2011-03-27

politics of bike lanes

2.21: news.pol/bike lanes/zombie issue:
. this paper: why bike lanes and paths aren't the answer,
is hoping to demand equal rights for hpv's
Human-Powered Vehicles. we need to plan cities around hpv's;
(human-powered vehicles);
this is sad .
hpv's should be electric-assisted
and enclosed (velomobile)
so that the physically disabled
can use the same vehicles .
. safe, weatherproof, eco-friendly,
economical and healthy:
universally usable transportation .
the automotive x-prize winner has a good start;
that car is light eno for pedaling to be meaningful .
. it should also perfect suspension systems
so that we can forever be rid of flat tires .
why bike lanes and paths aren't the answer:
League of American Bicyclists:
. bike paths along roadways:
# economics:
It is difficult, if not impossible in most locations,
to design a safe [side path]-style
separated bicycle facility .
# accidents occur at intersections:
every driveway or side road is an intersection;
and side paths enormously complicate those intersections
in ways that impact safety...Bicycle Accidents: Biomedical, Engineering and Legal Aspects
ADULT BICYCLISTS in usa 1996
- CHARACTERISTICS AND RIDING EXPERIENCE
Facility Relative Danger Index
-- likelihood of experiencing a crash
On-street bike lanes (BL) 0.41
Signed bike route only (BR) 0.51
Major streets w/o bike facilities 0.66
Minor streets w/o bike facilities 0.94
Multiuse trail 1.39
Off-road/unpaved 4.49
Other (most often ‘sidewalk’) 16.34
what to tell your gov:
# eliminate on-street parking:
thereby freeing up two lanes of road width
making it easier for cars to share lanes with bikes
# more radials aka roundabouts .

2011-03-08

#care microwave power on with a bump sets fire

2.20: mis.gear/microwave/power on with a bump sets fire
. the microwave is suddenly on fire?
I didn't even touch it!
what's burning inside it?
it must be something that includes
both metal and fuel .
first unplug, then it keeps burning?
keep the door closed
and it will smother or at least keep smoke in .
. mov it out in the garage .
...
in fact, I had touced it:
how does it turn on?
simply elbowing the duration knob
to non-zero
-- I had bumped it without noticing .
I had stored a toxic unfermented
soy soup mix in there,
waiting to offer it to the next microwave user;
and, that packaging was freshness sealed
with both burnable plastic
and microwave-bombing aluminum foil !
Sony Mdrnc22/Blk Noise Canceling Headphone (Black)worst case:
. I could have bumped that while deaf
as when wearing loud earbuds,
then gone to bed,
to get smoked during sleep .
keep it unplugged,
and leave the burning plastic
in garage as reminder .

2011-03-07

#green #ethanol coffee vending with less wait

2.19: gear/coffee vending drive thru':
Starbucks Africa Kitamu Coffee, Ground, 12-Ounce Bags (Pack of 3). is there a portable coffee machine?
for something that's so easy
to micro-localize
why are people spending gas in
long drive thru's
-- as the way to start every day,
all of them at the same time ?
. perhaps some use coffee only for the job,
or see that minimizing ownership
has the same advantages as leasing cars
or going to cloud computing .

. some drive-thru's feature fresh roast?
that would not be so easy to match .
do these drive-thru's use gas heat?
that would be much cheaper than
the user's electric appliance .

. less gasoline use would reduce cancer rates;
so, perhaps the best idea is proaction
not unlike the carbon tax [3.7: except that
oil users pay more than ethanol
(that information would be on your card).]
. we could give free loans to drive-thru's
for expanding the number of concurrent lanes;
people who have a debit card
get a cheaper rate than if they have need
more time for getting the correct change .
[3.7: (plus they can save
getting verified as ethanol users)]
token based:
. most of the transaction time is spent on
ordering and paying;
so, instead of expensively duplicating
the pickup station,
there are many automated vending stations
that give you a token with an order#,
then you give the pickup station .
. many vendors could share the same
token service;
it works like app's sharing a computer;
each vendor has their own icon on main menu;
that is leading to their own menu .
. searches could also find items;
instead of "(what do you have),
there's "(what is there like ...)? .

2011-03-03

the myth of unfair capitalism

2.12: pol/wealth gap/the myth of unfair capitalism

. I'm still hearing about the widening gulf of wealth disparities
as being an indicator of unfair compensation policy;
in fact it's a very precise indicator only of
the population being super-sized .
Karo Light Corn Syrup - 1 gallon. if you can make just 1 dollar per person
say, selling a unit of corn syrup
to billions of people,
then you can still be a billionaire
even though billions could afford
only corn syrup .
. the beauty of global trade at this time
-- when there are still developing nations --
is that labor costs for your pricey items
become dirt cheap,
and employees can easily give billions back
to a corn syrup tycoon
because underdeveloped equals overpopulated
(and ignorant eno' to sugar everything!).
Omaha Steaks 1 (7 lb.) Spiral Sliced Ham
sweetened ham
[see why that's unhealthy]

. if everyone did get fair salaries,
it would not stop wealth disparities;
instead, employees would be replaced with machines,
and in their unemployment,
they could still afford corn syrup .
. the savings ability of the billionaire
depends only on
automation replacing people
while still having billions of people to sell to.
Koolatron KWC-4 Coca-Cola Personal 6-Can Mini Fridge
corn.syrup inside

. with capitalism applied to reproduction,
parents would form a reproduction cartel:
slowing production to meet demand,
and would keep slowing it until
pervasive labor scarcity
causes a high min'wage .

capitalism is broken by religion:
. people have a god-given right to
control their own reproduction;
and some even have a god-given requirement
to not control it!

capitalism is broken by a lack of religion:
(a lack of socializing institutions):
. children are not just capital,
parents have them to both express personal pride,
and to repress fears of growing old alone
without the brave and energetic in their corner .

. the religious will plead for charity;
ie, redistribution of wealth done voluntarily;
liberals are accused of doing it involuntarily;
this would not be truly progressive .
. we should instead be advancing social security
in the form that churches once had:
they had a strong sense of community,
assisted by localization of the economy .

. well, localization just might be far off;
how can local ownership of children be possible
when people are moving around for jobs?
the gov' should strongly encourage everyone
(esp'ly those who are potential or current parents)
to spend most of their time in community centers
helping with the care of elders and children,
instead of working so hard to buy escape from others .

. the progressives need to point out
that while communes as practiced by churches
was held together by hateful bigots
it served some valuable functions we sorely need:
. hidden power differentials should not be
looming over all the women and children .
. everyone should be taking care of elders;
ie, instead of teen clubs and senior centers,
there can be communes for every lifestyle
-- including racists and other bigots --
but with always an intergenerational mix:
these communes would be the various houses of
who I am and will be .
[3.3:
. but that would bring you right back to now!
most elders and youth culture
mutually consider the other rude .
. well, that gets to science-based morals;
if there's nothing wrong with a behavior
why are you suppressing it? ... endless .
. anyway,
it's a nightmare to single-handedly
care for the senile or emotionally challenged;
and if we all were drafted to help the impaired,
we would start thinking about how our society
can do less impairing .]

. the only people who should be alone are students,
everyone else should be communed .
. that policy may be bucking American nature
since by the way it was populated
it may have acquired a genetic tendency to
take large risks for personal space .
. then again, you could look at
the same [suburban is normal] religion
and conclude instead,
that being the king of your own castle
is simply the easiest thing to do, and
not the thing our demons force us to do .

. never underestimate the power of the devil;
we never would have
struggled to get the science,
and advance the state of empowering tech
without ugly emotions disempowering us:
. there may be an irresistable supernatural force
causing overpopulation,
and an easy path to that could be
making people seem unappealing to each other;
"(. people just love peace ... in a toilet:
wouldn't you rather just start over
and make people in your own image?
he'll,...
welcome to the church of private parenting!
you are now happily on your own .)
. the traditional church did not allow this .

. the major religions have all had some
complementary ways of controlling population:
judaism:. only the educationally tested
are deemed eligible to be parents
(Bar and Bat Mitzvah):
"(sons and daughters of the commandment)
-- not children of the free spir't .
christianity:
. we don't need to out-reproduce the world,
we should convert what's here, and call them us .
islam:
. by allowing the man to have multiple wives,
we take the pressure off every woman to reproduce;
population growth is exactly proportional to
the number of active women .
buddhism:
. if overpopulation makes sense to you and your elders
then you might still find peace
by not expecting the universe to be pain-free :) .

[3.3: in sum:
. the wealth gap in modern times
is caused by a culture of over-reproduction;
and, aggravated by racism and democracy .
. the culture of right-sized reproduction
includes communal parenting and senior care .
. and,
watch those teens around the senior drugs
(yet another wealth gap!).]

2011-02-25

#usa #child #care gemini policy saves innocents

2.25: news.care/children/day care needs 2 adults:
. one benefit of modern life's specialization of duties
How Modernity Forgetsis that we can add safety features
that could be absent in practical self-employment
such as watching one's own children .
. one of the glaring problems of a
2-parent family
is that while one parent is off working,
that leaves only one other parent
watching children;
and, if anything happens to the watcher,
the children's safety could be in
immediate danger
(how often do unattended children
drown in pools or buckets in the usa?)
. having houses specializing in day care
The Secret Knowledge of Water: There Are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowningcould provide an economical dual watcher
where even if one is busy in the bathroom
the other could still be watching children .
. it may not be politically feasable to demand
that nuclear families always double up;
but, at least in the case of licensed day care
we could have a rule that
2 responders be present;
one adult, and the other at least able to complete
some first responder course .
. 24 Feb 2011:
3 children killed, 4 injured by smoke in day care:
. lone operator at Jackie's Child Care, Tata, 22,
had also lived at the 4-bedroom since April 2009
(2810 Crest Park Lane Dr, Houston, TX, Earth
-- near South Eldridge Parkway and Richmond ).
. the fire started in the kitchen
while she was in the bathroom,
though Tata and investigators have no idea how .
. Vera Thompkins, a pastor who has
known Jessica Rene Tata for many years,
said Tata's daily activities for the children include
Beginner's Bible, The not only feeding and crayons,
but also a Bible study;
the pastor also said "(I didn't have
a good feeling about that house
— I really didn't),
perhaps indicating a belief that
faulty wiring
might have been the fire starter .

. Texas regulations allow
no more than 6 preschoolers (under 18 months of age)
(12 children total) to be day-cared in any 24-hour period;
whereas 7 preschoolers were found there;
(ages 18 months to 3 years).
When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life. Tata, with memory fogged by panic,
wasn't sure of the current attendance;
and was worried there were 9 preschoolers
to be accounted for;
but, 2 of them hadn't shown up that day .
. the day care was licensed just last March;
inspectors had held things up for a week
because owners were unaware
that regulations required a fire extinguisher,
and a carbon monoxide detector .
First Alert CO615 Carbon Monoxide Plug-In Alarm with Battery Backup and Digital Display
. the Feb. 24 inspection records
show that both deficiencies were corrected;
though, inspectors visually verified only the fire extinguisher;
the same was not said
of the carbon monoxide detector
(the only 2nd watcher in this case).

. forced outside of the fire by smoke,
Tata was yelling frantically,
"My kids, my kids, pray for them!"
. perhaps the 2nd watcher in the sky
is urging us to get serious about some automation .
 (Luke 18:19)
Noah's Ark (Picture Yearling Book)

2011-02-23

usa's chocolate-boxed high-tech education

2.8: pol/edu/gump's chocolate-boxed:
news:
. even while college grad's cry about unemployment,
the high tech industry (this time biotech)
is again complaining they have shortages
of "(qualified) applicants .
pos:
doesn't it seem like a waste to have
everyone piling on spendy college attempts
Stress Wienerjust so these wieners can take the cream
and send the rest home to be dishwashers?

. much of what industry needs
just takes persistent parenting
(ie, with village backup)
rather than specialized schooling .
. if the kids started earlier,
they would have eno' of a background
that industry could easily train them .

. the way to rapidly evolve tech workers
is to support free high-level edu:
# do more with kids earlier:
much of the problem is just motivating kids .
. make motivation cheap:
use any welfare cases as teacher assistants .
. require people imprisoned for drug offenses
(the ones that can read)
to be manning online help centers for tutoring kids .
# free internet:
. put all the college textbooks online
in a place that grabs the attention of kids; [2.23:
this is already happening in wiki's;
now all we have to do is
replace most of the expensive teacher-time
with a free internet edu-portal workstation for every child .]
# volunteering:
. find other ways to allow people to
show how hard they can study
without paying for colleges .
. one can show off papers offered;
wiki contributions, blogs, etc .

[2.23: title: derived from [forrest gump].movie`qoute
"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get."
]

2011-02-20

fig-leafers and web 0.1

2.18: relig/fig-leafers/the web 0.1 of sociology:
. in the context of sociology or religion,
web 0.1 is the policy of information hiding:
anything that shouldn't be doable
shouldn't be mentionable (webbable) either;
. that strategy does have a valid psychological impact:
it is a constant reminder that some acts are so bad
you can't even think about them!
-- and it even has no side-affects,
if your dogs don't talk much anyway .

. it's meant to complement a traditional
representative form of gov':
one that lets elders do all the policy negotiations;
this is efficient because elders are
less tempted by the mere mention of unmentionables;
. it also enhances political security
by practicing the principle of least privilege:
ie, give subordinates only those powers that are
absolutely essential to doing their assigned function .

. web 0.1 is the real frontline
in the liberal vs conservative debate;
when they argue about biblical interpretation issues
(eg, creationism vs evolution):
it is about defending the fundamentalist's right to
practice the principle of least privilege .
[2.19:
. the term "(fig-leafer) is referring to the
Genesis story (3:7):
"( Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked.
So they sewed fig leaves together
to make themselves loincloths. )
. "(fig-leafing) has previously described the idea
that worshipping privacy rights
is the original sin that spawns all others;
ie, we could insure proper childcare by
insisting on non-private (communal) parenting;
but we'd lose all our church members!
instead we lose many children
to devils both secret and bold .
. as the Great Rabbi noted (Luke 18:16-17):
without spending our whole life guided
-- starting from early childhood --
we cannot enter the Kingdom of God at all!
. he then mentions that no men are good; (Luke 18:19)
so, why are we maximizing our trust of them?
because, privacy -- our fig leaf --
is the root of all evil .
(life's not all bad;
as some of the bible's prophets remind us,
the devil and god are really the same
(it just depends on
which end of the holy gun you're on!);
for instance, all the hurts that men cause
will only insure that men also devlope
the war technology that will secure our
eternal survival in this physical universe
-- where new stars are being born eternally:
all we have to do is travel to empty space,
and by the time we get there
we'll have a fresh solar system waiting for us!
then our robots can charge up,
and grow some living brains
on a computer's stimulation matrix
allowing us to live inside a
dream synthesizer .)

. web 0.1 can actually be seen as
a variation of fig-leafing;
because, both privacy rights and unmentionables
are relying on information hiding
in order to secure domains of authority;
and, coincidentally, they are both
instruments of a religious military machine
whose economics are too overwhelmed with
out-breeding the enemy
to properly fund a careful debriefing
of what's been going on here,
and why it has to keep going on that way .
. privacy and information supression
are both part of an authoritarian hierarching
that will minimize authority conflicts,
and maximize group cohesion .

. the term "(occult) (hidden) is used by fig-leafers
ironicaly, to identify those who reveal the hidden .
(we usually think of occults as doing evil secretly;
but they are given that name by secret-keepers
for devilishly not keeping things secret!)
. for instance, prayer is an acceptable way
to interact with the supernatural;
other ways are secret (forbidden and unmentionable),
and therefore the domain of "(occults).

. the practice of denying women education
has sometimes been seen as fig-leafing;
but I'm betting it's really a combination of
30% protecting girls from unwed pregnancy,
and 70% an exciting atmosphere of sexual slavery .
. as an aside,
it's often assumed that islamic polygamy
is really about sexually enslaving women;
in fact, polygamy was the idea of the Prophet's wife
seen as a way to get the crude masses
to care for widows
-- the many widows made by perpetual wars
(so you might say it's more about enslaving
militant christians).]