Diaries

Open Thread - Friday, June, 26, 2015

Hello, I am off to one of my favorite places and will not be around to make smart ass comments. My Sweetie and I spent our first forty odd years around Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a wonderful mid-western city that far exceeds it's reputation. It was at the core of industrialization, then shed it's smoke stacks and revitalized as a university, medical and engineering center. Wish you were here.

Wednesday Open Thread - June 24, 2015

I have been a vagabond for the last two weeks, some of which were spent on a wonderful vacation up in the land of our own dk, Michigan. To get there from North Carolina, we drove to Florida and then I went to my mother's in the central part of the state. We flew out of Tampa, which still has to be one of the most customer friendly airports in the US.

Bicycles to the Rescue! Maybe.

The bicycle is a grand old piece of technology and is reputedly an extremely efficient method of transportation. It can provide pleasure or be used in a purely utilitarian fashion. As a one time bike commuter I can attest to the fact that utilitarian usage can at times also be pleasurable.

An increase in bicycle usage as a substitute for automobile and possibly even bus transport will bring many benefits. We can start with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum dependency. There is the reduced health care costs generated by the increase in the health of the portion of the population riding. There will be a reduction in contaminated runoff from roads. Road maintenance costs should decrease. Electric bikes, bicycles with am electrical assist can reduce travel times and increase range, make difficult rides easier and facilitate cycling by the less fit among us.

Krugman and Greece's Moment of Truth

There's a lot of economic rubbish being printed about the Greek Crisis, most of it coming from the creditors and bankers. The story they are selling is that Greeks are lazy and they won't reform their economy, so they have no one to blame but themselves.
They think that you are too lazy to find the actual facts before the clock runs out on June 30th. By reading this essay you will prove them wrong.

Open Thread Sunday 06-21-15

Good Morning 99percenters!
Morning news dump and music for Father's Day.

Where does one go to find some uplifting news, is there any?

The Dangers of Religious Primitivism
By stirring up the Middle East – from Western exploitation of oil to Zionist expulsion of Palestinians – Christians and Jews set in motion today’s “clash of civilizations” with Islam and launched all three religions on a path toward dangerous primitivism, a threat to humanity’s future, writes Lawrence Davidson.

Pages