European style

Wasn't wrong with U.S. auto industry ! Was manager's strange behavior.

in reference to: Death of PT Cruiser seen as a symbol of industry's problems - USATODAY.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Conservatives put stamp on Texas textbooks - Education- msnbc.com

Image via Wikipedia

Conservatives put stamp on Texas textbooks - Education- msnbc.com
Adds references to "laws of nature and nature's God" to a section in U.S. history that requires students to explain major political ideas.
Replaces "democratic" in references to the form of U.S. government with "constitutional republic."
In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specifies a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.
Requires economics students to "analyze the decline of the U.S. dollar including abandonment of the gold standard."
Ensures that students learn about "the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association."
In teaching about the civil rights movement, students must learn about the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent approach.
Specifies that Germans and Italians were interned in the United States as well as the Japanese during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism.
Requires that the history of McCarthyism include "how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government." The Venona papers were transcripts of some 3,000 communications between the Soviet Union and its agents in the United States.
In sociology, requires the teaching of "the importance of personal responsibility for life choices" in a section on teen suicide, dating violence, sexuality, drug use and eating disorders.
In economics, the curriculum revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, to the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. The board also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout the texts with the “free-enterprise system.”
Board members argued about the classification of historic periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than B.C.E. and C.E.); whether students should be required to explain the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics (they will); and whether former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir should be required learning (she will).

Related articles by Zemanta

• Texas Board of Education cuts Thomas Jefferson out of its textbooks. (thinkprogress.org)

Technology Review: Solar-Power Breakthrough

Image via CrunchBase

Technology Review: Solar-Power Breakthrough: "In his experimental system, Nocera immerses an indium tin oxide electrode in water mixed with cobalt and potassium phosphate. He applies a voltage to the electrode, and cobalt, potassium, and phosphate accumulate on the electrode, forming the catalyst. The catalyst oxidizes the water to form oxygen gas and free hydrogen ions. At another electrode, this one coated with a platinum catalyst, hydrogen ions form hydrogen gas. As it works, the cobalt-based catalyst breaks down, but cobalt and potassium phosphate in the solution soon re-form on the electrode, repairing the catalyst."

The second remaining step in artificial photosynthesis is developing a material that absorbs sunlight, generating the electrons needed to power the water-splitting catalysts. That will allow Nocera's catalyst to run directly on sunlight; right now, it runs on electricity taken from an outlet.

The system can use electricity from any source. But there are a couple of reasons to focus on solar. First, the ultimate goal of the research is artificial photosynthesis, because solar power is the biggest source of energy we've got.

The second is a more practical issue. Note that, near the end, the article talks about the need to improve the rate of oxygen production. Right now, the rate is very close to what would be needed in artificial photosynthesis, but not fast enough to be practical in conjunction with wind power or other sources of electricity, according to NREL's John Turner.
With his start-up company, Sun Catalytix, Nocera hopes to make the system affordable enough to allow individual homes to generate their own fuel and electricity on-site. By distributing hydrogen production in this way, the new method could potentially solve the problem of hydrogen transportation

Related articles by Zemanta

• Catalyst could power homes on a bottle of water (physorg.com)

Op-Ed Contributors - How American trade policy relies on faulty measures of productivity. - NYTimes.com

Image via Wikipedia

Op-Ed Contributors - How American trade policy relies on faulty measures of productivity. - NYTimes.com:

"With the economy still in need of government life support and the future of American manufacturing in doubt, relying on faulty productivity data is a formula for disaster."

FOR a quarter-century, American economic policy has assumed that the keys to durable national prosperity are deregulation, free trade and a swift transition to a post-industrial, services-dominated future.
In reality, though, wage gains for the average worker have lagged behind productivity since the early 1980s, a situation that free-traders usually attribute to workers failing to retrain themselves after seeing their jobs outsourced.In 2009, the data show, Americans needed 40 percent fewer hours to produce the same unit of output as in 1980.
But there’s a problem: labor productivity figures, which are calculated by the Labor Department, count only worker hours in America, even though American-owned factories and labs have been steadily transplanted overseas, and foreign workers have contributed significantly to the final products counted in productivity measures.
The result is an apparent drop in the number of worker hours required to produce goods — and thus increased productivity. But actually, the total number of worker hours does not necessarily change.
This continuing mismeasurement leads economists and all those who rely on them to assume that recorded productivity gains always signify greater efficiency, rather than simple offshoring-generated cost cuts — leaving the rest of us scratching our heads over stagnating wages.

Because productivity gains in part reflect job offshoring, not just the benefits of technology or better business practices, then the American economy has been much less innovative than widely assumed.
Digging through the recession reasons, this seems to me one indicator that do not work. Another is so called "value added tax", useless here, useless in Grecian economy.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Michael J. Panzner: Stagflation Ahead? (huffingtonpost.com)

Iron Curtain (European history) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Image via Wikipedia

Iron Curtain (European history) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia: "'Iron Curtain.' Encyclop�dia Britannica. 2010. Encyclop�dia Britannica Online. 05 Mar. 2010 ."

1953:		Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin died in Moscow and was succeeded by Georgy Malenkov.
1946:		British Prime Minister Winston Churchill popularized the term “Iron Curtain”—describing the separation between Soviet and Western nations—in a speech at Fulton, Missouri. Time line by Google search !

1. 
   

   1946

   Jul 7, 1946 - Maj. Gen. A. Kolissonitko of the soviet army greeted eight Americancorrespondents at Weimar by saying he was glad to prove how false and foolish is the fable of the iron curtain around the Russian occupation zone of Germany. IRON CURTAIN'. LIFTS, BUT-ONLY FOR QUICK PEEK ... From 'IRON CURTAIN' LIFTS, BUT ONLY FOR QUICK PEEK - Related web pages pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access ...

2. 
   

   1948

   May 25, 1948 - The Iron Curtain, controversial film version of the Canadian spy trials, comes to the screen of Loew's, starting Friday. The 20th CenturyFox picture has attracted much at tention for its outspoken attack on . Communism, and been picketed in several centres. The amazing disclosures of a ... From Controversial film iron Curtain' Due into Loew's Theatre Friday . - Related web pages news.google.com/newspapers?id=ROwiAAAAIBAJ ...

3. 
   

   1950

   Feb 14, 1950 - What does the switch in Russian policy in East Ger many portend for Europe? It seems that for the present there is to be no more talk of Ger man unity, or of "getting' back to the Potsdam Agreement." Moscow has become bent on thoroughly Communising the part of Germany it controls, ... From Clamping Down The Iron Curtain . - Related web pages news.google.com/newspapers?id=PbgQAAAAIBAJ ...

4. 
   

   1951

   Jun 12, 1951 - United States air force headquarters tonight called off as hopeless a search along the iron curtain border for two United States jet fighters that vanished Friday--possibly in communist Europe. FEAR US JETS. LOST BACK OF. IRON CURTAIN Hunt in West Europe Fails to Yield Clew ... From FEAR US JETS LOST BACK OF IRON CURTAIN - Related web pages pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access ...

5. 
   

   1952

   May 5, 1952 - The latest State Department regulator regarding visits by American citizens to the Soviet Union or the countries it controls sets up a uniform procedure for all, extending provisions formerly applicable only to some. With regard to all these nations citizens of this country must now ... From IRON CURTAIN PASSPORTS - Related web pages select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res ...

6. 
   

   1953

   Sep 17, 1953 - Missing Mrs. Donald MacLean, whose British diplomat husband is believed behind the Iron Curtain, was reported today to have left her automobile here last Friday night and said she would come back for it in. Missing Family Feared Behind Iron Curtain . LAUSANNE. Sept. ... From Missing Family Feared Behind Iron Curtain - Related web pages pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/452252362 ...

7. 
   

   1955

   Nov 16, 1955 - some positive achievement 'at the Geneva conference has evaporated as a result of an ex tension of the prevailing dead lock to the last item on the agenda — namely, the lifting of the Iron Curtain. At the Western Foreign Ministers have pointed out, the problem of the Iron Curtain lies ... From The Iron Curtain Stays . - Related web pages news.google.com/newspapers?id=sYAtAAAAIBAJ ...

8. 
   

   1956

   Jun 30, 1956 - President Eisenhower today approved a United States policy on relations withRussia which is designed to tear down the Soviet Iron Curtain. Decision Ends 6-Month Debate Within Administration on Policy Toward Russia. WASHINGTON, June 29 (Al President Eisenhower today approved a United ... From Eisenhower OKs Plan to Banish Iron Curtain - Related web pages pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/445842712 ...

9. 
   

   1963

   Nov 29, 1963 - West European newspapers Tuesday praised President Johnson for what they called courage and sincerity in pledging himself to continue the fight for the late President Kennedy's policies. West and Iron -Curtain Papers Praise Johnson. ' Pursuit of Kennedy Policies Hailed as 5 Evidence of ... From West and Iron Curtain Papers Praise Johnson - Related web pages pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/464785752 ...

10. 
    

    1989

    Jul 13, 1989 - BUDAPEST (AP) - US President George Bush, proclaiming "the Iron Curtainhas begun to part," yesterday saluted Hungary's strides toward economic and political freedom. "For the first time, the Iron Curtain has begun to part. And Hungary, your great country, is leading the way," Bush ... From Marx U students cheer Bush Proclamation that 'Iron Curtain has begun to …- Related web pages pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/470717191 ...

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Iron Curtain Stopped Invasive Species (treehugger.com)

Scientists Taking Steps to Defend Work on Climate - NYTimes.com

Image via Wikipedia

“Scientists must continually earn the public’s trust or we risk descending into a new Dark Age where ideology trumps reason,” Dr. Pachauri said in an e-mail message.

But some scientists said that responding to climate change skeptics was a fool’s errand.

“Climate scientists are paid to do climate science,” said Gavin A. Schmidt, a senior climatologist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies. “Their job is not persuading the public.”

He said that the recent flurry of hostility to climate science had been driven as much by the cold winter as by any real or perceived scientific sins.

“There have always been people accusing us of being fraudulent criminals, of the I.P.C.C. being corrupt,” Dr. Schmidt said. “What is new is this paranoia combined with a spell of cold weather in the United States and the ‘climategate’ release. It’s a perfect storm that has allowed the nutters to control the agenda.”

The answer is simple, he said.

“Good science,” he said, “is the best revenge.”

Good science means a $ 30 to $ 60 / CO2 metric ton tax increase. Nope better breakfast. Forget a new car. $ 7 / gal at gas pump. That is the price for a science melting Himalaya glaciers.

Scientists Taking Steps to Defend Work on Climate - NYTimes.com

Related articles by Zemanta

• UN To Create Independent Panel To Review IPCC (news.slashdot.org)

Is GDP An Obsolete Measure of Progress?

Image by networks via Flickr

Is GDP An Obsolete Measure of Progress?

The GDP, generally expressed as a per-capita figure and often adjusted to reflect purchasing power, represents the market value of good and services produced within a nation's boundaries. Sounds reasonable. Until we consider what it doesn't measure: the general progress in health and education, the condition of public infrastructure, fuel efficiency, community and leisure.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1957746,00.html?xid=rss-biztech-yahoo#ixzz0eLvbOiLL

One new calculation that's been attracting attention is the Happy Planet Index (HPI), which combines economic metrics with indicators of well-being, including subjective measures of life satisfaction, which have become quite sophisticated (HPI uses data from Gallup, World Values Survey, and Ecological Footprint). The HPI assesses social and economic well-being in the context of resources used, looking at the degree of human happiness generated per quantity of environment consumed. The HPI metric was driven in part by the recognition that the environmental costs of economic growth must be figured into standard-of-living reports.
(See the worst business deals of 2009.)


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1957746,00.html?xid=rss-biztech-yahoo#ixzz0eLwoJvfp

The matter of how a nation measures performance is far from trivial, says Gus Speth, particularly at a time when environment sustainability is on many people's minds. He observes: "You tend to get what you measure, so we'd better measure what we want." In other words, to a certain extent we are what we count.
(See pictures of the stock market crash of 1929.)
For Nic Marks, the key shift introduced by the HPI is its "move away from measuring production and toward measuring consumption. The HPI serves as a signpost pointing more toward a society we want to live in — the delivery of good lives rather than the delivery of more goods."
So how does the U.S. fare in HPI terms? Not so good. It sits pretty far down the list at 114. The U.K. is 74, behind Germany, Italy and France. Topping the chart is Costa Rica, which has long life expectancy, high life satisfaction, and a per capita ecological footprint one-fourth the size of the U.S.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1957746,00.html?xid=rss-biztech-yahoo#ixzz0eLxGLNxK

Related articles by Zemanta

• Economists start to consider that money can't buy happiness (guardian.co.uk)

When Economics Meets Politics

Image via Wikipedia

...without any major wars or world-shaking political or geopolitical disruptions.
...that three major struggles — the banks vs. President Obama, China vs. Google & friends, and the world vs. Iran — can be defused with win-win compromises rather than win-lose confrontations.
Moreover, our financial crisis was the result of a broad national breakdown in ethics
The economics of recovery were always hard, but in 2010 politics and geopolitics could make them even harder. Pray that cooler heads prevail.

 Two strategies:

• win -win strategy, means negotiations
• win - lose strategy means sanctions.

or means war.
Pay.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Google and the RealPolitiks of Morality (broadstuff.com)
• Daily Spotlight on Education 02/03/2010 (coolcatteacher.blogspot.com)

A science book worth your time - USATODAY.com

Image via Wikipedia

A science book worth your time - USATODAY.com

<-- claim token EF7QJDQMHAVK-->

In the book, Carroll recounts the history of scientists thinking about the "arrow of time," the clock's curiously one-dimensional march ever onward (we have up and down, right and left, backwards and forwards, but time just zips along ever forward). In particular, he revisits some of the 19th century thinkers, such as statistical physicist Ludwig Boltzmann, overshadowed today by 20th century icons like Einstein.

Boltzmann and colleagues put entropy, energy's tendency toward disorder, on a statistical basis, offering a physics interpretation of time. Time results from entropy sending events, everything from the egg scrambled for your breakfast to stars running out of steam over billions of years, heading relentlessly one-way, never to unscramble themselves or restart their fires again.

One of the mysteries of the universe is its beginning in a highly-ordered low-entropy state, a hot, dense ball of energy some 13.7 billion years ago called the Big Bang. (Which was low-entropy in the sense that its energy was so useful for making stars, galaxies, planets, people and everything else, energy once spent that it couldn't be re-ordered like that breakfast egg that could be scrambled, poached or served sunny side up, but never put back together again.) "Why highly-ordered but not perfectly ordered,"

German opinion, Good is perfect, close to perfect order means close to God

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Arrow Of Time (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
• What Keeps Time Moving Forward? Blame It on the Big Bang (scientificamerican.com)
• The strangely low entropy of the universe (snarkmarket.com)

Volvo, behind the whell

Image by networks via Flickr

Trucks, like any industrial tools in shrink to fit times, a looking for optimum point. As working element in logistics they daily are in the cutting point of technological and negotiating scissors. Customers always want an minimum price. Expenses are strong correlated with the diesel price. In good old times, this means less computing and more common sense, the price of 1 loaded mile = price of 1 diesel gal. Well, for optimum I will take this as reference point. On the another hand, without profit truck is out from the road in no time. This is an criteria. Negotiating is not my strongest point, always I'm using negotiators in my job, my point of view is technological. Leave the diesel price, from my observations high diesel price means increase of profit, maintenance expenses are the core of the business profitability.

Two centuries ago Leibniz invented a calculating machine which embodied most of the essential features of recent keyboard devices, but it could not then come into use. The economics of the situation were against it: the labor involved in constructing it, before the days of mass production, exceeded the labor to be saved by its use, since all it could accomplish could be duplicated by sufficient use of pencil and paper. Moreover, it would have been subject to frequent breakdown, so that it could not have been depended upon; for at that time and long after, complexity and unreliability were synonymous.

Babbage, even with remarkably generous support for his time, could not produce his great arithmetical machine. His idea was sound enough, but construction and maintenance costs were then too heavy. Had a Pharaoh been given detailed and explicit designs of an automobile, and had he understood them completely, it would have taxed the resources of his kingdom to have fashioned the thousands of parts for a single car, and that car would have broken down on the first trip to Giza.

Volvo trucks position on the interstate system. And any driver depend upon.

As long as truck is on warranty, services authorized to fix any breakdown may be are on the limit of factory profitability. Next, what next, disaster. Easy to feel European optimum: after warranty one or two years on the road and expenses exceed the cost of a new car. Or, to mention here the words of an Canadian colleague, after 3000 miles you have to spend one week for maintenance. At current legal speed and hours of duty: one week over the road, one on the shop. I've driving few Volvo's over the road in last time looking at excellent MPG stories from truck stops involving Volvo truck's. Classic American trucks have 6 to 6.3 mpg., Volvo 7+. Is huge and is real using "13 speed" gearbox. For full automatic 6.2 to 6.8 mpg. Any car performance in this area have huge maintenance costs. Otto invented diesel engine long time ago, it is a German invention that it suppose do not work. After is started, over 500 rpm may be it work, at 800 rpm is working, the best performances are at 1250 rpm. Where is the fuel economy ? In the driver hand, always. From the factory, they have to select between economy point and power point at the design start. For me it seems economy point, I do not have power at low rpm, is OK after 70 mph. A truck have after him another vehicle that have 53' , so if you have a slow vehicle in front of you, in California or Arizona, maintenance shop is waiting for you at next location. If, and only if, you a lucky enough to get there. There means "authorized shop". Those are rare. Detroit diesel always are asking for the proof of damaged part, protecting truckers, Volvo will found another damaged part(s)  so, you will  take the truck out from the shop without any warranty remembering that Gestapo logo:  "in  Wald da sind die Räuber" (in forest are there the robbers).

Personal experience: Diagnose in Elko, Nevada: Harness failure probably injectors. Volvo send three times wrong harness to the shop, using only one service for this wasting 10 of my days, after that truck was on tow for 400 miles to Salt lake City, Utah. Here the harness was OK, but two injectors damaged, $ 1000 each. And the truck have damaged another mechanical part and will brake the vent belt. All of us know this story as "Volvo by purpose failure". Any mechanic will fix that problem in two or three hrs. Not a dealer, they have to sell $ 4000 parts.

In the Continental USA, a single driver is working maximum 550 miles/day at 1 to 1.5 $/mile to the truck. Five days for the truck expenses and my by one day for his expenses. If you feel like a Pharaoh.

Machines with interchangeable parts can now be constructed with great economy of effort. they perform reliably. The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.

I do not discuss here about jewelry, it is about safety over the road.

Almost 90% of all accidents are due to the human factor. When looking at single accidents, 10-20% is due to tired drivers.  Halo... a driver is not operating an computer so move the safety point to the driver.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Volvo subsidiary launches Renault Master (newstatesman.com)
• Greentech: Which New Hybrid Has 10 Wheels and Flies? (nytimes.com)

Volvo behind the whell.

Image by networks via Flickr

Trucks, like any industrial tools in shrink to fit times, a looking for optimum point. As working element in logistics they daily are in the cutting point of technological and negotiating scissors. Customers always want a minimum price. Expenses are strong correlated with the diesel price. In good old times, this mean less computing and more common sense, the price of 1 loaded mile = price of 1 diesel gal. Well, for optimum I will take this as reference point. On the another hand, without profit truck is out from the road in no time. This is an criteria. Negotiating is not my strongest point, always I'm using negotiators in my job, my point of view is technological. Leave the diesel price, from my observations high diesel price mean increase of profit, maintenance expenses are the core of the business profitability.

Two centuries ago Leibniz invented a calculating machine which embodied most of the essential features of recent keyboard devices, but it could not then come into use. The economics of the situation were against it: the labor involved in constructing it, before the days of mass production, exceeded the labor to be saved by its use, since all it could accomplish could be duplicated by sufficient use of pencil and paper. Moreover, it would have been subject to frequent breakdown, so that it could not have been depended upon; for at that time and long after, complexity and unreliability were synonymous.

Babbage, even with remarkably generous support for his time, it could not produce his great arithmetical machine. His idea was sound enough, but construction and maintenance costs were then too heavy. Had a Pharaoh been given detailed and explicit designs of an automobile, and had he understood them completely, it would have taxed the resources of his kingdom to have fashioned the thousands of parts for a single car, and that car would have broken down on the first trip to Giza.

Volvo trucks position on the interstate system. And any driver depend upon.

As long as truck is on warranty, services authorized to fix any breakdown may be on the limit of factory profitability. Next, what next, it is a disaster. Easy to feel European optimum: after warranty one or two years on the road and expenses exceed the cost of a new car. Or, to mention here the words of an Canadian colleague, after 3000 miles you have to spend one week for maintenance. At currently legal speed and hours of duty: one week over the road, one on the shop. I've been driving few Volvo's over the road in last time looking at excellent MPG stories from truck stops involving Volvo trucks. Classic American trucks have 6 to 6.3 mpg., Volvo 7+. Is huge and is real using "13 speed" gearbox. For full automatic 6.2 to 6.8 mpg. Any car performance in this area have huge maintenance costs. Otto invented diesel engine long time ago, it is a German invention that it suppose do not work. After is started, over 500 rpm may be it work, at 800 rpm is working, the best performances are at 1250 rpm. Where is the fuel economy ? In the driver hand, always. From the factory, they have to select between economy point and power point at the design start. For me, it seems economy point, I do not have power at low rpm, is OK after 70 mph. A truck have after him another vehicle that have 53' , so if you have a slow vehicle in front of you, in California or Arizona, maintenance shop is waiting for you at next location. If, and only if, you a lucky enough to get there. There means "authorized shop". Those are rare. Detroit diesel always are asking for the proof of damaged part, protecting truckers, Volvo will found another damaged part(s)  so, you will  take the truck out from the shop without any warranty remembering that Gestapo logo:  "in  Wald da sind die Räuber" (in the forest, there are robbers).

Personal experience: Diagnose in Elko, Nevada: Harness failure probably injectors. Volvo send three times wrong harness to the shop, using only one service for this wasting 10 of my days, after that truck was on tow for 400 miles to Salt lake City, Utah. Here the harness was OK, but two injectors damaged, $ 1000 each. And the truck have damaged another mechanical part and it had  broken the vent belt. All of us know this story as "Volvo by purpose failure". Any mechanic will fix that problem in two or three hrs. Not a dealer, they have to sell $ 4000 parts.

In the Continental USA, a single driver is working maximum 550 miles/day at 1 to 1.5 $/mile to the truck. Five days for the truck expenses and my by one day for his expenses. If you feel like a Pharaoh.

Machines with interchangeable parts can now be constructed with great economy effort. They perform reliably. The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.

I do not discuss here about jewelry, it is about safety over the road.

Almost 90% of all accidents are due to the human factor. When looking at single accidents, 10-20% is due to tired drivers.  Halo... a driver is not operating a computer, so move the safety point to the driver.