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PG&E was prevented from trimming trees. It's a common thing to protest and sue PG&E for doing what they're supposed to do. To the point that councilwomen and citizens watch each and every cut to condemn PG&E for being too aggressive in their clearance trims. And while the protest/lawsuit is on-going, there cannot be any trimming allowed. So we get wildfires.

First off, the drought was a result of natural variation. And anyone that checks reservoir levels today will find were at about the historical average, overall. If we had a drought - it's gone.

The real cause of the fires was the handwringing and NIMBY Gaia worshipers throwing up legal roadblocks to PG&E cutting back trees near power lines.

This was a manufactured (in that environmentalists fought against accepted standards for power line clearance) disaster that is being blamed on a non-event (in that there was no climate-change drive to the drought).

Liberals restricted the govt's ability to hold people with mental issues.

And by "liberals", you are no doubt referring to Ronald Reagan. As governor of California, he signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which ended the practice of holding mental patients against their will. Then, as president in 1981, Reagan signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, largely un-doing Carter's work at improving the federal mental health care system, which itself built upon ideas outlined by Kennedy before his assassination.

Liberals indeed.

Higher local property taxes means the state doesn't have to fund as many local projects, so state taxes are lower than they would be otherwise.

Local property tax revenues in the state of California are up 1000% since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, and 50% over the past decade (source). Meanwhile, the state's population grew by roughly 39% since the passage of Prop 13, and by 10% in the last decade (source: source). Despite property tax revenue far outpacing population increases, California enjoys some of the nation's highest sales tax and personal income tax rates.

Looks like they've actually done studies on this. There were old estimates ranging from 2-5% for "children unknowingly raised by the non-biological father", but in actual DNA tests, at least in Western Europe, the number is less than 1%, and per generation it's been in the 1-2% range for hundreds of years.

Putting aside for a moment that suicide by cop in some cases is actually a thing, and yes, I do believe that it's real, and putting aside that that an African American young man is far more likely to get shot by another fellow African American young man than by the police.

Another starting point would be to actually listen to this podcast, a super insightful interview of a criminologist.
https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/201...

He also wrote a book, When Police Kill
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674...

Civilian deaths from shootings and other police actions are vastly higher in the United States than in other developed nations, but American police also confront an unusually high risk of fatal assault. Zimring offers policy prescriptions for how federal, state, and local governments can reduce killings by police without risking the lives of officers. Criminal prosecution of police officers involved in killings is rare and only necessary in extreme cases. But clear administrative rules could save hundreds of lives without endangering police officers.

Keep telling yourself that while you read this article.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/02/health/lung-cancer-vaccine-cuba/

But I guess it's hard to keep up with an advanced nation like Cuba.

Who happened to walk into a business and shoot because he was goaded on by GOP propaganda spread not just by random trolls, but party leaders. The Republican party has a real mess on its hands. This will not end well.

it wasn't the GOP that baited the bear;

“The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could kind of infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right, publish blatantly fictional stories and then be able to publicly denounce those stories and point out the fact that they were fiction,” Coler says. ... Coler, a registered Democrat, says he has no regrets about his fake news empire. He doesn’t think fake news swayed the election.
NPR Reporter Tracked Down a Fake-News Creator; Here’s What She Learned

"The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could kind of infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right, publish blatantly fictional stories and then be able to publicly denounce those stories and point out the fact that they were fiction," Coler says.

And as the stories spread, Coler makes money from the ads on his websites. He wouldn't give exact figures, but he says stories about other fake news proprietors making between $10,000 and $30,000 a month apply to him.

In case you missed it, NPR tracked down a major source of fake news

Coler is a soft-spoken 40-year-old with a wife and two kids. He says he got into fake news around 2013 to highlight the extremism of the white nationalist alt-right. “The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could kind of infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right, publish blatantly fictional stories and then be able to publicly denounce those stories and point out the fact that they were fiction,” Coler says.

That is, a left-wing agitator produces large amounts of right wing bullshit online and then left-wing media use that to support their view that there is a massive problem with fake news and "alt-right" views.

This is similar to to the fake post-election hate-crime-wave that we are supposedly experiencing, and to the death threats people fake on Twitter. The left wing outrage machinery is largely fed by self-created fake stories.

"Late 2012, early 2013 I was spending a lot of time researching what is now being referred to as the alt-right. I identified a problem with the news that they were spreading and created Disinfomedia as a response to that. The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right, publish blatantly false or fictional stories, and then be able to publicly denounce those stories and point out the fact that they were fiction."

You didn't get it, did you? You're making my point for me. You shouldn't believe the mainstream media because they're not credible. You saw, I saw, the entire world saw them totally back Hillary Clinton in a shameful abandonment of the last shreds of them being truth-tellers. Moreover on an entirely journalistic standpoint, they entirely missed the real story of the election. Like, it didn't even enter their consciousness.

When powerful people tell you to ignore news, what should you do? Obey, or disobey purely on principle and go and see what they want to hide? Did you know a lot of this "fake news" is being created by leftists themselves as false flag operations to try to discredit these new media? If you didn't, then you're probably getting fake news. These false flag operators are also making five figures a month from ad sales, which is hypocritical seeing how anti-capitalist they all are.

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016...

As a liberal, do you have any regrets?

I don't. Again, this is something that I've been crying about for a while. But outside of that, there are many factors as to why Trump won that don't involve fake news, right? As much as I like Hillary, she was a poor candidate. She brought in a lot of baggage.

You don't feel responsible.

I do not.

But at what price? Germany pays three times the price for power that the US does.

I don't really want a $1,200 power bill, thank you very much.

Dumbshit, German users don't pay three times the price of energy. Also, please learn the difference between energy and power.

http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2014...

It's probably a good idea to link to some references about the University of California, Davis pepper spray incident.

Try reading

here's a simpler one for you

http://ww2.kqed.org/science/20...

Measured by total precipitation within those months, the driest water year on record was 1924. Clocking in second was 1977, toward the end of California’s last epic drought, when one of the state’s principal reservoirs, Lake Oroville on the Feather River, dropped to its all-time low of 26 percent of capacity. The lake’s current level is hovering just barely above that at 30 percent (less than half its historical average). But as state water officials are keen to point out in a press release, the state’s population in those years was a fraction of what it is today:

If the attacker is attempting to flee then there is no imminent threat and deadly force is no longer permitted.

This is incorrect.

Absent a riot where deadly force is permitted to defend a home or suppress the riot, an imminent threat to a person is absolutely required, and in the case of an escaping violent felon the threat to the life of others must be quite realistic and likely and not merely possible.

Note the California Castle Doctrine...

You are confusing castle doctrine with a stand-your ground-defense. Although related, they are different things.

Yes, that was my point in an earlier post, perhaps in a different subthread. :-)

My statement, which you quoted, was regarding the stand-your-ground defense, which extends outside a residence.

The rules change outside your home.
“Over a hundred years ago, the California Supreme Court said, ‘no duty to retreat if you’re in your home,'” says UC Hastings Law Professor Rory Little. “‘We’re going to leave open whether there’s such a duty if you’re outside of the home.’ That little leaving-open has never been firmly answered by the California Supreme Court. They simply repeat the same broad language over and over again.”
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/...

Scenarios where a resident pursues and harms a fleeing invader are often used as examples of such contrary evidence, for example injury to the back of an invader.

Injury to a fleeing attacker may or may not be evidence to the contrary. The simply act of fleeing doesn't remove the imminent threat standard. Some scenarios: 1) The attacker is shooting at you while fleeing.

Now you are getting into Clintonian word games. Of course a weapon still being pointed at you trumps attempting to flee. A weapon so pointed constitutes a reasonable imminent threat.

2) The attacker could harm others while fleeing.

No not "could", not merely the possibility of a future threat to life. The danger to the lives of others has to be reasonable and realistic and likely in the case of a fleeing violent felon.

3) If you have a reasonable belief the attacker could immediately return after fleeing from you.

No, deadly force is not legal in such a circumstance as the threat is a possible future threat not an imminent threat.

You can pursue and use necessary and reasonable force to detain such a fleeing attacker but deadly force is not one of your options until we get into situations like in (1) and (2) where the threat once again becomes tangible not merely possible.

I wonder how many TV companies would shovel over billions for the rights to broadcast "The Real World"/"Survivor"/"Big Brother" Mars for long term funding.

Let's assume the best-case scenario -- that the entertainment industry is dying to get broadcast rights for the Mars Reality TV show and will pay top dollar to do so.

What constitutes "top dollar" for that industry? i.e. how much could they afford to pay if they really wanted to?

I'm not sure how to answer that, but the biggest TV event I'm aware of is the World Cup, which brought in $4 billion to FIFA last year.

Would $4 billion be enough for a Mars colonization program? According to this article, they'd still be $2 billion short.

..and you've been told more than once that they do.

Ah well, that's settled then.

Then again...

âoeI went to Geico, filled out an application and told them I was going to transport people,â he says. âoeThe application was declined as âundesirable.â(TM)â

[...]

You can see my dilemma. It seems to me the only way to comply with Uber by getting personal insurance would be to misrepresent my use of the vehicle, which I do not feel comfortable with. My conclusion from this indicates that if there were claims against a TNC driver and the insurance company found out that the true use of the vehicle was falsified, they would deny coverage.

[...]

Last week on the Lyft Lounge, a Facebook meeting area for drivers, one member posted a cancellation notice she received from Geico. The termination was for âoecommercial use of your 2012 Toyota Prius.â

[...]

Because of the fear over such cancellations, at least some ride-service drivers have kept their status a secret from their insurance companies.

[...]

Said another driver: âoeI donâ(TM)t think I should let my insurance company know because Iâ(TM)ll probably get dropped.â

[...]

âoeMany insurers donâ(TM)t know their customers are involved in these kinds of program,â says Pete Moraga of the Insurance Information Network of California. âoeIf these drivers arenâ(TM)t telling their insurers, thereâ(TM)s no way for them to know.â

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/...

That doesnt seem to have stopped you from continuing to be in the "question" state instead of the "answered" state.

I think moving to the "answered" state as you propose seems more than a little premature, don't you?

A cyclist using a phone will only kill himself. For others, just some bumper damage. At worst he'll ram another cyclist, rarely serious in practice.

Incorrect statement.

Cattle manure can be mixed with brewery waste to produce methane. The cost & operation of the procesing facility is the biggest obstacle. http://science.kqed.org/quest/...

And just make sure you don't coat your driveway with this stuff (tar sealer):
Could your driveway be poisoning your kids

"a coal tar-sealed parking lot next door could cause a child to face a 38-fold increase in lifetime cancer risk."
(since lifetime cancer risk is already about 30%, this is clearly misquoted unless it relates to a rare cancer only)

Not 100% on-topic, but I think it's something everyone should know.

Disclaimers:
a. Anecdotal evidence ahead, though a lot of it
b. Yeah, I'm one of those "I've lived here for ages, whippersnapper" guys

But I've seen first-hand that 20somethings and newly minted millionaires-on-paper actively go to landlords and work with them, often funding the legal costs of evicting long-term tenants (the techies gets the "authentic" place, the landlord gets to raise the rent). See more context here: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R2...

Also, a large part of the housing stock in the SF areas in question (the Mission, Noe Valley, Hayes Valley, etc.) is multi-unit small buildings. Often houses converted into multi-unit. The same people as mentioned above come in and buy the building for a few hundred thousand dollars over its last listing and do an owner movein; this also can displace the other tenants in the building (esp if it's done as a TIC); it at least gives them the change to reset or raise rents.

So, it's not as simple as you make it out to be.

Yeah, but a drunk guy on a bike can't kill pedestrians, but with a car, he can.

Guy on bike vs. pedestrian:

San Francisco, US:
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/07/23/san-francisco-cyclist-pedestrian-death/

Dorsett, UK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/8197430.stm

For you to make your case effectively, you'd need that page to be about murders of passengers by their taxi drivers.

All right. I give you another link S.F. Taxi Driver Chokes Passenger For Not Leaving Tip

A taxi driver choked and robbed a passenger in a dispute over a tip near San Francisco’s Buena Vista Park early Sunday morning, a police spokesman said today.

Not quite on murder, but licensing does not guarantee safety per se.

I can talk about London, UK. Here, there have been several rapes, assaults and murders carried out by licensed taxi drivers. But the rates are substantially higher in the unregulated (and illegal) world of unlicensed cabs. This is unsurprising, given that to drive a licensed cab you need to have a clean criminal record.

I agree with you that unlicensed gypsy cabs are unsafe. However, here we are talking about cabs operating under ridesharing companies, which is a totally different animal. To get an idea of how they operate and their safety record, have a look at this article.

They key point is this :-

The problem is, the company typically partners with third-party limo and taxi services to pre-vet drivers, doing background checks and ensuring that they have all the necessary licenses or permits. City to city, Uber drivers are required to abide by whatever local regulations are in their jurisdiction.

For the most part, Uber and its partners follow the same regulations all the usual cab or limo services do. Which is to say, if Uber’s regulations are soft, so are those that are followed by every other taxi or limo service out there.

So, now knowing that cabs operating under ridesharing companies do follow safety regulations, does this change your opinion?

Getting in a car with a stranger carries some risk. Regulations can and do help lower that risk. Not perfectly, and not completely, and there are other ways of lowering the risk as well, but denying an obvious truth is just dumb.

That actually depends on the nature of the regulations. If they deal specifically with safety issues like background checks, then yes. If the regulations are of the "pay $$ for a licence" variety, that will not increase your safety. For the record, the taxi drivers were arrested by SFO not for being unsafe, but for unlawful trespassing. You can draw your own conclusions from that.

Incidentally, it's pretty unpleasant to joke about sexual coercion.

Hmm, the taxi driver was certainly making an unwanted proposition, but I hardly think it was coercive...Nevertheless, since my joke offends you, I apologise.

It would not be surprising if they are forced by a court eventually to close these prisons because of valley fever.

It would not be surprising, because it's already happened.

All the evidence for gun control is anecdotal.

Oh, really? I guess by "all" you also mean "all the evidence that doesn't compare us with other wealthy nations." Nice try.

I'd go as far as saying that a pencil is more dangerous than every single one of them.

Agreed. Which is why we should ban them from our classrooms.

(Note that the above link is not serious. On the other hand, if you read the reasons, these reasons have been used in plenty of other cases...)

And the people who video recorded police abuse - from the "accidental" shooting at BART station, cops making illegal seizure of cell phones in Miami, to cops in plainclothes arresting motorcyclists.....all those videos were uploaded AFTER the fact.

Uploading videos or images OTA 10 seconds later vs. 2 hours later didn't diminish the public outrage. Furthermore, protesting near an active rail is pretty dangerous. It's like trying to justify protesting in an 8-lane highway with the 1st amendment.

From NPR:

"The important thing here is that BART was limiting cellphone service on its own property, and property that the Supreme Court has before labeled as what is called a nonpublic forum," Volokh says. "It's not a park, it's not a sidewalk, [it's] not a place that's traditionally been devoted to public expression."

Incorrect. The incident you are referencing took place in Oakland, not SF and it was over two years ago. This protest was about the shooting of a guy who was brandishing a knife on the subway platform. http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2011/07/21/bart-to-release-video-of-civic-center-shooting-on-the-web-at-3-p-m/

you are mixing up everything in here. Yet, they are all different issues.

I am not mixing things up. To use coal, it has to be mined, burned, then the slag has to disposed of. And that's just the use of coal, not building the power plant, maintaining it, then decommissioning it. All are related to the use of coal as a fuel. Without reprocessing nuclear power has those and other requirements. Natural gas doesn't have all the same requirements but pipelines are needed.

As to using what is 'best', well, Geo-thermal appears to be usable everywhere.

Sure geothermal can be used everywhere, but it does not make economic sense to use it in some places as compared to other energy sources. Otherwise the same can be said about solar and wind.

With enough money solar can be used at the poles, North and South. Alaska, along with much of Canada, has good wind potential. In the 48 contiguous US states the Rocky Mountains from Canada through to northern Texas alone has enough potential wind energy to electrify the US from coast to coast. However that's not the only places with good potential. All along the Pacific coast from British Colombia to southern CA wind potential is good. Actually while there was the energy crisis in California with the rolling blackouts, there was also an idle wind farm capable of producing 10 megawatthours, 240 megawatts per day. Hook an eastward turn in SC and go through AZ, NM, into west Texas. That route has good potential as well. Over on the east, Atlantic, coast from Maine on down to Cape Hatteras is good offshore. Onshore through the Appalachian, Catskills, and other mountain ranges of NY is good too.

For solar there are good places too. California may be the Saudi Arabia of Solar but Nevada may have more potential. Quite simply different energy sources can be used in different places. What ties them all together though is that their use will require a national smart grid. High Voltage Direct Current powerlines running from coast to coast and Canada to Mexico will be needed. Even better, hook up Canada's and Mexico's grid.

Then expand net metering. Originally I wanted to build my own home off the grid, and I may still but right now I'd like to remodel an existing place. If so then I'd like to use geothermal or solar thermal heating, space and water, depending on which may be more effective in my area. I know both are used around here now. I may also install solar PVs.

Falcon

citation http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201008310900 (jim buckmaster's assertion)

Anyone could easily come up with a bunch of random links about fucked up environmental stuff happening in any country, but it doesn't mean they've actually said anything interesting or insightful.

http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/2009/06/12/how-toxic-is-a-busted-compact-florescent-bulb/

The startling conclusion of the paper is that in a worse case scenario--you break a CFL in a closed, unventilated room; you vacuum the carpet, throwing mercury into the air; you set the vacuum in a corner; and then sit in the room breathing for eight hours--the amount of mercury exposure is about equivalent to the exposure you'd get from eating a can of Albacore tuna.

Well, this is where smart-product manufacturing has to step up even more. Consider how many companies' IT & Facilities departments still do not properly implement energy saving features/policies, still allow wasteful old CRTs (some using the excuse that they've been paid off, still work, and "you don't NEED an LCD to do the work we pay you to do" (with that fetid attitude, failing to take into account that coming from homes with LCDs to work in an environment with a funky, outdated, crappy CRT is an insult, and a lame excuse for not spending company money on energy efficiency and worker productivity... I dare say that having to shift from LCD at home to CRT at work stymies and in subtle ways affects attitudes and productivity, but that is my own opinion...)...

I don't know about data center air cooling systems, but the ubiquitous air conditioner for homes is something the utilities and some other companies need to see timer/load controlled by entities other than home or small business users.

Yesterday, I was listening to Quest, on KQED... and the topic was on reinventing the air conditioner, which i'm paraphrasing below.

Most of the residential home units in the US were designed with a one-size-fits-all mentality. In the past 40 or so years, California's population has grown greatly, and some "eight San Jose's worth of population" is expected in the not-too-distant future. California's homes grew some 30 in area, and that's more volume to be kept cooled by people who cannot stand the increasing heat. The "Load from Hell" happens to the California utilities when working people get home and flip on their AC's almost all around the same block of time. The carbon foot print is expanded partly because California's utilities have to maintain wasteful, less-regulated, more-polluting feeder plants to make up for damaging/load-dropping surges in demand for residential AC units.

Worse, home AC units in their one-size-fits-all design operate inefficiently because they are optimized to work in all parts of the US, regardless of local climate. California-Oregon, Kansas-Iowa, and Georgia-Florida areas have differing temperatures and humidity effects/affects and now (well, in a few years) are going see adapted/diversified AC units going into new and into retrofitted homes.

Again, that was all from memory from listening to yesterday's Quest report on KQED (as i rode the public transit to work). I submitted to the firehose, but might not get picked up, so:

http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/air-conditioning-reinvented

http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/

IT centers' and data centers' increased responsibilities don't have to be headaches. We will just need more public policy (regulation?) or industry incentives to see manufacturing produce products that are increasingly more efficient, remote-manageable (for discounts on utility bills), and audited systems so that the national energy waste can be curtailed if not rolled back.

Well, this is where smart-product manufacturing has to step up even more. Consider how many companies' IT & Facilities departments still do not properly implement energy saving features/policies, still allow wasteful old CRTs (some using the excuse that they've been paid off, still work, and "you don't NEED an LCD to do the work we pay you to do" (with that fetid attitude, failing to take into account that coming from homes with LCDs to work in an environment with a funky, outdated, crappy CRT is an insult, and a lame excuse for not spending company money on energy efficiency and worker productivity... I dare say that having to shift from LCD at home to CRT at work stymies and in subtle ways affects attitudes and productivity, but that is my own opinion...)...

I don't know about data center air cooling systems, but the ubiquitous air conditioner for homes is something the utilities and some other companies need to see timer/load controlled by entities other than home or small business users.

Yesterday, I was listening to Quest, on KQED... and the topic was on reinventing the air conditioner, which i'm paraphrasing below.

Most of the residential home units in the US were designed with a one-size-fits-all mentality. In the past 40 or so years, California's population has grown greatly, and some "eight San Jose's worth of population" is expected in the not-too-distant future. California's homes grew some 30 in area, and that's more volume to be kept cooled by people who cannot stand the increasing heat. The "Load from Hell" happens to the California utilities when working people get home and flip on their AC's almost all around the same block of time. The carbon foot print is expanded partly because California's utilities have to maintain wasteful, less-regulated, more-polluting feeder plants to make up for damaging/load-dropping surges in demand for residential AC units.

Worse, home AC units in their one-size-fits-all design operate inefficiently because they are optimized to work in all parts of the US, regardless of local climate. California-Oregon, Kansas-Iowa, and Georgia-Florida areas have differing temperatures and humidity effects/affects and now (well, in a few years) are going see adapted/diversified AC units going into new and into retrofitted homes.

Again, that was all from memory from listening to yesterday's Quest report on KQED (as i rode the public transit to work). I submitted to the firehose, but might not get picked up, so:

http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/air-conditioning-reinvented

http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/

IT centers' and data centers' increased responsibilities don't have to be headaches. We will just need more public policy (regulation?) or industry incentives to see manufacturing produce products that are increasingly more efficient, remote-manageable (for discounts on utility bills), and audited systems so that the national energy waste can be curtailed if not rolled back.

I heard this AM on Michael Krasny's "Forum" a highly-regarded guest say that there is speculation that former KGB and other intel officers are basically running gang outfits in the region, and that they created the pretext for Russia to go and attack Georgia.

Of course, as far as Russia is concerned, this is still its territory.

As for the oil, there's only about 1 million barrels a day flowing out of there (near Georgia?), not much to speak of.

Also, there is some merit (from one or more guests on the show), there could be a diabolical plan (between Bush & Putin? or McCain staff & Medvedev/Putin?) to actually instigate this sudden flare-up to boast McCain's "leadership" credentials. As long as Russia's interests and the current administration's duties don't turn into WW3, Russia wins, and maybe McCain wins by virtue of the fact that Obama is not a veteran, despite every president of the US (or of most nations) having well-heeled military advisers who know a HELL of a lot more than almost any president, despite what the CIA staff may tell the president in the morning/daily intelligence briefings.

Meanwhile, "petro confidence" might bounce and bound merrily along, since most of Europe gets its oil from Russia. That the US didn't HELP Georgia (other than flying back home from the M.E. some 2,000 troops to aid in the debacle/conflict) is quite telling. Georgia is a staunch supporter of the US, and vice versa. They named a road after the current Bush sitting in the White House. He claimed he had a soft spot for Georgia (I guess he had "Georgia on his mind" since his name has some of the same letters as that nation/FSR state...), and yet is letting Putin only hear mild words.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to see WW III. Likely, this will roll over and go quiet in under 2 weeks. It has to. The EU needs its fuel needs met, and the US for years exacerbated things and pissed off Putin and Putin's few allies by having meddled in Poland, and by having pushed those missile defense shield plans so close to Russia's borders.

Now, as for oil outside of Russia, if you want to see REAL fireworks, just consider that big nations now are vying to carve up the Arctic. Imagine if drilled oil there is spilled, in that frigid/icy water. It could be the most significant, lasting human-instigated environmental disaster ever.

For other/more relevant info, see:

http://www.kqed.org/radio/

http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R808120900

And, for those of you interested the life of a soldier-for-hire writing about his experiences in Iraq ("Highway to Hell: Dispatches from a Mercenary in Iraq")

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93525811&ft=1&f=13

But, do keep in mind that while he and others see a usefulness in having "mercs" in Iraq and Afghanistan, don't forget that they took all the contracting moneys provided, and yet many don't want the risk associated. They KNEW the risks. So far, some 1,000 (or, is it 2,000) civilian guns for hire have been killed in action there. Also, keep in mind that many of them can "earn" $150,000 to $250,000 a year driving fuel trucks or being body guards for local officials and ministry officials...

I heard this AM on Michael Krasny's "Forum" a highly-regarded guest say that there is speculation that former KGB and other intel officers are basically running gang outfits in the region, and that they created the pretext for Russia to go and attack Georgia.

Of course, as far as Russia is concerned, this is still its territory.

As for the oil, there's only about 1 million barrels a day flowing out of there (near Georgia?), not much to speak of.

Also, there is some merit (from one or more guests on the show), there could be a diabolical plan (between Bush & Putin? or McCain staff & Medvedev/Putin?) to actually instigate this sudden flare-up to boast McCain's "leadership" credentials. As long as Russia's interests and the current administration's duties don't turn into WW3, Russia wins, and maybe McCain wins by virtue of the fact that Obama is not a veteran, despite every president of the US (or of most nations) having well-heeled military advisers who know a HELL of a lot more than almost any president, despite what the CIA staff may tell the president in the morning/daily intelligence briefings.

Meanwhile, "petro confidence" might bounce and bound merrily along, since most of Europe gets its oil from Russia. That the US didn't HELP Georgia (other than flying back home from the M.E. some 2,000 troops to aid in the debacle/conflict) is quite telling. Georgia is a staunch supporter of the US, and vice versa. They named a road after the current Bush sitting in the White House. He claimed he had a soft spot for Georgia (I guess he had "Georgia on his mind" since his name has some of the same letters as that nation/FSR state...), and yet is letting Putin only hear mild words.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to see WW III. Likely, this will roll over and go quiet in under 2 weeks. It has to. The EU needs its fuel needs met, and the US for years exacerbated things and pissed off Putin and Putin's few allies by having meddled in Poland, and by having pushed those missile defense shield plans so close to Russia's borders.

Now, as for oil outside of Russia, if you want to see REAL fireworks, just consider that big nations now are vying to carve up the Arctic. Imagine if drilled oil there is spilled, in that frigid/icy water. It could be the most significant, lasting human-instigated environmental disaster ever.

For other/more relevant info, see:

http://www.kqed.org/radio/

http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R808120900

And, for those of you interested the life of a soldier-for-hire writing about his experiences in Iraq ("Highway to Hell: Dispatches from a Mercenary in Iraq")

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93525811&ft=1&f=13

But, do keep in mind that while he and others see a usefulness in having "mercs" in Iraq and Afghanistan, don't forget that they took all the contracting moneys provided, and yet many don't want the risk associated. They KNEW the risks. So far, some 1,000 (or, is it 2,000) civilian guns for hire have been killed in action there. Also, keep in mind that many of them can "earn" $150,000 to $250,000 a year driving fuel trucks or being body guards for local officials and ministry officials...

Addendum. I speak for Pat Tillman because obviously, he can't speak for himself. Fortunately, his mother has opened up and spoken in public. Here is a radio interview: http://kqed.org/programs/radio/forum/ As of the moment, it is current, but the segment will enter into the archives pretty soon. You would agree with much of what she has to say about the failures and miss-steps of the military in handling her son's death. But regardless, she honors his character and spirit in the same spirit that I defend my friends.

If you want (almost) commercial-free radio, tune to Public Radio. I feel abused any time I tune to another station and have a 30% chance of stumbling into a commercial. Since there's a wide range of quality in Public Radio stations, I recommend KQED. Stay away from Public Radio on satellite - it sucks. Instead, listen on http://www.kqed.org/.

Another reason I like them: I can control how much I pay them. If I like them a lot, they get a lot. If they suck - well, they don't get a penny. Honestly, my time is far more valuable to me than my money. I'll gladly fork over cash for the sake of not having to listen to insipid ads.

print solar panels on any kind of thin film. http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/399

since i can't edit... james watson mentions it in his interview with michael krasney on forum/npr http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R709261000 for streaming/download link to interview. there are disincentives to

I used to talk about land use when asked about being a vegetarian(x acres of land can feed y times as many people as cows etc). However, I recently heard a radio program(I think it was on a "Forum with Michael Krasny"
http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing.jsp?p rogID=RD19) where they were discussing "factory farms". One of the guests who was somehow involved in the raising of cattle remarked that the raising of cattle was a far more efficient use of land for food production than growing crops, because they feed cows not with grain etc, but with OTHER COWS!
It's the kind of "creative problem-solving" I would expect from Mr. Burns.
I also seem to recall hearing that cow canibalism is what's causing "Mad Cow" disease.

Maybe the same "geniuses" will figure out how to increase the fat/oil content of cows(or some other animal)
and use that to reduce our dependance on foreign oil. Better living through canibalism!

(curls up into a fetal ball screaming "Futuuurrre!!!...Futuuurrre!!!...Futuurrre!!!...")

On a related note, here's a Podcast available from NPR - Franklin Zimring: The Decline of American Crime. His assertion is that crime (in all categories, across the board) has gone DOWN, approximately 30%, since the 90's, and held steady for the last 6 years. I think that's there's definitely a case for nature vs. nurture to be made, but as usual, politicians and parents are asking the wrong questions in lieu of actual research. They are increasingly vocal about an epidemic of violence, that, statistically, doesn't really exist.
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R701170900 [kqed.org]

I heard an interesting discussion on Michael Krasny's Forum about the "auter" theory, about how directors are given credit for everything and there's this guy who is pushing a "Schreiber Theory" that advocates giving primacy to writers in credits. The comment was that if writers were given more credit in films, there'd be more creativity. Don't know if I buy it, but the podcast I linked to above is very interesting.

A Banc of America analyst has found November 2005 game sales to be "surprisingly bad" in this report: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?st ory=7345. I think it'll be interesting to see how the new consoles fare in the current economic climate. Iraq, layoffs, the impressive American response to the tsunami, and Katrina hurt personal incomes a LOT. The current administration's benefit-cutting (whatever your political inclinations) also reduces the wiggle room in consumers' pockets.

Plus, the new consoles have exponentially less to offer than the Xbox and the PS2. I don't want to ramble about it here, but you can find my specious argument at this KQED blog.

It's a bad time to be launching a console. On the other hand, people do want their circuses when they are surrounded by adversity and death.

For insight into AutoDesk's true position on open source and intellectual property rights, you may want to listen to this radio program (Forum - KQED), which features Marsha Sterling, General Counsel for AD. I believe she was decidedly on the closed source side of the fence.

KQED FM's Forum program had Marcia Sterling, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Autodesk on their program recently.

The discussion covered Intellectual Property in information technology.

I'd be willing to bet, based on Marcia's responses during the discussion, that Autodesk is definately NOT embracing open source.

Also represented on the program was the EFF and Stanford Law School.

Link to Nov 21 Forum broadcast

-S

Of course what they don't mention is the crank requires you to be able to benchpress 350
 
I know you're just joking, but I'll jump in and mention I have the FR300 (got it as a thank you gift for pledging to my local public radio station) and the crank is so easy to turn, it feels flimsy. In fact, at first I unfolded the crank and started turning it agressively and discovered it doesn't provide any charge when moving too quickly. One-pinky operation at the optimal speed is a piece of cake.

I record NPR and PRI shows via RealAudio streams to .m4b (bookmarkable AAC) using Audio Hijack Pro on a Mac mini. I used to use Total Recorder Pro on Windows. TRP worked, but AHP has better auto-naming facilities so I can be lazy about deleting old stuff & still find the new. It also is able to "hijack" just RealPlayer's PCM output so I can use the computer for other audio stuff. TRP pretends to be a soundcard driver, so any other audio is recorded too.

Finding a stream with a high enough bitrate to sound good that stays up during a popular show like Car Talk is tricky, but doable.

I'll be switching to an FM tuner with an outdoor Winegard PR-6000 aimed at KQED and an Edirol UA-1A (out of production so I've linked the similar UA-1EX).

Outdoor antennas are cheap. A good chimney mount is going to double my cost, but the total is still cheaper than an indoor Terk & it'll actually work. If the PR-6000 or PR-5030 can't pull in that distant station Antenna Performance Specialties makes what many claim are the best around. $219 for the APS-13 might seem like a lot, but compared to an Audible.com or Sirius subscription, it's not too bad & a good strong FM signal sounds pretty good below 15kHz. I'm tempted to get one of these just for pure outrageousness of a 200" boom, but it's overkill for KQED from Santa Cruz-- need a rotor to really justify it.

I'll be using a cool 70's brushed-aluminum-faceplate Kenwood KT-5300 with analog "big knob" tuning that I got for $30 before I found the crazy FM DXers page that reviews every old radio & has info or links on tweaking them for better selectivity.

If I end up wanting to record another station, rather than getting a Radio Shark and hacking on an external antenna connector, I plan to just get more tuners & switch them with a repurposed Keyspan USB->serial adapter and some relays.