When the objective historians go write down the legacy of this President, they are not going to talk about health reform (even if the ACA failed, it does capture the fact, and I think it is a fact, that reform is needed – I happen to think it lies in the deregulatory side coupled with […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Extended Order, Fun Facts on Oct 9th, 2013
Today, the UN estimates that China produces about 18.9% of all global manufacturing output. Ignore whether this number has any meaning at all. Consider that in the mid-19th century, economic historians estimate that over 50% of all of the world’s goods were manufactured in England.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Fun Facts on Oct 5th, 2013
Readers are welcome to correct me – but isn’t it the case that when the “shutdown” is over that those workers who were “furloughed” will actually be receiving back-pay? That’s not exactly what a furlough is. When my brother-in-law is furloughed from his job (he works in an alternator factory) he doesn’t get back pay, […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Fun Facts, Inequality on Jun 28th, 2013
Our university President earns well over 35 times the salary of the cleaning staff in my building. And that ignores benefits and other perqs that are not part of compensation (such as having control of the pulpit). We can’t stand for that kind of inequality. Where has our sense of fairness and decency gone? And […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Fun Facts on Jun 24th, 2013
I was perusing back issues of Scientific American at the library today and came across two interesting facts. Of course I cannot verify. (1) There is almost twice as much unused cropland in South American (over 400 mega hectares) than there is cultivated cropland in North America (2) There are 75 million hectares of unused cropland in […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Fun Facts on Jun 16th, 2013
There are only two man-made structures clearly visible from outer-space. 1. The Great Wall of China 2. Fresh Kills Landfill – the world’s largest landfill. Of course, the Fresh Kills fill is now closed and is slated to become a park and recreation area in the middle of New York City – and will be three […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Fun Facts on Jun 15th, 2013
All of the air we breathe, water we drink, food we are nourished with and earth we stand on is really just a complex chemical soup or gruel or what have you. Every last bit of it.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Fun Facts on Jun 7th, 2013
Among my “favorite” aspects of reading “E”nvironmental books is the usage, oftentimes with authority, of myriad facts completely devoid of context, illustration or even in many cases sources or evidence. In the book on trash I am reading one of the many, many, many, many facts tossed around like a bludgeon is that in our […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Fun Facts, Politics on May 11th, 2013
Half of the $60 million that Governor Cuomo has pledged to support tourism to New York is coming from the Federal government’s Hurricane Sandy relief fund. These funds, not ironically, were never earmarked for relief, but actually just for this purpose. Another pet peeve – in a YNN interview with a director of the State’s […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Environment, Fun Facts on May 4th, 2013
Let’s take a look at pages 2-15 and 2-16 in the most recent edition of the, “Transportation Energy Data Book.” Let me ask, do you expect cars to be more or less fuel and energy efficient in the future? Take a look at what has happened to the fuel efficiency of buses and trains […]
Read Full Post »
