dock

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Good Friends

Together with good friends, some old and some new.

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Military Spending - Leading Nations

This is evocative.  Data from 2007. Would be interesting to see updated post-Great Recession data.

Thanks to Lindsey Bieda on Twitter: @lindseybieda, original: https://twitter.com/lindseybieda/status/312943374359478272

Long Life and Inequality

As healthy life extension becomes more prevalent, societal consequences are more visible.

Financial Planners have talked about longevity risk - where people outlive their retirement savings because life extension blew through the accounting parameters.  A new consequence is arising because healthy life extension is unevenly distributed, currently by income. Poorer people will pay into social security for benefits they may never receive because life extension is skewed towards the better off.  So, poorer people will pay to fund the retirements of the wealthy. The Economist explains: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/03/wealth-inequality?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/yourmoneyyourlife



photo tnx to: http://www.voxxi.com/life-expectancy-70-new-30/

passports by state

This is telling.  Don't need Nate Silver to spot some of the correlations in this data.

Thanks to: http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/how-many-americans-have-a-passport.html

via:

 http://exp.lore.com/post/44802179035/passport-ownership-in-america-by-state-lets

Sunol Regional Wilderness

Doesn't take long to get there from San Francisco, and some great walks, wildlife, and views. Recommended, not strenuous for day hikers for sure.

Welcome...

Little Yosemite

Path

What is Wealth Inequality in the United States?

Check the video on Mashable:  http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/

TLDR - more inequality than we imagine, or wish.

Maybe GMO seeds are not all that?

An article in Grist questions the actual improvements due to the use of GMO seeds. http://grist.org/article/gmo-fail-monsanto-foiled-by-feds-supreme-court-and-science/

But GMOs took the biggest punch this week from academia: Tom Philpott highlights a USDA-funded study [PDF] by University of Wisconsin scientists who found that several types of GMO seeds (including Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready varieties) actually produce a lower yield than conventional seeds. Only one seed — a corn that produces its own pesticide to combat the corn borer — offers any significant yield benefit. In other words, planting most genetically modified seeds results in less harvest per acre than planting non-genetically modified seeds.

Its worth following the links on this, the study seems credible.   Nothing is black and white, I expect there are cases where a GMO product may be beneficial to crop yields, particularly in the short-term, at least maybe.  But what is certain is that the large seed companies patenting these technologies, and using interlocking product strategies that Microsoft would be proud of, stand to make a lot of money. Corner the market on food production with a patent strategy, anyone? Queue the efforts to discredit the study.

So what is that thing on Mars?

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/msl/20130211/ventifacts

rickshaw bags

Walking around today in our neighborhood

Matt Won!

northern Minnesota visit

Grand Marais to be specific.  See the forecast below.  Wouldn't you know we arrive on the 1degree day....

foolin' around - Koalas To The Max

http://www.koalastothemax.com/