Squalor: Liberia has suffered two brutal civil wars in the last 20 years. While the relative peace since the middle of the decade has unquestionably brought a number of improvements, conditions for many people today are arguably worse than they were back in 1989. For instance back then, the nation [...]
Earlier this week...
It's tempting to present the flattening of Oregon's unemployment rate--at 11.3 percent in October--as good news. But economists, dismal scientists to the core, paint a negative picture.
First, October's number--the same seasonally adjusted 11.3 percent as September's revised rate--remains stubbornly higher than the nation's towering 10.2 percent level.
Second, [...]
An increasing number of people are concerned that paying developing nations not to cut down their forests does nothing to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. Here's a great example.
An agreement by Norway to pay Guyana for preserving forests to help slow climate change will still allow the South [...]
Here's the latest deportation data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The data, from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009, shows that 10,793 people were deported from the Pacific Northwest, a drop of 117 compared to the previous year.
That marks the first time in the last five years [...]
It's been obvious for years now that Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credit is a money pit. Finally, the scandal is getting some legs.
In a letter to two state agency heads, Kulongoski asked for recommendations on whether the increasingly expensive Business Energy Tax Credit "is necessary for continued economic" [...]
It simply amazes me that anyone could write an article on this topic and avoid the elephant in the room.
Officials [from the Oregon Employment Department] predict economic growth will add 160,300 jobs in the state from 2008 to 2018, plus about 85,000 jobs opening as Oregon digs out of [...]
Governments at the state and federal level make huge sums by taxing addictions. Oregon's legislature is so addicted to those revenue streams that there's a constant battle to boost sin taxes, yet squeeze the revenue dedicated to prevention and treatment programs.
Over the weekend, The Oregonian highlighted some rather [...]
Green But Not Authentic: Years ago, I had a boss who talked about knowing the difference between traditions and bad habits. There's a lot of tradition in the production of scotch.
For the past two years the [Loch Lomond Distillery], based in Alexandria near Glasgow, has been producing almost [...]
Many organizations outsource customer service operations. This has been good for Sykes, a company of 33,000 employees which turned a profit last year of $60.6 million on revenues of about $820 million. Its customer service center in Milton-Freewater OR--which is less than 10 miles south of Walla Walla [...]
According to World Health Organization data published today, H1N1 has killed "at least 6,260 people" around the globe, the majority here in North America. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control data--also published today--has the global death toll at 6,768. That's obviously sad, but the totals remain [...]
Some industries are criticized for producing thermal (heat) pollution. The cooling water from power plants--especially nuclear--is often cited as an example. And while it's usually portrayed differently, urban heat islands gain part of their warmth from man's activities rather than land-use changes. Yet, the following way of dealing with [...]
Nowadays, most conservation organizations that are comprised--at least in part--of hunters trying to help their favored prey are fighting an uphill battle. Quail Unlimited has certainly been struggling with that. The bobwhite quail thrives in areas--primarily in the Midwest and Southeast-- that have been disturbed and are recovering. [...]
More Control Through Meters: Smart meters can be designed to do all sorts of things. For instance, here's what over 27 million Enel customers already have in Italy...
These meters are fully electronic and smart, with integrated bi-directional communications, advanced power measurement and management capabilities, an integrated, software-controllable disconnect switch,' [...]
Brookings has a small public airport that's not designed for commercial air traffic. Fortunately though for area residents and visitors, nearby Crescent City CA is served by SkyWest (United)--three flights a day (though one may soon be cut). That's saves a beautiful though not necessarily relaxing couple-hour drive to [...]
We'd been hearing for awhile now that it had been a banner year for marijuana eradication in much of California. The following summarizes the results...kind of.
California's pot police have again shattered records for confiscating marijuana.
The state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting [CAMP] seized 4.4 million marijuana plants during this year's [...]
The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is non-profit created by the British government to promote resource efficiency. It promotes people buying less, wasting less, owning less, etc.
No doubt there's plenty of unnecessary consumption in the UK...we certainly don't have a monopoly on that vice. But some of the' [...]
The September Stress Index information was published today. From the AP article on its metric...
The AP's Economic Stress Index calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on a county's unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. Under a rule of thumb, a county is considered stressed when its score [...]
After what Thomas Swingler of CableHack.net was charged with earlier this year, Ryan Harris surely knew that he had a target on his back.
An Oregon hardware hacker and author has been hit with federal criminal charges arising from his longstanding business of selling unlocked cable modems that can [...]
From today's Portland Business Journal...
Demand is up and donations are down for Oregon charitable organizations.
Demand for services increased 12 percent from 2008, according to a survey released Monday by the Oregon Community Foundation. The survey conducted in August and September canvassed 1,234 Oregon nonprofits about the impact the recession' [...]
Reducing Worries: People with less stress can usually sleep better. So, who tends to sleep better, workers or retirees? That depends upon the job, the financial situation upon retirement, one's health, on and on.
The study involved employees from the French national gas and electricity company, Electricité de France-Gaz [...]
According to the San Francisco Homeless Services Coalition:
- San Francisco has the highest per capita rate of homelessness of any major American city. 7,000 homeless people live in SF at a given time. Some estimates put the number as high as 15,000 (SF Plan to Abolish Chronic Homelessness).
- Only 15% [...]
In 2007, Dell closed its call center in Roseburg not long after some employees sued over unpaid overtime (previous blog here). Last year, that lawsuit gained class action status involving multiple call centers and alleged unscrupulous business practices (previous blog here). Turns out that Dell quietly settled last [...]
The Defenders of Wildlife has long championed the reintroduction of wolves into various parts of the continental U.S. Unlike its sister organizations that promote wolves, Defenders helps reimburse ranchers who suffer losses because of those wolves. But make no mistake, wolves are a profit center for the non-profit. No doubt [...]
GE has spent huge sums trying to position itself as smart and green. Few companies have lobbied harder for subsides and the proposed cap & trade system, from which it would profit greatly. It also lobbied hard for the law which set efficiency standards that will essentially outlaw incandescent light [...]
Eugene is home to several highly litigious environmental organizations. It's not the economy that's causing problems at the Western Environmental Law Center.
In yet another sign that economic tough times continue to plague Lane County, a public interest environmental law firm will lay off four staff members by the [...]
The first Great Lakes Craft Brewers and Water Conservation Conference kicked off yesterday in Milwaukee WI. While few Americans have to worry nowadays about their water supply unless there's a drought or disaster, that will eventually change. In the meanwhile, most brewers are interested in saving money, planning for the [...]
This editorial has it right.
As the largest subprime lender and valued partner of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Countrywide was at the core of the mortgage meltdown. The political class wants to blame the mania and panic on the bankers, but the bankers couldn't have made the subprime' [...]
Needle Stewardship: Del Norte County (that last "e" is silent) is in the rural northwestern corner of California. From this link...
It's hardly the kind of place where you would expect a conservative local government to adopt what may be the most progressive solid waste management policy in the United [...]
Back in late 2003 when the U.S. had its first case of mad cow disease (in an animal imported from Canada), Taiwan was one a a number of countries that stopped importing American beef. Three years ago, the country partially lifted the ban, accepting imports of boneless meat. On [...]
The major concern wasn't that the following patient could die of embarrassment.
The memory still bothers Ken Keller: A panicked ambulance crew had a critically ill patient, but the man weighed more than 1,000 pounds and could not fit inside the vehicle. And the stretcher wasn't sturdy enough to hold him.
The [...]
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has just published its third annual rating of what states are doing to pursue energy efficiency. Oregon did well but dropped two places this year.
2009 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, which ranks states in six categories, concludes that the 10 states doing [...]
Oversensitive: The following sure seems like an example of discovering the obvious.
For the study, a total of 133 American college students were randomly assigned to write an essay about either a negative or positive comment about their appearance that they had received in the past. Compared to participants [...]
Winn Parish is a rural county in the timber country of north-central Louisiana. Back when the housing industry was still booming, JELD-WEN (headquartered in Klamath Falls) committed to building a door factory in the county seat--Winnfield...which by-the-by was the home of the infamous Huey Long. The factory was supposed [...]
The Mail-Tribune had an article today on a retired Ashland couple whose 4,400 SF home was the first here in Southern Oregon to receive LEED certification. It got a platinum rating--the highest available. Despite this, there are so many things wrong with this effort.
The home on Birdsong Lane has [...]
Some states offer guidance on how to clean facilities which have housed meth labs, and some don't. Less than half of the states even require dwellings that have been used as meth labs to be cleaned prior to families moving in. Buyer/renter beware.
Congress finally passed the Methamphetamine Remediation Research' [...]
About a year ago, I blogged about the Interior Department's Inspector General investigating the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System for inappropriate ties with environmental lobbyists. Last week, the IG published its report, which centered on the now-retired Director of the NLCS--Elena Daly--and one of her two division chiefs, [...]
Energy Star is a federal energy efficiency program jointly managed by the EPA and DOE. Early last month, they published revisions to the specifications governing televisions.
Starting next May, TVs will need to be 40 percent more efficient than today’s standard to receive Energy Star certification. By May 2012, [...]
On the surface, the following seems like good news.
After more than a century of being murky from enough Gold Rush-era mining sediment to fill 60 Superdomes, researchers say, the Bay suddenly crossed a profound threshold 10 years ago and became much clearer.
The Bay had gradually been getting clearer for [...]
I've got some family business to attend to...probably won't have time for another post until Sunday or Monday.
[...]Tamiflu is one of a number of medications which the average sewage treatment plant can't break down. It tends to go through us as well.
For their new study, Gopal Ghosh and his colleagues at Kyoto University sampled water discharged from three local sewage treatment plants and water at several' [...]
This news report portrayed the theft of solar panels as an "unusual crime spree." Those reporters haven't been paying enough attention (previous blog here).
The latest hit happened at an undisclosed winery in Rutherford early Monday morning. The Napa County Sheriff's Office says 25 solar panels worth $30,000 were' [...]
Where there are factory farms, there can be power plants.
A major power plant in Penglai city of northern China's Shandong Province uses manure from 500 million chickens to produce electricity for the grid. It went into operation late last month.
In the showcase Shandong plant, chicken manure and waste [...]
The Washington-Jefferson Park in Eugene has become a popular transient hangout. Sadly but not necessarily surprisingly, crime and public drunkenness in the area are up. How have authorities chosen to address this? More police involvement and...
Oregon Liquor Control Commission regulators have asked the owners of the Neighborhood Market, 7-Eleven [...]
Corn production bears a lot of the blame for fertilizer runoff that ends up in the Mississippi River. Besides farming, other major sources of nutrients in the Mississippi include effluent from sewage treatment plants and industry, stormwater runoff, and of course nature itself. When it comes to reducing the [...]
Popeye's Steroid: The United States is second in the world in spinach production, growing a measly 3 percent of the world's crop. China produces 85 percent, including some of the best. For instance, the pretentiously-named Woodstock Farms Organic Cut Spinach earned a "Hall of Fame" rating from five food [...]
Unfortunately, the sudden oak death fungus continues to make its presence known in Curry County. The spread of this incurable malady remains slow but seemingly inexorable because eradication efforts have never been aggressive enough--often due to limited and patchwork funding. At the moment, authorities are awaiting federal stimulus money [...]
Here's another example of spending research dollars to document something we already knew.
A recent study has found that young adults are much less likely to use ambulatory or preventive care, even though their mortality rate is more than twice that of adolescents.
"Young adults are generally a healthy population, but" [...]
Rabobank is a Dutch financial institution which bought California's VIB Corp (Valley Independent Bank) in 2002. Tesla Motors was saved from bankruptcy earlier this year by $465 million in loans from the Department of Energy. It's sold about 700 cars thus far, presumably to customers with deep pockets. [...]
Gee, if we pay more, will the DEQ's e-mailing capability improve?
Monday, [County] Commissioner Sandi Cassanelli received e-mail notice of a potential 60 percent increase in fees from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which regulates the siting, construction and inspection of septic systems statewide, and administers that work [...]
Cymbidiums are orchids that are famous for their corsage flowers. Here's a beautiful example from this link.
It's rather obvious that growers would avoid using pesticides which could adversely impact the look or number of flowers produced. However...
Tauranga grower Paul Hulshof poured a truckload of [...]
At the start of the month, the federal government handed out $502 million in stimulus money for renewable energy projects in the U.S. The majority went to foreign firms--the big winner being Spain's Iberdrola, which got $295 million. At least Iberdrola's U.S. headquarters is in Portland.
The $140 million provided [...]
New Zealand is nowhere close to meeting its Kyoto Protocol goal of no increase in CO2 emissions from 1990 to 2012. Using the latest UNFCCC data (2006), New Zealand's CO2 emissions have risen 18.9 percent--from 7.4 to 8.8 metric tons per capita. That's not good...though our per capita [...]
Kooskia is a small town in the panhandle of Idaho, roughly 50 miles NE of Hell's Canyon. From there, one can head east on U.S. Highway 12 along the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River, which was designated a National Wild & Scenic River back in 1968. When [...]
Thirstier Trees: It's a bad sign when a researcher begins with a false premise--or two--when highlighting what's supposedly been discovered. This press release was entitled "Exotic timber plantations found to use more than twice the water of native forests."
"Scientists used to think that forests in same environments use water" [...]
If a company paid to plant some trees for purposes of carbon sequestration, but then the trees then burn down, are the trees insured or does the company suddenly need to buy a new carbon sink? There are all sorts of variables in that question that fortunately we don't have' [...]
It's amazing the number of people who have poor impulse control.
The phenomenon is known as "vicarious goal fulfillment," by which a person "can feel a goal has been met if they have taken some small action," like seeing a salad on the menu without actually ordering it, according to [...]
It's a sign of failure whenever one government agency sues another. There are all sorts of causes, including badly-written laws, agencies which can't or won't compromise, defending or trying to expand one's turf, an unwillingness to live within one's means, on and on. It's all unnecessary...or at least should be.
My [...]
The noise level of a normal conversation is about 60 decibels. If road noise is just a bit louder...
Researchers found that among more than 24,000 Swedish adults, those living near relatively noisier roads were more likely to say they had high blood pressure than those living in more peaceful [...]
In the last few months, many JoCo residents have gone from being embarrassed at the quality of our county government to glad that it's not as bad as the cesspool in Grants Pass. There's been all the drama with multiple city attorneys, the botched firing of the city manager, meetings [...]
One of the key selling points in Google choosing to develop a data center in Oregon was a good deal on our already cheap power, made possible by large dams. Data centers are energy hogs...though not as bad as the aluminum smelters which used to use a bunch of [...]
States without national forests are evidently jealous of the funding that's dedicated mostly to Western states for firefighting. That's got me wondering when we'll see some urban renewal money here in rural Josephine County.
...the U.S. Forest Service this week announced it will spend nearly $2.8 million in forest-fire-fighting' [...]
The beliefs of a number of environmentalists can seem religious in nature. Rather than truly understanding much of what they fervently believe, they have faith in certain folks and organizations that preach various forms of apocalypse. It seemed only a matter of time until such beliefs gained legal protections.
A senior [...]
Unwanted Souvenirs: We usually think of superbugs as bacteria that have developed new and undesirable talents. But swapping capabilities?
The enzyme, called New Delhi Metallo-1, has so far been found attached to bacteria that has caused urinary tract infections and respiratory infections.
It is of particular concern because it can [...]
On Thursday, headlines around the world proclaimed that Australia now leads the world in per capita carbon dioxide emissions. Here's an example from Bloomberg.
Australia has overtaken the U.S. as the biggest emitter per person of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, according to a British risk analysis [...]
Yesterday's Daily Courier had an article which noted the State Librarian "speculated" that Josephine County still lacks what is defined as adequate service. But after reading the following, it's harder to care.
The state's benchmark for adequate service sets five criteria:
• The library is legally established and makes basic [...]
Recology is the pretentious new name for Norcal Waste Systems, the garbage company for a number of communities in Northern California and the North State. Pretty soon, trash from places like Humboldt County CA could be landfilled in Humboldt County NV.
Recology intends to collect household garbage from [...]
I can't believe the utility company might get away with this.
Even as firefighters continue fighting the Station fire, the largest brush fire in Los Angeles County history, an emotionally charged issue is flaring over how to avoid a repeat of the disastrous 2007 fires in San Diego County.
On Thursday,' [...]
Fogging Fruit Flies: Close to thirty years ago now, a medfly infestation in California was national news.
California’s medfly morass began on June 5th, 1980 when two medflies were found in a trap in San Jose. Medflies (not native to the U.S.) are among the peskiest of all Earth’s bugs. [...]
KRKO 1380, a sports-news radio station, has been broadcasting in Everett WA for 87 years. It's one of just seven radio stations in the Seattle-Tacoma area that's still locally owned. However, that only matters until it doesn't. Yesterday, the Earth Liberation Front Press Office published the following press' [...]
Man's subterranean activities can both raise and lower the temperature of the surrounding ground. Geothermal systems are designed to take heat from below the surface. Meanwhile, London's subway system has been adding warmth.
A hundred years ago, summer day-trippers were lured on to London Underground’s Bakerloo line with the [...]
The safety of our food supply depends upon a number of people doing things right. On August 24, we learned of the following...
Over the past three weeks, a Tyson employee said a disgruntled employee has been trying to sabotage the Sedalia [Missouri] plant by putting human waste on the [...]
On the surface, the following seemed like some good news, despite the fact that the majority of the money is going to a foreign firm.
Iberdrola, the Spanish energy giant, emerged on Tuesday as the early winner in the government’s plan to aid the nation’s clean-energy sector as part of [...]
We're far less dependent upon other nations for energy than we are for the rare earth metals necessary to make hybrid vehicles.
The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found' [...]
Not Noticing: It's easy to understand why people with visible skin conditions can struggle with how others react to their appearance.
Psoriasis has long been known to cause considerable emotional stress for patients, including a lack of self-esteem and an increased incidence of mood disorders, such as depression. One [...]
Each year, the Spanish town of Buñol hosts La Tomatina, a fiesta that features the world's largest tomato fight. Over 20,000 people hurl more than 90,000 pounds of tomatoes for no historical reason...the event was created to draw tourists to the town. It's grown into a week-long event that's' [...]
Wolf advocates have fought hard against the image of wolves as ruthless and indiscriminate killers. Unfortunately, many advocates have adopted similarly unscientific views of wolves as virtuous and noble beasts. Occasionally, wolf behavior does seem fit the cliches. The following rather ugly example occurred a couple of weeks about [...]
Here's the top 10 list for vehicles stolen in Oregon in 2008.
1992 Honda Accord 1995 Honda Civic 1990 Toyota Camry 1990 Acura Integra 1996 Subaru Legacy 1993 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 1995 Saturn 1999 Ford F150 Pickup 1991 Ford Explorer 1986 Toyota Pickup 4x2Several of those were big sellers, but the Acura, Subaru, and Saturn? Interesting that all of [...]
I'd been building up to a post on the golden parachute jobs that some of Oregon's legislators have been getting. Little wonder the following editorial in the Medford Mail-Tribune caught my eye.
Portland Sen. Margaret Carter became the most recent legislator to move to the ranks of full-time state employees when' [...]
Having tobacco companies make non-smoking ads is about as logical as merely asking alcohol companies to avoid advertising to teens.
"Alcohol advertisers have pledged to avoid audiences made up of more than 30 percent underage viewers — such as children's programming," said David H. Jernigan, director of the Center [...]
Politicians around the world try to buy votes. This example in Denmark sounds remarkably familiar.
Most of the people who received funding from the government's 1.5 billion kroner [$289 million] "green renovation fund" would have carried out their renovations anyway, an Analyse Denmark study for labour union newsletter Ugebrevet [...]
Spanish Beetle: About 300 of the 2,500 species of blister beetles live in the U.S., often in hotter, drier parts of the West. Many eschew basic black, instead wearing bold colors and patterns to advertise their toxicity. From this link.
Blister beetles are named for their defensive mechanism of releasing [...]
Folks near Galveston Bay (TX) got hit hard by Hurricane Rita in 2006...but not as hard as a few of them claimed.
In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, the six members of the High Island Cattle Association and another rancher were accused of supporting each others’ claims of cattle losses in [...]
The French have a long tradition of striking and protesting against what they feel is unjust. These actions can often be theatrical, violent, and of course designed to inconvenience others.
During the 1990s, the world repeatedly looked on in shock at acts of French rebellion, including the occupation [...]
If these folks had been at all observant, they could have saved themselves the embarrassment.
They are tasked with cutting Britain's carbon emissions in a bid to slow down the effects of climate change.
But civil servants at the Department for Energy and Climate Change have scrapped an energy-saving plan [...]
Oregon's state nut, the hazelnut, is native to Europe and parts of Asia. One of the most despised plants in the state is another foreign species, the scotch broom. Some Oregonians love to pick wild blackberries, most of which are actually a European import confusingly known as the Himalayan blackberry [...]
This editorial in the Eureka Times-Standard struck a chord.
The prison system continues to be the biggest drain on California's budget. Billions of dollars come out of state coffers to meet every mental and medical need of prisoners according to the court's orders.
...
Oncology clinics often see prisoners get life-saving medical [...]
Cooling Energy Bills: Last year, the Western Cooling Efficiency Center at UC Davis started its Western Cooling Challenge. What's special about cooling in the West?
Many western states are hot and dry, but use cooling systems that were designed for warm and humid climates. The Cooling Challenge is [...]
Many medical professionals recommend Tylenol and related pills as safe and effective pain relievers. But as usual, everything in moderation.
...doctors have known for some time that acetaminophen can, in high dosages and rare instances, be toxic, causing major liver damage or even death. Now the U.S. Food and Drug [...]
This is certainly an interesting sounding drug.
Until now, doctors have felt largely helpless when it comes to treating so-called radiation sickness. Ionizing radiation destroys the building blocks of cells, leading directly to cell death. It can also produce changes in genetic material, which are passed on during subsequent cell [...]
Yesterday...
Members of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council have deadlocked over a plan that calls for 85 percent of the region's new power needs over the next 20 years to be achieved through conservation.
85 percent? From a ridiculously biased article that The Oregonian should have been embarrassed to print [...]
As in the U.S., the tap water in the UK is perfectly safe to drink in the vast majority of the country. Yet, many people choose to waste money on bottled water, which is both far more expensive and harder on the environment. The BBC has run a number of [...]
While many of us here in the West suffered through a hot July, the same certainly wasn't true for the majority of Americans. Only 10 states had above-average temperatures for the month of July, while 6 states had their coolest July on record (115 years) and another 18 were' [...]
In Africa, Botswana trails only Equatorial Guinea in terms of GDP per capita. But considering the despotic leadership in Equatorial Guinea and how few of its citizens have benefited from the nation's oil riches, the average Botswanan is much better off. Unfortunately, that thought doesn't necessarily apply to its' [...]
We've long known that most printers are sold at a loss, with the companies making their profits on cartridge sales. Little wonder printer companies aggressively defend that profit center against competitors who refill cartridges or sell generics. That--and corporate espionage--are what's at issue now in Oregon federal court.
In' [...]
