William Jefferson Gingrich January 26, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in In The News, News and politics, philosophy & politics.Tags: Clinton, Newt, philosophy & politics, Politics
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How long have I been saying it? At least for 15 years, but in private I have been aware of it longer. Newt Gingrich is conservatism’s Bill Clinton, but without the charm. He has acquired wit but he has all the charm of barbed wire.
Newt and Bill are 1960s generation narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and deviancy. Newt, like Bill, has a proclivity for girl hopping. It is not as egregious as Bill’s, but then Newt is not as drop-dead beautiful. His public record is already besmeared with tawdry divorces, and there are private encounters with the fair sex that doubtless will come out. Thanks to my big brother for this piece.
Pick a color…any color… January 16, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Art, Humor, Lifestyle.Tags: Martin Luther King Day
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Da Bluesman from Vegas comes through with another…
Humboldt County Hound Dog January 13, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Humor, Music.Tags: Dogs, Humor, Music
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Thanks to Bluesman from Vegas
Facebook Attacks 2011 January 12, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Technology.Tags: Cybercrime, Facebook, Malware, Technology
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Amazing Timelapse of 30-Story Building Constructed In Only 360 Hours January 9, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Business, Enviroment, Science & Technology, Video.Tags: China, Construction
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impressive timelapse video from his company’s latest project: a 30-story tall, 183,000-square-foot hotel built in just 360 hours. Just 15 days!.
It was erected near the Dongting lake, in the Hunan Province, China, by Broad Group, a Chinese construction company specialized in sustainable architecture. The building uses prefabricated modules (with a +/- 0.2mm precision in the fabrication process) mounted on a steel structure, with diagonal steel bracing.
via Amazing Timelapse of 30-Story Building Constructed In Only 360 Hours.
China Cost Advantages Erode as U.S., Mexico Gain January 5, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Economy & Business.Tags: Asia, China, Economy & Business, Mexico, Trade
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China, which is experiencing negative pressure as an exporter because of wage inflation, exchange-rate pressures and higher freight rates, could lose its cost advantage vis-à-vis U.S. production in four years if freight rates rise at 5 percent annually, according to the 2011 U.S. Manufacturing-Outsourcing Cost Index.
Since 2007, Mexico, some locations in Europe and locations in Asia other than China have gained a competitive advantage for offshore manufacturing. In addition to Mexico, emerging LCCs, including India, Vietnam, Russia and Romania, had lower landed cost for their exports to the U.S.
via China Cost Advantages Erode as U.S., Mexico Gain, Report Says | Journal of Commerce.
In the Future Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop December 28, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Economy & Business, Lifestyle.Tags: Coffee, College, Education
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But what’s the advantage of a good job if the salary difference between that job and a non-college-level job is lost servicing student debt? It’s a reasonable question that has become more pressing as the amount of student debt required to get an education has risen.
At the same time several universities with world renown branding have begun offering online courses for free. MIT has been the pioneering institution in this. They were first to make practically all classes available online. Now they are beginning to offer some level of credential for completion of online courses through a new program they’re calling MITx.
We’re going back to the future: the modern office was birthed in 17th century coffee shops. Steven Johnson has argued that coffee fueled the enlightenment. It was certainly a more enlightening beverage than the previous choice of alcohol.
The need for offices grew as the equipment for mental work was developed starting in the late 19th centuries. That need appears to have peaked about 1980. It was a rare person who could afford the computers, printers, fax machines, and mailing/shipping equipment of that time.
Now a single person with $500 can duplicate most of those functions with a single laptop computer. So the remaining function of the office is to be that place that clients know to find you… and that kids and the other distractions of home can’t.
via speculist.com » Blog Archive » In the Future Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop.
More Poverty in Suburbs Than in Cities December 28, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Economy & Business, Lifestyle.Tags: Financial, Poverty, Recession
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In the wake of the Great Recession, poverty rolls are rising at a more rapid pace in the suburbs than in cities or rural communities. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of suburban households below the poverty line increased by 53 percent, compared to a 23 percent increase in poor households in urban areas, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of census data.
Last year, there were 2.7 million more suburban households below the federal poverty level than urban households, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was the first time on record that America’s cities didn’t contain the highest absolute number of households living in poverty.
via America’s Dirty Little Housing Secret Is Rocking The Suburbs.
Huge Methane Releases in Siberia and Alaska Stoke Global Warming Fears December 17, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Enviroment, In The News.add a comment
Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.
The scale and volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the Russian research team who has been surveying the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20 years.
However, with the melting of Arctic sea ice and permafrost, the huge stores of methane that have been locked away underground for many thousands of years might be released over a relatively short period of time, Dr Shakhova said.
American Researches are finding the same results in the North American region.
Extreme Moves & Photography December 16, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Lifestyle, Sports, Streamingvideo.2 comments
Nice collage video of extreme sports moves and some stunning landscapes. Thanks for this link from extreme blues guitarist John Brittain.
Muslims and Christian Fundamentalists Reach Some Common Ground – Denying Darwinism November 27, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in philosophy & politics, Religion, Science & Technology.add a comment
Professors at University College London have expressed concern over the increasing number of biology students boycotting lectures on Darwinist theory, which form an important part of the syllabus, citing their religion.
Similar to the beliefs expressed by fundamentalist Christians, Muslim opponents to Darwinism maintain that Allah created the world, mankind and all known species in a single act.
Muslims4UK partly blame the growing popularity of creationist beliefs within Islam on Turkish author Harun Yahya who, influenced by the success of Christian creationists in America, has written several books denouncing Darwinist theory.
Yahya associates Dawinism with Nazism and his books are and videos are available at many Islamic bookshops in the UK and regularly feature on Islamic television channels.
The Ruins of Detroit November 20, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Cool photos, Economy & Business, Enviroment.Tags: Cool photos, Detroit
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Moonbow over Iceland November 15, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Cool photos, Enviroment.Tags: Cool photos, Environment
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moonbow_vetter_1200.jpg JPEG Image, 1200×800 pixels – Scaled 93%.
Thanks to Bob Bopp, who explains ” This is from NASA’s photo of the day site. It shows the Skogarfoss waterfall in Iceland. The colorful arc of light on the left is due to drops that have drifted off from the waterfall and are now illuminated by the nearly full Moon. High above are the faint green streaks of aurora. In the background is a beautiful starscape that includes the Big Dipper.”
Identity Wars -Coming to the Developing World? November 8, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Geopolitics.Tags: Africa, Asia, Europe, Geopolitics
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The identity wars started in early modern Europe around the time of the Protestant Reformation. After a century of genocidal violence that left most of Germany ruined and depopulated, those wars subsided until the French Revolution set off an even greater and more devastating wave. Closely connected to the industrial revolution and the rise of democracy, nationalism emerged as a dominant political force in 19th century Europe, spreading from northwestern Europe toward the south and east. Over the next 100 years, more than a hundred million people died in wars as multinational empires in Europe and the Middle East ripped themselves apart in paroxysms of war, genocide and ethnic cleansing.
One of the biggest questions in world politics today is whether identity wars (conflicts between groups with different cultural, religious and/or ethnic backgrounds who inhabit the same stretch of land) were a special feature of modern European and Middle Eastern history or whether these conflicts will appear in more of Africa and Asia in the 21st century as development spreads.
Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan are just two of several examples of recent and ongoing ethnic conflict; others include the Sri Lankan civil war that ended brutally in 2009 — as many as 100,000 people may have died. Pakistan, China, India, and various African and Pacific island nations are all struggling with ethnic violence, demands for independence, and conflicts between different groups
There is the 99% and the 1% – And Now the 2% November 4, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Humor, In The News, News and politics.add a comment
Thanks to Juan Marcos, part of the 99%
Tree Climbing Goats November 4, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Cool photos, Economy & Business.Tags: Argan, Goats
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Have you ever seen tree climbing goats? Apparently goats on the trees is a common thing in Morocco. Moroccan goats unbelievably easy get on the highest tops of argan trees to reach so loved fruit similar to olives.
Moroccan farmers constantly witness the flock of goats climbing from one tree to another. It’s not that the flock of goats to them is an unfamiliar sight, but because goats eat argan fruit in the inside of which there is a nut that goats cannot digest, therefore they spit it out or get rid of it in the form of excrement. The farmers gather them carefully.
1.5 Million Hits October 29, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Blogroll, Life.Tags: Blog
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I hope all you readers have enjoyed reading this blog, as much as I have, editing its over 2000 posts. Thanks for your support and over 2000 comments.
Our Emerging Energy Independence October 29, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Economy & Business, Enviroment, Geopolitics.Tags: Energy, Oil, peak oil
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For more than five decades, the world’s oil map has centered on the Middle East. No matter what new energy resources were discovered and developed elsewhere, virtually all forecasts indicated that U.S. reliance on Mideast oil supplies was destined to grow. This seemingly irreversible reality has shaped not only U.S. energy policy and economic policy, but also geopolitics and the entire global economy.
But today, what appeared irreversible is being reversed. The outline of a new world oil map is emerging, and it is centered not on the Middle East but on the Western Hemisphere. The new energy axis runs from Alberta, Canada, down through North Dakota and South Texas, past a major new discovery off the coast of French Guyana to huge offshore oil deposits found near Brazil.
For the United States, these new sources of supply add to energy security in ways that were not anticipated. There is only one world oil market, so the United States — like other countries — will still be vulnerable to disruptions, and the sheer size of the oil resources in the Persian Gulf will continue to make the region strategically important for the world economy. But the new sources closer to home will make our supply system more resilient. For the Western Hemisphere, the shift means that more oil will flow north to south and south to north, rather than east to west. All this demonstrates how innovation is redrawing the map of world oil — and remaking our energy future.
China Bans their “American Idol” Show October 27, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Geopolitics, Lifestyle, philosophy & politics.Tags: American Idol, Censorship, China
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Authorities last month had already ordered leading competitor Hunan Satellite to suspend broadcasts of the hugely popular “American Idol” type singing contest “Super Girl,” allegedly for running overtime. Stations were already cutting contest shows in which viewers vote for their favorite contestant, a concept frowned on by party cadres who don’t permit competitive elections or other facets of Western-style democracy.
China’s television watchdog has capped the amount of entertainment programs, including reality TV shows, that satellite channels can broadcast from the start of 2012.Each of the country’s 34 satellite channels will be limited to two such programs each week, said a statement issued Tuesday by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television SARFT. Under the new directive, a channel can also broadcast a maximum of 90 minutes of content defined as entertainment every day during prime time – 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.The decision is the latest move to curb TV shows of “excessive entertainment” and “low taste”, said the statement. Within these brackets are some matchmaker programs, talent contests, talk shows and reality shows. Every channel has also been ordered to create a program that promotes traditional virtues and socialist core values.
via China limits entertainment programs on satellite TV – China.org.cn.
The Difference Between the Israeli and Greek Wailing Wall October 8, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Economy & Business, Humor, In The News.Tags: Economy, Financial Crisis, Greece, Israel, Wailing Wall
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Wailing Wall in Israel
Greek Wailing Wall
Why Manufacturing is Returning from China October 8, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Economy & Business, Geopolitics.Tags: China, Manufacturing, Outsourcing
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Shipping and logistics adds 17 percent; finding a viable Chinese vendor adds 1 percent; quality issues add 4 percent; travel and communications add 1 percent and “all others” add another 1 percent to the total price of a product manufactured offshore. Some products are simply not good to produce offshore — those made with highly automated precision processes; those that are bulky and heavy; products that require flexible scheduling; and products that undergo many revisions, causing an increase in quality failures.
In a case study comparing costs in the United States and China, Meeker and his MIT colleague Jay Mortenson found that it is cheaper by 8 percent to produce a current design in China. There are substantial savings associated with purchased parts from China that include direct labor (79 percent savings versus U.S. labor rates), indirect labor and salaries (61 percent savings), benefits (75 percent savings), overhead (40 percent savings) and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) (11 percent savings).
When adding logistics to the China price, the cost advantage of producing in China shrinks to 8 percent: $13.85 for a case-study product made in China versus $14.99 in the United States. But when design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) software is applied to the same product, the China advantage vanishes. The China cost declines to $9.79 versus the U.S.-made product at $9.47
via The Case Against Shifting Production To China; Hidden Costs And Growing Risks Make U.S. Attractive For Manufacturing. (more…)
Para Gliding with Hawks September 17, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Enviroment, Video.Tags: Environment, Extreme Sports
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It was shot at the historic Torrey Pines Glider Port and Blossom Valley in San Diego County. Thanks to Mike Douso
Mona Lisa Caffineated September 17, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Art, Cool photos, Food, Humor, Lifestyle.Tags: Art
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The Mona Lisa, one of the world’s most famous paintings, has been recreated with 3,604 cups of coffee – and 564 pints of milk.The different colours were created by adding no, little or lots of milk to each cup of black coffee.It measures an impressive 20 feet high and 13 feet wide and took a team of eight people three hours to complete.It was created for The Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia, and seen by 130,000 people who attended the one-day coffee-lovers event.
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Elaine Kelly, from event organisers the Sydney Harbour ForeshoreAuthority, was delighted with the result.She said: “Each coffee cup was filled with varying amounts of milk to create the different sepia shades of the painting.”We wanted to create an element of surprise and a sense of fun in the way we engaged with the public.”Once we had the idea of creating an image out of coffee cups we searched for something iconic to reproduce – and opted for the most iconic painting in history.”The Mona Lisa has been reproduced so many times in so many different mediums but, as far as we know, never out of coffee.”The result was fantastic.”After much planning it was great to see if coming together so well and the 130,000 people who attended the event certainly enjoyed it.”
Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, is the 16th century portrait painted in oil by Leonardo Da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. The work is owned by the French government and hangs in the Musee du Louvre in Paris, France, with the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. It measures 770 millimetres by 530 millimetres and has prompted debate for years over the reason for her famously enigmatic smile. Extensive scrutiny using X-ray apparatus suggests that restoration work has resulted in the original being painted over three times. Thanks to Juan Marcos. Mona Lisa recreated with coffee – Telegraph.
America’s Gift to the World September 12, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Geopolitics.Tags: China, Geopolitics, Globalization
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Numerous world powers served as global or regional hegemons before we came along, and their record on economic development was painfully transparent: Elites got richer, and the masses got poorer. Then America showed up after World War II and engineered an international liberal trade order, one that was at first admittedly limited to the West. But within four decades it went virally global, and now for the first time in history, more than half of our planet’s population lives in conditions of modest-to-mounting abundance — after millennia of mere sustenance.
You may choose to interpret this as some sort of cosmic coincidence, but the historical sequence is undeniable: With its unrivaled power, America made the world a far better place.
via WPR Article | The New Rules: The Rise of the Rest Spells U.S. Strategic Victory.
Cities as Hotels September 12, 2011
Posted by tkcollier in Economy & Business, Enviroment, Lifestyle.Tags: Sustainable Development, Urbanization
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Private cities are happening now for a reason. Africa, India, and China are urbanizing more rapidly than has ever occurred in human history. In Africa, the number of urban dwellers is projected to increase by nearly 400 million, in India at least 250 million will move to cities and in China more than 400 million will move to cities in just the next 20 years. Not all of these people will move to older cities, which are not always in the right places and which rarely possess anything like the right material let alone the right political infrastructure. The rising middle-class want to live in first-world cities and in many of these countries only the private sector can deliver those cities.
The rapid urbanization of the developing world is an opportunity to remake cities anew. Private cities as hotels on a grand scale
