We already have sheriffs, and prison guards. We already have judges, and bondsmen.
When it comes to crime in Florida, what we need more of is economists.
And maybe some math nerds.
We need to pay attention to what the data and numbers are telling us about our criminal justice system before its costs — both financially and socially — consume us.
Florida incarcerates a higher percentage of its citizens than 40 other states. And when you consider our size, it’s no wonder Florida is pouring $2.4 billion a year into its prison system.
The costs are unsustainable, and the returns are wildly deficient. For too long we’ve used prison as an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach to handling crime. It’s time we get more efficient. More creative. It’s time we get much, much smarter in the criminal justice system.
That’s where Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, comes in. Brandes, along with Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and a few others in the Legislature, want to revamp strategies that have put a greater emphasis on locking people up instead of fixing the problems that lead to crime in the first place.
"The current system doesn’t work well for anyone,’’ Brandes said. "We would be better off spending our law enforcement money for more boots on the ground, more officers solving and preventing crimes in our communities instead of paying all of this money to keep people locked away in prison.
"We have to recognize the difference between people we are afraid of, and the people we’re just mad at. Let’s make sure the violent sex offenders, murderers, rapists are removed from society. But let’s not treat the people we’re mad at — the nonviolent drug offenders, addicts, people with mental health problems — the same way. Locking them up won’t make them better people. In fact, we’re more likely to make them worse when we house them with violent criminals.’’
This isn’t just a theoretical argument for Brandes. He’s bringing research to the table that shows other states have come to the same conclusion.
The Crime and Justice Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group based in Boston, took a deep dive into Florida’s prison system at the request of the state Senate.
What it found is that while fewer people have been entering prison in recent years, the prison population could continue to grow because we’re not letting people out.
Tough-on-crime legislation, such as mandatory minimum sentencing and the law requiring at least 85 percent of a sentence be served, have kept violent offenders off the streets. But our sentencing laws have become so rigid, they’ve also swept up too many people who would be better served with drug rehabilitation, mental health counseling or job placement and supervision.
Instead, we pay to support those people in prison. And we often pay to take care of their families who are left destitute while a family breadwinner is behind bars.
"The original notion was that incarceration reduces crime, and if we don’t send people to prison or if we release them early, there will be blood in the streets,’’ said Len Engel, the policy director at the institute and an author of the study. "But what we’ve seen from states that have adopted some of these new policies is that crime numbers are continuing to decline.
"Incarceration shouldn’t be the default option. You want policies that are based not on anecdote, but by data-driven evidence.’’
We’ve already done this on the local level. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri got on board early by recognizing the value of civil citations and diversion programs.
Now Brandes, Rouson and others want to bring criminal justice reform to the state level. Brandes has a slew of bills moving through the Senate aimed at correcting bad behavior instead of slamming a jail door and throwing away the key.
SB 694 would give judges more discretion in mandatory minimum sentencing for drug violations when there is no violence or evidence of trafficking. SB 1206 would utilize electronic monitoring with work release programs for eligible offenders.
Other bills would include split sentencing that allows a portion of a sentence to be served in drug rehab or mental health counseling, or substituting community service for unpaid fines that often lead to poverty-level residents being locked up.
Florida also considers any theft of $300 or more a felony. Nearly every other state in the South treats that as a misdemeanor with the felony threshold at $1,500. In Texas, it’s $2,500.
These bills have been well-received in the Senate, but the more conservative House of Representatives will be a harder sell. Brandes doesn’t expect a criminal justice overhaul to occur in a single session, but he’s hopeful lawmakers will eventually buy into the data-based evidence.
"We can make our communities safer, we can make our prison system more efficient, we can help the people we are incarcerating to get better results out of their lives,’’ Brandes said. "There are proven, tested ways of making this happen. Florida has been behind on this for too long.’’


text:
My Top 5 of S/S 05 Progressive Homme Couture
Bernhard Wilhem- This german/dutch designer who makes nostalgic and playful clothes for women has translated those same qualities for men. His recent Spring/Summer 05 show revealed a bright and contrasting color palette, bold patterns, and a quite unique and unconventional silhouette. Taking a cue from Japanese work-wear he had strong checkered prints, inflated cropped pants, and astonishing construction detail fit for a 19th century corset. His clothes are definitely for the men but are still fun, wearable, and truly unique.
Comme des Garçons- While Rei Kawakubo does not employ the same sense of innovation and deconstructionism as she does in her femme collection, she does have much to offer the menswear arena. Her Spring/Summer 05 collection featured pink as a main component and not just a smidge of a polo shirt or basic t-shirt (the standard limit for most men's will to dabble with the color). Instead she brought it on with entire suits, jackets, and trouser in various values of the tinted color. She also employed bold patterns of pink and complimenting neutrals that remained masculine yet bubbled slightly over the limits of traditional menswear.
Dior Homme- Hedi Slimane is known for his slim and sleek tailoring, effeminate accents, and radically tight silhouette. In his S/S 05 collection he did not disappoint. He took an even further delve into youth culture which he had been exploring in past seasons as well as his photography efforts (intermission, berlin). He offered up this season a collection with such a youthful bend that it almost made no room for traditional mens suits that are frequent in most Dior shows. Instead there were fuschia jeans, gold sports-jackets, and grungy prints suitable for the indie rock scene of the early 90's. His clothes this season were boyish, subtle, and filled with the progressive spirit of rock n roll.
Henrik Vibskov- Henrik came out with a collection full of some of the most wearable yet thoughtful clothes the designer has yet to show. It had a an urban/street flair definitely for the young male with a bit of an attitude. What made the clothes so interesting is that they maintain that attitude while implementing youthful details and cropped sports trousers, Day-Glo patterns white fabric, and and a soft silhouette. Less couture and more approachable for the everyday man than other designers but still as forward pushing as any other.
Raf Simons- The furniture designer turned tailor moved far away from the hippie/hare krishna look he had last S/S. In a similar vein of his A/W show he showcased brutally graphic tailoring, a sleek and exact silhouette, an the finishing details that have made Raf Simons the reigning king of menswear. This season color was absent in favor of mostly black and mostly white looks. Ranging from twilight hour coats to heavenly jackets the pieces were majestic, grand, and empowering. Even with the straightforward tailoring Simons included pieces that had such beautiful construction you would have expected it to be for women. Raf Simons playing off traditional menswear tailoring managed to push it's application into waters few other designers have sailed.
John Galliano Homme
Dries Van Noten Homme
Alexander Mcqueen Men

domain: design


text:
Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor announced Friday morning that they have reached a definitive agreement to sell Freedom Mobile to Quebecor subsidiary Videotron, allowing it to develop cellphone service in Ontario and western Canada.
• Also read: Quebecor wins
• Also read: Quebecor acquires VMedia
In a joint statement released Friday, the companies said that this definitive agreement is substantially consistent with the terms announced on June 17.
“We are very pleased with this agreement and look forward to further developing Freedom’s assets,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor.
Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile had to be sold because the Competition Bureau of Canada blocked Rogers’ acquisition of Shaw last May.
“This agreement with Quebecor brings us closer to completing the merger with Shaw,” said Tony Staffieri, President and CEO of Rogers. We strongly believe that the sale of Freedom to Quebecor addresses the concerns of the Competition Commissioner and Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry.”
The amount of the acquisition completed by Quebecor with Rogers Communications and Shaw Communication is estimated at $2.85 billion, according to the three companies.

domain: economics


text:
04-07-2011, 06:58 PM
Quote:The authorities may seize laptops, cameras and other digital devices at the U.S. border without a warrant, and scour through them for days hundreds of miles away, a federal appeals court ruled.
The 2-1 decision (.pdf) Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes as the government is increasingly invoking its broad, warrantless search-and-seizure powers at the U.S. border to probe the digital lives of travelers.
Under the “border search exception” of United States law, international travelers, including U.S. citizens, can be searched without a warrant as they enter the country. Under the Obama administration, law enforcement agents have aggressively used this power to search travelers’ laptops, sometimes copying the hard drive before returning the computer to its owner.
Courts have ruled that such laptop searches can take place even in the absence of any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, and more than 6,500 persons have had their electronic devices searched in this manner since October 2008.
The issue has gained renewed attention in recent months as American computer geeks connected to WikiLeaks, or who know people connected with WikiLeaks, have found themselves repeatedly singled out for the searches.
At issue in the case decided Wednesday was the prosecution of a California man on child pornography charges. In 2007, ICE agents seized three laptops and a camera from convicted child molester Howard Cotterman, and transported them 170 miles away for a two-day search that uncovered hundreds of child porn images.
A lower court judge threw out the evidence, finding that the border exception did not apply when the search went beyond the border area.
The government appealed. Cotterman’s lawyers argued that law enforcement should only be allowed to search digital devices at points of entry where they have the necessary equipment and personnel on hand.
“We find this position simply untenable,” 9th Circuit Judge Richard Tallman wrote for the majority, reinstating the evidence. Limiting searches “would only reward those individuals who, either because of the nature of their contraband or the sophistication of their criminal enterprise, hide their contraband more cleverly or would be inclined to seek entry at more vulnerable points less equipped to discover them.”
The court also affirmed that “particularized suspicion” was not required for a border search.
In dissent, Judge Betty Fletcher wrote that the government should have had a better reason to search Cotterman other than him being a convicted in 1992 of child molestation.
“I add my voice to the chorus lamenting the apparent demise of the Fourth Amendment,” Fletcher wrote.
About that Constitution thing...
Also, fuck you Obama.
Here's another one:
Quote:Justice Dept. to Congress: Don’t Saddle 4th Amendment on Us
The Obama administration is urging Congress not to adopt legislation that would impose constitutional safeguards on Americans’ e-mail stored in the cloud.
As the law stands now, the authorities may obtain cloud e-mail without a warrant if it is older than 180 days, thanks to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act adopted in 1986. At that time, e-mail left on a third-party server for six months was considered to be abandoned, and thus enjoyed less privacy protection. However, the law demands warrants for the authorities to seize e-mail from a person’s hard drive.
A coalition of internet service providers and other groups, known as Digital Due Process, has lobbied for an update to the law to treat both cloud- and home-stored e-mail the same, and thus require a probable-cause warrant for access. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on that topic Tuesday.
The companies — including Google, AOL and AT&T — maintain that the law should be changed to reflect that consumers increasingly access their e-mail on servers, instead of downloading it to their hard drives, as a matter of course.
But the Obama administration testified that imposing constitutional safeguards on e-mail stored in the cloud would be an unnecessary burden on the government. Probable-cause warrants would only get in the government’s way.
James A. Baker, associate deputy attorney general, testified:
Congress should recognize the collateral consequences to criminal law enforcement and the national security of the United States if ECPA were to provide only one means — a probable cause warrant — for compelling disclosure of all stored content. For example, in order to obtain a search warrant for a particular e-mail account, law enforcement has to establish probable cause to believe that evidence will be found in that particular account. In some cases, this link can be hard to establish. In one recent case, for example, law enforcement officers knew that a child exploitation subject had used one account to send and receive child pornography, and officers discovered that he had another email account, but they lacked evidence about his use of the second account.
Baker invoked the usual parade of horribles in his argument.
“The government’s ability to access, review, analyze and act promptly upon the communications of criminals that we acquire lawfully, as well as data pertaining to such communications, is vital to our mission to protect the public from terrorists, spies, organized criminals, kidnappers and other malicious actors,” (.pdf) Baker testified.
Don’t expect Congress to come out in favor of expanding Americans’ civil liberties in the post–Sept. 11 world. CNET reported that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said demanding warrants would be a burden to law enforcement in addition to “the court system.”
Congress has held countless hearings about reforming the Patriot Act, too. In the end, however, lawmakers have repeatedly punted on that issue, and we suspect they will embark on the same course when it comes to reforming EPCA.
The judiciary, however, has taken a different course. A federal appeals court in December ruled that e-mails were protected by the warrant requirement.
That decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became law March 21. It affects Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
What the fuck is the purpose of the Constitution if we're not going to abide by it?

domain: politics


|Date of Report: Monday, 11th November 2019|
|Name: Martin Davies
Phone: 082 398 1088 or 046 622 4423
Thrift is very low, probably below 30 %, but it is such a large dam there is still plenty of water to fish. In fact, because the fish are concentrated in a smaller area they are much easier to catch. Another factor is that the water is now crystal clear, much clearer than it usually is when it is full. If the conditions are good it is normal to take 8 to 9 trout per day with most in the 1,5kg to 2kg range.
At Redcliffe the dam levels are dropping but Ventor and Delton are still at a reasonable level . Most of the Ventnor fish are from last year’s stocking and in the 300g to 500g class, but in Delton they are much larger while Theaden is very low and muddy. Accommodation is now available in the cottage at Ventnor.
The hatchery at Ventnor has about 200 thousand fingerlings and most of these will be stocked out in the Winterberg dams in the next couple of weeks.
STORMBERG (Queenstown & districts)
The Queenstown Fly Fishers Club chairman, Reg Morgan (082 7033489 & 045-8381854) reports that although dam levels are dropping the club is surprisingly well off with their dams compared to some of the other Eastern Cape dams. In fact, Uncle George’s and some of the Birds River dams are full. Pine Grove is down to 40% but this is a very big bit of water and fills quickly after rains. Most of the dams are well stocked with plenty of 35 to 40cm fish around.
This coming week all dams will be stocked with 20 000 fingerlings from the Ventnor hatchery
The club website is at www.qffc.co.za.
Alan Hobson of the Angler and Antelope Guest House states that they urgently need rain for their trout waters. Mountain Dam is well down but continues to fish well.
With the onset of hot weather the bass and yellowfish waters are doing well and sight fishing for barbel in dams in the Cookhouse area with poppers and surface flies is an added attraction.
Martin Davies on Ventnor Dam


text:
The World's Largest Drum is officially too big for Notre Dame Stadium, Purdue said Friday.
As a result, Purdue's All-American Band will play its first halftime performance without its giant bass drum for the first time since 1979.
"According to a communication from the University of Notre Dame, our Band will not be permitted to take the World's Largest Drum through their tunnel and onto the football field for this Saturday's game," said Aaron Yoder, a spokesman for the university's bands and orchestras. "Notre Dame Athletics has restricted use of their main tunnel to their own football team and band, which is the only entrance large enough for the Drum. We have been told that visiting teams and bands have to use a separate tunnel that is much smaller. Our Drum is about 10 feet tall on its carriage and 565 pounds so it doesn't even come close to fitting in this other tunnel."

domain: news


text:
It would be very useful if the chord names could be visible on all staves when needed.
For example, one might hide some parts and still show chords for the remaining one(s) during practice to add lead sheet-like functionality. I think of it as a separate layer that’s not attached to a certain part, so it can be shown or hidden as desired.
Currently, the only alternative is to copy chord symbols and paste them to every part individually, which clutters up the score.
Thanks for a great product!


Equitable transit-oriented development is an effective strategy for helping low-income and working-class residents access jobs, education, healthcare, shopping, and recreation. And by creating affordable homes near public transportation, it helps prevent the development of transit-friendly land from causing housing displacement.
Last week Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot announced microgrants grants for 11 projects across the city that promote affordability and walkable, people-friendly streets near transit as part of the city's Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Pilot Program.
"Our ultimate goal with the ETOD program is to maximize the benefits that high-quality, affordable and reliable transit provides to our communities," said Lightfoot in a statement. "Each of these 11 projects will help us fulfill this mission in an equitable and community-conscious way, as well as help to improve the overall wellbeing of our residents."
Along with Elevated Chicago and Enterprise Community Partners, the city is providing $160,000 in microgrants and technical assistance to help out with project construction near transit stations across Chicago. Each winner is getting up to $20,000.
The winner include:
- Briget's Bodega, 125 W. 95th St., Roseland
- Coalition Food Hall, 2800 W. Madison St., East Garfield Park
- Homan-Harrison Mixed-Use Development Project, 600 S. Homan Ave., East Garfield Park
- Equity Arts Project, 1500 N. Milwaukee Ave., West Town
- Food Matters, 435 E. 43rd St., Grand Boulevard
- Gateway 79, State and 79th streets, Chatham
- Overton Center of Excellence, 221 E. 49th St., Grand Boulevard
- Albany Park Plaza, 3300 W. Lawrence Ave., Albany Park
- Cross the Street: Art on Clark, Rogers Park
- Emmett Street Apartments Public Art and Placemaking, 2614 N. Emmett St., Logan Square
- 35th/Archer Orange Line ETOD Vision Project, 3528 S. Leavitt St., McKinley Park
"Our team is enthusiastic about being selected for the ETOD Pilot Program and look forward to bringing our project to fruition," said Anton Hilton, managing partner of Hilton Group LLC in a statement. "Coalition Food Hall’s objective is to build community equity, create employment opportunities and build a welcoming space for the Garfield Park community. Working along with the program’s partner organizations, we look to implement a community investment vehicle tailored for local residents to contribute as investors in the development. Coalition Food Hall anticipates being the anchor that spurs commercial development near the California CTA Green Line station along Madison Avenue on the West Side of Chicago.”
The pilot program was launched as one of the first strategies in Chicago’s first-ever ETOD Policy Plan. Adopted by the Chicago Plan Commission last June, the plan was developed over the previous two years to foster more equitable transit-oriented development citywide. Goals include promoting investment on the South and West sides and preventing displacement and encouraging affordability on the North and Northwest sides.
“These ETOD pilots are bringing affordable housing, community centers, small businesses, cultural venues and public art within walking distance to train stations and bus routes," said Roberto Requejo, program director of Elevated Chicago. "They are feasible, equitable, aligned with the ETOD Policy Plan and transit-focused. While community residents have already shown their support, it is our hope that all Chicagoans will embrace these pilots as their own, help us amplify them, and bring them to fruition.”
The ETOD pilot program kicked off in June. The city received over 25 applications from 20 different community areas across. According to the city, applications were evaluated and scored by a selection committee that focused on feasibility, equity, alignment and transit. The committee included over 12 people from city departments, community organizations, the private sector, charitable foundations, and nonprofits.
“This was an unprecedented selection process for which we were intentional in assembling a group of leaders representing the diversity of our city, with a special focus on race and ethnicity,” Requejo said. “The process was rooted in Elevated Chicago’s rules of engagement and ensured transparency and power-sharing from the call for proposals to the final consensus. We hope lessons learned from this process will inform future investments, including the recently proposed $10M allocation to ETOD in Mayor Lightfoot’s 2022 budget.”
“The ETOD pilots are a great demonstration of how communities and cities can work together to leverage our existing transportation assets,” said Chicago Department of Transportation commissioner Gia Biagi. “Being able to walk or bike comfortably to transit is critical to the well-being of a neighborhood, and we look forward to partnering with the grantees to improving walkability and supporting these pilot projects.”
According to the city, the planning process that led to today’s selections included reviews of previous TOD policy changes in 2013, 2015, and 2019. It also included a draft ETOD policy report issued last fall that generated over 3,400 online views and hundreds of comments during its 45-days public comment period. The final ETOD plan, a public comment summary report, and more info about the grant winners and the selection committee can be found online at chi.gov/etod.
In addition to editing Streetsblog Chicago, John writes about transportation and other topics for additional local publications. A Chicagoan since 1989, he enjoys exploring the city on foot, bike, bus, and 'L' train.
More from Streetsblog Chicago
TLC in the IMD: the Illinois Medical District Commission releases bike and pedestrian safety plan
Five proposed projects would improve walking and biking safety - and beautify - the IMD.
47th Ward Touts Bike/Ped Infra and New Projects at Community Meeting
Ward celebrates improvements on Irving Park and around schools. Next up: Leland Greenway.
South Shore Line double-tracking concludes, new schedule to be unveiled in May
First day marked with delays, early arrivals


text:
everyone drops out...
will this be my fate too?
im standing on the ground watching here as my transparent soul dangles above the masses, up front above the heads who've either watched captivated for admiration or waiting to ridicule in disdain.
i spoke whispers to those captive on the other side, in a country who made promises of so-called freedom and whispered stories of home.. and the warmth that soon ensued with every word i spoke, became embers that warmed their skin and set their face aglow..
i left them insatiable, only for them to taste of what is yet to be Seen.
and to invite them to cross over enemy lines with me.
running effortlessly through a wolf pack, ...sliding elusively between walls, found on the other side. can this go on forever? hanging around here,.. while continually being a spy. my emblem and identity is not here,.. and overthrowing the system of what has seeped in to make their skin dull, that devours their ability to resuscitate, and bring them to a new reason why.
can it be that there is such a thing as a holy rebellion in this place?... where the need for a Rescue is everything but, kept to those who bear the Light.

domain: literature


text:
Right from the time we woman are born, we’re asked to cover up, hide, be docile, quiet, and everything associated with being ashamed. It is sad, but in one intensity or another, depending on where we are from (culturally), we’ve all been taught this. However, since a society doesn’t stand a chance without the revolutionaries and the rebellions, some of us transformed a little differently. Some of us became the “Alpha female”.
The Alpha Female has been described in various ways but I like this version the most –
The Alpha Female is a strong, majestic female. She can often be intimidating to those around her and isn’t afraid to ask for what she wants. There’s nothing quite as brilliant as a woman with confidence and ambition. <<EliteDaily.com>>
Now, even when the Alpha Female is a woman with a strong personality, it doesn’t rule out the fact that she too has her own set of insecurities and self-esteem issues. However, what makes her alpha is the very fact that she understands and listens to her thoughts enough to take charge or seek help as and when she needs it. Here’re the five signs that make you an alpha female, go ahead and discover!
1. You’re independent, like super independent
From knowing how to keep your own shit together to even morally boosting yourself, you are the epitome of independence. You aren’t scared to share work or feelings but you feel at home handling your situations, yourself. Furthermore, this makes you a born leader and confident at work, amongst your friends, and in life.
2. You know when to take control and when to let go
While being independent is your thing, you sure when to take control and when to let go. You believe in instincts and once someone establishes trust with you, you’re secure enough to trust them fully. The key is in your self-empowerment that you aren’t afraid to switch between taking risks and calculating decisions on a regular basis.
3. Being a Woman Doesn’t Scare you; You lift other women, too
The society may be cruel towards us ladies, but you are not held back by any of it. You know that your skills and abilities will always be your prime and even in moments of insecurity, you aren’t scared of being a woman. You love to empower yourself and other women around you by standing up for them or just lifting their spirit as and when required. Whether it is your body, sexuality or life, you always find a way to lift your spirits whenever in doubt.
4. Your mess up, sometimes, but you don’t live in regrets
Well, an alpha or not, you’re allowed your share of mistakes as a human being. That is unless you’re willing to take a lesson from them. After all, it is only when you internalize the positivity even from the bad times that you’ll not live in regrets. Just like a true alpha female.
5. You aren’t afraid to learn, but you can’t be rattled
Being an alpha female also comes with a lot of responsibility. Which is why you can only stay that if you’re willing to learn and rethink your notions. Reciprocally, an alpha lady is not afraid of learning. However, she does know the difference between who is trying to teach her and who is just trying to belittle her. Which is why even though she learns and triumphs, she can never be rattled by the world.
So, that was my list. I think I try to build my life in a way to conquer all the given signs up in the list and be an alpha female every day. How about you? Are you too dwelling on the positive vibe and living for the hustle? Share with me in comments below.
For my travel in style adventures, keep following my blog. Remember that your confidence is your biggest asset. Stay ERTSY and be your own desire.
4 thoughts on “5 Signs you’re an Alpha Female”
An amazing post. I have been strongly independent but never really thought of terming myself as an alpha female. I have had the privilege of being brought up to be independent and not really bother much about the society rather just be true to yourself and not hurt another person.
Comments are closed.

domain: psychology


text:
They spoke of domestic abusers, punitive judges, and dirtbag comedians––people Brian Goldstone, a journalist and anthropologist, called “less than immediately sympathetic protagonists.” But among panelists of “Uncertain States: Narrative Journalism and Its Limits,” at Columbia’s Heyman Center last week, the consensus was that the best stories are those that reflect the complexity of human experience.
One panelist, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, author of Random Family (2003), is working on a new book about standups, and she’s allowed herself to feel a range of emotions about her subjects. “I hate them,” she told the crowd. “I feel hurt by them. But then I say to myself, ‘They didn’t start this relationship, you started this relationship.’” (She told me later: “I love them—at one point, I even hated one of them.”) It’s complicated, and LeBlanc believes that imagining a binary between good and bad is useless. “I’m just interested in the full range of human capacity,” she said.
ARCHIVES: Susan Orlean on archiving her life, and not keeping up with her subjects
When Matthew Shaer, a contributor to the New York Times Magazine, was reporting on a judge who jailed poor Mississippians who could not pay fines, he expected to find villainy. But things weren’t that simple. “I wish I could say he was twirling his mustache relishing in putting poor people in jail,” Shaer said. The audience laughed. “He wasn’t. He was just an old dude in Mississippi doing what everyone else had done before him.”
Sarah Stillman, a staff writer at The New Yorker and the director of the Columbia Journalism School’s Global Migration Project, argued that reporters owe their sources, and readers, complexity. “I can’t think of a more clear moral challenge in this particular moment when it comes to immigration reporting than not falling into these really easy binaries of the worthy and the unworthy,” she said. A DACA recipient can have “crappy grades,” for instance, and remain compelling and sympathetic.
Shaer felt the same way. “Often, when you’re writing about impoverished communities, there’s a tendency to hold up someone as holy or something, because they’re poor and this is their experience—‘Oh they’re so wonderful, and these are the horrible things that have happened to them,’” he said. “When in fact, they’re just people, they’ve got their own problems, they do drugs, they yell at their kids.” Those details enrich a story. “You make it more complex,” he went on, “more realistic.”
An ethnographer asked the panelists how to tell a story about systemic failures when detailing a personal story. “I thoroughly believe that people respond, most readers, to people’s stories,” Shaer replied. “Not necessarily when they have to take their medicine.”
Lizzie Presser, a reporter at ProPublica, offered an alternative. Make social and historical context “a character, in and of itself,” she suggested, which turns a reader’s focus “away from the individual choices that people made.”
LeBlanc, too, has found it best to embrace humanity’s messiness. A reader of her forthcoming book hated the characters so much that finishing it became impossible. “Oh good,” LeBlanc thought. “I’m hitting something.”
ICYMI: The shady roots of ‘quid pro quo’
Editors note: This piece has been updated for clarity.Savannah Jacobson is a contributor to CJR.

domain: sociology


text:
Results 1 to 15 of 28
Thread: Walking above Water
May 22nd, 2009 #1
Walking above Water
I wanted to open a sketchbook for a long time but everytime I look at those already existing - my jaw drops and my confidence goes down.
I really want to be as good as everyone else here - so Iīll start my walk above the water. Itīs a bit unsure, a bit impossible, but hey I love water. ^__^
I need to practise: using refereces, lights and darks, anatomy (of course), general composition, persepektive, city and all kinds of technical stuff ... nearly everything.
the picture below is a practise with photoreference I did just now. You can view the photo here
May 22nd, 2009 #2
May 23rd, 2009 #3
@Flashback: youīre right ... but I just donīt seem to be able to stop the ranking thing. Of course I want to improve for myself - to get a professional ad fullfill my dream ( to get where some already are ... and thats where my ranking/ comparing sets in again ^^" )
As you see I have big problems with foreshortening - I just somehow take it out of the picture O.o
I had many issues with the leg too. earlier version :click
May 23rd, 2009 #4
Wow, this is looking great so far. Don't worry about comparing yourself to others -- what matters most here is attitude and determination.
Beautiful work on the colours and form especially. I can't wait to see you progress even more!
May 24th, 2009 #5
@kuni-bob: thank you!
I didnīt have much time today since I wasnīt at home so I decided to do something more relaxing and practise some faces:
the mistakes I see:
her nose is tilted slightly wrong/ her eye area isnīt really right if I mirror - please tell me if you note something else
(I did this last night before going to bed (around 3 am ) - I am aware that especially the eye-area looks extremely distorted
(itīs widened too much I think) )
May 25th, 2009 #6
I love the colours in these new ones. Beautiful expressions on their faces, too -- very calm and serene!
In the first piece, I believe her ear looks as if it's too far forward (as if it's on plane with her cheekbones instead of on the side of her head.) I hope that helps!
May 25th, 2009 #7
most definetly an inspiration to me, I just started a sketchbook too, and well I'm kind of nervous too, but your paintings look nice and I was wondering where you learned to use that computer program, and which one is that exactly?
May 27th, 2009 #8
@ kuni-bob : yes youīre right (since I watched one piece as a child I tend to draw the ears too low ^^")
@Marshall Stevens: maaaany practise. I know thats a boring answer but itīs true. I draw digital for about two and a half years if that helps. yes for now I still have photoshop ... I could use it in my school, but since Iīm nearly finished now I need to get it somehow for myself D: (testversions donīt run forever itīs so sad... xD )
hereīs what I did today
My life is so busy nowadays - Itīs 2 am already again - but I so wanted to draw. (please bear with me but Iīm too tired to search the reference -link out again itīs a photo from click )
3 hours *dies* I need to get faster.
Edit: fixed the link
Last edited by Trudy; May 28th, 2009 at 08:28 PM.
May 27th, 2009 #9
keep it up! The last one is looking really goodSketchbook
Insert very insightful quotes here ...
- get back to work!
May 30th, 2009 #10
ref link: click
I know its very rough - I have so many problems with complicated poses its horrible - it took me an eternity to get it somewhat right.
also my normal drawing style is annoying me lately *gah * I need to change it. Iīll post something soon.
June 7th, 2009 #11
I think somehow the contrast is weak.
I originally intended to finish this- but I forgot to give them clothes and canīt fit them in anymore without destroying the composition. (I was so fixed to get the anatomy right... ah *sighs* )
Done without any references.
my problems: his head / his left arm / her neck / darks on his back
June 13th, 2009 #12
Wow, truly impressive stuff!
I especially like the two portraits, the first study and the last one of the lying man. Very nicely done!
And I can completely understand your nervousness... I am kinda feeling the same, especially because here are so many stunning artists..
But I told you before, I find it very impressive that you constantly try to improve and always question your art and style. - Keep that up!
Hrmm.. considering the last piece I agree with the points you've spoken of..
maybe you should lengthen the left arm (viewers point) a bit more?
Also his right arm lacks a bit of the power which is suggested in the movement. It is the bending of the arm that is damping the power. Maybe it would look better if the arm was shooting straight forward to her?
Anyway, I am hardly an expert, but that's just what I would suggest.
But the picture looks really interesting so far, and I'm curious to see the further progress of it! n.n
June 14th, 2009 #13
thank you for the suggestions. I think youīre right about the arms. >___> ah noes. well see. Iīll have to change alot anyways because of the clothes so the arm wont make the big diffrence. ^___^ Iīll try to make him more energetic.
so hm no I am not dead. I just did more finished looking things, wich are already online at my dA... but Iīll link them here so I donīt look lazy.
probably the oldest of the following and personal. click here if you want a short explanation
again a photo practise: (but I liked it enough to put it into my gallery)
I canīt find the photo again. I have it on my harddrive but I donīt want to hurt any copyrights by uploading it to photbucket...
30 mins speedy out of boredom. ... we all knew link would be alot faster with a REAL waepon xD
(people in dA chat suggested to do something with zelda/ another wanted to see a futuristic waepon ... wich I am bad at drawing ^^" )
and finally the one I need crits on :
I seldom color lineart. But my paintings (if not referenced) miss details... So this is a try to colour one. what do you think in general?
I also have big problems with her hands and feet :/
June 27th, 2009 #14
soo I finally scanned in some of my traditional sketches - wich are really bad.
thats 13 pages:
bigger view: http://cheezycat.deviantart.com/art/...ches-127407747
and one with a bit more effort - somehow itīs far easier for me to draw women.
I always struggle so much with muscles...
Last edited by Trudy; June 27th, 2009 at 02:11 PM.
June 27th, 2009 #15
Nice, keep up with the studies. I see good use of colours here.
I'll try critting the horned female: Although it seems to be quite stylised, I think the hands and feet are very small compared to say, the face. Also, is her right hand bubbling?
Maybe give even darker/sharper shadows. Also check reference on how fabrics fold and contort with body forms. Other than that it looks promising, I'm a noob with colours so no tips from me but I really like the palette on this one.
Keep it up, you'll get there.
Art: Walking the dogBy Joey-b in forum FINISHED ART & ARTWORKReplies: 0Last Post: March 27th, 2013, 06:43 AM
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domain: artistic


text:
Elevation: 7,090 ft
Climbing and access information for this peak is on Page 345 of the book. The information in the book is accurate. However, the road access discussed in the book has deteriorated significantly and driving to Half Moon Pass is no longer advisable. This page replaces the book entry. Published May 2020
Rough Mountain is the tallest peak located southeast of Toy Pass and the highest Owyhee peaks in the Silver City Range. It a special peak with hidden meadows, numerous summits, and many impressive rock formations on its lower slopes. There is a small communications facility on its summit. The 360-degree view from the summit includes the Snake River Plain, the Boise Mountains, the South Hills, Nevada’s Jarbidge Mountains as well as a huge stretch of the Owyhee Mountains and canyonlands. USGS Rough Mountain
From the junction of ID-167 and ID-78 in Grand View, Idaho, drive east on ID-78 for 2.1 miles. Continue straight on paved Mud Flat Road and follow it for 21.0 miles to an unsigned junction with the 2-track that runs up Lower Juniper Creek. Turn onto the 2-track. This road eventually leads all the way to Half Moon Pass. There is a parking spot for cars about 100 yards from Mud Flat Road and another for 4WDs at 0.4 miles from Mud Flat Road. After the second parking spot, the road is best suited for foot, mountain bike, or ATV travel.
South Slopes, Class 2
Follow the road until you reach a small 6,500-foot pass just east of Point 7023. There are four fences with gates up until this point. Be aware that three of the four gates are difficult to open and close because the wire is very tight. It took four of us to close the last one. The road also crosses a short section of private property as it traverse into Section 8 (see the land status map below). Currently, this piece of property is open to the public. If it is closed in the future, you can easily traverse around it.
From the small pass, leave the road and climb south up the sagebrush-covered slopes to the summit ridge above. There are plenty of game/cattle trails that can be linked together to get the through the brush. Once the top of the ridge is reached, you will spot the summit and its small radio tower. Just below the summit, there is another fence. Although there is no official gate, there is a spot where two steel posts are located close together to form a workable gate. The wire between these two posts can easily be unhooked, allowing an easy crossing. Make sure to reattach the wire. Once past the fence, it is a short stroll to the top.
Northeast Ridge/Half Moon Pass, Class 2
This is the route listed in the book. You can use this route to descend to Half Moon Pass if you are interested in climbing Half Moon Peak or want to make a loop back to the trailhead. From the summit, drop down to the makeshift gate and re-cross the fence. Follow the fence and a poorly defined ATV track northeast as shown on the map above until you reach the open slopes that descend to Half Moon Pass. The descent is steep but the footing is generally good.

domain: travel


text:
The Titan Puzzle: Unraveling the Mysteries of Saturnʼs Largest Moon
Saturn, the attractive ringed planet, boasts a mess of fascinating moons. Amongst these moons, one stands out as the most important and most enigmatic: Titan. First noticed by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens in 1655, Titan has captivated scientists and researchers for hundreds of years. As we proceed to discover our photo voltaic system, this enigmatic moon continues to current us with a plethora of unanswered questions. On this article, we are going to delve into the mysteries of Titan, aiming to unravel the puzzling secrets and techniques hidden inside Saturn’s largest moon.
Unveiling the Origins
The formation of Titan stays an intriguing puzzle for scientists. With a diameter of about 5,150 kilometers, Titan is bigger than the planet Mercury. It’s intriguing to think about how such an enormous moon got here into existence. Present theories counsel that Titan may have fashioned from the disk of fabric surrounding Saturn throughout its early phases. Such a formation course of is much like the best way wherein planets develop from the protoplanetary disk round a younger star.
Certainly one of Titan’s most distinctive options is its ambiance. It’s composed primarily of nitrogen, much like Earth’s ambiance. Nevertheless, it additionally accommodates vital quantities of methane and ethane, which give Titan its hazy, orange look. This fascinating composition has led scientists to discover the potential for life on Titan.
The presence of hydrocarbon lakes and rivers, detected by the Cassini spacecraft, has added to the intrigue. Though these hydrocarbons should not water-based, they supply a possible setting for the event of unique types of life. The distinctive chemistry of Titan’s ambiance makes it a veritable laboratory for scientists in search of to know the origins and circumstances obligatory for all times.
Floor Options and Local weather
Titan boasts a various vary of floor options, together with huge plains, mountains, and intriguing formations referred to as cryovolcanoes. These cryovolcanoes erupt with a combination of water, methane, and ammonia, additional supporting the speculation that Titan probably possesses geological exercise akin to Earth. The presence of such options has propelled scientists to additional examine the moon’s local weather and climate patterns.
Scientists have found that Titan experiences seasonal adjustments. Its thick ambiance is liable for a posh and dynamic local weather. Periodic adjustments in daylight depth trigger numerous seasonal patterns, together with rain showers, storms, and frequent cloud cowl. These climate phenomena add to the mysterious attract of Titan, hinting at a tantalizingly Earth-like local weather.
Exploring Titan’s Inside
Understanding the inside of Titan is essential in unraveling its mysteries. Radar observations carried out by the Cassini spacecraft have allowed scientists to penetrate by Titan’s thick ambiance and discover the moon’s subsurface options. Scientists have speculated that, beneath the icy floor, Titan could have a layer of liquid water, probably serving as a subsurface ocean.
Moreover, the presence of tidal forces generated by Saturn’s gravity suggests the potential for a subsurface ocean composed of water and ammonia. This discovery has sparked pleasure throughout the scientific group, as such oceanic environments harbor the potential for all times to thrive.
As we proceed to unveil the mysteries of our universe, Titan stays an interesting enigma. From its mysterious origins to its peculiar ambiance and local weather, Saturn’s largest moon challenges our understanding of planetary formation and the potential for all times past Earth. Regardless of progress made by the Cassini mission, there may be nonetheless a lot to unravel about Titan’s fascinating qualities.
Whereas the Titan puzzle is much from full, our fixed pursuit of data retains us on a path in the direction of additional exploration. With future house missions deliberate to research Titan extra extensively, it’s simple that this charming moon holds large potential for unlocking secrets and techniques that might reshape our understanding of the universe and our place inside it.

domain: geography


Xi Jinping in His Own Words
What China’s Leader Wants—and How to Stop Him From Getting It
Most Americans used to think about climate change—to the extent that they thought about it at all—as an abstract threat in a distant future. But more and more are now seeing it for what it is: a costly, human-made disaster unfolding before their very eyes. A wave of increasingly destructive hurricanes, heat spells, and wildfires has ravaged communities across the United States, and both scientists and citizens are able to connect these extreme events to a warming earth. Seven in ten Americans agree that global warming is happening, according to a 2018 study conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. About six in ten think it is mostly caused by human activity and is already changing the weather. Four in ten say they have personally experienced its impact. And seven in ten say the United States should enact measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, including prices and limits on carbon dioxide pollution, no matter what other countries do.
When it comes to generating support for climate policy, a warranted sense of alarm is only half the battle. And the other half—a shared belief that the problem is solvable—is lagging far behind. The newfound sense of urgency is at risk of being swamped by collective despair. A scant six percent of Americans, according to the Yale study, believe that the world “can and will” effectively address climate change. With carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels having risen by an estimated 2.7 percent in 2018 and atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, which will determine the ultimate extent of warming, at their highest level in some three million years, such pessimism may seem justified—especially with a climate change denier in the White House.
But it is not too late to solve the global climate crisis. A decade of extraordinary innovation has made the greening of the global economy not only feasible but also likely. The market now favors clean energy: in many U.S. states, it is cheaper to build new renewable energy plants than to run existing coal-fired power plants. By combining solar power with new, efficient batteries, Arizona and other sunny states will soon be able to provide electricity at a lower cost per megawatt-hour than new, efficient natural gas plants. Local, regional, and federal governments, as well as corporations, are making measurable progress on reducing carbon pollution. Since 2000, 21 countries have reduced their annual greenhouse gas emissions while growing their economies; China is expected to see emissions peak by 2025, five years earlier than it promised as part of the negotiations for the Paris climate agreement in 2015. At the UN climate talks held late last year in Poland, countries agreed on rules for how to report progress on meeting emission-reduction commitments, an important step in implementing the Paris accord.
What’s more, an entirely new arsenal is emerging in the fight against climate change: negative emission technologies, or NETs. NETs are different from conventional approaches to climate mitigation in that they seek not to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere but to remove carbon dioxide that’s already there. These technologies range from the old-fashioned practice of reforestation to high-tech machines that suck carbon out of the sky and store it underground. The window of opportunity to combat climate change has not closed—and with a push from policymakers, NETs can keep it propped open for longer.
How much time is left to avoid climate catastrophe? The truth is that it is impossible to answer the question with precision. Scientists know that human activity is warming the planet but still don’t fully understand the sensitivity of the climate system to greenhouse gases. Nor do they fully comprehend the link between average global warming and local repercussions. So far, however, most effects of climate change have been faster and more severe than the climate models predicted. The downside risks are enormous; the most recent predictions, ever more dire.
The Paris agreement aims to limit the increase in global average temperatures above preindustrial levels to well below two degrees Celsius, and ideally to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Going above those levels of warming would mean more disastrous impacts. Global average temperatures have already risen by about one degree Celsius since 1880, with two-thirds of that increase occurring after 1975. An October 2018 special report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of leading scientists and policymakers from around the world, found that unless the world implements “rapid and far-reaching” changes to its energy and industrial systems, the earth is likely to reach temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels sometime between 2030 and 2052. Limiting warming to that level, the IPCC found, would require immediate and dramatic cuts in carbon dioxide: roughly a 45 percent reduction in the next dozen years. Even meeting the less ambitious target of two degrees would require deep cuts in emissions by 2030 and sustained aggressive action far beyond then.
The IPCC report also warns that seemingly small global temperature increases can have enormous consequences. For example, the half-degree difference between 1.5 degrees Celsius and two degrees Celsius of total warming could consign twice as many people to water scarcity, put ten million more at risk from rising sea levels, and plunge several hundred million more people into poverty as lower yields of key crops drive hunger across much of the developing world. At two degrees of warming, nearly all of the planet’s coral reefs are expected to be lost; at 1.5 degrees, ten to 30 percent could survive.
The deeper message of the IPCC report is that there is no risk-free level of climate change. Targets such as 1.5 degrees Celsius or two degrees Celsius are important political markers, but they shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking that nature works so precisely. Just as the risks are lower at 1.5 degrees Celsius than at two degrees Celsius, so are they lower at two degrees Celsius than at 2.5 degrees Celsius. Indeed, the latter difference would be far more destructive, since the damages mount exponentially as temperatures rise.
The world no longer has the luxury of waiting for emission-reduction strategies to do the job alone.
To manage the enormous risks of climate change, global emissions of greenhouse gases need to be cut sharply, and as soon as possible. That will require transforming energy, land, transport, and industrial systems so they emit less carbon dioxide. It will also require reducing short-lived climate pollutants such as methane, which stay in the atmosphere for only a fraction of the time that carbon dioxide does but have a disproportionate effect on near-term warming.
Yet even that will not be enough. To stabilize the total atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, the world will have to reach net negative emissions—that is, taking more greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere than are being pumped into it. Achieving that through emission reductions alone will be extremely difficult, since some emissions, such as of methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture, are nearly impossible to eliminate. Countering the emissions that are hardest to abate, and bring concentrations down to safer levels, requires technologies that actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
That’s where NETs come in—not as a substitute for aggressive efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but as a complement. By deploying technology that removes existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while accelerating cuts in emissions, the world can boost its chances of keeping warming below two degrees and reduce the risk of catastrophe.
Scientists and activists have tended to regard these technologies as a fallback option, to be held in reserve in case other efforts fail. Many fear that jumping ahead to carbon dioxide removal will distract from the critical need to cut pollution. But the world no longer has the luxury of waiting for emission-reduction strategies to do the job alone. Far from being a Plan B, NETs must be a critical part of Plan A. What’s more, embracing NETs sooner rather than later makes economic sense. Because the marginal costs of emission reductions rise as more emissions are cut, it will be cheaper to deploy NETs at the same time as emission-reduction technologies rather than waiting to exhaust those options first. The wider the solution set, the lower the costs. And the lower the costs, the easier it is to raise ambitions and garner the necessary political support.
Even though removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may sound like the stuff of science fiction, there are already NETs that could be deployed at scale today, according to a seminal report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in October 2018. One category involves taking advantage of carbon sinks—the earth’s forests and agricultural soils, which have soaked up more carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution than has been released from burning petroleum. To date, the growth of carbon sinks has been inadvertent: in the United States, for example, as agriculture shifted from the rocky soils of the Northeast to the fertile Midwest, forests reclaimed abandoned farmland, breathing in carbon dioxide in the process. But this natural process can be improved through better forest management—letting trees grow longer before they are harvested and helping degraded forests grow back more quickly. The large-scale planting of trees in suitable locations around the world could increase carbon sinks further, a process that must go hand in hand with efforts to curb tropical deforestation and thereby continue to contain the vast amounts of carbon already stored in the earth’s rainforests.
Farmland provides additional potential for negative emissions. Around the world, conventional agricultural practices have reduced the amount of carbon in soils, decreasing their fertility in the process. Smarter approaches can reverse the process. Small and large landholders alike could add agricultural waste to soil, maximize the time that the soil is covered by living plants or mulch, and reduce tilling, which releases carbon dioxide. All these steps would decrease the amount of carbon that is lost from soil and increase the amount of carbon that is stored in it.
The most technologically sophisticated NET available in the near term is known as “bioenergy with carbon capture and storage,” or BECCs. It is also the riskiest. Broadly defined, BECCs involves burning or fermenting biomass, such as trees or crops, to generate electricity or make liquid fuel; capturing the carbon dioxide produced in the process; and sequestering it underground. It is considered a negative emission technology, and not a zero emission technology, because growing the biomass used in the process removes carbon from the atmosphere. What makes BECCs so exciting is its potential to remove significantly more carbon from the atmosphere than other approaches do. But it also brings challenges. For one, it is expensive: electricity generated from BECCs could cost twice as much as that generated with natural gas, because biomass is an inefficient fuel source and capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide is costly. The technology would also require careful monitoring to ensure that the carbon dioxide pumped underground stays there and clear rules for legal liability in the event of leaks. But the fact that private companies have been successfully injecting carbon dioxide into depleted oil and gas reservoirs for decades offers good evidence that permanent storage is possible on a large scale.
More worrying are the additional climate risks that BECCs poses. If BECCs drives demand for biomass and more of the carbon that is stored in the forest ecosystem is released as a result, it could end up raising the level of carbon in the atmosphere rather than reducing it. Another concern is competition for land: converting farms or forests to grow energy crops, something that the large-scale use of BECCs might require, could drive up the cost of food, reduce agricultural production, and threaten scarce habitats. These problems could be mitigated by using only biomass waste, such as residues from logging and agriculture, but that would reduce the potential scale. Although BECCs deserves consideration as part of the arsenal, these risks mean that its contribution will likely end up being smaller than some proponents claim.
Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may sound like the stuff of science fiction.
Taking all these land-based NETs together, and factoring in the considerable economic, practical, and behavioral hurdles to bringing them to scale, the National Academies report concludes that by midcentury, NETs could remove as much as five billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. Given the significant risks involved, that estimate is probably too bullish. Even if it were not, that’s still only half of the ten billion tons of carbon dioxide that will likely need to be removed each year to zero out the remaining greenhouse gas emissions, even with aggressive cuts.
Removing from the atmosphere the balance of the carbon dioxide necessary will require perfecting technologies currently in development. Two deserve particular mention; both are full of promise, although neither is ready for widespread use. The first is called “direct air capture”—essentially, sucking carbon from the sky. The technology is already being tested in Canada, Iceland, Italy, and Switzerland at pilot plants where massive arrays of fans direct a stream of air toward a special substance that binds with the passing carbon dioxide. The substance is then either heated or forced into a vacuum to release the carbon dioxide, which is compressed and either stored or used as feedstocks for chemicals, fuels, or cement.
These technologies are real—albeit prohibitively expensive in their current form. As a recent study led by David Sandalow of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy concludes, taking them to scale means solving a variety of technological challenges to bring down the costs. Above all, these processes are highly energy intensive, so scaling them would require enormous amounts of low-carbon electricity. (A direct-air-capture facility powered by coal-fired electricity, for example, would generate more new carbon dioxide than it would capture.) These obstacles are serious, but the surprising progress of the past decade suggests that they can be overcome in the next one.
The second technology, enhanced carbon mineralization, is even further from being realized, but it is full of even more possibility. Geologists have long known that when rock from the earth’s mantle (the layer of the earth between its crust and its core) is exposed to the air, it binds with carbon dioxide to form carbon-containing minerals. The massive tectonic collisions that formed the Appalachian Mountains around 460 million years ago, for example, exposed subsurface rock to weathering that resulted in the absorption of substantial amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. That took tens of millions of years; enhanced carbon mineralization seeks to fast-forward the process. Scientists are exploring two ways to do this. In one approach, rocks would be brought to the surface to bind with carbon from the air. Such natural weathering already occurs in mine tailings, the waste left over from certain mining operations. But mimicking this process on a large scale—by grinding up large quantities of rock containing reactive minerals and bringing it to the earth’s surface—would be highly energy intensive and thus costly, roughly on par with direct air capture.
Another potential approach is pumping the carbon dioxide underground to meet the rock. As the National Academies report explains, carbon-dioxide–rich fluids injected into basalt or peridotite formations (two kinds of igneous rock that make up much of the earth’s mantle) react with the rock, converting the dissolved carbon dioxide into solid carbon-containing minerals. Pilot projects in Iceland and the United States have demonstrated that this is possible. There is also evidence for how this could work in the natural world. Peridotite usually lies deep inside the earth, but some rock formations around the globe contain pockets of it on the surface. For example, scientists are studying how the surface-level peridotite in Oman’s rock formations reacts with the air and absorbs large amounts of carbon. In theory, this approach offers nearly unlimited scale, because suitable rock formations are widespread and readily accessible. It would also be cheap, because it takes advantage of chemical potential energy in the rock instead of costly energy sources. And since the carbon dioxide is converted to solid rock, the effect is permanent, and it carries few of the side effects that other NETs could bring.
These technologies do not come cheap. The National Academy of Sciences recommends as much as $1 billion annually in U.S. government funding for research on NETs. And indeed, such funding should be an urgent priority. But to make these technologies economically viable and scale them rapidly, policymakers will also have to tap into a much more powerful force: the profit motive. Putting a price on carbon emissions creates an economic incentive for entrepreneurs to find cheaper, faster ways to cut pollution. Valuing negative emissions—for example, through an emission-trading system that awards credits for carbon removal or a carbon tax that provides rebates for them—would create an incentive for them to join the hunt for NETs.
Forty-five countries, along with ten U.S. states, have put in place some mechanism to price carbon. But only a handful of them offer rewards for converting land into forest, managing existing forests better, or increasing the amount of carbon stored in agricultural soils, and none offers incentives for other NETs. What’s needed is a carbon-pricing system that not only charges those who emit carbon but also pays those who remove it. Such a system would provide new revenue streams for landowners who restored forest cover to their land and for farmers and ranchers who increased the amount of carbon stored in their soils. It would also reward the inventors and entrepreneurs who developed new, better technologies to capture carbon from the air and the investors and businesses that took them to scale. Without these incentives, those players will stay on the sidelines. By spurring innovation in lower-cost NETs, incentives would also ease the way politically for an ambitious pollution limit—which, ultimately, is necessary for ensuring that the world meets it climate goals. Simply put, humanity’s best hope is to promise that the next crop of billionaires will be those who figure out low-cost ways to remove carbon from the sky.
The biggest hurdle for such incentives is the lack of a global market for carbon credits. Hope on that front, however, is emerging from an unlikely place: aviation. Currently responsible for roughly two percent of global greenhouse gases, aviation’s emissions are expected to triple or quadruple by midcentury in the absence of effective policies to limit them. But in 2016, faced with the prospect that the EU would start capping the emissions of flights landing in and taking off from member states, the UN body that governs worldwide air travel, the International Civil Aviation Organization, agreed to cap emissions from international flights at 2020 levels. The airline industry supported the agreement, hoping to avoid the messy regulatory patchwork that might result if the EU went ahead and states beyond the EU followed suit with their own approaches.
The resulting program, called the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), requires all airlines to start reporting emissions this year, and it will begin enforcing a cap in 2021. Once in full swing, at least 100 countries are expected to participate, covering at least three-quarters of the forecast increase in international aviation emissions. Airlines flying between participating countries will have two ways to comply: they can lower their emissions (for example, by burning less fuel or switching to alternative fuels), or they can buy emission-reduction credits from companies. Because the technologies for reducing airline emissions at scale are still a long way off, the industry will mostly choose the second option, relying on carbon credits from reductions in other sectors. It is estimated that over the first 15 years of CORSIA, demand for these credits will reach between 2.5 billion and 3.0 billion tons—roughly equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. power and manufacturing sectors. With this new option to sell emission-reduction credits to airlines, there is a good possibility that a pot of gold will await companies that cut or offset their carbon emissions. In short, CORSIA could catalyze a global carbon market that drives investment in low-carbon fuels and technologies—including NETs.
Humanity’s best hope is to promise that the next crop of billionaires will be those who figure out low-cost ways to remove carbon from the sky.
To realize its promise, CORSIA must be implemented properly, and there are powerful forces working to see that it is not. Some countries, including ones negotiating on behalf of their state-owned companies, are trying to rig the system by allowing credits from projects that do not produce legitimate carbon reductions, such as Brazil’s effort to allow the sale of credits from huge hydroelectric dams in the Amazon that have already been built and paid for (and thus do not represent new reductions). Allowing such credits into the system could crowd out potential rewards for genuine reductions. But there are also powerful, sometimes unexpected allies who stand to gain from a global carbon market that works. For example, some airlines are motivated to act out of a fear that millennials, concerned about their carbon footprint, may eventually begin to shun air travel. The new regulations, by creating demand for emission reductions and spurring investment in NETs to produce jet fuel, could be the industry’s best hope of protecting its reputation—and a critical step toward a broader global carbon market that moves NETs from promising pilot projects to a game-changing reality.
Skeptics say that NETs are too speculative and a possibility only, perhaps, in the distant future. It is true that these innovations are not fully understood and that not all of them will pan out. But no group of scholars and practitioners, no matter how expert, can determine exactly which technologies should be deployed and when. It is impossible to predict what future innovations will look like, but that shouldn’t stop the world from pursuing them, especially when the threat is so grave. The fact remains that many NETs are ready to be deployed at scale today, and they might make the difference between limiting warming to two degrees and failing to do so.
Ultimately, climate change will be stopped by creating economic incentives that unleash the innovation of the private sector—not by waiting for the perfect technology to arrive ready-made, maybe when it’s already too late. No one is saying that achieving all of this will be easy, but the road to climate stability has never been that. Hard does not mean impossible, however, and the transformative power of human ingenuity offers an endless source of hope.
Why More of the Same Could Be Dooming the Planet


Frameline 44 Pride Showcase screens 25 – 28 June 2020. Ahead Of The Curve directed by Jen Rainin (USA) 2020, a documentary about Curve magazine, will have a special showing at the West Wind Solano Drive-In Saturday 27 June 2020. All films will be streamed online in California.
The four narrative features I look forward to seeing are: Breaking Fast directed by Mike Mosallam (USA) 2020. Stage Mother directed by Thom Fitzgerald (USA) 2020, Summerland directed by Jessica Swale (UK) 2020, and Twilight’s Kiss (Suk Suk) directed by Ray Yeung (Hong Kong) 2019.
Dennis Peron is the one person in San Francisco best known for his advocacy of marijuana decriminalization. Brownie Mary briefly shared the media spotlight during the AIDS crises when she was arrested for providing chocolate baked edibles.
Home Baked by Alia Volz published 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt tells the story of a lesser known purveyor of magic brownies who managed to operate surreptitiously in the city for several decades. The book focuses primarily on her mother Meridy Domnitz Volz, an aspiring artist who moved to the West Coast from Milwaukee.
Meridy Volz cautiously began selling Sticky Fingers Brownies in the 70s to street artists along Fishermen’s Wharf, a primarily tourist area on the northern part of San Francisco. But a decade later when the AIDS pandemic was devastating the gay male population, her brownies not only provided a tasty treat but helped many overcome wasting syndrome by stimulating appetites.
What went on behind the scenes was much more complicated both in terms of the personal dynamics and the unexpected business challenges. The author reveals a part of San Francisco history that comes as a surprise even to a native and long-term resident like myself.
Yoav’s personal and professional life is all about maintaining strict control over not only the present but also past and future as well. However, it begins to unravel when he no longer is able to have his way.
He is haunted by the unresolved trauma involving his relationship with his father and fears growing old. He rejects the implications of a surprising announcement by his best friend Alma, and the reaction of his lover Dan.
The two individuals closest to him manage to overcome the challenges while he relentlessly pursues a self-destructive path.
15 Years directed by Yuval Hadadi (Israel) 2019 is now available on DVD/VOD from Breaking Glass Pictures.
The Church of Latter Day Saints played an active role in 2008 supporting and funding Prop 8 in California, the ballot measure limiting marriage in the state to male-female couples. However the battle for marriage equality eventually reached Utah, the home state of Mormonism, in 2013.
A small, grassroots campaign begun by a local, inexperienced, gay activist in Salt Lake City triumphed there. Church & State directed by Holly Tuckett and Kendall Wilcox (USA) 2018 documents that amazing and contentious struggle.
I fully support building bridges to bring people together rather than constructing walls that divide one group from another. I believe diversity is a strength and am disturbed by those unwilling to venture beyond their narrow circle of like-minded individuals.
In 2017 the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus toured five homophobic states. It was a brave effort sensibly organized. They traveled to the South with open hearts, offering joyful and healing music to all willing to receive it.
Gay Chorus Deep South directed by David Charles Rodriguez (USA) 2019 is a documentary about that amazing tour and watching it I was often moved to tears.
The film includes several relevant personal stories as well as the reactions of people who attended performances. While most of the songs were traditional religious numbers, only one church agreed to host a concert.
Gay Chorus Deep South opens today for a limited theatrical engagement at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.
Pain And Glory directed by Pedro Almodóvar (Spain) 2019 is an introspective meditation.
While Almodóvar claims the film isn’t about himself, he’s taken considerable effort to pattern both the main character and his personal environment on his own physical appearance and the art and furnishings of his home.
The director in the film is unable to continue directing films because of numerous health problems so he replays significant scenes from the past in his head. Childhood poverty. His parents’ unsatisfactory relationship. Educational development. Plus a seminal relationship with an older man.
The process of continual retrospective review also provides an opportunity to reconnect with a difficult collaborator from the past who becomes an increasingly negative influence in the present.
There seems little hope that he’ll be able to overcome depression and hopelessness yet he manages to rise above the difficulties in his life.
Pain And Glory opens 11 October 2019 at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco and Landmark’s Aquarius Theatre, Palo Alto.
18 October 2019 at Shattuck Cinemas, Berkeley; AMC Saratoga 14, San Jose; and Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael.
1 November 2019 Landmark’s Piedmont Theatre, Oakland; The Tower Theatre, Sacramento; and Landmark’s Nickelodeon Theatre, Santa Cruz
8 November 2019 Regal UA Olympus Pointe, Roseville and Regal UA Stonestown Twin, San Francisco.
Saturday 12 October 2019 at 8:30 PM the 23rd San Francisco Arab Film Festival will screen Queer Lens at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, between Valencia and Guerrero.
The two-hour program of films by and about queer Arabs consists of four shorts and one medium length narrative film.
Brothers directed by Mike Mosallam (USA) 2018, Of A Dancer directed by Georges Hazim (Lebanon) 2018, Dearborn Ash by Hena Ashraf (USA) 2018, Marco directed by Saleem Haddad (UK) 2019, and Label Me directed by Kai Kreuser (Germany) 2019.
In 1989 I was impressed by the extensive LGBT exhibition at the 42nd Street New York Public Library, which included several items related to organizations or projects I was involved with nearly two decades earlier.
Returning thirty years later I felt very removed from three Stonewall 50 exhibits I visited at Leslie-Loman Gallery, New York Public Library, and New York Historical Society Museum. Having returned to San Francisco nearly half a century ago, my East Coast ties are now in the distant past.
We Are Everywhere by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown published 2019 by Ten Speed Press covers more than a century of LGBTQ activism in the US. The huge collection of photos immediately drew my attention. More than a few are of people I know or knew starting with the one of Marsha P. Johnson on the front cover.
Reading the four-part history was a more demanding experience. I felt I was in a queer studies class. Interested in new material, impatient to get through the parts I already knew, and saddened by the reoccurring instances of infighting and acrimony documented. This isn’t unique to our struggle by any means.
I recommend We Are Everywhere for anyone wanting to learn about the setbacks and progress of queer liberation in the US, in a book profusely illustrated with images of individuals associated with that struggle.


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When the coronavirus pandemic slammed america in March, the Detroit Three automakers shut their vegetation and introduced their North American car manufacturing to an unprecedented chilly cease.
Now, 4 months after a sluggish and generally bumpy restart in Could, many Basic Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Cars NV factories are working at near full velocity, chasing a stronger-than-expected restoration in gross sales.
To this point, not one of the Detroit Three has had a significant COVID-19 outbreak since restarting manufacturing, even because the coronavirus is surging in Midwestern and Southern communities exterior manufacturing facility partitions.
“Now we have individuals testing constructive, but it surely’s not affecting operations,” stated Ford international manufacturing chief Gary Johnson.
Maintaining the pandemic at bay has pushed the automakers and 156,000 U.S. manufacturing facility staff represented by the United Auto Staff into unfamiliar work routines and extraordinary ranges of cooperation amongst rivals that should be sustained for months to return.
For automakers, the automakers’ COVID response has been as a lot about instilling new habits as counting on new know-how. Staff log their signs, or lack of them, into smartphone apps and stroll previous temperature scanners to get to their work stations.
However firm and union executives stated masks, together with bodily distancing, are the important thing to preserving meeting traces rolling.
“The masks is the inspiration” of defending staff on the job, stated Gerald Johnson, GM’s head of worldwide manufacturing.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT MASKS
Auto staff are accustomed to sporting protecting gear equivalent to shatterproof glasses and gloves.
Masks that cowl the mouth and nostril, nevertheless, weren’t commonplace tools on auto meeting traces, and had been a troublesome promote at first.
“The most important grievance is sporting a masks,” United Auto Staff president Rory Gamble informed Reuters. “Numerous our members carry out bodily duties. Sporting the masks inhibits respiration.”
Past that, Gamble stated, masks and distancing make it tougher for staff to have conversations on the job or socialize throughout breaks. “That’s just about out the window, and it makes for an extended day,” he stated.
Masks make it tougher for co-workers to learn one another’s expressions – typically essential within the noisy atmosphere of a automobile plant. At GM factories, staff put on badges that present their face framed by the message: “I’m smiling behind my masks.”
The politicized controversy over mask-wearing means firm and union officers need to put their messages concerning the significance of preserving masks on a continuing repeat cycle.
“There was numerous combined messaging popping out of Washington that gave us some heartburn,” Gamble stated. The automakers and the union agreed to comply with pointers from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and the World Well being Group. All three firms additionally tailored measures taken at their vegetation in China, which had been hit first because the pandemic unfold.
At GM’s Manufacturing facility Zero in Detroit, UAW expert trades employee Scott Harwick stated the masks sporting debate exterior the plant isn’t a difficulty inside. Typically a co-worker will let a masks slip throughout an extended scorching shift, he stated. “You don’t need to say something, you simply faucet in your masks.”
COOPERATION AMONG AUTOMAKERS
Coronavirus security has now develop into one of many uncommon areas by which the automakers don’t compete. As an alternative, the CEOs of the Detroit Three and the UAW fashioned a unprecedented activity drive that meets biweekly to share info and coordinate security insurance policies.
The discussions might be as detailed as whether or not security glasses or face shields provide higher safety, stated Scott Garberding, international head of producing for Fiat Chrysler.
The restart has hit obstacles, executives and UAW leaders stated.
Some staff have filed complaints with the Occupational Security and Well being Administration that COVID security procedures should not being adopted, in response to OSHA information.
Ford and Fiat Chrysler stated the complaints have been resolved. GM stated 4 of six complaints lodged with OSHA have been closed, and it has not been cited or inspected by OSHA associated to its COVID protocols.
“We’re assured in our multi-layered strategy to COVID-19 security, which has confirmed efficient in stopping office transmission of COVID-19 in our amenities,” GM spokesman Dan Flores stated in an announcement.
The Detroit automakers take a look at staff who exhibit signs related to coronavirus an infection, however haven’t adopted widespread testing for his or her 156,000 manufacturing facility staff.
All three firms have encountered staff who examined constructive for COVID-19 publicity, and early on there have been temporary shutdowns to wash vegetation.
Absenteeism charges are nonetheless larger than regular at some vegetation, pushed each by issues about an infection and issues getting little one care. UAW leaders have granted the businesses extra flexibility to make use of short-term staff. The automakers have begun serving to staff acquire or pay for little one care.
Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Meeting Plant are utilizing about 2,000 short-term staff, stated Todd Dunn, president of UAW Native 862, which represents about 16,000 hourly staff on the vegetation.
“There are points each night time,” he stated. “However the line’s nonetheless working.”
(Reporting By Joseph White, Ben Klayman and Chris Kirkham. Written by Joseph White Modifying by Nick Zieminski)
Photograph: Staff at Ford’s Dearborn manufacturing facility. The corporate has applied security measures for the corporate’s workforce, together with well being evaluation measures, private protecting tools and facility modifications to extend social distancing.


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J Clin Outcomes Manage
2009 Mar ;16(3):127-136
Initiating insulin for type 2 diabetes: strategies for success
Vaidya A, McMahon GT
Abstract Objective: To outline a simple and evidence-based approach for initiating insulin. Methods: Algorithms for considering and approaching insulin initiation were derived from extensive literature searches and author experience. Results: Type 2 diabetes is characterized by progressive loss of beta cell function and peripheral insulin resistance. The initiation of insulin is often a pivotal intervention to avert the exposure to hyperglycemia and prevent diabetic complications. Early use of insulin may mitigate long-term consequences of hyperglycemia and can be done effectively when barriers to initiation are recognized. Conclusion: Successful insulin initiation requires an ability to elicit and navigate common barriers and misperceptions about insulin. Simple algorithms for starting and titrating insulin can be used by primary providers, with ongoing collaboration with diabetes specialists to ensure optimal management.
Search the Turner White index to find abstracts of articles published in JCOM.

domain: health


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Updated: Nov 24, 2022
#03 Science in History
8th May 1980
Statue outside the WHO HQ entrance, Geneva.
In 1967, The World Health Organization (WHO) launched widespread surveillance, immunisation and quarantine programmes involving over 150,000 medical personnel. This culminated in the global eradication of smallpox, announced by the WHO in May 1980. In 1977, a hospital cook in Somalia became the last naturally occurring case.
Smallpox had been with us for thousands of years and was one of the most devastating diseases known to our species, causing millions of deaths and untold suffering. Caused by the variola virus, it had a mortality rate of around 40% with survivors suffering from disfigurement, blindness or infertility.
image credit: wikipedia
In the 18th century, Edward Jenner had vaccinated a young boy with cowpox which protected him from smallpox. Even with the development of a vaccine, though, smallpox was still a scourge well into the 20th century.
The very last person to die from smallpox was Janet Parker who contracted the virus in Birmingham, UK, in 1978. Janet worked close to a research lab at the University of Birmingham where the smallpox was being studied. How she was infected, however, remains a mystery.
Following this tragedy, research labs were closed. Now there are only two places that hold stocks of the variola - Atlanta and Moscow.
Eradicated? Not quite.
Like to know more?
A history of how the world health organisation eradicated smallpox permanently throughout the world.
Details the 1978 Birmingham smallpox outbreak.
The biographical detail brings to life those involved and highlights the tragedies brought about by this event.
As always, comments & likes welcome

domain: history


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Trek 'n Eat meals are unique freeze-dried foods that can be prepared with water. Perfect for your ready meals when traveling, on expeditions, while rowing, and on family outings. Trekking meals are easy to prepare - add boiling water, stir, let stand for 8-10 minutes and the meal is ready.
What is " freeze drying " ?
Freeze drying is a technical drying process that takes advantage of the unique physical characteristics of water. Frozen water transforms directly from a solid state into gas ( sublimation ) in a vacuum chamber . Freeze-dried meals are made by directly freezing and then drying them in a vacuum chamber . With this method , the water does not melt into the foods but can escape as steam . All that is needed to prepare them is boiling water . Their light weight , easy preparation and fuel economy makes freeze dried food the meal choice for mountaineers , hikers and expeditions . Today , these types of food are rapidly becoming a part of all outdoor activities .
Why is Trek 'n Eet different from regular instant meals?
Meals from Trek 'n Eat are made with quality freeze-dried ingredients, and so the food retains most of its natural vitamins and minerals. All Trek 'n Eat meals are labeled with the " All Natural " symbol which indicates no preservatives, no dyes and no flavor enhancers are. The meals are based on a value of about 600 calories per package to cover the increase in energy consumption during exercise. Trek 'n Eat meals are available in waterproof resealable stand-up pouches and are quick and easy to prepare .
Where are Trek'n Eat products used?
Freeze dried foods are used all over the world by expedition , sailing trips and outdoor activities. The main benefits are:
* Weight saving
* Fuel saving
* Easy operations in resealable standing bag
* Long shelf life ( 3 years )
* Great " All Natural " taste (no preservatives , no coloring , no flavor enhancing additives)
The Trek 'n Eat range consists of meat and fish dishes, soups, vegetarian meals, vegetables and other various nutritional items from breakfast to dessert. Trek 'n Eat meals are used as special diet by many expeditions (e.g. Arved Fuchs / "Nordostpassage", Robert Peroni / Greenland)
All Trek'n Eat meals are labeled with the "All Natural" sign.
"All Natural" stands for:
* no preservatives
* no colorings
* no flavor additives

domain: food


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Wild eye print mini skirt. Green and yellow swirl with rainbow leopard print and cartoon eyes.
Stretchy, colorful and fun!
86% Polyester14% Spandex
Model wearing size small.
Original textile print design by Joseph Aaron Segal for Pretty Snake.
Wild Eyes Mini Skirt
is backordered and will ship as soon as it is back in stock.