23AndMe reached one million customers today 6/18/2015. Just so you know, I was customer # 34,102, tested circa February 2010. So there! That is why my chip is # 2, and the data can’t be uploaded to gedmatch. Oh well. I did get to see my medical risk factors that were known at that time.
How to Tie Shoes
Read this interesting article from Huffington Post – 27 Mar 2015
If you thought planning a road trip in the U.S. was hard, try planning one for Europe.
Randy Olson, the brilliant Ph.D. candidate who recently planned the best way to road trip across America, just calculated the most epic European road trip ever. Add it to the bucket list pronto.
My son sent me the above link, not only because it shows off a really neat driving route through Europe, but because it gives links showing where the reader can also plan your own driving vacation in both the USA and Europe.
This post is here because I tried the web site mentioned in the article called Route XL and found it to be very good. I gave it a couple of routes I have previously studied and planned and it did indeed find the shortest route. What makes it even nicer is that you can link together multiple stops and it will connect them in the most efficient manner!
At least read the Huffington Post article, the European route is fun to see. Route XL can be discovered by clicking here too.
As a side note, I have added RouteXL to the set of links that I maintain here on the Potpourri page in the section called Special/Unusual. Those links are there, remember, so I don’t forget them!
I will leave it to your own curiosity to go to Randy Olson’s (the scientist who thought this up) web page and see some of the other amazing stuff he has done. He has a really interesting route through the United States that looks really fun. If you are curious, go here: Randy Olson.
Sometimes I dream up ideas for stories, books or movies. Generally they get told to the unlucky grand-kids who happened to be riding in the back seat on a long drive. No one ever writes them down, of course, and they get forgotten. I’ve never had the patience to actually write a full blown story. In this case, I wrote this on my iPad just a few months ago. Maybe someone else can “make me a movie”.
Marsha was skeptical when she first had the idea about the power of “imagination people”. In her Comparative Literature class in University, they had talked about how the ideas in science fiction books of the past seemed to be coming true in the present. But that was just discussion for grades sake, trying to see how many author’s names students could remember.
Continue reading
This post is about writing effective Letters to the Editor (LTE) or Op-Ed pieces that I gleaned from other places. I am posting this information here to help me remember the ideas. I personally am not a proficient letter writer, yet. Maybe the ideas will help others too.
Why write Letters to the Editor or Op-Eds? Besides sharing ones views with our neighbors, we know that politicians read this section of the paper!
Before you yourself write to the Newspapers, you should also be reading the paper! Especially the opinion pages. Papers will only publish a Letter to the Editor (LTE, or an Op-Ed, for that matter) if it references and is relevant to a news item or opinion piece the newspaper has recently published. So you have to be a detective and look for the opportunities.
If you have particular issues you are concerned with you can set up Google Alerts for the newspapers you want to monitor about particular subjects. If you are simply “reacting” to a given article or current event, you can still use these methods to improve the likelihood that your efforts will have meaning.
Here, in order of the likelihood of getting responded to, are the kinds of pieces in newspaper to which you can respond. When you respond to pieces at the top of the list you are more likely to be published.
Actually writing your letter or article: LTE’s are the most meaningful form of advocacy. If possible and relevant, include the name of the politician or other VIP that you’re trying to influence. LTEs can be written using a simple recipe:
Of course, it is assumed that you abide by the rules of the given newspaper regarding methods (size, signature email address,etc.). Follow the rules, speak politely and honestly, and you may be published. We all want to communicate, but few of us ever do. We don’t all have to agree, but we should all be heard. Please don’t let Facebook be your only forum!
Note: Google Alerts is a service that generates search results based on criteria provided by you that delivers the results to your e-mail account “automatically”. This service is particularly useful for monitoring the web when you don’t have time to remember every day! Just go to http://www.google.com/alerts, use your Google ID, and build your query along with the repetition pattern you prefer. Then set back, relax, and only “new” results will be delivered to whatever email address you selected. Google Alerts can be used for just about anything, from genealogy searches to locating new information about your company, your kids, your online content’s popularity or your competition. You can also use it to keep up to date with new advancements, celebrity gossip or current trends. Whatever search criteria you can build can be used. Even if you never every write a LTE, you should still learn about using Google Alerts. The delete key can ignore an item in your email faster that you can write the query over and over.
A fee is added to carbon based fuels based on the amount of carbon they contain. The fee is collected upstream, at the source (well, mine, port of entry). This fee starts at $15 per ton of fossil CO2 emitted, and increases steadily each year by $10 per ton, until total U.S. emissions have been reduced to 10% of U.S. emissions in 1990.
The plan is “revenue neutral” which means the government doesn’t keep any of the fee revenue. 100% of the money collected is returned to American households on an equitable basis. Under this plan 66% of all households would break even or receive more in their dividend check than they would pay for the increased cost of energy, thereby protecting the poor and middle class.
Clean energy is cheaper than fossil fuels within a decade. A predictably increasing carbon price will send a clear market signal which will unleash entrepreneurs and investors in the new clean-energy economy.
| What is the fee based on? | The amount of carbon in the fuel |
| Where is the fee collected? | Upstream, at the well, mine head, or port of entry |
| How much is the fee in the first year? | $15 per ton |
| How much does the fee increase each year? | $10 per ton |
| Why is this plan revenue neutral? | The government doesn’t keep any of the fee revenue |
| What does CCL’s plan do with the fee revenue? | Returns 100% to households |
| What percent of households will break even or come out ahead with our plan? | 66% |
| What will this predictably rising price cause? | Unleash entrepreneurs and investors in the new clean-energy economy |
| When will the yearly tax increases end? | When US emissions reach 10% of 1990 levels |
For more information about CCL in general, go here: citizensclimatelobby.org
There’s a certain elegance in the colors of fall,
A breath of joy in the cold, dry wind.
Watching children fly about on the first day of school,
Whether you’re with them or not it’s enough to make you grin.
Apple cider’s on the stove,
Chestnuts on your open fire.
Fall is here and so are you,
So cheers to happiness!
You start feeling sentimental,
Thinking of seasons past…..
But memories are made of this,
So enjoy it while it lasts.
All the geese are flying south,
Whether south is here or there.
Apples in the orchards falling down,
down, down, down.
Make it last forever more,
Or at least ’till seasons end.
Happily we walk, crunching leaves where the sidewalk ends.
Don your hat and grab your scarves
As the wind blows forever on!
by J-me
March 2015
Check it out! Here is a link to a YouTube movie of the Salinas High School Cowboy Band in the Chinese New Years Parade in San Francisco on March 7, 2015. Watch carefully during the beginning, one of the Color Guard folks leading the band is my granddaughter! Hoorah…
you can save the link to the above video by copying this URL: “youtu.be/XjhpfGzkN78”
Last month, the first meeting of a newly formed Monterey chapter of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby (CCL) was held in Monterey, CA.. The first meeting was just to get the ball rolling, to find out if there was enough interest to move forward, etc. It was a success with over 30 people attending.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. Carbon Fee and Dividend is the policy proposal created by Citizens Climate Lobby to internalize the costs of burning carbon-based fuels.
CCL provides a path through which ordinary citizens who want to do more to solve the climate problem than just clicking online petitions can become involved. The group doesn’t require any special skills, just a desire to try and help grease the wheels for climate policy in the USA and Canada.
If you weren’t able to attend our inaugural meeting and are still interested in joining our chapter, please plan to attend our first chapter meeting on Tuesday March 31 at 6:00 pm at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the Guide Lounge.
The Guide Lounge is across the street from the Aquarium in the building next to the drop-off area for tour buses, on the first floor beyond the front desk. Someone will be there to let you in. Feel free to bring something to eat and drink. Hope you can join us.
For more information about CCL in general, go here: citizensclimatelobby.org
I enjoyed this post by Carla Wise in “High Country News” about her CCL chapter:
www.hcn.org/articles/climate-change-activism-needs-anybody
Recipe found in Sunset Magazine July 2008
Melt 1 tbsp. butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Stip in 1 ½ cups each blackberries and blueberries, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice. Cook until juices are released from fruit, about 4 minutes. Stir in 2 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves, then 1 cup raspberries. Add more sugar and lemon to taste, depending on sweetness of berries. Serve warm over ice cream. Makes 6 servings.
Actor Leonard Simon Nimoy, best known for his role as Mr. Spock, the logical half-Vulcan, half-human in the original Star Trek series and several movies, has died today at his home in Los Angeles of COPD.
born 26 Mar 1931 Boston, MA
died 27 Feb 2015 Bel Air, CA
A quick search on the web will find lots of links for him. Here are two: at Science Friday and at NPR
On the Teen Kids News T-V program Feb 22, 2015, Andrea, a student at the Culinary Institute of America demonstrated how to make French Toast with a Twist. Here is the recipe for you to try yourself! It looked really good to me. Or was I just hungry!
French Toast With a Twist Recipe
then
finally
Ingredients:
Directions:
The internet news is buzzing today because the latest Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s has just been released and seems to be upsetting some people and making others happy. Soda makers are unhappy, but egg producers are happy. I wish I could afford a dietitian to cook my meals. I would tell them to go read the report!
Some people in my family like to complain that the government’s guidelines are always changing. But they never have read the actual reports. Instead they just are going by what the news media says.
This time I went out and found a link to the actual Health.gov website where the current report is available for all to see and read. You can read it online or download PDF’s of the report. It is broken up into separate PDFs per chapter, so you don’t have to download the whole thing.
Click here or type the address into your browser.
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/
You still have to exercise and eat your veggies!!
And me, I like to jog over to Starbucks. Coffee is “approved” now!
These quotes below are from an article found at Science Advances – 01 Feb 2015, a new journal of the AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science.
You can also listen to a talk given on NPR’s Science Friday 13 Feb 2015 about this study, with Jason Smerdon, one of the authors. Click here => Science Friday – 13 Feb 2015
There is ≥80% chance of a multidecadal drought during 2050–2099 in the Central Plains and in the Southwest United States. … Ultimately, the consistency of our results suggests an exceptionally high risk of a megadrought occurring over the Central Plains and Southwest regions during the late 21st century.
We have demonstrated that the mean state of drought in the late 21st century over the Central Plains and Southwest will likely exceed even the most severe megadrought periods of the Medieval era in both high and moderate future emissions scenarios, representing an unprecedented fundamental climate shift with respect to the last millennium.
Our results point to a remarkably drier future that falls far outside the contemporary experience of natural and human systems in Western North America, conditions that may present a substantial challenge to adaptation. ….. And, perhaps most importantly for adaptation, recent years have witnessed the widespread depletion of nonrenewable groundwater reservoirs, resources that have allowed people to mitigate the impacts of naturally occurring droughts. In some cases, these losses have even exceeded the capacity of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two major surface reservoirs in the region. Combined with the likelihood of a much drier future and increased demand, the loss of groundwater and higher temperatures will likely exacerbate the impacts of future droughts, presenting a major adaptation challenge for managing ecological and anthropogenic water needs in the region.
Do listen to the NPR podcast linked above. It isn’t as technical as reading the article.
Huge water shortages are coming. The probability of a huge megadrought goes above 80%! Should we move? These are personal questions. On-the-ground stake holders have serious question to ask. It is going to become more expensive to live in California! The rains of the AT&T Pro AM may indeed be a thing of the past.
The problem with moving away from these areas is that, as more and more of these studies come out, people all around us will begin to move. This drought is going to be with us no matter what we do. Planning where to move that will give one a “good life” will become more and more difficult. Northern California or perhaps SW Canada is looking more and more inviting! We don’t need to rush, sometime in the next 15 years would be good. We just need to be ahead of the collapsing land values. 🙂
From Nature Magazine – 5 Feb 2015
Climate engineering — cooling Earth intentionally by modifying its radiation balance — worries many people. We know little about the effectiveness of these technologies or their side effects. The unintended consequences could be profound.
As the consequences of climate change become starker, public calls for interventions may grow. Governments or companies may try climate engineering to reduce the severe impacts predicted by 2050.
The article recommends that government agencies and scientists should begin climate-engineering research now. You can read the full article through the above link. The line that woke me up is “public calls for interventions may grow.” My grandkids will be part of the “public” in 2050.
I finally see how this climate change issue may play out. The fossil fuels lobbies will continue to use mass mind control to obfuscate the issues (disinformation) until the weather itself convinces the populace that something must be done. It will be too late to stop major catastrophes, and we will want to “engineer” our way out of the mess. Finally, the public calls for interventions will grow.
We need to help our Congress understand that we should act now so we don’t have to wait for the above scenario to happen.
“Fossil fuels lobby” is the umbrella term used to name the paid representatives of large fossil fuel (oil, gas, coal) and electric utilities corporations who attempt to influence governmental policy. So-called Big Oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total S.A., Koch Industries, Chevron Corporation, and ConocoPhillips are amongst the largest corporations associated with the energy lobby. General Electric, Southern Co., First Energy, and the Edison Electric Institute are among the influential electric utilities corporations. Both electric companies and big oil and gas companies are consistently among the ten highest-spending industrial lobbyists.
Mechanically, starting a blog using wordpress.com is easy. There are two things that you need to get out of the way first, though, that are most difficult. One is choosing a theme and the other is deciding on a name!
The difficulty with picking a name is that we are getting in to this late in the game and most of the easy names have already been taken! What is really frustrating is some of those names that are taken are for sites that have gone fallow.
It seems like internet address names that are not subscription based are ignored. They get treated like social security numbers: assign them once and they last forever. One would think there would be an easy way to reuse these names, but when a person is already nervous about starting a blog, it is easier to just move on to another name than to try to work through the bureaucracy.
When you start a blog, you should also get yourself a separate email account that will be used only for the blogging system interface. (My experience is only with WordPress blogs.) Depending on how you adjust your Settings, you can receive quite a few emails from the WP system. It will be best, imho, that you keep these emails separated from your normal mail so you can respond as needed.
You can use any email system your prefer. You can get free emails from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and so forth. I went with Google and Gmail because I am used to it, and they have great filters.
Here are 3 Gmail filters that I really like because they help sort my blog’s control emails into 4 separate folders. #1 is for keeping a list of folks who have decided to Follow my blog. #2 is for people who Liked something on my blog. #3 is for mail that I send to myself for memory sake. #4 is everything else (such as Comments) that will stay in the Inbox.
This post is not meant to be a tutorial in Gmail. You need to create the labels before activating the filters, for example. And in #3 above, mymail is the name of your Gmail account.
On my iPad I use the IOS mail system linked to my different mail accounts and can see if I have blog mail that requires immediate action in the overview scan. I can browse the special folders later at my leisure.
It works for me…
This is an experiment in linking from WordPress to Dropbox. I am not recommending this as a habit, this is a test for a folder to use for quicky content changes and for extremely large files like raw DNA files. I’m not sure if this post will last or not.
Click on this link to see photos from Funny Photos. If you want to save copies of pictures, do not use the Download in the upper right corner of the main screen because that doesn’t work right.
When the array of photos appear, clicking on any one of them will make it larger. Use the arrow keys to move from picture to picture.
You can save a full sized copy of any photo by clicking on the 3 dots found in the lower right corner of any picture.
Enjoy.
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Exercising and need to know your target heart rates? The table below shows the averages to help you stay on track.
| AGE | TARGET HR ZONE 50-85% | MAX HEART RATE, 100% |
| 20 years | 100-170 beats per minute | 200 beats per minute |
| 30 years | 95-162 beats per minute | 190 beats per minute |
| 35 years | 93-157 beats per minute | 185 beats per minute |
| 40 years | 90-153 beats per minute | 180 beats per minute |
| 45 years | 88-149 beats per minute | 175 beats per minute |
| 50 years | 85-145 beats per minute | 170 beats per minute |
| 55 years | 83-140 beats per minute | 165 beats per minute |
| 60 years | 80-136 beats per minute | 160 beats per minute |
| 65 years | 78-132 beats per minute | 155 beats per minute |
| 70 years | 75-128 beats per minute | 150 beats per minute |
Jims BBS 