Eric, I loved the back to school tips. Will share with my hs freshman and sophomore. My life advice: when faced with a choice and your feel afraid, examine that one closely and push yourself
Protection devices for catalytic converters are pretty useless. At best they cause a thief to move on to an easier target. My niece had her converter stolen and added an anti-theft device on the replacement, which was stolen about six months later.
Part of the problem is the chop-shop perception that the cat is being sold. It takes only minutes to knock the ceramic matrix out of the cat. These blocks, or broken up blocks, can be readily sold on-line. The chemistry and process for extracting the metals is pretty easy and again can be found on youtube. Anyone that can run a meth lab can run a cat lab, with equally dangerous (if not more) gases and byproducts. A scrapped converter is worth $300 to $700 unprocessed and probably twice that after processing. Again, the processed materials are easily sold.
The best solution is the transition to electric cars. Then we can read about the theft of battery packs.
I am thinking about getting a hybrid with about 30 miles of all electric range. That would cover all of my daily driving electrically and I don't have to worry about road trips because I can get gas for the few annual trips. An all-electric car with 300 miles of range would get me around most of my Midwest trips with a plug in at my destination. I think that an electric that can refuel as fast as a gas car is a long way off.
My big worry is that there seems to be so little planning or requirements for disposal of depleted battery packs. These batteries may have alternate uses but will eventually be scrapped. There will be many more and much more hazardous than the current lead-acid batteries. I would hate to think that the answer is to export them to low-income countries for environmentally devastating processing, as we currently do with lead acid batteries.
Though you didn't mention it, I hope you've seen RedZone. It's all the close/important football with less of the unimportant parts. Scott Hanson does it non-stop. How he ever catches his breath or goes to the restroom is beyond me.
"Your son and daughter don’t need three words,“ he wrote. “Only one. Passion. Passion will provide a person with perseverance, curiosity and a long-term perspective.”
Barf. No quality is more overrated than "passion." It's not enough to like or only tolerate whatever it is you're doing. You have to LOOOOVE it with all your heart, like you're on a mission from God. This is an unrealistic standard, and if you make it your expectation, odds are (literally) that you will be disappointed. But, worse than that, it's not even a particularly good or virtuous quality to have. You're lucky if you love your work, but "passion" suggests an unhealthy monomaniacal obsession and self-absorption. In young people, it suggests naivety or excessive confidence. Nothing is more ridiculous than young people acting like they know everything!
Regarding football, I have a friend who is a UM alum, while I went to UI-UC. On attending a game together between the two, I asked her if she thought it was better to be a Michigan fan, with perennial expectations of competing for a national championship (this was years ago), only to have your hopes dashed every year, or an Illini fan, whose rare success would come as a pleasant surprise. Never got a clear answer.
Based on the recent conversation around student loan forgiveness, and Heather Cherone's comments on Mincing Rascals last week, it seems like an economic discussion is necessary for many of the college bound. Since 18-year-olds are adults, it would be useful for them to understand this adult decision. Is the degree that they are pursuing worth the investment? Will post-grad income provide an adequate return on investment? If not, can they afford the cost of indulging their interest? Is the chosen institution the best value? If parents are footing the bill, then is the student giving them value for the money? And, if they fail, can they afford the cost of failure? I was shocked by the comments on MR that many just assumed it was worthwhile or hadn't given the cost any thought at all.
As a corporation, by definition an illicit manipulator of politics and policy, shouldn't the employees of Google be demanding that the corporation make no political contributions and engage in no lobbying? Or alternately, should the management of Google assume that the 650 signatories speak for all 105,000 Google employees? In any case, I doubt that Google management is planning any plebiscites on corporate spending.
Here’s the song I would have played. You have to listen through to the choruses. I saw Michael McDermott at Jeff Fest in Jefferson Park in the mid teens.
Alaska electing Mary Peltola (a very conservative Democrat) in a ranked voting election is an excellent example of how well this works. She got the most #2 votes from a traditional Republican candidate which allowed her to beat Palin (and all others). This was a special election, but I expect that she will do just as well in the November election, unless Palin and her ilk drop out.
I am also excited about football but primarily because of playing fantasy football. The Bears are not expected to do well this year but I get to draft a bunch of great players and will enjoy watching them play, especially if they are getting lots of yards and touchdowns.
Not to be overly picky but I think the David Cassidy tweet is in poor taste. David died five years ago after years of struggling with alcohol and he left behind 3 former wives. Maybe if the sentiment was about men in general I could see the humor but it's too personal toward one late teen idol for me.
Google employees petitioning their executives. Where does this go? Is this a story because it’s Google or will other companies go through same issues? I suppose anyone can “make a demand for change” but what if an equal number of employees support their choices. Does the company even acknowledge either side.
I am opposed to morons and opportunists in any public office. But I agree with Eric, about the effect of reducing mail and drop box voting. I think that it will have similar effects on all voters and particularly in rural states it is likely to reduce GOP turnout. Also, if elected, any candidate that claims there is something wrong with the current election system has one election to get it right because after that, any problems are their fault.
It seems to me like all that has been proven in this article is speculation by a very small correlation and not that causation is demonstrated to exist between Zoloft and depression-homicide. That being true, the claim that Zoloft caused Marilyn Lemak’s murders is unsubstantiated.
The topic of electric cars sent me back to look again at the source of electricity in Illinois and the media/political yak about the transition from fossil fuels. In Illinois there are 44.25 GW of generation capacity - 53.3% Nuclear, 35.4% coal/gas, 11.3% wind/solar/hydro/biomas. To support complete replacement of all cars with electric will double the total current demand. So, we need at least 59.9 GW of new non-fossil fuel generation to replace the current fossil capacity and provide for the cars. This can be accomplished with 8 new nuclear plants of similar size to the existing nuclear plants or with 33,000 wind turbines on 3 million acres of land, similar to existing wind farms. We need to at least double total capacity again to replace home heating, appliances, and industrial uses. It seems obvious to me that we need to get going building new nuclear plants.
Eric, I loved the back to school tips. Will share with my hs freshman and sophomore. My life advice: when faced with a choice and your feel afraid, examine that one closely and push yourself
Protection devices for catalytic converters are pretty useless. At best they cause a thief to move on to an easier target. My niece had her converter stolen and added an anti-theft device on the replacement, which was stolen about six months later.
Part of the problem is the chop-shop perception that the cat is being sold. It takes only minutes to knock the ceramic matrix out of the cat. These blocks, or broken up blocks, can be readily sold on-line. The chemistry and process for extracting the metals is pretty easy and again can be found on youtube. Anyone that can run a meth lab can run a cat lab, with equally dangerous (if not more) gases and byproducts. A scrapped converter is worth $300 to $700 unprocessed and probably twice that after processing. Again, the processed materials are easily sold.
The best solution is the transition to electric cars. Then we can read about the theft of battery packs.
I am thinking about getting a hybrid with about 30 miles of all electric range. That would cover all of my daily driving electrically and I don't have to worry about road trips because I can get gas for the few annual trips. An all-electric car with 300 miles of range would get me around most of my Midwest trips with a plug in at my destination. I think that an electric that can refuel as fast as a gas car is a long way off.
My big worry is that there seems to be so little planning or requirements for disposal of depleted battery packs. These batteries may have alternate uses but will eventually be scrapped. There will be many more and much more hazardous than the current lead-acid batteries. I would hate to think that the answer is to export them to low-income countries for environmentally devastating processing, as we currently do with lead acid batteries.
Though you didn't mention it, I hope you've seen RedZone. It's all the close/important football with less of the unimportant parts. Scott Hanson does it non-stop. How he ever catches his breath or goes to the restroom is beyond me.
"Your son and daughter don’t need three words,“ he wrote. “Only one. Passion. Passion will provide a person with perseverance, curiosity and a long-term perspective.”
Barf. No quality is more overrated than "passion." It's not enough to like or only tolerate whatever it is you're doing. You have to LOOOOVE it with all your heart, like you're on a mission from God. This is an unrealistic standard, and if you make it your expectation, odds are (literally) that you will be disappointed. But, worse than that, it's not even a particularly good or virtuous quality to have. You're lucky if you love your work, but "passion" suggests an unhealthy monomaniacal obsession and self-absorption. In young people, it suggests naivety or excessive confidence. Nothing is more ridiculous than young people acting like they know everything!
Listening to the Brahms now, very beautiful!
Regarding football, I have a friend who is a UM alum, while I went to UI-UC. On attending a game together between the two, I asked her if she thought it was better to be a Michigan fan, with perennial expectations of competing for a national championship (this was years ago), only to have your hopes dashed every year, or an Illini fan, whose rare success would come as a pleasant surprise. Never got a clear answer.
Based on the recent conversation around student loan forgiveness, and Heather Cherone's comments on Mincing Rascals last week, it seems like an economic discussion is necessary for many of the college bound. Since 18-year-olds are adults, it would be useful for them to understand this adult decision. Is the degree that they are pursuing worth the investment? Will post-grad income provide an adequate return on investment? If not, can they afford the cost of indulging their interest? Is the chosen institution the best value? If parents are footing the bill, then is the student giving them value for the money? And, if they fail, can they afford the cost of failure? I was shocked by the comments on MR that many just assumed it was worthwhile or hadn't given the cost any thought at all.
As a corporation, by definition an illicit manipulator of politics and policy, shouldn't the employees of Google be demanding that the corporation make no political contributions and engage in no lobbying? Or alternately, should the management of Google assume that the 650 signatories speak for all 105,000 Google employees? In any case, I doubt that Google management is planning any plebiscites on corporate spending.
Here’s the song I would have played. You have to listen through to the choruses. I saw Michael McDermott at Jeff Fest in Jefferson Park in the mid teens.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cmz_R-jkeU
I saw what you did there - citing "another Trib columnist" prognosticating the eventual downfall of American Football. A sly devil, you are.
Alaska electing Mary Peltola (a very conservative Democrat) in a ranked voting election is an excellent example of how well this works. She got the most #2 votes from a traditional Republican candidate which allowed her to beat Palin (and all others). This was a special election, but I expect that she will do just as well in the November election, unless Palin and her ilk drop out.
I am also excited about football but primarily because of playing fantasy football. The Bears are not expected to do well this year but I get to draft a bunch of great players and will enjoy watching them play, especially if they are getting lots of yards and touchdowns.
Not to be overly picky but I think the David Cassidy tweet is in poor taste. David died five years ago after years of struggling with alcohol and he left behind 3 former wives. Maybe if the sentiment was about men in general I could see the humor but it's too personal toward one late teen idol for me.
Google employees petitioning their executives. Where does this go? Is this a story because it’s Google or will other companies go through same issues? I suppose anyone can “make a demand for change” but what if an equal number of employees support their choices. Does the company even acknowledge either side.
I am opposed to morons and opportunists in any public office. But I agree with Eric, about the effect of reducing mail and drop box voting. I think that it will have similar effects on all voters and particularly in rural states it is likely to reduce GOP turnout. Also, if elected, any candidate that claims there is something wrong with the current election system has one election to get it right because after that, any problems are their fault.
Correlation does not prove causation:
It seems to me like all that has been proven in this article is speculation by a very small correlation and not that causation is demonstrated to exist between Zoloft and depression-homicide. That being true, the claim that Zoloft caused Marilyn Lemak’s murders is unsubstantiated.
The topic of electric cars sent me back to look again at the source of electricity in Illinois and the media/political yak about the transition from fossil fuels. In Illinois there are 44.25 GW of generation capacity - 53.3% Nuclear, 35.4% coal/gas, 11.3% wind/solar/hydro/biomas. To support complete replacement of all cars with electric will double the total current demand. So, we need at least 59.9 GW of new non-fossil fuel generation to replace the current fossil capacity and provide for the cars. This can be accomplished with 8 new nuclear plants of similar size to the existing nuclear plants or with 33,000 wind turbines on 3 million acres of land, similar to existing wind farms. We need to at least double total capacity again to replace home heating, appliances, and industrial uses. It seems obvious to me that we need to get going building new nuclear plants.