Let Science Set the Facts

When it comes to handheld computers, smart phones and other electronic devices people don’t ever seem to question science when underlying something easily valued. We either take it for granted or celebrate science-based products like G.P.S., Global Positioning Systems, which guide drivers and pilots and allow heavy machinery or a farmer’s tractor to be operated with a precision that approaches ballet. And people are always eager to take advantage of the latest advances in medicine.

Science seems to be only questioned when people dislike the implications of scientific results. Story continues:

                                   

The light-harvesting states of photosynthesis are highly efficient in many species, and happen extremely fast |

Inspired by nature | Through billions of years of evolution, life on Earth has found intricate solutions to many of the problems scientists are currently grappling with. Physicists at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory are trying to unravel nature's secrets to develop new energy-generating technologies for a more sustainable future. "The light-harvesting states of photosynthesis are highly efficient in many species, and happen extremely fast – within a nanosecond, if not picoseconds," said Chin. "We're very interested in that efficiency and how it's managed. Biology has evolved phenomenally subtle systems to funnel light energy around and channel it to the right places. It has also become incredibly good at building tiny devices that work with high efficiency, and at replicating them millions of times." Read More:

How algae may one day cure parkinson’s disease |

Ever see a green film form on a still pond? It happens because alga needs sunlight to complete the photosynthesis cycle, the process it uses to convert carbon dioxide and water into the sugar it "eats." It’s that drive to seek the light that makes Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a single-celled alga, a brain research superstar and the core of optogenetics technology--which uses light-sensitive proteins to study how neurons employ electrochemical signals to produce memories, thoughts, and behaviors. It is helping scientists research brain diseases and disorders such as Parkinson's, schizophrenia, depression, stroke, PTSD, addiction, some forms of blindness, and more:   Read More

It's Not Socialism .. Is It?

"It's been said that democracy is the worst form of government
except all the others that have been tried.” ~ Sir Winston Churchill 

Much the same can be said for capitalism, particularly the form of capitalism that has been practiced over the past 20 years.  However, the alternatives to capitalism have all been tried and all been found wanting -- some, like communism or socialism, catastrophically so.  So capitalism, with all its faults, is the only game in town. The task confronting the present generation of leaders is to improve on it, to build on its strengths and eradicate its weaknesses. The challenge is to hold on to the energy, enterprise and creativity that characterize capitalism at its best, while doing away with its destructive elements.
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If a picture is worth a thousand words..

you might say photographer Matt Hoyle's book of comedian portraits is worth thousands of laughs.

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You can buy the book on Amazon here.

"Comic Genius: Portraits Of Funny People" is Hoyle's epic new compendium featuring 200 pages of beautiful, 9 x 11 in. photos of comedians both legendary and of-the-moment. Hoyle worked closely with each of the comedians to capture their spirit with costumes, props and facial expressions unique to each one.

Even better, Hoyle will donate his net proceeds from the sale of the book to Save the Children.

Bike Share with a fresh design and energy |

~New York City

The bike helmet on her head said "Nutcase," and though this was merely the name of the Oregon company that made it, there was something wry and self-aware about Janette Sadik-Khan choosing to wear one on the streets of New York. You had to be a little unhinged and adventurous to have the big vision that Sadik-Khan, New York City's transportation commissioner, brought to this unruly madhouse of a city. Sadik-Khan expected resistance, but the tenor of anger surprised her, especially at its peak a couple of winters ago. She was grateful to the mayor for having her back. She was now philosophical about it. "I think most of the animosity was about fighting change," she said. "Challenge the status quo, and it will push right back."
 Since then Polls now showed strong public support for bike lanes and bike share—in Citi Bike's case, a 73% approval rating after four months of operation. Politicians who had once howled about bike lanes were now using the blue bikes as campaign vehicles. A city was evolving.
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3 Favorite Journeys on a Bike

For many cyclists, riding a bike is a kind of heaven. You’re simply a body breathing clean air and having very few thoughts. It’s just the wind in their faces, and the tranquillity and peace that they feel. With the advent of fall, three writers tell us about their favorite bike journeys, from a beloved route along rolling fields and Lake Champlain in Vermont and upstate New York to a ride in the wild green countryside of western Ireland and a night ride in Paris| Journeys Continue

7 ways to get lost in the joy of autumn |

Fall’s Most Amazing Corn Mazes |

The Adventure Continues:

6 Unforgettable Train Trips in the U.S

Train travel offers families so much more than merely an alternative to driving. The most memorable train trips deliver both fabulous scenery and a dose of Americana you just can’t appreciate through the windows of a car | Read More: Best Train Trips for Families|

First-ever real estate website designed to help high volume-inclined music-lovers |

If your college parties never received any noise complaints then there is a chance that you weren't doing college right. In any case, for some people, the inclination to blare music at deafening decibels doesn’t go away after earning a diploma. Read More:

Report Reveals Missed Opportunities to Save Water and Energy

Water and wastewater managers are missing substantial opportunities to save energy and money, according to a report published Wednesday (Sept. 4) by Water in the West, a research center at Stanford University. Story Continues:

Red Cedar Tree Study Shows That Clean Air Act Is Reducing Pollution, Improving Forests |

The research team -- which included Jesse Nippert, associate professor of biology -- spent four years studying centuries-old eastern red cedar trees, or Juniperus virginiana, in the Central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia | Story Continues:

Despite the economy, young people today aren't totally turned off by work. They're actually excited about getting fulfillment from their careers--especially if they can help others. Read More:

Flavorless but enduring, dominant and unchallengeable, yet elementally enhancing the flavor of life |

Water is the most basic resource on the planet. Now consider it in its elemental form | Read More:

Star birth unveiled |

All the stars we see in the sky were born in star birth nurseries — giant clouds of gas and dust. These nebulae aren’t the brightest things in the sky, and to see most of them you need binoculars or a telescope. But, they’re worth searching out because they show us what our own sun might have looked like as it was being born, around 4.5 billion years ago. Story continues polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocycles| Life's Building Blocks 'Abundant in Space' Read More:

How improved farming benefits the Earth |

Some of the ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science |

You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. So if you thought exercise was something you didn’t have time for, maybe you can fit it in after all.

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What would happen if the heights of New York's buildings corresponded to the net worth of the people inside them?

Re-envisioning The Manhattan Skyline To Reflect The City's Jarring Income Inequality |

Manhattan has one of the worst income gaps of any city--or country--in the world, often separated by just a few blocks. These striking graphics make that inequality apparent in the height of the city's buildings. Read More

Mapping The Climate Change Deniers Making Our Laws |

                                                                                       This map shows where climate-denying legislators come from--and how many weather-related disasters their states have faced in the past few years.
In a post-fact era, you can be an elected official and have a remarkably flexible relationship with the truth. Take climate science: more than 97% of scientists agree that climate change is a man-made phenomenon, but conservative politicians--and more than 65% of Republicans in Congress--outdo one another to demonstrate just how little they believe in science.
While that’s not exactly news, a new project by the site Think Progress aims to put the spotlight on just who climate change deniers are and where they come from, with a map of the U.S. showing the number of climate-denying legislators per state. Read More:

Healthier Airways

The term toxic mold is sometimes used to refer to mold-related indoor air quality and health problems, such as bronchitis, asthma, coughing, wheezing and other respiratory symptoms. Exposure to significant quantities of mold spores can cause serious health issues. Read More

Entrepreneurs are forward, nervy and unquestionably.. fresh!

Entrepreneurs are replenishers. They revitalize, revive, reinvigorate, rejuvenate, revivify and stimulate repeat business! ~ Why replenish the economy? We replenish our cell phones regularly and in fact most would probably feel inefficient without them. Entrepreneurs not only create new job positions but repeatedly cultivate fresh new markets.

Entrepreneur Magazine editor-in-chief Amy Cosper |

Clinton Global Initiative Aims to Boost U.S. Economy Through Entrepreneurship
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Sudden Allergies | When a Summer Cold Is Much More

The most common allergy triggers during the summer months are grass pollens and mold spores. In fact, mold can be more bothersome than pollen. Mold spores are everywhere and commonly outnumber pollen grains in the air even when the pollen season is at its worst. At home, the mold can be easily seen on the walls, ceilings, clothing, furniture, carpets, food and other places, if it is present. It can also flourish on equipment that we use everyday, like air conditioners. Read More |

Aromatix Fresh Cedar products reduce risk of Health Hazards |

Almost every U.S. home has at least a little mold, but roughly 47% of homes have more substantial mold or dampness, says William Fisk, senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who has researched mold for more than 10 years. People who are exposed to mold are 30% to 50% more at risk of asthma, coughing and wheezing, he adds. Mold exposure also has been associated with other health problems, such as bronchitis and respiratory infections. Story continues

Protecting Your Home From Theft & Health Hazards |

A free site that provides tools and tips to homeowners to help them save money, get organized and keep their homes in great shape. | Continue Reading

Early Colonial Architecture
17th Century   

Spring Time | Time To Be Efficient

Spring Efficiency | It’s the equivalent of clearing out the winter cobwebs once and for all.

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Giving Children Computers | Does It Help Them In School:

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What we depend on to sustain our quality of life ..

ScienceDaily (June 6, 2012) — Keeping the Earth, our life support system, in terms of supporting humanity: Continue Reading:
Loss of biodiversity increasingly threatens human well-being [Research] Continues:
Yale study concludes public apathy over climate change unrelated to science literacy: Read More:

How Tribalism Makes a Risky Word Even More Dangerous |
Our instinctive need for social cohesion easily overwhelms morality and reason.
This fact is often cited as evidence that tribal peoples saw only the members of
their own tribe as "people," and denigrated all others as something less. In fact,
this is a tenuous conclusion to draw from the evidence. Many languages refined 
their identification as "the true people," or "the real people," dehumanizing the other
people or simply considering them inferior. The more driven we are to circle the wagons in 
pursuit of the safety of social cohesion, the more we abandon reason, intellect 
and evidence-based analysis, the more closed our minds become.
Continue Reading:

The Polarizing Impact of Science Literacy and Numeracy on Perceived Climate Change Risks|
Kahan’s paper reinforces several current bodies of research that try to understand human cognition more holistically. First, it supports Kahan’s own work on Cultural Cognition theory, which finds that though we employ facts as weapons in our battles over issues and ideas, the real war is about tribal identity and cohesion | Continue Reading:

Jeff Schweitzer ~Scientist and former White House Senior Policy Analyst; Ph.D. in marine biology/neurophysiology

Why Facts Matter: Science Is Not an Opinion | Faith and Reason: We have come to this tragic conclusion about our future because fact and opinion today are considered of equal validity. But how did we arrive here? Why did this happen? How did two plus two equals four become liberal conjecture? Why do we dispute the obvious? Because our society has been infected with the deadly disease of faith-based reasoning.

Clean energy is a selling point

"This is the beginning of a new chapter in the industrial life of Iceland," Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said. "The greatest advantage in the future will be green, renewable energy with no carbon."

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Energy Future lacks staying power:

If we do not aggressively change direction by 2020, it will be too late and we will be taken, by default, down the fossil fuel path. Sure, we have lots and lots of fossil fuel, enough to cover our needs for the next 500 years. Or do we? We geologists know that the concept of peak oil and peak gas referred only to conventional fossil fuel with standard methods of extraction. Peak is now irrelevant in the face of huge reservoirs of the so-called “unconventionals”, i.e., tar sands, gas shales and heavy oils, with the concomitant new methods of extraction to recover them including dangerous solvent injection and hydrofracking. We cannot ignore the horrendous environmental and health costs of a fossil fuel-dominated future because these costs are real and someone has to pay them. These very dirty “unconventionals” will not peak until far into the future, well past the next major global demographic and environmental tipping points that will alter our future beyond recognition.

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Green growth is not just for rich nations: World Bank

The World Bank urged global governments Thursday to heed the environment when pursuing prosperity, rejecting what it called a myth that green growth is a luxury most countries cannot afford.

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A handful of large-diameter trees per acre, such as these incense cedars are forest champs:

A few towering incense cedars, white fir & sugar pine are disproportionately responsible for photosynthesis, converting carbon dioxide into plant tissue and sequestering that carbon in the forest, sometimes for centuries, according to James Lutz, a University of Washington research scientist in environmental and forest sciences.
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Focus on self-improvement, rather than winning, benefits young athletes:

The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before.

-Steve Young

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Solar water heaters use 1/3 energy, Progress Energy study finds:

Progress Energy customers saved an average of $235 a year by switching to solar thermal water heater, representing an average annual savings of 63 percent on the water heater portion of their power bill.

L.A. Moves Closer to Banning Single-Use Plastic and Paper Bags

The Board of Public Works votes unanimously to urge the mayor and city council to adopt a citywide ordinance banning single-use carryout bags. Story continues:

Plants, algae and cyanobacteria alter our planet in a way that only life can. They use photosynthesis to completely change the composition of the Earth's atmosphere.

Photosynthesis Re-Genesis I Aromatix 2007

Photosynthesis Re-Genesis II Aromatix 2007
Photosynthesis maintains Earth's habitability for life as we know it, and shapes the way we search for habitable worlds around distant stars. Scientists have discovered a microbe that can use low-energy light to perform photosynthesis. This discovery could alter theories about the types of stars that could support Earth-like worlds. Everyone knows that we as humans literally owe the air we breathe to the greenery around us. As school children we learned that plants (as well as algae and cyanobacteria) perform the all-important biological 'magic trick' known as photosynthesis, which helps generate the atmospheric oxygen we take in with every breath.

Without photosynthesis or oxygen, basically all recognizable life that we see in our landscape would be gone|

New way to store light could prove useful for optical communication:

Due to its high data carrying capacity and low loss, light can serve as an ideal information carrier. However, due to the high speed at which it travels, light is difficult to store. Because the ability to store light is important for optical networks as well as long-distance quantum communication networks, researchers have been investigating various light storage techniques. While previous studies have demonstrated that light can be stored as acoustic excitations, spin excitations, and atomic excitations, scientists have now added storing light as mechanical excitations to this list.

The team of physicists, who are from the University of Oregon and the University of California-Merced, have published their study on storing optical information as mechanical excitations in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters. Read More:

World's forests' role in carbon storage immense, profound:

Until now, scientists were uncertain about how much and where in the world terrestrial carbon is being stored. In the July 14 issue of Science Express, scientists report that, between 1990 and 2007, the world's forests stored about 2.4 gigatons of carbon per year. Story continues

Climate deniers & illusion of debate

The so-called “debate” on climate change has been over for decades in the peer-reviewed literature. It is time to accept the scientific consensus and move on, and to stop giving air-time to the cranks.

It is time for accountability.

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Reclaimed labrador gives back:

Owner Teaches Dog to Recycle Human Trash

So if you see me, have some courtesy, sympathy and taste:

A Father’s Day essay on the world we’re leaving our children.
The truth is that the people we like to share the least with are our own children. “We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children,” the saying goes. Right now, though, we’ve borrowed the entire Earth, trashed much of it, and don’t plan to give back. Daddy, could we have our planet back now:

Sympathy For The Antecedent:
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and fate

I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moments of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Let me please introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
(woo woo, who who)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
(who who)
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
(who who, who who)
Tell me, baby.. tell me, sweetie, what’s my name?

Troubadours & Occasional
Pirates: Jagger,Richards

At the edge of a cliff with nuclear power:

Unlike the 1970s, when nuclear power’s role was to reduce oil consumption, now there is uncertainty. What new reactors would mostly replace is coal and some natural gas. These have both been cheap lately, while nuclear power has a cost both certain to be high and hard to predict precisely.

“The nuclear industry is just so far removed from people’s lives, they don’t have much feeling for it,” said Baruch Fischhoff, a professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “They don’t really trust it. Although it hasn’t done anything recently to lose the general public’s trust, it hasn’t done anything to gain people’s trust.” Read more:

In a War of Words, Makers of Plastic Bags Go to Court:

“Temperament lies behind mood; behind will, lies the fate of character. Then behind both, the influence of family the tyranny of culture; and finally the omnipotence of climate and environment; and we are free, only to the extent we rise above these.”
~John Burroughs, American Naturalist

The plastic bag industry filed a lawsuit against ChicoBag, a company that produces reusable bags, for exaggerating claims about the pollution caused by single-use plastic.

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Switzerland Nuclear Power Phaseout Approved By Lawmakers

BERN, Switzerland -- Swiss lawmakers approved a proposal Wednesday to phase out the use of nuclear power, a move spurred by election-year politics and growing skepticism over the use of atomic energy.
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Germany to phase out nuclear power..

In their White House press conference Tuesday, President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood together on topics ranging from the global economy to Libya.

Yet last week, Chancellor Merkel parted ways with the US on what had been a shared vision of how to maintain thriving economies while reducing greenhouse gases. For both nations, part of that plan had been nuclear power. For Germany, it is no longer.
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Perhaps today’s youth will be the generation interested enough to take the actions needed to combat climate change:

Floods and droughts may be the "new normal" and sea levels may be rising faster than previously thought, but the younger generation isn’t willing to accept these climate change consequences for their future. As the grownups duke it out in Washington, kids take action with visible results, proving they may be more capable than adults in fighting man-made climate change.

Alternative Promotional Corporate Gifts – Sustainable promotional gifts & products:

Cedar Hanger Inserts |

Sustainable promotional products are different from traditional promotional products. They make a statement, provide useful advertising space and are not harmful to the environment. As more companies opt to take steps to ensure the health of our world, it is likely that environmentally friendly promotional products will continue to grow in popularity.   Click here for a question, quote or idea:


American made promotional gifts and products:

BBC Report: Rice, straw, coconut & agricultural waste fibers are the new alternatives.

Why nuclear power may never supply the world’s energy needs:

The 440 commercial nuclear reactors in use worldwide are currently helping to minimize our consumption of fossil fuels, but how much bigger can nuclear power get? In an analysis to be published in a future issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE, Derek Abbott, Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide in Australia, has concluded that nuclear power cannot be globally scaled to supply the world’s energy needs for numerous reasons. The results suggest that we’re likely better off investing in other energy solutions that are truly scalable.
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The World's Water Crisis

Of all the various crises besetting the developing world, the water crisis may be the hardest for those of us living comfortable lives to comprehend. We are never far from a tap that provides free water or a store where we can buy bottled water.

Bloomberg and Clinton Merge Climate Groups:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton, two of the world’s most influential spokesmen for environmental sustainability, will merge their global climate groups under a plan to be announced on Wednesday morning, according to people told of the plans: Read More

Safe Energy & Issues Of Waste

Decreasing consumption, increasing efficiency, and increasing the role of renewable energy sources:

Confronting health issues of climate change:

The shift in the planet's climate is affecting the health of patients -- and physicians are starting to see the results. Read More:

GE to build nation's largest solar power plant:

NEW YORK - GE is taking aim at the world's biggest solar company in a bid to expand into a fast-growing renewable energy market.Story Continues:

Ozone layer faces record 40 pct loss over Arctic:

In this July 19, 2007 file photo an iceberg is seen off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland. The Arctic is a thermostat against overheating and a barometer of change, but now its own protective ozone layer that keeps out damaging ultraviolet radiation has thinned to record levels, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday April 5, 2011. Read more:

Energy Ideas Democrats and Republicans Agree On

Public health is another part of the energy picture where there is common ground. We have about 100,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year from petroleum-related air pollution and 6.5 million annual hospital visits by people with respiratory illnesses caused by the same thing.

These deaths are far greater in number than the combined deaths from car accidents, drunk drivers, gang wars, suicides or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Energy Ideas Democrats and Republicans Agree On!Read More:

Break The Bottled Water Habit

The $14.4 billion bottled-water market has come under fire for being environmentally incorrect as those discarded plastic containers keep piling up in landfills.

Bottled water? That's so '80s! Break The Habit.

On Sale Now!

Illness prevention is often times easier to manage than making a correction after the fact.

The Value of Vaccines:
Vaccines against five diseases:





Our survival is the continuity of our youth

All Lives Have equal Value:

Sharing Our Progress in Agricultural Development

2011 Annual Letter

2011 Annual letter on foreign aid, vaccines, polio and the importance of leadership: