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New York, N.Y. Today Asia Society announced the appointment of Josette Sheeran, the Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum, as the seventh president and CEO of the institution. Ms. Sheeran will assume the office on June 10.
"Josette Sheeran is a proven executive with a long and successful record of global leadership, and far-reaching diplomatic experience with the nations of Asia," Asia Society Board Co-Chairs Henrietta Fore and Ronnie Chan said in a joint statement. "We are delighted that she will be Asia Society's next president at this time of continued growth for our organization."
At the World Economic Forum, which hosts the annual Davos and Davos in China gathering of world leaders, Sheeran has helped advance global initiatives and global, regional and industry agendas such as Grow Africa, which has attracted $4 billion in investment commitments to end hunger and malnutrition in Africa. This spring she also served at the Harvard Kennedy School as a Fisher Fellow in the Future of Diplomacy.
Prior to her tenure at the World Economic Forum, Sheeran was executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006. There she was responsible for managing the world's largest humanitarian organization, leading a team of 13,000 people in more than 70 countries, and managing an annual budget of more than $3 billion — including $1 billion in Asia.
Under Sheeran's leadership, the WFP increased its donor base to more than 100 nations, and became the first global institution to include the so-called BRIC countries and the gulf states among its top 10 donors. She put in place historic reforms of food aid, helping cut the cycle of hunger and malnutrition by purchasing nutritious food directly from developing world farmers. She also instituted emergency protocols that helped the WFP improve its ability to save lives and livelihoods in disasters and emergencies, most notably in Pakistan, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Haiti and in the Horn of Africa.
Ms. Sheeran has also held senior positions in the U.S. government, and in those positions she conducted high-level diplomacy with virtually every nation in Asia. As U.S. under secretary of state for economic, business, and agricultural affairs, she led new State Department initiatives which supported economic transformation and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Central Asia and with APEC and ASEAN. Earlier she served for five years as deputy U.S. trade representative, conducting negotiations across Asia, including with China, Australia, Singapore, India, Korea, and Japan.
"Josette Sheeran is a builder — a leader who has grown institutions at every step," said Fore, the Asia Society board co-chair. "As Asia Society sets a course for its own growth — across the arts, policy, business and education — she will be a great champion and leader of this critical organization."
"Josette Sheeran's appointment marks the beginning of an exciting new era for the Asia Society, underscoring our leadership in building bridges between the east and west," said Chan. "She has built a global reputation for the kind of dynamic leadership that will benefit our organization in the years to come."
"I am very honored to be selected to lead the premier institution connecting Asia to the world and the world to Asia," said Sheeran. "It will be a great privilege to play a central role in the explosion of exchanges between east and the west — in diplomacy, arts and culture, and in education. The Asia Society trustees and staff are renowned and respected for their deep knowledge and quality of work in these areas. I believe we will be able to leverage those qualities to bring the institution to new heights."
In 2011, Forbes named Sheeran the world's 30th most powerful woman; Foreign Policy has listed her among its top 100 women on Twitter; and Sheeran's TED Talk on ending world hunger has been viewed more than one million times. Sheeran is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and has served on its Washington Advisory Board. She has received several honors for her leadership in the fight against hunger and malnutrition: she was awarded Japan's Nigata International Food Award; named Commandeur de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the government of France; and received Brazil's highest civilian award, the Grand Official Order of the 'Rio Branco,' from President Lula Da Silva. Sheeran was also honored by the Huffington Post with its "Game Changer" award in 2011, along with Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson and economist Esther Duflo.
"The Asia Society's mission is more compelling than ever, and Josette, with her global leadership experience, is the right leader at the right time for such a renowned institution," said Dr. Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation. "I look forward to partnering closely with Josette to make progress on the critical issues facing Asia and the world."
Several Asia Society trustees weighed in on Sheeran's selection.
"Our conversations with Josette, and comments from many people with whom she has worked, quickly convinced us she had the experience, energy and personality to achieve the ambitious goals the board has set for the Asia Society president," said Lewis B. Kaden, who headed the presidential search committee.
"I believe Josette's vast global leadership experience is just right for Asia Society as we continue our mission of cultural, policy and business linkage with Asia and the world," said Frank Brown, chief operating officer of General Atlantic.
"We are thrilled that Asia Society has attracted such a world class leader," said Harold McGraw III, president and CEO of McGraw-Hill Companies. "Josette brings a wealth of experiences and operational capabilities."
"Josette has lived and worked in a global world and understands the opportunities and challenges this presents, particularly for Asia Society, as it becomes truly trans-Pacific," said Lulu Wang, CEO of Tupelo Capital Management. "She has successfully led complex organizations and her clear-thinking, focus and warmth has won her the respect of her internal as well as external stakeholders. We look forward to welcoming her to the Asia Society family."
Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the Society provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future.
Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with headquarters in New York, major centers in Hong Kong and Houston, and offices in Los Angeles, Manila, Mumbai, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, and Washington, D.C.
See Asia Society's Prez on Global Citizens Like Obama by Jim Luce in The Huffington Post, September 19, 2009.


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(Translated by Bertram Eugene Schwarzbach)
Preface (Excerpts)
During the last two centuries, analytical mechanics have occupied a prominent place among scientists' interests. The work in this field by such mathematicians as Euler, Lagrange, Laplace, Hamilton, Jacobi, Poisson, Liouville, Poincaré, Carathéodory, Birkhoff, Lie and E. Cartan has played a major role in the development of several important branches of mathematics: differential geometry, the calculus of variations, the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, and the theory of ordinary and partial differential equations. During the last thirty years, the study of the geometric structures which form the basis of mechanics (symplectic, Poisson and contact structures) has enjoyed renewed vigor. The introduction of modern methods of differential geometry is one of the reasons for this renewal; it has permitted a formulation of global problems and furnished tools with which to solve them.
Even though there are already a number of books that treat this subject, the authors believe that it is of value to provide readers with an approach to these methods and to permit them to familiarize themselves with certain recent developments which are not mentioned in the other textbooks in this field, and to acquire the information necessary in order to pursue current research. They have also expounded and employed the methods of exterior algebra which were introduced by E. Cartan.
This work, which is in large part based on lectures given by the authors at the Universities of Paris VI and VII, incorporates numerous points recalled to facilitate study. It was written for students at the end of the "second Cycle" program, or at the beginning of their "Third Cycle"—these are the French designations that correspond, approximately, to American Masters' and Doctoral programs, respectively. It is mainly directed at readers interested in mathematics, but it may be of interest too for physicists, engineers, and for anyone who may be interested in differential geometry and the foundations of mechanics.
This work is composed of five chapters and seven appendices. Chapters I, II and V, as well as appendix 2, were written by the first author (P.L.), while chapters III and IV, as well as the remaining appendices, were written by the second author (C.-M. M.)Table of Contents
Chapter I. Symplectic vector spaces and symplectic vector bundles
Part 1: Symplectic vector spaces
Part 2: Symplectic vector bundles
Part 3:Remarks concerning the operator Λ and Lepage's decomposition theorem
Chapter II. Semi-basic and vertical differential forms in mechanics
Chapter III. Symplectic manifolds and Poisson manifolds
Chapter IV. Action of a Lie group on a symplectic manifold
Chapter V. Contact manifolds
Appendix 1. Basic notions of differential geometry
Appendix 2. Infinitesimal jets
Appendix 3. Distributions, Pfaffian systems and foliations
Appendix 4. integral invariants
Appendix 5. Lie groups and Lie algebras
Appendix 6: The Lagrange-Grassmann manifold
Appendix 7: Morse families and Lagrangian submanifolds

subset: commoncrawl


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Monday, March 22, 2010
John Quincy Adams by Robert Remini
Remini does a good job of talking about Adams' career before the White House as well as in the White House. He covers the well known topics as well as some of the lesser known ones. I also really enjoyed the chapter he spends on Adams' career after the White House and his continuing dedication to making a difference. It was here he finally got the respect, and even popularity, he wanted.
One thing is clear - Remini does not like Abigail Adams. He is positively vicious on the subject of her parenting. I'm not a big fan of ripping on other people's parenting style, in general, so this bothered me (I also do like Abigail Adams). He also admits that John Adams wasn't that much better, but you can tell it is Abigail he reserves most of the blame for. He does admit John Quincy Adams was also a terrible father, at least, but brings it back to the fact that he wanted his sons raised like he was (so again blaming Abigail). Now I'm not saying Abigail didn't nag (she did), but the Adams family also had problems with alcholism and she knew that - while maybe she didn't make all the right decisions (it worked for JQA in the end, but not for all the others), but she was trying to fix a problem she knew could be there. She was also parenting via distance for much of his life. So while I don't excuse all her comments (and some weren't in the best of taste), I also don't fault her for what she was trying to do. Maybe it is the parent in me, but I don't like to see someone else's parenting being taken apart.
I also wish Remini would have talked more about Louisa Adams. I realize this is a political biography, but I would have liked to see more mention of her duties in the White House and as Adams' politcal hostess throughout their life.
My one other "complaint" is more directed at the series/publisher. I WANT FULL FOOTNOTES (or endotes...I'll be reasonable)! I can't stand to have a direct quote and no specific source to go read the rest of it! I realize that often this isn't an author decision, but it is something that drives me batty on any academic work!
My overall recommendation is that this is a good book and well worth the time to read. Hopefully, you will enjoy it as well.
3 comments:
- Paul said...
I love John Q. Adams and think he's my favorite president just for the man he was before and after the presidency.
He spoke 6 languages and wrote scholarly works on Astronomy. The guy was so politically devoted to destroying his political career (or so he'd have us believe) that he was known as Macbeth and referred to his own supporters political rallies as 'mobs', so it's no wonder he's not favored by history.
How can you not love someone like that?!
- Jennie W said...
I don't know - I rather pity Louisa for having to live with him.:)
Talking about refusing to help himself - he spoke German as one of those languages, yet refused to go speak to the German farmers, in their own language, for a political speech when it was suggested! He absolutely refused to help his own career along.
- Unknown said...
Perhaps no one was better trained and experienced for the presidency.
Artist and historian George Stuart has created Historical Figures of Abigail, John and John Quincy Adams and a lot of their compatriots.
Leroy Becker
Executive Director
Historical Figures Foundation


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FETHR roadmap.
I've gotten some really excellent feedback about FETHR since I unveiled it at IPTPS last week. There's been a steady hum of RTs and hosannahs on Twitter, a handful of thoughtful emails, and a few FriendFeed discussions (notably Chris Messina and Andy Baio1).
The FETHR slide deck has been particularly well-received. In it I compare microblogging in 2009 to email in 1983, an analogy which seems to resonate with people (at least, people of a certain age); I think it succinctly summarizes where we are today and what needs to happen in order for microblogging to become, in fact, a communication utility alongside email, IM, blogs, and so on.
FETHR, Laconica, and OpenMicroBlogging
I've gotten a lot of useful criticism and feedback as well. Several people asked whether I was aware of the open-source Laconica project and how what I'm doing differs. In short: yes, I'm aware of Laconica and OpenMicroBlogging (OMB). I started my work in April '08, and when Laconica launched in July I was gratified to see someone else pursuing open microblogging.
I think FETHR and OMB are cousins. Evan Prodromou, the creator of Laconica and the owner of identi.ca (a Twitter-like multi-user microblogging service) and I both see the same need: for an ecosystem of microblogging systems that seamlessly2 interoperate. Each is a RESTful protocol designed to be used exclusively over HTTP; participants are uniquely identified by a canonical URL, which is used as a rendezvous point for API calls.
Substantial technical differences exist between the two protocols, however:3
Message distribution. A lesson I took away from my MS work on RSS feeds is that being popular is a curse: you have to satisfy all those hungry new readers. Unlike RSS, FETHR (and OMB) are push protocols, so those readers aren't periodically making (redundant, useless) requests, but a popular microblogger (e.g. Heather Champ) might still have to make half a million HTTP requests every time she wants to post a message. FETHR addresses this problem by allowing a publisher to ask subscribers to assist with message dissemination by gossiping updates among one another.
Security. Each applies security techniques to prevent abuse, particularly spam (messages from sources the user isn't subscribed to). OMB uses OAuth4 to secure individual connections, but this won't fly in a true p2p environment like FETHR (in which you might receive a new message from someone other than its author). FETHR therefore secures data rather than channels; that is, individual messages are signed and hash chained in order to authenticate messages and a publisher's timeline as a whole. (There are some other useful properties of this approach; see §3.2 of the IPTPS paper for details.)
Message content. Finally, as currently written, OMB is naturally focused on replicating the Twitter experience, including some maximum field lengths set at 140 characters (e.g. the user's "location") and specifying the size (96x96 pixels) of avatar images. It expands on Twitter in certain areas (including a sorely-needed "seealso" property to allow a message to refer to some external resource), but these too are fixed in the protocol. FETHR attempts to remain agnostic on these data, choosing instead to specify a bare minimum of necessary properties and allowing applications to superimpose arbitrary key-value data (read: a JSON object). Essentially, FETHR anticipates that application developers will create their own micro-formats5 that best describe the type of micropublishing service model that best suits them.
Birdfeeder roadmap
There's lots of work to do on FETHR, and now that I've gotten another large blocking project out of the way, I can resume work on both the protocol and the Birdfeeder prototype. In rough priority order:
Protocol docs. Many (including Dave Winer in a comment on Messina's FriendFeed) have asked for a public specification of the FETHR protocol. I absolutely intend to provide this, although the exact wire protocol (as spoken by Birdfeeder) is something of a moving target at the moment. If you're desperate, you can suss it out from the source, which brings me to…
Refactoring. There's a lot of work to do on the code; I grew it organically and unpredictably as my ideas about FETHR developed, and as a result, parts of it bear a strong resemblance to a pasta dinner. Aside from general cleanups (more comprehensive tests, documentation, etc.) I'd like to better separate the Birdfeeder front-end from the FETHR transport so that it's easier to develop new applications without all the HTML.
Local Twitter support in Birdfeeder. Currently, Twitter connectivity is handled by a single FETHR node, twittergw, which acts as a gateway between the two networks. (I first described the gateway in a previous blog post.) Long-term, Twitter should support the FETHR API directly; twittergw was created to provide a crude replica of such functionality. I'm running up against the limitations of this approach, however; I now plan to move Twitter support into the Birdfeeder client itself, overcoming the limitations of twittergw as well as facilitate the out-of-box experience for people looking to try out the system.
More refactoring. Birdfeeder makes use of the web.py application framework, but it currently uses a number of work threads, which requires that web.py be used as a standalone server. I want Birdfeeder to operate as a stateless CGI, which means moving background tasks out of threads and into special URL handlers (suitable for tickling with a cron job). This would pave the way for…
Google App Engine. The above improvements will allow Birdfeeder to run on GAE, which is a big step toward a large multi-user system that non-technical users can sign up (similar to identi.ca). Note, however, that the point of this project is not to create a public microblogging service, but to lay the foundation for many public micropublishing services; still, it can be beneficial to have a public example as an "ambassador" for the technology.
This is just the "development" side of the R&D equation. I've got a stack of research topics to tackle as well (some of which can be found toward the end of my slide deck); I expect to pick these threads back up a little later in the summer.
Thoughts? Requests? I'll leave the regular blog comments open so you can write longer notes than the Twitter watercooler will allow (although tweets are welcome as well).
I owe particular thanks to Andy for giving the FETHR talk a huge bump by noting it on his widely-read links page for April 21st. ↩
Well, almost seamlessly. In particular, the user experience for subscribing to a user becomes much more complex: you can't simply create a "Follow!" button, because the subscriber may be using a different service. This is an open problem, related to that of RSS subscription, with similar solutions (copy/pasting addresses, bookmarklets, or new URI schemes). ↩
This discussion is based on my reading of the current draft of the OpenMicroBlogging specification; there are portions of the document that are ambiguous and some important terms (such as "user") are ill-defined. If you think I've misunderstood something, please leave a note below. ↩
OAuth was designed to allow a user to grant a limited amount of authority from one service (of which he is a user) to another (which he also uses). For example, Twitter might want to look through your Gmail contacts to see if any of them is already a Twitter user; it could do this by asking for your Gmail username and password, but this would give Twitter access to all your email as well (which is not good). Instead, Twitter makes an OAuth request (on your behalf) to Gmail, which then asks you (interactively) if this is in fact what you want before handing a special authorization token back to Twitter for this specific purpose only (think of it as a "valet key"). Because it's essentially a capability system for Web resources, OAuth doesn't have to be used this way, and OMB chooses to use it as a way to allow one user (the subscriber) to delegate a right (the ability to send him messages) to another user (the publisher). ↩
Not to be confused with Microformats, which are (X)HTML-based metadata that allow a human-readable webpage to be seamlessly interpreted by "semantic Web" agents. ↩


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Stage Five: The Philosopher Stage
As many hunters mature and gain experience, they look back on a lifetime of hunting and find that what they enjoyed the most is not one single thing. Instead, it's a combination of many things. Hunters in this stage might enjoy simply getting out, and taking an animal is not nearly as important. They enjoy passing on their knowledge to new hunters. These hunters judge success by how they feel about the entire hunting experience.


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Perfect to hang in your man cave bar area, home bar area or other favorite room, this attractive large Personalized Man Cave Bar Planked Wood Sign - Lions Crest comes personalized with your name with up to 18 characters and comes with your choice of one of four different wood background colors: natural (as shown), stained, weathered or barnwood.
This high quality Planked Man Cave Bar Sign ships quickly, is made to order and comes ready to hang. Measures 17 1/2 in. x 23 1/2 in. and is made of 3/8 furniture grade birch plywood with 3/8 hanger rails thus making the sign 3/4 inch thick. Made in the USA. Each sign and colors on the sign may vary slightly due to the natural wood grain. This sign should only be hung indoors. A Man Cave Gifts Exclusive!
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A few weeks ago I posted an R2D2 bike helmet, it was pretty cool, but sometimes you don't always have the money to buy an off the shelf item like that, luckily for you Jen from Clever Girl has posted a how to guide to make your own custom R2D2 Helmet.
As she says herself it's not exactly rocket science, but it's still pretty cool, I've quoted the steps below, including her encounter with a cheeky arachnid….
First, I sand-papered the crap out of an old helmet that Philadelphia Scooters kindly provided. I even Tom Sawyered Steve into sandpapering but then got jealous and demanded he give it back so that I could do it myself.Then I primed and sprayed it with a silver spray paint.
The next step was labor-intensive. I outlined all the shapes with tape. It involved a lot of measuring, cursing circles for being so round, and wishing I had kept my protractor and compass from high school.
From there it was kind of a breeze. I just spray painted the blue on. As you can see, we had other fun things going on; that's an empty canned chile can in the foreground, and the ever-delicious Michelob Ultra by my foot. It's always a party at Jenn's house.
Then I almost walked into this thing on our back deck:
Needless to say, that was EXTREMELY distracting (not just the horrifying part or the talking spider part, but also the, "holy shit, look at that amazingly perfect spider web; we totally have to spend the better part of an hour trying to take a perfect picture of it in the dark" part).That was okay, though, because it gave the blue time to dry so I could do this:
Looks satisfying, right? It totally was about 23.87 times more satisfying than it looks in these pictures. Next up were the little details:
Next, my handy friend Jon Hauptman used his super awesome saw to cut a PVC pipe down for the doo-dads. It was totally Tim Allen's Tool Time up in that joint. The lighting gadget, on the other hand, is of my own design and is such super top secret technology that the military is currently trying to buy the patent off me to use for interstellar space travel… oh wait, we don't do the space thing anymore. Aww.Knowing what it's made of wouldn't help you, though, because it requires 1.21 gigawatts, so… you know… good luck with that.The final step was giving it about 374 cans of clear coat. I think if I learned anything from this project, it's that nothing (except cakes) can suffer from too many layers of clear coat. When it was done I wore it around the house until it was time for bed… and then I wore it to bed.


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With respect to sages and crystal ball advocates around the world, you never know how or when you're going to go. There are a lot of ways to die, and some are certainly more bizarre than others. Even natural causes like heart failure can be brought on by some pretty strange circumstances. So while a death certificate may read, "died while sleeping," the fine print might say, "after a satellite fell through the roof."
Throughout history there have been some pretty unusual deaths. Attila the Hun is said to have died from a nosebleed. Isadora Duncan, a popular American dancer in the 1920s, was strangled to death after her scarf got caught up in the axle of the car she was riding in. Stanford White, architect of New York's Madison Square Garden, was shot and killed on the roof of the building he designed. And writer Tennessee Williams famously choked on a bottle cap.
Those are odd and ironic ways to go, but they don't hold a candle to the 10 bizarre deaths on the following pages.
Death by Storm Drain
This bizarre and sad death is a good example of tragic bad luck. In 2008, a Canadian man died after attempting to retrieve his stolen wallet from a storm sewer drain. The wallet and some other personal items were stolen after the 57-year-old man left them at a gas station. He called police before finding the wallet in a nearby sewer drain. He tried unsuccessfully to reach it once before the police arrived and cautioned him not to try again. But the man came back later, removed the grate and gave it another shot. When an officer investigating the crime noticed the man's truck had returned, he went to check out the drain and found the man wedged headfirst several feet below the street. The victim was still alive at this point and remained so as firefighters used a tow truck to pull him from the drain. Sadly, he was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.
Death by Deodorant
In 1998, a 16-year-old boy in England passed away from a heart attack after being exposed to too many deodorant fumes. At the time of his death, the BBC claimed that more than 130 people had died after purposely inhaling aerosol deodorant products since 1971, but the boy's death was the only accidental case on record [source: BBC]. It seems that he was obsessed with personal hygiene and smelling fresh, so he'd spray his entire body with deodorant at least two times per day. It got so bad at times that the family of the boy could taste the fumes downstairs. In spite of this, they never thought he was in any danger. An autopsy revealed that he had 10 times the lethal amount of butane and propane in his bloodstream. It turns out that the boy used the deodorant in a relatively confined space even though warning labels recommend using it in a well-ventilated area.
It should be noted that in studies performed by the British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association and the toxicology unit at St. George's Hospital in London, researchers were not able to reproduce conditions that could lead to harmful or fatal effects from excessive spraying of aerosol products in a confined space.
Death by Beard
As of November 2008, a Canadian school teacher named Sarwan Singh holds the Guinness World Record for having the longest beard of any man alive. It hangs an astonishing seven feet, seven-and-three-quarter inches (2.36 meters) from his chin [source: ctv.ca]. But the all-time record for a beard goes to a Norwegian man who grew his beard out to a length of 17.5 feet (5.3 meters) [source: Spies]. His name was Hans Langseth and he died in 1927. At one point his beard was even on display in the Smithsonian Institution.
Neither one of these men have had much trouble with their beards. The same can't be said for an Austrian man from the mid-1500s. Hans Steininger's beard was a mere 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) long, but that was enough to lead to his untimely death [source: TIME]. Hans would keep his beard rolled up in a leather pouch, but failed to do so one day in 1567. A fire broke out in his town that day and he reportedly tripped on his beard while trying to evacuate. There are conflicting reports as to whether Steininger broke his neck or perished in the fire, but either way it was a very bizarre way to go.
Death by Hungry Sheep
Sheep are pretty docile creatures. If you visit a sheep farm, you'll likely find the wooly creatures just milling about and munching on some grass. Sadly, in 1999, a woman in England found out that sheep can have an aggressive side as well if they're hungry enough. Betty Stobbs was a farmer's wife and 67 years old at the time of her tragic encounter. She was taking a nice dinner of hay to the family's flock of sheep using a four wheeled all-terrain vehicle (ATV) with a small trailer attached. The sheep were in a field overlooking a quarry. When Stobbs arrived with dinner, the hungry herd charged her and jumped onto the ATV, knocking her off and into the quarry. The sad irony of this tragedy is that she didn't die from the fall itself. She may have even lived through the tumble, but the ATV was knocked off as well and crushed her.
Death by Bra
This one wasn't exactly caused by a bra, but the woman's undergarment certainly didn't help the situation for two ladies in London, England, in 1999. These two friends were walking through Hyde Park one day when a bad thunderstorm came through. The pair was believed to have been seeking shelter under a large tree when a massive bolt of lightning struck them both. Apparently the metal wiring in the women's bras acted as conductors, although the coroner believed that they would have died even if they hadn't been wearing the underwire brassieres. Sadly, the women were both killed instantly and their bodies stayed there for 15 hours before anyone approached them. The official cause of death, as listed by coroner Dr. Paul Knapman, was "misadventure."
Death by Video Game
A representative of the market research firm The NPD Group made a startling announcement at the video gaming industry's 2009 DICE Summit in Las Vegas. Gaming industry insiders knew that their product was undergoing some serious growth, but the revelation that 6 million new potential customers began playing video games in 2008 came as a welcome surprise. The conference also revealed that online gaming, when gamers play against each other via the Internet, rose two percent in 2008 [source: dicesummit.org].
All this activity on the gaming front has led to concerns over video game addiction. These concerns were validated in 2005 when a young man from South Korea passed away after a long stint playing the online version of the game Starcraft. The game is popular in South Korea, and popular gamers are revered. The 28-year-old man in this tragic case had been playing the game for nearly 50 hours straight at an Internet café in Taegu, taking only short breaks to nap and use the restroom. He was rushed to a hospital after collapsing, but died shortly thereafter. Police believed that the cause of death was cardiac arrest brought on by severe exhaustion.
Death by Molasses
This wasn't one death, but 21 deaths -- all from the same bizarre cause. On a warm day in January 1919 in Boston, a large tank containing about 2.5 million gallons of molasses exploded in a neighborhood in the city's North End. The tank was 50 feet high (15.2 meters), had a diameter of 90 feet (27.4 meters) and was situated on the waterfront in an area populated at the time largely by Italian immigrants. Nobody is sure what caused the massive explosion that sent shrapnel flying as far as 200 feet (61 meters) [source: wired.com].
Some of the deaths are attributed to the force of the blast itself, and it's impossible to say now exactly how many perished in the aftermath. But we do know that the explosion caused a wall of molasses that was reportedly 25 feet (7.6 meters) high to flow into the neighborhood at an estimated 35 miles per hour (56.3 kph) [source: wired.com]. The sticky wave knocked people over and sucked them in, causing them to drown in the thick, brown liquid.
It took months to clean the mess up and more than 100 lawsuits were settled for almost $1 million six years after the accident occurred [source: wired.com]. That's more than $12 million in 2009. Residents of the unlucky neighborhood claim they can still smell the molasses on hot summer days.
Death by Hollywood Sign
Hollywood has left more than a few dreams of fame and fortune shattered over the years. The most famous of these sad stories is probably that of Peg Entwistle, a young actress from Wales. Enwistle had some success on the stage, even winning roles on Broadway in New York City, but like so many others, she was drawn to the bright lights of Hollywood in central Los Angeles.
Once in California, she found a small measure of success when she played a part in the film "Thirteen Women," but the fame she desired still eluded her. Test screenings of the film went poorly, and much of her work was edited out of the final product. On Sept. 16, 1932, she climbed up to the famous Hollywood sign for her final act. At the time, the sign still read "Hollywoodland" and was merely an advertisement for a new housing development. Entwistle left her belongings, including a suicide note, at the base of the sign and then climbed up and leapt from the top of the letter "H."
Her body lay there for two days before it was spotted and later identified by her uncle, who lived in the hills near the sign. Her suicide note simply said, "I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E." In an ironic twist, a letter arrived for Entwistle the day following her death offering her a part in a movie about a woman on the verge on suicide.
Death by Junk Pile
They say that one man's trash is another man's treasure, but it can get out of hand if you become a packrat. Most people have a little bit of this tendency in them, but not to the extent that it would kill you. Sadly, the same can't be said about New York City's Collyer Brothers.
Langley and Homer Collyer moved to the New York neighborhood of Harlem in 1909 when they were in their twenties. Sons of an upper class family, the brothers became increasingly hermitic over the years and began to hoard items. How much stuff did they accumulate? It's estimated that there were 180 tons (163 metric tons) of "junk" in the apartment in the end [source: [url='516913:0']]. Busted chandeliers, broken baby carriages, smashed pianos, cracked clocks and molding furniture was stacked in every corner of their home. Homer went blind in the 1930s and was bedridden because of rheumatism by 1940. His younger brother cared for his every need and even saved hundreds of thousands of newspapers in hopes that Homer would regain his sight.
Oddly, the home was also booby-trapped in places to prevent intruders. This would turn out to be Langley's undoing when he tripped on one of the traps and was buried beneath an avalanche of junk. Unable to help, Homer could only slowly starve to death as his brother lay dead under the pile of refuse. Police reportedly searched Manhattan for weeks before realizing that Langley was buried in his own home.
Death by Unexplained Phenomenon
What exactly happened to cause the deaths of nine hikers in the Ural Mountains of Russia on Feb. 2, 1959, remains one of the country's most notorious unsolved mysteries. On Jan. 28, 10 students from the Ural Polytechnic Institute set off for some winter hiking. One member fell ill and was left behind to recuperate in a mountain settlement.
The other nine never made it out of the woods, and what investigators found was both frightening and confusing. Their abandoned tent was found ripped open from the inside, half buried in snow, with the shoes and belongings of the students still inside. The first two bodies were found at the edge of the forest, barefoot and dressed in their underwear. The next three bodies were found nearby in similar condition. Two months later, the last of the bodies were found buried in the snow about 250 feet (75 meters) from the first victims [source: sptimes.ru].
These four students had massive internal injuries, broken ribs and crushed skulls. One of them was missing her tongue. One thing that perplexed investigators was the fact that there was no sign of struggle and no external wounds. The final four victims were wearing some of the clothes of the others that were found to have high levels of radiation.
Theories have abounded over the years -- avalanche, alien interaction and military testing to name a few. Case records were sealed until 1990, when it was learned that bright orange spheres had been spotted in the sky that night by other hikers. This and the radiation on the clothes lead most people to believe that were some secret military shenanigans going on -- although the Russian government has never owned up to anything.
The Sarco Suicide Pod: Controversial or Compassionate?
Imagine the suicide booth on 'Futurama,' only real. Learn more about the Sarco suicide pod at HowStuffWorks.
Related HowStuffWorks Articles
- "Death by Wired Bras." The New York Times. Oct. 28, 1999.
- "Deodorant obsession killed boy." BBC. Oct. 29, 1998.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/203730.stm
- "DICE 09: NPD - Six Million New Gamers in Last Year." Gamasutra. Feb. 20, 2009.http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22415
- "Hair Apparent." TIME. July 18, 1949. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,794879-2,00.html
- "How Attila the Hun Died of a Nosebleed." Associated Content. Feb. 4, 2008.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/570531/how_attila_the_hun_died_of_a_nosebleed.html?cat=37
- "Peg Entwistle." Imdb.com. 2009.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0258201/
- "S Korean dies after games session." BBC. Aug. 10, 2005.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4137782.stm
- "Sheep Push Woman Over Edge of Cliff." Los Angeles Times. Jan. 29, 1999.http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jan/29/news/mn-2886
- "Surrey school teacher has world's longest beard." Ctvbc.ctv.ca. Nov. 14, 2008.http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081113/BC_world_longest_beard_081113/20081113/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
- Alfred, Randy. "Jan. 15, 1919: Morass of Molasses Mucks Up Boston." Wired.com. Jan. 15, 2009.http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/01/dayintech_0115
- Leong, Kristie, M.D. "11 Very Strange Deaths! Bizarre Ways People Have Died!" Associated Content. July 11, 2007. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/301128/11_very_strange_deaths_bizarre_ways.html?cat=7
- Lidz, Franz. "The Paper Chase." The New York Times. Oct. 26, 2003.
- Morse, Paul. "Welland man dies after being trapped in storm sewer." Thespec.com. Feb. 24, 2006.http://www.thespec.com/news/article/330908
- Osadchuk, Svetlana. "Mysterious Deaths of 9 Skiers Still Unresolved." The St. Petersburg Times. Feb. 19, 2008.http://www.sptimes.ru/story/25093
- Perrie, Robin. "Blood lust of killer sheep." The Sun. Feb. 19, 2002.http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article146406.ece
- Spies, Kelly. "World Beard and Mustache Championships." Associated Content. June 19, 2007.
- Thorhill, Ted. "World's most bizarre deaths." The Sun. Sept. 3, 2008.http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/article1639113.ece


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Smart cities offer more and more real-time information
provided by sensor networks and traffic cameras. This information can be
very valuable for transportation planing and analysing user behaviour.
For instance, knowing which parking spots are currently available close
to my destination is very valuable in order to reduce the travel time
and thus, maximize the resource usage and minimize the traffic load. The
future development of this information is usually uncertain (i.e.
non-deterministic). However, algorithms for routing applications should
consider that new information will become available during travelling
along the computed path. In order to exploit the provided information to
a full extend, it is not sufficient to compute a static route or travel
plan because the optimality of the plan might degrade as the state of
the environment might consistently change.
In order to plan transportation and understand observed trajectories in
smart environments, it is necessary to compute action policies instead
of static routes. A policy provides the most promising action for all
situations and in particular, the encountered situations. Analogously,
it makes sense to understand human behaviour based on the sequence of
decisions in the encountered situations. To compute and analyse
policies, the field of reinforcement learning already provides a rich
set of tools.
Matthias Schubert's Bio:
Matthias Schubert is a professor for Computer Science at the LMU
Munich. He is one of the founders of the Data Science Lab @LMU Munich
and a member of the Munich Competence Center for Machine Learning. His
research interests comprise spatial information systems, representation
learning and artificial intelligence in non-deterministic environments.
With the proliferation of location-aware mobile devices and the emergence of everyday analytics, geospatial technology now spans every market, crosses national boundaries, and affects every trending issue. There is no doubt that cloud-based solutions are increasing in demand, requiring next generation, customizable technology to harness multisource data and transform it into focused solutions to be consumed by users of every level. The M.App Portfolio platform is designed to create smart, lightweight, customized market applications that address unique business and industry problems by combining geospatial analytics with cloud technology, as well as enterprise-level deployment environments. These applications, known as Hexagon Smart M.Apps, link sophisticated analytics and spatial models to geospatially relevant information, conveying data about solutions through intuitive, customizable, interactive and innovative displays. In this presentation, you will see several Smart M.Apps in action to better understand how this platform is changing the way we visualize, interpret, and interact with spatial information. Learn how Hexagon Geospatial has teamed with the World Antiquities Coalition to use Smart M.App technology to track missing and stolen cultural artifacts. See how the Green Space Analyzer provides a new way for decision makers to influence policy. Understand how a Smart M.App helps count endangered species in Africa. See how Smart M.Apps address the problems of refugee camps and can be used in country-wide census. Hexagon Geospatial's technology provides the ability to address the challenge of linking business information with multisource multi-sensor data, in near real-time to answer questions and make decisions about our dynamically changing Earth.
"Industry 4.0" is shorthand for what the World Economic Forum calls "the Fourth Industrial Revolution." The invention of the steam engine and construction of railroads brought the first industrial revolution in the 18th century. A second industrial revolution began in the 19th century with the advent of mass production. Digital computers heralded a third industrial revolution beginning in the 1960s. Today, the drivers of Industry 4.0 include "a ubiquitous and mobile internet, smaller, cheaper, and more powerful sensors, and artificial intelligence and machine learning." Industry 4.0 is manifest in an Internet of Things that's connecting billions of devices, and is likely to attract trillions in spending, in the coming decade. Many IoT devices "know where they are can act on their locational knowledge." Foresman's and Luscombe's proposed Second Law of Geography claims that spatially enabled things have increased financial and functional utility. This increased utility, they argue, creates the basis for a spatially enabled economy.
However, other thought leaders worry that the Fourth Industrial Revolution may threaten many of today's workers with "technological unemployment." Not just the IoT, but international finance, social media, other human activities generate an unprecedented and ever-increasing volume, velocity and variety of data. Some foresee that human analysts and their employers will rely increasingly on machine learning and artificial intelligence to cope with the data deluge. Many already do. A body of research by economists, tech leaders, and forward-looking historians anticipates fundamental disruption of traditional employment by increasingly capable machines. This presentation will consider the implications of the IoT, and broader trends in data-driven discovery, for GIS work and workforce development.
Krista Gauthier
The Dyslexic Edge: Alternative Pathways to STEM Excellence
Currently in the United States, 15-20% of our students have dyslexia, yet our elementary school reading curriculum is not appropriate for these learners due to the fact that they, "…simply are not able to categorize the sounds of language or connect sound to meaning in the same way as other students." (Marshall, 2013) In the early grades especially, the curriculum takes up the majority of learning time, The average elementary school spends 520 minutes per week on Language Arts, and only 352 minutes per week on math instruction. (McMurrer, 2008). This leaves students with dyslexia feeling isolated and unintelligent, ultimately losing confidence and the joy of learning. Faced with less than ideal prospects, these students are denied access to so many pathways to success and in some cases turn to a life of crime evident in the fact that 48% of our current prison population is dyslexic.
Simultaneously, these students are not exposed to subjects that many of them would excel in, namely science, math, engineering and technology, or STEM. Moskal (2014) states, "some researchers speculate that these brain differences, which result in challenges to language development, may provide dyslexic students with an advantage in STEM." Referencing Davis and Braun (2010) in "The Gift of Dyslexia", Moskal explains the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional reasoning, the latter used by many dyslexic students in problem solving. Dyslexic students are more flexible in their ability to look at problems from different angles without changing their own position, a skill which is helpful in physical science but creates reading challenges in that a change in angles quickly turns a "b" into a number of other letters.
So, what if instead of shuttling these students through the door leading to poverty, limited opportunity, and in some cases prison, we slid that door closed and opened one leading to a life filled with following their passion? Come learn how we can change the tide for these students not only so they can reach their full potential but also so that all of us can benefit. We will discuss briefly what dyslexia is before moving onto how we can better teach students from K to Workforce and do our part here in Northern Virginia to create alternative pathways to STEM excellence.
Krista K. Gauthier is the founder and Executive Director of Sliding Doors STEM & Dyslexia Learning Center, an innovative after-school program for children with dyslexia in grades 1-5. Krista first conceived of Sliding Doors (or SDSquared for short) when, as a parent of a child with dyslexia, she noticed that the access she was able to provide her daughter in both remediation and STEM enrichment was denied to so many for a variety of reasons. Also, in taking this journey with her daughter, Krista realized that people with dyslexia are uniquely suited to excel in STEM fields. She knew that helping ALL children with dyslexia reach their full potential could help us all by funneling them onto STEM pathways and encouraging them to take their place as our future innovators.
Krista has over 10 years of experience in education, both as a teacher and as a researcher in educational theory and curriculum. Krista holds a Bachelor's Degree in Literature from Boston College and a Master's Degree in Literature from Northeastern University. Krista used those degrees in her role as a high school English teacher in Denver Colorado and then began a PhD in Educational Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder with a focus on gender issues in education. At Boulder, Krista was the lead researcher on a National Science Foundation grant to help middle and high school girls pursue engineering. After taking time to raise her two daughters, Krista served as a development director for a NOVA Catholic School and most recently worked as the STEM Programs Director for a non-profit called RoboNation. Krista has taken this myriad of experiences to found and build Sliding Doors.
Title: Cloud solutions for Earth Observation in the era of Fat Data
Yonah Bromberg Gaber
Platform Developer Community Associate
Radiant Earth Foundation
Radiant Earth Foundation is a non-profit organization seeking to address the massive problem of EO data. We are actively working to aggregate the world's open Earth imagery and provide access and education on its use to the global development community. At the center of Radiant Earth Foundation is an open technology platform that will help people discover and analyze the vast resources of Earth imagery, accelerating improved decision-making and fueling new solutions, discoveries and innovations. In support of this user-driven platform, Radiant Earth Foundation offers an integrated and robust community development program to guide people in the use of imagery, geospatial data sets and tools. This includes insights into the commercial marketplace and related policies.
With so many EO satellites in orbit today, we have far more data than users can look at with their eyes. Spaceborne imagery is a prime example of "big data" and has traditionally been processed locally on machines operated by specialists. However, the cost of cloud storage and computing has fallen dramatically in recent years. This has initiated an explosion in the use of EO data by companies and a growth in startups innovating to deliver new insights about the world around us. These large volumes of EO data and the ability to process it quickly, is changing our world. The open Radiant Earth platform allows the development of EO-based applications for users without any expertise in remote sensing or geospatial technologies.
This seminar will address cloud-based EO, the technologies being developed, and practical options for doing cloud-based remote sensing.
ASPRS Mason is hosting a drone clinic for anyone interested in learning about and how to fly drones. The clinic is free and no experience is necessary!
ASPRS will be showcasing and demonstrating a Mavic 2 Pro and a Phantom 4. They will be going over take-off/landing, maneuver/flight, and some advanced settings.
Dress warmly! We will have coffee, tea and hot chocolate available, along with some light refreshments.
For more info, follow ASPRS Mason on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
"Innovations on Power Grid Resilience at the Eversource Energy Center"
The Eversource Energy Center at the University of Connecticut is conducting research that address technological and societal challenges related to the modernization and resilience of electric grid. In this talk we will review projects pursued by Center researchers in predictive analytics for infrastructure and vegetation mapping and outage forecasting, and innovative solutions for electric reliability, forest sustainability, grid hardening and grid security including potential physical and cyber-attacks. We will discuss possible solutions considering the complex interdependencies of technology, economics and regulation. Also considered will be the relationship between natural gas and the electric grid. Included will be a discussion of Outage Forecasting, Vegetation Management, Remote Sensing, and Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) for synchronizing multiple DER technologies such as renewable power generation sources (PV, hydropower and wind), Combined Heat and Electricity (CHE) devices, pump-hydro, and battery storage. The talk will also discuss implications of the above technological solutions under alternate futures and extreme weather and security based outage events.
About Dr. Anagnostou:
Dr. Anagnostou is the Alumni Association Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Eversource Energy Endowed Chair in Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He is the founding Director of the Eversource Energy Center (eversource.uconn.edu) and Applied Research Director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (circa.uconn.edu). He holds Ph.D. and MSc degrees in Hydrometeorology from the University of Iowa (1997 and 1995, respectively) and a diploma in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (1990).
His research expertise is on remote sensing applications in water resources with focus on hydro-meteorological extremes and the synthesis of sociological and engineering methods to create people-centered solutions to the nexus problem of water, food and energy insecurities and risks. His research uses a systems-based approach that integrates earth observations, models and analytical methods across climate, hydrology, the environment and recently social sciences to reduce climate risks and promote sustainability of water and energy resources. In his capacity as Eversource Energy Center director he leads critical power grid resilience and grid modernization initiatives and through CIRCA he is leading efforts to develop a flood early warning system and improve flood risk estimates across Connecticut. He has been science team member of NASA's Precipitation Science Mission since 2000. He was leader of a Marie Curie Excellence Team (2007-2010) funded by the European Commission to investigate application of Earth Observations in water resources, and currently coordinates a National Science Foundation multi-institutional food security project in Ethiopia (pire.engr.uconn.edu). He has supervised 17 PhD and 12 MS (thesis) students and 8 post-doctoral research associates. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hydrology.
"U.S. Domestic Policies For Our Forest Resources"
About Mike Kaczor:
Mike Kaczor has worked with the Soil Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of Agriculture since 1983. He received his B.A. from Rutgers University and his Master's Degree from Texas Tech University. His expertise in geosciences have given him unique experiences in land use policy for natural and cultural resources.


text:
Five Gift Ideas for Cyber Monday
Visits (12485)
I hope all of my American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! The day after Thanksgiving is "Black Friday", the unofficial starting data for shopping for upcoming holiday presents and decorations. The Monday after that is now often referred to as "Cyber Monday", where many people purchase items on-line.
I thought this would be good time to promote my book series, Inside System Storage, Volumes I through V. These are available direct from my publisher, [Lulu], or from other on-line retailers.
The old adage "Never judge a book by its cover" often leads technical authors to select bland cover designs. I designed the cover art for the series to have a consistent look, but be unique enough to know each book is different. They all have a beige background with black text, three or four graphics representing the various storage themes du jour, and a color stripe spread diagonally across the spine.
Several readers have asked if there was any rhyme or reason for the color of each spine. One guessed it was based on the [electronic color code] used on resistors to mark their value. When I was getting my college degree in Electrical Engineering, the mnemonic "Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West" helped us remember the sequence: Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Grey and White.
I can assure everyone I was not that clever. Here, instead, is the story behind each color chosen:
Volume I: Green
Volume II: Orange
Volume III: Purple
However, as the owners dropped out, one to start a family, another to take care of her father after her mother passed away, I started 2009 as the majority owner. The economic recession took its toll. Members were not spending as much of their disposable income of fun and entertainment. We restructured the company, revamped the website, and adopted Purple as our official color. Our event coordinators all wore purple shirts, and carried purple clipboards. Despite this major transformation, I just did not have time to run this company while still working full-time at IBM, so I sold it at year end.
Volume IV: Blue
Volume V: Grey
If you were having trouble getting ideas for gifts this holiday season, hopefully, this post gave you five new ideas for your friends, family, coworkers and clients! They are all available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook (PDF) for viewing on desktops, laptops, tablets or smartphones.
technorati tags: IBM, Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Thanksgiving, 55 Fiction, XIV, Tucson Fun & Adventures, PureSystems, IBM Watson
Inside System Storave Volume III now available!
Visits (11832)
Well, it's Tuesday again, and you know what that means!
This Thursday is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States, so instead of announcing IBM products, I wanted to announce the general availability of my latest book, [Inside System Storage: Volume III].
This book includes blog posts from May 2008 to March 2009, along with the ever popular behind-the-scenes commentary on what was going on during IBM's launch of the Information Infrastructure initiative.
As with the other two volumes, Inside System Storage: Volume III is available in your choice of paperback, hardcover, and eBook (Adobe PDF) format.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to thank my editor, Susan Pollard, who put in the extra effort, working evenings and weekends, to get this book done in time for the upcoming holiday season. For those outside the United States, there is an American tradition to shop in brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and to shop on-line for books like mine on Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving).
I would also like to thank my publisher, Lulu.com, for upgrading me to "Spotlight" level, so now I have a spotlight page titled [Books Written by Tony Pearson], making it easy for you to order any of my books in various formats.
And last, but not least, I would like to thank all my friends and family that were supportive these past few difficult months while I was putting this book together.
Next month, I will be in Las Vegas, Dec 4-8, speaking at Gartner's [Data Center Conference]. If you order a book today, and bring it with you to the IBM booth at the Solution Expo, I can sign it for you!
technorati tags: IBM, blook, Information Infrastructure, Lulu.com, Susan Pollard, paperback, eBook


text:
Saturday Legal Advice Clinic
- Legal advice clinics are held twice monthly at various locations. The first 75 people in line will be seen. We suggest that you arrive early to secure your spot. The clinics are open to anyone needing legal advice.
This clinic will be at Holy Covenant Church, located at 22111 Morton Ranch, Katy 77449
At a legal advice clinic, applicants meet with a licensed Texas attorney one-on-one and receive free advice on their legal issue. Individuals needing continued representation beyond the legal advice clinic generally must be residents of Harris County and have a household income of no greater than 200% of Federal Poverty Guidelines.


text:
Happy Birthday txtard!!
Hope you have a great day!!!
Happy Birthday txtard!!
Topics that do not fit anywhere else. Absolutely NO discussions of religion, race, or immigration!
Moderators: Charles L. Cotton, carlson1
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Happy Birthday txtard!!
Take away the Second first, and the First is gone in a second
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Piano Compositions
Yes, this is the place for all of your piano compositions! :D
If you have any piano scores at all, you'll want to add them to this group... This is the 2nd largest MuseScore group and an awesome place for you to share your compositions and get valuable feedback!
Go ahead and create your own discussions for pretty much anything piano-related!
Also, you should check out the following groups...
The Teenage Composers group
The Piano Virtuoso group
The Piano Teachers group


text:
Buy It: You can purchase the butterfly glitter dot graphic tee for $5 and the chambray rosette skirt for $6.39.
The Children's Place & Giveaway!
Buy It: You can purchase the butterfly glitter dot graphic tee for $5 and the chambray rosette skirt for $6.39.
158 comments:
I'd love to get my daughter a tiered knit dress. Thanks!ReplyDelete
I would get the Owl Cotton PJs!ReplyDelete
I'd buy the everyday essentials that my daughter can wear to preschool.ReplyDelete
There are too many things on my list but I would probably get some pants for my son - he's too tall for his own good!ReplyDelete
I'd get the Gray Tiered Knit Dress!ReplyDelete
- Beth KasparJuly 19, 2012 at 9:50 AM
I love their back to school specials! Great and comfy clothes for the potty training kiddos.ReplyDelete
Fall clothes!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 19, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Too many things to name just one item! Aaahhh. I would do a shopping spree!ReplyDelete
knit mixed print dress- i want to recreate the boho toddler lookReplyDelete
I'd get mixed print tiered dress for DDs.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 19, 2012 at 11:45 AM
I would get the leo bodysuit.ReplyDelete
I like the http://www.childrensplace.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10001_-1_914976_624231_27151%7C134794_girl%7Cshort%20sleeve%20tops_girlReplyDelete
camo blanket sleeperReplyDelete
I would get the newborn stripped rugby coverall.ReplyDelete
-Heather S
I would get the puppy bodysuit for my niece!ReplyDelete
I would get the Knit Mixed Print dress.ReplyDelete
I love the girl's ready to rock outfit!ReplyDelete
I'd get a uniform rugby shirt.ReplyDelete
Jennifer Rote
wildnmild4u at yahoo dot com
I'd buy the long sleeved striped thermal shirt in milkshake!ReplyDelete
huntermb3 at gmail dot com
pull on cargo pants for boysReplyDelete
I like the classic polo in tidal with the chino shorts in seal.ReplyDelete
I like the owl stretcie pjsReplyDelete
I think this romper is so adorable! And its on sale too!!ReplyDelete
- Sandy VanHoeyJuly 19, 2012 at 1:18 PM
I would get some school uniform polo shirtsReplyDelete
I would get the dotted leggings in every color!ReplyDelete
id get the knit mixed print dress and the tiered lace skortReplyDelete
My so has a good stock of shirts and shorts but will need pants for the fall especially now that we are passing clothes on to the lil brotherReplyDelete
I love the little boy's fun size graphic tee.ReplyDelete
rugby striped sporty tee for baby boys.ReplyDelete
I love there zip-up PJ's! I'd also have to get the tiered knit dress in gray!ReplyDelete
I would get my grandson the chino shorts.ReplyDelete
I am entering to win this for my teaching aide. She has 4 kids, including 2 little girls. One is just starting pre-k this upcoming school year, so I know that she will probably be buying their uniform type clothes- khakis and polos.ReplyDelete
Heather N
The pull-on cargo pants for my son.ReplyDelete
I love the chambray smocked dress for my daughter.ReplyDelete
Thanks for the chance to win!
mrsmchappell at gmail dot com
I'd get high sea great teaReplyDelete
I would save the gift card for after our baby comes (we aren't finding out if it's a boy or girl) and get a few coveralls or pants and body suit sets.ReplyDelete
I like the Girls embroidered twill jacket.ReplyDelete
i might get the chambray smocked dressReplyDelete
catherine0807 at hotmail dot com
I like the Scuba guy graphic tee shirt.ReplyDelete
- Beth KasparJuly 19, 2012 at 8:00 PM
I would love to get some back to school uniformsReplyDelete
I would get the zip-up sherpa hoodie in dk petrolReplyDelete
I love the cha cha tiered top and the tier lace top for my baby girl. For my older daughter I'd love the peace pj setReplyDelete
I like the knit mixed print dress in iced figReplyDelete
We have been lucky to get alot of hand me downs for our son but he needs new tops... I love their polo shirts.ReplyDelete
I would get some school uniformReplyDelete
i would get the denim jacket for my sonReplyDelete
I'd get the newborn layette bodysuit 3-pack :)ReplyDelete
I like the stripes 'n chambray bubble dressReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 20, 2012 at 12:32 AM
I would get the boys skateboard PJ set.ReplyDelete
rhoneygtn at yahoo dot com
I would get the straight - union wash jeans for my grandson.ReplyDelete
I'd get one of the Skater Style outfits, so cuteReplyDelete
I would get the the Thomas graphic tee and the linus graphic tee.ReplyDelete
varsity patch teeReplyDelete
This blue striped dress! http://www.childrensplace.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TCPSearch?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&categoryId=25851&categoryIdsTree=25851&categoryNameTree=baby%20girl&categoryName=baby%20girl&N=1025851&Ne=&Ns=default&Nao=0&Ntt=&sale=1&dept=1025851&url=SaleViewReplyDelete
- Amanda WrightJuly 20, 2012 at 2:17 PM
There is so much on the site that I want to purchase for my niece who will be born in November...I would buy the leopard ballet flat.ReplyDelete
Love the fringe booties http://www.childrensplace.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10001_-1_915077_624278_25851%7C72470_baby%20girl%7Coutfits_babygirlReplyDelete
I'd get the striped sequin ruffle dressReplyDelete
gagaslab at gmail dot com
I like the college coolReplyDelete
Cindy B (on rc/fb) ~ since I don't know if our new baby is a boy or girl I don't know for sure what I would get but I like the little newborn leopard dress thanks.ReplyDelete
I like the chambray dress!ReplyDelete
I like the mixed print tiered dress.ReplyDelete
bekki1820cb at gmail dot com
striped stretchieReplyDelete
I would get the Owl Cotton PJs.ReplyDelete
awk ringer graphic teeReplyDelete
I would love to get this for my 4 granddaughters who are going back to school. Ranging from 10 to 5 years old.ReplyDelete
I'd get the little talker bodysuit for my baby.ReplyDelete
I love the boat sneakerReplyDelete
Theresa J
Id get the bodysuit 3-packReplyDelete
I like the Chambray Dress.ReplyDelete
I like the owl back pack!ReplyDelete
I'd love the grey tiered knit dressReplyDelete
luckyseattlemom at gmail dot com
- Jenny StanekJuly 23, 2012 at 6:56 AM
Absolutely a dress for my daughterReplyDelete
- Lisa EllisJuly 23, 2012 at 10:21 AM
I like the grafic fedora & graffic guitar tee.ReplyDelete
lisae819 at yahoo dot com
I would use the gift card to help with the purchase of my daughter's school uniforms.ReplyDelete
I would get bodysuit 3-pack.ReplyDelete
Thanks for this giveaway!! =)
Striped ruffle sequin dressReplyDelete
The leopard ballet flats!ReplyDelete
I would get the apple blanket sleeper for my DD! :)ReplyDelete
I'd get the items in the Boho beauty cheery cherry outfit shown here: http://www.childrensplace.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/bundle_10001_10001_-1_914563_25851%7C72470_baby%20girl%7Coutfits_babygirlReplyDelete
College cool outfitReplyDelete
I love the cheery cherry outfit they put togetherReplyDelete
I would get the rock bolt graphic tee and some jeans for my sonReplyDelete
Shine ruffle dress in PhloxReplyDelete
cherriesjessilee at gmail dot com
I love the leopard ballet flatReplyDelete
Jessica Cox
- carol robertsJuly 25, 2012 at 8:37 PM
pull-on cargo pantsReplyDelete
i would get the bold mid-top sneaker in petrolReplyDelete
jenny lloyd
i like the monster cotton pajamasReplyDelete
I would get this for my daughter! http://www.childrensplace.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10001_-1_915141_624299_25851|132964_baby%20girl|dresses%20&%20rompers_babygirlReplyDelete
I'd get the mixed print tiered dress.ReplyDelete
tvpg at aol dot com
I would get the stripes 'n chambray bubble dress!ReplyDelete
I'd probably get the Printed Romper- very cuteReplyDelete
I have my first girl after 3 boys- I'd be buying a dress for sure!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 27, 2012 at 9:28 PM
I would get the owl cotton pjs.ReplyDelete
I would get the li'l bro stretchie pajamas.ReplyDelete
I like the uv horses graphic tee and the butterfly tutu skirt - - Paul T/Pauline T aka Paul Tran..... emscout9 at Hotmail dot comReplyDelete
I like the dinosaur pj setReplyDelete
I'd get the mixed print tiered dress.ReplyDelete
I would get a striped rugby coverall!ReplyDelete
PDWinner523 at gmail.com
hipster sneakersReplyDelete
mel91284 at yahoo dot com
melissa portillo
mixed print tiered dressReplyDelete
I would get the party purr-fect outfit.ReplyDelete
Kathy Davis
I would get some newborn clothe for my baby due in NovemberReplyDelete
- mallory richardsonJuly 29, 2012 at 8:14 PM
I would get the party purr-fect outfitReplyDelete
active shine topReplyDelete
I would get the owl cotton pajamas!ReplyDelete
lexijo213 at yahoo dot com
I would get http://www.childrensplace.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10001_-1_896058_588653_25851%7C132964_baby%20girl%7Cdresses%20&%20rompers_babygirlReplyDelete
striped sequin ruffle dressReplyDelete
I would get the Top of His Class outfit.ReplyDelete
I'd get pajamas! Children's Place has great pajamas.ReplyDelete
- Tiffany BanksJuly 30, 2012 at 11:18 PM
I would get the holiday graphic teeReplyDelete
- Martha FoleyJuly 31, 2012 at 8:02 AM
I love the cotton footed pjs. perfect for sleep and hanging around the house :)ReplyDelete
I would get their little girls leopard print cardigan. soooo cute.ReplyDelete
I would get the sherpa-lined zip hoodieReplyDelete
- JenniferJuly 31, 2012 at 1:17 PM
I like the Bow Pocket Cardigan SweaterReplyDelete
On form as Tonya E HopkinsReplyDelete
puppy coverall
I love the uniform shirts in white we need them for school this yearReplyDelete
hebb dot julie at gmail dot com
I would get the bodysuit that looks like a footballReplyDelete
My 19 month old desperately needs some new clothes! I would get some cute outfits for him!ReplyDelete
chambray dressReplyDelete
- Amanda BoerstAugust 1, 2012 at 3:27 PM
I would get my little man some new shoes!ReplyDelete
serenityspeaks at ymail dot com
Love this store!!ReplyDelete
I would get the leopard cardigan sweaterReplyDelete
I would have to get the puppy bodysuit. So cuteReplyDelete
I like the "College Cool" outfit set.ReplyDelete
i would get the ready to bolt lookReplyDelete
the girls animal lover outfitReplyDelete
christinejessamine at hotmail dot com
- neva hurlbutAugust 3, 2012 at 1:20 PM
zip up pajamas email@example.com
I would get jeans galore for my three children.ReplyDelete
graphic tees are a fav in our house!ReplyDelete
I'd get the Boys' Trail Jacket in Black.ReplyDelete
I might get a 2 in 1 tutu skirt if I am having a girl.ReplyDelete
-Hannah Avery
nice skate graphic teeReplyDelete
I would get my son a graphic Henley and a pair of jeans.ReplyDelete
The Happy Wife/Danielle Garcia
Ldsmom2201 (at) yahoo (dot) com
Twitter: The_Happy_Wife
I like their socks and would probably get my son a graphic tee and some cargo pantsReplyDelete
I like the grey tiered knit dress for my daughterReplyDelete
Love the leopard tutu skirtReplyDelete
I'd love the adorable newborn smocked dressReplyDelete
hannah K on the form
- AnonymousAugust 6, 2012 at 8:08 PM
The Varsity. Sneaked is amazing!!ReplyDelete
I like the hey handsome lil rocker outfit, especially the hat.ReplyDelete
FB fan as Kathy Newsom DavisReplyDelete
Kathy Davis
- Jacki MAugust 7, 2012 at 8:00 PM
sweater knit beretReplyDelete
jmooth1 at lsu.edu
I would like to get the skateboard pj setReplyDelete
I'd get the boy's plaid shirt.ReplyDelete
sequin star dressReplyDelete
My daughter has to wear a school uniform this year so anything in the uniform section is what I'd pick.ReplyDelete
I would get the skinny - indigo night jeans and the double layer sweaterReplyDelete
Digicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net
I like the cute sunshine blast graphic tee. tylerpants(at)gmail.comReplyDelete
I'd like the leopard ballet flats for my daughter. trixpixel[at]gmail.comReplyDelete
my 18 month old needs more sneakers and pants for daycare..thanks, firstname.lastname@example.com
I would get the striped sequin ruffle dressReplyDelete
i like the pink tiered knit dress and the leopard bubble dressReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 9, 2012 at 6:09 AM
I would get my three preschoolers a pair of jeans! Thanks for a great giveaway!ReplyDelete
Id buy new pj's! The footie ones!ReplyDelete
I would choose the bold mid-top sneaker - SO CUTE!ReplyDelete
alexisgrau1 [at] yahoo [dot] com
The monkey purse looks very nice!ReplyDelete
- Kristie BettsAugust 9, 2012 at 5:57 PM
I would get the puppy bodysuitReplyDelete
Kristie Betts
I'd get my boys some striped brim hatsReplyDelete


text: Understanding Social Security Disability Insurance Author: Tai Venuti - 6/28/2013 Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is an important topic that has received a lot of attention recently. Unfortunately, the information people get isn't always correct or current. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is closing offices and reducing public access just as the demand for information and services related to SSDI is growing. The SSA processed nearly 3.2 million disability applications last year. Despite this unprecedented increase, earlier this year, SSA field offices began closing to the public at noon on Wednesdays. This move came on the heels of the SSA's November 2012 announcement that field offices would close to the public daily at 3 p.m., 30 minutes earlier than previous office hours. At Allsup, the demand for SSDI information is evident in the average 10,000 calls a month placed to our Disability Evaluation Center. What is even more telling is the fact that only four to six percent of those callers are eligible for SSDI benefits. By calling Allsup, callers are taking a step toward increasing their disability literacy. What is disability literacy? Disability literacy is the ability to obtain, process and understand basic information regarding finances, healthcare and available resources needed to adapt to change and anticipate, prepare for and overcome physical, financial, spiritual and mental challenges resulting from a disability. For individuals with mental illness, understanding SSDI as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a major part of disability literacy. The groundbreaking Surgeon General's report on Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity stated that the most effective service system is one that combines a full range of treatment options. SSDI and SSI are important sources of income support, access to health insurance and job training (through the Ticket to Work program). As of December 2010, a mental disorder other than intellectual disability was the primary reason disabled workers received benefits (Social Security Administration, 2011). The NAMI HelpLine receives 8,000 to 10,000 calls a year related to difficulty people have in getting their Social Security disability benefits (NAMI, 2009). Access to medical insurance through SSI or SSDI is an essential element of the comprehensive care of people with schizophrenia (NAMI, 2009). Increasing disability literacy can empower individuals with mental illness to overcome barriers to access to treatment, continue treatment, obtain the federal benefits they deserve and minimize the negative impacts of unemployment due to disability. *Note: Allsup is a supporter of the NAMI HelpLine


text:
The Real Property module produces reliable and accurate results based on data models and common valuation approaches. Comprehensive comp sheets, ratio analysis and a CAMA (Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal) valuation sheet that lists all items on a property and the dollar results of each component help automate the document management process. This module allows for the set up of comprehensive user-definable tables containing the information needed to support the valuation methodologies desired for use.
The form and content of the data will reflect the real property (single family residences, multi-family residences (condos and time shares), mobile homes, single use commercial/industrial properties, multi-use commercial/industrial properties (commercial strips), etc.) and the valuation methodologies used to value these properties.
This module makes maximum use of rate and characteristic tables, so that users can easily and instantly update records. In addition, the table-driven structure enables the data and the valuation methodologies to be configured to meet the needs of any jurisdiction. Different codes can also be created for each jurisdiction, and greater security can be provided by limiting/specifying users' access to particular areas/neighborhoods/etc.
Full and unlimited history for each tax year is maintained and is readily accessible to authorized users. Comparisons can be made between data rendered in different years in order to detect omissions and/or inconsistencies.
"MS Govern provides tremendous software with amazing potential and power...the people you have are good people that care about the software and your business."
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text:
A Beautiful Thing Card
SUPPLIES: Cardstock: (kraft) Papertrey Ink Clear stamp: (sentiment from Magical Moments set) Wplus9 Design Studio Pigment ink: (Onyx Black) Tsukineko Color media: (orange, green colored pencils) Prismacolor; (white gel pen) Sanford; (brown marker) Stampin' Up! Digital element: (flower stamp from Lily Stems w/Oval kit) www.tiffanydoodles.com Software: (photo editing) Tool: (corner rounder punch) We R Memory Keepers Finished size: 4" x 5 1/4"
1 Create finished size project in software. Stamp flower; print on cardstock. Trim and fold into card.
2 Color flower.
3 Stamp sentiment. Round one corner.
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text:
Derek Cuff
Class of 1997
Major/Minor: Biology, Premed
Dr. Derek Cuff is an award-winning orthopedic surgeon at Suncoast Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine.
In February 2011, Derek was awarded the Charles Neer Award, given annually by the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon society to recognize the surgeon whose clinical research has made a major contribution to the understanding, care and prevention of injuries to the shoulder and elbow. He is one of only five surgeons in Florida to receive this honor.
Dr. Cuff's recent work is focused on rotator cuff repairs and accompanying physical therapy. He also has a professional interest in minimally invasive arthroscopic procedures and reverse shoulder replacement.
Dr. Cuff earned his medical degree at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and he completed his residency at the University of Maryland Medical System and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Cuff's additional training includes a shoulder and elbow fellowship at the Florida Orthopaedic Institute in Tampa.


text:
I've been wondering for the past year about the interactions between climate change and peak oil. They're twin problems, rooted in our dependence upon fossil fuels (and oil in particular).
But there's a lot of misunderstanding out there. Many people who know about climate change know little about peak oil. Many who know about peak oil dismiss climate change. Why? How can two problems have roughly the same cause, potentially major global consequences, and be understood so poorly? Why do some people dismiss one and not the other? Is one group right and the other wrong? I'd like to take a shot at explaining this mystery from a few angles.
Spreading the meme.
Let's start with a bit of history, as that may provide an initial explanation. It seems that climate change is well understood (by those who don't deny it) – ask most people and they can probably tell you at least the basic facts (i.e. we burn fossil fuels, the emissions warm the planet). For the moment I'm going to ignore the climate change deniers, because that seems largely political to me (and never mind that some studies indicate people believe in climate change based upon recent weather they've experienced). But it seems far too many climate activists, and even climate scientists, are unaware of peak oil. Or maybe they dismiss it as a challenge. Might this be because it didn't enter the public eye until recently?
While the basics of global warming (though wouldn't it have been great if it had been termed radiation entrapment – seems it would have more political punch) have been known since Svante Arrhenius's calculations in the 1890s, I wouldn't say that it entered mainstream discourse until James Hansen's 1988 testimony to congress and Bill McKibben's 1989 book, The End of Nature. Even then, it wasn't really understood widely until Al Gore's presentations featured in An Inconvenient Truth in 2006.
If we look to peak oil, I'd say the equivalent to Hansen's 1988 testimony was Campbell and Laherrère's article in Scientific American in 1998. What did it say? Among other things:
Barring a global recession, it seems most likely that world production of conventional oil will peak during the first decade of the 21st century.
Which, as it turns out, looks to be holding up pretty well as a prediction. The thing is, I didn't read their article then, and I'm guessing you didn't either. I imagine most folks have never heard of it, just as I'm sure most people didn't hear about Hansen's testimony in 1988.
Does that mean we're waiting for someone prominent to bring the discussion of peak oil into the mainstream, say around 2016? The only thing about this parallel is that it isn't really one—there should have been plenty of awareness of peak oil among those who lived through the 1970s oil shocks, but the impression I get is that those events were seen by most as temporary and geopolitical rather than fundamental and geological.
Dismissing peak oil — climate change is what matters.
Maybe you're thinking to yourself that peak oil doesn't matter – climate change is what matters. Oil is just one source of energy, and one that hasn't been dominant for even a hundred years at this point. While it's transformed the world, we won't even be using it for another hundred. The climate, on the other hand, typically changes on the order of thousands or millions of years. To see warming within a single human lifetime is rare, and the changes that are predicted if we keep burning fossil fuels won't be reversible in anything less than many thousands of years. (Just imagine how long it might take for Greenland or Antarctica to collect enough precipitation to re-form glaciers after melting.) I have to admit, before I really started reading up about peak oil (in late 2007 or so), my basic thinking was along these lines. I knew that oil was finite so it wouldn't last forever, but didn't really understand the effects of stagnating or declining oil production on our way of life. Plus it seemed that the climate issues I'd been reading about for over a decade at that point were just getting worse by the day (as they still are). Plus, I'd read many climate projections, and most don't factor in peak oil. I figured there must be a reason.
Forget about the climate?
As I've read more about the two issues, I've found that the peak oil and climate change research communities don't interact much. Many peak oil researchers seem to come from the oil industry and some tend to deny that the climate is changing. Climate change is more broadly understood, but I get the sense that researchers rely upon global energy agencies for their forecasts of future fossil fuel use, and these agencies have been wrong time and again.
Setting that aside, why do peak oil folks often ignore climate change and vice versa?
Consider eminent peak oil researchers like Robert Hirsch, who deny climate change and spout nonsense on the issue. Is it about urgency/timescale, a matter of ignorance, or a matter of politics? Maybe it's all three? Check out Hirsch's recent presentation giving an update on peak oil. It's clear, concise, and informative. I highly recommend going through it. But his throwaway line at the end sums up the division:
While the environment is important, humans are more important.
That tells me three things:
- That Hirsch is more concerned about the short-term problems we'll face due to peak oil rather than the long-term problems we'll face from climate change (or other environmental impacts of fossil fuel production and use).
- That he doesn't understand that a changing climate will have far more comprehensive and severe impacts on humans than peak oil ever could.
- That he sees it as an either/or issue – it's either humans or the environment: take your pick.
On the other hand, climate change researchers and bloggers tend to not want to think about peak oil because it's a complicating factor. (I've tried to ask Joe Romm of Climate Progress about what the studies show regarding the impact of peak oil on emissions trajectories, but he dismissed my question with a one sentence response.) And often I see ridiculous responses regarding peak oil among those who understand climate change (statements to the effect "peak oil is fake: the Exxons and Shells of the world are conspiring to hold oil production down so that they can jack up the price to make more money"—never mind that national oil companies control over half of global production and over 80% of global oil reserves, and are typically highly dependent upon oil revenue to keep their governments' lights on).
Climate models rarely take into account oil production decline because energy agencies don't consider it in their projections. While I don't believe that peak oil will "save us" from climate change (we'll still be burning plenty of oil and will probably step up coal consumption to compensate), it would be interesting to hear from some experts on this. I looked around, and found that Hansen had one study on this and seemed to conclude that peak oil won't keep us from overshooting on carbon emissions. But from the peak oil side, Aleklett seems to think peak oil will keep emissions in check. (Note how they're talking their own books.)
Not all responses to climate change will help with peak oil, and not all responses to peak oil will help with climate change. Peak oil is a near-term liquid fuels problem, which means it's mainly going to affect transportation (and agriculture to a lesser extent). It is not, at least in the short-term, an electricity problem.
That means that many standard climate change responses—moving from coal to renewables, etc.—will not help address peak oil. Similarly, many standard peak oil responses—producing syncrude from coal, tar sands, etc.—are bad for the climate. We need to consider both challenges simultaneously and select responses that will help with both. That means moving to non-carbon energy sources, and targeting transportation.
To do that, we're going to have to move past the notion of individual vehicles. I've done the calculations, as have many others, and the time, money, and energy it'd take to switch to an electric car fleet just doesn't exist in the face of peak oil and the end of growth. That means electric-based public transit in every form: bus, light rail, subway, long-distance rail (both freight and passenger), along with bike-friendly streets, walkable neighborhoods, carpooling, lower speed limits, etc. And for agriculture it means small-scale, local organic farming. It remains to be seen whether we will do any of these things at any scale. But before we'll see any changes, we need more people to get on the same page.
Who gets it?
There are folks who get both issues. Bill McKibben may be one of the few climate change authors / activists who also really understands peak oil and discusses how the two in combination shape his thinking of what needs to be done. (His book Eaarth in particular discusses how we need to consider both factors, and is the best I've seen at combining the discussion of the two.) But if you've watched him speak, you'll note that he rarely mentions it except in passing. Maybe that's because he comes from the climate change side of things and doesn't want to step beyond his comfort zone? Or maybe he knows his audience.
Richard Heinberg is another who gets both and comes from the other side—the peak oil side—but once again he tends to focus on his topic—oil (and the financial system)—and less on the climate. And of course there are many more on both sides who get it (Sharon Astyk, Ugo Bardi, John Michael Greer, James Howard Kunstler, and Stuart Staniford come to mind—if you know of others, I'd be interested to hear about them). In the political world, there's the prominent old guard who clearly know both issues well (Jimmy Carter, Jerry Brown, etc.) and the not so old guard (Steven Chu, etc.), but these days they'll only talk about climate change, maybe because peak oil isn't yet widely understood. Al Gore's among them—he knows about peak oil, but rarely mentions it unless asked.
What might actually happen?
Setting aside the non-debate about these two parallel issues, what might actually happen? That's really what matters at the end of the day.
A recent post from Gail Tverberg at The Oil Drum discussed how both energy consumption and emissions have been increasing faster in the past decade (relative to GDP) than they did before. That is, in the past, GDP outpaced energy consumption, but now GDP growth has slowed. As we go forward, a possible extrapolation is (and this is my take) that between those three (emissions, energy consumption, and GDP), we might see them decouple: we might see emissions growth exceed energy consumption growth which will exceed GDP growth just by virtue of peak oil and low EROEI alternative fuels. If so, this would be bad news all around: it'd mean that while emissions would keep rising, making runaway climate change still a possible outcome, each incremental unit of energy would do less for our economy, so we'd face both an economic decline due to peak oil and severe climate change.
It seems there are only a few ways that one or both of these challenges might be mitigated. Suppose the production decline slope of peak oil (say a median case of about 4% annually starting around 2014/2015) causes enough of an impact to the global economy that we have an energy demand collapse (that will bounce back, but that takes a while) and the consequence of this will be to make it hard for us to invest in expensive and dirty alternatives like tar sands, so we won't be able to afford substitutes to make up for lost conventional production. (This goes against the usual argument economists make that 'high oil prices will make it financially worth it to use unconventional oil sources'—high prices alone won't be enough if demand collapses or credit dries up.) In this scenario, the economic impacts of peak oil are sharp enough that emissions really do start going down globally. If this happens, and is sustained, and natural warming feedbacks don't kick in, the climate might stabilize at some moderately warmed state (say maybe 2 or 3 degrees C above pre-industrial). But that has a lot of ifs—it seems unlikely that governments will just allow sharp economic decline to take over without some ill-advised efforts to excavate and burn any carbon they can get their hands on.
On the other hand, it's possible that the economic impacts of peak oil are averted through preemptive conservation programs that both help decrease dependence upon oil and decrease emissions at the same time. That'd be great to see happen, but it'd require concerted and sustained government action at every level—international, national, state, and local.
Why don't we do anything on either of these?
We're facing two parallel global challenges stemming from the same underlying problem, and yet nothing is being done. Why? In 2009, Dan Miller gave a nice talk about why the IPCC's climate projections are too conservative and don't account for many possible climate feedbacks. In it, he discussed one possible answer to this question. He observed that humans evolved to respond to certain types of threats. The properties of these threats are uniformly the opposite of the type we're facing with these two challenges:
- Visible. (vs. Invisible: we don't generally see the impacts of climate change or peak oil in our daily lives.)
- With historical precedent. (vs. Unprecedented: neither has happened in recent history)
- Immediate. (vs. Drawn out: it'll take years if not decades or centuries for them to fully play out.)
- With simple causality. (vs. With complex causality: even experts have a hard time figuring out how peak oil will interact with the economy or climate change with the global ecosystem.)
- Caused by others. (vs. Caused by all of us: there's no enemy to blame for these problems.)
- Have direct personal impact. (vs. Unpredictable and indirect: most of us aren't affected directly by these issues yet, and even if we are, it's hard to pinpoint how.)
Maybe nothing will be done on either issue until one or more of these properties turns around (say the immediacy becomes clear, we define an "enemy", or we start really feeling personal impacts). My takeaway is this: by talking about these issues together rather than separately, we cover our bases—we're both destroying our economy and changing our climate due to our dependence upon oil and fossil fuels. Only through energy conservation and a shift to a low-energy, post-carbon society will we be able to resolve these twin challenges.
The contraposition blog is written by a philosopher and a computer scientist trying to understand the world and the choices we make.