I don't think that's true. I've been mail-ordering glasses and contacts for over a decade and have only ever entered numbers in by hand. Surely all of these places aren't disreputable?
Agreed, but with the proper extensions you will see the lower prices and (presumably) not make the purchase. I tend to buy these things at Home Depot, since they have giant cheap cleaning-service-grade supplies. But unless you hit every item with a bar-code reader, there is no automatic browser extension to see if you are getting the right price at Home Depot:)
I get the paranoia over locks and security systems, but lights and temperature? Why not let it control those things? Do you think hackers are going to turn your lights on and off or set your thermostat really high? The microphone thing has me weary, but I'm warming up to it as I realize that Google and Apple are already listening all the time through our family's smartphones. In the case of Google you can see what they have listened in on the Voice and Audio Activity Page.
My gut reaction is YES YES YES because I'm often stuck in Excel for... reasons... and don't like VBA much despite being pretty good at it.
But like you said, it probably won't be Python - it will likely be MS Python, stuck at some version forever and probably without nicey-nice stuff like the scientific libraries and package management that make it so useful.
I'm cautiously dipping my toe in, and parts of it are quite nice. For instance, I have a problematic room in my house where there are pocket doors preventing the installation of a traditional light switch. Instead I have a Z-Wave flat, battery-operated switch which looks and behaves exactly like the other AC powered switches. There have been remote switches forever, but using a Z-Wave controller I can set the remote to turn on and dim all of the lights in the room in a single group (they are on two circuits), and when the lights are already on shut off both light circuits and the ceiling fan, if on. It's a little thing, but handy. Once you have Z-Wave going, it becomes natural to add other things that make sense - for instance putting the outdoor floodlights on Z-Wave with a task that warns me if I leave them on after xx hours or after a certain time at night. Putting in a Z-Wave (or even "smart") thermostat that lets you turn on your heat from your phone so that your house is nice and toasty when you get home. A Z-Wave attachment on your alarm system so that you can let guests or professionals in without giving them your code. A Z-Wave lock on the door for the same purpose (and to warn you if you've left a door unlocked, much like the lights - or simply to log who enters a combo into the door and when).
So that's just old-school home automation... what about voice control? I don't find it particularly compelling... I tend to just stick a physical switch in practical places. But I can certainly see useful commands like "OK, Google, are all the doors in the house locked?". Or "OK, Google, we're leaving." which shuts off all the lights in the house, turns the heat down / AC off, and arms the alarm system... of course a button near the door would accomplish the same thing - as would a "going to bed button". I have no plans to integrate voice control of the home automation at this point.
BUT, it is super-compelling for media. My introduction to it has been my Sony TV, which runs Android. Navigating all the apps and menus on the TV is more complicated than it has ever been... it's a damn computer now! But after initial setup, you don't need to do any of that - just say "Play Tom Petty" and the TV plays Tom Petty. Say "Play Orange is the New Black on Netflix" and it puts on the next episode in your Queue. It's really fantastic and extremely wife friendly. I have hard-wired speakers in most of the rooms of the house. They used to be hooked up to AirPorts, and it was great for streaming iTunes anywhere in the house (Apple had the synch thing down pat right from the beginning). Recently, I've replaced the AirPorts with Chromecast audios. I haven't pulled the trigger yet on a Google Home, but the Chromecast audios work very well (I have them hard-wired into ethernet) and it is tempting to have the Google Home to handle streaming by voice rather than setting the music via smartphone or computer. The smartphone in particular is problematic because I have a whole family and the person who started the music is not necessarily around when you want to stop it or change what is playing. It's not a big deal since the new cast will overwrite the old one, but it does lead to a haunted-house situation when at 12 AM someone's phone decides to reassert itself and blare music!:)
Retail (until you get into the absurdly high-end) is by it's nature low-margin - I don't think Amazon or its investors have a problem with that. They have been brilliant in not only growing vertically, but as you point out horizontally when the market is lucrative. I expect them to make a similar move in the logistics space eventually.
Anyway, never expect Amazon to have sharply different prices than the best brick-and-mortar competition. But generally they are within a few percent, and it's all centrally located. It's a huge PITA to go to Target for a few things, and then Walmart for stuff that is lower-priced there. For dedicated coupon-clippers, this won't satisfy - but for a lot of shoppers it is sufficient to buy from Amazon unless the prices are way off. Chrome plugins that check your Amazon price against those elsewhere also cover your back...
Yeah, it sounds to me like both wine and glassmaking have become more affordable and more accessible. Cheap packs of a dozen 12oz glasses for a buck a piece were simply not available in the 1940s (or even 20 years ago). I don't think there was anything approaching the quality/price ratio of "two-buck Chuck", either - and in any event, wine was simply not as fashionable back then among the general populace.
1. Regulate your own breathing. Lazy breathing leads to inadequate lung utilization. Think about your breathing and try to use all of your lung. One good strategy is to alternate a single really deep breath with a few very shallow breaths. 2. You are drinking your water all wrong. Atmospheric gasses can leave water over time, creating dead water. Don't drink dead water! Always decant your water (especially factory-produced bottled water!) into a cup, and then pour it back and forth into another cup to properly aerate it. 3. Most people don't get enough acid in their diet, forcing their stomach to work harder. Eat lots of citrus, tomato, and vinegar. 4. People in cold climates rely too much on nutritional vitamin D. This is nothing but factory-produced vitamin D added to your food artificially... yuck! The only natural way to get your daily allowance is to remove as much of your clothing as possible and get out into the mid-day sunshine. 5. During the winter, some people develop a sensitivity to wood-burning smoke. Fire places and fire pits are much more popular in the winter, and people's unaccustomed systems react poorly. To keep your system smoke-ready, eat plenty of smoked fish and barbeque during the warmer months. 6. Bad blood tends to accumulate in your lower extremities. Heavy metals and other toxins collect and need to be distributed so that your organs can filter them from your body. To accomplish this, a simple headstand is sufficient. Every two hours, pause what you are doing and hold a head stand for about 1 minute. 7. Ceramic coffee cups are made from oxides of Aluminum and Silicon, which can cause human health issues. Always use a disposable paper cup. 8. The little "donut" ring on your computer's cords is great for limiting electrical noise through the wire, but the tradeoff is a disturbed electromagnetic energy field. Always tear these little donuts off to improve your electromagnetic environment. 9. The interior air of cars is laden with mold spores and plasticizer vapor - always drive with the windows down, even in winter. 10. Raw or undercooked chicken can indeed contain salmonella, but cooking the chicken straight through denatures critical proteins. A healthy person can handle exposure to salmonella, and regular exposure should make you more resistant. Always under-cook your chicken.
The summary has it wrong - it was a technological (and tax!) limitation, not an indication of portion size. From the actual study:
Possible causes Increases in wine glass size over time may reflect changes in several factors including price, technology, societal wealth, and wine appreciation. The “glass excise” tax, levied in 1746, led to the manufacture of smaller glass products.16 This tax was abolished in 1845,17 and in the late 1800s glass production began to shift from more traditional mouth blowing techniques to more automated processes.18 These changes in production reflect our data, which show the smallest wine glasses during the 1700s and no increases in glass size during that period, as the observed increase occurred from the 19th century.
And to emphasize the point, the study says:
We cannot infer that the increase in glass size and the rise in wine consumption in England are causally linked. Nor can we infer that reducing glass size would cut drinking.
To the already-addicted, sure that is plausible. But I think drinkypoo's point is that the extra money might prevent them from becoming despondent and turning to drugs in the first place. That's a reasonable opinion, and it could lead to reduced homelessness in the very long term.
Probably that's not the direction you were implying causation
No, I agree with that analysis. Nevertheless, IMHO you aren't going to solve a drug-addicted person's homelessness by giving them $10,000 per year.
As I said, I'm not anti-UBI, and in fact wholeheartedly embrace pilot programs - even going so far as to help fund them. I'd be thrilled if the US government implemented a controlled experiment with UBI as an alternative to other safety net type programs. With that said, until some data comes in I remain skeptical that it can work all of the miracles that supporters claim. Homelessness in particular is a very stubborn problem even when funding is plentiful - witness recent attempts to extinguish the phenomenon of homeless veterans.
most of the "poor" are that way because they are really bad at making decisions.
This doesn't seem like an adequate root cause analysis. Adults don't just spring into existence at the age of 18 making bad decisions. An adult that is not provided with an adequate education, whose brain is all miswired to handle violence instead of civilized life, who has been developmentally hindered by exposure to heavy metals and malnutrition... "making good decisions" is not going to be something that a product of such an upbringing is likely to do very well. If you want to break the cycle of poverty you need to make sure kids born into a shitty situation still enjoy the benefits of an education and proper nutrition. You need to make sure they aren't living in a violent situation so that their brain is wired for a civil society instead of for constant violent conflict.
Anyway, in the context of UBI - I would love for it to work in the US, but I agree with you and think it will not. I do still think it has hope in places where "poor" means people living a subsistence lifestyle rather than eking by on a combination of menial job and government assistance. A subsistence farmer can use the extra income to buy some productivity equipment and move into a situation where they are producing extra goods to resell. They could buy a cheap solar light to increase the working day or for their kids to get an education after the hard work of the day is done. I think there is a possibility in the developing world for a "basic income" type charity to work, but I'm more skeptical about the prospects in the developed world.
Yes, but people by and large are not starving to death in the US. Starvation isn't what the basic income claims to solve in the US. You also mention homelessness. While certainly a problem in the US, it is mostly a transient problem for most. The exceptions tend to be people with mental illness who eschew the kind of help that would get them off the street, and any claims that UBI would solve this type of homelessness should be met with skepticism.
The current system certainly does not meet any kind of efficiency benchmark, but it's important to note that the system is not a free market. We have deep government interference in ways that tend to reinforce the cycle of wealth: Limited liability (and corporate structure in general), IP laws (government-enforced monopolies on ideas), tax laws which favor the rich, an education system that shepherds poor kids into poor schools and rich kids into rich schools, a safety net that encourages people to stay in shitty areas with no jobs, etc.
I favor experiments with UBI - I've donated to charities experimenting with UBI. I hope it works out, because to me it represents a step back in government's ham-handed attempts to solve societal issues with over-complicated rules solutions. Someone's poor? Give them money. Simple. Unfortunately, I think we'll discover that it fails for all but the most impoverished societies. In, say, Kenya, almost everyone is poor and so dumping some money on them gives them a place to start. The overwhelming cause of poverty (same word, much different circumstance than in Kenya) in the US has much deeper roots and will not be solved by cutting a check, IMHO.
If anyone doubts this, and uses Android, go see your voice and audio activity. It's pretty eye-opening when you hear your own voice from several years ago. It includes times that you clearly meant to trigger "OK Google" and times that it mistakenly picked up random conversations.
On the other hand, if Google is honest about this being the data that they collect, then bravo for being so open and transparent. They also offer the ability to delete. Do Amazon or Apple provide such access to the audio data they have collected from you?
Yeah, but some really good channels have been impacted: Cody's Lab, AvE, EEVblog, bigclivedotcom, ElectroBOOM... all have spent time in recent episodes showing how it impacts them.
Sorry, Google can't have it both ways. When you use the site, you need to agree to terms and conditions. That's a commercial contract - that's a business relationship. People can gripe all they want as far as I'm concerned. If enough of them gripe together, they might even change their side of the deal for the better.
Point Hope’s location is known as one of the best locations in Alaska’s arctic for year-round hunting on the ice. Due to the deep water near the shore, leads open along the beach during both the winter and spring, guiding an abundance of whales, seals, and walrus close to the shore. Access to these resources has allowed the Tikigagmiut to live on the Tigara Peninsula continuously for thousands of years. Archaeological sites provide evidence of an over 2,000 year history of Native occupation.
So it's an oasis of sorts. The document also says that they subsidize home heating fuel to under $2/gallon (market cost is around $8/gallon). Electricity is subsidized at $0.15/kW-h - true cost appears to be around $0.30/kW-h.
Interesting downsides listed to living there:
Community Weaknesses:7
Cost of energy
Job/career fairs
24-hour public safety
Better understanding of each entities goals
Lack of radar system
Evacuation road – only looking at gravel. Perhaps other material(s)
Cost of fuel
Cost of commodities
Cost of food
Shortage of health aides
Community tri-lateral outreach program to close gap between the community and tri-lateral
Better understanding of how voter proxy works
Expanded senior services, such as senior lunches. Lunches are usually school lunch not traditional food
Need for daycare – too expensive to bring old building up to code. New site and building being looked at.
Need to be informed, for example when funding expires, when Point Hope can go after funding sources o Need a bank o Need a recreation center o Need a local clinic o Need a laundry mat o Airport upgrade needed o Need land resources inventory o Need energy resources o Need more housing
The size of N. America is because the image is a composite of images stitched together to form a near-sided perspective projection. No one is even claiming this is a "snapshot" from space. North America is large because the image is purposely distorted.
In that case, I have no idea what you are getting at. One is a flat map with distorted continent sizes, and the other is a slightly off-axis photo of the Earth. Why would they line up? Why do you expect to see South America? You can't see Europe, either, because you are looking at the bottom of the globe. If you download Celestia and plug in this string you'll see the expected view of the globe at that date and time from the moon: cel://SyncOrbit/Sol:Earth/1972-12-07T10:49:55.18330?x=pf5CSSrstQ&y=ZklCNQh3hf///////////w&z=tyNCJ56wkv///////////w&ow=0.409521&ox=-0.191827&oy=-0.851893&oz=0.264146&select=Sol:Earth&fov=44.2006&ts=1<d=0&p=1&rf=3954455&lm=0&tsrc=0&ver=3">Open with Celestia
Rotate the globe to see that it matches your flat map almost exactly.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think that's true. I've been mail-ordering glasses and contacts for over a decade and have only ever entered numbers in by hand. Surely all of these places aren't disreputable?
Agreed, but with the proper extensions you will see the lower prices and (presumably) not make the purchase. I tend to buy these things at Home Depot, since they have giant cheap cleaning-service-grade supplies. But unless you hit every item with a bar-code reader, there is no automatic browser extension to see if you are getting the right price at Home Depot :)
I get the paranoia over locks and security systems, but lights and temperature? Why not let it control those things? Do you think hackers are going to turn your lights on and off or set your thermostat really high? The microphone thing has me weary, but I'm warming up to it as I realize that Google and Apple are already listening all the time through our family's smartphones. In the case of Google you can see what they have listened in on the Voice and Audio Activity Page.
My gut reaction is YES YES YES because I'm often stuck in Excel for... reasons... and don't like VBA much despite being pretty good at it.
But like you said, it probably won't be Python - it will likely be MS Python, stuck at some version forever and probably without nicey-nice stuff like the scientific libraries and package management that make it so useful.
I'm cautiously dipping my toe in, and parts of it are quite nice. For instance, I have a problematic room in my house where there are pocket doors preventing the installation of a traditional light switch. Instead I have a Z-Wave flat, battery-operated switch which looks and behaves exactly like the other AC powered switches. There have been remote switches forever, but using a Z-Wave controller I can set the remote to turn on and dim all of the lights in the room in a single group (they are on two circuits), and when the lights are already on shut off both light circuits and the ceiling fan, if on. It's a little thing, but handy. Once you have Z-Wave going, it becomes natural to add other things that make sense - for instance putting the outdoor floodlights on Z-Wave with a task that warns me if I leave them on after xx hours or after a certain time at night. Putting in a Z-Wave (or even "smart") thermostat that lets you turn on your heat from your phone so that your house is nice and toasty when you get home. A Z-Wave attachment on your alarm system so that you can let guests or professionals in without giving them your code. A Z-Wave lock on the door for the same purpose (and to warn you if you've left a door unlocked, much like the lights - or simply to log who enters a combo into the door and when).
So that's just old-school home automation... what about voice control? I don't find it particularly compelling... I tend to just stick a physical switch in practical places. But I can certainly see useful commands like "OK, Google, are all the doors in the house locked?". Or "OK, Google, we're leaving." which shuts off all the lights in the house, turns the heat down / AC off, and arms the alarm system... of course a button near the door would accomplish the same thing - as would a "going to bed button". I have no plans to integrate voice control of the home automation at this point.
BUT, it is super-compelling for media. My introduction to it has been my Sony TV, which runs Android. Navigating all the apps and menus on the TV is more complicated than it has ever been... it's a damn computer now! But after initial setup, you don't need to do any of that - just say "Play Tom Petty" and the TV plays Tom Petty. Say "Play Orange is the New Black on Netflix" and it puts on the next episode in your Queue. It's really fantastic and extremely wife friendly. I have hard-wired speakers in most of the rooms of the house. They used to be hooked up to AirPorts, and it was great for streaming iTunes anywhere in the house (Apple had the synch thing down pat right from the beginning). Recently, I've replaced the AirPorts with Chromecast audios. I haven't pulled the trigger yet on a Google Home, but the Chromecast audios work very well (I have them hard-wired into ethernet) and it is tempting to have the Google Home to handle streaming by voice rather than setting the music via smartphone or computer. The smartphone in particular is problematic because I have a whole family and the person who started the music is not necessarily around when you want to stop it or change what is playing. It's not a big deal since the new cast will overwrite the old one, but it does lead to a haunted-house situation when at 12 AM someone's phone decides to reassert itself and blare music! :)
Retail (until you get into the absurdly high-end) is by it's nature low-margin - I don't think Amazon or its investors have a problem with that. They have been brilliant in not only growing vertically, but as you point out horizontally when the market is lucrative. I expect them to make a similar move in the logistics space eventually.
Anyway, never expect Amazon to have sharply different prices than the best brick-and-mortar competition. But generally they are within a few percent, and it's all centrally located. It's a huge PITA to go to Target for a few things, and then Walmart for stuff that is lower-priced there. For dedicated coupon-clippers, this won't satisfy - but for a lot of shoppers it is sufficient to buy from Amazon unless the prices are way off. Chrome plugins that check your Amazon price against those elsewhere also cover your back...
Yeah, it sounds to me like both wine and glassmaking have become more affordable and more accessible. Cheap packs of a dozen 12oz glasses for a buck a piece were simply not available in the 1940s (or even 20 years ago). I don't think there was anything approaching the quality/price ratio of "two-buck Chuck", either - and in any event, wine was simply not as fashionable back then among the general populace.
1. Regulate your own breathing. Lazy breathing leads to inadequate lung utilization. Think about your breathing and try to use all of your lung. One good strategy is to alternate a single really deep breath with a few very shallow breaths.
2. You are drinking your water all wrong. Atmospheric gasses can leave water over time, creating dead water. Don't drink dead water! Always decant your water (especially factory-produced bottled water!) into a cup, and then pour it back and forth into another cup to properly aerate it.
3. Most people don't get enough acid in their diet, forcing their stomach to work harder. Eat lots of citrus, tomato, and vinegar.
4. People in cold climates rely too much on nutritional vitamin D. This is nothing but factory-produced vitamin D added to your food artificially... yuck! The only natural way to get your daily allowance is to remove as much of your clothing as possible and get out into the mid-day sunshine.
5. During the winter, some people develop a sensitivity to wood-burning smoke. Fire places and fire pits are much more popular in the winter, and people's unaccustomed systems react poorly. To keep your system smoke-ready, eat plenty of smoked fish and barbeque during the warmer months.
6. Bad blood tends to accumulate in your lower extremities. Heavy metals and other toxins collect and need to be distributed so that your organs can filter them from your body. To accomplish this, a simple headstand is sufficient. Every two hours, pause what you are doing and hold a head stand for about 1 minute.
7. Ceramic coffee cups are made from oxides of Aluminum and Silicon, which can cause human health issues. Always use a disposable paper cup.
8. The little "donut" ring on your computer's cords is great for limiting electrical noise through the wire, but the tradeoff is a disturbed electromagnetic energy field. Always tear these little donuts off to improve your electromagnetic environment.
9. The interior air of cars is laden with mold spores and plasticizer vapor - always drive with the windows down, even in winter.
10. Raw or undercooked chicken can indeed contain salmonella, but cooking the chicken straight through denatures critical proteins. A healthy person can handle exposure to salmonella, and regular exposure should make you more resistant. Always under-cook your chicken.
How'd I do?
The summary has it wrong - it was a technological (and tax!) limitation, not an indication of portion size. From the actual study:
And to emphasize the point, the study says:
For me it's not the shame of the white stickers, but the fact that my Pontiac is white, and so the sticker won't show up very well.
To the already-addicted, sure that is plausible. But I think drinkypoo's point is that the extra money might prevent them from becoming despondent and turning to drugs in the first place. That's a reasonable opinion, and it could lead to reduced homelessness in the very long term.
Probably that's not the direction you were implying causation
No, I agree with that analysis. Nevertheless, IMHO you aren't going to solve a drug-addicted person's homelessness by giving them $10,000 per year.
As I said, I'm not anti-UBI, and in fact wholeheartedly embrace pilot programs - even going so far as to help fund them. I'd be thrilled if the US government implemented a controlled experiment with UBI as an alternative to other safety net type programs. With that said, until some data comes in I remain skeptical that it can work all of the miracles that supporters claim. Homelessness in particular is a very stubborn problem even when funding is plentiful - witness recent attempts to extinguish the phenomenon of homeless veterans.
most of the "poor" are that way because they are really bad at making decisions.
This doesn't seem like an adequate root cause analysis. Adults don't just spring into existence at the age of 18 making bad decisions. An adult that is not provided with an adequate education, whose brain is all miswired to handle violence instead of civilized life, who has been developmentally hindered by exposure to heavy metals and malnutrition... "making good decisions" is not going to be something that a product of such an upbringing is likely to do very well. If you want to break the cycle of poverty you need to make sure kids born into a shitty situation still enjoy the benefits of an education and proper nutrition. You need to make sure they aren't living in a violent situation so that their brain is wired for a civil society instead of for constant violent conflict.
Anyway, in the context of UBI - I would love for it to work in the US, but I agree with you and think it will not. I do still think it has hope in places where "poor" means people living a subsistence lifestyle rather than eking by on a combination of menial job and government assistance. A subsistence farmer can use the extra income to buy some productivity equipment and move into a situation where they are producing extra goods to resell. They could buy a cheap solar light to increase the working day or for their kids to get an education after the hard work of the day is done. I think there is a possibility in the developing world for a "basic income" type charity to work, but I'm more skeptical about the prospects in the developed world.
Drug addiction is also increasing everywhere in the country, and I submit the two problems are related.
Yes, but people by and large are not starving to death in the US. Starvation isn't what the basic income claims to solve in the US. You also mention homelessness. While certainly a problem in the US, it is mostly a transient problem for most. The exceptions tend to be people with mental illness who eschew the kind of help that would get them off the street, and any claims that UBI would solve this type of homelessness should be met with skepticism.
The current system certainly does not meet any kind of efficiency benchmark, but it's important to note that the system is not a free market. We have deep government interference in ways that tend to reinforce the cycle of wealth: Limited liability (and corporate structure in general), IP laws (government-enforced monopolies on ideas), tax laws which favor the rich, an education system that shepherds poor kids into poor schools and rich kids into rich schools, a safety net that encourages people to stay in shitty areas with no jobs, etc.
I favor experiments with UBI - I've donated to charities experimenting with UBI. I hope it works out, because to me it represents a step back in government's ham-handed attempts to solve societal issues with over-complicated rules solutions. Someone's poor? Give them money. Simple. Unfortunately, I think we'll discover that it fails for all but the most impoverished societies. In, say, Kenya, almost everyone is poor and so dumping some money on them gives them a place to start. The overwhelming cause of poverty (same word, much different circumstance than in Kenya) in the US has much deeper roots and will not be solved by cutting a check, IMHO.
Right, good job. Is there a similar way to confirm that you are "doing it right" with Apple or Amazon?
your cellphone.
If anyone doubts this, and uses Android, go see your voice and audio activity. It's pretty eye-opening when you hear your own voice from several years ago. It includes times that you clearly meant to trigger "OK Google" and times that it mistakenly picked up random conversations.
On the other hand, if Google is honest about this being the data that they collect, then bravo for being so open and transparent. They also offer the ability to delete. Do Amazon or Apple provide such access to the audio data they have collected from you?
Yeah, but some really good channels have been impacted: Cody's Lab, AvE, EEVblog, bigclivedotcom, ElectroBOOM... all have spent time in recent episodes showing how it impacts them.
Sorry, Google can't have it both ways. When you use the site, you need to agree to terms and conditions. That's a commercial contract - that's a business relationship. People can gripe all they want as far as I'm concerned. If enough of them gripe together, they might even change their side of the deal for the better.
He says 1% and you quote 20%? Why? Oh, that's right, because "Top 1% Pay 45%" would reinforce his point.
I found a Comprehensive Plan document:
So it's an oasis of sorts. The document also says that they subsidize home heating fuel to under $2/gallon (market cost is around $8/gallon). Electricity is subsidized at $0.15/kW-h - true cost appears to be around $0.30/kW-h.
Interesting downsides listed to living there:
'Cept for the electricity part.
The size of N. America is because the image is a composite of images stitched together to form a near-sided perspective projection. No one is even claiming this is a "snapshot" from space. North America is large because the image is purposely distorted.
In that case, I have no idea what you are getting at. One is a flat map with distorted continent sizes, and the other is a slightly off-axis photo of the Earth. Why would they line up? Why do you expect to see South America? You can't see Europe, either, because you are looking at the bottom of the globe. If you download Celestia and plug in this string you'll see the expected view of the globe at that date and time from the moon:
cel://SyncOrbit/Sol:Earth/1972-12-07T10:49:55.18330?x=pf5CSSrstQ&y=ZklCNQh3hf///////////w&z=tyNCJ56wkv///////////w&ow=0.409521&ox=-0.191827&oy=-0.851893&oz=0.264146&select=Sol:Earth&fov=44.2006&ts=1<d=0&p=1&rf=3954455&lm=0&tsrc=0&ver=3">Open with Celestia
Rotate the globe to see that it matches your flat map almost exactly.
See? You couldn't address my points so you moved on. We can get to Apollo later, but first let's settle why you can see Logan's lights.