Cab Thoughts 13/21/13

The government is morally opposed to carbon production and in a world of absolutes, like a nun, a smaller sin is no improvement on a large sin.--Alaric Phlogiston

 

Why is it that income inequality is the only area of diversity we do not tolerate or encourage?

How much of the current "income inequality" rage is demographic? The nation is getting older, older people are more experienced, more established  and earn more as a result. Isn't that inevitable? Even desirable?
 

NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded, in East Antarctica, 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that's 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius. The freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) and the boiling point 212°F (at standard atmospheric pressure). This puts the boiling and freezing points of water exactly 180 degrees apart. Therefore, a degree on the Fahrenheit scale is 1/180 of the interval between the freezing point and the boiling point of water. Absolute zero is defined as -459.67°F.

 

The Yankees, missing the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years, spent $307 million to add Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Kelly Johnson and to retain Hiroki Kuroda and Brendan Ryan. Robinson Cano left for a deal with Seattle said to be worth $240 million over 10 years.

 

Singapore has access to both the China and Indian water markets and are an interesting area of investment for those thinking that water may become a more valuable commodity. Since 2006, the number of companies in Singapore's water sector has doubled to about 100 and S$470 million ($371.2 million) has been committed to fund water research, government data shows. Over the same period, Singapore-based water companies secured more than 100 international projects worth close to S$9 billion.

 

The Solar Energy Industries Association reports: "Cumulative solar capacity has already surpassed the 10 GW mark, and by the end of the year more than 400,000 solar projects will be operating across the country." America will likely reach 1 million solar systems by 2017.

 

Who was....Arias?

 

The cost of electricity at data centers has increased so that it is now their largest cost. Chris Miller of the data centre design consultancy, Future-Tech, surmises: “Power is the major factor in determining people’s IT strategy now.” And the lack of it has become a huge business inhibitor. More, these centers expect government regulators to start intruding because they are using so much energy. Some centers have a "one in, one out" policy where a new server will not be add without the subtraction of another one. According to Sun Microsystems, the average data centre (with an appetite for 2 megawatts or power) burns its way through the equivalent of 80 barrels of oil or 2 tons of coal a day. At early-July oil prices, that equates to an electricity bill of $2.3 million a year.

 

Geophysicists estimate that just three volcanic eruptions, Indonesia (1883), Alaska (1912) and Iceland (1947), spewed more carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere than all of mankind's activities in our entire history.

 

Golden oldie:

http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2011/09/solyndra-and-creativity-of-need.html 

 

The Senate Finance Committee is set to vote on permanent "doc-fix" legislation that grants the federal government broad new authority to determine "applicable appropriate use criteria" for the full range of outpatient medical services delivered to seniors. Doctors would have to consult a website with criteria for tests before they order a test, and get a printout that says whether their use of the medical service conforms to the "appropriate use criteria" determined by a government worker. Doctors must submit that printout with their insurance claim to Medicare.

But no one should worry about that, right?

 

A recent PEW study showed  90 percent of those Americans think "the closing of their local public library would have an impact on their community" and 95 percent "agree that the materials and resources available at public libraries play an important role in giving everyone a chance to succeed." Only 54 percent said they have used a library in the past year.

 

circumspect: adjective 1. watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent: circumspect behavior.

2. well-considered: circumspect ambition.

Origin: 1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin circumspectus (past participle of circumspicere "to look around" )

By 2040, Exxon says, 65 percent of the world's recoverable crude oil will still be in the ground.
The problem for drillers, though, is that the new oil that is being unlocked is more and more expensive to produce. That puts enormous strain on the global energy industry as it works to develop new fields to meet rising demand as current, cheaper fields decline.

 

The Pearson Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the educational publisher, will pay $7.7 million to settle allegations that the charity was used to advance the for-profit parent company. New York State's attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said the charity paid for state education officials to attend Pearson conferences. Shocking. Shocking.

 

“We’ve got, for example, 16 different agencies that have some responsibility to help businesses, large and small, in all kinds of ways, whether it’s helping to finance them, helping them to export. . . .  So, we’ve proposed, let’s consolidate a bunch of that stuff." This profundity from Mr. Obama on his speech trying to improve our trust in government. Can you imagine the 16 cathouses! And can you imagine it under a Cathouse Czar!

 

AAAAAAaaaaannnnnnddddd.........a picture of the aurora in Alaska: