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HuckleB

HuckleB's Journal
HuckleB's Journal
June 20, 2016

Moody's Analysis: Trump's Policy Plans Would Trigger A 'Lengthy Recession'

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-trump-cause-us-recession

"Donald Trump's proposed plans to cut taxes, engage in trade wars, and deport millions of undocumented immigrants would hurt the U.S. economy and send the country into a recession, according to new report by Moody's Analytics.

Economists reviewed Trump's proposed tax cuts for individuals and businesses, his calls to deport undocumented immigrants and build a southern border wall, and his threats to impose large tariffs on goods imported from China and Mexico.

The analysis found that if all of Trump's proposals were implemented, "the economy suffers a lengthy recession and is smaller at the end of his four-year term than when he took office."

"The upshot of Mr. Trump’s economic policy positions under almost any scenario is that the U.S. economy will be more isolated and diminished," the report reads.

The economists drew four basic conclusions about the impact of Trump's plans: a less global economy, larger government debt, a weaker economy with higher unemployment, and benefits mostly for high-income Americans.

..."


----------------------------------------------

Trump and his supporters are PRO-RECESSION! (And that's being very kind.)

Make sure they, and everyone else, knows it.



June 20, 2016

Yellowstone bison gores Helvetica Man

http://www.wyofile.com/blog/yellowstone-bison-gores-helvetica-man/


"It’s happened again in Yellowstone National Park. This time the victim tossed into the air by a bison is Helvetica Man.

Helvetica Man, the international graphic representation of a human that marks almost every public men’s restroom, now is on the horns of a Yellowstone buffalo. You’ve seen Helvetica Man before — slipping on wet floors and falling over crumbling cliffs. His latest misadventure appears on thousands of flyers being distributed at entrance stations to the world’s first national park.

The faceless, emotionless Helvetica Man — who’s not only slipped and fallen but also competed every Olympic event from archery to swimming to discus — put a more soulful figure out of work. Millions of Yellowstone visitors will no longer be warned by the ubiquitous yellow flyer with an illustration depicting the bison-launched, Anguished Airborne Illustrated Tourist.

Gone is the Anguished Airborne Illustrated Tourist’s tousled hair, his flying ball cap, his doomed single-lens-reflex camera and his punctured hiking shorts. Gone is the Anguished Airborne Illustrated Tourist’s grimace.

...

Will Yellowstone’s Helvetica Man work as a messenger? “I think we should have more blood and guts,” Benefiel said.

..."


---------------------------------------

No Helvetica Cell Phone in the air? Hmm.

June 20, 2016

Dungeons & Dragons: Lessons from a Media Panic | Retro Report



Great stuff about the silly attacks on the game, back in the late '70s and early '80s, as well as some fantastic stuff by Junot Diaz, at the end.

June 20, 2016

Happy Full Moon Solstice!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/06/20/full_moon_solstice_june_20_2016_has_both.html

"...

I enjoy writing about the solstices and equinoctes* when they happen, so you can read all about how and why they occur in past articles. I’ll note that Monday is not the date of the earliest sunrise and latest sunset though; that has to do with the Earth’s orbit being slightly elliptical, so I’ll make a special point of linking to this article last year where I explain why that happens. I’ll also note that some people call this the first day of summer (or winter for those in the south), but I disagree; I tend to think of it as actually the midpoint. You can read about that to your brain’s delight as well.

No, instead of spending time on that here, I’d prefer to point out something rather special that led to me wandering down a rabbit hole Sunday night as I researched it: Not only is the solstice Monday, but the Moon is full on Monday as well. That moment occurred at 11:02 UTC (07:02 Eastern; I’ll note it’ll look full all day and probably even Tuesday as well).

A full Moon on the same day as the June solstice (or the December one, for that matter) is relatively rare. As I thought about this Sunday night, I wondered just how rare it was. My first thought was that it probably happens once every 30 years or so, since the full Moon can occur on any day, and there are 30 in June.

But then I realized it’s not that simple. Sometimes in astronomy two cycles can beat together in unusual ways, throwing off what you might expect. So I dug into it. I found a list of solstice full Moon dates on the Farmer’s Almanac website, and perusing the numbers it appears that we get a full Moon on the June solstice roughly every 19 years or so … or multiples thereof.

..."



A fun read, with links to more fine reading.

So, yes, A Happy Full Moon Solstice to all!






June 13, 2016

The horrors in Orlando and Trump's ugly campaign were predicted by The Police.

&list=RDug-qQ6fXevo#t=5

Ugh.

Back then, it seemed so harsh and yet we could fight it.

What about now?
June 9, 2016

These are the victims of the deadly Kalamazoo bicycle crash

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2016/06/these_are_the_victims_of_the_d.html

"...

These are the victims of the deadly Kalamazoo bicycle crash of June 7, 2016.

Five bicyclists died when a blue Chevrolet pickup hit them as they were riding north in the 5500 block of North Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. Four more bicyclists were seriously injured.

The bicyclists were members of the Chain Gang bicycle group, who had started a 28.5-mile ride from a county health building on Gull Road. They were about five miles into the ride when they were hit.

The group was struck behind by the pickup around 6:30 p.m. Police have said the driver is in police custody, and a determination on any charges against the driver will be made Thursday.

..."


---------------------------------

June 9, 2016

White male doctors earn 35 percent more than black male doctors

https://www.statnews.com/2016/06/07/physician-pay-gap/

"White male physicians in the United States earn a whopping 35 percent more than their black male counterparts — even after accounting for factors such as field of medical specialty, experience, and hours worked.

Data published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal also showed a large gender gap. White female physicians earned 40 percent less than white men, and black women earned less still.

“That’s crazy,” said Dr. Devin Smith, a third-year resident in obstetrics and gynecology. He said he knows black physicians like himself tend to gravitate toward primary care fields, which pay less than specialties such as surgery. But the data showed huge wage disparities even within medical specialties. “I wonder how the systems [in medicine] are so flawed that this can happen,” Smith said.

...

Jena said the pay gulfs dissuade women and minorities from pursuing certain paths in medicine. “What that means is that you are going to miss some bright minds,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s not just an issue of fairness. You can certainly create a narrative where patients will actually be harmed by these sorts of policies.”

..."


---------------------------------


June 9, 2016

A Brief Medical History Of Farting

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/7/11876444/pubmed-farts-gas-flatulence-argon-study

"...

A PubMed search returns 14 results with "excessive flatulence" in the headline and abstract. A lot of these are about treating constipation, which is admittedly no fun. But there are some standouts, like this gem from 1975: "As yet," writes MD Levitt, "there are no data available that prove excessive flatulence is actually caused by the presence of excessive intestinal gas." Blow my mind, why don't you? As of 1975, there was no proof that farting was caused by too much intestinal gas? I gotta see more work by this Levitt character. As it turned out, he was the superstar of the fart literature.

Sure, enough, also in 1975, Levitt published another paper, this time in The New England Journal of Medicine, where he pumped people full of argon. See, these 18 patients had a lot of GI symptoms — gas, bloating, and flatulence. But they had a normal volume of gas in their guts, which had normal composition. Perhaps, though, the scientists reasoned, they reacted badly to any excess gas! And that is how 18 people wound up getting argon pumped into their butts. (Argon was chosen because it wouldn't react to their own intestinal gasses, I guess??????) The gas that they then ejected was "quantitatively collected in a series of 100-ml syringes and analyzed by gas chromatography." Can you even imagine.

...

This is so funny to me! They farted at about the same rate you filled them up with gas, who would have guessed! No less surprising, it hurts to have gas pumped up your tuckus: fully a third of patients had to stop because the pain was so bad. Anyway, this improbable study found that the feeling of being bloated or gassy wasn't necessarily correlated to the amount of gas in one's gut.

...

The other study worth noting found that beans' bad reputation may be undeserved: fewer than half of people noticed an increase in flatulence from eating pinto or baked beans; only 19 percent had more gas with black-eyed peas. Amusingly, people on control diets also reported a 3 percent to 11 percent increase in farting. "People's concerns about excessive flatulence from eating beans may be exaggerated," the authors write helpfully. "It is important to recognize there is individual variation in response to different bean types."

..."


-----------------------------

Alas, yes, all too brief.

June 9, 2016

Superintendent Carole Smith told about lead testing March 22

Source: KGW (Local NBC)

Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith was informed about lead testing on March 22, according to emails obtained by KGW.

Smith’s chief of staff Amanda Whalen forwarded her boss an email chain, outlining the plan to test drinking fountains and sinks at Rose City Park Elementary School. The email was titled FW: Water sampling at Rose City Park.

“We should have the results by the week of April 4,” wrote Andy Fridley, Senior Manager of Environmental Health and Safety at PPS.

Smith has stated she didn’t know about the test results until May 25.

Read more: http://www.kgw.com/news/health/superintendent-carole-smith-told-about-lead-testing-march-22/237629923



Portland parents need everyone's help in getting this individual out of this position.
June 9, 2016

Portland schools' health & safety chief fought water testing, spread misinformation

Source: The Oregonian

Portland Public Schools' senior manager for environmental health and safety, Andy Fridley, resisted testing school water quality and spread false information about the safety of drinking water in schools, email records show.

Fridley was the point person charged with protecting students and employees in Oregon's largest school district from environmental hazards for two years. Superintendent Carole Smith put him on paid leave June 2 due to his role in the district's response to high lead levels at two schools.

Fridley's written statements to parents, colleagues and bosses, however, portray him as misinformed about water quality regulations and equipment as well as resistant to efforts to measure and improve water quality. Emails show he mocked a parent who expressed concern about lead levels one or two milligrams below the federal action level as "zero lead in water lady."

The Oregonian/OregonLive was the first media outlet to request emails sent and received by Fridley and other senior Portland officials regarding lead in water, on May 27. The school district released roughly 900 pages of emails Wednesday.


Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2016/06/portland_schools_health_safety.html#incart_2box



This story is just getting uglier every day.

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