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POPSA well-regulated... I am, in general, a liberal free-marketeer. Light and efficient government regulation is needed and in some sectors more of it than in others, but taken in a gross overall picture, I tend to agree with the maxim "the less government the better". It seems the Japanese have just decided to take a different route. I for one still think the "American model" with some adjustments for context is more honest, at a genetic level, to the human experience and thus is more likely to promote innovative solutions to problems. But I also know that, in nature, diversity is resilience so perhaps it is good that the Japanese have decided on a different course. One that, perhaps, fits their context better than the "American model" (or what they took to be the "American model") did. We will see how this plays out now that history has restarted its engines.
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POPSSome are more equal than others An interesting radio program(me) on the likely impact of inequality in developed countries. These researchers provide background information and discussion on their evidence that inequality is more destructive to society in those economies already well developed. This means that the social advantage of economic inequality, from the utopian 'motivator of innovation and growth' to the cynical 'there but by my listening to my boss go I' is outweighed by the social disadvantage of crime, ill health and the like. Though I would not consider this the last word on the subject, it is a worthy listen to, despite the odd and off putting affect that such discussion seems to instill in our brothers and sisters on that little island over there called Britain.
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POPSObama appears ready to drop 'public option' Heaven forbid that there be a public option. What American's surely need are fewer options and we are going to fight tooth and nail to make sure our options are restricted. Now I don't know about you, but this is only a minor victory. Next up, make sure that our only options are with "for profit" companies. Otherwise its just Socialism with a smiley face painted on it. No non-profit health care! Make non-profit health care against the law!
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POPSBoulder Rocks! I wouldn't call Boulder affluent in the same sense that other areas are affluent (though we do have our problems with the idle trustifarians and the like) more a town that was build and developed with the future in mind. Also helps to have some pretty resilient institutions around like the University of Colorado and the federal campus (NOAA, NIST, NCAR).
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POPSComputers: 1 watt in 50 An interesting statistic and an important reminder that it is not simply a measure of the consumption but also of what that consumption begets.
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POPSRich on Palin Frank Rich on Sarah Palin and the fringe that now controls the GOP. Some of the nationalist fervor, the fear and the scapegoating are reminiscent of prior troubled times. May our present time's more level heads prevail.
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POPSU.S. Considers Curbs on Speculative Trading of Oil 
I am a little weary of this step in the regulation of futures markets. Though I do not have the complete information before me and I do realize the vital interest there is in price stability I question the role of government to overly regulate the energy futures market as futures markets do serve a function that is beneficial to more than the few. Though what that benefit is escapes me at the moment. In fact the price swings of late I’d say have little to do with futures markets and more to do with expected price fluctuations of a dwindling resource, i.e. this is an indicator that we have reached peak oil. There was a study (hey if you are interested in the details, let me know) that came out a few years back that showed the price curve of a commodity that suddenly reached the point of being a dwindling resource, meaning that new demand was coming on at a higher rate than supply. Contrary to expectations the price did not skyrocket forever but went through wild gyrations
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POPSCoffee 'may reverse Alzheimer's' Five cups a day!!!! My lord. That should cure just about anything. Well I guess it all depends on how you define a cup. Heck, on my coffee pot a "cup" is six ounces!
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POPSParallel ecological networks in ecosystems Han Olff, David Alonso, Matty P. Berg, B. Klemens Eriksson, Michel Loreau, Theunis Piersma and Neil Rooney Phil Trans R Soc B (2009) 364, 1755-1779 A look at ecosystems (and perhaps their analogs) as something more than a simple trophic pyramid.
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POPSNigaz With attitude the Russians from a joint venture with the Nigerian State petroleum company.
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POPSWhy some still support Ahmadinejad The internal politics of Iran are complex and certainly not the cartoonish people vs. the government caricature being promulgated in the US. Much of internal politics is governed by perceptions of old actions of interference by foreign powers and national pride as this letter to the BBC can attest. Yes, the people of Iran do need change, yes the government is not of all the people (and likely a minority of the people), but there are many there that support the government as well. Knowing why and understanding how to weaken that support so that sane governance can return to Iran should be the key strategy for world governments.
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POPSCanadian Health Care; Just Say Yo But the bottom line is that America’s health care system spends nearly twice as much per person as Canada’s (building the wealth of hospital tycoons like Mr. Scott). Yet our infant mortality rate is 40 percent higher than Canada’s, and American mothers are 57 percent more likely to die in childbirth than Canadian ones.
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POPSVitamins Don't Work - Or Worse An interesting article listing clinical trial and meta-study results of vitamin usage. It may be that not only are vitamin supplements not needed - they may hurt you.
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POPSCapitalism in Crisis An interesting column by Richard Posner on the background of and some lessons from the financial crisis. In short: 1) Capitalism is risky and is prone to bubbles and depressions (take home message is not that capitalism is 'bad' but that one must diversify and hedge); 2) The crisis is a consequence of deregulation (not that deregulation is 'bad' but that deregulated capitalism carries with it more of the bubble/depression risks). But in the end, as with so many, Posner concludes that the whole mess should be laid at the feet of government. This is not the right conclusion, not that government is not the responsible party, they are. But the key issue that underlies the government's failure is not that government is inherently 'bad' as many are often led to conclude but that it was made that way. A systematic attack and undermining of governance has occurred in the U.S. since the early 1980s. Not all was bad, likely much of it early on was needed, but like so many other human expe
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POPS"Losing Mum and Pup" A "tell all" story by "Christo" Buckely on the lives of his parents. This news item is worth the full read. Hope to get the book.
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POPSChina: Stimulus Appears To Kick In. China had a massive (relative to economic size) stimulus that is _investing_ in the country's infrastructure. Obama's stimulus, also beginning to show signs of helping the economy, has been hampered by old guard thinking that promotes destructive and vicious partisanship and thinks that the only solution to any economic problem is more tax cuts. Will this be seen as the moment where backward thinking and vicious partisan politics in the U.S. hampered our response and opened the door to Chinese supremacy in Asia? Let's hope not.
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POPSWater Water, as well as energy, looks to be one of the driving issues of the 21st century. And in some ways they can be seen as the same issue given that with enough inexpensive energy we could purify and transport water. (Though perhaps energy will never be that inexpensive.)
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POPSStudy: Cool Spells Normal in Warming World Easterling, D. R., and M. F. Wehner (2009), Is the climate warming or cooling? Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2009GL037810, in press. (accepted 30 March 2009) Abstract Numerous websites, blogs and articles in the media have claimed that the climate is no longer warming, and is now cooling. Here we show that periods of no trend or even cooling of the globally averaged surface air temperature are found in the last 34 years of the observed record, and in climate model simulations of the 20th and 21st century forced with increasing greenhouse gases. We show that the climate over the 21st century can and likely will produce periods of a decade or two where the globally averaged surface air temperature shows no trend or even slight cooling in the presence of longer-term warming.
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POPSLimbaugh's Legions Insane conspiracy theories being flamed by the Limbaugh-right wacko movement, the same people that gave you 8 years of the Bush Administration, are beginning to produce the instability they crave. They truly are the modern day Bolsheviks.
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