tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63596736666321201752024-02-21T03:18:01.180-08:00Abram KatzA professional and personal blog containing work samples, experience, and various musings.Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.comBlogger147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-57137527088635376522022-06-17T13:24:00.005-07:002022-06-17T13:45:34.647-07:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVw5FQsNWSVKaV1aXI-8CJAtPqInFEXw6IqYds1hWLmjxGVxJ0X_4FMYiSqgNO1SdMaunpw7yw7ms3VszJ2HS-ZWsSBKB-ftw0G7MrUq6RfpAwttGRfMrR_xRQYOxozlEK_rx2WNkeYJmo2DPyfJU_g_S7KdGRHMSTmy1AmFfCBltj3PykB1X_Aw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="336" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVw5FQsNWSVKaV1aXI-8CJAtPqInFEXw6IqYds1hWLmjxGVxJ0X_4FMYiSqgNO1SdMaunpw7yw7ms3VszJ2HS-ZWsSBKB-ftw0G7MrUq6RfpAwttGRfMrR_xRQYOxozlEK_rx2WNkeYJmo2DPyfJU_g_S7KdGRHMSTmy1AmFfCBltj3PykB1X_Aw" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbYz_tpwE7zPjPtEhzEWAiLhfk890DqttdTEyqxhEQxn1WkAGzRG4WAT5Epjhoj0yILMFXY-oqasFIQzFZBhfyVtgCD1vo1Z8ZkLy5ewgyfM_ZYq41NtdCFwUvSppv9O84QjRru0Y4jgw__NwSUW9uZ2nsBHJtzIiJzZPrpLRoriLRvsWiJ3ulAA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="336" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbYz_tpwE7zPjPtEhzEWAiLhfk890DqttdTEyqxhEQxn1WkAGzRG4WAT5Epjhoj0yILMFXY-oqasFIQzFZBhfyVtgCD1vo1Z8ZkLy5ewgyfM_ZYq41NtdCFwUvSppv9O84QjRru0Y4jgw__NwSUW9uZ2nsBHJtzIiJzZPrpLRoriLRvsWiJ3ulAA" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiB7uKDcBqLu0aIzugqlYqJGwq-PH95sKn7SABTu0cSpgXXcNpmH8ORZWcnuM6m3oRf20fwNj-CWGWeAjKO-CnD-KAQ24hE-cpAd4nxaUtIrl7hNKCl4-NNC0UcLyskdRM6S1eZBxMgg6yFi9OVvGGUbhCrPDY7y7pSZbjgoDBTcrWh7_u-f8VaXQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="336" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiB7uKDcBqLu0aIzugqlYqJGwq-PH95sKn7SABTu0cSpgXXcNpmH8ORZWcnuM6m3oRf20fwNj-CWGWeAjKO-CnD-KAQ24hE-cpAd4nxaUtIrl7hNKCl4-NNC0UcLyskdRM6S1eZBxMgg6yFi9OVvGGUbhCrPDY7y7pSZbjgoDBTcrWh7_u-f8VaXQ" width="320" /></a></div><br /><img alt="" border="0" class="placeholder" height="240" id="ee75214dc403b" src="https://www.blogger.com/img/transparent.gif" style="background-color: #d8d8d8; background-image: url('https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/i/materialiconsextended/insert_photo/v6/grey600-24dp/1x/baseline_insert_photo_grey600_24dp.png'); background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat; opacity: 0.6;" width="320" /></div><br /></div><br />There's Gold in them thar swamps!</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div>Watch enough YouTube and you will see a place where old electronic junk is repaired and renovated using little more than running water, a few screw drivers and boundless determination.</span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I've watched a few of these miraculous rebirths and have a few ideas about how these are staged and carried out.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">First, lets set the stage: an Asian man, age unknown, is scuffling through an unnamed Asian country, looking at trash.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> He often comes to an impromptu trash site where someone of means has discarded a valuable piece of electronics: Ear Buds, an air conditioner, an old Sony PlayStation, etc. Sometimes his travails are accompanied by jaunty music.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The man dutifully takes his dirt-encrusted prize back to his workshop, which is down a tree-lined boulevard, a few less wholesome streets, and ends at his red tiled abode. I might note that all of these finds are covered with the same kind and color of soil. We'll come back to that.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There, within sounds of hens clucking, children making low screams, and snippets of conversation in whatever language is spoken wherever this takes place. The find is immediately disassembled using screw drivers, some hex wrenches and little else. Once I saw an electronic meter.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Wiring was promptly removed and cast aside. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Occasionally sandpaper is used, along with gallons of fresh water. Recently the show presented a discarded Toshiba air conditioner. Lugged back to the shop was a stained, rusty object, with some actual parts of air conditioners -- a compressor, a reservoir for coolant, some valves, a fan and a large propeller. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The air conditioner was completely unassembled, scraped free of paint and a screen was washed with water. More clucking and screaming. After the gross dirty was removed, using ubiquitous white power. (Soap I imagine), the parts were spray painted with a red primer followed by a coat of white paint. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The cast aside electronics were cleaned with water and some removed fittings were reattached to the mechanism by braising. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Wires were reattached, someone soldered a circuit board, and that's that. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Then a rusty tank of coolant, I'm assuming, was connected to the brass fittings and turned on. No telltale hissing was noted. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The last scene is people huddled around an apparently working air conditioner.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Here's what I think. This is only a theory. (I don't want legal suits,) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Someone higher up the food chain selects new or slightly used consumer electronics. He or his minions take them and dip them in mud, and possibly daubed them with some other easily removable soil. Then they plant the "broken" whatever in a trash heap.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The alleged renovator is told were the whatever is and he tromps around until he finds it and heads home of the red-tiled workshop. The mud easily rinses off in most cases. So do many "rust" stains etc. Then the magic happens.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Ear Buds caked with muck come out looking brand new, as does most everything they renovate. So, this renovation is theater. Entertainment. As such, who am I to criticize?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div>Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-36379154725898374992021-06-23T15:23:00.001-07:002021-06-23T15:23:32.578-07:00The Sounds of Summer<div><br /></div><div>Ah, the sounds of summer, a summer now almost free of Covid-19.</div><div><br /></div><div>The sweet song of the ice cream truck, the cooing of doves, the reverberating bounce of a basketball, the shrieks of kids doing whatever kids do.</div><div><br /></div><div>The night also has sounds, some good and some annoying. One of the worst is the hum, buzz, click clacks, and muffled sobs of air-conditioning. The just-as-you're-fallling asleep blare of the air conditioner cycling. </div><div><br /></div><div> Turning the volume of your television so high that folks a mile away can hear it, so that you can hear it over the air conditioner.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0MVDxETVxtRhRLWlK1hnGS_qKVcfUuZoZxginnBWc4gmNvDmZIAwc1htcyePISlQ8gvmEfgYrqw9KlE_kjlxDzC_GiWf3p4KtqZLIYdtq-i_zHYAX0RRGJjkk3HVRwIFHXqPgN1F9g/s284/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0MVDxETVxtRhRLWlK1hnGS_qKVcfUuZoZxginnBWc4gmNvDmZIAwc1htcyePISlQ8gvmEfgYrqw9KlE_kjlxDzC_GiWf3p4KtqZLIYdtq-i_zHYAX0RRGJjkk3HVRwIFHXqPgN1F9g/s0/download.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Why are air conditioners noisy? What are all of those dissonant sounds? </div><div><br /></div><div>The basis of air-conditioning seems simple: a compressed gas released through a small hole becomes extremely cold. The heat inside shifts eagerly to the cold air and is then whisked away. Something like that. </div><div><br /></div><div>As suggested, an air conditioner has a compressor. It's there to compress a refrigerant, which means a chemical that destroys ozone, or it used to. Safer refrigerants are now used.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once the refrigerant is cold, it is circulated through a series of tubes, which unwound, would be a zillion miles long. The circulating cold in the tubes takes the heat of the room away. A fan behind the tubes blowing into the room, helps the process along. </div><div><br /></div><div>When the tubes warm up the refrigerant travels to another region of tubes. There the refrigerant condenses. This place is called, reasonably, the condenser. It's connected to the cold tubes but on the outside of the window. As you may recall, condensation releases heat. Another fan helps blow the warm air away, The refrigerant travels back through the compressor and the whole cycle begins again. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, that helps explain the noises. The compressor is an electrical device, probably not well shielded for sound, and designed to work non-stop for months or years. The refrigerant is gurgling through the tubes, creating a lessor drumbeat of noise.The fans may be creaky or unbalanced. The axles that the fans spin on may be a bit warped or twisted.</div><div><br /></div><div>The cover of the air conditioner is made out of relatively flimsy plastic that vibrates when the compressor, fans, condenser coils, and other relays, switches, and valves click on and off. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jamming something, like a wood shim, between the case and the wall or window frame might deaden the vibrations. Or you could wear earplugs -- or just get used to the noise. </div><div><br /></div><div>Modern houses, built in the past 50 years, put the compressor outside in a small enclosure. The less noisy parts are inside the house. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Several decades ago Albert Einstein, the atomic genius, and a an acquaintance, Leo Szilard, future father of the hydrogen bomb, developed a novel refrigerator that used heat to create cold. It consisted of three loops containing ammonia, butane, and water. The device required no electricity. Einstein was apparently interested in air conditioning due to a accidental release of refrigerant that reportedly killed a family in Vienna in 1926. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-N03rtTnI5H9piqrLLojDK7a2WCIUVHdwDjRqEi2X-eY60LEHhcI8ELMPLXhXAuBTPFjQ0y9ntLU6fuEg901mzP39Opk5jDT9OyjR7V-KQYdGlbB5_6_ajjDeD8OOwsyS7arEWdE6OQ/s238/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-N03rtTnI5H9piqrLLojDK7a2WCIUVHdwDjRqEi2X-eY60LEHhcI8ELMPLXhXAuBTPFjQ0y9ntLU6fuEg901mzP39Opk5jDT9OyjR7V-KQYdGlbB5_6_ajjDeD8OOwsyS7arEWdE6OQ/s0/Unknown.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Einstein and Szilard refrigerator <br />diagram</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The descendants of the Einstein-Szilard refrigerator are now used in nuclear power plants, where the absence of moving parts more than compensates for the air conditioner's complexity. </div><div><br /></div><div>If price were no object could a quiet air conditioner be produced? A quieter one, sure. It would be packed with noise-dampeningn foam, contain a carefully designed and balanced compressor, and equally precise fans, belts, tubing and so on. The quiet ar conditioner would probably cost as much as a new car, roughly speaking. </div><div><br /></div><div>As the greenhouse effect heats Earth to levels unprecedented since pre-history, think about how air conditioning works, about Einstein the inventor, and about how how delicious the sound of the window air conditioner clunking and buzzing away. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJksMV_l7m97Se9BK4wlolbMZIPoYy5sp0W5ZeDninUZUG4jyscRyYEOfRLKEOim2lOL-BC2VuwTMqkR1ltbc0yf6gGAdry8PYfmrRmuMSGhIaZWoXOpeAIBF7HJEJ-fFLkoiF-5r-Aw/s276/images.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJksMV_l7m97Se9BK4wlolbMZIPoYy5sp0W5ZeDninUZUG4jyscRyYEOfRLKEOim2lOL-BC2VuwTMqkR1ltbc0yf6gGAdry8PYfmrRmuMSGhIaZWoXOpeAIBF7HJEJ-fFLkoiF-5r-Aw/s0/images.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some air conditioners are quieter than others</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br />Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-66635881109736338392021-06-10T09:20:00.003-07:002021-06-10T09:23:21.396-07:00Bitcoin, Money and The World of Make Believe<script type="text/javascript">
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</script><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnkR2fXZpFcTn69u_xSW2_bdfZcX1EL19NTcgYuxVPFCbmvIVrXb8_n9F64fSqew9felZx3t2gao4CB3YuVFTAoFS1Ft7dZ_j-VKkxo9hhKtPBJ6wyDMz83-qbJTOAkfz3ZYf5kfFDQ/s300/images-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnkR2fXZpFcTn69u_xSW2_bdfZcX1EL19NTcgYuxVPFCbmvIVrXb8_n9F64fSqew9felZx3t2gao4CB3YuVFTAoFS1Ft7dZ_j-VKkxo9hhKtPBJ6wyDMz83-qbJTOAkfz3ZYf5kfFDQ/w400-h224/images-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Confused by Bitcoin?</div><div>Of course you are!</div><div>That's really the whole point. If you know about Bitcoin, you are likely a criminal, a would-be criminal, a law enforcement official, or one of the alleged people who created Bitcoin,</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I do not understand Bitcoin, despite a perfunctory Google search. Bitcoin is a decentralized, anonymous database, or something like that. Bitcoin has value because -- like actual money -- some people believe it does.</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of actual money, like dollars and cents, consider how "real" they are.</div><div>You carry a wallet full of paper bills and a pocket with a few coins. Is the paper and alloy inherently valuable? No.</div><div><br /></div><div> It represents something.</div><div><br /></div><div>Money is as confusing and weird as Bitcoin, but we have become used to it, Eons ago, someone realized that gold is in very short supply and hence, is inherently valuable. Rarity seems to be the source of value -- supply and demand -- whatever that means.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our currency is "backed" (?) by gold stored in Fort Knox, or that's how money used to be explained in school. Seashells and other items were the first money, but they became impractical. So someone, Adam Smith, perhaps, came up with a representational system. A one dollar bill represents one actual dollar somewhere. Where? I don't know, but presumably someone like Paul Krugman does. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6upp7bg_92sJZ1GULl_h3m2V-DtprRRfn_TJ8xN_NF0KRgGVtyK5S3DDHEbR_CfwV7_f6_gayPINA5smDpTKsPKjwDuX5nf5XrqMVRlGM78i0J3nv3fcbVwCSkhyphenhypheneymxgpteNuQuMGg/s252/images.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="142" data-original-width="252" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6upp7bg_92sJZ1GULl_h3m2V-DtprRRfn_TJ8xN_NF0KRgGVtyK5S3DDHEbR_CfwV7_f6_gayPINA5smDpTKsPKjwDuX5nf5XrqMVRlGM78i0J3nv3fcbVwCSkhyphenhypheneymxgpteNuQuMGg/w200-h113/images.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Paper money is lighter than silver or alloy coins, so it is, our was, the way criminals bought and sold stuff. Money, inn theory, is untraceable and it is fungible, meaning that it can be used in other ways, like making small paper airplanes.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The New York Times, the newsprint version, explained today that our government was able to trace Bitcoins paid for ransom after cybercriminals seized a pipeline (how?) in the United States. The Department of Justice was apparently able to reclaim a large part of the ransom, by somehow determining the private password of the Bitcoin database or blockchain that the criminals used.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bitcoin is virtual, meaning it does not really exist, sort of like Britney Spears or the Royals. The stuff of Bitcoin is stored on servers somewhere, huge conglomerations of computers in storehouses in places like like Utah or Mars. </div><div><br /></div><div>So is our "money." So, in fact, is almost everything else not counting private property like cars and houses. I've read about arcane activities such as mining Bitcoin, which would make sense to people who'd understand Bitcoin.</div><div><br /></div><div>If there are any.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-59917463053165217062020-03-27T14:50:00.001-07:002020-03-27T14:50:45.262-07:00A Magazine For Losers To Feel Like Winners<script type="text/javascript">
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Our son, Alexander, is a successful adult and is living comfortably in New York. </div>
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We still get his mail occasionally. That's how the latest issue of Inc. magazine entered our house.<br />
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I cannot imagine Alex or any other actual businessman or woman, or entrepreneur, reading this periodical. </div>
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Inc. reminds me of Men's Health published by Rodale Inc.<br />
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A magazine about mens' health would certainly be welcome. It would concentrate on aging, diet, obesity, anti-depressants, high blood pressure, cancer of all kinds, infectious diseases, genetics, dental health, and the latest advances in medicines, drugs, sports medicine, and exercise advice from primary sources.</div>
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This version of Men's Health would be a lighter New England Journal of Medicine, with a wry columnist, a few news stories, and some photos. </div>
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As it is, Men's Health, Rodale edition, is not intended for its readers. Articles are about young successful actors, athletes, models and other handsome, trim men. These characters are presented as successful executives or middle managers who want to get ahead. </div>
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Any actual news about men and health that somehow gains access to Men's Health is there by accident. </div>
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Likewise, Inc. is supposedly for middle and junior executives, entrepreneurs, and business owners of cool merchandise. Who reads it? Certainly not real executives or entrepreneurs. <br />
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No, the readership is made up of tired old coots who wish they were scions of industry. Just as the people who read Men's Health are flabby losers who want to feel sharp. Like all magazines it's cover features lists of numbers: 8 ways to tell if you're poor, 12 things to tell your psychiatrist; 3 signs she's cheating on you, etc.<br />
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I have a feeling Inc. is no more.<br />
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Pity.<br />
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-13227682751195967392020-03-16T12:11:00.003-07:002020-03-27T14:42:45.926-07:00The Difficult Easy Chair Okay. It's been awhile. <script type="text/javascript">
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We live in desperate times, and I'm desperate to write. You know how that is.<br />
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Will anyone read this? Likely not.</div>
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Have you ever tried to take apart an inexpensive arm chair? Again, likely not.</div>
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We found one on the side of the road, and being frugal, or whatever, carted it back home. I insisted on a 2-week quarantine in the garage to let the infecting fleas, ticks, earwigs, ants, bedbugs, bees, wasps, aphids, et al, escape. Also mice and other small animals.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a much nicer new chair, but you get the idea. Its big.</td></tr>
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We dragged it onto the porch, which converted the space into a surreal painting -- tiny room with enormous chair, in the style of Magritte. Then chair went back got the garage. <b>We wanted to get rid of it, but once you've taken ownership things get a lot more difficult.</b></div>
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We left it on the curb. No one wanted it. Then it got rained on and No One wanted it. We were stuck with it, but I had a plan of sorts: dissemble he chair and throw it away bit by bit. Sort of the way POWs got rid of tunnel dirt in movies.<br />
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The chair was really a fold-out footrest deal, with a fair amount of metal parts. Those were relatively easy to disengage. And people want scrap aluminum or steel or whatever alloy that was.</div>
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I assumed this thing was made in Canada, largely because the U.S. stopped making furniture when I was about 2 or 3 years old. Deep within the chair, far from any casual shopper's view, was a small slip of (stapled) piece s of paper, addressed to everyone and no one.<br />
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The chair was "45 percent foam...55 percent polyester" -- no talk of wood or metal-- made by El Ran Furniture LTD.../Point Caire, Quebec.<br />
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The chair's serial number, in the event of its being stolen and recovered, was 100225724002.<br />
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My wife told me that taking apart the chair was a waste of time and that I would probably injure myself. However, a person has to do with a person has to do.<br />
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El Ran be dammed. </div>
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I took a sledge hammer to it, without much effect. The cloth covering of some synthetic fiber held the rest of the chair together and was surprisingly resilient. Not like a sheet of cotton. More like bullet resistant Kevlar.</div>
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<b>I pried it apart one snowy evening, leaving three main parts connected by the connective tissue of textile. The carcass had two arms. a back devoid of fill. It was all wood. </b></div>
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But it had scant screws and other expensive (?) joiners. Mostly it was held together by staples. </div>
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Not little staples that hold school papers together, although there was smaller sized staples. The plywood and pine of the chair were striven by enormous staples, spread intentionally and also willy-nilly.<br />
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Staples held the cloth together, which in turn kept the wood from coming apart. Like skin. </div>
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No, this was nothing like dissecting a body. Not even close.<br />
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I imagined the El Ran factory floor: young blond, scruffy men with staple guns, lunging and stapling in a mad cloud. Occasional laughter and swearing as they installed staples in devil-may-care insouciance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8zFGXSBBkj5-i6Re6TLXyhJIx05CII0ku7lKiRhok5uaw1RMfmqbu8Pk59MPWq6U7uVtH_ZSeNc0L9FNRTkJm-5u5Lmz_epEUml89MYvBPzNsj5WZY-uP_a43dl0ZuwiHZWgi7SbDA/s1600/0-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8zFGXSBBkj5-i6Re6TLXyhJIx05CII0ku7lKiRhok5uaw1RMfmqbu8Pk59MPWq6U7uVtH_ZSeNc0L9FNRTkJm-5u5Lmz_epEUml89MYvBPzNsj5WZY-uP_a43dl0ZuwiHZWgi7SbDA/s320/0-1.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This small piece of plywood had numerous staples. Was this necessary?</td></tr>
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I removed staples by hammering the backsides of plywood, prying them loose with a crowbar and smaller similar tools. Leverage was usually tricky, as you could imagine. Brute force sometimes worked, but often left half staples, sharp as needles sticking out of the wood in unpredictable places.<br />
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I began to imagine how it was built. The workers don't call them staples, I'm sure. They are either "connectors" or some Canadian slang only known to chair assemblers. How are the staples installed? My mind sees young (blonde) men going crazy with enormous staple guns. Who gets stuck. with the tiny staples? Either the oldest or the youngest workers.<br />
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<b> Maybe small staples are a reward for service.</b><br />
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I have cleared a small piece of plywood and a leg of staples.<br />
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There are a few more lurking, I know. Staples, unlike nails, bend, making them difficult to remove. Those scruffy guys knew what they were doing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikLa45YC-8niWNMdL23x59XnMyG0g_Fd514xBVXtM0ISZGqy-gEuxeK2aPqa34jdS57bS5-DB4NOwK1s95wpcTL_LDVXpEmlgiJmp0SOju9wsr3I2HHThapbULQal8yAge4EUj4cXNLw/s1600/0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="360" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikLa45YC-8niWNMdL23x59XnMyG0g_Fd514xBVXtM0ISZGqy-gEuxeK2aPqa34jdS57bS5-DB4NOwK1s95wpcTL_LDVXpEmlgiJmp0SOju9wsr3I2HHThapbULQal8yAge4EUj4cXNLw/s320/0.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All of the staples removed from oner leg and a small piece of plywood. </td></tr>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-8329941445827038972018-03-05T17:44:00.002-08:002018-03-23T10:03:14.759-07:00Kinder and Gentler <script type="text/javascript">
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This posting seems inevitable and misguided, but that's just my routine negative thoughts speaking. </div>
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The same negative thoughts that brought me to the desire -- the imperative -- to end what was going on in my head. Fortunately I asked and received help, which sometimes felt like being in jail.<br />
My fellow patients, however, did not seem crazy at all. </div>
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Many were just like me. </div>
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I'm writing this as a blog post with the knowledge that next to no one ever reads this. Why? </div>
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Because the stigma and shame depression has to be calmed. I feel better.<br />
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Here's what happened:</div>
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Things became stressful in 2008. I had been depressed since could remember and had concealed it fairly well. Then came the death of my father and a sister, open heart surgery to repair a floppy mitral valve, and throat cancer.<br />
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To top this all off I was laid off as science editor of the New Haven Register after 30 years of work.<br />
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Unfortunately for me, I <i>loved</i> that job. It was interesting, challenging and satisfying. Writing about medicine and science did not seem like work -- and thus became an easily worn identity. At the time I frequently brought a negative attitude to work.<br />
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More than a negative attitude. I was looking at the world through lenses colored by difficult parents, shaky genes, and a problematic environment. Depression started when I was a child.<br />
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Depression has remained a vague and under-researched condition. The word has a 19th Century feel. One word that describes a variety of disorders that have similar symptoms, like "the croup." Depression can make a person eat too much or too little; sleep too much or too little; talk too much or too little; etc.<br />
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No one deserves to be laid off after 30 years, not even a sarcastic, ironic know-it-all. Collected unemployment, taught at Quinnipiac University, paid back unemployment, wrote a bit for the New Haven Independent, and ended up in the straits of volunteers.<br />
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I got booted from New Haven Reads. I am not aware of this happening to anyone else. I wrote the following limerick and another person left it faced up on her desk:</div>
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Unemployment's a terrible curse</div>
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and it's only going to get worse.</div>
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I don't have a future to bandage or suture</div>
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so I guess I'll just wait for a hearse.</div>
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Maybe it was a "cry for help." The person then in charge of New Haven Reads asked I was OK. I said <b>no one</b> was OK. She asked if I was receiving psychiatric help. I said everyone there could use psychiatric help. I subsequently received an email informing me that I was not a "good fit" with the program.<br />
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With nothing to do but ruminate, nothing I wanted to do, depression worsened and I became increasingly irritable. Friends did not see this because I saved it all for my wife, who began to talk about selling the house and moving out.<br />
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My whole fetid world was thrown into chaos and my brain began to produce waves of intolerable panic. Panic that could not be controlled or confined. Panic that made me feel like what I imagine a trapped mouse feels.<br />
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Panic became unbearable and I concluded that it must be stopped. Looking out of a window on a sunny fall day I decided that I either had to start consuming heroic amounts of alcohol. Or stop my brain with a shotgun blast.<br />
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Why did I not choose drinking? That has all sorts of societal and medical ramifications. That blowing my brains out seemed like a better solution now seems darkly funny. Sort of.<br />
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I drove to a nearby mall where I recall having gone to a sporting goods store that sold rifles, pistols and shotguns. No panic at all. I had the serenity of someone who has solved a problem. The calmness that comes from knowing a solution, an easy solution, to what seems like the end of the world. </div>
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A still-healthy part of my mind directed me to a store, which had gone out of business. I drove home and called one of my sisters and told her what I was planing. She suggested --strongly -- that I go to a hospital.<br />
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I reluctantly admitted myself and then spent a month at Yale Psychiatric Hospital on a floor I could not leave surrounded by equally, and sometimes more screwy, patients. Several were there to detox from alcohol, synthetic or actual opiates, prescription drugs, and who knows what else.<br />
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Others were like I had been. No one on the floor mentioned suicide. Maybe that was beside the point, or perhaps there was no reason, already locked up in a loony bin.<br />
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If I could think of anything original to write about life in a mental hospital I would.<br />
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During my stay I met with psychiatrists who suggested that electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) might help me. ECT, which, by the way, does not include electric shocks, had been suggested to me before. Now it seemed like the time.<br />
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ECT does not magically transform most patients in a single treatment. But as I was treated, I did feel the undertow of depression begin to fade.<br />
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Modern ECT (No grimacing, thrashing, broken bones, shackles, or amnesia) has helped many people, most of whom are not eager to share the experience.<br />
Dick Cavett, Kitty DuKakis, David Foster Wallace and Dr. Sherwin Nuland, are a few who did not mind sharing.<br />
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I'm hoping depression has lost its grip and does not return.<br />
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Meanwhile, I'm trying to be gentler and kinder to myself and others, including my wife.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMW5ax80QD2n01TiLmW01aBeDG9vin1ISGl8WQag2XKL3hJ9r7mNquuv5L7n-1PPcCcziNef0YhOS6_Tjh20dEQGTMp4mOiTMP1uucSx6H3BWQIUDSxBZAkFOcQQl2jxijv_jDJsBMA/s1600/ECT_brain_head.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMW5ax80QD2n01TiLmW01aBeDG9vin1ISGl8WQag2XKL3hJ9r7mNquuv5L7n-1PPcCcziNef0YhOS6_Tjh20dEQGTMp4mOiTMP1uucSx6H3BWQIUDSxBZAkFOcQQl2jxijv_jDJsBMA/s320/ECT_brain_head.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/7cd3fa5b/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/7cd3fa5b/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/e648cd74/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/e648cd74/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"></script>Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-15266010177317020322018-01-13T14:32:00.000-08:002020-03-27T14:56:12.464-07:00Why am I so sure?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><sup></sup></b></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Why am I so sure that people who take film flam seriously are mistaken or deluded?</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Why can I not sit silently as otherwise intelligent people spout ridiculous nonsense based on fallacious reasoning?</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Am I skeptical or merely contemptuous? Aware but disdainful? As if I know everything. People do not like this behavior yet I persist.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup> Yes, I have much work to do on myself.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>One pitfall I have avoided is alternative “medicine” that makes no sense. The treatments are senseless as are the people who spend money on them. It’s one area in which intellectuals indulge in anti-intellectual “medical” treatments based on self-delusion and placebo. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Let’s start with homeopathy. Homeopathy was developed by Samuel Hahnemann in 1796. He was not a doctor, but even doctors then were not doctors in the sense that they helped patients. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>As you know, this was centuries before Louis Pasteur, Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, and later scientists who discovered bacteria, viruses and developed the germ theory of disease. Semmelweis famously reduced infant mortality in a hospital by having nurses wash their hands. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;"><sup>But back to Hahnemann. His theory was “like cures like,” or in Latin, </sup><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Similia_similibus_curentur"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><sup>similia similibus curentur</sup></i></span></a></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><sup>. </sup></i><sup>In practice this means if you present with stomach pains you get some substance that causes stomach pains. Have a headache? Take something that gives you a headache. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Does that make any sense? </sup></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; vertical-align: super;">No.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; vertical-align: super;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; vertical-align: super;">All it has is an appealing dialectical symmetry. If you’re into that kind of gobbledygook. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; vertical-align: super;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup> Hahnemann, who was treating “miasmas” also believed that diluting the “medicine” made it more powerful, speaking of obviously ineffective methods of treatment. He diluted and diluted and diluted whatever he was preparing to the point that the “medicine” might have one or two molecules of the original herb, or whatever. Many preparations contain no medicine. So, the person with a stomach ache is not even receiving the ill-conceived stuff that helps by causing stomach pain. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Perhaps a more interesting pseudoscience is chiropractic. Chiropractic was invented by Daniel David Palmer in 1895. Palmer’s theory, if you want to call it that, was that diseases are caused by spinal imbalances that can be corrected by manipulating a patient’s back. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Palmer’s thoughts are more complicated than this, but since it’s all bunkum, no greater explanation is necessary. Needless to say, Palmer had no medical training, nor was his idea based on any accepted knowledge. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Despite its sheer ridiculous underpinning chiropractic attracts otherwise intelligent patients. Since 1895, the practice has inched closer to massage, and is less likely to cause injury.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>This is a fine place to introduce the idea of the placebo effect. Placebo is from the Latin word placebo, meaning “I shall please.” Placebos have no actual medication. They depend on the brain’s expectations of relief. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Researchers frequently test potential drugs by dividing subjects into two groups. For example, lets say they are testing a compound that relieves the pain and swelling of osteoarthritis. All of the test subjects have arthritis. They are divided into two groups.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>One group gets the experimental treatment and other receives a placebo. The researchers frequently do not know which patients are getting the drug, and who is getting the placebo. That is called a double-blind study.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>The placebo effect is fascinating as it demonstrates the role that mind and perception play in many illnesses. Pain, inflammation, concentration, mood, and other subjective ills respond to placebos. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Consequently, if a person is convinced that homeopathic medicine works, even though it is plain water, the preparation my effectively relieve a headache. In other words, the person with the headache is self-medicating with endogenous peptides or other compounds. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>This is why medication tests frequently compare the efficacy of the drug versus the action of a placebo, because people are convinced that pills work. Centuries ago when treatment involved blood letting to balance nonexistent humors, some patients may have felt better before they bled to death. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>How’s this for a study: Subjects with back pain receive either a real chiropractic adjustment, or a non-chiropractic jostling. See if there’s any difference between the two groups. The placebo effect seems evident in chiropractic, but is complicated by the role that human touch plays in health. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>For interesting yet mysterious reasons, many Americans place their trust in ancient Chinese medicine — but would never agree to be bled. Some Chinese medicines may contain active compounds. Those that do not have the placebo effect.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Some include heavy metals and other toxic materials. This should not be surprising, as the development of Chinese medicine was not based on empirical research. Ancient Chinese healers did not understand anatomy, the causes of diseases, and reasons why some plants work and others do not. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>While Europeans had the four humors — phlegm, black bile, yellow bile, and blood — on which to base treatments, Chinese healers developed complex ideas about Chi, the life force, and the paths it travels through the body.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Modern adherents believe that Chi is real. They do not believe in the four humors, but accept an equally arbitrary construct of philosophy and religion. Thus we have reflexology, a pseudoscience that is believed and used by many otherwise “intelligent” people.</sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>They accept chi but sneer at the four humors. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Biologists know how human metabolism works, how proteins, sugars and fats are broken down and converted in complex processes to energy-rich phosphate bonds. These are ATP and ADP. Google them. ( </sup><i><sup>Here’s some things to look up to get you started: cytochrome. electron transport. mitochondria. citric acid cycle. catabolism of glucose.) </sup></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>That is where human energy originates. More specifically, that is the only way humans, other mammals and vertebrates and invertebrates produce energy. This energy is used to move muscles, make other proteins, maintain the immune system, fight infections, and keep all of the organs working as they should. </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>If I know this, why doesn’t everyone else? Or do they know it and disregard it because Chinese medicines and reflexology and homeopathy seem less profit-driven? More pure? </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Do people not appreciate major advances such as vaccines, clean water, sewerage systems, sanitation, antibiotics, and a plethora of drugs that have increased the human life span? </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Why would people with access to doctors choose obviously bogus modalities such as homeopathy and chiropractic? </sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><sup>Do they have untreatable conditions? Have they exhausted all conventional therapies and procedures? Perhaps, but what logic is there in turning from disappointing reality to outright fakery?</sup></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This fellow was not using his firearm for sport. </td></tr>
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This may seem petty in light of the record-setting mass shooting in Los Vegas.</div>
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The apparent culprit was described as having "high powered rifles."</div>
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All rifles -- all rifles -- are high powered. If he had been shooting BBs, that would have been a low-powered rifle. Or if he were using a popgun. What kind of rifle would you be willing to be shot with?</div>
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The mysterious lunatic in Los Vegas was apparently using "bump stocks" on some of the arsenal of rifles he had in his hotel suite. </div>
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As the name suggests a bump fire stock allows the recoil of the rifle to automatically load another round, creating a weapon that seems to be automatic. For some reason this is legal. </div>
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The problem is that with the body of the rifle sliding or bumping back and forth accuracy is almost impossible. If all the shooter wants to do is fire many rounds into a crowd, a bump stock will do the job. For accuracy, however, a semiautomatic rifle is far more accurate.</div>
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All of which raises the question of why assault type military firearms like the AR-15 are sold in the United States. The AR-15 is the civilian version of the M-16 that is used by U.S. armed forces.</div>
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The AR-15 and M-16 were designed for one purpose: to kill people. They were designed to fire a small caliber round at extremely high velocity. The NATO 5.6 mm or .223-caliber round is lethal at several hundred yards. It produces a large temporary cavity, turning the victim's internal organs into mush. </div>
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Hunters generally use larger caliber rounds that can cleanly kill their prey. This usually means a bolt-action rifle, which has a low rate of fire compared to a AR-15 with or without a bump stock. A shooter with a bolt action rifle could have killed many people before the police located and neutralized him. </div>
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But a hunter's rifle is not designed for combat and to kill enemy soldiers.</div>
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This is an important distinction because after the Los Vegas shooting, something must be done. Some legislation must be passed. The number of mass shootings is just too high to go on. </div>
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What does not need to be done: restrict magazine size. Assault rifles use smaller caliber ammunition because each solder can carry more rounds. Changing a magazine takes only a second or two. </div>
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What does need to be done: Ban AR-15 and AK-47 type rifles. They are not used by hunters. They are used by people who like to shoot things like watermelons and bottles. Some owners may actually use them for target shooting. </div>
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Target shooting is basically practice to achieve accuracy in shooting people. The myth of sporting firearms may have been created by the National Rifle Association too justify the manufacture and sale or civilian assault rifles.<br />
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This is a modern development. Before the late 20th century there was no sporting firearms industry and the average rifle owner did not equip himself with a semi-automatic person-killing-capable rifle like the AR-15. </div>
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The short history of sporting firearms is important. Rifles were invented as instruments of war and were developed during the 1500s through the 1800s to better and more rapidly kill enemy soldiers. </div>
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During the Civil War gunsmiths discovered ways to engineer repeating arms. By World War 1 soldiers were still equipped with bolt action rifles like the short magazine Lee Enfield. Machine guns were large and immobile. </div>
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Automatic weapons were designed to clear trenches. The Thompson sub machine gun was a trench clearing weapon that was too expensive and complicated for military use. Later versions became military weapons. </div>
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The US Army became the first to use semi-automatic combat rifles. The M1 was loaded with a stripper clip and could fire rapidly until the clip was empty and was ejected. </div>
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During World War II Germany invented the modern assault rifle, with a straight-back stock, stamped metal parts and chambered for a round larger than pistol and smaller than conventional rifle rounds. </div>
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That brings us to the AK-47 and eventually in the early 1960s the AR-15 and M-16. </div>
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People in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries never used rifles to plink or shoot at targets, except as part of military training. There was no civilian battle rifle industry. </div>
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Now it is time to take all assault rifles out of circulation. This may take years or decades, but it must be done.</div>
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Otherwise, mass casualties from deranged shooters will continue to rise.</div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-51377695067322194812017-08-16T14:33:00.002-07:002017-08-16T14:33:24.962-07:00Why People protesting Nazis Would Not Tear Down the Washington Momument<script type="text/javascript">
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President Trump asks an interesting question: If all statues of people (white men) who owned slaves are torn down by people protesting against the alt-right and neo-nazis, does that not include the Washington and presumably the Jefferson memorials?</div>
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Before we explore answers to this question, let's go over a bit of history. But first, yes, slavery and the Civil War are still fresh in the public memory and perhaps no where more so than in Virginia, the heart of the Confederacy. </div>
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Some Southerners may still resent "Yankees." This does not mean they riot and are terrorists.</div>
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Back to our story.</div>
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George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as many of the founding fathers, as we consider them, did own slaves. This does taint their memories, but we must recall that this was in the 18th century, the 1700s. </div>
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As odious as slavery is and was, this was centuries before national socialists, i.e., Nazis, emerged in Germany. That was in the 20th century. </div>
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Consequently, the president's question, which seems to endorse neo-nazis, Confederates, the KKK and white supremacists, is based on a false premise. </div>
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Nazis probably did not consider Africans to be human, or they gave them subhuman status, along with Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, political enemies, etc. This degenerate ideology culminated in the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews and millions of others, were killed on an industrial scale. </div>
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The Holocaust occurred during World War II, between about 1940 through 1945. This is roughly 300 years after Jefferson et al were around. </div>
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Does the current batch of would-be Nazis equate Washington, Jefferson, Madison, etc. as pro-Nazi? If so, they are wildly, ignorantly, wrong.</div>
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Likewise, the KKK's origins are complicated, but it emerged in the 1860-70s, again in the 1920s, and again, now. The KKK is anti-Catholic, anti-Jew, anti-African American, anti-integration, and anti-democratic.</div>
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To equate Nazi and KKK philosophies to our founding fathers is worse than ignorant. Most of them did own slaves, but they were neither nazis nor KKK, which emerged centuries later. </div>
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Jefferson's and Madison's homes in Virginia confirm that the men owned slaves and current information provided by these historic sites emphasizes the roles of slaves in building, working at, and maintaining the plantations and homes of the wealthy white men at the time. </div>
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These historic places acknowledge the tortured duality that permitted Jefferson et al to write about universal freedom and God-given rights, while owning slaves. Remember, however, that the Constitution has been amended to include everyone. </div>
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Also keep in mind that white people systematically pushed native Americans off of their ancestral lands. Even if your relatives were absent when this was happening, they did ultimately decide to immigrate to the United States. Current citizens go along with this. Anyone with a conscience should consider moving to a different country.</div>
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People who protest against neo-nazis, people imitating that they think is the KKK, and other white supremacists like the alt-right, are protesting contemporary violent, vicious, terrorist groups. </div>
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These organizations are comprised mostly of alienated and misguided young white outcasts who have been convinced that somehow 1940s Germany and the period following the Civil War were a "golden age" of whiteness. </div>
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Yes, Germany was destroyed by the United States, Soviet Union and United Kingdom and other Allies. No rational non-psychopath believes that any elements of Nazism are worthwhile. The Ku Klux Klan similarly is justly reviled by a vast majority of Americans. </div>
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A digression: The Nazi mania for races has no biological basis. Population genetics shows that there is more genetic variability within "white" people than between white and "black." Thinking racially is a mistake, in so far as races do not exist in a natural way. Yes, people do look different from each other, but the difference are literally skin deep. Alt-right white supremacists, neo-nazis and elements of the KKK are probably not up on the biology of simple population genetics.</div>
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So, is President Trump ignorant of modern history? Yes, that seems to be the case. Does he understand why counter-protesters who want no part of the alt-right, white supremacy, and neo-nazis, do not equate equate these intolerant hate groups with Washington, Jefferson, and the founding fathers? </div>
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Could left-wing groups commit violent acts? Sure. Did communists show up in Charlottesville to attack the provocative racists? Not a shred of evidence that anything like that happened. Did a possible psychotic neo-nazi drive his car into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators? Yes.</div>
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But if President Trump continues his slide into the alt-right cesspool, it seems possible that equally violent and intolerant left-wing groups will form and start to conduct terrorist acts. </div>
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Nothing good can come of any of this. </div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-80130429839295490842017-07-21T13:01:00.001-07:002017-07-21T13:01:34.692-07:00The truth as I see it <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been writing this blog for several years starting after I was laid off by the New Haven Register where I was science editor for a period of years. I spent more time interviewing scientists, doctors, meteorologists, physicists, astronomers, entomologists, botanists, molecular biologists, geneticists, cancer specialists, physicists of all kinds, archeologists, and many, many, many people, than most undergraduates at Yale, the University of Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State University, and to a lesser extent, Wesleyan, and Connecticut College, that I used to think, humorously, that perhaps I deserved an Ivy League degree.<br />
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I was also pretty good at all manner of other reporting on fires, homicides, car crashes, explosions, nuclear accidents, cold cases, and general assignments. My real forte was knowing about weather and climate, how the body metabolizes food, the truths about gluten and low frequency electromagnetic waves, arboviruses, West Nile Virus, Lyme disease, other tick-borne diseases, transplant medicine, and a considerable amount of knowledge on gunshot wounds and firearms.<br />
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I enjoyed my job, asking questions, and translating complicated subjects into easier-to-understand words. I would have done that until I was in my 90s, had not the Journal Register Company (no longer exists) decided that I was too old and too well paid. I along with several other experienced and older people at the Register was let go in 2008.</div>
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Since then I have volunteer tutored reading, taught a writing class at Quinnipac University, sold a few free-lance pieces, and kept a much lower profile. Now I read the New York Times carefully everyday and the weekend Register on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. </div>
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I have seen many changes since I began as a reporter in 1978. The newspaper industry contracted and dozens of journalists were left looking for work. The Register sold its presses (for scrap, I heard) and tried to convert to a digital platform. Recently Hearst purchased the Register. Details of the sale are unclear.<br />
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Here are some items, opinions and things that I believe are facts:<br />
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* The newspaper industry experienced upheaval when increasing numbers of women entered the news workplace as reporters and editors. Some of the best reporters and editors are women, true. But the influx of even lower paid workers complicated efforts to unionize, and took some jobs away from men, When I started, no women typically worked in editorial. They were restricted to obituaries, weddings and so on. Women journalism school graduates complicated nearly everything. Now, the screwy men who became reporters, were joined by equally screwy women. Bringing weird men and women together always seemed like a recipe for problems.<br />
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* Climate change, I fear, is developing into a global catastrophe. If the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica slides into the ocean, sea levels around the world will rise by an average of, perhaps, 16 feet. That puts parts of major cities and some entire countries under water. Millions or billions of people will be unpleasantly displaced. So, are countries responding to the problem? Yes, many are. Is the United States? Yes, but in a less organized way because the current administration and both houses of congress rabidly support the vanishing coal industry and fossil fuels in general, which contribute to the greenhouse effect. The U.S. seems ready to build a useless wall along the Mexican border for at least 1 trillion dollars. The money should by spent paying shore dwellers to move inland and start mitigation projects in New York, Boston, New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles and many other shoreline cities in the US. Is that likely to happen? No, not until a major city is inundated.<br />
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* The Republican administration is gathering intrusive data on all registered voters in the country, or at least, trying to. This is part of a political search for voter fraud, which experts of both parties say is virtually non-existent in this country. This dubious process is being undertaken because our president apparently smarts at the fact that he lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. The collecting of voter information, which several states are resisting, is clearly intended to dissuade or prevent minority voters from voting. A majority of them are likely to vote for Democrats and the Republican nativist extremists want to minimize the Democratic vote.<br />
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* In Google news, teens somewhere sat by and ridiculed a drowning man who was calling for help. No one called 911. And they videoed themselves. The man did drown. This is extremely disturbing. Do younger people see the world as a video game? Literally? Do they not have a conscience? A toddler playing in a MacDonald's somewhere went down a slide covered with another playmate's feces. The toddler went down the slide and was covered with feces. His mother asked employees for help and they demurred, acting like they were on break and generally being unhelpful. The bathrooms did not have soap. A couple somewhere else teased one of their children with food, as the child starved to death. A woman talked a man online into asphyxiating himself. Does any of this make sense? What has this country produced? A whole subpopulation of sociopaths?<br />
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* Gun violence. There are more guns in the United States than people. In other words, many people own more than one or two guns. The Second Amendment to the Constitution is oddly written and can be parsed in several ways. Its intent seems to support the idea of an armed government militia, not the prevalent idea that every person has the right to own hunting rifles, semi-automatic hunting rifles, assault rifles, and semi-automatic pistols. What is an assault rifle? A semi-automatic long gun that fires ammunition larger than pistol and smaller then rifle. The stock extends straight back to the shoulder to minimize the effects of recoil. The only purpose of assault rifles, as the name suggests, is on a battlefield. Why do people snap and then kill droves of others? The answer is complicated and elusive. The answer is obvious: slowly confiscate all guns and melt them down. This may take decades and be met with violent protests, but it is the only path to peace. The National Rifle Association, contrary to most of the US population, favors arming teachers, carrying concealed weapons and openly carrying semi-auto rifles. Gun owners, some of them, want to have the right to carry guns into bars. Meanwhile, a large percentage of gun owners use the weapons ultimately to kill themselves, either on purpose or by accident. Put the gun industry to work making something else.<br />
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* The National Security Agency, among others, is probably reading all emails and tapping all telephone calls to allegedly gain information on terrorist plots. This is like trying to catch minows going over a huge waterfall, like Niagara Falls. The NSA et al undoubtedly uses complex algorithms to gather relevant information. Terrorists who use unprotected email, if there are any, are probably smart enough to communicate in code. So the NSA and whoever, must also perform code breaking while sifting. Every time you email "Our show bombed in Shelton" or "I'd rather die than go out with him/her" "The use of finger fidgets exploded" and so on, must be analyzed and discarded, or stored in some anonymous building somewhere. We would not know about any of this, except that Edward Snowden, now living in Russia, revealed it.<br />
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* It seems clear that Trump colluded with Russian intelligence and Putin to tilt the presidential election in 2016. Can he destroy all social programs and the economy in the next three years? We can only wait and see. Do Americans realize that they must vote to keep people like Trump out of office? One would hope so. Paul Ryan, Mitch O'Connell. Mike Pence, Ben Carson, Betsy DeVoss, et al, are determined to jettison all environmental law, all public education, all help to poor and middle class citizens, basically, anything good or useful that the federal government does. Franklin Roosevelt instituted many great programs when he took office in the midst of the Great Depression. He started programs to put artists and writers to work, built massive public works projects, and helped defeat Nazism and Imperial Japan.<br />
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* Will any future president, or his or her speech writer, approach Abraham Lincoln's language? That seems unlikely, but why? People are not stupider than they used to be. Had people been equipped with smart phones, computers, and PlayStations in the 19th century, would presidential candidates sunk into dull, turbid, cliche-ridden speech? We will, or shall, never know.<br />
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* Intelligent Design, homeopathy, and many other pseudo or non-science are gathering credence. Maybe we are, some of us, getting stupider, more gullible, less able to think or reason, or use logic, or know how to use mathematics. I'm convinced that reading on a screen and reading on a page are fundamentally different, and that the brain responds differently to computer screens and paper books.<br />
We have seen that most people will not pay for online news. They will pay for pornography, hook-up software, and not much else. Eventually, paper will be rediscovered as a miracle product that can be written on with a variety of implements, folded, torn, stuffed into pockets, copied, and written on.<br />
Meanwhile, the Library of Congress is gradually converting its books into optical disks, which start to disintegrate a few years after they are produced. Books from the 15th century, however, are delicate yet still easily readable. We know how to preserve paper. We do not know how to preserve digital information.<br />
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-44329303110422186182017-06-12T13:11:00.001-07:002017-06-12T13:11:47.916-07:00Guns are unsafe and should be banned<script type="text/javascript">
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Gun violence in this country is pervasive and unacceptable.</div>
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According to the Washington Post there are now more guns in the US than people. And people with guns tend to either shoot themselves, intentionally or by accident. </div>
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Untrained owners of handguns imagine the weapons being used for self-defense and may be surprised when a curious child kills another, or the owner accidentally shoots a friend or relative in the dark, or occasionally in a fit of rage, kills a member of his family.</div>
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As we know, long guns and pistols were never used for sporting events. Firearms trace back to the Renaissance, where they were developed to penetrate armor. Contrary to what the National Rifle Association claims, guns were never widely used for target shooting, or plinking, and the second amendment to the Constitution specifies that gun ownership be restricted to members of a militia. </div>
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After an individual (usually a man) kills several people with a gun, an understandable perception forms that the person has or had "mental problems."</div>
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This stands to reason because otherwise, why would anyone shoot a bunch of strangers? Research by the U.S. Army found that a high percentage of soldiers in World War II would intentionally fire over the heads of enemies, because the idea of killing a person is considered a sin, is so defined by major religions, and seems indefensible. </div>
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That research involved soldiers, who are trained and does not include people with serious mental illness. In fact, the American Journal of Psychiatry says:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "minionpro"; font-size: 10.000000pt;">Even if one assumes a direct association between violence against others and
serious mental illness, the focus must be narrowed to the population of individuals with serious mental illness associated with less than 3% of all violence
(Fazel and Grann 2006). Furthermore, current research suggests that in general
there is a minimal relationship between psychiatric disorders and violence in the
absence of substance abuse (Martone et al. 2013). Thus, the assumption that all
persons with mental illness are a “high-risk” population relative to violence gen-
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2C5JQ53-9jnCgUfAtPIWbMwhhbBKAKx7kB9yG19ccIWB3fi3BSiLM__wbJu7gjYITlELAyPMEmwcSe6ytQQTYz4HZeOHVdblG2emJvZZ3RktvyDSM-pwDezyXOAkOqnNhLficLv8jlA/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="439" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2C5JQ53-9jnCgUfAtPIWbMwhhbBKAKx7kB9yG19ccIWB3fi3BSiLM__wbJu7gjYITlELAyPMEmwcSe6ytQQTYz4HZeOHVdblG2emJvZZ3RktvyDSM-pwDezyXOAkOqnNhLficLv8jlA/s320/Unknown.jpeg" width="320" /></a>This study, among others, found that "less than 3 percent of all violence" is carried out by people with diagnosed mental illness. Yet almost everyone would agree that the man at Virginia Tech, the man at the nightclub in Orlando, the man who killed at Sandy Hook, the man who shot people in a theater showing a Batman movie, and etc., must have serious mental issues.</div>
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So either shooting people is a rational act -- it isn't -- or many people with serious mental health problems are going undiagnosed and untreated. </div>
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Is 3 to 4 percent a realistic figure? If so, efforts to stop gun violence by stepping up mental health screenings hardly makes sense. One if also forced to conclude that mass shootings are acts of rational people, which flies in the face of common sense. </div>
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The gun industry and lobby are glad to blame shootings on mental illness as a way to distract people from the real issue: handguns and rifles do no good, are not necessary, and citizens without guns are safer than gun owners in the U.S. </div>
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The solution to gun violence is elementary. Gradually eliminate private gun ownership. Get rid of firearms. </div>
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Will that ever happen? Don't hold your breath.</div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-92151573572554516022017-03-23T16:57:00.001-07:002017-03-23T17:00:04.604-07:00Publisher's Clearing House, Pirate's Cheating House<script type="text/javascript">
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Publisher's Clearing House, in combination with the unsettled economy, has me trapped.<br />
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Do I want $7,000 a week for life? Yes. Do I want $100,000? Yes.<br />
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Are either of these prizes headed my way? Of course not. Nor, in all probability, are they en route to anyone anywhere.<br />
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What or who is Publisher's Clearing House? I do not know, but it should not be too difficult to find out. It used to mail out bundles of complicated and sparkly forms to fill out for the chance to win huge sums of money.</div>
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Ed MacMahon would appear at the winner's house with an enormous check. </div>
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Many people thoughts subscribing to a magazine through PCH would increase their chance of winning. Read the rules, however, and you find that no purchase is necessary.<br />
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Funny story: On my iPhone relatively recently I played a PCH slot machine game and won $3,000. I took a screen shot just to prove, sort of, that this happened. I'm not holding my breath.<br />
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My impression is that if paying did influence the "game" the whole business might be considered gambling, or wire fraud, or some other felonious operation.</div>
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I recently began to play PCH games on my phone. The amount of mail I receive from PCH has gone way up. I need to enter this, I need to submit that. Last night all I wanted to do was sleep, but I felt it necessary to play endless hands of blackjack a la PCH for "tokens" that don't seem to be worth anything.<br />
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The occasionally explicit idea is that playing the games enters your name in PCH's great give away of thousands or millions of dollars. </div>
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Even if I am entering these lotteries, the odds of me winning are so small as to be zero. If I liked to gamble I would have a much greater chance of winning at a casino or racetrack. </div>
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So I continue to waste time on these dopy PCH games, based on the belief that although the chance is almost zero, I might be able to win $5,000 a week for the rest of my life. Someone will win, after all. Just not any particular person. </div>
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It's the law of big numbers and seems paradoxical. If someone must win, why not me? Suppose the odds of winning are 1 in 100 million. Someone will win, but the chances of any person winning are 1 in 100 million, which might as well be zero.<br />
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At any rate, PCH has morphed into an applications company. Visit the app store if you have nothing more productive to do and you will find several PCH "games," which are similar to casino-type games. They include roulette and slot machine games.<br />
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PCH claims that if you play their free games you could win money. Philosophically speaking, they mean that winning money is a contingent reality, that is, that result does not violate any physical laws. People who have downloaded these games and have left reviews, suggest that though they have played long hours, none has won anything.<br />
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That's because Publisher's Clearing House is a phantom organization. Do you know anyone who has ever won a dime from PCH? Neither do I.<br />
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My sense is that PCH may actually award prizes, but it does so in a secretive manner and does not go to great lengths to locate winners.<br />
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I imagine them going to someone's address, ringing the bell, and if no one answers within 30 seconds, they leave and the prize money goes to PCH.<br />
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Is it a seller of magazine subscriptions and cheap merchandise, or inexplicable games that promise enormous wealth, or a game developer? It may be all of those, or it may be a cabal of criminals based in Siberia.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anyone know any of these people? Are they actors?</td></tr>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-40108567277328832052017-01-22T15:48:00.002-08:002017-01-22T16:24:03.158-08:00Complicated Coffee the Easy Way<script type="text/javascript">
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Making coffee used to be relatively simple.</div>
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You bought a can of ground coffee, put some in a percolator, or French press of drip coffee making and pressed a button, or otherwise operated the apparatus. </div>
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The result was "coffee," if not by taste, at least by definition. </div>
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I've never tasted the same coffee twice. That is, even following the same method, one cup inevitably varies from the next. Other consumables always taste the same: Almond Joy, Mars bar, McDonald's; Juicy Fruit, Coca-Cola.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mysterious Keurig K250</td></tr>
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Coffee is complicated. Coffee beans contain about 1,000 chemicals, some of which are more soluble in water than others. What <i>is </i>coffee, the beverage?<br />
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Whatever starts out in coffee beans changes when the coffee is roasted. Compounds break down, and others are formed. Lots of organic chemistry happens between the bean-stage and the familiar roasted coffee, which has that yummy coffee odor.<br />
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Then it's added to hot water, for more transformation.<br />
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A mixture of soluble compounds, micro fragments of beans, chemicals adsorbed to the fragments, chemicals that react with minerals in the water, chemicals modified by heat, and chemicals that react with each other when introduced to hot water.</div>
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Coffee contains caffeine, which increases blood pressure, induces wakefulness, alertness and at higher levels, agitation, tremors, heart arrhythmias, and, presumably at some dosage, death. At normal consumption levels, coffee is a mild stimulant. </div>
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Many people are in the habit of drinking a cup or two in the morning and then perhaps another cup or two in the afternoon. </div>
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Just as individuals are becoming more isolated, coffee-making is increasingly solitary. The culprit is Keurig, what I consider the first digital coffee maker. It used prefabricated cartridges of coffee that are plugged into the machine. The Keurig pumps water through the cartridge, producing coffee.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdj7Wr4uS8FWzhk57eCaF_m7NDWQcpdOGHtJjO6RtHwk3ESkacU6DDKF6zpgVcgSQZvANCZitlQz-dsdj0ZGIS_mucwMacoXWxU5ckPZW0gDX4ifEZWMZoAdVF1WzvuuBwsfnDd2aKxA/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdj7Wr4uS8FWzhk57eCaF_m7NDWQcpdOGHtJjO6RtHwk3ESkacU6DDKF6zpgVcgSQZvANCZitlQz-dsdj0ZGIS_mucwMacoXWxU5ckPZW0gDX4ifEZWMZoAdVF1WzvuuBwsfnDd2aKxA/s1600/images-1.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aero Press </td></tr>
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The operator never has to see or handle coffee beans or grounds and only has to keep the reservoir filled with water. The coffee seems okay, but what the Keurig offers is convenience.</div>
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However, making one cup of coffee at a time is a triumph of packaging -- each "K-cup" is an assembly of plastic and foil, and coffee. </div>
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The New York Times calculates that K-cup coffee costs about $50 per pound, while conventional Starbucks is about $12 and Dunkin Donuts roughly $9. Keurig coffee is about 66 cents a cup versus DIY coffee, which is about 28 cents a cup. </div>
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And while you can buy a drip coffee maker for as little as about $30, the least expensive Keurig machines start at about $100.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8-_UVMfImwVuw9QqogmHkJx9MJEMVafeU6DR5y_ZZrKgCoiND0wHGaSWmoD5Fapls2xG3Xi4L9u52I3D-_d9PY2N-lDT-g_0sN6KzWFvsED58vyAcMSWS-6if5IVFvhFej6Mvhgijw/s1600/dae55515-e7af-448c-b643-3bb9b13a2844_1.ef2be2d4a14b7da462c9c96db84ad581.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8-_UVMfImwVuw9QqogmHkJx9MJEMVafeU6DR5y_ZZrKgCoiND0wHGaSWmoD5Fapls2xG3Xi4L9u52I3D-_d9PY2N-lDT-g_0sN6KzWFvsED58vyAcMSWS-6if5IVFvhFej6Mvhgijw/s320/dae55515-e7af-448c-b643-3bb9b13a2844_1.ef2be2d4a14b7da462c9c96db84ad581.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quisanart drip maker</td></tr>
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An engineer friend told me that Keurig machines contain complex computer-driven mechanisms. The body is filled with circuit boards, microchips, pumps, valves, filters, and sensors. </div>
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I hate to admit this, but lately I've been drinking Keurig coffee. It's so easy. Just pop in a pod, push a button, and in less than a minute, voila. </div>
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So, my Aero press, French press, siphon, percolator, and drip coffee machines are temporarily idle. As are my electric grinders and manual bean grinders.</div>
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Soon I will tire of K-cups, I suspect. Meanwhile, someone needs to determine the chemistry of coffee making. Right now, I just need another cup.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGC-eUX-L9zYbweivapcG-LxJe-6UIyChIshfcRt2EjiVccrDDhBCAlKfu1ni5j-SqYgjJxI1lGWkOhYiCFo7CBEWONvbS6DhcfubaiLM_TJfsqa3NjvnnLkfVT_QCSWjBXqASQpj8RQ/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGC-eUX-L9zYbweivapcG-LxJe-6UIyChIshfcRt2EjiVccrDDhBCAlKfu1ni5j-SqYgjJxI1lGWkOhYiCFo7CBEWONvbS6DhcfubaiLM_TJfsqa3NjvnnLkfVT_QCSWjBXqASQpj8RQ/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hario hand grinder</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZg6IX96Mxx3te6-hVn4l3DiFTYck6MmkLMQcnvOiA2nySuvhZ-XN3Qy5TtRIavQ3BB6LP063oDJDD-gs0pRgIoYIHVV6G1kjeTumer0sS6WgKGCdde1OI9-WQ4B_TNuFPlFn6LWsKsw/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZg6IX96Mxx3te6-hVn4l3DiFTYck6MmkLMQcnvOiA2nySuvhZ-XN3Qy5TtRIavQ3BB6LP063oDJDD-gs0pRgIoYIHVV6G1kjeTumer0sS6WgKGCdde1OI9-WQ4B_TNuFPlFn6LWsKsw/s1600/images-2.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hario single cup drip maker</td></tr>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-51924692525985304742016-11-14T16:16:00.002-08:002018-03-23T10:15:30.218-07:00What if the polls were right and the election was wrong?<script type="text/javascript">
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Now that Donald J. Trump is president-elect and Democrats are fighting like rabid raccoons to lay blame for the disaster, and pollsters are pulling out their hair to figure out what went wrong, let's consider a possibility.</div>
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If thousands of engineers agreed on a bridge design and then the bridge was built and immediately collapsed, who would you suspect made a mistake? The highly trained engineers and their computers or the company that built the bridge?</div>
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The engineers checked and re-checked their design, but in practice the design proved terrible.</div>
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What's easier to imagine, that the engineers were wrong, or that perhaps the construction company used substandard concrete or steel, or took some other shortcut?</div>
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Back to the election. Virtually all of the polls, which change from week to week, were in basic agreement. </div>
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Then the exact opposite happened. Suppose that the polls were correct and that the election was flawed.</div>
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We know many voters were prevented from voting and were incorrectly told they were not eligible, or were otherwise disenfranchised. And we know with a fair amount of certainty that Russia hacked into various email accounts and then gave the messages (or false messages) to Wikileaks. </div>
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If a hacker can penetrate an email account, how difficult would it be to hack into an election computer and change some totals? The hacker would only have to alter a relatively few votes in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and maybe for good measure a few smaller states. </div>
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I have no idea what voting systems were used or how votes were tabulated. Where I voted in New Haven paper ballots were fed into a machine. Did anyone calibrate or check the machine at any point? I don't know.<br />
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Some voters in other states used computers to vote, which seems like an extremely bad idea. </div>
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Meanwhile, has anyone started to compare the results with the numbers of votes cast? The number of votes could be below the number of voters, if some chose to not mark their ballots. But the total should never be greater than the number of ballots cast. </div>
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Some enterprising reporters could check into this, unless they are otherwise occupied writing about dogs, celebrities, sports, cooking, relationships, medical miracles, fires, and other things. Sports, to paraphrase Marx or someone or other, is the Valium of the people. </div>
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What we need, assuming elections continue in the future, is a system that is as uncomputerized as possible.<br />
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Who understands how computers work? Do you? Sure, you know vaguely about 1s and 0s and electricity, and microchips. and programs. But if you had to explain exactly how a computer counts paper ballots, you would not be able to.</div>
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Few people could. Maybe Alan Turing or John Von Neumann, or Steve Wozniak.</div>
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What we need instead is the simplest system imaginable that can still be counted in a few hours, unless people are willing to wait a month or two for results. </div>
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Let's consider a precinct with 1,500 voters. The poll would receive 1,500 1-gram neodymium magnets. The voter is given a number of magnets equal to the number of candidates and ballot measures that are possible. </div>
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If two people are running for mayor, for example, the voter would only need one magnet, because he is not supposed to vote for more than one candidate.</div>
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The voter drops his magnet into either hole A or hole B. </div>
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When the poll closes, you remove the magnet bins and weigh them. If the total is more than 1,500 grams, alarm bells are sounded. Otherwise, the votes are weighed and the bins impounded. Seems simple. The most recent ballot would be more complicated. </div>
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A voter could spit a ticket, or not vote for certain candidates, "leaving the space blank," so to speak.</div>
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Perhaps the voter is given enough magnets to vote every possible combination of votes and is instructed to place any unused magnets into another "extra magnets" hole. </div>
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Presumably, where I voted, the paper ballots could be checked against the computerized totals. </div>
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Magnets leave no paper trails, but then again, each magnet could weigh exactly 1.14159 grams. Different precincts could use different weights. If need be, someone can count the magnets.</div>
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Or something like that. Let's not depend on machines that work in obscure ways, and let's not depend on machines that someone can hack into.</div>
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So, who's going to start investigating the vote, and why the results were so different from the predictions?</div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-27370482236557701822016-11-14T16:16:00.001-08:002016-11-14T16:20:19.213-08:00What if the polls were right and the election was wrong?<script type="text/javascript">
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Now that Donald J. Trump is president-elect and Democrats are fighting like rabid raccoons to lay blame for the disaster, and pollsters are pulling out their hair to figure out what went wrong, let's consider a possibility.</div>
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If thousands of engineers agreed on a bridge design and then the bridge was built and immediately collapsed, who would you suspect made a mistake? The highly trained engineers and their computers or the company that built the bridge?</div>
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The engineers checked and re-checked their design, but in practice the design proved terrible.</div>
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What's easier to imagine, that the engineers were wrong, or that perhaps the construction company used substandard concrete or steel, or took some other shortcut?</div>
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Back to the election. Virtually all of the polls, which change from week to week, were in basic agreement. </div>
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Then the exact opposite happened. Suppose that the polls were correct and that the election was flawed.</div>
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We know many voters were prevented from voting and were incorrectly told they were not eligible, or were otherwise disenfranchised. And we know with a fair amount of certainty that Russia hacked into various email accounts and then gave the messages (or false messages) to Wikileaks. </div>
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If a hacker can penetrate an email account, how difficult would it be to hack into an election computer and change some totals? The hacker would only have to alter a relatively few votes in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and maybe for good measure a few smaller states. </div>
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I have no idea what voting systems were used or how votes were tabulated. Where I voted in New Haven paper ballots were fed into a machine. Did anyone calibrate or check the machine at any point? I don't know.<br />
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Some voters in other states used computers to vote, which seems like an extremely bad idea. </div>
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Meanwhile, has anyone started to compare the results with the numbers of votes cast? The number of votes could be below the number of voters, if some chose to not mark their ballots. But the total should never be greater than the number of ballots cast. </div>
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Some enterprising reporters could check into this, unless they are otherwise occupied writing about dogs, celebrities, sports, cooking, relationships, medical miracles, fires, and other things. Sports, to paraphrase Marx or someone or other, is the Valium of the people. </div>
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What we need, assuming elections continue in the future, is a system that is as uncomputerized as possible.<br />
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Who understands how computers work? Do you? Sure, you know vaguely about 1s and 0s and electricity, and microchips. and programs. But if you had to explain exactly how a computer counts paper ballots, you would not be able to.</div>
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Few people could. Maybe Alan Turing or John Von Neumann, or Steve Wozniak.</div>
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What we need instead is the simplest system imaginable that can still be counted in a few hours, unless people are willing to wait a month or two for results. </div>
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Let's consider a precinct with 1,500 voters. The poll would receive 1,500 1-gram neodymium magnets. The voter is given a number of magnets equal to the number of candidates and ballot measures that are possible. </div>
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If two people are running for mayor, for example, the voter would only need one magnet, because he is not supposed to vote for more than one candidate.</div>
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The voter drops his magnet into either hole A or hole B. </div>
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When the poll closes, you remove the magnet bins and weigh them. If the total is more than 1,500 grams, alarm bells are sounded. Otherwise, the votes are weighed and the bins impounded. Seems simple. The most recent ballot would be more complicated. </div>
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A voter could spit a ticket, or not vote for certain candidates, "leaving the space blank," so to speak.</div>
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Perhaps the voter is given enough magnets to vote every possible combination of votes and is instructed to place any unused magnets into another "extra magnets" hole. </div>
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Presumably, where I voted, the paper ballots could be checked against the computerized totals. </div>
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Magnets leave no paper trails, but then again, each magnet could weigh exactly 1.14159 grams. Different precincts could use different weights. If need be, someone can count the magnets.</div>
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Or something like that. Let's not depend on machines that work in obscure ways, and let's not depend on machines that someone can hack into.</div>
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So, who's going to start investigating the vote, and why the results were so different from the predictions?</div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-49222508400985755652016-07-27T11:27:00.004-07:002016-07-27T11:42:36.034-07:00<script type="text/javascript">
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</script>Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-76603488006547142192016-07-27T11:27:00.003-07:002016-07-27T11:42:32.467-07:00Good Guys and Bad Guys With Guns: The Future(This is an Associated Press story published in the future. The events described here have yet to take place.)<br />
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New Haven CT ( AP) -- Conroy C. Nelson, 38, became the first person in the U.S. Friday to be sentenced under a controversial law backed by the National Rifle Association that criminalizes the act of not attempting to engage a suspect with a handgun during the commission of a felony.</div>
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The pretzel-logic law was enacted with major NRA muscle and a Tea Party minority in the U.S. Senate, after a less radical version of the bill was tabled in the House.</div>
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The law, called The National Punish Your Neighbor Freedom Act of 2020, was signed by President Marco Rubio last month amid predictions that its provocative contents could result in a perpetual gun fight on the streets of the United States.</div>
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Simply put, the NPYNP considered armed people carrying licensed and concealed weapons to be de facto federal peace officers and thus responsible for upholding local and federal law. Moreover, one of the "peace officer's" duties is to halt felonies with quick and precise use of their weapons.<br />
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The expectation of the law is that it will lead to a major increase in civilian shootings and a corresponding drop in crime. </div>
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The most controversial and to many, frightening, aspects of the law is this requirement for the peace officers to use lethal force -- and the punishment for failing to stop the alleged crime being committed -- is itself punishable by a hefty fine and prison sentence.</div>
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Critics of the measure, such as Irwin Chemerinsky, professor of law emeritus at Stanford University, contend that the bills twisted logic will result in armed people shooting people whom they merely suspect of a crime in order to avoid going to prison.</div>
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"This is the startlingly unconstitutional and practically implausible," said Chemrinsky, an expert in civil liberties and gun laws, at Stanford's "Beach School for Integrative Government Studies," a left-leaning think tank.</div>
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"If this law is faithfully followed urban areas will become perpetual no-man's lands. The peace officer </div>
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is not compelled to see a suspect's weapon before he opens fire. These so-called peace officers have a license to kill whomever they choose," Chemerinsky said.<br />
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Traditionally, police officers are only allowed to use their weapons in clear instances of self-defense and in cases where a suspect may inflict serious harm to others. </div>
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According to police, Nelson, owner of a Walther PPK .380 caliber concealable semi-automatic with 6 rounds, was walking to his parked car at the Southington (Ct) Mall at about 7 p.m.Thursday, when he allegedly saw William Santos, 27, of Bridgeport, attempting to force a woman into his 1987 Ford F-150 pick-up truck.</div>
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Nelson ordered Santos to stop, police said, and he woman yelled "Help, I am being raped," police said.</div>
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Witnesses said the woman, whose identity has not been released, clearly and repeatedly shouted "I'm being raped," and "He's going to kill me."</div>
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Under the law Nelson was required to unholster his weapon and shoot to kill the alleged assailant. Instead, he yelled "Stop or I will shoot you," as he approached Santos. Santos shot the woman in the abdomen and tried to drive out of he parking garage, but hit a pillar, police said. </div>
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He was shot to death by state police who had been summoned by mall patrons. The medical examiner's office confirmed that Santos died from 12 to 14 gunshot wounds to the head, torso, and legs. The head wound, one of the first shots, was probably lethal, according to the medical examiner.</div>
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Nelson declined several requests for a comment. </div>
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In a statement President Rubio said, "A man who shirked his duty will now have to face the consequences. If we as a country do not counter armed criminals with all resources, then terrorist acts will recommence with a fury." </div>
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Police confiscated Nelson's pistol and placed him under arrest. Nelson did not struggle. Nelson was arraigned in Superior Court before Judge Yin Bin Yao, and charged with dereliction of duty during the commission of a crime, a felony under NPYNP. (Court officers call the law Nip-Yip) </div>
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Nelson, who owns his own real estate company, argues that he was not sufficiently trained in the use of his firearm and that he could have injured bystanders, a class 2 felony.</div>
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On the advice of his attorneys Nelson pleaded no contest to the charge and his lawyers appealed the judge's sentence of 25 years to life. </div>
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"He did not do anything other than witness an alleged crime," said one of his attorneys, Hugh Keefe of New Haven. Keefe said Nelson has since been treated for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder at Yale Psychiatric Hospital. </div>
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"Should this be the future of urban America God help us," Keefe said.<br />
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Keefe said he would appeal the sentence on the grounds that it violates the Constitutional due process clause, and that Yip-Nip forces involuntary "peace officers" to commit state sanctioned homicide. </div>
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The State Supreme Court could reduce or eliminate the sentence, vacate the conviction, and or declare the law unconstitutional under Connecticut law. The five-member panel comprises three democrats and two republicans appointed by former Gove. Daniel P. Malloy. </div>
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U.S. State's Attorney Stefanie Zara-Linley said, "The law is very clear. Nelson had the responsibility to kill the suspect with his weapon. He completely abandoned the good-guy/bad-guy basis of the law and in doing so placed himself and the poor victim in danger. She died because of him."</div>
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Yin denied Nelson's request to post bond and he was remanded to the Whalley Avenue Correctional Center in New Haven pending his appeal. </div>
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Public response to the case has been mixed, as residents wrestle with the implications of the new law.</div>
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Anthony Vitale, of West Haven, said, "I can see why he was charged, but the idea that someone other than the police is responsible to use lethal force -- required by law to kill an innocent person -- troubles me. </div>
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"What if it was a prank? What if they were married and having a fight?" Vitale said. "This whole Nip-Yip thing is a disaster."</div>
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Like many others Vitale pointed out that peace officers such as Nelson must shoot suspects based on their perception of complicated events that may easily be misinterpreted. </div>
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Such was the case Oct. 3 in Newington, when Jonathon Walker shot and killed Hiram Espinoza after seeing Espinoza exchanging cap-gun fire with his cousin Marcel Guttere. Walked shot and killed both men with a Smith & Wesson .40-cal. semi-automatic loaded with hollow point "Hydra Shok" ammunition designed to inflict devastating wounds.</div>
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Walker was awarded the Newington Bravery Medal by the mayor and has refused to comment on the incident. Medical and police reports suggest that Walker has also sought treatment for PTSD at a local drop-in clinic. </div>
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Statistics maintained by the FBI show that since the law was enacted, non-municipal peace officers have intervened in 26 cases, leaving 24 suspects dead and 4 wounded. None of he peace officers other than Nelson has faced charges. </div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-68229454875240118402016-02-29T14:30:00.000-08:002016-02-29T14:30:00.350-08:00The 3D Printer From Satan <script type="text/javascript">
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For some reason I became interested in 3D printers.</div>
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Big mistake. I am now wiser but sadder, or vice versa. Here is my tale of woe:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stubbornly useless</td></tr>
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My interest was piqued by a recent price drop in the machines. A printer used to be extremely expensive (thousands of dollars). Recently, models have appeared for about $300.</div>
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Suspending my deep pessimism about everything, I purchased one. A Monoprice Architect, which I subsequently discovered is a rebranded Flashforge Creator. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the original Monoprice, a Flashforge Creator</td></tr>
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The machine, with thin wood-like walls, came with only a two-page introduction and no software. Also supplied were a power source and a USB cable. The no software proved to be problematic.</div>
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Searching the Monoprice web site for the printer showed no results, a bad sign. Sending Monoprice an email resulted in nothing. When I called the company, support was desultory. The company does not seem willing too part with information, even to consumers who've already been hooked and hauled in. </div>
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The printer came with an SD card that contained "models." The models turned out to be oblongs. Not especially fun nor useful. </div>
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Then I spent many hours downloading software, fiddling with the card, and trying to follow what a support person had told me: first convert files into some program that would slice them up, and then convert the files into a format that the printer could recognize.</div>
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Easier said than done and not easily said.</div>
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Back on Monoprice's web site, I searched for my model machine and kept being shown another different model. At this point I should have taken a sledge hammer and crushed the thing into little pieces.</div>
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But I digress.</div>
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I added files of things like dinosaurs and cup holders to the card, but the Monoprice/Flashforge did not recognize the files. Picky little gizmo. I have a feeling that either the USB port came loose during shipping, or perhaps, is not connected to anything.</div>
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The software I ended up using, Replicator G, kept telling me my laptop was not connected to a printer. I was puzzled. Another call to support, which proved useless. </div>
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I was told that the machine would not work with OS 10.11.3. Oh-oh. If I wanted it to work I would have to downgrade my computer. Not easy to accomplish. I'm not sure, but I think no one in history has ever accomplished this feat. I certainly was not about to try. </div>
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So, sadly, I had to tell Amazon that the Monoprice Architect had to be returned because it was literally useless. Well, unless all I wanted were blocks. </div>
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Take this as a warning: If you are the second person in the world using OS 10.11.3 (I am the first) do not buy a 3D printer, unless you are an electrical engineer and computer scientist. Or unless you like hours of torture. </div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-35364512876013641562015-05-23T17:28:00.001-07:002015-05-23T17:28:11.606-07:00Arguing with people who know they're right<script type="text/javascript">
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I try not to be drawn into pointless Facebook arguments, and it is never a wise idea to argue with anyone about religion. </div>
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Yet I have become enmeshed in an unfolding and probably never ending dialogue with people who are extremely faithful Christians. My role has become "doubting Thomas" but a worse version, more like "Don't you see that your faith keeps you trapped in a thoughtless vacuum bubble Thomas." </div>
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For example, one of these people, whom I will not name, posted a photo of a surgical team in an unnamed hospital engaging in a prayer circle. Perhaps it was a stock photo or staged for some reason. </div>
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I took the bait and posted that if I saw nurses and surgeons at a hospital in which I was a patient performing such a rite, I would drag myself to another hospital. And rhetorically, I posed the question, "If you were in a hospital in which the surgeons danced weirdly with a monkey skull before your surgery would you be as sanguine?"</div>
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The point being, a show of familiar faith is one thing; a show of an unfamiliar faith is something different, and perhaps disturbing. Ultimately the idea was, could you imagine yourself as a Christian in a foreign non-Christian nation, undergoing surgery, and how would you feel is a heathen rite was performed on your behalf?</div>
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The response was purposely (I assume) obtuse. Was I against freedom of prayer? Was I not aware that the group in the photo was praying to God, not a monkey skull. No one addressed my questions but that should not have surprised me.</div>
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If you believe you know the truth based on a 2,000-year-old book, or a story passed down from 2,000 years ago that seems like many other myths, then no argument can sway you. </div>
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These's something about that frame of mind that I find frightening. What's the difference between being certain of Christianity and being certain of Islam? Or, for that matter, any other absolutist philosophy, including Nazism, or Communism? </div>
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So I swore on a Facebook of electrons not to engage in any more useless arguments with these people, some of whom are sort of obnoxiously all-knowing in a restricted claustrophobic kind of way.</div>
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Freedom of speech, as I posted, also means freedom from speech, which is as easy as killing a Facebook account. And eliminating a Facebook account is about as easy as obtaining a tour of North Korea's nuclear weapons plant. </div>
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So, there you have it. Would Jesus be on Facebook, assuming he ever existed?</div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-80493537499276608212015-05-23T17:02:00.000-07:002015-05-23T17:02:05.742-07:00Umm, like, you know, right?<script type="text/javascript">
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I was listening to Connecticut Public Radio one recent morning, during the long process of waking up and I was very impressed -- negatively -- by what I heard.</div>
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The discussion was extremely interesting and, I think, important. But some participants kept saying "you know."</div>
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Those on the radio who were professional broadcasters typically spoke in full sentences and hardly ever used filler phrases such as "you know," "like," and so on.</div>
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Other people on the program (Wheelhouse, I believe it was) were "ya know"ing so much it made my head hurt. I am not a public speaker nor do I ever speak on radio, which is good, because I umm and hmm and uh just like everyone else.</div>
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However, I do not think I say "you know" as an all-purpose noun, preposition, semi-colon, or whatever it's being used as. I'll admit to using "like" occasionally, but I'm usually saying it for rhetorical effect, as in, "So, like, then he says, why do you have horns? And I go, you know, I'm like the devil," etc.</div>
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and I am aware that English usage does change over time. </div>
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How hard is it to change one's speech to avoid saying "you know" every fifth or sixth word? That's the question. If it were as difficult as learning Latin, then I would understand why people in the communication biz say "you know" with abandon.</div>
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Otherwise, why not train yourself to stop saying "you know" constantly? You would sound better and way less irritating, especially for people who are just waking up. </div>
Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-83205527522870512582015-04-16T20:46:00.003-07:002015-05-23T17:36:52.251-07:00The Gift of Love<div>
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Either society is in its last days, everyone is getting older, or both.<br />
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Try looking through the Carol Wright Gifts catalogue and you'll see what I mean.</div>
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First off, as in virtually all catalogues and magazine ads, the products being advertised are advertised by people without the condition that the advertisement is for. </div>
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I should rephrase that. An add for wrinkle cream has a model without even a slight hint of a wrinkle who is possibly in her early 20s. The potential consumers, however, actually have wrinkles and are probably much older.</div>
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This has always been the case, but now that I am wrinkled, crinkled and sprinkled, it makes more of an impression. Genie Slim-leggings, for example, are modeled on a woman who has perfectly shaped legs, hips and so on. </div>
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Embroidered dresses for $22, which are probably intended for single elderly women, are shown on what can only be described as beautiful young women. Then there is the ad for a gizmo to remove facial hair. She has as much hair as a balloon.</div>
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The fantastic nature of magazine ads and articles became clear to me several decades ago, when I was reading Men's Health. The people who write and otherwise produce it, suggest that its readers are young ambitious executive types who exercise like maniacs and have several opportunities with gorgeous women a few times a week.</div>
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It dawned on me that the magazine is a fantasy for paunchy old not-extremely successful guys who are married or who haven't had a date in the past 36 months. Coincidentally, like all of these magazines, the cover depends on lists, and these lists are always about sex, diet, and sex.</div>
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Ten ways to win her back; 8 things she cannot ignore; 11 ways to create bulging muscles, 9 ways to lose 8 pounds, 5 ways to make her understand you better, and so on.</div>
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A magazine editor actually confirmed all of this once in an unguarded moment. </div>
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Anyway, we're leafing through the Gift catalogue, and we go from waist shapers for a woman who ways perhaps 110 pounds, to -- "maximum pleasure for him," a device once advertised in plain envelopes. On the next page is "Men's Mood Pleaser." To quote, "Get yourself in the mood with this soft, sensual stroker." </div>
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Yipes. </div>
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Then a few more pages of knick knacks, cheap sheets, crew socks, and so forth, we get a double-truck spread (no pun there, really) on the amazing butterfly kiss, the maestro of strokers, pocket size pleasure kit (for her), and help strengthen your prostate (for him). </div>
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Then it's back to therapeutic pillows, slipcovers, lanterns, mosquito killers, and armchair organizers.</div>
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Am I a naive prude? I don't think so.<br />
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Nor do I think there's anything wrong with people over the age of 20 or 60 having sex, with or without a partner. I just did not expect to see these things so casually pitched in a catalogue for wrinkled, cheap, bargain hunting overweight, self-conscious men and women. </div>
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Live and learn, I guess. But if I had any young children, I would feel obligated to hide this catalogue, lest they learn about strokers, passion ribs, and other sex toys, from that dirty old lady, Carol Wright.</div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-47850515394967064852015-02-09T11:39:00.002-08:002015-02-09T11:39:46.952-08:00Slow down to avoid disaster<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Decades from now the few who have the aptitude to read and the motivation to study history will be incredulous that people used to drive individual un-linked vehicles.<script type="text/javascript">
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"How could that possibly be true?" they will muse. </div>
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By then light rail will handle most transportation and "automobiles" will no longer be autonomous. They will be sensibly guided by computers that will also record locations, trips, driving habits, and other personal information.</div>
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Meanwhile, drivers have lost any knowledge they ever had about the Newtonian physics that govern how wheeled vehicles operate on snow, ice, and other low-friction surfaces. Think back to high school: an object in motion tends to stay in motion, an object at rest remains at rest; all of that stuff that your insane physics teacher directed at you without any context.</div>
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Sir Isaac Newton, a pretty unpleasant and strange character, and also a genius, created experimentally verifiable theories of gravity, motion, optics and even invented calculus. So independently did Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Somehow mathematicians chose Leibniz's confusing notation.</div>
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Among Newton's accomplishments were his "laws" of mechanics, such as Force equals mass times acceleration; mass times velocity equals momentum, and the idea that potential energy was converted into kinetic energy at the rate of one-half of the product of mass and the square of velocity.</div>
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Newton also linked the dropping of apples (as the story goes) with why the moon orbits Earth, and correctly described the inverse square law of gravitational attraction and calculated the gravitational constant of Earth at 32 feet per second per second. </div>
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These relatively simple laws were sufficient to solve artillery firing solutions and guide Apollo to the moon and back. Albert Einstein's equally revolutionary theories of relativity supplanted Newton's laws, but many engineers and scientists continue to use Newton's far simpler formulae. Einsteins ideas take over at very high speeds and enormous masses.</div>
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Fortunately, cars cannot travel at even one millionth of a percent of the speed of light, because drivers apparently do not understand or appreciate that their vehicles must conform to the laws of physics. No, driving a 2-ton sports utility vehicle does not protect the driver from losing control on ice or allow him to stop any faster than a conventional car. </div>
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The brakes of four-wheel drive vehicles are no more resistant to "slipperiness" than a two-wheel drive car. Moreover, even if they could, a vehicle that weighs double takes correspondingly higher forces to start and stop. </div>
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Yet light trucks glide past you insouciantly on the interstate, spraying your windshield with sand, salt and slush. The sand is spread to increase friction between tires and road surface.</div>
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There are two types of friction: static (for example) would be pushing a heavy box down the driveway, and dynamic, the friction that rotating wheels experience. </div>
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The odd properties of water further complicate winter driving. The melting point of frozen water drops under pressure. A car's mass, or weight, melts the surface of an ice patch, reducing the frictional coefficient of the ice.</div>
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Which is to state the obvious. Driving safely on ice or snow simply requires a slower speed. That's all, basically. Simple. </div>
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Problems can arise if the car's brakes lock, changing dynamic friction into static, and causing a skid. To avoid a skid, drive slowly and slow down before trying to stop. </div>
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Ultimately, to avoid accidents, collisions, injury and so on, just <b>drive slowly</b>. </div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-26678033444125399502014-10-18T14:53:00.000-07:002014-10-18T14:53:00.773-07:00Not that I'm bitter or anything<script type="text/javascript">
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Brewing beer is fun and not terribly complicated. </div>
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The mystery to me is why so many beers are almost too bitter to drink. </div>
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Generally to home brew you need to like beer. Beer, however, encompasses hundreds of different ales, lagers, stouts, pilsners, wheat beers, Belgian beers, stouts, etc. </div>
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Virtually all beers are made out of a handful of ingredients: malt of some type, yeast, water and hops. Spices, fruit, chocolate, and other odds and ends can also be added, if that's what you like.</div>
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Malting involves tricking barley (usually) into sprouting. The seed produces enzymes that break down starches (the seed's food supply) into simpler sugars that the growing plant will need. The brewer stops this processes after an enzyme in the barley breaks down the starches into maltose, fructose, glucose, and other mono- and disaccharides.</div>
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This is done so that the one-celled yeast fungi can consume the sugar and release carbon dioxide and ethanol as waste products. Make sense so far?</div>
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When beer was invented or discovered a long time ago, hops were unknown. The resulting drink probably would have tasted sweet and malty. In the 13th century, we are told, Europeans started to add hops, which to simplify, are flowers of the hops vine. </div>
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Hops added bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malt and acted as a preservative. Specifically hops contain acids which, when boiled, turn into bitter chemicals.</div>
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To summarize: you malt barley, boil it with hops, cool it down, add yeast, and in a few weeks you have beer. If you have added a large amount of hops, you will have extremely bitter beer. That's pretty much what dominates are craft brewing industry(?) these days.</div>
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Why drink something that tastes like Paregoric? </div>
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I cannot think of any other widely consumed food or beverage that is predominantly bitter. Bad coffee can be bitter. The human sense of taste has evolved to reject bitter flavors because bitter usually means "poison" or some other unpleasantness.</div>
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Bitterness in beer is measured in International Bitterness Units, or IBUs. I'm not making this up. A beer like Coors could have about 10 IBU, give or take. Below that and what you're drinking doesn't take a lot like beer.</div>
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At the other end of the brewing spectrum are concoctions like India Pale Ales, typically from the Northwest, that have IBU levels of 50, 60, 70 or even higher. Since the human sense of taste maxes out at about 50 or so IBUs, all of that extra bitterness is a marketing ploy.</div>
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Personally, I would not intentionally brew something that had 60 IBUs. My sense of taste is perhaps closer to 25 to 30, which in some circles would make me a beer wimp. So be it. </div>
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If for some reason you crave bitterness, and assuming you've discussed this with your primary care provider, you simply need to buy some hops online steep them like tea, or maybe boil then, and there you are. No need for yeast, malt or any of that brewing <span style="background-color: yellow;">stuff </span>(Mash tuns, sparging, kegging, conditioning, and so on.)</div>
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I, on the other hand, l<i>ike </i>malt. So no "hop bombs" for me. The stuff that I brew barely contains any alcohol, and tastes kind of estery or fruity. </div>
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But infinitely better than a 70-IBU slap in the tongue. </div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-25736567472403600372014-07-29T19:45:00.001-07:002014-07-29T19:45:30.678-07:00Dead Man Networking<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5NyAY1sXpMuyngBpHevXg5MUuDJnp_v6jSLqnSpPDoCKYnRcOS5dFn2PW-rX8dukSapr1eJE9k3ukD1pgQ46WxL116eAJWea-O23k7fqYWLQdU28g5K5E1LpIuekJHHcvNHtAgCPNw/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5NyAY1sXpMuyngBpHevXg5MUuDJnp_v6jSLqnSpPDoCKYnRcOS5dFn2PW-rX8dukSapr1eJE9k3ukD1pgQ46WxL116eAJWea-O23k7fqYWLQdU28g5K5E1LpIuekJHHcvNHtAgCPNw/s1600/images.jpeg" height="136" width="320" /></a></div>
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Linked In has its uses and many find it a powerful social tool.<script type="text/javascript">
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However, it has a creepy side.</div>
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(I should say that not only a member of Linked In, I am a premiere member, meaning something or other).</div>
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A day or two ago, Linked In suggested that I congratulate a former colleague for a work anniversary. The problem: I was pretty sure the man was dead.</div>
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Why would Linked In suggest I communicate with a dead person? Maybe he's <i>not</i> dead. Perhaps I had misunderstood. So I sent him a congratulatory note. </div>
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Then I called his listed phone number, half afraid that he would answer and I'd have to explain that I thought he had passed away but decided to call him anyway. After a few rings a woman answered and I apologized for my wrong number.</div>
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Then I Googled the guy. Sure enough, he was dead. He had succumbed to an autoimmune disease. However, his blog was still active and one of his final posts was a self-validating promise to fight and overcome the disease. I read it sadly.<br />
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How could Linked In sill consider him alive and well, and having a work anniversary? A buggy algorithm? Outdated information? He never informed Linked In that he had died. He probably had weightier matters on his mind. Besides, dead people cannot make Linked In entries. I assume.</div>
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This was all more than a little creepy, not to mention, pathetic. </div>
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And what's up with Google and its blogging system? Doesn't Google know everything about us?</div>
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Didn't our virtual Big Brother notice that this particular person had stayed in the exact same spot for several years? That he had stopped using email, stopped shopping online, stopped purchasing books from Amazon, stopped bidding on eBay?</div>
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Should I look up "slow monkey brain virus" Google would hit me with ads for safaris. I would start receiving solicitations from Lumosity. You know how it all works.</div>
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How many other dead people are in Linked In, I wonder. How many messages have I sent to them? "Congratulations on working at self for 10 years!" (Should a member be self-employed Linked In terms them "working at 'self.'")</div>
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Will Linked In notice when I have hopped off this mortal coil? </div>
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Perhaps when my payment for premium service runs into trouble at MasterCard. </div>
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Because if MasterCard know anything, it's actuarial precision. If you pay the minimum amount on our debt at 30 percent APR, you will finish paying it back in 5,000 years at a cost of $ trillion.</div>
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What a bunch of sweethearts.</div>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6359673666632120175.post-91545216033093963002013-08-18T16:25:00.003-07:002013-08-18T16:25:21.796-07:00How Can a Flat Bridge Be "Extradosed"?<script type="text/javascript">
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The bridge over the Quinnipiac River may be more expensive and less efficient than necessary.</div>
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This is certainly not my opinion because I am not an engineer or bridge designer. This is the stated stand of the Structural Engineering Forum of India.</div>
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Before we get into that, what exactly is an "extradosed" bridge? Just because the state Department of Transportation calls the structure that in press releases, does not excuse publications that print the press releases from explaining.</div>
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To summarize, extradose is the outside measure of an arch. The inside curve is called, what else, the "intradose." Architecture is filled with esoteric names for things. Know what "ogee" means?</div>
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Architecturally, a Gothic arch with a peak is made out of two ogees. (right)<br />
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"Ogive" describes the shape of the nose of a rocket or a bullet. (below)<br />
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There are dozens of words for different curves. The Sears-Hack Body, for instance, is a an aerodynamic shape that produces the least drag.</div>
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If you're sitting around with nothing to do, search "names of curves" on Google. </div>
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Now, the bridge over the Quinnipiac does not seem to <i>have </i>much extradose, or extrados.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extradose and iontradose</td></tr>
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In fact, it is a cable-stayed extradosed design. This looks superficially like a suspension bridge, but is fundamentally and physically different.</div>
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Suspension bridges use much larger towers to carry a thick "caternary" of cable. Smaller cables connected to the large one are connected to the bridge deck, holding it up. </div>
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A cable-stayed bridge uses cables from shorter towers to connect directly to the bridge deck. The cables also perform different work. Since they meet the deck at a low angle, they tend to add to the longitudinal strength of the bridge. </div>
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Cable-stayed extradosed bridges have a box-girder bridge deck, but are thinner than plain box-girder construction as typified by the old Q bridge that is now being torn down.</div>
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The idea of cable-staying a bridge dates to the 19th century. Now cable-stayed exterdosed bridges are used because they require shorter towers, have less of a footprint than box-girder bridges, and they look kind of cool.<br />
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Lots of cable-stayed extradosed bridges have been built in Europe and Asia. Which brings us back to the Structural Engineering Forum of India. India has many of its own cable-stayed extradosed bridges.<br />
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Writing in October of 2012, Dr. Narayanan said:<br />
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<b>Extradosed bridges are relatively expensive and material inefficient. Almost any span that could be bridged by an extradosed bridge could be spanned more inexpensively with a continuous girder, or more efficiently (but at even greater cost) with a cable-stayed. In most cases the spans are short enough that the use of cables at all is an aesthetic rather than engineering-necessitated choice. This does not imply that is a "bad" choice, since in some cases the difference in cost and efficiency is small, and the extradosed type is a very elegant form. </b></div>
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This is one person's views, although Subramanian is the author of several books on the subjects of concrete, bridge design, and related topics. He probably knows as much as the people who designed and are carrying out the Quinnipiac project at glacial speed. </div>
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So, there you have it. Seems like whoever runs bridge construction in Connecticut could have saved money and perhaps decades, by building a new, bigger box-girder bridge than by selecting a nonsensically named "extradosed" design. </div>
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Just food for thought as you negotiate the ever-changing lanes and soaring ramps of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge.</div>
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Let's hope it is finished while veterans of Pearl Harbor are still alive. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NT17Fpo1CsclFp70hl-OJxNhEZEeWv7teVFaZKgPDyOqkXVA_DpBic47EHSSy5tBtNdr8cm8STTjU_g9N2bkFxDmcFOgwzh_DUAp_EW959zPeZn_pPaap3gZzfZ9vxP5HrmtPtgz8g/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NT17Fpo1CsclFp70hl-OJxNhEZEeWv7teVFaZKgPDyOqkXVA_DpBic47EHSSy5tBtNdr8cm8STTjU_g9N2bkFxDmcFOgwzh_DUAp_EW959zPeZn_pPaap3gZzfZ9vxP5HrmtPtgz8g/s640/images-2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extrados(e) and intrados(e) turn up all over the place, including the design of airplane wings. </td></tr>
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Abram Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16123627535207814777noreply@blogger.com1