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Dolphin Blue Celebrates Fifth Year Carbonfree® and Encourages Other B Corps to Do the Same
This year will mark Dolphin Blue's 5th anniversary as a Carbonfree® Business Partner. The staff at Dolphin Blue is proud and honored to continue offsetting operational emissions with Carbonfund.org and has decided to take it a step further by purchasing an additional 36 metric tonnes of carbon offsets to neutralize projected annual operating emissions. Including these latest offsets purchased, Dolphin Blue has neutralized almost 718,000 pounds of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the carbon dioxide sequestered by planting 8350 tree seedlings and growing them for ten years.
Dolphin Blue has come a long way these past 5 years, by expanding their business offerings to include all-green, no harm products for household cleaning, lawn and garden care, pet care, children's toys and body care that are produced with a minimal carbon emissions. Every product that Dolphin Blue carries is made from post-consumer recycled content, requiring less energy to produce, and is made in the USA, which means fewer emissions, compared to products made from virgin materials and imported from other countries.
Dolphin Blue supports initiatives that foster education and awareness in issues of sustainability, energy alternatives, organic agriculture and reducing waste. Dolphin Blue wants everyone who visits their website to be educated on why they are purchasing these items and the difference buying one eco-friendly product can make.
Dolphin Blue also is honored to be associated with organizations such as B Corporation, Green Chamber of Commerce, EPA Green Power Partner, Chlorine Free Products Association, North Texas Clean Air Coalition, Green Source DFW, and the Voluntary Renewable Energy Coalition.
For over 20 years, Dolphin Blue has continued to conduct business always respecting the natural world in which we live, and they ask their customers and other businesses to do the same. That's why Dolphin Blue is encouraging other B Corps to go above and beyond by offsetting their companies' annual operational emissions and educating their customers on the importance of reducing their individual carbon footprint.
Announcing Carbonfund.org's 10th Anniversary Tree-Planting Campaign!
This month, Carbonfund.org celebrates our 10th anniversary! In honor of this accomplishment, we're urging our donors, supporters and business partners to plant 10 trees, and we'll match your effort by planting 10 additional trees, now through 11/3/2013.
We are happy, proud and especially thankful for all of our supporters. We appreciate partnering with you to combat global warming. Making the choice to "reduce what you can, offset what you can't" makes you a critical part of the climate change solution.
Many people don't know that deforestation is responsible for roughly 20% of global warming. Fortunately, planting trees has a multitude of benefits; chief of which is absorbing carbon dioxide to reduce climate change.
Birthday cake and cards are great, but let's plant more trees to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Don't forget we'll add 10 trees and double your impact on reducing global warming.
Wakeup Call – Frightening Global Warming Gas Milestone Reached
Last week our planet reached a scary milestone for carbon dioxide, the most important global warming gas. The average carbon dioxide reading exceeded 400 parts per million at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) on the island of Hawaii for the 24 hours that ended at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, May 9, 2013. Earth hasn't had this much carbon dioxide concentrated in the air for at least three million years, which is before human life on the planet.
This should be a wakeup call that major and potentially catastrophic global weather changes are coming and a sign we're not doing enough to tackle climate change.
We've seen carbon dioxide levels above 400 parts per million in the Arctic last year and even in some hourly readings at NOAA's MLO. However, this is the first time we've seen the average reading for an entire day exceed that level. Carbon dioxide levels do rise and fall along with the seasons. As foliage grows over the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, 10 billion tons of carbon will be pulled out of the air. But it's only a temporary pardon in a situation that's becoming direr by the moment.
We simply must invest in alternative energy technologies and begin curbing our dangerous global appetite for fossil fuels. Otherwise, the time will come soon where no measurement of the ambient air anywhere on earth, in any season, will produce a reading below 400.
The official target to limit the damage from global warming is 450 parts per million (PPM), which is generally agreed to be the maximum level compatible with that goal. Our relentless, long-term increases in carbon dioxide emissions are likely get us to 450 PPM in well under 25 years. The time to slow down global warming is dwindling quickly. Twenty five years may seem like a long time, but our planet is huge. It will take more time than that to right the ship.
Not every country has agreed to set binding emissions targets, either. Unfortunately, the United States count among those shirking their responsibility. Now greater efforts are necessary, and are all but impossible without severe economic disruptions.
Can we live on a planet that is warmer and wetter? Probably, but billions of people are going to suffer as we make the transition. It's a better plan to lower our carbon footprints and speedily move to no and low carbon energy sources. The price is going to be high either way, and it's only getting steeper as we hurtle towards the point of no return.
The Transition to Renewable Energy and the Role of Natural Gas
Sometimes the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow, temporarily stalling renewable energy production. When that happens, what fuel source fills in the energy gap? Traditionally the answer was coal, but due to increased supply and low prices, the answer of late has been natural gas. Coal is certainly the dirtier of the two fossil fuels, but natural gas is not a perfect choice either. The increased supply in natural gas was achieved through the process of hydraulic fracturing (called fracking), which can be harmful to the environment.
Last spring natural gas prices fell to all-time lows of $2 to $3 per thousand cubic feet in the United States. This spring natural gas prices are on the rise. In fact, they've doubled to just over $4 per thousand cubic feet, but the bottom line is natural gas is still pretty cheap. Experts say prices in the $4 or $5 range won't affect the increasing use of the fuel by consumers and the energy industry since the price was $8 just a few years ago. In Europe and Asia prices are even higher; think $10 to $14.
According to a Citibank research report, "Gas and renewables could in fact be the making of each other in the short term." Expect renewables to cost about the same as conventional fuels in many parts of the world "in the very near term." Mark Brownstein, an associate vice president at the Environmental Defense Fund, noted that the price of renewable energy has declined substantially in recent years, and that's expected to continue, making them even more competitive. As demand for renewables builds, it will in turn "drive demand for more gas-fired" power plants to be used as backup.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) missed an April 13 deadline to issue much-anticipated new rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. Proposed a year ago, the rules were first to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new plants. Once a limit is set for new facilities, the EPA is legally obligated to address existing plants, which pose the true climate threat at the moment. The US' power plant fleet is the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Acting EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe said last week that the agency expects to propose new rules on greenhouse gases from existing plants in fiscal 2014.
The draft rule for new power plants sets a limit of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour of electricity. That cutoff point would be easy for natural-gas-fired plants to meet, but not conventional coal plants. Already, power companies build natural gas plants almost exclusively because of the low price of gas.
There is speculation that the EPA's indefinite delay on the new rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants is due to second thoughts at the EPA and the White House over the single standard. The EPA is said to be contemplating setting two standards, one for coal plants and the other for natural gas, which might make the new rule more legally defensible in an attempt to avert the inevitable legal wrangling that goes on whenever the EPA sets a new rule including limitations.
Environmental groups argue that separate standards make little sense. "Setting a separate standard for coal- and natural-gas-fired plants would greatly weaken the standard's ability to ensure a transition away from building high-carbon electricity-generation sources," said economist Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Natural gas may be the interim answer as we build our renewable energy infrastructure and then the backup once we move to a sustainable energy future. For the sake of slowing down climate change, the EPA needs to set the rules on new electricity generation plants posthaste. Then they should tackle existing power plants without delay. Global warming won't wait.
The Psychology of Climate Change
Regular readers of this blog are all too aware of the dangers that are starting to manifest regarding global warming. Given the reality of 2012 being the hottest year on record, and other climate change related disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, why isn't more being done domestically and globally to avert this crisis? The answer is in our psychology as humans.
Anthony Leiserowitz, Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and a Research Scientist at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, specializes in human behavior, in particular the psychology of risk perception and decision making as it relates to global warming. He is an expert on U.S. and international perception of climate change risks, support and opposition for climate policies, and willingness to make individual behavioral change. Leiserowitz points to humans' needs to tangibly experience phenomena in order to connect with it on a deeper level. The first problem with the issue is that we cannot see carbon dioxide. Perhaps if we could see blue smoke, for example, billowing around us we would be more motivated to immediately tackle global warming.
The climate change problem is further complicated by its faceless nature. There isn't one country or person we can point to as causing global warming. We are all responsible on a daily basis. Then add to that there's the fact that climate change is not an immediate threat. It's certainly becoming one, but it takes time for the planet to heat up and we are fast approaching the point of no return.
Many people do not understand how a few degrees one way or the other will make a difference to the planet. Leiserowitz likened it to a fever in an episode titled, "Encore: Ending the Silence on Climate Change" this month on Bill Moyer & Company. "People often will say, 'Wow, you know, four, five degrees, that doesn't sound like very much. I mean, I see the temperature change more from night to day.' But it's the wrong way to think about it. I mean, think about when you get sick and you get a fever, okay. Your body is usually at, you know, 98.7 degrees."
He continued to say, "If your temperature rises by one degree you feel a little off, but you can still go to work. You're fine. It rises by two degrees and you're now feeling sick, in fact you're probably going to take the day off because you definitely don't feel good. And in fact, you're getting everything from hot flashes to cold chills, okay. At three you're starting to get really sick. And at four degrees and five degrees your brain is actually slipping into a coma, okay, you're close to death. I think there's an analogy here of that little difference in global average temperature just like that little difference in global body temperature can have huge implications as you keep going. And so unfortunately the world after two and especially after three degrees starts getting much more frightening, and that's exactly what the scientists keep telling us. But will we pay attention to those warning signs?"
My next blog post will discuss how to effectively communicate about climate change to overcome some of the psychological challenges humans face outlined in this post. There are ways to get the public to pay attention to, and in fact, engage on the issue of global warming. However, there is an art to it.
Global Energy Focus on Renewables
Those of us living in the United States can easily get wrapped up in the domestic energy picture, but it is important to stop and take a look at how renewables are doing in other countries too.
If you peruse a list of countries by 2008 emissions, the top emitter of carbon dioxide is currently China, followed closely by the U.S. China accounts for 23.5% of world emissions, and the U.S. is responsible for 18.27%. However, the good news is that China's renewable-energy industry is currently on the upswing due to supportive government policies and generous subsidies; so much so that they've achieved the height of the world's wind and solar industries. We've all heard the phrase, "Everything is made in China." The U.S. does import many goods from China, but a report released this week titled, "Advantage America" analyzed trade between the two countries in solar, wind and smart-grid technology and services in 2011.
The analysis, by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Pew Charitable Trusts, showed $6.5 billion in renewable energy technology and services traded between the U.S. and China. But the U.S. sold $1.63 billion more to China than it imported.
It's good to see both countries making such strides in renewable energy. Oftentimes, the countries are perceived as being in competition with one another, but a more accurate picture would be that they are interdependent. The bottom line is that both countries should be doing as much as possible to focus on renewables, especially considering they're the top two carbon dioxide emitters on the planet. And the global interest and investments in renewables doesn't stop there.
Saudi Arabia, a country with the world's second largest oil reserves, is beginning a green revolution. This week, Saudi King Abdullah revealed ambitious plans to develop renewable energy programs that will produce 54,000 megawatts of electricity by 2032 as part of a strategy to save 1.2 million barrels of their oil per day for export.
King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-Care) is a strategy paper set up by King Abdullah in 2010 to develop alternative energy sources so the country won't have to burn millions of barrels of oil a year on power generation. KA-Care outlines the preliminary phases of the kingdom's agenda for its energy future and focuses on thermal solar, photo-voltaic solar, wind, geothermal and waste-to-energy. Much of the desert landscape in the Persian Gulf is well suited to solar energy production; a fact that has not escaped the Saudi's neighbor, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The UAE, with 8% of the world's proven oil reserves, has also embarked on a major renewables program, which focuses on nuclear and solar energy production. By taking a look at the global energy picture, we see that even those countries with vast fossil fuel resources recognize the finite limitations of their reserves and the importance of investing in sustainable energy projects, which is great news in the fight against climate change. Every country on the planet contributes to global warming, and every country will have to do their part in order to pave the way to a sustainable energy future.
Could a Carbon Tax Be the Answer to Curbing Global Warming?
Most of the time, we do not take into account the complete costs to producing or consuming a good or service. This is because we focus on the explicit costs. For example, if we were to bake a loaf of bread, we would take into account the cost of the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water, milk, and butter. Perhaps we would even calculate our labor time to make the dough and the cost of running the oven, but would we account for the carbon dioxide dumped into the atmosphere for the delivery truck that delivered the baking supplies? How about the CO2 emissions from the power plant burning fossil fuels to generate the electricity to run the oven? The problem is that we are not required to bear the full cost of production. Some of the costs to bake that loaf of bread were shifted to society as a whole.
Even if we did not bake the loaf of bread ourselves, we're still shifting costs to society as a whole just by consuming it. Our cars burn gasoline to drive to and from the grocery store, and regardless if we walked or biked, gasoline was likely also burned to deliver the bread to the grocery store in the first place. Sure the delivery truck paid for the gasoline, but many companies do not pay for the carbon emissions their operations generate.
We need to make some drastic changes to avoid the ills of global warming, which we are beginning to see affect our daily lives, but the logistics of transforming our world's energy system can be intimidating. The first thing we need to do is get off fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy sources. Easier said than done, I know. It will be a complex and time-consuming process converting power plants, vehicles/transport systems, homes and commercial buildings. Unfortunately, time is not on our side here. We really need to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050.
So then the question becomes how can we transition the world's energy infrastructure to sustainable sources by mid-century? One of the ways suggested is to implement a tax on CO2 emissions that begins low and gradually increases. There should be no mystery either about how much and at what intervals over time the tax will rise. Then people, businesses and governments can plan their fossil fuel exit strategy.
The revenues the carbon tax generates should be directed into subsidizing renewable energy innovation and overhauling energy infrastructure.
Ideally, the carbon tax should be global. Again there are logistical challenges to this climate change solution. The key is that we need a systematic and practical process. Isn't it time we started taking responsibility for the full costs of production and consumption? Society is bearing the cost as a whole, and society as a whole needs to be part of the solution.
US EPA Releases Second Year of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data
Ever wonder how large facilities in your state are doing regarding greenhouse gas emissions? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began collecting greenhouse gas emissions data in 2010 under the congressionally mandated Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program. In February 2013, the EPA's program released its second year (2011) of emissions data, which provides public access to emissions data by sector, by greenhouse gas, and by geographic region such as county or state.
The 2011 data includes information from facilities in 41 source categories that emit large quantities of greenhouse gasses. New this year is data collected from 12 additional source categories, including petroleum and natural gas systems and coal mines.
Highlights of findings from the 2011 data include:
- Power plants represent approximately one-third (33 percent) of total U.S. GHG emissions, making them the largest stationary source of GHGs in the country
- 2011 emissions from power plants were roughly 4.6 percent below 2010 emissions, demonstrating an ongoing increase in power generation from natural gas and renewable energy sources
- Refineries represented the third-largest source of GHG emissions, which increased by a half of a percent over 2010 data
- Overall emissions reported from the 29 sources tracked in both years were 3 percent lower in 2011 than in 2010
Transparency is critical to a better environment and the key to conquering climate change. If companies, communities and individuals take a look at how large facilities are doing in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and compare the latest data to national averages, perhaps we can find ways to cut these emissions and begin to curb global warming. Being better informed is also good for the businesses as they may identify opportunities to conserve energy and thereby save money.
Check out how individual large facilities in your state, county, and even zip code perform. Access this data through the Facility Level Information on Green House gases Tool (FLIGHT), which is a web-based data publication tool, or dig deeper through the EPA's online database Envirofacts that allows information searches via zip code.
Actions the US Federal Government Can Take to Demonstrate Climate Change Leadership
The United States is one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world. What can our country do for the good of the planet with this role?
One thing the U.S. federal government does every few years is engage hundreds of experts to evaluate the impacts of climate change, now and in the future. The resulting National Climate Assessment report, which was recently released, showed that America's current efforts to reduce carbon pollution are too little to avoid dangerous climate change. Last year President Obama announced new CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards for cars and light trucks such as minivans and sport utility vehicles. Let's build on this historic progress to limit carbon emissions. There are several ways that the president and federal government can make a real difference in the fight against global warming.
The Clean Air Act is a powerful tool that our nation's leaders could be leveraging more fully. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with using the Clean Air Act to issue rules to reduce greenhouse pollution. This farsighted law has reduced damaging air pollution for forty years, saving many lives. The EPA has already used it to protect public health and welfare from six extensive and harmful pollutants including: ozone, particulate matter, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead. Now is the time to lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by setting a national pollution cap for greenhouse gases.
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA has also proposed higher emission standards on coal-fired power plants. These standards need to be fortified, finalized and implemented posthaste. Why stop with power plants? There are other places where higher greenhouse gas emission standards can be successfully applied to help save our planet such as oil refineries, cement plants, and even the airline industry.
Another way to help the environment would be for President Obama and the State Department to decline approval on the Keystone XL pipeline, which proposes moving oil down from Canada through the western United States to refineries along the Gulf Coast. There are no guarantees that the pipeline won't spring leaks. Furthermore, there is evidence that extracting oil from the sands are increasing levels of cancer-causing compounds in surrounding lakes far beyond natural levels. Denying approval would show that America is committed to transitioning away from a dependence on fossil fuels.
Of course, it's not all up to the federal government. We can all do our parts to speed the transition to a clean energy future. First we can encourage our elected officials to take the climate change actions recommended above. Second we can reduce our own carbon footprints. Consider lowering the heat or air conditioning depending on the season, using a clothesline, rake, hand mower and other manpowered devices, composting, forgoing meat at least one day a week and riding a bicycle. Lastly, we can all find simple ways to be part of the solution such as planting trees and offsetting remaining carbon emissions.
Carbon Tax Talks Experience Renewed Interest Post Superstorm Sandy
The issue of climate change has re-entered the public's conscious in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. In fact, there were accusations of a "climate silence" on the part of the presidential candidates until the megastorm hit the Northeast a week before this month's election. Now both parties are talking about a potential carbon tax.
Last week a carbon tax was once again the topic of discussion at the American Enterprise Institute (a conservative think-tank) and the Brookings Institution (a more liberal think-tank) released a paper on it. The Congressional Budget Office also published a report on potential ways to make a carbon tax less of a burden on lower income people.
A carbon tax works by making those that use fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas pay more. When they are burned, fossil fuels contribute to global warming by producing carbon dioxide, which traps heat. Some experts estimate the price tag of a tax of $20 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions to add 1 or 2 percent to the price of gasoline and electric power. Other pundits view a carbon tax as a tax on economic growth.
Whether or not a carbon tax will have the political backing to make it through a divided Congress is questionable. However, environmental advocates are always interested when climate change is a hot topic. Extreme weather has been linked to climate change. So it's important to warn people that if we continue on this unsustainable path of dumping 90 million tons of pollution into the atmosphere on a daily basis that the future will include more superstorms with increasingly devastating consequences.


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How Obama Might Make the School-to-Prison Pipeline Worse
Included in President Obama's plan for reducing gun violence is an idea made famous, or infamous, by the National Rifle Association in its press conference following the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. After railing against violence in movies and video games, NRA spokesperson Wayne LaPierre called on Congress "to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation."
Obama's plan isn't as dramatic or far-reaching, but it is a variation on the same idea. His executive action on guns calls for federal agencies to "provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers." This includes mental-health professionals, guidance counselors, and police officers or other security officials.
Schools with more police might be safer from violence, but there are also unintended consequences to exposing students to law enforcement. "With the increase of police in schools, we've seen a dramatic increase in school-based student arrests, particularly of youth of color," writes Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil-rights group. "Instead of addressing infrequent, serious threats to safety, police officers in schools often respond to minor student misbehavior by handcuffing, arresting, and criminalizing the very young people they are intended to protect."
"Criminalizing" is the key word here; police aren't arresting students for illegal behavior as much as they are detaining them for breaking rules and violating codes of conduct. In one Mississippi school district, according to a recent report prepared by the Advancement Project, 33 of every 1,000 children were either arrested or referred to juvenile detention centers. Only 4 percent of law enforcement referrals were for felony-level behavior; the vast majority were for "disorderly conduct." What does that entail? One child was taken home by the police for wearing shoes that violated the school's dress code, while another was removed for not wearing a belt.
Overall, the number of students who are suspended or expelled nationwide has been on the increase for the last decade. According to the most recent data from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, more than 3 million students are suspended each year and over 100,000 are expelled. Indeed, public- school discipline rates in the United States have never been higher. In Texas, more than half of students had been suspended or expelled between the 7th and 12th grades. Of those, 15 percent had seen disciplinary action more than 11 times, and of those, almost half had previous contact with the juvenile justice system.
This "school-to-prison" pipeline, as it's called, has the greatest impact on students of color. In a 2011 study called Race is Not Neutral, researcher Russell Skiba reviewed the disciplinary data of more than 400 elementary schools around the country and found that African American and Latino students received harsher punishments for similar misbehavior than their white peers. They're more likely to be punished for offenses such as "disrespect or "misconduct." And they're dramatically more likely to be removed from school: Three times more black students are suspended and 3.5 times more are expelled. Latino students are suspended at 1.5 times the rate of white students and expelled twice as often. The Coalition for Juvenile Justice finds that African American youth are 1.4 times—and Latinos 1.5 times—more likely to be detained than their white counterparts.
The school-to-prison pipeline operates directly and indirectly, and it's not hard to find examples of the former. In one Arizona town, local law enforcement works with private prison employees and immigration officials to conduct drug sweeps of public schools. In one such operation, three students were arrested for marijuana possession and referred to the juvenile court system. One of the students, who was found with 10 ounces of marijuana, could be prosecuted for intent to distribute, a felony that could haunt her for the rest of her life, to say nothing of the possible prison sentence.
None of this is to say that the Obama administration plans to arrest children. In fact, Dianis notes that the White House is attentive to these concerns, "One thing the administration is looking at doing is figuring out what kind of restrictions and requirements to put into the cop-in-schools program," she says, "so that they can reduce the chances of those unintended consequences." One such requirement is a push for transparency: Schools will have to report arrests to the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education, and will have to detail the arresting offense. The first step toward dealing with the problem, after all, is knowing that it exists.
Still, if the White House truly is attuned to the pipeline, then it should reconsider this proposal to bring more police and law enforcement into schools. Given the number of states that are pushing require more security in schools, restricting new federal funding to counselors and mental health professionals might be a better bet for solving actual student problems.
Kids are already being criminalized at a high rate, thanks to well-meaning policies aimed at "safety." For all its good intentions, the White House's new measure might make the problem worse.
Sat, 2013-01-19 10:25
Sat, 2013-01-19 19:21
I get a kick outta how it says that one student got caught with 10, that's right, 10 ozs of pot in her school and they seem to come across as simpathetic that she might have a felony "that will haunt her the rest of her life." While the girl smokes pot I gotta ask if the writer of this article smokes crack? Hello, she got caught in school with almost a pound of weed!!! She IS a felon! What person carries around 10 ozs for personal use? She WAS distributing it and deserves whatever happens to her!!! Where I live fines and sentences are doubled if you get caught doing your business within a certain distance from a school and I'm pretty sure INSIDE the school is covered under the same effect. If you're counting that's 3 caps-on words in my comment which should qualify the author for the OMG! Are you on crack? award of the month!
Sat, 2013-01-19 20:33
This incident has all the potential of producing the same level of stupidity, overreaction, security theater, and misplaced vigilance as 9/11. Just like 9/11, we are screaming "Don't just stand there, do something!" when the appropriate response might just be "Don't just do something, stand there!"
Since we can't really do anything about the enabler of incidents like the Newtown shooting and its ilk, the easy availability of high capacity, rapid fire guns, we are grasping for the next best thing. Or not even the next best thing but anything.
Guards in schools. Second grade teachers carrying side arms. Metal detectors. Locked classroom doors. You name it. Anything, of course, but guns.
My voting precinct happens to be located in an elementary school nearby. It seems every time I go to vote, some new "security" measure is in place. Bollards masquerading as planters to thwart a madman with a rental van full of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil, I assume. Heavy gates with spike tipped bars. Who knows what else.
When I was a kid, back in the 1950s and 1960s, we used to joke that school was "prison."
Now it almost literally is.
And, getting back to the point of the posting above, yes, of course having cops in the classroom, or at least the hallways, will most likely lead to more kids potentially having their lives wrecked because of something stupid they do or say.
When all you've got is a hammer, everything suddenly looks like a nail.
When you've got cops in school, everyone suddenly looks like a potential felon.
Wed, 2013-01-23 10:18
People who are afraid of being shot want guns. In England the home owners, robbers and cops aren't afraid of being shot.
Asking anyone to risk being shot by not having a gun if they think they are under assault won't work, However if guns had to be locked up, with a police officer, a fingerprint lock on the holster which would be handy in intervening in a domestic dispute to discourage one of the arguers from trying to grab the cops gun. and if the punishment was far less for a locked up gun even an addict would have his gun in a duffel bag part of the time with the padlock appearing to be locked.
Just like those who fasten their seat belt at first only when a cop is coming it could become a habit. Flashing a gun box during road rage is not as provocative as flashing a gun.
Let's talk about solutions not just about Obama making things worse,
See, Cell Phones while Driving and Guns in our Cities Is Banning Then the Solution?
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Yo last night that chick gave me a bloxer.
av Jeff Reynolds 7 oktober 2010
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Blood-stained boxers/ pajama pants. Used when referring to the blood-stained pants of a person that is menstruating.
Matthew, don't look in the laundry basket on the right, it's filled with Tracey's bloxers.
av PheonixCrucifix 22 april 2011


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July 22, 2013
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A low-ranking intelligence operative working in the office of the U.S. Ambassador in France takes on more than he bargained for when he partners with a wisecracking, fast-shooting, high-ranking U.S. agent who's been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack.
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality.
Visit the official site
Cast: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Amber Rose Revah, Melissa Mars, Kasia Smutniak
Produced by: Luc Besson, India Osborne
Directed by: Pierre Morel
Written by: Luc Besson, Adi Hasak
Running time: 1hr 35min
Opens: Feb 05, 2010 Nationwide


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THE WESTERN SKY is bleeding out like a giant open wound. Rich swaths of crimson and gold spill from a slit in the clouds, oozing across the waves of the Pacific like beautiful gore. It's as if the horizon itself has committed hara-kiri. Even for the saltiest of mariners navigating these notorious waters near the mouth of the Columbia River, the sun's late-afternoon curtain call is enough to inspire awed silence.
Inside the cockpit of the pilot boat Columbia—a mean, diesel-powered, neon-orange torpedo—skipper David Fastabend and his deckhand pay the view their respects with a nod and a stone-faced stare. A gray whale surfaces off the bow, its exhale of spray visible from a quarter-mile away. The only mammal that seems unfazed by the majestic panorama is one Kevin Dooney. In thirty minutes, he will leap from the bow of the 74-foot Columbia and grab onto a battered rope ladder dangling from the Fragrant Island, a 580-foot Japanese bulk carrier en route to the port of Kalama at twelve knots, roughly fourteen miles per hour. In rolling seas, Dooney must climb twenty-five feet to the deck of the Island, where he will take control of a ship that's longer than a football field, then guide it into the teeth of the Columbia River bar.
The bar is a shifting sandbar in the seventeen-mile entryway to the Columbia River, the largest river in the Pacific Northwest and the fourth largest in the country. Without the calming buffer of a delta, the Columbia slams into sea swells; the colliding currents, along with weather conditions that can shift within minutes, make this one of the most unpredictable and dangerous stretches of navigable water on the planet. Today is Dooney's one-year anniversary with the pilots, and already he's heard enough horror stories to fill the forty-minute ride out to the Fragrant Island: waves standing nearly forty feet high, vessels dragging their anchors, lifeboats swept from decks, rudders of massive ships driven out of the water and rendered powerless.
Since 1792, at least two thousand ships have sunk here in the "graveyard of the Pacific"; Dooney is among only sixteen men and women licensed to take the big commercial vessels of the world through it. They belong to the Columbia River Bar Pilots, a limited liability company that dates back to 1846. At forty-four, Dooney is the youngest pilot. Before this, he guided oil tankers through the arctic waters off the Siberian coast, which offered plenty of another kind of peril: Ice. Storms. Ice storms. And yet there's a reason he ended up working this deadly triangle of water just west of Astoria. "This place has a reputation," he says. "Coming up, I knew the bar was the real deal."
Right now, though, his energy doesn't suggest nervousness, but rather the giddiness of someone trying to stifle a gut laugh. The smile on his freckled face is expectant, like he's dosed my drink and is waiting for me to buckle. It dawns on me that he thinks I'm going to vomit. "All I'm saying," he says, his pale blue eyes never leaving mine, "is that the trash can is right here." He opens a metal cabinet drawer in the stern. "And if you can't make that, the sink is right here."
His assumption is not unfounded. Six miles off the coast, the horizon is a moving target. The Columbia slams itself into, up, over, and down the unrelenting chop. The state-of-the-art boat is barely a year old and is worth more than $4 million; it's built to survive a 360-degree roll, and its twin engines power jets that blast four tons of water per second, a force that could fill an Olympic-size pool in fifteen seconds. None of which stops me from twisting and grinding against the brass pole behind the captain's chair like a Friday-night stripper.


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By Mo Kristiansen
July 10th 2011 TNA / Impact Wrestling will present Destination X, which for me is the most important PPV in the history of the company.
On June 19th 2002 a new North American promotion opened it's doors on PPV hoping to take a bite out of the WWE's pie and seeking to appeal to the jaded fan base of the recently folded WCW.
The first


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Posted 26 November 2012 - 17:29
Posted 26 November 2012 - 17:51
Posted 26 November 2012 - 17:55
Not sure of specifics, but overall for phone interviews: definitely make sure you have some water nearby in case your mouth gets dry. You will be a bit nervous, but take a deep breath, and don't speak too quickly or anything. Sound confident, smile at times (sounds weird but people can sort of pick up on if you are smiling/relaxed, even over the phone) and if you have a sense of humour, it always helps if you can make them laugh, they will remember you better.
Overall just try to feel secure in your abilities and enjoy showing off what you can do.
Best of luck, and hopefully others in here will have some more specific advice for that scenario
Posted 26 November 2012 - 18:04
Posted 26 November 2012 - 18:20
Thanks for the advice, i will be sure to focus on those topics that they mentioned.
This is because we might be using Google Docs to carry out some coding exercises.
the email says they might but I would say relax. They might not ask you to do it
Usually for interns they wont ask for complex programming but will look for analytic and problem solving skills.
They will look for the approach you take to solve a problem (Some don't even want to know if you solve it or not).
Try concentrating on these mentioned.
*Any system administration experience (incl knowledge level of all operating systems) * Communication * Logic, analysis & creative problem solving.
Posted 27 November 2012 - 01:55
Posted 27 November 2012 - 02:07
Depends: old or new ping-pong balls, what type of school bus and is it empty (no seats or gear).
One of the questions I recall him mentioning was If you had a school bus full of ping pong balls, what method would you use to best estimate how many there are?
Posted 27 November 2012 - 19:14
My brother-in-law interviewed to manage one of their data warehouses but didn't want to relocate. The interview was anything but standard. One of the questions I recall him mentioning was If you had a school bus full of ping pong balls, what method would you use to best estimate how many there are?


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A quality-appointed, great-looking shell pack for an affordable price.
This Sound Percussion Pro 5-Piece drum shell pack includes a 22" x 16" kick drum, 12" x 9" and 13" x 10" toms, a 16" x 16" floor tom, and a matching 14" x 5-1/2" snare drum with deluxe throw-off. The 8-ply basswood drum shells feature 45-degree bearing edges, black hoops and lugs, and double-ply drumheads. The toms come with suspension mounting brackets and heavy-duty tom arms. The suspension mounts allow the drums to resonate freely creating a more open tone that sings. The kick drum is adorned with telescoping bass drum spurs for solid support.
Cymbals and hardware not included.
This Sound Percussion Pro shell pack is a great solution for the modern beginner. Order yours today.
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Comments about Sound Percussion Pro 5-Piece Drum Shell Pack with Black Hardware:
Great beginner set, nice sound, good quality, but make sure you read the fine print. The cymbals, stands for cymbals and kick pedal for bass drum are NOT included in this awesome price. Pictures were deceiving. May be worth it to bump up to higher priced set to get a complete set up.
Comments about Sound Percussion Pro 5-Piece Drum Shell Pack with Black Hardware:
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features include:
basic drumset standards..
not the best for recording but they work.
great for beginners
I love the fact that when you buy sound percussion drums they include hardware that is awesome
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with the sound percussion drums I have I the drums alone (great buy) and about four times as much into additional hardware (both sound percussion and PDP , Remo heads, Gibraltar drum racks, Paiste cymbals, and PDP double bass pedals. they sound amazing. I am an experienced drummer. I am the drummer for a band called Tears of the Reaper. I have used these drums everyday for almost 2 and a half years. I know what I'm talking about. they are a good buy. on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being first act quality (worst) and 10 being Tama quality (Best, Top of the line) I would say sound percussion drums have earned themselves a solid 8. they are great.
Comments about Sound Percussion Pro 5-Piece Drum Shell Pack with Black Hardware:
I was very impressed on the quality of this set. Sound is great with the RIGHT TUNING!!I've played drums for over 20 years and love this set. Cons: If you don't know all the tricks on tuning then get some help in this area.. you'll be impressed just how good you can get them sounding.
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10k, Half Marathon, Marathon
Come on out and have some fun at the Beach Boogie Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10k.
This is an open course. Please be courteous to other pedestrians, runners, and cyclists on the beach path.
Click here for start location map
Check in at 7AM. Parking lot opens at 7AM right behind Jack in the Box off of Pacific Coast Hwy and Warner Ave., Huntington Beach, CA. This is a small informal event with approximately 50-100 participants. All the participants will have their results posted with their names and times. Free pictures posted on Facebook after the event. Paces and crew welcome any time. There are numerous water fountains along the course.
Course map: 2 loops for the half marathon and 4 for the marathon. Each loop is out and back 6.55 miles. One aid station every 6.55 miles with drinking fountains along the way and numerous restrooms. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5722285 We will have the usual buffet of food for competitors ranging from, bananas, GU Gels, water, gatorade, cookies, etc. And anything else participants request. Misc info. No DNF's here: A person, at anytime, can drop down to a lessor distance. If a person does not complete a marathon or any other distance, then we WILL make a distance that the person completed in increments of common standard distances: 5k, 10k, 10mi, half marathon, marathon, etc.
Time limit for marathon: 5.5 hours - if more than 6 hours is needed please email us for early start information.
All finishers get a medal. Send us an email letting us know what you would like at the Aid Stations, we will try and personalize the food as much as possible. This is YOUR race and we want to make it as special as possible. FYI Also to save money, you can just mail the fee along with all your info, email: email@example.com for more info.
Bib Pick Up - 7:00AM - 7:30AM
Start Time - 7:30AM
Date - Saturday, April 26th, 2014
Address - Bolsa Chica beach path off of Warner Ave and Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach, CA.
Start Map - Click here for start location map
Parking - Parking lot opens at 7AM right behind Jack in the Box off of Pacific Coast Hwy and Warner Ave., Huntington Beach, CA.


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One hell of a cast.
http://www.hypable.com/2012/11/28/neil- ... star-cast/
Moderators: Tonyblack, Jason, Toothy
chris.ph wrote:james macevoy is in an american drama series, i dont know which one but its supposed to be very popular and when they interviewed him they were surprised that he wasnt a yank
Wiki wrote:Credited in the opening in seven episodes or fewer are:
• Kirk Acevedo (American) as Staff Sergeant Joseph Toye
• Eion Bailey (American) as Private First Class David Kenyon Webster
• Dale Dye (American) as Colonel (eventually Lieutenant General) Robert F. Sink
• Michael Fassbender (German-Irish) as Sergeant Burton "Pat" Christenson
• Stephen Graham (English) as Sgt. Myron "Mike" Ranney
• Colin Hanks (American) as First Lieutenant Henry Jones
• Tom Hardy (English) as Private John Janovec
• Craig Heaney (British) as Private Roy W. Cobb
• Frank John Hughes (American) as Staff Sergeant William "Wild Bill" Guarnere
• Matthew Leitch (English) as Staff Sergeant (served as First Sergeant for a time) Floyd Talbert
• James McAvoy (Scottish) as Private James W. Miller
• Alex Sabga (English) as Cpl. Francis J. Mellet
• Tim Matthews (English) as PFC Alex Penkala
• Rene L. Moreno (American) as Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Ramirez
• Peter O'Meara (Irish) as First Lieutenant Norman Dike
• Simon Pegg (English) as First Sergeant William Evans
• David Schwimmer (American) as Captain Herbert Sobel
• Douglas Spain (American) as Technician Fifth Grade Antonio C. Garcia
• Richard Speight, Jr. (American) as Sergeant Warren "Skip" Muck
• Rick Warden (English) as First Lieutenant Harry Welsh
• Marc Warren (English) as Private Albert Blithe
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Financial Services industry has undergone great transformation in the past few years. Banking leaders understand that technology is critical for business growth. Many are burdened with disparate core systems added piecemeal over time and developed on old technology. Managing these legacy systems is costly and complex and not ready for the needs of the modern user. The need to modernize the systems of these organizations remain as compelling as ever yet finding strategies and solutions can be difficult.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
My PhD thesis
Anyway, in the midst of all this, I've finally decided on a thesis title:
Bite force, and the evolution of feeding function in birds, dinosaurs and cats.
The perfect title to show just how much unfocused my thesis is when it comes to a taxonomic group of interest, but extremely obsessed with bite force...ha! Of course it may be subject to change.
The actual thesis consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Myology and functional morphology of extant archosaurs
Chapter 3: Reconstruction of the jaw adductor muscles and jaw biomechanics in dinosaurs
Chapter 4: Dry skull bite force estimation in felids
Chapter 5: Tracing the evolution of bite force in Darwin's finches and felids
Chapter 1 introduces biomechanical concepts regarding bite force and also introduces bite force as a useful single-value indicator of feeding function. So Chapter 1 is theory-heavy.
Chapter 2 is pretty much a preparation chapter for Chapter 3 and is dominated by straightforward muscle descriptions in extant archosaurs but primarily birds. Special focus is given to the Herring Gull/Lesser Black-backed Gull complex (Larus argentatus/L. fuscus), Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) and Domestic Chicken (Gallus domesticus) but also feature the Ostrich (Struthio camelus) and other assorted birds. But perhaps the most important thing about this chapter is the data collection of cross-sectional areas of muscles for muscle force estimation.
Chapter 3 deals with jaw muscle reconstructions and bite force estimations in dinosaurs, in particular theropods. A simple method of bite force estimation is discussed and bite force is then predicted in a wide range of theropod taxa which is then used to test evolutionary hypotheses regarding feeding adaptations...
Chapter 4 is a critical reinvestigation into the Dry Skull method using extant and extinct cats. Bite force is estimated in 38 extant species of felids plus 3 extinct cats (Miracinonyx trumani, Panthera atrox, and Smilodon fatalis).
Chapter 5 takes the bite forces estimated for cats in Chapter 4 and uses a phylogenetic comparative method to test evolutionary hypotheses. Data in Darwin's finches are also analysed in the same way, mostly for the historical significance of finches in the development of evolutionary theories but also because there are plenty of data available for Darwin't finches in the literature. I gave a talk at PalAss last December on a priliminary version of this chapter.
There is also a summary and conclusions section at the end to wrap it all up.
So in summary, my thesis is really about bite force estimation methods and practical uses of bite force in evolutionary analyses...the evolution of functional adaptations intrigues me to no end and I believe that bite force is a strong tool in analysing functional adaptations regarding feeding.
13 comments:
- Jerry D. Harris said...
Anyway, in the midst of all this, I've finally decided on a thesis title:
Bite force, and the evolution of feeding function in birds, dinosaurs and cats.
Uh...if I may be very presumptuous here for a moment, that title should be:
Bite force and the evolution of feeding function in birds, dinosaurs, and cats.
No comma after "force" and a comma after "dinosaurs."
The perfect title to show just how much unfocused my thesis is when it comes to a taxonomic group of interest
That's not a big deal and I wouldn't worry about it -- as dissertation topics become more and more transdisciplinary, it's increasingly necessary to broaden one or more research scopes (e.g., taxa, approaches, disciplines, etc.) in order to answer interesting questions; trying to accommodate all that under a single banner -- which, really, only a dissertation would ask anyone to do anymore...! -- necessitates titles like yours that seem excessively broad but actually do a great job of depicting the actual content.
- 20 August, 2008 00:40
- Mambo-Bob said...
Ah - cheers! I'll change the title as suggested. Thank you very much.
And I'm grateful for your encouragements. I need all the support I can get right now;)
- 20 August, 2008 01:57
- Traumador said...
Good luck with finishing it and the defence. I look forward to good news when you're done
- 21 August, 2008 17:48
- Manabu Sakamoto said...
Thanks, Traumador!
Incidentally, I'm using LaTeX so thankfully, I don't really have to worry too much about formatting...phew
- 21 August, 2008 18:27
- Julia said...
I suppose there is a perfectly good explanation but I know the dino birds connection but why cats?
- 24 August, 2008 10:13
- Manabu Sakamoto said...
Hi Julia,
The main reason I got into cats was because I helped supervise a masters project on a Smilodon specimen that we have in our Department. That project compared Smilodon with Tiger and Lion (skull specimens that we also happened to have) and I just extended that by collecting data for as many cat species as I can get a hold of. Mammalian skulls are to some extent easier to work with, and there are plenty of previous studies to cross-check my results with. Further, cats are relatively conservative in morphology yet diverse enough in subtle differences. So they're quite the ideal group to test for within-lineage adaptations and stuff like that. At least that's what I think anyway. Comparative functional morphology is my primarily interest, so the choice of animal group is in a way just the means to an end.
- 24 August, 2008 17:10
- Zach said...
That's f*cking awesome, brother! Good luck on your defense. I'd love to read the paper when all's said and done. I didn't realize you were going for your PhD--I'm gonna have to start calling you "Doctor" now. :-)
And if I ever go about trying to write up that spinosaur post from way back when for publication, I might come knocking for bite force studies! :-D
- 25 August, 2008 19:58
- Julia said...
It sounds really interesting so I'll be checking for updates from time to time.
BTW I have a blog too and thought it could be nice to exchange links or guest post
- 26 August, 2008 09:38
- Manabu Sakamoto said...
Hi Zach,
Hahaha, I'm not a doctor yet...
and don't hesitate to ask me for any bite force related stuff when you start with your manuscript!
I'll get on with the link!
- 26 August, 2008 14:44
- Manabu Sakamoto said...
umm....where's your blog, Julia?
- 26 August, 2008 14:47
- Malacoda said...
This is a bit late, but I disagree with Jerry slightly on the title. As you are in the UK, speaking and writing 'English' English, the list of taxa should not have a comma after dinosaurs. Jerry is correct if you are writing in 'American English'.
- 31 August, 2008 15:10
- Manabu Sakamoto said...
So that's the confusion, eh? I didn't think it was a UK vs US English thing and started doubting my own memory...good to know.
- 02 September, 2008 19:25
- Betsey Bell said...
Well, it was good that you have plan head what is the content of your thesis paper. That way, it would be easy for you to organize all the information you need and put them in a place that they belong. It would also help avoid mistake that sometimes are the cause of revising the paper again and again.
- 04 June, 2013 10:29


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As the anesthesia supervisor at Virginia Tech's Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., Samantha Rowland '02 is responsible for equine patients, from the pre-operative period through the recovery period.
Rowland is living the career she knew she wanted to follow when she applied to Wilson College — equine veterinary medicine.
"Veterinary medicine and horses have been a part of my life since junior high school," said Rowland. "I knew I wanted to continue down that path. The four-year veterinary technology and equine programs drew me to Wilson."
Rowland graduated from Wilson with bachelor's degrees in both veterinary medical technology and equine management. She also pursued a minor in small business management. While deciding on her career path, Rowland thought having the two majors together would give her more of an advantage.
"Due to my love of horses, I knew I wanted to work in equine medicine," Rowland said. "The two majors increased my knowledge base."
She has now been a licensed veterinary technician for 10 years. She decided that she wanted to specialize in anesthesia, and obtained her veterinary technician specialist (VTS) certification through the Academy of Veterinary Technician Anesthetists (AVTA). While no extra schooling is involved in this process, much experience is required.
"The application itself takes a year to complete as it involves a year's worth of anesthetic case logs, several case reports, along with letters of reference and proof of education," said Rowland. "I had to be practicing full time for about three years before being able to complete the application."
Rowland's job at the equine medical center allows her to be fairly autonomous. She performs her own patient evaluation exams and unless there is a problem during surgery, her decisions regarding the anesthesia are rarely discussed with the attending surgeon. The center is part of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, so it is a teaching hospital as well as a working hospital. This means that the students and faculty perform all kinds of surgeries, from horses and donkeys to family pets and racehorses.
Rowland believes her years at Wilson helped shape the person she has become and values the liberal arts education she received here.
"My time at Wilson was some of the best years of my life," said Rowland. "The small class sizes allowed for a more personal learning environment."


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Narrow your search
Google's purchase of Waze takes a possible competitor off the table, even as Apple improves its once-shaky Maps app.
The navigation startup Skobbler has just released a mapping app for Android devices that offers users more information offline, so it doesn't have to eat up your data plan.
Apple is pushing users towards alternatives to its own Maps app with a new section in the App Store that highlights competitors.


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User Reviews & Ratings - Voltaren oral
Read user comments about the side effects, benefits, and effectiveness of Voltaren oral.
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Condition: Arthritis in both hips due to Crohn's. I have been taking Voltaren for over three years. Most days it helps GREAT!!! Some days, eh, not so good. LOL - That's because I sometimes over due activities on the days when I am pain-free. Hey, when no pain, you feel more alive and you can now do the things you put off before :-) The only thing I recommend is to take this with food, p ... Show Full Comment
Reviewer: javamamaqp103, 55-64 Female on Treatment for less than 1 month (Patient)
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Had to discontinue use due to swelling in feet and ankles.
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I didn't know it could worsen a heart condition.
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I have Arthritis really bad in my arms and shoulder enough that it keeps me awake at night with continuous pain. Once I use the voltaren rub treatment, the pain goes away and I go back to sleep right away. I cannot believe the difference it does.
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Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - The Milwaukee Bucks have signed first- round draft pick Jabari Parker to a contract.
Parker, at 6-foot-8 and 19 years old, scored 19.1 points and grabbed 8.7 rebounds per game for Duke last season. The small forward was a consensus First Team All-America selection and ACC Rookie of the Year during his one season with the Blue Devils.
His points per game were the fourth-highest ever by an ACC freshman. He also topped the conference in rebounding.