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Wednesday, 06 February 2013
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers , Truthout | Op-Ed
The bipartisans in Washington are currently focused on Social Security and Medicare – not to improve health care and retirement, but to cut them. There is constant, exaggerated "sky is falling" deficit commentary about purported out-of-control spending caused by these programs, while the real twin crises of poverty retirement and health insecurity are ignored. Popular solutions to these crises exist that would strengthen Social Security and Medicare and spur economic recovery.
Facts You Are Not Being Told About Retirement and Health Care
We are in the midst of retirement and health care crises that are projected to worsen in the coming years, but we do not hear any discussion of real solutions to these problems. We do not hear the truth about retirement and health care in the corporate media or from either party. Here are some facts that paint the picture:
- Senior poverty is growing: According to the Census Bureau, in last decade, there has been a 78 percent increase in Americans over 60 facing the threat of hunger.The Census Bureau puts the rate of poverty for seniors at nearly 16 percent , or roughly one in six seniors.
- Pensions have kept Americans out of poverty: The Census Bureau reports that poverty rates were nine times greater in 2010 in households without defined benefit pension income. Pensions resulted in 4.7 million fewer poor or "near poor" families and 1.2 million fewer families on various forms of public assistance.
- Pensions are disappearing: According to a study by the National Institute on Retirement Security, as recently as 1998, 52 percent of Americans over age 60 received income from a defined benefit pension. But by 2010, that figure had fallen to 43 percent. In the private sector, the decline has been more dramatic, down from 38 percent in 1979 to 15 percent in 2010. This decline will accelerate in coming years because only 10 percent of private sector workers have guaranteed pension benefits compared to 60 percent in 1981.
- Savings and 401K plans are insufficient: 60 percent of households tell the Employee Benefit Research Institute that the total value of their savings and investments, excluding their homes, is less than $25,000, though the Center for Retirement Research has estimated that a typical couple at age 65 can expect to spend $260,000 or more on health care alone over their remaining lifetime.Savings accounts and other conservative investments offer returns below the rate of inflation. The Federal Reserve's near-zero interest rate policy has starved seniors of income from their savings and chipped away their nest eggs, resulting in $1 trillion in lost purchasing power since 2007.
- Americans cannot afford to save for retirement: Almost half (40 percent) of middle-class Americans without a written retirement plan say they haven't planned for retirement because they are too focused on "current financial obligations." Roughly one in two Americans are not saving for retirement at all. In fact, one out of three working families do not have enough money to meet basic needs, so they cannot save.
- Debt is high: Middle-income Americans age 50 and older are carrying more credit card debt on average than younger people, according to Demos' 2012 National Survey on Credit Card Debt of Low- and Middle-Income Households. That is a reversal of findings from a survey conducted by Demos in 2008. Medical expenses are a main driver of credit card debt.
- Seniors are going into debt with risky and expensive reverse mortgages. More than 775,000 of such loans are outstanding, according to the federal government, and 51,000 were originated in 2011. The rate of default is at a record high – roughly 9.4 percent of loans up from around 2 percent a decade ago.
- Social Security keeps seniors out of poverty: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 45 percent of Americans over 65 would fall below the government's official poverty line if they did not receive Social Security benefits. According to the Census Bureau, the number of elderly people in poverty would have been higher by almost 14 million in 2010 without Social Security payments.
- Medical expenses are the driving force in poverty among seniors: All other categories of spending, including housing, entertainment, food and clothing, decrease with age, but medical expenses are higher, taking about one-fifth of their budget.
- Medical debt is a leading cause of bankruptcy and foreclosure. One Harvard study found: Illness and medical bills were linked to at least 62.1 percent of all personal bankruptcies; 77.9 percent of the individuals whose illness led to bankruptcy had health insurance at the onset of the bankrupting illness.
Medical bankruptcies will continue to rise under Obamacare, as they have in Massachusetts, which passed a similar bill in 2006, because growing numbers of people will have inadequate health coverage and unbearable out-of-pocket medical expenses.
This is a grim picture of the twin crises of poverty retirement and health insecurity. The demographic of the typical American is one with no pension, no significant savings and dependent on Social Security which pays a meager average of $1,230 per month. At the same time, Americans, even those with health insurance, are likely to go bankrupt or lose their home if they have a serious accident or medical illness.
These are current, real-world crises, but rather than looking for solutions to them, as we wrote in part 1 of this series, the bipartisans are focused on an exaggerated deficitcrisis and the promotion of neoliberal policies of privatization and austerity that will make these problems worse. So, let's look at some real solutions that would ameliorate these crises, stimulate the economy and cause the deficit to shrink.
Ending Poverty Retirement: Social Security Plus
Martin Feldstein, a former top economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan and Harvard economist, recently noted "I think it's really shocking that we spend about $500 billion a year on Social Security, and yet we have many, many old people in poverty. Something's wrong with that system."
Yes, there is something wrong with that system. It is time for the United States to upgrade Social Security to what political writer Steven Hill calls, "Social Security Plus." In a December 2012 article in The Atlantic, Hill urges the doubling of Social Security payments in order to end poverty retirement. He argues that a "more robust retirement system would build upon the most stable component" of retirement, Social Security.
As pensions and savings disappear, Social Security has become the only income people can depend on in retirement. The problem is, says Hill, "Social Security's payouts are so meager – far too low for the program's new role as America's de facto national retirement system." It is time for "doubling the current Social Security payout, and turning it into a true national retirement system." Doubling Social Security's individual payout would cost about $650 billion annually for the approximately 53 million Americans who receive benefits. How do we pay for it? Hill puts forward three methods of payment:
First, he suggests lifting the cap on Social Security taxes as we do with Medicare. Hill writes that this approach is "popular with Americans according to opinion polls, and would raise about $377 billion toward the $650 billion needed to double the Social Security payout. As a candidate in 2008, Barack Obama stated that he supported raising the cap on the Social Security tax to help fund the program."
Second, Hill suggests ending the business deduction for employees' retirement plans. Since all Americans will receive "Social Security Plus, employer-based pensions would be redundant, so businesses no longer would need the substantial federal deductions they currently receive for providing employees' retirement plans." These deductions total a substantial $126 billion annually, bringing us three-fourths of the way toward paying for the program.
Finally, Hill urges cutting or reducing other deductions that disproportionately benefit top income earners. These changes would not only raise the remaining money needed for Social Security Plus, but they would simplify the tax code and narrow the wealth divide. Hill writes there are deductions that "allow the top 20 percent of income earners to reap generous deductions that barely help most low and moderate income Americans. These include deductions for private retirement savings, health care, homeownership and education."
The funding sources recommended by Hill have been urged by many economists and political scientists, but whether or not you agree with the specifics of how Hill would pay for it, his analysis shows that Social Security Plus is very affordable.
The effects of doubling Social Security would include both a more comfortable and secure retirement for seniors and an economic stimulus. It is the wealthy who tend to hoard their income. Most people spend the money they have on necessities such as food, clothing and health care, and on entertainment or other minor luxuries. This spending is directly infused into the economy.
Ending Health Insecurity: Improved Medicare for All
A recent report from the Institute of Medicine summarized US health care: US health care is failing as Americans pay more, live shorter lives and experience poorer health. Per capita spending on health care in the United States is more than twice what the average industrialized nation spends – even though those nations cover their entire population and the United States doesn't. Despite more than sufficient total spending, roughly 50 million people in the United States have no health coverage, and our health outcomes place us 37th in the world. Life expectancy in the United States is decreasing.
One of the fundamental aspects of our health care system that sets us apart from other nations with excellent systems is the privatization of health insurance and institutions that provide health services. When the bottom line is profit, it leads to overtreatment of those who can pay and undertreatment of those can't. The lack of a system that prioritizes health has also led to overpriced prescription drugs. The administrative bureaucracy of our complex privatized system eats up a third of our health care dollars, dollars that could be used for direct patient care instead. None of these problems will be improved by the Affordable Care Act which continues private sector profit in a Wall Street health care system.
In the US, access to necessary health services and new technology is only guaranteed to those who can afford it. Americans self-ration, foregoing or delaying needed care because of the cost. For that reason, we have a high number of preventable deaths,found to be 109.7 per 1,000 people.
Dr. Andy Coates, current president of Physicians for a National Health Program and a practicing physician in upstate New York, says patients often have to choose between critical health needs and basic survival.
"We have an incursion of high-deductible private insurance plans right now," said Coates. On top of their premiums, he said, people pay "even $5,000 out-of-pocket before their health insurance kicks in. And if you think about the median income being around $40,000 per year for the average households and you think about the middle of low-income households in upstate New York with an income of $14,000 per year … an antibiotic can easily cost a week's wages."
Coates goes on to say that there is a model in the United States of a publicly funded system that has worked well for nearly 50 years: Medicare. Although it is not a perfect system – for instance, the out-of-pocket costs are too high and dental services are not covered – Medicare does provide some degree of health security for seniors.
Another area of Medicare that begs for improvement is in long-term care. "Medicare in most cases doesn't cover nursing home costs, and if [people] have to stay in a nursing home for an extended period, they very quickly run out of money," Sudipto Banerjee, research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, DC explained to the Huffington Post. At that point, nursing home expenses are picked up by Medicaid, "but if they are accepting Medicaid benefits, they have to surrender most of their income and assets," he added.
Where Medicare excels – particularly traditional Medicare, not the privatized advantage plans – is in its cost controls, health outcomes and patient satisfaction. Spending on Medicare is rising more slowly than the private sector in part because its administrative costs are about a tenth of the costs incurred by the private sector and in part because it is a public system that can negotiate fair prices for services. If Medicare were extended to everyone, these cost controls could be expanded.
This means that for the amount of money being spent on health care at present, a Medicare-for-all health system would create lifelong, comprehensive, affordable health care for everyone. Financial barriers to care such as out-of-pocket costs would be eliminated. And people in the United States would experience the health security that people in most industrialized nations expect from their governments.
What Will Investing in Peoples' Basic Needs Do to the Economy?
Economist Jack Rasmus writes about the three-legged stool of retirement: "The first two of those legs have already collapsed – defined benefit and 401k pensions, and personal savings. And now Congress is about to begin breaking the last leg, Social Security and Medicare, with several rounds of deficit cutting set for March, May and again later in 2013 when big corporate tax cuts take place." What will this mean for the economy? Rasmus continues that this will "hold back any sustained economic recovery in the US in 2013-14 and beyond."
Recovery begins with jobs but will not be sustained unless health care and retirement programs are strengthened and expanded. We need to end poverty retirement and health injustice. Doing so would result in an end to health-based foreclosures and bankruptcies and all of the negative consequences that go with those economic catastrophes.
Steven Hill writes:
An expansion of Social Security not only would be good for America's retirees, it also would be good for the broader macroeconomy. It would act as an 'automatic stabilizer' during economic downturns, keeping money in retirees' pockets and stimulating consumer demand, especially since low and middle income people are more likely to spend an extra dollar on goods and services than are affluent individuals. Social Security Plus also would help American businesses trying to compete with foreign companies that don't have to provide pensions to their employees, since those countries already have national retirement plans.
You could imagine what the impact of 55 million seniors receiving an additional $1,200 each month would mean for the economy. That money would inject $66 billion into the economy each month, and that spending would have an increased impact through the multiplier effect as it is circulated in the economy.
Adopting an improved Medicare-for-all health system would be a major stimulus to both jobs and economic spending, according to a January 2009 study which found: "Establishing a national single-payer style healthcare reform system would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing $317 billion in new business and public revenues, with another $100 billion in wages into the U.S. economy."
Controlling health care costs is critical to stabilizing the economy. The US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that health care costs will go up from the 2010 level of 17.5 percent of GDP to 19.6 percent in 2019. The only proven way to deal with the underlying problem of rapid growth in health care is a single-payer, improved Medicare-for-all, system. Both of these changes would put in place the foundation for a strong economy.
Furthermore, expanding Social Security and Medicare would have other benefits. Both would be portable – if employees changed jobs or stayed at home to take care of their families, they would keep their benefits. If the company they worked for closed or moved, they would keep their benefits. This would create health and retirement security.
It would also make businesses more competitive. Employers would not have surprise increases in the cost of health care, nor would they carry the burden of funding pensions or retirement plans. Like their employees, they would have the security of knowing in advance what these programs cost.
Some of the funding for these programs would come from progressive taxation, so the wealthiest Americans would pay more. Putting in place progressive taxation increases the fairness of the economy and reduces the wealth divide, which has become unconscionable.
When we confront the crises of poverty retirement and health insecurity, we discover that Social Security and Medicare are not the problems; they are the solutions.
You can hear our interview with Steven Hill and Dr. Andy Coates on "Deficit: Don't Cut Social Security and Medicare, Expand Them!" on Clearing the FOG Radio and view it on UStream/ItsOurEconomy.
This is Part II in a series on the deficit and real solutions to the economic collapse. Part I was, Will Exaggerated Deficit Talks Lead to an "Obama Recession?" We Must Still Ask These Questions.


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In addition to his usual amazingly funny physics-related humor, xkcd has published a very handy comparison chart that helps to visualize the relative doses for a variety of different types of radiation exposer. Click on the image to be brought to the full-size chart on xkcd's site.
Tag Archive: Nuclear Physics
Why this Article?
The terrible tragedy in Japan has sparked a huge discussion about nuclear power, radioactivity and nuclear meltdown. Unfortunately, major media in the United States continually report about "high doses" and "low doses" without quoting any actual measurements of radiation radiation levels. This is probably due to the fact that most reporters do not understand nuclear power and radiation themselves. It is a huge problem because it does not provide the public with the detailed information that it would need in order to fully understand the measurements and how it would affect their own health and livelihood.
One unfortunate result of this nebulous reporting, whether it is intentional or not, is that it is rather easy to scare people with the mere mention of the word "radiation" simply because it is very easy to scare people with things that they do not understand. On the other hand, people with a better understanding of radiation will recognize that the level of risk arising from radiation is dependent on the type, the length and the amount of exposure to it. They will be able to compare the measurements of reported radiation doses with background levels. Except in certain tragic circumstances, this generally means that people can be less fearful and more conscientious about their radiation risk.
In this article, I will describe where radiation comes from, a number of ways in which it is measured and what the likely risks are for various levels of exposure. This piece is not really a news article in and of itself, but it is intended to be a guide to help interpret news in those rare cases where the press actually reports the numbers that you need to know.
First, let's look at the different types of particles that make up the atom and the forces that make them stick together. The complicated part of quantum physics is in making calculations and in deriving physical laws to explain them. Understanding how they work is not so bad, give it a try. : )
Subatomic Particles
One aim of physics is to try to understand the Universe by looking at how its constituents interact. By the 1970s, physicists had put together a detailed model, called the Standard Model, (we physicists sometimes have problems with creativity when it comes to naming things) that describes all of the known fundamental particles and their interactions.
Fundamental particles are simply particles that we believe can not be divided into smaller parts. They are broken down into two major categories, depending on a property called spin: Fermions and Bosons. Spin is a measure of the intrinsic angular momentum of a particle. According quantum mechanics, subatomic particles can only have certain values of spin. Fermions are particles with spins of 1/2, 3/2, 5/2 and so on, while Bosons are particles with spins of 0, 1, 2, and so on, and particles from either of these two families have very different properties.
Fermions can broken into a couple of subgroups, called Leptons and Quarks. These groups are determined by the amount of electric charge that they carry. The Leptons include the electron and its cousins, the muon and the tauon (usually the tau). Each lepton is associated with another particle called a neutrino. Neutrinos are particles that rarely interact with matter. In fact to be sure that you would capture a neutrino about 60% of the time, you would need a lead wall roughly 8 light-years thick! That is 47 trillion miles.
The other subgroup, the Quarks, are a group of particles with electrical charges of either +2/3 or -1/3. They make up subatomic particles like protons and neutrons.
Fermions (Spin = 1/2, 3/2, 5/2, etc.)
|Leptons (Spin = 1/2)
|Mass (GeV/c2)
|Electric Charge
|Electron Neutrino
|Muon Neutrino
|Tau Neutrino
|Quarks (Spin = 1/2)
|Mass (GeV/c2)
|Electric Charge
All of the matter that you deal with every day, whether it is atoms inside you, the air you breathe, or even those in the Earth itself, are all made of Fermions. How all of those particles interact is determined by force-carrying particles, the Bosons. There are four fundamental forces that we know of right now. Two are likely fairly familiar from everyday experience and two are not so familiar: Gravity, Electromagnetism, the Weak Nuclear Force and the Strong Nuclear Force. Most people deal with gravity and electromagnetism every day, but few people worry about the weak and strong forces, but the weak and strong forces govern radioactive decay.
Each Boson carries a separate force. Here is a summary:
Bosons (Spin = 0, 1, 2, etc.)
|Mass (GeV/c2)
|Electric Charge
|Forces carried
|Electromagnetic Force
|Weak Nuclear
|Weak Nuclear
|Weak Nuclear
|Strong Nuclear
|Gravity (not yet detected)
A particle such as an electron would not experience the electromagnetic force, for example, if it did not interact with photons. A person feels the pull of gravity from the Earth because we think that Earth is continuously emitting a very large number of gravitons that interact with the particles that make up a person. Without those graviton interactions, there would be no gravity. Physicists believe that the particles in the two tables above can fully explain all of the interactions between all of the objects in the Universe (possibly excluding Dark Energy and Dark Matter, but that is another story). It is only a matter of working out the details to try to understand how the Universe works, though there are complications because – well – it turns out that the interactions can be complicated. It is still good to have goals!
E = mc2
Einstein proposed his most famous equation during his annus mirabilis (miracle year) when he wrote four papers that set the groundwork for 20th century physics. Inertia is the resistance of an object to changes in motion. We measure this resistance with the quantity mass. E = mc2 says that any object with a mass, m, has a certain amount of energy, E, locked up in that mass. It is a lot of energy per unit mass, because c is the speed of light and light happens to be quite fast: c = 3.0×108 m/s = 186,000 mile/sec!
It happens one gram of sugar has 2.4 Calories (kcal) of chemical energy in it and when we eat sugar, that is roughly how much energy we gain from it. If we measure that in Joules (J, the SI unit for energy), we have 10,000 J of chemical energy in a gram of sugar. But one gram of any substance has (0.001kg)*(3.0×108 m/s)2 = 9×1013 J of energy locked up in its mass! That is roughly enough energy to supply the United States with power for three days!
The tables above give the masses of each particle in units of GeV/c2 (giga-electron volts). The prefix giga- means billion, so 1 GeV = 109eV. And one electron volt is defined as the amount of kinetic energy that a single electron gains from a voltage drop of 1 Volt. So you can see that this definition of mass came after E=mc2. It is possible to use these conversions:
1 eV = 1.6×10-19 J – a really small unit!
1 GeV/c2 = 1.783×10-27 kg – roughly the mass of a proton
These are reallly small units, but remember that a cubic centimeter has something like 1023 = 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms!
All of the above particles have an anti-matter equivalent that has the same mass but opposite electric charge. When a particle collides with an anti-particle, both particles annihilate, giving off photons with total energy E=mc2. Photons are their own anti-particles, too.
Nuclear power allows us to tap a little bit of that energy that is stored in mass, but first let us take a look at atoms to see how.
Now that we have covered the subatomic particles, let's make atoms. Most people learn in middle school that atoms are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. The Protons and neutrons reside in the nucleus at the center of the atom and the electrons move around in the electron cloud that surrounds it. Protons and neutrons are (very) roughly 2000 times heavier than an electron so they carry most of the mass of of the atom, considering that an electrically neutral atom has the same number of protons and electrons.
When we talk about nuclear power, we are primarily concerned about the nucleus of the atom. So we are going to ignore the electrons in the electron clouds for now, however we will occasionally encounter electrons that are created by nuclear reactions.
Protons and Neutrons are particles called Baryons. Baryons are composed of three quarks (Mesons are particles made with two quarks). Here is how it works: A proton is made from two up quarks and one down quark. Up quarks have charges of +2/3 and a down quark has a charge of -1/3, so if you add up the charges, you get: 2/3 + 2/3 – 1/3 = +1. Neutrons are made of two downs and one up, so they are electrically neutral.
But wait a second! If you have 2 ups and 1 down, that only adds up to (2*(0.003) + 0.006) GeV/c2 = 0.012 GeV/c2 of mass, but a proton has a mass of about 1 GeV/c2! It does not add up, and here is why. Experiments have confirmed that the quarks in a proton and a neutron are held together by the strong nuclear force, carried by gluons. It is a complex set of interactions, but simply put, the interactions keeping the quarks together are very high energy, so high in energy that they account for the rest of the mass!
Atomic Nuclei and Radioactive Decay
It also happens that a neutron is about 0.14% more massive than a proton. This corresponds to a mass of about 15 MeV/c2 (1000 MeV = 1 GeV), so if we could convert a neutron into a proton, we should get some energy out (1n -> 1p + 1e + 1νe). In fact, this happens with free neutrons because they are unstable because of interactions governed by the weak nuclear force. A free neutron will decay into a proton, an electron, and an anti-electron neutrino with a half-life of around 8 minutes. (The half-life is the time over which half a collection of one type of particles will convert into other types of particles.) This is the iconic reaction in one form of β-decay (beta-decay), known as β–-decay. Another form of β-decay is β+-decay: Energy + 1p -> 1n + 1e + νe, where a proton absorbs energy that causes it to break into a neutron, an anti-election (also called a positron) and an electron neutrino. β+-decays can not occur in isolation. You will often see electrons referred to by the term "β-particles".
The simplest atomic nucleus is that of Hydrogen, just a single proton. We do not usually see single neutrons around unless we are near a radioactive source because neutrons are unstable as we have mentioned. Protons are stable, however, so we do see Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the Universe.
Atomic nuclei are held together by the "residual strong nuclear force", which is a manifestation of the strong nuclear force itself. Nuclei are held together by virtual mesons that carry gluons between protons and neutrons inside. There is a lot of activity taking place inside a nucleus all of the time!
It is possible to create an atom with the same chemical properties as single-proton Hydrogen if we add neutrons to the nucleus. These are isotopes, nuclei with the same total charge (which governs the chemistry) but differing numbers of neutrons. For example, Deuterium, another isotope of Hydrogen, has one proton and one neutron. It is nearly identical to Hydrogen chemically, but it is much more rare than plain, old Hydrogen because at some point, a free neutron would only have about 8 minutes to latch onto a proton to form it. Another isotope, Tritium, has one proton and two neutrons, and that is even more rare.
Helium normally has a pair of protons and a pair of neutrons. It has other isotopes, but it happens that the normal Helium nucleus is very stable and when bigger atoms break apart, they often do so by giving off Helium nuclei, or α-particles (alpha-particles). That process is known as α-decay.
Heavy elements such as Uranium (U) have a very large number of protons (92) and often even more neutrons. 235U, for example has 143 neutrons! Nuclei with either too many or too few neutrons relative to the number of protons are unstable. In addition, large nuclei are often unstable simply because the strong nuclear force is a very short range interaction. If a nucleus is too large, the strong force can not hold it together effectively. This means that there is a "Band of Stability" for atomic nuclei, shown here by plotting the number of neutrons against the number of protons in known isotopes. The colors indicate whether each isotope is stable (black squares) or if not, their primary modes of decay.
Other atoms may split into components that are larger than α-particles. For example, 235U can break into a Krypton-92 (92Kr) nucleus, a Barium-141 (141Ba) nucleus. This is known as fission. The inverse process if known as fusion.
During most of these different types of radioactive decays, high-energy photons are released that are known as γ-radiation or γ-rays. Each one of these decay modes results in different energetics, so when we are concerned about how radioactive decay effects the human body, we need to worry about the specific consequences of human exposure to α-, β- and γ-radiation.
Effects of radiation on Humans
So suppose you are walking along a path in a forest far from any radiation source. You just happen to be carrying your trusty Geiger Counter and decide to turn it on just for fun. You will hear the Geiger Counter click sporadically and you may be shocked to find that the clicks increase when you move the Geiger Counter closer to your body. There are radioactive isotopes everywhere! Background levels of radiation are generally due to trace isotopes found in rocks, cosmic rays that reach earth from space, and any life form will have some 13C (Carbon-13). In fact the process of live itself bioaccumulates 13C. Well, a quick check of the Band of Stability graph shows that an isotope of Carbon-13 (with 6 protons and 7 neutrons), will β-decay to form stable 12C. The half-life of Carbon is about 5730 years. About 1.1% of all Carbon on Earth is in the form of Carbon-13 and by comparing the abundance of carbon in biological material with that of the world at large, it is possible to date the material through Carbon Dating. The electrons that are released in the β-decay can be picked up by the Geiger Counter.
The Geiger Counter will essentially count the number of decays it detects per unit time, measured with the SI unit of the Becquerel (Bq). 1 Bq = one decay per second. While this unit gives the number of radioactive decays taking place per unit time, it does not indicate anything about their effect. In order to do that, we need to take into account how much energy the decay products are carrying and how much of that energy is absorbed by the human body.
A typical human body produces about 4,000 Bq of activity, due to 40K (Potassium-40) beta decays alone.
The SI units for the dose of radiation that are absorbed by the human body are Grays (Gy). 1 Gy = 1 J/kg. It is strictly a measure of the total energy deposited in the body and does not quantify the net effect of the radiation. In order to understand the effects, we will need to look at the differences in how each type of radiation interacts with the body.
A high-energy photon (γ-radiation) that is absorbed by body tissues generally breaks apart the molecules it strikes. The radicals (essentially the electrically charged pieces of broken molecules) that are created when this happen can then react chemically with other molecules around them. The overall effect is limited relative to other forms of radiation, however, because a single ion gives rise to a small number of radicals so there is little overall damage from a single γ-ray relative to other forms of radiation. γ-rays can also scatter off molecules through the Compton Scattering, which frees lower energy recoil electrons that can interact with molecules in tissue.
Gamma radiation is usually not completely absorbed by the human body. That is how it is possible for medical X-rays to work, because only a fraction of the X-rays are absorbed by the body while the rest pass through. Some of those that do pass through expose a piece of film or a detector to create an image.
A β-ray (an electron) does similar damage to a photon, but for different reasons. They do not usually penetrate as deeply, though electrons carry some momentum, and they carry electric charge that can ionize some molecules as they pass near them. In other cases, the electron can be absorbed by a molecule or scatter other electrons to create radicals.
A high-energy neutron that is released by radioactive decay has a lot of momentum. When it smashes into tissue, a game of molecular bumper cars ensues. If the neutron has enough energy, then it is possible to break molecular bonds and to release reactive radicals into the body. Given the fact that neutrons can have a good deal of momentum, they generally produce more radicals than a single γ-ray. Neutrons can deposit their energy deep in tissue and are readily absorbed by some isotopes found in the body. This can cause further radioactive decays.
Protons do carry roughly the same momentum as a neutron, they also carry electric charge that results in ionization. They do more damage than electrons but do not penetrate as deeply as neutrons due to their electric charge.
α-particles and heavy nuclei cause the worst damage because they have the most momentum, but they penetrate the least. These particles carry a ton of momentum and they break up molecules and create radicals until they are stopped. They are highly likely to interact with the tissue rather than pass through it.
When determining the net effect on the body, one also has to consider that the different types of tissue in the body each react differently to radiation at different energies. Studies have been done in an attempt to average the effects over the body and these have led to a standards regarding the Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) of the various types of radiation. These are used to determine the equivalent absorbed does, given in Sieverts (Sv). 1 Sv = 1 J/kg just like Grays, only now the dose in Grays is multiplied by a weighting factor, WR, to account for the relative impact of various sorts of radiation on the body. (Sieverts can be related to the outdated unit, the rem with 1 mSv = 0.1 rem.) These weights are determined by experimentation under ideal circumstances compared to the relatively complex circumstances found inside a nuclear reactor, but they do offer insight to the impact on people nonetheless.
Typical background doses vary from place to place, depending on which specific isotopes can be found in the local environment, but Wikipedia gives some general levels that can be used as guidelines if you read dosage numbers in the press. These can be found in the table here, where doses are given in mSv/yr unless otherwise noted for one-time total doses.
Wikipedia has an excellent table that describes the types of symptoms, timescales and fatality rates of radiation sickness. Radiation doses above ~1000 mSv can cause radiation sickness. The higher the dose, the worse the symptoms. Doses up to about 2000 mSv can cause nausea, dizziness, fatigue and a reduced white blood cell count. 5% of people die within a month of receiving 2000 mSv of radiation. Doses between 2000 and 6000 mSv can cause cognitive impairment, purpura, hemorrhage and skin loss and above 5000 mSv, fatality becomes nearly certain, though the period of suffering can last up to a month. Higher doses lead to increasingly severe symptoms. Doses above ~30,000 mSv can cause seizures and death within 48 hours.
The geometry of a nuclear power plant such as the Fukushima-I plant can lend to dramatic variations in radiation levels on site. This is due to the fact that concrete, metal and water shield their surroundings from radiation to different degrees. Given the complicated geometry of a nuclear power plant, there could be low-radiation regions very near high-radiation areas. It is very difficult to calculate the dosage that any worker would have received because one would need to know the radiation level at every single point along that worker's path through the course of the day. Radiation detecting badges are helpful, but the relative dose that an individual receives can vary from one side of his or her body to the other.
The situation in Fukushima-I is especially complicated because there has been a good deal of damage to the plant. Several large Hydrogen gas explosions have spread trace radioactive material far from the plant, but it typically becomes less concentrated if it is spread over a large area – unless an explosion launches a chunk of radioactive material skyward.
The situation further from the plant is generally a bit easier to estimate because the distribution should typically be a bit smoother than the conditions inside the plant. I must include the caveat that I said estimate, not predict. If a measurement is made far away from the plant, material will be dispersed relatively uniformly around a field, for example, so radiation measurements will be more indicative of nearby surrounding areas. There can still be large-scale variations in dispersal patters. Wind currents could blow radioactive material in either one general direction, or it could be widely dispersed, carried aloft at high altitudes as it was in the case of Chernobyl.
The primary variable in long-range dispersal is how high the radioactive material is sent by explosions at the plant. Chernobyl experienced a large explosion that sent radioactive material high aloft, where it could be dispersed over a wide area for a long period of time. The explosions in Japan have not been nearly as large, though some radioactivity has been detected within ~100km or so from the site that has led to some precautionary measures. Clearly, the fewer explosions that take place in the reactors, the better off everyone will be because there will be less dispersal of radioactive material.
Protecting yourself
Unless otherwise necessary, it is generally best to avoid radioactive material and to avoid areas that have high levels of radiation. In an emergency, however, it is generally best to find a way to shield yourself from the radiation and this means placing material in between you and the radiation source. All material absorbs some radiation, but it is best to use dense materials because they tend to be more effective. How much radiation is absorbed by a material is measured by its "Halving Thickness", or the thickness of that material to reduce gamma radiation by a factor of 2. If a material can stop a gamma ray, it can generally stop everything else. An effective fallout shelter using 1 m of dirt accounts for ten halving thicknesses, decreasing the effective radiation fluence by a factor of ~1000.
I hope that this is useful to people who are interested in learning a bit more about radiation and radioactivity. I believe that if people know its effects and how one can treat it properly and protect one's self, that it tends to alleviate unnecessary fear. The world will not end if the Japanese plants were to go into meltdown. A meltdown would imply significant environmental impacts, and it may also mean that there would be a portion of Japan that will be unlivable. People living outside of Japan are not likely to be significantly affected, except in the absolute worst case scenario. Good luck to everyone working to prevent a meltdown, and please be safe.

subset: commoncrawl


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Study: Small Texas cities are stressed out
One would think that the bigger the city, the larger the stress level.
That's apparently not always the case, says a study by CreditDonkey.com, which ranked the 10 most stressful cities in Texas. It based the rankings on criminal activity, traffic, working hours, divorces and cost of living.
"If everything truly is bigger in Texas, then Texans must have their hands full when it comes to stress," the study states. "Texans may not outwardly show it, but stress is just as much a part of their life as a New Yorker's."
Dallas did make the list -- No. 10 -- but it may seem like other big cities, such as Houston, Austin and Fort Worth, would've been included as well. Really, they didn't come close. Instead, smaller, remote cities such as Kyle and Leander, made the list as the state's most stressful.
Killeen, home of Fort Hood, came in at No. 1. which is both good and bad for its residents.
"Because of its close location to the military post, Fort Hood is the city's principal employer and plays a vital role in the community. Residents' proximity to their work has its good and bad points," the study states.
For example, while residents have a short commute to their workplace, they work the most hours in a week. Also, the high-crime rate and expensive cost of living put the Central Texas city at the top.
Click through the slideshow to see the 10 most stressful cities in the state.


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Chinese ex-banker sentenced for ID fakery
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court on Sunday sentenced a former banking official who amassed a real estate empire of at least 45 properties under multiple fake identities to three years in jail, state media reported.
Gong Ai'ai was a former vice president of a rural bank who came to be known as "Sister House" among the Chinese public and fueled public demands that officials declare their assets.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Gong was convicted Sunday of charges of forging, buying and selling state identification papers. Calls to the court, the Jingbian County People's Court in northern Shaanxi province, rang unanswered.
The prosecution against Gong is one of several high-profile anti-graft cases since Xi Jinping became China's leader last fall with calls for renewed efforts to fight corruption.
After the case surfaced earlier this year, people were shocked by the size of Gong's alleged $160 million in real estate holdings — including 41 properties in the ultra-pricy housing market of Beijing — in a country where an average family struggles to afford one apartment.
They also were shocked that Gong was able to acquire multiple identities despite China's tightly controlled regulations on identification documents.
Gong's ability to get multiple identifications was central to the case, suggesting corruption among the police who register residences and issue identification cards, as well as highlighting the cozy trade of power for money.


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As thousands of mainland Chinese receive permission to visit the "special status" region of Hong Kong each year, Cardinal John Tong sees an opportunity for the Diocese of Hong Kong to reach out to both the "open" and the "underground" Catholic Church in mainland China and facilitate further dialogue between Communist Chinese authorities and the Vatican. That relationship seemed to be improving in recent years but was thrown into upheaval last year by a series of episcopal appointments made by the Beijing-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association without approval from Rome.
Now both sides seem to be seeking a way to get relations back on track. "I hope that both sides would be patient and continue to be open to each other, listening to the other side so that they can have a deeper and more fruitful dialogue," Cardinal Tong said. "That is what we need."
In an interview with the Web site Vatican Insider published on March 13, Cardinal Tong said opportunities for continuing dialogue between Beijing and Rome remain to be explored and that "win-win" solutions to the problems that exist between them remain achievable. Cardinal Tong has reiterated his idea of Hong Kong as a "bridge-church," helping the mainland church improve priestly formation, promote reconciliation and achieve full communion with the universal church. Cardinal Tong was elevated to the College of Cardinals in February.
Cardinal Tong said that China's increasing role in international affairs should provide an opening for dialogue with the Vatican. Now Beijing has to appreciate, he said, "international values.... I think in the long run that China will change in very important ways."
Cardinal Tong said his message to Chinese government officials is "to believe that our Catholic Church always asks each Catholic to be patriotic, to love his or her own country." He said, "I would ask the government to trust also in Catholic believers so that if they really enjoy full freedom, they can make more contributions to their own country, and China and its government will enjoy a better reputation in the whole world. That would be a real 'win-win' situation for the Chinese government, for the country and also for the Catholic believers in China."
Regarding the future of the Patriotic Association, assuming conditions improve for the church in mainland China, Cardinal Tong suggested that the association may continue to have a "low-key role" in the church. "They can be used as the agents or the members of social agencies," he said, "like Caritas organizations under the mandates of the local bishops. That could be one of the ways out for them. But I don't know whether they would accept that or not."
Cardinal Tong said that improved formation can help bring an end to confrontations between Chinese authorities and the Vatican over episcopal appointments, creating candidates both sides would find acceptable or leading to episcopal nominees more willing and spiritually equipped to resist pressure from Beijing. "I think the Holy See was pushed into [a] corner last year," Cardinal Tong said, referring to a series of illicit episcopal appointments, "but the important thing is the preventive formation, and we have to emphasize this."


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This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 4:4
Are you burning out your kids with too many scheduled activities? Are you, like Martha (Luke 10:40), allowing busyness to distract you and your family from what is truly important? These are questions worth asking. Many of today's parents want their children to experience everything that's available—motivated in part so that their kids will be able to "compete" with their peers when college scholarships are handed out. Those are laudable intentions. But are all the sports practices, singing lessons, and dance recitals worth the price?
According to recent studies, free time for kids is down to only six hours a week. Moms average more than five car trips a day running errands and chauffeuring their children. Typical of this scene, perhaps, is one Chicago-area mother of four busy children. She admitted recently that her one-year-old was practically being raised in the family minivan. "When he's not in the van, he's somewhat disoriented," she said.
When kids aren't sure which is home, the house or the family car, something is definitely wrong. Give your children downtime to play, to wonder, to "waste some time," and to just be kids. Solomon describes the relentless pursuit of knowledge and achievement, when not inspired by God, as "meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:16–18; 4:4). We agree.
Do your kids have free time every day?
Do they enjoy their outside activities? Do you?
What activities might you consider cutting from their schedule?
Slow us down, dear Lord. We've been like Martha, worried and distracted, instead of Mary, who spent time at Your feet, enjoying and adoring You. Please change our hearts by Your indwelling Holy Spirit. Amen.
Statistics and illustration from "The Parent Trap," Newsweek, 29 January 2001; and the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and the Surface Transportation Policy Project of Washington, D.C., as reported by Cox News Service, 26 July 2000.


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This activity uses an episode of poor air quality over the Midwest and Eastern seaboard to engage students in an exploration of the collection, comparison, analysis and utilization of air quality data. With the aid of a camera, the EPA website and... (View More) Google Earth, students will determine local visibility. Students will also interpret images taken with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard both the Terra and Aqua satellites to distinguish between three aerosols-smoke, dust and haze. Then students will then find online satellite images of the local area to determine aerosol types and possible sources. Four lesson extensions are included. This lesson uses the 5E instructional model. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free


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House '16 Honored for 'Realizing a Dream'• November 7, 2013 Share:
Fabian House '16 has realized a dream as a Wabash College sophomore thriving and experiencing success as a first generation college student.
House will be one of 31 Indiana students honored Saturday night in Indianapolis at the Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) "Realizing the Dream" banquet.
Made possible by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to ICI, the event recognizes first-generation students attending ICI campuses, along with their inspirational teachers and families. The event is being held at the Sheraton Indianapolis at Keystone Crossing, with a reception at 6:15 p.m. and an awards dinner at 7:00 p.m.
Each honored student will receive a $2,000 check to help with college costs, and each student's chosen "most influential" teacher/mentor will receive $1,000. One out of every three students on ICI campuses is a first-generation one. Generous financial aid provided by the campuses themselves, combined with state and federal grants, makes a private college education a possibility for all students in Indiana.
"I was pleasantly surprised," House said of learning about the honor from Dean of Students Mike Raters. "I knew nothing about the scholarship or that I would be considered for it.
"I think it's a reward for the hard work I put in my freshman year. My goal is to continue to work hard and make sure the award is deserved. Realizing the dream represents the work of my parents, my family, and a lot of my friends encouraging me to work hard and be the best I can be."
House selected his 5th grade teacher at Heritage Hall Christian School, Greg Posey as his most influential teacher/mentor.
Cross Country Coach Roger Busch will accompany Fabian to the banquet. "I see him every day and he pushes me every day. He pushes me physically and mentally."
Busch called Fabian a "suspiciously nice young man" a term often used by former track coach Rob Johnson.
"I recruited Fabian very aggressively as a high school senior and he was always replying with "sirs" and "thank yous" which is very uncommon for that age group," Busch '96 said. "I was a bit disappointed when Fabian decided to play soccer his freshman year after spending so much time encouraging him to attend Wabash. At the time, he still had a strong passion for soccer so I encouraged him to do what he loves. I admire him for making those tough decisions and being honest along the way. He did decide to run indoor and outdoor track and he embraced the stress of the sport like he had never missed a beat.
"He had an excellent season both indoor and outdoor and rekindled his passion for running. He connected with the other distance runners on the team and about half way through the outdoor season asked me if he could run cross country. I explained to him the demands of a year-round runner and he simply said "ok". He guaranteed that he would work as hard or harder than the others on the team. And he has done so. He is still adjusting to the college cross country distance, but he doesn't shy away from the challenge."
Busch described House as an extremely ambitious Wabash man. "Fabian approached me this fall with a question about completing Wabash in six semesters. I was very candid with him about the pros and the cons and once again his willingness to accept challenges provided him the confidence to graduate from Wabash in 3 years! He is surprisingly not much of a vocal leader on the team, but he definitely leads by example."
House has been active in athletics, career services, and academically as a second-year college student. He was Governor of Hoosier Boys State and could have gone to college anywhere.
"Wabash has worked for me in that I've been truly challenged in how I interact with people," he said. And on an academic level, I've been stretched to think in ways I wouldn't have imagined before. The faculty is very committed to stretching you on an academic level and making you a better person."
This keynote speaker for Saturday's is Rebecca Hernandez, Ph.D., Goshen College associate dean of Intercultural Development & Educational Partnerships. A first-generation college student herself and the daughter of migrant farm workers, Hernandez has been working on Latino issues throughout her career. She has taught middle and high school, served as a community and non-profit leader, and held faculty appointments at Oregon State University and Oregon Health and Sciences University.
"We are so grateful to Lilly Endowment Inc. for making this inspirational program possible," says Richard L. Ludwick, ICI president & CEO. "We are proud, too, that because of the higher graduation rates of our ICI colleges and universities, these students are twice as likely to realize the dream of completing their degrees in four years."


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The Florida Department of Health said Wednesday it will appeal a judge's decision in a hospital-industry fight about adding trauma centers.
Administrative Law Judge W. David Watkins last week found that the department was using an invalid rule in determining whether proposed trauma centers should be approved. The decision was a victory for hospitals in the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville areas that want to block new trauma centers in Clay, Manatee and Pasco counties.
Department spokeswoman Jessica Hammonds said in an e-mail the agency will appeal Watkins' decision to the 1st District Court of Appeal. Also Hammonds said state law allows the disputed rule to remain in effect until appeals are finished.
That would open the door to the department using the rule to consider trauma-center applications for Orange Park Medical Center in Clay County, Blake Medical Center in Manatee County and Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Pasco County.
Even before the department said Wednesday it would appeal the judge's decision, the three hospitals said they would continue with the application process. While the hospitals started the process months ago, they face a key Oct. 1 application deadline.
All of the hospitals are part of the HCA chain.
"Our neighbors, families and friends deserve faster access to life-saving care when it matters most, so we are moving forward with our application to the state,'' Blake Medical Center President and CEO Daniel Friedrich said in a statement that was largely echoed by officials at the other hospitals.
Tampa General Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and Shands Jacksonville filed the case against the Department of Health earlier this year.
Blake Medical Center and Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point formally intervened in the case on the department's side.
The Tampa Bay and Jacksonville hospitals operate trauma centers and want to prevent the HCA hospitals from opening trauma facilities in neighboring counties. The proposed facilities would divert patients and revenues away from the already-existing centers.
The legal case centers on a 1992 rule that the department uses in determining whether a need exists for additional trauma centers. The rule carves the state into 19 trauma regions and includes a maximum number of trauma centers in each area.
Watkins sided with an argument by the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville hospitals that the rule is outdated, at least in part because of later legislative decisions.
In a 75-page decision issued Friday, Watkins wrote that the Department of Health "did not present any rational explanation of how the department determines current need for additional trauma programs" based on data that helped lead to the rule.
But in the e-mail Wednesday, Hammonds said the department "disagrees with the legal rationale which forms the basis of the opinion.''
State to appeal judge's ruling on trauma centers
The Florida Department of Health said Wednesday it will appeal a judge's decision in a hospital-industry fight about adding trauma centers.


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Police: New Caney man tried to bribe cop in 5th DWI arrest
A New Caney man has been indicted on charges of driving while intoxicated and bribery.
Vicente Velazquez, 55, was arrested Aug. 18 in Montgomery County. According to court records, he offered money to the arresting state trooper.
A Montgomery County grand jury indicted him Oct. 22 on the two charges.
Velazquez was arrested about 1:05 a.m. Aug. 18 after the maroon pickup he was driving rear-ended another vehicle on FM 1314 at the U.S. 59 frontage road, Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Bradlee Thornton said.
When a state trooper placed him under arrest, he allegedly offered the officer $1,000 to let him go, Thornton said.
According to the accident report, no one was seriously injured in the crash, Thornton said.
Online records indicate Velazquez was released on $7,500 bond for the DWI charge and $10,000 bond for the bribery charge.
In Texas, the first and second DWI convictions are typically misdemeanors but a third conviction is a third-degree felony, punishable by two to 10 years in prison.
According to law enforcement records, Velazquez has been arrested five times on charges of driving while intoxicated, with two prior convictions.
As a condition of bond for the DWI charge, Velazquez was ordered to have an "interlock" device installed at his own expense on the vehicle he drives most often. Such a device uses deep-lung breath analysis that makes driving impractical if alcohol is detected, court records state.
He is scheduled for arraignment Nov. 20 in Montgomery County's 221st State District Court.


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Former NSW Labor minister Ian Macdonald's push to fast-track the tender process for coal mining in the Bylong Valley was economically irresponsible, a corruption inquiry has heard.
Brad Mullard, a senior officer at the Department of Primary Industries in 2008, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Thursday that he urged Mr Macdonald to slow down the tender process for the issuing of mining exploration licences in the coal-rich area because he thought further exploration was needed.
He agreed with suggestions from junior counsel assisting the commission, Nicholas Chen, that forging ahead with plans to allocate the 11 coal-release areas meant NSW could miss out on lucrative financial contributions from successful bidders.
"It would also be economically irresponsible for that to occur from the department's perspective, is that right?" Mr Chen asked.
"In my view, yes, yes," Mr Mullard replied.
At a meeting with Mr Macdonald in mid-2008 Mr Mullard told the inquiry he had said "to release the areas without the additional information would not result in an adequate return to the state and we needed the data to ensure there was an appropriate return".
The ICAC is probing Mr Macdonald's decision in 2008 to issue exploration licences over the Bylong Valley and how it benefited another ex-minister, Eddie Obeid.
It is alleged Mr Macdonald did the bidding of Obeid family members, who are said to have masked their involvement through complex trust and company structures.
The ICAC also heard Mr Mullard was concerned that Mr Macdonald's decision to reopen the expression-of-interest process could do wider damage to mining in the state.
"We were concerned that when you start changing the rules halfway through the process it certainly throws into question the coal allocation processes in NSW," he said.
The inquiry also heard evidence that the critical tenement where the Obeids had property interests, Mount Penny, was the only one generated by Mr Macdonald's office.
"All of the others were being generated internally by the department. Mount Penny was the only one that I'm aware of that the minister specifically generated," Mr Mullard said.
Mr Mullard said he did not know how the Mount Penny tenement ended up being drawn up so it contained three properties in which the Obeids were financially involved.
The inquiry was also told that Mr Macdonald's office deviated from normal practice in December 2008 by directing the department to issue invitations to successful tenderers.
"So the minister's name would not be on the invitation?" Commissioner David Ipp asked the witness.
"That's right. The letters would go out from the director-general rather than previous practice from the minister," Mr Mullard replied.
The inquiry continues on Friday.


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The book is called The Fingerprints of God by Brad Cummings. I've had it in my my possession for less than a day yet but I find forcing myself through it to be both hard and bad for my health due to excessive facepalming. I'm not yet through the first chapter and already the ignorance, confirmation bias, equivocations, non-sequiturs, and bald-faced-lies are intolerable. Has anyone else read this book and if so, does it get better after the first chapter?
Views: 607
The title alone is so off-putting I would not touch it for fear of picking up theist germs.
LOL! I'll pass on it as well.
Must be a good friend if you didn't just toss it in the recycling bin. Will they be willing to honestly listen to the faults you find in this? Maybe just compile a list of the problems with the first chapter and discuss with your friend. Then you can decide whether to suffer through the rest.
This sounds like an excellent idea, after all, it's Sean's friend who 'set the ball rolling' by giving him the book in the first place.
I haven't read it, but it sounds very much of the same stripe as Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ, which has been dismantled more ways than I care to count as a badly failed apologetic. Like James, I have no interest in reading such crap, though listening to people like A|N's Steve Shives destroy books like that on YouTube is at least entertaining!
In my leisure time, I prefer to read history rather than fiction. Personal bias, I guess, but since my children grew up, I haven't picked Grimm's Fairy Tales, or Mother Goose in years. By the way, you might want to ask your friend that if there are fingerprints of god, are there also DNA samples and mug shots? I think the bastard is wanted on 5 continents.
Sounds like that settles that.
I know how you feel. Last year a coworker lent me a book about god and religion. She stressed that if I read it, I would probably and seriously consider being religious once again. Well.....like you, I just couldn't make it through the first chapter without the face-palms and the insults to my intelligence. I returned it to her unread.
If you began reading "in good faith," and found it absurd, how about returning it with "Thanks for your concern, but it just isn't my kind of book." If pressed, you could add that it has nothing in the first pages, where it should present its hardest-hitting arguments, that you hadn't already considered and abandoned.
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The New York Mets received good news Thursday when the MRI on Jon Niese's pitching shoulder came back clean. Most times when a pitcher complains of a dead arm as Niese did, the issue is more weakness than injury, which is the diagnosis here.
This was the best possible news for the Mets, who have plenty of issues already without having to worry about losing their No. 1 starter.
This was a scare to be sure, but what it also serves as is a reminder starting pitching is scarce, meaning they better be careful if they are considering dealing a starter, even on the minor level, for shortstop Nick Franklin.
Reportedly, Seattle is asking for starting pitching for Franklin, an infielder who became expendable with the Mariners' signing of Robinson Cano. The Mets turned down trade overtures for Niese in the past, but this time he wasn't on the Mariners' wish list.
Niese was examined Wednesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan after complaining of shoulder soreness the day after throwing batting practice. He wanted the exam for his peace of mind because he missed two months last season with a partially torn rotator cuff.
Niese will miss his first exhibition start, Tuesday against Houston, but could resume throwing this weekend.
Manager Terry Collins said Niese will be the Mets' Opening Day starter, and didn't back off that Wednesday.
ON DECK: Intrasquad game.


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Quotes We Like: Bad BaseballPosted: August 23, 2010 Filed under: Genealogy | Tags: Quotes We Like Leave a comment
According to the Troy, N.Y. Record's reporter at a Troy Trojans-Albany Senators game, Aug. 15, 1910:
"Scramble the yolks of four eggs in a quart of mucilage, add a bottle of scarlet ink and some nice green-roofed paste and fry slowly over a fire of green wood and season with mock turtle soup and catsup, and the result would give some idea of the kind of baseball which let the Albany club win the opening game of the present series on the local grounds."
And I thought Cubs fans were bitter.
(From the Record's ongoing This Day in 1910 series. h/t to Joyce on the NY-TROY-IRISH list.)


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Funny How Sensitive Hollywood Gets When You Threaten To Mess With Its 'Fundamental' Structure
from the but-the-internet?-bah... dept
What shocked many folks in the tech community was just how easily the MPAA sought to dismiss some pretty massive fundamental changes to both the internet and the legal framework around the internet. However, apparently if you dare touch the "fundamental" parts of Hollywood's business, the same MPAA throws a hissy fit. The EU recently had a public consultation on a variety of copyright-related topics, some of which were more interesting than others. One of the topics was on the question of movie release windows, and whether or not they made sense any more. As we've noted there have been many, many studies that suggest that these release windows are actually a big part of the problem for Hollywood, and they're leaving a ton of money on the table by not making movies available in as many convenient ways as possible.
In fact, many of the (non-Hollywood) respondents to the consultation made this point. There's BEUC (a consumers' group) that sees (pdf) "both platform and territorial release windows as outdated." GSMA called for (pdf) support for "flexible and shorter release windows." And EuroISPA was the most stringent (pdf), pointing out that:
the current windowing system is obsolete and seriously damaging the objective of the Digital Agenda, because it hampers the circulation of digital works and discriminate amongst platforms, to the detriment of more innovative technologies and business modelsBut you get a totally different story when you hear the MPAA's international arm, the MPA, tell its story (pdf). You see, to Hollywood, release windows are a "fundamental" part of its business model, and how dare anyone think of touching it.
The MPA submits that the freedom to set the exact timing for the release of films in various media and various countries is a fundamental feature of the film industry's business modelPerhaps Hollywood is right, even if so many studies disagree. But, really, if it thinks it can just claim a certain feature is a "fundamental feature of the industry's business model," why does it then feel that there's absolutely no problem to leap into a totally different industry, and muck around with the "fundamental features" of that "industry's business model"? What an incredible sense of entitlement. The MPAA wants the law to keep its business model in place permanently... but if anyone else even dares to ask why Hollywood is trying to muck with their own business model, everyone gets attacked as being misinformed shills.


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A blog by one of the volunteer reviewers for Geocaching.com. It's about geocaching and the review process -- what it takes to get your new caches listed on the world's most popular geocaching web site. ©Copyright 2012 by K.Braband. All rights reserved
Monday, June 04, 2007
Okoboji 2007
We spent Memorial Day weekend at our annual family reunion on West Lake Okoboji. The weather was good overall. Most of our outdoor time was spent in kayaks, but we also took time to walk over to a nearby geocache called Venice, Iowa by Davy Duck, which we found fairly quickly.
Posted by IowaAdmin at 6:10 PM
2 comments:
- welch said...
What sort of kayaks did you two use? Opentop? Tandem or solo kayaks?
- 10:32 PM, June 08, 2007
- IowaAdmin said...
We each have solo kayaks. Mary's is a Wilderness Systems Tsunami 140 and mine is a Venture Skye 17.
- 9:16 AM, June 09, 2007
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Manco Part 5347 : DECAL SET BIG CAT
**OBSOLETE** Part no longer available from Mfgr.
Manco Part Number: 5347
Manco Part Description: DECAL SET BIG CAT
Manco Part Category: DECALS
Please pick parts only by Part Number!
Do Not pick Parts by Description or Category!
To pick Parts: Refer to your Manco Parts Manual (Parts breakdown visual diagram) to find the correct parts your Manco machine needs. If you do not have a Parts Manual, we can provide one for your Manco model instantly via a download located in the: Parts Dept Parts Manuals Manco for this link location please look in the upper left of site for the Categories or Products box. The Parts Manuals available for your Manco Machine are displayed by model number (numerical order, more than one page also!), Click on your model number to open the available downloads for that model. (later revisions for the same model will have higher suffix numbers, you may want to download more than one if available and compare them to see if any revision changes may be incorporated into your Manco Machine.
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Christian-Jewish Dialogue
JUNE 6—The Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee will host the June Christian-Jewish Dialogue at 12 p.m. at the Congregation Beth Shalom, 5915 Beacon St., Pittsburgh. The group will learn about each other's faiths and scriptures by highlighting the distinctiveness of Jewish and Christian traditions. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Deborah Fidel at 412-605-0816 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
10th Pastoral Anniversary
JUNE 7—Bethlehem Baptist Church, 716 Walnut St., McKeesport, will host its 10th Pastoral Anniversary Celebration of Rev. Earlene Coleman. The three-day event will include a free concert featuring ECCLESIA from Virginia, a banquet with guest preacher Rev. Dr. William Curtis, and a Sunday service of praise and worship with pastor emeritus Rev. Dr. J. Van Alfred Winsett. For more information, call 412-664-7272.
Women's Day Celebration
JUNE 8—Bethel AME Church, 2720 Webster Ave., Hill District, will host its Women's Day Celebration. The weekend-long event will include a First Ladies Fashion Show and on June 9, a special Women's Day service. All are welcomed. For more information, call 412-683-2160.
Women's Day
JUNE 9—New Zion Baptist Church, 1434 Juniata St., North Side, will host its Annual Women's Day at 11 a.m. The theme is "Chasing the Good Part." The guest preacher will be Rev. Avis Williams. There will also be an afternoon fellowship at 2 p.m. For more information, call 412-322-3838 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
Strawberry Festival
JUNE 14—Shadyside Presbyterian Church will host its 20th Annual Strawberry Festival from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The congregation will host a traditional evening of fun, games and food. The festival is the celebration of the impending arrival of summer and will support the Sojourner House MOMS. For more information, call 412-682-4300 or visit http://www.shadysidepres.org.


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Opinion: Is the IRS Out to Get You?
Editorial board member Steve Moore on the widening IRS harassment scandal, and emerging concerns over the agency's role in enforcing ObamaCare. Photo: Associated Press
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... the fire as personnel engaged in ... practices that have been reported ... and were intentionally targeting ... conservative groups that met outrage ... and there's no place for ... and ... they have to be held fully accountable ... because the IRS as an independent agency ... require is absolute integrity and people have to have confidence that they're ... applying it in a non partisan way ... good afternoon and welcome to Opinion Journal I'm Mary Kissel ... that was present Obama on a widening IRS scandal really with Orwellian overtones ... it turns out the independent agency was targeting ... not just tea party groups and by other groups that simply disagreed with Obama administration's policies while ... editoral board member Steve Moore is joining us now from Washington ... Steve ... was re trace of irony in the president's statement given ... this is the biggest offender of big government that we've seen in our modern history ... you have an example of big government run amok ... there you know I thought was interesting is saying that when he said if they are due to its well ... being of the so the they're doing this for a party that expose ... them what other reasons to suspect this goes up I'll lot higher than just some bureaucrats at the IRS ... is that God and there were inquiries by the House of Representatives the speaker's office and the ways and means committee ... that that date back two years ago ... other asking the administration to look into these allegations ... that the IRS was creating a database less which is essentially what this was Mary ... and the I've covered of treachery came back inside and out of this is going on so it looks like it was a whitewash ... and I think this scandal boasts a lot higher than the IRS and I think you know more then just stop you head to the IRS may have to roll is a consequence of such as Steve you've got political diary coming out later today on WS J dot com it looks at how ... the Obama administration has used the IRS ... give us a preview of that piece ... well a pace that I showed him the piece was Yelp just one agency and in almost the entire federal ... government has says come in for big is the biggest US spending increases now they didn't always get done but year after year Mary and the five budgets that Brock Obama has put out he's always wanted gigantic increase for the address especially for the enforcement division ... in exactly the people were engaged in this kind of ... of which I'm it's been going on worst consumer groups have been ... aroused ... by the way they can dramatically increase the lot of pots that they've done it increased out the personnel at the head by something like five thousand new IRS new upset and now we know who they are stooping up the steep part of these funding increases also have to do with Obamacare because the IRS plays a very key role in Obamacare yes um can you explain that linkage and how this scandal ... raises kid specific concerns about that program ... yes I mean it's an excellent point ... Mary this is something just isn't that fair to say is that ... that maybe concerns me the most ... high and as this scandal on bolts which is ... that of a major enforcer of the eye of the new ObamaCare rules is the IRS gives enormous new powers ... I in terms of key keeping health records and health insurance records of the American citizens now given what's happened in the last ... the allow week and what we discover ... a you know the idea that we want the rest of our health records of the body of Mary but that makes me very IVC ... very very uneasy Steven got lesson thirty seconds left ... do we know yet if this was concentrated in Ohio a key swing state ... or if it is now a much wider sat wide wider spread scandal ... oh I don't think this was a geographical thing I think this was something ... that the higher ups at the IRS oh look something like this couldn't happen without people way higher up in the agency ... that of the Treasury Department knowing about in my opinion and that's why this looks like it's a scandal that is that is really exploding in terms of the reach of it I just don't think the president's comment today really do justice to how terrible this as evidence Nick Sony and ... ah kind of out of the useless stuff that we haven't seen in thirty years in the style enemies List up we haven't seen in thirty years the widening scandal editorial board member Steve Moore ... thank so much for being on show ... they can or


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NAB Cries To The Court About White Spaces Spectrum Plans
from the same-old-story dept
We might be more sympathetic to the NAB's claim if it didn't have such a long and glorious history of trying to stifle anything that competes with incumbent broadcasters, and have such an annoying way of doing it. The FCC has put significant stipulations in place to ensure that white space devices don't cause interference, and despite the NAB's contention, the prototypes that failed in the testing process didn't do so. The FCC got it right by approving use of the white spaces with the restrictions and rules it put in place to tame interference; the NAB has once again got it wrong by trying to stifle innovation, and perhaps competition.