Our man on the spot VI

Posted by bob on May 17, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments

BY SPE

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

“DOMESTIC DRONES ON PATROL”
(New York Times, March 18 – Mathew Wald)

“The sky’s going to be dark with these things” said Chris Anderson…who now runs a company, 3 D Robotics, that sells unmanned aerial vehicles and equipment. He says it is selling about as many drones every calendar quarter – about 7,500 as the United States military flies in total.”

“NO WORDS …JUST YOUR BRAIN AS THE CONTROL PAD”

“Soon, we might interact with our smart phones and computers simply by using our minds [implants necessary now, but not for long].” (New York Times, April 29)

“NEW CLUES INTO MYSTERIES OF DARK MATTER”
(New York Times, April 4 – Dennis Overbye)

“Dark matter…Caltech astronomer Fritz Zwicky deduced in the 1930s that some invisible ‘missing mass’ was required to supply the gravitational glue to hold clusters of galaxies together… 27 percent of universe, by mass, is composed of some unknown form of matter unlike the atoms that make up us and everything we see.”

“THE MILITARY- FOOTBALL COMPLEX “Sex, Violence and propaganda”

“This year’s half-time star (at the Super Bowl) set a new standard of raunchiness…(and) her relentless hips …served by contrast (to surprisingly restrained beauty of her voice)… to amplify the sexual display of her dancing…don’t get me wrong: I think she’s a terrific dancer, but don’t tell me this is family entertainment. That’s what is so bizarre: in America it is.” (Anderson Valley Advertiser, February 13, 2013 – David Yearsley) 

Warding off bad luck? Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times

Warding off bad luck?

In 2009 county officials…of Gansu spent $732,000 transporting a 369 ton boulder six miles to the county seat, a move feng shui masters said would ward off bad luck. “Liu Zhijun the former railway minister…(who built the world’s largest high-speed rail network while consulting a feng shui master) …was charged last month with corruption and abuse of power. In addition to the charges of taking 157 million in bribes and maintaining a harem of 18 mistresses, he is accused of an especially profane crime ‘belief in feudal superstitions’.” (New York Times, May 13, 2013)

“LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL”
(From New York Times, op-ed, April 16)

Martin Luther King: “I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans or passionate yearnings of the oppressed race.”

“AFTER EXPLOSION AT WEST, TEXAS STILL NO REGULATING”
(New York Times, May 10)

Adrees Latif/Reuters

“In chemical fires, the firefighters often bear a heavy toll…this week officials from the state fire fighters association said the 50 foot tall memorial to the volunteers killed in the line of duty…had no room left for new names, not even those from West [in the gigantic explosion at an unregulated fertilizer manufacturing plant].”

Heat trapping gas [carbon dioxide]…
“AT LEVEL NOT SEEN IN THEE MILLION YEARS, WHEN THE EARTH WAS MUCH WARMER”
“Mark Pagani a Yale geochemist who studies climates of the past (said) ‘I feel like the time to do something was yesterday.’ ”

(New York Times, National Edition, May 11)

“HEART RATE AND LIFE SPAN”
(Science Times, April 23)

“A study published in Heart suggests that a higher resting heart rate is an independent predictor of mortality – even in healthy people in good physical condition.”

“Compared with individuals with rates of 50 beats a minute or less those at 71 or 80 beats had a 51% greater risk. At 81 to 90 beats the rate of death was doubled and over 90 it was tripled.”

“HOWEVER “OWNING A DOG IS LINKED TO
REDUCED HEART RISK” “Their [the Dogs’] presence blunts the owners’ reaction to stress and lowers their heart rate.”

“VALUABLE AS ART PRICELESS TO ‘LAUNDER’ MONEY”

(New York Times)
“Banks must report all transactions of $10,000 or more… the art market lacks these safeguards. Roll up a canvas and it is easy to stash or move between countries…”

“HOW AUSTERITY KILLS”
David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu (New York Times, May 13)

“…Iceland avoided a public health disaster (people looking for work are about twice as likely to end their lives as those who have jobs) even though it experienced in 2008, the largest banking crises in history, relative to the size of its economy… Instead of bailing out banks and slashing budgets, as the I.M.F. demanded, Iceland’s politicians took a radical step… Icelanders voted overwhelmingly to pay off foreign creditors gradually, rather than all at once though austerity. Iceland’s economy has largely recovered, whicle Greece’s teeters on collapsed. No one lost health care coverage or access to medication and there was no significant increase in suicide. Last year, the U.N. …ranked Iceland as one of the world’s happiest nations.”
…There are warning signs for (for the U.S. ) – beyond the higher suicide rate – that health trends are worsening. Prescriptions for antidepressants have soared. Three quarters of a million people (particularly out of work young men) have turned to binge drinking. Over five million Americans lost access to health care… The 85 billion “sequester” that began on March 1, will cut nutrition subsidies for approximately 600,000 pregnant women, newborns and infants by year’s end.
Public housing budget’s will be cut by nearly $ 2 billion this year, even while 1.4 million home are in foreclosure…”

Click here for link to entire article…

From Spring Wills
“OUR GAL ON THE ROAD” –
HITCHHIKING ALL THE AMERICAS,
with little English and no Spanish.

May 1, Puno, Peru. Rebeca and her family host me.

I take bus 60 sols to Santa Ross , then take another bus to Oropesa , 1.50
Sol. It totally crowded in the bus. The woman are unhappy for me, they push me in their anger because I squeeze them. God, what pleasure we live on this life?

A nice truck stop , a nice couple are going to Puno.

His name is Yefrain, her name is Bertha,
I know this is not common in Peru that someone can have so nice truck, take wife for vacation. They are blessed and would like to share blessing with a stranger.

“MOST OF US ARE WANDERING GYPSIES”
Crains morning 10

Joe Tirone, a realtor on Staten Island, got the idea for the buy out of flooded properties from the U.S. small business administration. Agency personnel told him about FEMA …grant program that had been used in Tennessee and upstate New York… . Two weeks after Sandy, Mr. Tirone brought the idea of a buy out to a group of about 200 home owners of the Oakwood Beach section of the Island. When he asked for a show of hands of those interested in such a program the response was nearly unanimous. ‘I was not ready for that answer,’ Mr. Tirone admitted. “What helped was Oakwood Beach history. Over nearly a century, the area has endured a series of natural disasters, from repeated brush fires in the tall grass in the nearby wetlands. (Tinder dry in the summer) In the wake of the latest calamity, some of the areas original inhabits, flocks of geese and a handful of deer have already reappeared. The death and destruction caused by Sandy has persuaded many residents to take Albany’s cash and move on. Today many of the dwellings of the buy out area are abandoned.”