Short video response to your SMUG Vegetarian Friends! Or in my case, my daughter...

Don' t ban plastic bags!! They are GOOD for the environment...

From LA TIMES: The unintended consequences of a plastic bag ban

This opinion piece comes from an admittedly biased source.  However, it is a good example of government policy-making and the tendency to act without considering the full scope of costs relative to benefits (there appears to be no benefits in California).  I would not say the policy is wrong or incorrect, because politicians, being politicians,  respond to constituencies and not necessarily to cost/benefit analysis (two different things in my mind).  Besides, this issue raises my contrarian-self when it comes to policies that are presented and implemented as "slam-dunk/no-brainers"---my inner Bastiat is aroused and I immediately look for the negative consequences that may arise out of such policies.

The issue is a proposed ban in California of plastic bags provided at retail establishments.  We ALL know the reasons (as we are often reminded) why they are bad for the environment, wildlife, litter, etc.  The explicit COSTS are easy to see in terms of the plastic bags themselves (resources to make the bag, production, disposal, etc) if you look ONLY at the bags themselves. 

 But to get an accurate counting of costs, you have to ask "plastic bags are costly RELATIVE to what alternative?" Paper bags? The writer suggests that 85% of people would use paper bags if plastic were banned.  Whether recylced or made from new/farm-raised trees it would entail the use of resources, albeit different resources than making plastic bags, that would be consumed by society. The "seen" is we are not using resources to make plastic bags if they are banned but shifting resources from the production of plastic to paper. Is the net effect "conservation" of societal resources or just moving the burden from one place to another?  This is the "unseen" question I would like to see answered, or at least addressed, when policy-makers implement something as definitive as a ban. 
     Tell me where I am wrong? (Full disclosure:  I get plastic bags at the grocery store.  I re-use them as lunch bags, to put weeds in when doing yard work, and for cleaning the cat box).  Does multiple use reduce my carbon footprint?? ..Also, see THIS BLOG ENTRY on the "costs" of canvas bags...

National Debt Graphic---How much we owe and to whom...

Source: Chicago Tribune

The Gods are Angry--Lightening Strikes Parthenon---Nice Photo!!

How Does Your Income Stack Up To U.S. Government Salaries?

Is it "Yuan" or "Renimbi"?? Inquiring minds want to know....

From BBC: Why China's currency has two names

China has indicated that it will allow its currency to appreciate - following months of pressure from the US. Some refer to the currency as the yuan, others call it the renminbi. Who is right?
Both names are perfectly good, but in slightly different ways.
"Renminbi" is the official name of the currency introduced by the Communist People's Republic of China at the time of its foundation in 1949. It means "the people's currency".
"Yuan" is the name of a unit of the renminbi currency. Something may cost one yuan or 10 yuan. It would not be correct to say that it cost 10 renminbi.An analogy can be drawn with "pound sterling" (the official name of the British currency) and "pound" - a denomination of the pound sterling. Something may cost £1 or £10. It would not be correct to say that it cost 10 sterling.Nor can you talk about the number of renminbi - or the number of sterling - to the dollar....(read more here).

Another disturbing food item that i would eat---Pizza Cone--gotta see this one!!

Paper or Plastic OR your bacteria infested canvas bag?---you choose...

I guess we should wash those once in a while...

LA TIMES: What's in your shopping bag? Bacteria. (But, hey, it's natural!)

Way to go, all you planet-saving shoppers who've made the switch to reusable bags! But consider: "Reusable" doesn't mean "self-cleaning."
Researchers at the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University queried shoppers headed into grocery stores in California and Arizona, asking them if they wash those reusable bags. The researchers were likely met with a lot of blank looks. Most shoppers -- 97%, in fact -- reported that they do not regularly, if ever, wash the bags.
Further, three-fourths acknowledged that they don't use separate bags for meats and for vegetables, and about a third said they used the bags for, well, all sorts of things (storing snacks, toting books). You can see where this is going.
The researchers tested 84 of the bags for bacteria. They found whopping amounts in all but one bag, and coliform bacteria (suggesting raw-meat or uncooked-food contamination) in half. And yes, the much-feared E. coli was among them -- in 12% of the bags.
Here's the full report, Assessment of the Potential for Cross Contamination of Food Products by Reusable Shopping Bags. And more on food-borne illness from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The researchers wrote in their discussion of the findings:

"It is estimated that there are about 76,000,000 cases of foodborne illness in the United States every year. Most of these illnesses originate in the home from improper cooking or handling of foods. Reusable bags, if not properly washed between uses, create the potential for cross-contamination of foods. This potential exists when raw meat products and foods traditionally eaten uncooked (fruits and vegetables) are carried in the same bags, either together or between uses. This risk can be increased by the growth of bacteria in the bags."

The study, funded by the American Chemistry Council, is being offered up as context in discussions about a California bill, AB 1998, that would ban single-use plastic bags, which -- it must be acknowledged -- do tend to have little potential for bacterial contamination.
But the researchers also assessed the effectiveness of washing the bags. Way to go, researchers! Good news on that front: Machine washing or hand washing reduced bacteria levels to almost nothing.

This is NOT an episode of "Reno 911" but it could be---86 year old granny taserd in bed because of "aggressive posture"...

(CN) - Police Tasered an 86-year-old disabled grandma

""Police Tasered an 86-year-old disabled grandmain her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she couldn't breathe, after her grandson called 911 seeking medical assistance, the woman and her grandson claim in Oklahoma City Federal Court. Though the grandson said, "Don't Taze my granny!" an El Reno police officer told another cop to "Taser her!" and wrote in his police report that he did so because the old woman "took a more aggressive posture in her bed," according to the complaint.
Lonnie Tinsley claims that he called 911 after he went to check on his grandmother, whom he found in her bed, "connected to a portable oxygen concentrator with a long hose." She is "in marginal health, [and] takes several prescribed medications daily," and "was unable to tell him exactly when she had taken her meds," so, Tinsley says, he called 911 "to ask for an emergency medical technician to come to her apartment to evaluate her."
In response, "as many as ten El Reno police" officers "pushed their way through the door," according to the complaint.
The grandma, Lona Varner, "told them to get out of her apartment."
The remarkable complaint continues: "Instead, the apparent leader of the police [defendant Thomas Duran] instructed another policeman to 'Taser her!' He stated in his report that the 86 year-old plaintiff 'took a more aggressive posture in her bed,' and that he was fearful for his safety and the safety of others.
"Lonnie Tinsley told them, 'Don't taze my Granny!' to which they responded that they would Taser him; instead, they pulled him out of her apartment, took him down to the floor, handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a police car.
"The police then proceeded to approach Ms. Varner in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation.
"The police then fired a Taser at her and only one wire struck her, in the left arm; the police then fired a second Taser, striking her to the right and left of the midline of her upper chest and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain and to pass out.""

Cat with Bionic Feet---If you like cats, you will LOVE this (No Cat jokes from my collegues)

From  BBC: Bionic feet for amputee cat (Click on the link for a 3 minute video)

""A cat that had its back feet severed by a combine harvester has been given two prosthetic limbs in a pioneering operation by a UK vet. The new feet are custom-made implants that "peg" the ankle to the foot. They are bioengineered to mimic the way deer antler bone grows through the skin.  The operation - a world first - was carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinary surgeon based in Surrey. His work is explored in a BBC documentary called The Bionic Vet. The cat, named Oscar, was referred to Mr Fitzpatrick by his local vet in Jersey, following the accident last October. Oscar was struck by the combine harvester whilst dozing in the sun. The prosthetic pegs, called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (Itaps) were developed by a team from University College London led by Professor Gordon Blunn, who is head of UCL's Centre for Biomedical Engineering. Professor Blunn and his team have worked in partnership with Mr Fitzpatrick to develop these weight-bearing implants, combining engineering mechanics with biology.  Mr Fitzpatrick explained: "The real revolution with Oscar is [that] we have put a piece of metal and a flange into which skin grows into an extremely tight bone."  "We have managed to get the bone and skin to grow into the implant and we have developed an 'exoprosthesis' that allows this implant to work as a see-saw on the bottom of an animal's limbs to give him effectively normal gait." Professor Blunn told BBC News the idea was initially developed for patients with amputations who have a "stump socket". "This means they fix their artifical limb with a sock, which fits over the stump. In a lot of cases this is sucessful, but you [often] get rubbing and pressure sores."  The Itap technology is being tested in humans and has already been used to create a prosthetic for a woman who lost her arm in the July 2005 London bombings. "The intriguing thing with Oscar was that he had two implants - one in each back leg, and in quite an unusual site," Professor Blunn told BBC News.  He said that the success of this operation showed the potential of the technology.
"Noel has some brilliant ideas," he added. "And we're continuing to work closely with him to develop new technologies." The Bionic Vet is on BBC 1 at 2245 BST on Wednesdays...""

"Not from the Onion: EPA Classifies Milk as Oil"---SHOULD we cry over Spilt Milk???

Outcry from farmers over spilled milk rule (HT: Marginal Revolution)

""Ottawa County, MI — Milk does a body good, but what does it do to a river?
New Environmental Protection Agency regulations treat spilled milk like oil, requiring farmers to build extra storage tanks and form emergency spill plans.  Local farming advocates says it’s ridiculous to regulate a liquid with a small percentage of butter fat the same way as the now-infamous BP oil spill.  It’s just another, unnecessary over-regulation by the government just lacking any common sense,” said Bill Robb, dairy educator for Michigan State University Extension.  “But milk actually has a lot of nutrients. If it spills, all the animals and the critters would have an extra dose of nutrients.”  The EPA regulations state that “milk typically contains a percentage of animal fat, which is a non-petroleum oil. Thus, containers storing milk are subject to the Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Program rule when they meet the applicability criteria ...”  Michigan lawmakers have picked up on the sour scent of the regulations — state Sen. Wayne Kuipers on the state level and U.S. Rep. Candice Miller in Washington.  “The EPA has an important job, and it should properly place its focus where it belongs — on spilled oil, not spilled milk,” Miller said.
Michael Geerlings, a dairy farmer with farms in Allegan and Kent counties, said 2009 was the worst for the dairy industry in 80 years.  Will 2010 be as bad?  “I hope not, because I don’t know if I’ll stay in business if it is,” he said.  And adding extra regulations won’t help that already sinking bottom line, said Ottawa County MSU-E Director Adam Kantrovich.  “If they follow through with this, it will become detrimental, and I can easily see some of the smaller producers going out of business because of the cost,” he said. Already, the EPA is responding to the backlash from lawmakers and farmers....""

Maybe there is a silver lining:

 ""  In response to a letter from the National Milk Producers Federation, EPA officials are extending implementation dates until the EPA decides whether or not to include milk storage facilities with the new rules. ""

Gas prices and the Demand for Housing---Complements are COOL!!

     Complements come in all shapes and sizes. Here is one I had not thought of before:  The relationship between gasoline prices and the demand for housing in areas away from a central city.  Complements are goods that are separate and distinct but are often used together, and when the price of one of the goods increases or decreases, it likely decreases or increases the demand for the complementary good.  There is an inverse relationship between price change in one and the demand for the other.  In this case, the researchers find evidence that higher gasoline prices negatively impact the demand for housing the further away one gets from metropolitan areas where a preponderance of major employers are concentrated.  There are a whole host of reasons people choose to move from urban areas to suburban areas (crime, schools, "quality of life", etc) but seldom is the price of gasoline mentioned as a primary motivator or de-motivator.  Do these other reasons suggest some people may not be very responsive to increases in the price of gasoline, hence their demand for suburban housing is not affected? The research seems to suggest it is people "at the margin" (people on the fringes of deciding to migrate to the suburbs) who are more sensitive to the economic, as opposed to social issue of gas prices, and it plays a larger role than the quality of life issues mentioned above, in the decision to move or not...Hmmmm...COMPLEMENTS ARE COOL!!

The Effect of Gasoline Prices on Household Location---(scroll down for PDF link)

"Gasoline prices influence where households decide to locate by changing the cost of commuting.  Consequently, the substantial increase in gas prices since 2003 may have reduced the demand for housing in areas far from employment centers, leading to a decrease in the price and/or quantity  of housing in those locations relative to locations closer to jobs. Using annual panel data on ZIP codes and municipalities in a large number of metropolitan areas of the United States from 1981 to 2008, we find that a 10 percent increase in gas prices leads to a 10 percent decrease in construction after 4 years in locations with a long average commute relative to locations closer to jobs, but to no significant change in house prices. Thus, the supply response may prevent the change in housing demand from capitalizing in house prices. Because housing is durable, the resulting change in construction has a long-lived impact on the spatial distribution of housing units."

The Japanese solve Global Warming AND get Jay Leno off the air at the SAME TIME!!

Japanese told to go to bed an hour early to cut carbon emissions

""The Japanese government has launched a campaign encouraging people to go to bed and get up extra early in order to reduce household carbon dioxide emissions.The Morning Challenge campaign, unveiled by the Environment Ministry, is based on the premise that swapping late night electricity for an extra hour of morning sunlight could significantly cut the nation's carbon footprint.  A typical family can reduce its carbon dioxide footprint by 85kg a year if everyone goes to bed and gets up one hour earlier, according to the campaign.
The amount of carbon dioxide emissions potentially saved from going to bed an hour early was the equivalent of 20 per cent of annual emissions from household lights, "Many Japanese people waste electric power at night time, for example by watching TV until very late," a ministry spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph...."

Immigrants and the jobs they perform...Nice graphic showing country of origin and jobs performed...

A very nice interactive graph showing the number of immigrants and their country of origin in different, broad, categories of employment (note on the left side of the graphic the different categories and sub-categories)...

Immigration and Jobs: Where U.S. Workers Come From

How much will you sell your spot for in the I-Phone line? This ain't my grandfathers recession...

Spots in iPhone line going for $1,000 each

The Big Apple has iPhone fever -- and it's gotten so bad that places in an all-day, all-night line to get one are going for more than the pricey gadget itself.
A full day before the latest update to the multimedia cellphone was scheduled to go on sale, lines snaked around the Apple flagship store on Fifth Avenue at 59th Street. Some high-tech fans actually lined up on Tuesday for today's launch of the iPhone 4.
The crowd included several entrepreneurs who were hawking their places in line for $1,000 -- for a phone whose top price is $299.
"We're really trying to sell our spots," said Joey Mallon, 18, who had come from Boston with pal Wil Parcellin, 18. They were second and third in the line of more than 100.


"We've got postings on [the Web sites] Craigslist and MacRumors. We've got offers for up to $100, but we're waiting for it to go up to $1,000," he said. Julio Grullon, 19, of The Bronx -- who first lined up at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday -- was hoping to make more than that. Someone already offered him $1,200, he said. "People see us from the street and throw out numbers," said the 19-year-old, who was fifth in line. "We're in the mentality of making money and the more we wait, the better offers we get." Some Apple fans were paying people to wait in line for them. At one point yesterday, a man who would give his name only as "Tony" paid a homeless man with food to wait in line. Several witnesses said that after three hours, the homeless man had a seizure and had to be taken away by ambulance. The man -- who first gave his name as Steve, and then as George -- showed back up at the line later looking no worse for wear. But he had to get behind about 100 people by then. Rodney Byerson, 29, was also being paid to stand in line. The Manhattan man is a production assistant at a TV company he wouldn't name, and he said that he was being paid to wait there so that one of his bosses could be first to get his or her hands on the phone. "They are rotating us in and out," he said of the company's plan.