Tag Archives: imagine

Obama Is the Guy Who Made America Work Again

Mother Jones

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The theme of the convention tonight was supposed to be “Make America Work Again.” But Donald Trump has a famously short attention span, and apparently that’s spilled over into the scheduling of the entire convention. As near as I can tell, not a single person talked about jobs and the economy except maybe soap opera star Kimberlin Brown, who grows avocadoes and spent several minutes railing against Obamacare.

However, I didn’t watch every minute of the convention, so maybe I missed one of the early C-list speakers talking about jobs. On the off chance that this happened, I have two charts for you. First, here’s a re-up of one of my favorites, showing that Republicans did everything they possibly could to keep America from recovering while Obama was president:

As you can see from the various red and orange lines, Republicans were eager to increase spending for Reagan, Bush Jr., and Bush Sr.—at least until he lost the election and Clinton took over. Then they cut back. For Obama, they depressed public spending from the start. That’s the blue line. Today, more than six years after the official end of the recession, public spending is more than 20 points lower than the trendline for Reagan and Bush.

Nonetheless, check out Obama’s record on job growth:

Even with two big tax cuts and a housing bubble, Bush Jr. managed to create only 10.9 million jobs. Obama, even with the headwind of Republican obstruction, has created 13.1 million jobs so far.

You can decide for yourself how much credit presidents deserve for the strength of the economy on their watch. But one thing is sure: Obama started with the worst recession since World War II, and six years later he’s created over 13 million jobs; the unemployment rate is under 5 percent; inflation is low; and the economy is growing faster than nearly any other rich country. Imagine what he could have done if Republicans hadn’t stood in his way the entire time.

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Obama Is the Guy Who Made America Work Again

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Please resist the urge to take a selfie with this cute seal

SEALFIE TIME

Please resist the urge to take a selfie with this cute seal

By on May 29, 2016Share

Seals, like the Sirens of Greek myth who perched on rocky shores to lead passerby astray, are trying to lure you — and you must not give in. Their weapon: those photogenic little faces.

Let Atlas Obscura set the scene:

Imagine: it’s the tail end of Memorial Day Weekend. All your friends have been posting pictures of themselves laughing it up in various attractive early summer situations. You, on the other hand, have found yourself at a relatively average New England beach — gritty sand, cloudy sky, some water. There is no Instagram filter that can enhance this. How to set yourself apart?

Look! There, down the beach — a lone seal pup, wriggling in the sand. Do you approach the seal? Do you click that little button that switches to the front-facing camera? Do you put your head near the pup’s head, as though you are pals, and smile?

No. Do not do it, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association said in a recent press release. Do not take a selfie with the seal.

If Mommy Seal, who is probably nearby hunting for food, sees you with Baby Seal, she might abandon her young pup forever. (So much for maternal instincts.) Trust me: You don’t want that kind of guilt on your hands, and you sure don’t want any photos around to verify your disgraceful affront to sealkind.

If that’s not enough to keep you away, NOAA also wants you to know this: “Seals have powerful jaws, and can leave a lasting impression.”

So next time you encounter a cute, squirmy wild animal, keep your cellphone-wielding flippers to yourself and recall the immortal words of NOAA: “There is no selfie stick long enough!”

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Please resist the urge to take a selfie with this cute seal

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Obama: Sony "Made a Mistake" Stopping the Release of "The Interview"

Mother Jones

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On Friday, President Barack Obama called Sony’s decision to cancel the release of “The Interview” a “mistake.”

“We cannot have a society in which a dictator in some place can start imposing censorship in the United States,” he told reporters at his final press conference of the year. “Imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of someone who’s sensibilities probably need to be offended.”

“I wish they’d spoken to me first,” he added. “I would have told them: Do not get into the pattern in which you are intimidated.”

Earlier on Friday, the FBI officially linked the North Korean government to the cyber attack on Sony. In the press conference, Obama indicated the US government was considering how to respond.

When asked for specifics, he said, “We’ve been working up a range of options. They will be presented to me and I will make a decision based on what I think is proportional and appropriate to the nature of this crime.”

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Obama: Sony "Made a Mistake" Stopping the Release of "The Interview"

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Saints’ Latest Offers 2 Takes on the Same 11 Songs

Mother Jones

The Saints
King of the Sun/King of the Midnight Sun
Fire

Chris Bailey, one of the greatest—and most underrated—singers in rock and roll, has fronted Australia’s Saints since the ’70s, when the band cut the snarling punk classic “(I’m) Stranded.” Bailey and a revolving support crew have explored a variety of styles over the years, with his gritty, expressive vocals the only constant. (Imagine Eric Burdon of The Animals with a little less blues.) Following a profile-raising cover by Bruce Springsteen earlier this year on his High Hopes album, the latest Saints outing is an interesting experiment, offering two different takes on the same 11 songs. King of the Sun, the nicer version, features big pop arrangements that employ horns, pianos and the like; King of the Midnight Sun presents a scuzzier, garage-appropriate alternative closer to the Saints’ original style. Either way, Bailey is a compelling leading man who never sounds an unconvincing note.

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Saints’ Latest Offers 2 Takes on the Same 11 Songs

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Solar Power: Let Me Decide or Buy Me Off?

Solar Power: Let Me Decide or Buy Me Off?

Throughout the energy conversation we’ve been having with the Nuclear and Coal articles, several readers have commented about the inclusion of solar energy. Solar energy is sold to us as the end-all-be-all solution to our energy needs, and I find it hard not to argue against very specific aspects of that sales pitch. It’s clean, it’s renewable, it’s somewhat readily available, and it has little to no long-term impact. The Department of Energy claims that a 100 square mile solar panel field in Nevada can generate 800 gigawatts of power. That’s enough to power the entire United States.

Now, let’s collectively pull our head out of the clouds and talk about the ugly side of the situation …
The national average for electricity runs at about 12.6 cents per kilowatt hour, and the average house uses about 1,000 kilowatt hours per month. Before taxes, regulatory, and administrative fees that makes for a $126.00 per month electric bill. You wake up, and decide that you are going green. You hop in your Prius and buzz down to “Solar Panels R US”, and buy your run-of-of-the-mill solar panel kit. After 10 panels, 10 brackets to mount them, and a power inverter, you’ve officially got everything you need to create a whopping 345kwh of energy. Price tag? A mere $8,300 for the BASIC hardware, which is on the low end; installation not included. Now you’ve got a roof full of solar panels that produce 345kwh of energy, or an average energy savings of $43.47 dollars a month …

At that rate, assuming you get 100% potential from your solar panel array, it will take you 15 years to break even on your investment, at the very minimum, based on national averages. Imagine what the break-even on the 100 square mile theoretical “Panel Land” would be.

“Okay, it’s pricey … but what about the ‘Large Scale’ solar industry?” Solar energy is twice as expensive as natural gas energy. It’s 67% more expensive than wind produced power, for that matter. The national average for solar energy is over 80 cents per kilowatt hour after factoring in all the associated costs. Now that doesn’t sound so bright …

Expenses aside, the solar power contribution to the current power grid tripled from 2012 to 2013. A staggering 29% of all new energy installations in 2013 were solar power related. So if it’s more expensive, and still grew, who footed that bill?
You did.The government provides extensive solar energy subsidies, as high as 96 cents per kilowatt hour. Those subsidies come directly from our tax dollars. For every single tax dollar spent on natural gas subsidies, $1,200 dollars were spent on solar subsidies. In 2010 solar energy subsides were $775.64 dollars per megawatt of solar energy added to the power grid. That adds up to about 37 billion dollars a year. To put it in perspective, that’s enough money to build six modern nuclear power plants.

So we just cut the subsidy right?

earth911

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Solar Power: Let Me Decide or Buy Me Off?

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How Hackers and Software Companies are Beefing Up NSA Surveillance

Mother Jones

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This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.

Imagine that you could wander unseen through a city, sneaking into houses and offices of your choosing at any time, day or night. Imagine that, once inside, you could observe everything happening, unnoticed by others—from the combinations used to secure bank safes to the clandestine rendezvous of lovers. Imagine also that you have the ability to silently record everybody’s actions, whether they are at work or play without leaving a trace. Such omniscience could, of course, make you rich, but perhaps more important, it could make you very powerful.

That scenario out of some futuristic sci-fi novel is, in fact, almost reality right now. After all, globalization and the Internet have connected all our lives in a single, seamless virtual city where everything is accessible at the tap of a finger. We store our money in online vaults; we conduct most of our conversations and often get from place to place with the help of our mobile devices. Almost everything that we do in the digital realm is recorded and lives on forever in a computer memory that, with the right software and the correct passwords, can be accessed by others, whether you want them to or not.

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How Hackers and Software Companies are Beefing Up NSA Surveillance

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A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming – Dylan Tuccillo, Jared Zeizel & Thomas Peisel

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming

Mastering the Art of Oneironautics

Dylan Tuccillo, Jared Zeizel & Thomas Peisel

Genre: Self-Improvement

Price: $9.99

Expected Publish Date: September 10, 2013

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company

Seller: Workman Publishing Co., Inc.


Imagine being able to fly. Walk through walls. Shape-shift. Breathe underwater. Conjure loved ones—or total strangers—out of thin air. Imagine experiencing your nighttime dreams with the same awareness you possess right now—fully functioning memory, imagination, and self-awareness. Imagine being able to use this power to be more creative, solve problems, and discover a deep sense of well-being. This is lucid dreaming—the ability to know you are dreaming while you are in a dream, and then consciously explore and change the elements of the dream. A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming , with its evocative retro illustrations, shows exactly how to do it. Written by three avid, experienced lucid dreamers, this manual for the dream world takes the reader from step one—learning how to reconnect with his or her dreams— through the myriad possibilities of what can happen once the dreamer is lucid and an accomplished oneironaut (a word that comes from the Greek oneira , meaning dreams, and nautis , meaning sailor). Readers will learn about the powerful REM sleep stage—a window into lucid dreams. Improve dream recall by keeping a journal. The importance of reality checks, such as “The Finger”—during the day, try to pass your finger through your palm; then, when you actually do it successfully, you’ll know that you’re dreaming. And once you become lucid, how to make the most of it. Every time you dream, you are washing up on the shores of your own inner landscape. Learn to explore a strange and thrilling world with A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming .

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A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming – Dylan Tuccillo, Jared Zeizel & Thomas Peisel

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