Monthly Archives: January 2010

Straight Party-line Vote For/Against raising Debt limit

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No Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum on Fiscal matters before Congress

by Eric Dondero

Many 3rd party partisans, including some in the Libertarian Party like to use the old mantra: "there's not a dime's worth of difference between the two major parties." Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum is their common refrain. But on an increasing amount of critical votes in Congress, the differences are blaringly stark: Health care - straight party line, not a single Republican vote for socialist proposal; Obama Stimulus earlier in the year - near straight party line vote, only one single GOP House member voted for the bill, (Rep. Anh Cao, LA) and he has since recanted.

Now, another critical vote has just been taken: Raising the debt limit. From the NY Times, Jan. 27:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted narrowly on Thursday to increase the government's borrowing authority to $14.3 trillion, which would allow the Treasury Department to continue servicing the country's spiraling national debt through most of 2010.

Senate Democrats hope the 60 to 40 party-line vote will enable them to avoid another politically toxic vote on the issue before the November congressional elections.

Even moderate Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, George Voinivich of Ohio and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, voted against the measure.

Of note, Senate-elect Scott Brown has yet to be seated. Acting Senator from Massachusetts, Democrat Paul Kirk is still casting votes.

In Congress as of late, one-party clearly represents both sides; Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dummer.

Hot GOP Political Rumors out of the Great Northwest

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From Eric Dondero:

New polling data is showing that incumbent Democrat Senator Patty Murray is vulnerable to a Republican challenge. Last week we featured the candidacy of constitutionalist conservative Art Coday for Murray's Senate seat. But now a new name has emerged: Dino Rossi. The name of the former two-term Republican Gubernatorial candidate is being whispered in GOP circles in Washington State. He narrowly lost two races to Gov. Christine Gregoire, though notably the first race he actually won, but lost in subsequent recounts due to effective Democrat re-count ballot-stuffing in Seattle.

Next door in Oregon, longtime incumbent Democrat Senator Ron Wyden could receive a GOP challenger in the coming weeks. Libertarian Republican has learned that an individual is about to announce against him, and this individual comes from the "libertarian wing." He's youngish, entrepreneurial, and promises to run a non-traditional Republican effort, (emphasis on non-traditional), that could attract a key constituency away from the Democrat base.

We hope to be among the first to bring you the news on the prospective Oregon Republican's candidacy.

Is the Army Talking Trash about Trash?

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The U.S. Army is investing a lot of time and money into turning garbage into diesel fuel for both vehicles and generators. The amount fuel used overseas is tremendous: more than 68 million gallons of fuel every month; and transporting fuel is very dangerous. But the gasification process itself is co

Is Network Neutrality a Big Deal?

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The FCC seeks to preserve an open Internet. That means ensuring there is no interference in sending and receiving lawful content. It also means everyone has a right to use lawful applications, services, and content providers. There should be no discrimination. ISPs claim that net neutrality will lim

Do You Text While Driving?

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A New York Times article reports that even though the risks of driving while talking on a mobile phone have gotten wide airplay in the media, drivers — and even legislators — don't seem to be paying much attention, or haven't much motivation for change. Another article highlights how tru

If It Ain't Broke…

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Preventive, predictive, and reliability-centered maintenance are all methods to identify equipment failures before they happen. For these programs to work, however, maintenance needs to monitor machine operation using objective data (not measuring vibrations with a screwdriver and 20 years experienc

More Subsidy for Nuclear Power?

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The Obama administration moved vigorously on two fronts Friday to promote nuclear power, proposing to triple federal loan guarantees for new projects and appointing a high-level panel to study what to do with nuclear waste.

One more example of picking winners and losers among industries; hardly government's strong suit.

Plus, the U.S. already subsidizes nuclear energy via the Price-Anderson Act of 1957, which limits the liability of the nuclear power industry in the case of accidents.

This subsidy means the true costs of nuclear power are much higher than they appear.  Although nuclear produces fewer greenhouse emissions than burning fossil fuel, it is probably not efficient even assuming a large negative effct from emissions.

Tea Party candidate Andrzejewski for Illinois Gov. gains a big International supporter

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Cold Warrior Lech Walesa travels to Chicago to campaign for Adam Andrzejewski

An underdog in the race, but gaining fast, Adam Andrzjewski just won a major endorsement, and it came from an unlikely source. From the Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 29:

Former Polish President and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa made his first-ever endorsement of an American political candidate Friday -- for longshot Republican gubernertorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski. Though Walesa started as a union activist, he was socially conservative and economically suppportive of a free market, so he supports Andrzejewski for his stands, not just his Polish heritage, Walesa told a freezing crowd of tea partyers in the federal plaza Friday. He promised to come back and campaign for Andrzejewski in the general election.

"I wish you all success, and, if you succeed, I will show up again," Walesa told the tea partyers. In longer, indoor comments earlier, Walesa and fellow Solidarity founder Mieczyslaw Gilsaid they saw themselves in Andrzewjewski, 40, when they were his age -- a young man not willing to work within the existing system and willing to try to restructure it, they said.

Meanwhile, Adam Brickly, of Draft Sarah Palin for VP fame, reported at Race42012.com:

Still more momentum for Adam Andrzejewski with an appearance on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “Freedom Watch”. Also – waiting for final totals on a very successful moneybomb.

Andrzejewski has identified himself as a Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin style libertarian-leaning GOPer. (Original LR article)

In an interview with Brickley at Race42012, Andrzejewski said the following:

[What I like about] Glenn Beck is that [he's] libertarian, that social conservatives and libertarians – that’s the marriage that Ronald Reagan created to be the winning majority back when times were good and we brought down the Soviet Union without firing a shot.

Polls show essentially a 4-way race, with none of the top contenders edging over 20% of the vote heading into Tuesday's election. On the Democrat side, incumbent Gov. Patrick Quin is facing a number of challengers, but is expected to win the primary comfortably.

A People’s Submission on Climate Change

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Storm Clouds over Sao Paulo

A People’s Submission on Climate Change

The following letter and statement were sent on January 28, from Climate Action Network Canada, to Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Dear Mr. de Boer,

On behalf of the people of Canada, we are making a “Peoples Submission” to the Copenhagen Accord. We realize it is exceptional for you to receive a national submission through a nongovernmental organization. However, the present circumstance in Canada is exceptional. The views and aspiration of the majority of Canadians are not reflected in the views and actions of the present government.

The Canadian people have been very clear in their continuing support for the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We also support Canada adopting science based emission targets and contributing our fair share to a mitigation and adaptation fund.

We want the international community to know Canadians will one day live up to our obligations.

Please accept this “Peoples Submission” as an indication of the real values and views of Canadians.

Sincerely,

Graham Saul
Executive Director
Climate Action Network / Réseau action climat Canada

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Read the peoples’ submission after the break.

A PEOPLE’S SUBMISSION ON CANADA, CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE COPENHAGEN ACCORD

Submitted January 28th, 2010 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

This submission is made on behalf of Canadian citizens who overwhelmingly desire that our government take real action on climate change. We submit that in order to contribute its fair share to a meaningful global climate change agreement, Canada should take the following actions:

Canada should commit to a science-based emissions reduction target of 25 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020 – “further strengthening” the government’s current target of 3 per cent below 1990 by 2020, as required by the Copenhagen Accord.
Canada should provide its fair share (3 to 4 per cent) of long-term climate financing to assist the most vulnerable and poorest countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to unavoidable climate change impacts. The Copenhagen Accord commits developed countries to “a goal of mobilizing” US $100 billion per year by 2020. Canada should go further by supporting a collective financing target of US $195 billion per year by 2020.
Canada should also provide its fair share (3 to 4 per cent) of short-term climate financing to assist the most vulnerable and poorest countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to unavoidable climate change impacts. This is equivalent to CAD $320 to 420 million per year in new funds, over and above our Official Development Assistance commitments, from 2010 to 2012. This financing would be a first step towards the long-term financing commitment noted above.
Finally, Canada should recommit itself to fulfilling its legal obligations under the Kyoto Protocol (an emissions reduction target of 6 per cent below 1990 levels during the period 2008 to 2012), and working with the international community to come to an agreement in 2010 on stronger commitments under the Protocol, post-2012.

Background

The [...]

Metastatic renal cancer

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Metastatic renal cancer is a type of kidney cancer, commonly known as metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and is a particularly dangerous form of the cancer. Originating in the small tubes that kidneys use to filter blood and remove toxins, RCC has a high resilience to most conventional radiation therapy and invasive surgery is generally necessary. Once it reaches a metastatic state, however, the cancer has spread to other organs and created a wider range of issues to combat. Most often metastatic RCC affects neighboring organ tissue such as the lungs or digestive tract, though it can be known to spread throughout the body due to its close relation with the circulatory system and can even metastasize to the brain.

Signs and symptoms of RCC can vary from person to person, though some common symptoms include abnormal urine color due to the presence of blood, loin pain, mass development in the abdominal region, weight loss and anemia. Other symptoms are less common but may include vision abnormalities, constipation, hypertension, night sweats and severe sudden weight loss. Should you exhibit any of these symptoms it is highly recommended that you seek out a medical professional immediately in order to receive a full diagnosis and rule out RCC as a potential cause of any problems.

Diagnosis generally must be done through a number of different examinations and tests and can not be determined by symptoms alone as these are not conclusive of the disease itself – other factors such as kidney stones, urinary tract infections or other conditions could easily cause the same or similar symptoms in patients. Physical examinations of the abdomen, imaging tests and some lab tests (though these are less common) are all ways used by doctors to diagnose the cancer and, if caught in the early stages, treat any developments quickly.

When caught in the early stages most prognosis for RCC is fairly good, with the 5-year survival rate on individuals with tumors at 90-95%. Larger tumors typically lower the 5-year survival rate to 80-85%, while if the cancer has metastasized to the lymph notes the 5-year survival rate drops to 5-15% and below 5% if it has metastasized to other organs.

Most current treatments for this particular form of cancer require surgery and removal of the tumors as the cancer is particularly resilient to chemotherapy, though some treatments using immunotherapy to stimulate the body’s own immune system to attack the cancer cells has proven effective in some patients, effectively curing them of the disease after extended treatment. Immunotherapy is not necessarily effective for everyone, however, and as such can not be considered a viable treatment for most cases due to the fact that the successful treatment rate using this form is generally less than 10%. Still, research is continuing to be done into this field in the hopes of increasing the effectiveness and provide a reasonable less-invasive alternative to the standard surgical treatment currently used for most cases. Some cancer vaccines have also been tested and shown some success in combating RCC, however the success rate is still too low to be considered of any reasonable worth.

drawing, extrusion physical prop. change

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Hi all. I know what is drawing of steel bar and extrusion as a process.

But i want to know what physical propery change it gives to material.

Also advantage and disavvatages of these process on the material.

Not corcenned about the adv and dis of process or machine but only of output

Motor power Formulas

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Hi,

Can someone help me in computing the motor power in KW of an AHU motor? How can I compute for the power in KW of an AHU motor if only frequency and motor capacity(HP) are known, this is with relevance with VFD for the AHU's.

Thank you,

EGAN

Metal Densities for Thermowell Calculations

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Goodday All,

Can anyone assist with tables or information regarding the metal density values used for conducting Wake Frequency Calculations for the design of thermowells? Also I'm looking for the formulae/procedures used in the calculations/thermowell design, I got something from WIKA but the sp

13th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival Offers Something for Every Nature Enthusiast

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Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
Not all activities at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival are outdoors. Much of the festival takes place in the Exhibition Center in the Gymnatorium at Brevard Community College. Vendors who serve the birding community showcase what they have to offer.
Thursday afternoon I had a couple hours of free [...]