Some Social Networking sites, put cursor over image for site name...

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I laugh out loud about how WRONG you two are on just about every political and legal and scientific issue

Well done, you pander to a know-nothing audience that doesn't understand any of the following:

Human Caused Climate chaos is real and you simply contribute to ensuring nothing will be done about it.  

WWW.VHEMT.ORG is a site you ought to visit, since it represents the ONLY moral choice.  We've already booted the pooch and will be causing our own extinction in the very near future...

The constitution of the US supersedes any AZ law, and you should support the legal battle against it, since if the legal battle fails, the law will stand, but at least it would be settled law.  You guys continue to project an ignorance of how the legal system works in this country, but I know that's just shtick.

The whole "heads on a stick" tax "revolt" is insanity to the max, since most Californians have seen their taxes go down thanks to Obama, and the ones who ought NOT to have their taxes go down, the very rich, are your beneficiaries.

Here's just one little factoid you probably know full well but wouldn't care to share with your audience...

1.  When the rich get a tax break, supposedly, they then have more to invest in new businesses.

2.  However, the rich didn't get that way by being stupid or by gambling.

3.  The wealthy know more than most that the odds of a new business actually succeeding is astonishingly long odds.

4.  So, they invest most of their tax savings in safe wealth maintaining investment, and perhaps risk 10% of it.  THE WHOLE IDEA OF A DEFICIT AND DEBT IS GREAT FOR THE RICH, SINCE THE GOVERNMENT WILL BACK THEIR PURCHASE OF T-BILLS AND NOTES, ZERO RISK FOR A GUARANTEED RETURN...THAT'S THE LEGACY OF Ron the Alzheimer Reagan's Presidency, he who should be anything but lionized...

5.  the TRUTH? - The rich benefit the most from government SPENDING, since the police protect them, the roads carry their trucks to market, the rule of law makes this a low risk place to do business, and therefore they ought to pay far more than they currently do, (I know the top 5% pay 80% of taxes already, so what?  They ought to pay 90% or more, since they benefit the very most!)

Meanwhile, their tax gift from Bush continues to swell the deficit.

Did you know that for every dollar of unemployment spent, the economy sees over one dollar of benefit...

Guess you won't share that nugget with your audience.

Thanks for the entertainment.

Trade Show Guru

Web References to Morton C. Frishberg (with various spellings etc.)

As the Internet accumulates more and more data, I recently performed a fairly intense search for references to my father, Morton Charles Frishberg (Mort Frishberg, M.C. Frishberg, M. C. Frishberg, Morton Frishberg, etc.)

The following are what I've found so far...enjoy!

http://www.templeofaaron.org/about_history.html

In 1938 another "first" occurred, when Cantor Maurice Goldberg introduced the practice of having boys ofBar Mitzvah age officiate as Cantor at Shaharit services on Saturday mornings, adding public service to the Bar Mitzvah boy's reading of the Torah. Under Cantor Goldberg, the first boy to participate as cantor at Shaharit services on the Saturday of his Bar Mitzvah was Morton Frishberg. Two years later, in 1940, young boys were beginning to conduct the Musaf service on Saturday. Cantor Goldberg soon organized a mixed voice choir, too.

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=366271 as a footnote to a 1961 article in the Association of Computer Machinery...(See Below)

http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/calendar/1958/06/index.html

Letter from Mr. and Mrs. Morton C. Frishberg to LP RE: Would like any information about the "non-oxygenating" molecule and the drug treatment since they have a mentally retarded child. [Letter from LP to Frishberg June 4, 1958] [Filed under LP Science: Orthomolecular Medicine and Mental Health: Materials re: Ford Foundation grants for the study of mental disorders, 1955-1966: Box #11.089, Folder #89.8]

https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/8803/1/32010036.pdf  (See Below)

(See footnotes on page 38 if you can still see this one...)

http://web2.acbl.org/nabcbulletins/1997summer/db3.pdf - bridge tournament reference...

http://picasaweb.google.com/Bob.Luba/PLATO#

Use "Find" on that page (control F then type Frishberg for the surprising result!) 

http://www.pitt.edu/~atteberr/jazz/articles/FRISHBER.html  David waxing poetic re: Mort's piano tutoring...

There may be more...the two articles cited below were referenced more than once had to do with "pert" charting, as Mort was an early practitioner of this means to ensure a project is on track for completion on time and budget...

1.  M. C. FRISHBERG, "Least Cost Estimating and Scheduling --Scheduling Phase Only," IBM 650 Program Library File No. 10.3.005.

2.   M. C. Frishberg, "LESS Tells You how Project is Doing", Hydrocarbon Processing and Petroleum Refiner, Vol. 41, no. 2 (February 1962), pp. 130-138.

Google Search Results, read from bottom up...oh what a difference a month makes...

1. Lloyd's syndicates launch legal action over BP insurance claim ...

   May 26, 2010 ... BP's attempts to limit the financial damage from the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico suffered a blow yesterday when almost half ...
   business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry.../article7136623.ece

3. London: BP, Lloyds, Imperial Tobacco - market update

   Apr 27, 2010 ... Lloyds Banking Group estimated 2010 net income. BP Plc first quarter revenues surged 55% and net more than doubled. ...
   www.ticker.com/?page=market_update&story...BP,-Lloyds... - Cached

--
Frish

Tropical Storm naming convention, 2010

As the hurricane season 2010 begins, this year's names have been assigned...

ARCO, BP, Chevron, Dubai, Exxon, ....

--
Frish

Wurst Weekend Ever

Frish ponders: How much water has already been polluted?

I am just speculating.  And I'm sending this to various number oriented correspondents and lists, so please shoot me a note if I've blown the analysis somewhere...

Otherwise, share it as you desire!

No one really knows, as of 06/07/2010, how much oil has come up in the Gulf.

Some say as much as the Exxon Valdez 11,000,000 gallons of oil already has been surpassed.  

Today, 06/08/2010, I heard 23 to 50 million gallons of oil. Hence the following...

Several weeks ago I concluded that BP ought to be charged a per cubic mile of ocean polluted fee.  Something along the lines of $200Bn per cubic mile fine, (and the responsibility of mitigation of damage etc.) might help pay back the cost to the United States over the next 25 years or so.)

So, how much water does that much oil pollute?

How much oil can life tolerate in its water?

Last night I tried the following formula.

How many parts per million (ppm) oil in water is pollution?

10 parts per million sounded like plenty to me.  

11,000,000 gallons of oil will pollute 1,000,000,000,000 gallons of water at this concentration.

One cubic mile of water is 1,101,117,150,000 gallons of water.

However, I just heard 1 part in a billion affected the viability of fish eggs in Price William Sound (ExValdez).  

Now, 11,000,000 gallons will pollute 11,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water.

Basically, 11,000 Cubic miles per Valdez spill size problem

But, why stop there, since it could be 53,000,000 gallons spilt already.

53,000 cubic miles of polluted sea water.

Earth's approximate total water supply is 1,360,000,000 km³ (326,000,000 mi³).

That is, three hundred twenty six million cubic miles.  Plenty left to pollute even after this spill.

However, it clumps, and it floats, so the part of the ocean most productive is the most polluted.  

Consider, one cube of water, a mile each side...(5280 feet) 

Slice it on any face every 10 feet to make panels 1Mile x 1mile x 10ft. (528 panels)

Then slice in another direction every 10 feet to make strips, 10ft x 10ft x 1mile (52.8 slices)

Then, put the ends together...and see how many strips of oil cover how much ocean.

528 x 52.8 = 27,878 "strands" of polluted water, 10 ft. x 10 ft x 1 mile long.

The 27,878 strands of polluted water is for EACH cubic mile polluted.

If I took 1ppb as the basis for pollution, instead of 10ppm, I need to increase the number of cubic miles from 1 per 11Mgals to 10,000 cubic miles per 11Mgals of oil...(or maybe 100 cubic miles, I need some help!)

And now, we're talking some real pollution...

Okay, so tell me if I missed something, that's a huge amount to have polluted...

Consider as the oil spreads, didn't they used to control mosquitoes by putting oil on standing water?

How does oxygen flow into the water change based on oil content of surface etc.

Or, consider 10 feet of polluted water over 528 square Miles Ocean/shoreline for EACH cubic mile (11 (or 23 or 50,000) so far and counting!) etc.

Any of you math whizzes are more than welcome to tell me how wrong I've got it...

Movie Parking Warning Beverly Hills Jun 01, 2010

Filming.

May the Sun Shine BRIGHT

http://www.the-brights.net/vision/backtalk.html#8

A new word struggles to become accepted...

You can't convert an adjective into a noun!

English is fine the way it is?  Sorry, but we feel there is a clear need for a noun that "umbrellas" (note the verb usage?) over the naturalistic worldview folks. The term just had to be something easy to pronounce. It was desirable that it be "in tune" with the Enlightenment heritage and scientific values.  To us, this term just plain ol' fits the bill.   

Perhaps the noun Bright won't make it.  We can certainly try, though, to introduce a term that we feel has important uses, not only for the Brights, but for society at large.

Language has always changed and will continue to change.  We would like to see Bright as a commonly accepted affirmative noun with which to refer to persons whose worldview is naturalistic. There's no such word for that concept right now.  We hope in twenty years, there will be.

--
Cheers,

Frish

Climate activist faces jail time for peaceful civil disobedience

If you can help, or know someone who can, perhaps you will take the time to see this video and act accordingly...like, write your Senators and Congressperson...like I just did...and spread the word...the more sometimes the merrier...

http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/blog/?p=3197

Synopsis:

Ted Glick of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was convicted by a jury May 13th of peacefully dropping the banners inside the U.S. Senate Hart Office Building last September. The D.C. U.S. Attorney's office clearly has decided to make an "example" of Ted because of his previous two — count 'em, two — convictions related to peaceful acts of climate civil disobedience.

--
Cheers to all correspondents, some I only contact infrequently, but this got my attention, Ted Glick is one of the good guys...
Frish

Today's Special

My classified ad for the Haiku Gazette < BeverleyLesley >05/23 20:45:21 

 

THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL 

**Circumcisions 25% off 

**25% off covers the percentage of foreskin to be removed for free, the remaining foreskin will be removed at our regular price. 

Free parking with validation 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/forums/?ID=159494841

30 minute presentation on Human Population Growth, Carrying Capacity etc.

Excellent synopsis of why we are experiencing "over-population". 

http://www.panearth.org/world%20food%20&%20human%20population%20growth/player.html

Of course, it simply tells us why we are on our current trajectory, no info on how we're going reverse the trend (until we "break" the system that supports our growth, and that won't be pretty).
--
Cheers,

Frish

Adventures in Prospecting: Love it when a prospect answers my email...

From: Adam P

Date: Wed, May 19, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Subject: RE: New capabilities
To: Frish 

Not interested in your services.

Please remove me from your call and email list.

From: Frish  

Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 10:17 AM
To: Adam P
Subject: New capabilities

Adam, hope to hear from you regarding print and how it supports your marketing efforts.

Yes, we're a traditional offset printer, for catalogs, posters, postcards, calendars, etc.

We're also a digital printer, for short runs and personalization (see attached for some fun examples – show me the money and pencil me in…)

Our in-plant direct mail facility provides you with least cost postage and quickest delivery with less handling.  Your project will arrive in better condition.

Thanks for your kind communication,

Frish

Michael W. Frishberg

Print and Marketing Strategist

Supreme Graphics Inc.

"We don't do everything, we do everything Right!"

Another Good Reason for child-free existence!

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/mentalhealth/la-sci-postpartum-fathers-20100519,0,3479195.story?track=rss

"Post-Partum" (sic) Fathers?  ROFL...

""There have been a few very good studies documenting negative child outcomes when fathers are depressed," he said. "That alone makes this a significant public health concern and something we need to pay more attention to."

What we need is to pay more attention to is men NOT BECOMING fathers, then this won't be an issue.
--
Cheers,

Frish

Further to Urban Dictionary - IBMer was published

Replies to last night's missive included several pithy observations, thanks to all. 

However, one comment emerged with both gravitas and vintage perspective! 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lloyd 
Date: Sun, May 16, 2010 at 8:33 AM
Subject: Re: Urban Dictionary - IBMer was published
To: Frish

Blue suits and white shirts in a bar--OK, but the authentic experience was singing three choruses of "Ever Onward" at the start of each sales meeting.

Lloyd

(Lloyd was the fellow who hired my father in 1957...'nuff said!)

Urban Dictionary - IBMer was published

Shocked to see it wasn't already in...happy to correct the omission...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <noreply@urbandictionary.com>
Date: Sat, May 15, 2010 at 6:49 PM
Subject: Urban Dictionary - IBMer was published
To: frish

Thanks for your definition of IBMer!

Editors reviewed your entry and have decided to publish it on urbandictionary.com.

It should appear on this page in the next few days:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=IBMer

Urban Dictionary

IBMer

An IBM employee

The bar was filled with a sea of white shirts and blue suits, all IBMers.

-- Cheers, Frish

Astounding...extinctions are just around the corner, but VHEMT has a presence on the net...

Posted a comment on an NPR article (National Public Radio - in USA, non-commercial radio)...

Is The Planet Facing A Mass Extinction?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126831134

Did a google search on extinction and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction#Modern_extinctions

At the bottom was a link to the wiki entry for VHEMT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Movement

I am still smiling...Frish

You are the one, darling

lax haiku hotel (context)
You are the one, darling < frish >
2010-04-26 22:15:27 +12

Can't say I'm obsessed 
Yet, I've found an object for 
My fantasy life 

My mind considers 
Some Possibilities and 
Therein lies the rub 

Imagination 
Brain on fire, frustrated 
Anticipation 

A Fruitless pastime 
Onan has nothing on me. 
Socks are running scared. 

I ought to thank her 
For the pleasure I'm finding 
Lonesome but happy. 

Best to keep down low 
The specifics that I want. 
Reality Bites! 

Terrible teasing 
Is how to characterize 
This quite cruel friend 

Friends with benefits? 
Simply out of the question… 
Our Moral Compass

Dan Barker's appearance on Fox News...

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/10/novice-level-monster.html

--
Cheers,

Frish

Thought this was from The Onion, but Noooo - BBC!!! Lounge Lizard's Saviour!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8675050.stm

"Miss McLuskey said: "My research found that in some cases a person's environment can be more disabling than a hearing impairment and so, in some respects, we are all hearing impaired on a daily basis."

Gotta love the design...lol

The differences between Men and Women

My friend Lloyd, a fellow in his late 80's who continues to educate himself on big topics, wrote the following

Michael,

Books that were an important discovery for me are Richard Dawkins'
"The Blind Watchmaker" and "The Selfish Gene". In all of his writings,
he cites examples of how Darwin's work on
evolution-by-natural-selection can be explained at the DNA level.  A
side issue was the suggestion that many of the wired-in male/female
differences are explained by the Hunter (male)/Gathering (female)
division of labor by early humans.

The attached clip from the May 1 issue of "The Economist" is along
similar lines.

Lloyd

My response...

My anthro studies (that began almost 40 years ago, is that possible???) informs me of the following:

1. Yes, evolution happens at the molecular level, since that is where "beneficial" mutations occur.
      What people fail to realize is just how long 100,000 or 1,000,000 years actually is!
     
2. The physical fossil record is so sparse (in terms of numbers of individual examples and through time) and the need by academicians to publish!, that generalizations about our ancestry are highly suspect!
      a. Bullshit Alert!

3. Lately, there have been two new strains of closely related human-like species (or sub-species, since I don't know if we could have interbred and obtained fertile offspring (the definition of a species - that which can mate with fertile offspring as the result (unlike Horses and Donkeys for example, that most frequently produce sterile Mules) that co-existed on the planet with us until just a few thousand years ago.
       a.  Shows how little we actually know about our ancestry, once again.
       b.  See:  Homo_floresiensis aka hobbits!
       c.  See also:  A new human specie or just a pinky!

4.  Just this year, it has been posited (and given loads of press this week) that we and Neanderthals were not only capable of interbreeding successfully, but that our (Caucasian) genes are made up of 1-3% elements common to both Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.
      a.  This is a rather complicated hypothesis, but does NOT surprise me, I have known humans who look like Neanderthals (although without any of the stigmatization!).  Had a camp counselor in MN who was extraordinarily Neanderthal like, and a great college football player!

5.  What you mention, regards men/women differences, hunting vs. gathering, has been observed in several different ways.
      a.  Recently read an article regarding male/female shopping strategies (how each gender actually finds things within grocery stores!) that reflects our modern "implementation" of our gender differences.
           i.  I'd hesitate to say which came first however...our natural tendencies to hunt or gather depending on gender, or, how our hunting vs. gathering affected our gender tendencies.
          ii.  Love to better understand Chimpanzee (for example) gender differences.
     b.  Women smell and taste things more accurately/acutely than men for example, since they are charged with ensuring that children eat healthy and not spoiled or otherwise poisonous food stuff...and, so, it makes sense that they also performed the gathering duties since that also made up far more of our nutritional intake than hunting did. 
      c.  Hunting is generally a far more dangerous activity than gathering, so this also points to having men do it, since women are in need of protection from risk as much as possible, to ensure offspring health, once again...
             
6.  What I also observe is the following...WE ARE ALL, EACH OF US, THE "MISSING LINK"!
This is true, as you have discovered with your observations, since evolution operates on POPULATIONS not INDIVIDUALS...

Had some fun early today writing all of the above, thanks for the opportunity to be what I really ought to be, some kind of professor instead of a salesman...perhaps I will win the lottery and actually become one!

7.  I just bought a book called "The eerie silence" (Paul Davies) concerning the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence.
     a.  I am having great cognitive dissonance as I delay (procrastinate) reading it!
            i.  I don't want to pollute my own observations as to why there are no "aliens" out there
                1) for example, perhaps the universe is just old enough to allow for the first "intelligent" life, humanity.  Therefore, it is only a matter of time for other intelligent "races" to become extant.
                 2) He posits things like - don't look for radio signals (which is what we've been doing for the past few decades) as evidence of other life, there are other far more probable indicators...

As you already know, my firm belief, based on observation of Homo Sapien Sapien = the universe selects against intelligence...

Our recent human experience of so called "intelligent" life will be so short lived in terms of the evolution of the universe that we may as well not have existed at all! 

Or put another way:  While each individual human can be said to have a measure of intelligence, the actual "wisdom" of humanity - to act in concert with Nature for example, and thereby retain a place in the biosphere - is non-existent.  The ironic part is we'll be documenting our demise each step of the way, and won't be able to do a damned thing about it.
--
Cheers,

Frish

Christians and Separation Anxiety

Stolen in it's entirety from:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126499105&f=1057&sc=igg2

The Nation: Let Us (Not) Pray

by KATHA POLLITT

EnlargeHulton Archive/Getty Images

On April 15, the National Day of Prayer was ruled unconstitutional.

May 4, 2010

Three cheers for U.S. district judge Barbara Crabb, who on April 15 ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. And hurray for the plaintiffs over at the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the scrappy Wisconsin-based group that really, really believes in separation of church and state (full disclosure: I'm on the honorary board). And what, you may ask, is the National Day of Prayer? Like "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on our dollar bills, the NDOP may sound like it goes back to the days of wigs and three-cornered hats; but it's actually a product of 1950s anticommunism, back when "communism" was usually modified by "godless." Billy Graham pushed for it as a way to promote "the Lord Jesus Christ"; Senator Absalom Robertson (father of Reverend Pat) introduced it in the Senate, citing "the corrosive forces of communism which seek simultaneously to destroy our democratic way of life and the faith in an Almighty God on which it is based"; and in 1952 President Truman signed Public Law 82-324, which directs the president to "set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches [sic], in groups, and as individuals." Always a Christian thing, for decades the NDOP has been firmly in the grip of Focus on the Family. The NDOP Task Force, chaired by Shirley Dobson, wife of FOTF founder James Dobson, organizes 30,000-40,000 events, culminating in the National Observance, in Washington. How Christian is it? In 2005 the Hindu American Foundation sought to join in and was rebuffed.

You'd think libertarians and Tea Party members, who claim to oppose overweening government power, would adore Judge Crabb. Don't tread on me with your federal prayer mandate! But somehow, the government using its massive powers to promote prayer just doesn't grab them like the terrible injustice of someone other than themselves getting a government benefit. Sarah Palin was quick to weigh in with some typically tangled remarks: "Lest anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the state, our founding fathers, they were believers," she told a gathering of Christian women. "Hearing any leader declare that America isn't a Christian nation.... It's mind-boggling to see some of our nation's actions recently, but politics truly is a topic for another day."

What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" does the Christian right not understand? Judge Crabb's ruling is an "assault on religious freedom," says Shirley Dobson, who is also upset that the Pentagon, which has collaborated with the NDOP Task Force, "melted like butter" when faced with criticism from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and disinvited from its services Franklin Graham, son of Billy, who has made a specialty of calling Islam "evil" and "offensive," and telling Muslims that Christ died for their sins. "We at the National Day of Prayer Task Force ask the American people to defend the right to pray in the Pentagon," she writes on the Task Force website. In the topsy-turvy world of the Christian right, any restrictions on their collective sectarian power is a denial of individual rights. To reject a bigoted preacher is to deny "the right to pray." To end government-endorsed prayer is to ban all prayer. You might as well say that if we don't have a national bedtime — lights out at midnight, everyone!—the government is forcing us all to stay up forever. But not to worry: Franklin Graham will speak at the NDOP observance on Capitol Hill; President Obama is appealing Judge Crabb's decision; and, having issued an NDOP proclamation that mentioned God only once, he visited Billy Graham at home in North Carolina for a personal prayer session. I'm not too down on Obama for that — maybe that's what a politician has to do in this country — but it's all very far from Christ's own advice in Matthew 6:6:

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Or as Thomas Jefferson put it: "Say nothing of my religion. It is known to myself and my God alone."

Speaking of the First Amendment, far be it from me to suggest that right-wing Christians are the only ones who don't seem to get it. On its website an American group called Revolution Muslim warned South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker that they risk ending up murdered like Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh for an episode that mocks the ban on images of Muhammad by showing him wearing a bear costume. It would be easy to dismiss this marginal group as the Muslim equivalent of, say, the Westboro "God hates Fags" church, except that Islamist fanatics have killed or tried to kill quite a few people for words or art they found blasphemous. It's shocking that Comedy Central caved in and censored the episode. Just as it was shocking when Yale University Press deleted the illustrations from Jytte Klausen's study of the Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy, The Cartoons That Shook the World. And when Random House dropped The Jewel of Medina, Sherry Jones's novel about Muhammad's wife Aisha.

I'm not equating Muslim fanatics with right-wing Christians, except those who bomb and set fire to abortion clinics and kill providers (and whose violence has had much the same chilling effect on the medical community as Muslim violence has had on culture and communication). But there is a common thread. National prayers, violent threats to supposed blasphemers — what part of the First Amendment do our modern true believers not understand?

Frish

The flecks in the sky are BEES, a lot of them!

An ephemeral phenomenon, bees swarming in the Anza Borrego Desert, 04-24-2010...luckiest photo I've ever snapped!

Bizarre story on why Middle Easterners are doomed in the long run!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/middleeast/27qatar.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig

Privilege Pulls Qatar Toward Unhealthy Choices

Selected Paragraphs from the article

"Native Qataris, who number only about 250,000 in a nation of 1.6 million, are suffering serious health problems that relate directly to a privileged lifestyle paid for with the nation's oil wealth, as well as a determination to hold onto social traditions, like having young people marry their cousins."

""It's really hard to break traditions," said Dr. Hatem El-Shanti, a pediatrician and clinical geneticist who runs a genetics testing center in Doha, the capital. "It's a tradition carried from one generation to the next."

Qataris live in a nation no larger than the state of Connecticut where they are a minority among the more than a million foreign workers lured here for jobs. But their problems are not unique.

Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all share similar struggles with obesity, diabetes and genetic disorders, each suffering the side effects of an oil-financed lifestyle and a desire to hold on to traditions.

Yet, even in this neighborhood, Qatar stands out.

According to the International Association for the Study of Obesity, Qatar ranks sixth globally for prevalence of obesity and has the highest rate of obesity among boys in the Middle East and North African region. A recent article in the Qatari newspaper Al Watan said that local health experts predicted that within five years, 73 percent of Qatari women and 69 percent of the men would qualify as obese."

""You can't tackle the issue," said Moza al-Malki, a family therapist and writer. "There are some big families, clans, they don't marry outside the family. They won't allow it."  

The issue of obesity seems to run into the same wall of tradition, health experts here said.

"If you don't eat, it's considered a shame, and if you leave someone's home without eating it's a shame," said Abdulla al-Naimi, 25, who refers to himself as "chubby" but is noticeably overweight. "Half of my family has diabetes," Mr. Naimi said. "My mother has diabetes. Three cousins younger than me have diabetes. For me, I eat too much and I don't exercise."

He is also married to his first cousin."

Here's a "hack" to allow an iPad to print...first releases of things seldom have all functions one might want...

--
Cheers,

Frish

No children, childfree, human extinction, biosphere, cancer on the planet, having kids is immoral...

Thank You For Not Breeding - a short film by Nina Paley from Albert Kaufman on Vimeo.

Originally posted on Craigslist's Haiku Hotel - fun site BTW

unavoidable consequence of globalization < frish > 04/09 22:06:08 

There will be delay. 
Please hold, next available: 
"Veejay here, to help" 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/forums/?ID=155802188=

Nice article from Grist...

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-06-we-need-birth-control-not-geoengineering/#c357193

Non-Shopping Channel Monitizing Records

Page impressions Clicks Page CTR Page eCPM Earnings
AdSense for Content 615 1 0.16% 0.29 0.18

It's the "non-shoppingest"!

The subject seemed to have merit and built in funniness: Cross-Fertilization of the Plant and Disease Invasion Literature

Cross-Fertilization of the Plant and Disease Invasion Literature

The literature on invasive species is split amongst the fields of plant, animal and disease ecology. In a seminar format we are reviewing the literature on plant and disease invasions to determine how aspects of one field may be applicable to the other.

A review paper for Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

This project is still in its early stages and no future research has been identified at this time.

http://biology.usgs.gov/invasive/Crossfertilization.html

This is from a fun article about "alien" plants and animals in North America

quote below from : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100402/ap_on_sc/us_plant_invaders;_ylt=AmTYh8XhWlvWaV46FFWZ3OkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJuYWhsOWg2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDAyL3VzX3BsYW50X2ludmFkZXJzBHBvcwMxNgRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA255Y3N0dWR5NTBuYQ--

In the West, sagebrush has been giving way to cheatgrass, which found its way to the U.S. in packing materials and ship ballast in the late 1800s.

Nature lovers strolling through wooded glades, thinking they are among trees that have stood since theRevolution, are actually looking at Norway Maple native to Europe.

Kudzu, which hails from Japan and China, infested the South after farmers in the 1930s through the 1950s were encouraged to use it to stop soil erosion.

Even the pristine open spaces of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming are now populated with Houndstongue and Yellow Toadflax, both from Europe.

Bit by bit, scientists say, the American landscape is becoming less American.

"We are going to our national parks now and seeing Europe," said Tom Stohlgren, a research ecologist for theU.S. Geological Survey. "We are homogenizing the globe at a very fast rate."

Experts say the trend has many causes, but the biggest one may turn out to be globalization.

Headline for the non-profit HEAT who would attempt to stop such outrage:  Homogeneous Ecologies Are Threats - HEAT

Frish's definition of globalization:  Too Many People, Too Little Nature

How Happy are we about Obama?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100402/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mining_reform;_ylt=ApmJ4tK4U9B.FPJ3BmYODrkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJscG82cnIxBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDAyL3VzX21pbmluZ19yZWZvcm0EcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNlbnZpcm9ubWVudGE-

Metallic Touch Plate Treatment, a quick essay from frish...This is a neutered to protect whomever, customer letter emailed today

Dear Kyle and Roberto:

The customer is always first with me, so I'm sharing some worthwhile instructions I found on the web about this technique.

http://cubox.info/2007/10/25/creating-touch-plates.html

Happy to provide choices, they are all yours!

1.       Kyle could do the work to make the touch plate as-is,

a.       We are happy to have one of our pre-press techs visit Kyle to assure success

i.      No Charge.  Your offices, our seminar in touch plate technique or any other ink on paper questions you may have!

OR,

2.       Supreme does the work

                                                               i.      $1200 but that's an estimate (could exceed!) of how much pre-press we have to do

3.       Do a Press proof

a.       Doing a press proof helps us both

                                                               i.      Saves money as we'll waste less paper at press time

                                                             ii.      When finished It will more likely look the way you expect

Taking a perspective founded on 30 years of Marketing and Sales Experience, my recommendation:

It isn't always "ONLY" about cost, it's a business decision as well. 

I ask you and wonder what is the value of a signature piece of printing for the image of the brand?

This type of job has to go to a shop that can do it.  It would look very dramatic, and architectural and I know the CEO likes that!

Therefore, do it right, or don't do it.  Happy to discuss at your convenience.

Frish

 I mean, c'mon, it's a photo of burnished aluminum with a metallic silver ink called out as the fifth color...doing this job correctly will require some human activity on the file of about 10 hours or more, depending on how good they are with the tools they have.

Someone has to draw, or create an object, that points out every scratch, and thereby defines what is to be printed in the metallic silver ink...

Basically it is a load of liability that could jeopardize  a long term relationship...but we also know we can deliver the goods, so it's a nice place to be, perhaps he who speaks first loses?

I know he has it down to 2 contenders so, the die is cast...LOL

Evolution of evolution

About Zapffe´s quotes:
"The tragedy of a species becoming unfit for life by over-evolving one ability is not confined to humankind.

-------------

In my opinion, first expressed in the 1970's during my Anthro B.A. studies, the universe selects against "intelligence" and consciousness.

For example, given the massive size the Universe and potential for Earth-like life, there are no blips on SETI.

If only we could go with the "natural" flow, thinking of environment first instead of our own convenience, may we remain as the leftovers of evolution

(i.e. we aren't any "pinnacle" we're the leftovers same as the rest of life on the planet!)

-- 

Cheers,
Frish