Wednesday, January 22, 2014
CONTACT ME AT: manessmorrison2@yahoo.com


News Clips For The Day





China's unwelcome export to the US: air pollution – NBC
John Schoen CNBC


Pedestrians wearing masks are a common sight in China's cities, as here in Shanghai.
The U.S. may have sent jobs making cellphones and big-screen TVs to Chinese factories, but the pollution from those factories is coming back onshore. 
China's famously foul urban air is blowing across the Pacific Ocean — much of it derived from factories that make popular consumer goods sold in the U.S. and Europe, according to a new paper by a group of researchers at the University of California at Irvine and other scientists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"When you buy a product at Walmart, it has to be manufactured somewhere," said co-author Steven Davis, an earth systems scientist at Irvine, in a press release. "The product doesn't contain the pollution, but creating it caused the pollution."
Air pollution is a major problem confronting China's leaders, who are coping with social, economic and environmental strains resulting from decades of rapid industrialization. A former Chinese health minister recently said that air pollution kills 500,000 people in China every year.

Read more: Why investors should watch out for Japan-China tensions
Most air pollution in the U.S. is produced locally by cars, trucks, refineries and other sources. But powerful global westerly winds can move airborne chemicals across the Pacific in days, according to the researchers.

The incoming dust, ozone and carbon is especially strong in the spring, causing dangerous spikes in contaminants that can accumulate in valleys and basins in California and other Western states, the study said. In Los Angeles, for example, the nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide from Chinese factories pushes smog levels above U.S. federal ozone limits at least one extra day a year.

The researchers said their study is the first to quantify how much of the pollution is tied to the production in China of cellphones, televisions and other consumer items exported to the U.S. and the rest of the world. 

Read more: JPMorgan drops another China IPO amid 'princeling' probe: Sources
The scientists note that while Chinese pollution exports have degraded air quality in Western states, the offshoring of U.S. manufacturing has improved air quality in the eastern half of the country.



It's a small world. People who doubt the validity of environmental concerns should be convinced by this. When I was in high school and college the US was the focus of our worries. Industrial cities were heavily polluted. In a history of Jacksonville, FL on public television it was stated that in 1949 the air pollution was so severe that it was melting women's nylon hosiery.

The air quality today is much better, though we still have manufacturing here, including two paper mills. The problem isn't just having the industrialization, it is the control of emissions, which of course costs the industrialists a certain amount of money, but their profits are usually high enough to pay that cost, I believe. We need to change the tax laws that reward businesses for shipping their jobs overseas, and instead reward those that manufacture here in the US while installing equipment to reduce the pollution they cause.

The Republican party tends to say that manufacturers can't afford to pay those costs, and the mainly Republican manufacturers have “off-shored” a great deal of their operations. Unions had been diminished in power by the seventies and therefore didn't effectively confront the resultant loss of jobs in the US.

This is one reason we don't have enough jobs for our population now, which is bigger than in the 1940s. Mechanization replacing human hands, of course, is another reason. This particular clock can't be turned backward. Technology always marches forward. Well-paid manufacturing jobs are largely gone. Those people were considered “Middle Class” in that they could afford to buy a modest house and keep a car. This is one reason our Middle Class is shrinking – all too many of the jobs are gone.

The only good news from this shift in industrialization is that our pollution in the US is much improved from my younger days. Now if we could only stop those westerly winds from carrying pollution across the Pacific we would be doing okay. If I am in the mood to worry I can always find causes for it. That's one reason why I like to read the news – I want to find out whether or not we are in a crisis and what is being done about it.





Feds pull Google Glass user from theater for suspected piracy
Devin Coldewey NBC News


A Google Glass user in Ohio has run into an unexpected consequence of wearing a camera on your face at all times: Movie theaters might suspect you of piracy. Homeland Security agents pulled the man from the movie and interviewed him aggressively, though no charges ended up being filed. But is it really a surprise?
The Glass user, who has not given his name, contacted tech blog The Gadgeteer with his story over the weekend, but it wasn't until Tuesday that the full tale was revealed.

He and his wife had bought tickets to see "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" at a mall theater on Jan. 18, and he wore his Google Glass set — with prescription lenses. About an hour into the film, they were approached by someone claiming to be a federal agent. As the user phrased it:


A guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says "follow me outside immediately". It was quite embarrassing and outside of the theater there were about 5-10 cops and mall cops.
He goes on to say that the agent told him he had "been caught illegally taping the movie," then ushered him and his wife into separate rooms in the mall's administrative area. Although the ensuing interview was described as "voluntary," it was suggested that not cooperating could result in "bad things" happening.

Federal agents questioned the man about whom he reported to, how much money he made and other things relating to the alleged piracy. But when they finally brought in a laptop and cable to check the contents of the man's Glass and phone, they found nothing incriminating and turned him loose.

Early reports suggested it was the FBI that had pulled him aside, but the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (part of DHS) issued a statement Tuesday at least partially clearing things up. Here it is in full:
On Jan. 18, special agents with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and local authorities briefly interviewed a man suspected of using an electronic recording device to record a film at an AMC theater in Columbus. The man, who voluntarily answered questions, confirmed to authorities that the suspected recording device was also a pair of prescription eye glasses in which the recording function had been inactive. No further action was taken.

An ICE representative confirmed on the phone to NBC News that the man was not detained, and would have been free to go should he have chosen to do so. 
NBC News asked how often these "voluntary interviews" take place and how long they usually last. The ICE representative said he would look into that question. We will update this article with any further information provided by ICE.

The familiar "FBI warning" of the 80s and 90s now includes Homeland Security Investigations; copyright-related crimes like movie piracy now fall under the jurisdiction of the DHS.

AMC Theaters too offered a statement about the incident:
While we're huge fans of technology and innovation, wearing a device that has the capability to record video is not appropriate at the movie theatre. At AMC Easton 30 last weekend, a guest was questioned for possible movie theft after he was identified wearing a recording device during a film. The presence of this recording device prompted an investigation by the MPAA, which was on site. The MPAA then contacted Homeland Security, which oversees movie theft.

Why and how the Motion Picture Association of America would be "on site" at an ordinary movie theater at 10 PM is not clear, and AMC has not responded to requests for clarification.

It is, of course, illegal to shoot videos of movies in theaters, and one might think it would be common sense not to bring a wearable camera into one. But involving a dozen police and DHS agents also seems over the top for what was just a misunderstanding of how this particular gadget works. Both parties should probably be more aware of the limits and risks of wearable tech



Let the buyer beware – the use of Google Glass could be a crime. It looks like AMC was the real aggressor in this incident, though I don't really blame them given the problem with the piracy of movies, except maybe for calling in federal agents over the matter and roughly interrogating the man and his wife. As AMC says in its statement, however, “wearing a device that has the capability to record video is not appropriate at the movie theatre.”






Matt Damon urges help from world's rich on water crisis – NBC
Jeff Cox CNBC.com


Matt Damon speaks during the Crystal award ceremony at the eve of the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Matt Damon is both a hot Hollywood actor and a water wonk.
The man who brought Jason Bourne to life spends considerable time these days preaching the virtues and value of getting drinking supplies as well as "the dignity of a toilet" to the world's needy.

Affable by appearance and as soft-spoken in person as he is on screen, Damon gets stone-cold serious when he talks about the issue. "Having traveled in the Third World quite a bit, I started to get a real appreciation for the magnitude of the water crisis, and it just shocked me," Damon said during a media reception at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Every 20 seconds a kid dies because they lack access to clean water and sanitation."

Damon has brought an extra element of star power to a conference that for 44 years has gathered top thinkers, policymakers and, on occasion, a celebrity or two to devise solutions to the world's problems.

He spoke to reporters used to seeing bold-faced names in these parts—"this is the calmest room I've ever been in," he quipped—who nonetheless were deferential and even joked with him about whether he would show off some of his "Bourne" moves on the famed slopes of the Alps. (Nursing a broken collarbone and leaving a wife and four children back home, Damon said skiing wasn't in his plans.)
For the most part, though, the tone was serious.

Rather than make simple pleas to throw cash at something in hopes that it will go away, Damon is willing to speak the language of Davos.
That brought the fairly informal chat around to the concept of "water credits"—essentially a form of microfinance or peer-to-peer lending that provides money to the water-deprived so they can fix their problems and move on to healthier lives.
Actor Matt Damon, and Gary White, Water.org co-founder, discuss why they are talking to world leaders about the importance of providing safe drinking water for over 780 million people on the planet.

"As I started to study the issue and realized how complex it is, I realized that charity alone—digging wells—we're never going to dig our way out of this," Damon



Many Hollywood actors are intelligent and creative thinkers, and are able to use their fame and wealth to promote issues. Damon has a clean and sober reputation in his personal life, and makes a good representative for this issue. I wish this article would give more details about the water problems and what is being done to solve them. Damon should write a book about it.






Bill Gates predicts 'almost no poor countries' by 2035 – NBC
Matt Clinch CNBC.com


"Poor countries are not doomed to stay poor," Bill Gates says in his annual newsletter for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

As snowy Davos becomes engulfed in the hustle and bustle of another World Economic Forum, Microsoft founder Bill Gates took the opportunity to deliver an upbeat message in his annual newsletter.

The 25-page report, written by Gates and his wife Melinda, who are co-chairs of theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, argued that the world is a better place than it has even been before.

Gates predicted that by 2035, there would be almost no poor countries left in the world, using today's World Bank classification of low-income countries — even after adjusting for inflation.

"Poor countries are not doomed to stay poor. Some of the so-called developing nations have already developed," he said in a his annual note, published on Tuesday.
"I am optimistic enough about this that I am willing to make a prediction. By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world."

Read More: In Davos, stern challenge for the rich
Gates — who remains a part-time chairman of Microsoft — added that by this point in time, almost all countries will be "lower-middle income" or richer.
Countries will learn from their most productive neighbors and benefit from innovations like new vaccines, better seeds, and the digital revolution, he said.
"By almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Extreme poverty rates have been cut in half in the past 25 years. Child mortality is plunging. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient," he said.

Three big myths
Back for another year at Davos, Gates will take the stage on Friday to address myths about global development, and will challenge its most vocal critics.
The three biggest myths, according to Gates, are that poor countries are doomed to stay poor, that foreign aid is a big waste and that saving lives leads to overpopulation.

Using data from academics, the World Bank and the United Nations, he makes the opposite case — arguing that the world is getting better.
"I understand why people might hold these negative views. This is what they see in the news. Bad news happens in dramatic events that are easy for reporters to cover," he said.

"Countries are getting richer, but it's hard to capture that on video. Health is improving, but there's no press conference for children who did not die of malaria."

Declining poverty rates
According to the World Bank's preliminary estimates, the extreme poverty rate was halved between 1990 and 2010. This meant that 21 percent of people in the developing world lived on or below $1.25 a day, down from 43 percent in 1990 and 52 percent in 1981.

The World Bank last year set a goal of decreasing the global extreme poverty rate to no more than 3 percent by 2030.

Bill Gates is no stranger to the World Economic Forum. At last year's event, he outlined his concerns that austerity measures could hit public funding for deadly diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

"The money that helps out the poorest overwhelmingly comes from government aid budgets", Gates told CNBC at last year's Davos, adding that it was unclear what kind of priority aid will have in future budgets.




I just looked on the Internet to check, and found that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are both Democrats. Both have shown much interest in public issues. The following is from Wikipedia, “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF or the Gates Foundation) is the largest private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family."[4] The primary aims of the foundation are, globally, to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and in America, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology. The foundation, based in Seattle, Washington, is controlled by its three trustees: Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.” Clearly, not all rich people are bad guys.






Leopard teeth, calf bones found in ruins near pyramids – NBC
Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor LiveScience


TORONTO — The remains of a mansion that likely held high-ranking officials some 4,500 years ago have been discovered near Egypt's Giza Pyramids. Bones from young cattle and teeth from leopards suggest its residents ate and dressed like royalty.
Researchers discovered the remains of a large house with at least 21 rooms near the Giza pyramids and a nearby mound containing leopard teeth, the hind limbs of cattle, and seals with the titles of high-ranking officials. (This image was taken before excavation of the house was complete.)

Archaeologists excavating a city just 400 meters (1,312 feet) south of the Sphinx uncovered the house and nearby mound containing the hind limbs of young cattle, the seals of high-ranking officials, which were inscribed with titles like "the scribe of the royal box" and "the scribe of the royal school," and leopard teeth (but no leopard).

The house, containing at least 21 rooms, is part of a city that dates mainly to the time when the pyramid of Menkaure (the last of the Giza Pyramids) was being built. [See Photos of the Discoveries at Giza Pyramids]

"The other thing that is just amazing is almost all the cattle are under 10 months of age … they are eating veal," said Richard Redding, the chief research officer of Ancient Egypt Research Associates, at a recent symposium held here by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.

From his sample of 100,000 bones from the nearby mound, Redding said he couldn't find a cow bone that was older than 18 months and found few examples of sheep and goat bones.

"We have very, very, high status individuals," said Redding, also a research scientist at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan.

Leopard teeth
Besides cattle bones the archaeologists found two leopard teeth in the house and another two in the nearby mound. They, however, found no leopard bones, leaving them with a puzzle.

Redding consulted ancient drawings that date to the Old Kingdom (the age when pyramid building was at its height), between 2649 and 2150 B.C. He found that some high-ranking individuals, including members of the royal family, wore leopard skin that still had the head attached. This would explain why they found teeth — which could've fallen out of the head while the wearer was passing by — but no leopard bones.
High-ranking clergy known as "sem" priests were allowed to wear these leopard skins, and they could be members of the royal house, noted Mark Lehner, the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates, in an email to LiveScience.

Redding was also puzzled that many cattle hind bones, yet few forelimbs, were found. For some reason the people of the house avoided eating the forelimbs of the cattle. Again Redding turned to ancient drawings. There, he found numerous examples of scenes where people presented forelimbs as offerings to deities, but almost no examples of hind limbs being offered. As such, the people of this house were likely eating the remains of offerings.

Clues to a priestly complex
This discovery may help the archaeologists identify offering places and dwellings of ancient priests. Since the elite house is full of hind limbs (the remains of offerings), Redding suspects that bone deposits that contain mainly forelimbs would be located in places where the offerings were being made. [Photos: The Lost City of the Pyramid Builders]

In 2011 Redding and his colleagues discovered what might be just such a place. Archaeologists call it the "silo building complex," and it is located near a monument dedicated to Queen Khentkawes, possibly a daughter of the pharaoh Menkaure. 
"My analysis of the bones from the small excavations at (the building complex) in 2012, showed a strong bias towards forelimb elements — as to be expected in priestly garbage," Redding wrote in an email to LiveScience. "We will get larger samples this February, but right now my operating hypothesis is that the (complex) was occupied by royal cult priests."

Located near a basin that may be part of a larger harbor, this building complex "is flanked by long bakeries and contains a set of grain silos," Lehner said in his email. It "probably administered provisions and produced bread and other offerings."
The complex dates to a bit after the Giza Pyramids were built and may have been constructed at the site of an earlier town where people involved in the building of the Pyramid of Khafre (the second largest pyramid at Giza) lived.




Life in Egypt some 4,500 years ago was far from primitive, it seems. A 21 room dwelling shows great wealth and the ability to build such large structures is a sign of technical knowledge. It is interesting that scribes were of such high status. Apparently few people could read and write. It may have been that learning to read and being a scribe was linked to the government – the Egyptian version of being a civil servant – and maybe also occurred among other wealthy people. I wonder what kind of income the stone masons who built the pyramids made. Did the money “trickle down” to the underclasses effectively? Were the lower classes hideously poor, as in some modern day societies, or were they able to sustain a living by doing various trades? It would be interesting to do some reading about technological advancement and society in ancient Egypt, one of the early centers of civilization, and linked to our Western traditions by the Bible.




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Watch: Canadian PM Belts Out 'Hey Jude' During Visit To Israel – NPR
by Eyder Peralta
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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper looks at pictures of Jewish Holocaust victims at the Hall of Names while visiting the Yad Vashem on Tuesday.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his first visit to Israel this week. His staunch support of the country has garnered much attention, but today, what's making news is a video of Harper serenading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a rendition of the Beatles Hey Jude on Tuesday night.
The video was posted on Netanyahu's YouTube page.
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The Globe and Mail reports that Harper has been practicing:
"Mr. Harper had performed the same song last month at a Toronto fundraiser, the Jewish National Fund's 2013 Negev Dinner, right after he announced the trip to Israel.
"The Canadian prime minister occasionally sings Beatles tunes in public, ever since he appeared on stage with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at a black-tie gala at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 2009."

If you're interested in the politics of Harper's visit, The Economist has an excellent overview. The gist:
"The Conservative prime minister has abandoned Canada's more nuanced policy towards the region under which it supported Israel but did not openly denigrate its neighbors as 'a region of darkness', as Mr Harper did in a speech late last year. His open skepticism about US-led negotiations with Iran over nuclear development hews more to the line taken by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, than to that of Canada's American and European allies.

"There are about 329,000 Jews in Canada, compared with just over 1m Muslims, so the electoral advantages of such a pro-Israel stance are not obvious. The economic advantages are also slight. Although Canada has had a free-trade agreement with Israel since 1997, total bilateral trade of C$1.4 billion ($1.3 billion) is less than what Canada and the United States trade in a single day."



This story is a little embarrassing. Singing “Hey Jude” at a diplomatic function is not a very dignified thing to do. Netanyahu seemed to like it, though, since he published it on his You Tube. I suppose everybody has to lighten up a little bit now and then. I seem to remember President Obama singing on camera a few years ago, too. Googling that, I found nine entries of Obama singing. He does have a pleasant, if soft, voice. He also likes to live his life to the fullest, I think, and that gives him the right to sing if he wants to.