I can't tell if McCain understands this or not, but I assume not since he doesn't propose to substantially change either the policies or the worldview that have gotten us here. However, I think McCain does realize that the American public understands this, which is why he's doing everything possible to distract them from it. Look over there! Barack Obama wants to teach your kindergarteners about sex!

And it might work. It has before, after all. But I continue to think that it won't this time. The public doesn't seem to have made up its mind yet about whether Obama can truly bring about serious change, but once the ur-distraction of Sarah Palin wears off they're almost certain to realize that McCain definitely won't. He's another Herbert Hoover, a once well-meaning man who never fully understood what he was up against — and when this election is over I wouldn't be surprised to see McCain suffer the same fate: lost to history as a symbol of a previous era, and ending his career with increasingly bitter denunciations of a public mood and a changing world that he can barely comprehend.

Looks like John McCain is McChanging his tune

Now that he has appropriated Barack Obama's theme of change, John McCain has become its most obvious victim. No one now knows what he stands for or what he believes.

Lie to Me

I am suggesting the McCain campaign is the first campaign, certainly in modern political history, that has decided that truth is entirely optional, and isn’t afraid to come right out and say it. And it’s working — and might well work all the way to the steps of the White House.

McCain opts out of hard truths

McCain's Integrity

Make-Believe Maverick [don't read this story if you are a McCain supporter as it will change your mind]

Few politicians have so actively, or successfully, crafted their own myth of greatness. In McCain's version of his life, he is a prodigal son who, steeled by his brutal internment in Vietnam, learned to put "country first." Remade by the Keating Five scandal that nearly wrecked his career, the story goes, McCain re-emerged as a "reformer" and a "maverick," righteously eschewing anything that "might even tangentially be construed as a less than proper use of my office."

It's a myth McCain has cultivated throughout his decades in Washington. But during the course of this year's campaign, the mask has slipped. "Let's face it," says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn't bend his principles for politics. That's just not true."

We have now watched McCain run twice for president. The first time he positioned himself as a principled centrist and decried the politics of Karl Rove and the influence of the religious right, imploring voters to judge candidates "by the example we set, by the way we conduct our campaigns, by the way we personally practice politics." After he lost in 2000, he jagged hard to the left — breaking with the president over taxes, drilling, judicial appointments, even flirting with joining the Democratic Party.

In his current campaign, however, McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000. He has embraced those he once denounced as "agents of intolerance," promised more drilling and deeper tax cuts, even compromised his vaunted opposition to torture. Intent on winning the presidency at all costs, he has reassembled the very team that so viciously smeared him and his family eight years ago, selecting as his running mate a born-again moose hunter whose only qualification for office is her ability to electrify Rove's base. And he has engaged in a "practice of politics" so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it, saying that the outright lies in McCain's campaign ads go "too far" and fail the "truth test."

The missing piece of this puzzle, says a former McCain confidant who has fallen out with the senator over his neoconservatism, is a third, never realized, campaign that McCain intended to run against Bush in 2004. "McCain wanted a rematch, based on ethics, campaign finance and Enron — the corrupt relationship between Bush's team and the corporate sector," says the former friend, a prominent conservative thinker with whom McCain shared his plans over the course of several dinners in 2001. "But when 9/11 happened, McCain saw his chance to challenge Bush again was robbed. He saw 9/11 gave Bush and his failed presidency a second life. He saw Bush and Cheney's ability to draw stark contrasts between black and white, villains and good guys. And that's why McCain changed." (The McCain campaign did not respond to numerous requests for comment from Rolling Stone.)

Indeed, many leading Republicans who once admired McCain see his recent contortions to appease the GOP base as the undoing of a maverick. "John McCain's ambition overrode his basic character," says Rita Hauser, who served on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2001 to 2004. But the truth of the matter is that ambition is John McCain's basic character. Seen in the sweep of his seven-decade personal history, his pandering to the right is consistent with the only constant in his life: doing what's best for himself. To put the matter squarely: John McCain is his own special interest.

"John has made a pact with the devil," says Lincoln Chafee, the former GOP senator, who has been appalled at his one-time colleague's readiness to sacrifice principle for power. Chafee and McCain were the only Republicans to vote against the Bush tax cuts. They locked arms in opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And they worked together in the "Gang of 14," which blocked some of Bush's worst judges from the federal bench.

"On all three — sadly, sadly, sadly — McCain has flip-flopped," Chafee says. And forget all the "Country First" sloganeering, he adds. "McCain is putting himself first. He's putting himself first in blinking neon lights."

What America Has Lost In The Last Eight Years

Are these the measures of the world's greatest country?

- The United States ranks 42nd in the world for life expectancy.
- The US infant mortality rate is on a par with that of Croatia, Cuba, Estonia and Poland.
- The US has a higher percentage of children living in poverty than any of the world's richest countries.
- 14% of the population - some 40 million Americans - lack the literacy skills to perform simple, everyday tasks such as understanding newspaper articles and instruction manuals.
- The US has 5% of the world's people but 24% of its prisoners
- Life span of the average American is shorter now than in 2000
- Height of the average American is less now when compared to Europeans
- Broadband access and speed is less than other countries
- Fatalities per distance driven has increased since 2000
- the population of New Orleans in 2000 was 450,000; in 2008 it was 239,124
- In 2000 spinach was safe to eat
- In 2000 the 4th Amendment meant something
- In 2000 the United States didn't torture people
- In 2000 1000 civilian contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq were safe
- In 2000 the average price of gasoline was $1.51. In 2006 it was $2.59.
- The United States now has newborn death rate that is second worst of developed countries
- Life expectancy in the United States is 38th, right behind Cuba
- Real wages were less in 2005 than in 2000 (first time average income decreased since WWII)
- More measles cases in 2008 than in 1996
- The number of incarcerated persons has swelled from 1.9 million to 2.3 million
- Fewer countries are looking to the United States for legal guidance
- The national debt was $5.7 trillion in 2000. It is over $10 trillion now
- The US economy in 2008 is worse than in 2000

January 19, 2001: 10,587.59
September 29, 2008: 10,365.45

NASDAQ Jan 19, 2001 = 2770.38
NASDAQ September 29, 2008 = 1983.73

CPI, January 19, 2001: 175
CPI, September 29, 2008: 219

Dollar exchange with Euro, January 19, 2001: 1.068
Dollar exchange with Euro, September 29, 2008: .695

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/automobiles/22SAFETY.html
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb0524.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/business/21tax.html
http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r080821.htm
http://blog.aclu.org/2008/09/17/the-constitutional-aches-and-pains-of-over-incarceration/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/18legal.html
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/09/29/the-bush-economy/
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/02/debt-10-trillion/
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS160045+10-Jul-2008+BW20080710

The Other Shoes Will Drop Soon

These are three things I have been telling family and friends as to why things will get worse before they get better.

1. Peak oil is no longer debatable. FT: World will struggle to meet oil demand

Output from the world’s oilfields is declining faster than previously thought, the first authoritative public study of the biggest fields shows.

Without extra investment to raise production, the natural annual rate of output decline is 9.1 per cent, the International Energy Agency says in its annual report, the World Energy Outlook, a draft of which has been obtained by the Financial Times.

The findings suggest the world will struggle to produce enough oil to make up for steep declines in existing fields, such as those in the North Sea, Russia and Alaska, and meet long-term de­mand. The effort will become even more acute as prices fall and investment decisions are delayed.

The IEA, the oil watchdog, forecasts that China, India and other developing countries’ demand will require investments of $360bn each year until 2030.

The agency says even with investment, the annual rate of output decline is 6.4 per cent.

2. American consumers are tapped out. WP: Finance Crisis Hits Credit Card Business

Credit card companies say that their charge-offs of delinquent debt from card-holders have spiked to 5.5 percent, and could jump to 8 percent in coming months, a level not seen since the dot-com bust in 2001, The New York Times reports.

3. New car sales are almost non-existent which will lead to further job losses. See: Car sales are going from bad to worse

Serious Eats Interviews Alton Brown

Chewing the Fat: Alton Brown on Donuts

The Obama Endorsement Train Keeps Chugging

Technology All-Star Tim O'Reilly: Why I Support Barack Obama

Because this is a tech blog, not a political blog, though, I primarily want to address the subject of why members of the technical community should join me in supporting Barack Obama. (The New York Times has made a compelling case based on the broader issues, as has Colin Powell.) I outline four principal reasons:

1. Connected, Transparent Government
2. The Financial Crisis
3. Climate Change
4. Net Neutrality

Francis Fukuyama (key formulator of the Reagan Doctrine) in The American Conservative magazine: I’m voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush.

IHT: NH Republican quits McCain campaign to back Obama

A prominent New Hampshire Republican who was an alternate delegate to the party's nominating convention is quitting John McCain's campaign and endorsing Barack Obama.

Fred Bramante says he is resigning as a member of McCain's New Hampshire Leadership Committee. He had been a co-chairman of Mike Huckabee's New Hampshire presidential campaign and joined McCain after the former Arkansas governor dropped out of the race.

Bramante, a member of the state Board of Education, said he opposes McCain's support of school vouchers, which he said politicians must abandon if they want to improve education.

Bramante said he's concluded that McCain would do little to improve education, while Obama supports new and innovative ideas.

George F. Will, who still won't endorse Obama but doesn't have to when he calls out McCain and expresses admiration for Obama: Call Him John the Careless

From the invasion of Iraq to the selection of Sarah Palin, carelessness has characterized recent episodes of faux conservatism

Holy Schnikeys! The Economist?: It's time: America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world

The selection of Mr McCain as the Republicans’ candidate was a powerful reason to reconsider. Mr McCain has his faults: he is an instinctive politician, quick to judge and with a sharp temper. And his age has long been a concern (how many global companies in distress would bring in a new 72-year-old boss?). Yet he has bravely taken unpopular positions—for free trade, immigration reform, the surge in Iraq, tackling climate change and campaign-finance reform. A western Republican in the Reagan mould, he has a long record of working with both Democrats and America’s allies.
If only the real John McCain had been running

That, however, was Senator McCain; the Candidate McCain of the past six months has too often seemed the victim of political sorcery, his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated. The fiscal conservative who once tackled Mr Bush over his unaffordable tax cuts now proposes not just to keep the cuts, but to deepen them. The man who denounced the religious right as “agents of intolerance” now embraces theocratic culture warriors. The campaigner against ethanol subsidies (who had a better record on global warming than most Democrats) came out in favour of a petrol-tax holiday. It has not all disappeared: his support for free trade has never wavered. Yet rather than heading towards the centre after he won the nomination, Mr McCain moved to the right.

Meanwhile his temperament, always perhaps his weak spot, has been found wanting. Sometimes the seat-of-the-pants method still works: his gut reaction over Georgia—to warn Russia off immediately—was the right one. Yet on the great issue of the campaign, the financial crisis, he has seemed all at sea, emitting panic and indecision. Mr McCain has never been particularly interested in economics, but, unlike Mr Obama, he has made little effort to catch up or to bring in good advisers (Doug Holtz-Eakin being the impressive exception).

The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice.
...
Is Mr Obama any better? Most of the hoopla about him has been about what he is, rather than what he would do. His identity is not as irrelevant as it sounds. Merely by becoming president, he would dispel many of the myths built up about America: it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; and far harder for autocrats around the world to claim that American democracy is a sham. America’s allies would rally to him: the global electoral college on our website shows a landslide in his favour. At home he would salve, if not close, the ugly racial wound left by America’s history and lessen the tendency of American blacks to blame all their problems on racism.
...
Political fire, far from rattling Mr Obama, seems to bring out the best in him: the furore about his (admittedly ghastly) preacher prompted one of the most thoughtful speeches of the campaign. On the financial crisis his performance has been as assured as Mr McCain’s has been febrile. He seems a quick learner and has built up an impressive team of advisers, drawing in seasoned hands like Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. Of course, Mr Obama will make mistakes; but this is a man who listens, learns and manages well.

Bad Idea

Not jeans, but this from the NYT: A Push for Bailout Money to Help Car Buyers

Getting more people to purchase Detroit automobiles may help those companies in the short-term but over the next few years will simply exacerbate a used-car bubble. Perhaps people should be encouraged to purchase vehicles meeting certain requirements such as miles per gallon and emissions?

Alternatives

Instead of the NRA whose main goal is self-promotion, the American Hunters and Shooters Association.

Instead of the AAA which promotes road building and opposes curbs on CO2 emissions, Better World Club.

Newspapers For Obama

Amazingly, the UK's Financial Times: Obama is the better choice

In our view, it is enough to be confident that Mr Obama is the right choice.

At the outset, we were not so confident. Mr Obama is inexperienced. His policies are a blend of good, not so good and downright bad. Since the election will strengthen Democratic control of Congress, a case can be made for returning a Republican to the White House: divided government has a better record in the United States than government united under either party.

So this ought to have been a close call. With a week remaining before the election, we cannot feel that it is.

Mr Obama fought a much better campaign. Campaigning is not the same as governing, and the presidency should not be a prize for giving the best speeches, devising the best television advertisements, shaking the most hands and kissing the most babies.

Nonetheless, a campaign is a test of leadership. Mr Obama ran his superbly; Mr McCain’s has often looked a shambles. After eight years of George W. Bush, the steady competence of the Obama operation commands respect.

Nor should one disdain Mr Obama’s way with a crowd. Good presidents engage the country’s attention; great ones inspire. Mr McCain, on form, is an adequate speaker but no more. Mr Obama, on form, is as fine a political orator as the country has heard in decades. Put to the right purposes, this is no mere decoration but a priceless asset.

NYT: Barack Obama for President

Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.

In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.

Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.

Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.

In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”

Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.

Anchorage Daily News: Obama for president

Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

The Chicago Tribune: Barack Obama for president
Quite a remarkable endorsement; some excerpts:

Many Americans say they're uneasy about Obama. He's pretty new to them.

We can provide some assurance. We have known Obama since he entered politics a dozen years ago. We have watched him, worked with him, argued with him as he rose from an effective state senator to an inspiring U.S. senator to the Democratic Party's nominee for president.

We have tremendous confidence in his intellectual rigor, his moral compass and his ability to make sound, thoughtful, careful decisions. He is ready.

The change that Obama talks about so much is not simply a change in this policy or that one. It is not fundamentally about lobbyists or Washington insiders. Obama envisions a change in the way we deal with one another in politics and government. His opponents may say this is empty, abstract rhetoric. In fact, it is hard to imagine how we are going to deal with the grave domestic and foreign crises we face without an end to the savagery and a return to civility in politics.

This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president...

...We do, though, think Obama would govern as much more of a pragmatic centrist than many people expect.

We know first-hand that Obama seeks out and listens carefully and respectfully to people who disagree with him. He builds consensus. He was most effective in the Illinois legislature when he worked with Republicans on welfare, ethics and criminal justice reform.

He worked to expand the number of charter schools in Illinois--not popular with some Democratic constituencies.

He took up ethics reform in the U.S. Senate--not popular with Washington politicians.

His economic policy team is peppered with advisers who support free trade. He has been called a "University of Chicago Democrat"--a reference to the famed free-market Chicago school of economics, which puts faith in markets.

Obama is deeply grounded in the best aspirations of this country, and we need to return to those aspirations. He has had the character and the will to achieve great things despite the obstacles that he faced as an unprivileged black man in the U.S.

He has risen with his honor, grace and civility intact. He has the intelligence to understand the grave economic and national security risks that face us, to listen to good advice and make careful decisions.

When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that we weren't a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union the way Abraham Lincoln did.

It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation's most powerful office, he will prove it wasn't so audacious after all. We are proud to add Barack Obama's name to Lincoln's in the list of people the Tribune has endorsed for president of the United States.

Editor & Publisher compiles a complete list: Tally Of Newspaper Endorsements -- Obama Widens Lead to 231-102

Obama's lopsided margin, including most of the major papers that have decided so far, is in stark contrast to John Kerry barely edging George W. Bush in endorsements in 2004 by 213 to 205. Obama, with 231, has already easily topped Kerry's number with many more yet to be tallied.

At least 46 papers have now switched to Obama from Bush in 2004, with just four flipping to McCain (see separate story on our site). In addition, several top papers that went for Bush in 2004 have now chosen not to endorse this year, the latest being the Indianapolis Star in key swing state Indiana.

The Chicago Tribune endorsed Obama--the first Democrat that it has backed in its long history. Three of the top five dailies in deep red state Texas switched from Bush to Obama this time.

And if you have ever wondered if newspaper endorsements mattered: Yes, Newspaper Endorsements Matter…

Conservative Obama Endorsements

Shocking endorsement of Obama by conservative legal titan Fried

In perhaps the most significant Republican defection yet, former Reagan Justice Department official Charles Fried, who had previously endorsed McCain and served on committees for the McCain campaign, has announced that he voted absentee ballot for Obama.

Fried also asked that his name be removed from McCain campaign literature. One of the primary reasons: Sarah Palin.

Former GOP senator, vet backs Obama

Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in the United States Senate, is the latest Republican to back Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Politico learned Sunday.

Pressler, who said that in addition to casting an absentee ballot for Obama he'd donated $500 to the Illinois senator's campaign, cited the Democrat's response to the financial crisis as the primary reason for his decision.

"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better," he said. By contrast, John McCain's "handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous."

Cass R. Sunstein [this is a very well expressed endorsement]

He [Obama] did not want to take a public position until he had listened to, and explored, what might be said on the other side. He took the law exceedingly seriously, and he wanted to get the statutory and constitutional provisions right.

This is the Barack Obama I have known for nearly 15 years -- a careful and even-handed analyst of law and policy, unusually attentive to multiple points of view.

The University of Chicago Law School is by far the most conservative of the great American law schools. It helped to provide the academic foundations for many positions of the Reagan administration.
But at the University of Chicago, Obama is liked and admired by Republicans and Democrats alike.

Some of the local Reagan enthusiasts are Obama supporters. Why? It doesn't hurt that he's a great guy, with a personal touch and a lot of warmth. It certainly helps that he is exceptionally able.
But niceness and ability are only part of the story. Obama also has a genuinely independent mind, he's a terrific listener and he goes wherever reason takes him.

McClellan Endorses Obama

CC Goldwater: Why McCain Has Lost Our Vote

Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.

My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported.

Susan Eisenhower: Why I'm Backing Obama

House Links

CS Monitor: Everhouse: A new plan for post-Katrina homes

the Everhouse, a single-family home built from concrete wall panels that are wind-, fire-, mold-, and pest-resistant. About $68 per square foot, the Everhouse is about half the cost of affordable housing in some Gulf Coast cities

CS Monitor: All the family under one roof

NYT: Up, Up and Away

Carbon Capture Farming

Idle Farmlands Could Become Profitable Carbon Storage Banks

"Our research shows that we're surprisingly close to the tipping point where tree plantations on large areas of idle farmlands would be profitable," said Froese. "If chip prices increase because of increased demand for wood fiber from a number of bioenergy projects being developed in Michigan, this alone could be sufficient."

Teddy

McCain's Hero: More Socialist Than Obama!

McCain can call Obama a socialist or he can call Teddy Roosevelt his hero. He can't do both.

"I Think It'll Electrify The World"

Rebranding the U.S. With Obama

In his endorsement, Mr. Powell added that an Obama election “will also not only electrify our country, I think it’ll electrify the world.” You can already see that. A 22-nation survey by the BBC found that voters abroad preferred Mr. Obama to Mr. McCain in every single country — by four to one over all. Nearly half of those in the BBC poll said that the election of Mr. Obama, an African-American, would “fundamentally change” their perceptions of the United States.

Choosing A New Car, Meet Web 2.0

In the past I created a "choose a new vehicle" spreadsheet to weigh different attributes and score cars objectively. Now there's a web site that does kind of the same thing.

See: CarZen

[Via Lifehacker]

Sneaky Ground Cover

Plant Edible Ground Cover

For fruiting ground cover, try planting a mix of lingonberries, strawberries, American cranberry, Creeping Oregon grape (tart but edible) and wintergreen. With the wintergreen you can use both the leaves and the berries that appear during the winter.

If you want to stick with herbs your best bets are sage, mint, oregano, chamomile and thyme. All of these grow low to the ground and are good spreaders.

Cherries Get Better

Research identifies new link between tart cherries and risk factors for heart disease

New research continues to link tart cherries, one of today's hottest "Super Fruits," to lowering risk factors for heart disease. In addition to lowering cholesterol and reducing inflammation, the study being presented by University of Michigan researchers at next week's American Dietetic Association annual meeting, found that a cherry-enriched diet lowered body weight and fat – major risk factors for heart disease.

And most of the United States' tart cherries come from Traverse City, MI.

Geologists Love Beer

And geologists especially love beer made from 45 million year old yeast.
See: Eocene Yeast Used to Make Beer

This is being done by Fossil Fuels Brewing Company and requires a visiting northern California for a taste, but it is probably worth the trip.

Managing The Economy

(I've mentioned this before)

Why the economy fares much better under Democrats

In fact, over the past 60 years, the real incomes of middle-income families have grown about twice as fast under Democratic presidents as they have under Republican presidents. The partisan difference is even greater for working poor families, whose real incomes have grown six times as fast under Democratic presidents as they have under Republican presidents.

Extra-Solar Links

PhysOrg: An American fighter pilot flying from an English air base at the height of the Cold War was ordered to open fire on a massive UFO that lit up his radar, according to an account published by Britain's National Archives on Monday

In the newly published government file, the U.S. airman said the UFO appeared impossible to miss.

"The blip was burning a hole in the radar with its incredible intensity," the pilot said. "It was similar to a blip I had received from B-52's and seemed to be a magnet of light. ... I had a lock on that had the proportions of a flying aircraft carrier."

As he closed in on the object to prepare for combat, however, the object began to move wildly before fading off his radar. The target gone, the mission was called off, and he returned to base to an odd reception.

"I had not the foggiest idea what had actually occurred, nor would anyone explain anything to me," the pilot said. He said he was led to a man in civilian clothes, who "advised me that this would be considered highly classified and that I should not discuss it with anybody not even my commander."

CSMonitor: How many civilizations are in our galaxy?

The answer is 361.

RSV And Asthma

PhysOrh: RSV may hide in the lungs, lead to asthma, researchers report

The Mind Of An Eight-Year-Old

At the magical age of eight, belief synchs with behavior

"Just saying to a child, 'You know this is wrong. Why do you keep doing it?' may not be an effective strategy before the age of 8," Davis-Kean said. "Younger children may know it's wrong, but they haven't associated that knowledge with their own behavior."

With children younger than age 8, it may be more effective to try to change their behaviors directly—either by giving them time-outs to discourage negative behavior or by rewarding them for positive behavior.

With children over the age of 8, encouraging children to think differently about their behavior may have more of an impact, she said.

More People For Obama

Petraeus, again.
The Afghanistan Test: Petraeus' and NATO's new strategy is much closer to Obama's than McCain's.

Powell
Powell Backs Obama and Criticizes McCain Tactics

Mr. Powell said he was dismayed by the tenor of the campaign, declared that Mr. McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, was not fit to be vice president, expressed displeasure with the direction of the Republican Party and called Mr. McCain scattered on his approach to the economy.

Help In Finding A New Home

Homethinking

Learn a New City in No Time by Comparing Neighborhoods & Towns!

[Via Lifehacker]

Vanity Fair On The Theft Of American Wilderness

Sale of the Wild

Department of the Interior employees are horrified by how Secretary Gale Norton and her powerful deputy, J. Steven Griles, have allowed industry to exploit America’s wilderness. Probing stealthy bureaucratic maneuvers and Griles’s ties to coal, oil, and gas, the author finds a massive, irreversible landgrab.

More Voices Speak Up For Obama

Conservatives:

Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama: The son of William F. Buckley has decided—shock!—to vote for a Democrat.

Vote Obama. McCain lacks the character and temperament to be president. And Palin is simply a disgrace

With McCain, the "experience" is subject to sharply diminishing returns, as is the rest of him, and with Palin the very word itself is a sick joke. One only wishes that the election could be over now and a proper and dignified verdict rendered, so as to spare democracy and civility the degradation to which they look like being subjected in the remaining days of a low, dishonest campaign.

Former governor Milliken backs away from McCain

"He is not the McCain I endorsed," said Milliken, reached at his Traverse City home Thursday. "He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me...

Milliken stopped short of saying he will vote for Obama, but said he differs with McCain on the Iraq war and his choice of Palin.

"I know John McCain is 72. In my book, that's quite young," said Milliken, 86, Michigan's longest-serving governor. But he added, "What if she were to become president of the United States? The idea, to me, is quite disturbing, if not appalling.

"Increasingly, the party is moving toward rigidity, and I don't like that. I think Gerald Ford would hold generally the same view I'm holding on the direction of the Republican Party."

A long list here: More Republicans for Obama: “John McCain is not a principled man”

And at Obama's site:
Smart People:

Internet Co-inventor, Vint Cerf Endorses Obama

Alton Brown Linkfest

See:
Food Network's Alton Brown Talks to Giz: Caribbean Adventuring With a Garmin, an iPhone and a Shload of Cameras

Food Network celebrity Alton Brown dissects the topic of sustainability

Alton Brown's Good Eats to go sustainable

Who Supports Obama?

Just a few off the top of my head...

Troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
See: Troops Deployed Abroad Give 6:1 to Obama

Nobel laureates.
See: 61 Nobel Laureates in Science Endorse Obama

Professional economists.
See: Survey: Economists Overwhelmingly Prefer Obama

Most people with graduate degrees.
See: Candidate Support by Education

General Petreaus
See: Petraeus Talk Bolsters Obama

What Is Wrong With You?

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America report card gives Senator McCain a D.

Obama and Biden both get a B.

Neko Case Links

ACL review: Neko Case

A surprisingly small crowd was on hand to see sometime New Pornographer Neko Case at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on the AMD Stage.

(What is wrong with these people?)

Musician, dog lover, activist

If you're in the process of adopting a greyhound from a local [Tucson] agency and the red-headed handler looks familiar, you're not crazy: That's Neko Case.
The alt-country and folk singer-songwriter volunteers from time to time at a local greyhound adoption agency.

Neko Case has spoken: She wants to be a ninja

Oh Meijer. You Make It So Hard For Me To Hate You

Meijer chain offers online bulk-buying program

Meijer has launched an online "groceries by the case" service that sells items in bulk amounts and offers free shipping for orders of $150 or more.

Stocking The Pantry With Planet Green

Planet Green - Preserving The Harvest

(Includes canning how-to's for strawberries, pears, peppers, etc)

Shark Bites Dog

Man dives in to save dog from Fla. shark attack

Snow. On Mars.

This is amazing.
Mars Lander Sees Falling Snow, Soil Data Suggest Liquid Past

Another Example Of Unintended Consequences

How the housing crisis makes the labor market less efficient. See Slate.com: You've Just Been Offered a Great New Job in Charlotte!

And now it turns out that the current crisis might also undermine the efficient redeployment of human resources. A well-timed recent study by economists Fernando Ferreira, Joseph Gyourko, and Joseph Tracy finds that homeowners who have "negative equity" in their homes—that is, a mortgage that exceeds its resale value—are 50 percent less likely to move than those who can afford to pay off their mortgages with a home sale. Given where the housing market is headed, millions of workers may be locked in place in the years to come, throwing yet more sand into the gears of America's market economy. A great job opportunity in Charlotte, N.C., isn't worth much to you if you can't (or won't) sell your house in Tampa, Fla.

Seems Too Good To Be True

Carbon Sciences Developing Technology to Convert CO2 to Fuel

Is Being A Conservative A Mental Defect?

As half of the United States continues to support the Republicans despite example after example of failed policies I am left to wonder - Why?

Well, I've read about various studies from the past few years where new neuroscience tools are being used to watch people's brains as they make decisions. What these studies show is that people who self-identify as being conservative are not very good at dealing with new information.

See:

What Makes People Vote Republican?

What makes people vote Republican? Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies? We psychologists have been examining the origins of ideology ever since Hitler sent us Germany's best psychologists, and we long ago reported that strict parenting and a variety of personal insecurities work together to turn people against liberalism, diversity, and progress. But now that we can map the brains, genes, and unconscious attitudes of conservatives, we have refined our diagnosis: conservatism is a partially heritable personality trait that predisposes some people to be cognitively inflexible, fond of hierarchy, and inordinately afraid of uncertainty, change, and death. People vote Republican because Republicans offer "moral clarity"—a simple vision of good and evil that activates deep seated fears in much of the electorate. Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason with their long-winded explorations of policy options for a complex world.

Democrats and Republicans Both Adept at Ignoring Facts, Study Finds

The study points to a total lack of reason in political decision-making.

Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain

...scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.

Why we vote the way we do

For both the 2000 and 2004 elections, the analysis showed that negative perceptions of Democratic candidates Al Gore and John Kerry were more pivotal in putting a Republican in the White House than were positive perceptions of George Bush.

Update 9/19/2008 - more stories about the Conservatives' mental defect:
Left, Right; Obama, McCain: It may not be what you think

Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals, Say Scientists

Update 9/26/2008
What's the difference between a liberal and conservative?

Political conservatives operate out of a fear of chaos and absence of order while political liberals operate out of a fear of emptiness, a new Northwestern University study soon to be published in the Journal of Research in Personality finds

Update 9/30/2008
Two Genes Predict Voter Turnout

In this article, we hypothesize that people with more transcriptionally efficient alleles of the MAOA and 5HTT genes are more likely to vote. An association between a gene and political behavior may also be moderated by environmental factors. This phenomenon is known as a gene-environment (GxE) interaction (Shanahan and Hofer 2005). We therefore also hypothesize that an association between each of these genes and voting may be moderated by social activity. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we conduct gene and gene-environment association tests on the relationship between turnout and MAOA and 5HTT. The results show that both genes are significantly associated with the decision to vote. Moreover, the association between 5HTT and turnout is moderated by exposure to religious social activity. These findings have important implications for how we both model and measure political interactions.

My Best Friend Is A Sled Dog

New research explains the super-athleticism of sled dogs

New research suggests the canines are superior to most other mammals, including humans, in at least three key areas: They are unusually adept at adapting to exercise, they have superior aerobic capacity and are unusually efficient in using food as fuel.

Bike To Work Pants

What a great idea! Business on the outside, reflective on the inside.

Cordarounds Bike-to-Work pants with reflective Teflon cuff

This Sounds Familiar

From February, 2000:

McCain Backs Out of Debate In California

With new polls showing his campaign dead in the water among California Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain has pulled out of a long-scheduled debate with Texas Gov. George Bush, set for Thursday in Los Angeles.

McCain SMASH!

Will Ford Be In Time?

Ford to bring six fuel-efficient European models stateside

A 40+ mpg diesel C-Max would be a great thing.

Game Over Man...

If this "methane leak" is confirmed and expands then the current crisis will seem quaint.

See: The methane time bomb

The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.

I Eat That Much Every Day

PhysOrg: Dark chocolate: Half a bar per week to keep at bay the risk of heart attack

The Least Effective Presidents

It seems to me that the two self-described evangelicals have been the two least effective presidents. Yet there is a group of voters who want more evangelicals in office. A search for this topic turned up this story at NPR: The 'Religionization' Of The Oval Office

A Few Bad Days For McCain

9/17/2008
McCain Leaves GM Plant To Chants Of Obama 08'


9/22/2008
The Humane Society makes its first-ever presidential endorsement.

While we've endorsed hundreds of congressional candidates for election, both Democrats and Republicans, we've never before endorsed a presidential candidate. We have members on the left, in the center, and on the right, and we knew it could be controversial to choose either party's candidate for the top office in the nation. But in an era of sweeping presidential power, we must weigh in on this most important political race in the country. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option for us.

I'm proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors -- which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans -- has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President.

9/23/2008
George Will backhandedly endorses Obama with Is McCain Fit for the Presidency?

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

9/24/2008 AM
Economic Fears Give Obama Clear Lead Over McCain in Poll

9/24/2008 PM
McCain concedes? Or just quits for the time being? Stunt Man

9/24/2008 Late Night
John McCain outright lies to David Letterman, and Letterman turns on him.
Sizzle! David Letterman Skewers McCain Over Cancellation (with video)

It Is Okay When We Do It

DHS Report Says Leave Laptops At Home

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security appears to be of two minds about the security of information on portable devices.

On the one hand, it defends border searches of laptops as necessary to limit the movements of terrorists, to deter child pornography, and to enforce U.S. laws.

"One of our most important enforcement tools in this regard is our ability to search information contained in electronic devices, including laptops and other digital devices, for violations of U.S. law, including potential threats," said Jayson Ahern, deputy commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in an online post in June.

On the other hand, it has warned business and government travelers not to carry laptops or other electronic devices when traveling abroad, as a way to prevent "unauthorized access and theft of data by criminal and foreign government elements."

Hitting Kids Does Not Work

My guess is most parents hit their kids out of frustration and lack of patience. Corporal punishment has an immediate effect but science shows that over the long term striking your child has negative consequences.

See: Spare the Rod: Why you shouldn't hit your kids

How are parents like half the voters?

Part of the problem is that most of us pay, at best, selective attention to science—and scientists, for their part, have not done a good job of publicizing what they know about corporal punishment. Studies of parents have demonstrated that if they are predisposed not to see a problem in the way they rear their children, then they tend to dismiss any scientific finding suggesting that this presumed nonproblem is, in fact, a problem. In other words, if parents believe that hitting is an effective way to control children's behavior, and especially if that conviction is backed up by a strong moral, religious, or other cultural rationale for corporal punishment, they will confidently throw out any scientific findings that don't comport with their sense of their own experience.

And what does the United States have in common with Somalia? These are the only countries to not sign the U.N.'s Convention on the Rights of Children.

Electricity Into Thrust?

Is it possible to turn electricity into microwaves into thrust? This wired.com article indicates the Chinese have worked with an inventor to do just that. See: Chinese Say They're Building 'Impossible' Space Drive

Tea > Water

Recently heard that this story was replayed for some reason. Via the BBC - Tea 'healthier' drink than water

Links To Other Stories Getting Overlooked

MSNBC - In hard times, tent cities rise across the country

MoJo - Meet the Religious Right Duo Behind "Obama Waffles"

AP - John McCain either doesn't want to meet Spain's prime minister any time soon or isn't quite sure who he is

Those Anti-Obama Ads From Vets For Freedom Are Wrong

Background from NPR on the ads: Vets For Freedom Keeps After Obama -- But It's Not Political

The facts:

UCLA study of satellite imagery casts doubt on surge's success in Baghdad

By tracking the amount of light emitted by Baghdad neighborhoods at night, a team of UCLA geographers has uncovered fresh evidence that last year's U.S. troop surge in Iraq may not have been as effective at improving security as some U.S. officials have maintained.

Avoiding the V Word: As he prepares to depart Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus cautions against premature declarations of victory.

Petraeus is careful not to credit all the progress to the surge of U.S. troops in 2007. The sea change came last year from a series of movements now known as the Awakening, when Sunnis, organizing around traditional tribal leaders, decided to turn on Al Qaeda as "an organization that embraces an extremist ideology, employs indiscriminate violence, and practices oppressive social customs," in the general's words. One of those customs was a ban on smoking. "That was the turning point when they cut the fingers off the first person who was smoking," he jokes. "Can you imagine an Anbar sheik being told he can't smoke?" So would the Sunni Awakening have succeeded without the surge? Possibly, he concedes, but the surge came at that time and helped empower Sunni leaders, paying their fighters and backing them up on the streets. This is where Seneca the Younger comes in: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Peak Oil Graphs

Links to SeekingAlpha: Peak Oil - Are We There Yet?

The Candidates' Technology And Media Policies

Basically Obama sees the Internet as infrastructure, McCain would see it as a product.

See Slate: Obama vs. McCain on media policy 2008

Being pro-net neutrality means that Obama and his advisers believe basic anti-discrimination rules (a modern version of the "common carriage" rules that make phone companies and innkeepers serve all comers) will preserve the open nature of the Internet—and keep it safe for unapproved speech and surprising innovations like Wikipedia and YouTube.

Camp McCain starts from a different ideological place: one that takes the Internet as, essentially, a very cool "product." As a product, the Net is less a public resource, and more something provided by the private sector in whatever form it considers best. In this sense, Camp McCain sees the Internet as more like cable television on steroids than some imaginary commons of the ether. What channels should be on cable is mostly a question for Time-Warner and Comcast—so why shouldn't Internet providers make the same kinds of decisions?

That's the view McCain pushed in 2005, when he co-sponsored a bill that allowed Internet blocking "on notice." If McCain's bill had become law, a cable or phone company could in theory block, say, the video site Hulu.com by providing notice in the "service plan." Interestingly, in that bill at least, McCain put himself at odds with more moderate Republicans, like Kevin Martin, present chairman of the FCC, who recently punished Comcast for just such consumer blocking. McCain (though he wavers in interviews) has put himself firmly in the anti-net-neutrality camp. According to his Web site, McCain might forbid some blocking, but in general, "John McCain does not believe in prescriptive regulation like 'net-neutrality.' "

Another Myth Is Busted

PhysOrg reports that sites that were originally referred to as "Forts" by William Henry Harrison were actually water works designed to cope with post-glacial climate change.

See: Revising and re-sizing history: New work shows Ohio site to be an ancient water works, not a fort

The site known as Miami Fort is no fort at all, and it is also much larger than previously believed – so large, in fact, that its berms stretch to almost six kilometers in length, making it twice as large as any other Native American earthworks in Ohio, and one of the largest in the nation.

Old Growth News

Via Treehugger - Old-Growth Forests in New York State Protected Under New Legislation

Via Discover - Want to Capture Carbon? Protect Old Trees

The new study suggests that protecting old growth forests may be just as important as planting new trees in efforts to reduce carbon dioxide levels and fight global warming.

A Clothing Company That Makes My Heart Flutter

Empire Canvas Works - I'll be ordering myself a vest soon!

We're Empire Canvas Works, and we're not here to replicate the technology-laden garb you see on retail shelves. Our task is to harness the steady function of natural fibers, and blend it with a few modern traits that ensure comfort and durability. We believe that your garments, handwear, and footwear should work the same way, every day, despite age, wear, and exposure to the elements. Our goal is to sell you a great product- once. Your task is to wear your mitten palms smooth on the Hickory of an axe, collect generations of puppy hair on your vest, and listen as the tight fibers of your anorak sing quietly against the brush for miles on end.

A Profile Of Ben Franklin - The First American

Benjamin Franklin: City Slicker

Franklin also exhibited psychological skills far beyond any mere country bumpkin’s. Seeking a second term as clerk, for instance, he was opposed by a rich and talented new assembly member who proposed a different candidate for the post. Franklin won the job, but he didn’t like the threat that the member would pose to his pocketbook in the future. Rather than gaining the man’s favor by paying servile respect, however, Franklin wrote a note asking to borrow “a certain very scarce and curious book” that he knew the rich man owned. The man sent the book immediately. Franklin read it and returned it a week later with another note, this one “expressing strongly” his “sense of the favor.” The assemblyman “ever afterwards manifested a readiness” to serve Franklin and remained a lifelong friend. It was another instance, Franklin believed, of the truth that “he that hath once done you a Kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.” Now that’s city slick.

A Source For Finding The Best Products

Goodguide

GoodGuide™ provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products and companies. GoodGuide's mission is to help you find safe, healthy, and green products that are better for you and the planet. From our origins as a UC Berkeley research project, GoodGuide has developed into a totally independent "For-Benefit" company. We are committed to providing the information you need to make better decisions, and to ultimately shifting the balance of information and power in the marketplace.

Is It Any Wonder Michigan Is Having Problems?

The state-level politicians do not appear to get "it".

See:
Nestlé gets OK to bottle more water

The approval was given after the Department of Environmental Quality determined the company's new well near Evart, and a pipeline to be built beneath wetlands in Osceola County, will not harm streams or wetlands.

Nestlé already draws water from four existing wells near its Stanwood bottling plant in west central Michigan at an average rate of 218 gallons per minute. The new well will be able to pump at 150 gallons per minute.

What my congressman does (and does not) know about energy

I confess that my expectations about energy literacy among most people are quite low. And, I wouldn't expect most members of Congress to understand energy very well either unless they serve on committees that deal with energy issues. But my congressman, Fred Upton of Michigan, is the ranking Republican member on the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality. So, I expected that he would have a pretty good handle on basic information about energy, at least in the United States.

With pen and yellow pad in hand I clicked on the interview ready to take a few notes. On the first pass I thought perhaps Upton had just misspoken on some points. But as I listened again, I realized that he was confidently spouting obviously erroneous information. Here is a man who is central to energy policy in the United States speaking glibly on a broad range of energy issues who in at least two instances got important basic facts wrong and in other cases was either misinformed or misleading. If his understanding of energy issues is a proxy for those in Congress who are well-informed on energy issues, then it's no wonder federal energy policy is in the state it's in.