Campanastan

Infographic: How To Read LED Light Bulb Packages

Click on the image once, then again, to enlarge it.

From the good folks at BC Hydro. Here is the original.

 

“We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.” - Thomas Edison

Infographic: Silver Surfers and Geezer Geeks

The folks at Accredited Online Colleges sent this my way. Here is the original in case you're a geezer like me and cannot read this. You can also find more information at the original site.

 "Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young." - Theodore Roosevelt

Oreo Plate Tectonics! Next Up: Layer Cake Landslides

 Awesome stuff! Great way to teach plate tectonics!

 "Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." - Richard Feynman 

All The Shades of Human Skin

So different but so similar.

From Tatyana Cheremnyh on LinkedIn.

“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Maslow 2.0: The Ultimate Human Need!

Maslow gets a makeover. From Doug Walker's xAnalytical blog.

"The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom." - Jon Stewart

Infographic: Pot Saps Your Energy. Nice Carbon Footprint, Too!

Silly me! I thought 420 was 20 April, which is Easter Sunday this year. Little did I know that 420 has significance for pot smokers.

Here is an infographic (click to enlarge, or go here) for all you enviro-dopers, from the folks at GOOD.

From the article:

Weed-loving treehuggers, take note. Cannabis production is increasingly moving indoors, into large-scale industrialized systems, and all those grow lights and air filters consume an extraordinary amount of energy. In all, marijuana grown indoors is responsible for a whopping 1 percent of the entire nation's electricity demand. That's enough juice to power 2 million homes. For 4/20, a date we hear has meaning for marijuana enthusiasts, we take a look at the power it takes to grow all that pot. Sorry to harsh your mellow, but that's a big carbon footprint.

Enjoy!

"At 4:20 p.m. on April 20 millions of pot smokers around the world will observe 420, otherwise known as Weed Day, to mark the marijuana movement." - Unknown

Home, Home on Deranged

From The Week by John Cole.

From Cole's blog:

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s long-running feud with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management came to a head last week after BLM agents squared off against Bundy and an armed gaggle of self-identifying “patriot” militia-types. After decades of argument and lost court cases, Bundy still refuses to acknowledge the federal government’s claim to vast tracts of Western lands and pay the grazing fees for his cattle. More detail can be found here.

The feds were correct in standing down last week. The situation was spiraling out of hand and the risk of bloodshed was real. Any show of significant force likely would do nothing more than turn Bundy and his supporting militia into martyrs of the far right, which already has concocted a witch’s brew of conspiracy theories for the standoff involving Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, his sons, a Chinese solar company, the BLM and perhaps even the Trilateral Commission.

"Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large
groups." -- John Kenneth Galbraith

USA Living Wage Calculator

From the folks at Accounting School Guide. Here is the original site where you can get a much larger view. It takes a while to load here.

Overview

Is it possible to work 60 hour weeks and still be unable to cover basic expenses? Making minimum wage as a parent of one, you will need to work closer to 70 hours in all fifty states (plus the District of Columbia) just to make ends meet. If I told you that $25.00 an hour full time in D.C. isn't enough for some demographics to make it, would you believe me? You should. Welcome to the age of the eroded middle class, and the decimated working class. Whether you're planning a move, or another child, seeing if a new wage is good, or just curious, check out the cost of living in America today, and see if you're making a living wage.

Using the Calculator

1. Adjust the slider at the bottom to match your wage.

2. On the left, select how many adults and children are in your household.

3. Select a state to see where you fall between a poverty wage and a living wage. 
- States that are brighter mean that you would earn closer to a living wage in that state. 
- States that are darker mean that you would earn closer to a poverty wage in that state. 
- The light blue triangle above the wage slider shows the minimum wage for that state. 
- The dark blue triangle below the wage slider shows the federal minimum wage. 
- The box above your wage listing shows how many hours a week you would have to work just to earn a living wage.

4. To see the nation divided into counties, click on “County View”. To see the nation divided into states, click on “State View”.

5. To zoom in on a particular state, first select the state then click on the plus sign that appears in the corner. 
- While zoomed in, you can click on individual counties to see their poverty/living wages. 
- To return to the national view, click anywhere outside of the state.

 

“A girl knows her limits, but a wise girl knows she has none.”  - Norma Jeane Mortenson (1926-1962)

Why Anal-Retentive People Should Be in Charge of Signage

Memo to Lakewood Springs Homeowners Association: put someone with anal retentive tendencies in charge of signage.

By the way, is 'anal retentive' hyphenated or not?

"Never think you've seen the last of anything." - Eudora Welty (quoted in The Boston Globe, via The Week)

Paulina Gretzky Graces Golf Digest. Why?

Three guesses.

Great piece by Philip Bump in TheWire.

Yes, the Cover of Golf Digest Is Tacky, Gross, and Exclusionary. But So Is Golf.

It's actually perfect that Golf Digest's cover image of sexy, non-golfer Paulina Gretzky has irritated people for being sexist and exclusionary. After all, nothing provides a better digest of golf than exclusion, annoyance, cultural damage, and self-absorption.

Gretzky is the fiancée of professional golfer Dustin Johnson and the daughter of professional hockey player Wayne Gretzky. Besides those relationships, she is perhaps best known for her Instagram account, which features a number of photos as demure as the Golf Digest cover. That she is the 12th woman ever to appear on the cover of the monthly magazine has frustrated female golfers, The New York Times reports. The No. 1 ranked female golfer in the world, Inbee Park, put it elegantly when she saw the Gretzky cover: "Who is that?" Juli Inkster, the last woman to grace the cover, agreed. "It’s like, What do you have to do to get a little respect? I’m guaranteeing you right now, it was not a woman editor who chose that cover."

This is all completely fair critique. But golf is so completely rotten and has such a terrible track record on every single issue of social change over the past century that uproar over the Gretzy cover is like fretting about a small sapling in the middle of the Black Forest. Ha ha — well, the White Forest, anyway.

Here is the thing: Golf is the worst sport, if it is a sport at all. Golf is worse than NASCAR, and I say that fully understanding the weight of those words. Golf is worse because it is more classist, more racist, and probably more environmentally harmful than car racing. And what's really remarkable about golf is how little legwork it takes to demonstrate each of those qualities.

Racism. In 2011, Complex magazine put together a handy compilation of the most racist moments in golf history, which is a bit like compiling the most racist bus drivers in 1955 Montgomery. In includes a number of the responses to Tiger Woods appearance on the national tour, like when golfer Sergio Garcia made a fried chicken joke and when golfer Fuzzy Zoeller made a fried chicken joke. And when the guy that founded the Augusta, Georgia country club, home of The Masters, said that "as long as I'm alive, golfers will be white, and caddies will be black."

When the Supreme Court barred segregated golf in 1955, private clubs simply didn't accept black members. On February 14 of this year, a club in Texas admitted its first black member. "We just want to show we’re equal," resident Evelyn Walling told the local CBS affiliate. Too late! This club is not alone, though; the news over the past decade is peppered with similar firsts, black golf players being allowed to play golf in country clubs. By way of reminder, it is 2014.

Anti-semitism and homophobia. If its any consolation, private golf clubs were been similarly reticent to embrace gay players and Jewish players. Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles was created largely to accommodate Jewish players unwelcome anywhere else in the city.

Social class. While country clubs struggle with in terms of excluding people of different religions and races, they do not struggle at all with excluding members of lower social classes. They were created as social clubs for the middle- and upper-class, and that has not moved backward an inch. A 2010 paper by Hugo Ceron-Anaya of Washington College notes that golf clubs were specifically designed to foster the advancement of the upper middle-class.

It worked. The golf course is the place where business deals get done, where President Obama takes the Speaker of the House to discuss politics. It's intentionally exclusive, in a way that benefits deal-making. But it's exclusive, too, in that it ensures that those deals and conversations happen among peers. Last November, the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a sponsored essay telling women to take up golf as a way to become "a powerful player" — since women (and poor people and workers in the service sector) aren't part of this great culture.

What's more, the social status qualification of country clubs is the easiest to enforce: simply raise annual dues. Far easier than trying to guess if an applicant is as white as they say they are. A 2004 report summarized neatly: "The clubs have long histories of racial-ethnic homogeneity, but they now display some demographic diversity while preserving the economic and cultural homogeneity with which members are comfortable."

A golf course carved into the desert (AP)

Harm to the environment. Golf courses are beautiful, stretching over acres and acres of land that's heavily watered and regularly mowed with gasoline-powered mowers. The critical need to keep fairways immaculate means lots of weedkillers and insecticides. The extent to which those -cides leach into outside water sources was so heavily debated that the U.S. Golf Association itself put together a report meant to minimize such concerns. Even Golf Digest itself cast a suspicious eye at the environmental effects of golf courses in 2008. Some courses are moving toward more natural setups. Most aren't.

The Golf Digest cover is a mistake, a problem that should — and probably will — be addressed by editors, who will apologize for emphasizing sexiness over the sport. Then, if we are to continue down the slippery path of fairness, the PGA and USGA should shut their doors, and private clubs across the country should either become public or be converted into affordable housing. At that point, the damage done by golf will be nearly eradicated, and we will consider this incident resolved. 

"Anyone who watches golf on television would enjoy watching the grass grow on the greens." - Andy Rooney

Steven Seagal: Not Only a Great Actor, But Also a Musician to Match!

Who knew? Who cares?

He's 62 today. 

I hear he's about to release a version of Walk Away, Renée. Uh-huh.

Thanks to Alan McKay for enlightening me.  

“I am hoping that I can be known as a great writer and actor some day, rather than a sex symbol.” - Steven Seagal

Want Some Boneless Stuffed Butt Whole? Why 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' Should Be Read By All

A great example why Lynne Truss' wonderful little book should be read by all English-speakers - NOW!

“A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife annual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”
     -- Lynne Truss 

Leah Learns to Speak Italian - With Her Hands, How Else?

Some of you may consider this to be disparaging towards Italians but my paternal grandparents came from southern Italy (Naples) so it's okay for me to post this video. Besides, how else does an Italian make a point during speech?

Looks like two-year-old Leah is getting the hang of it with her great-grandmother's mentoring. 

 

"The sin which is half-hidden is half-forgiven.' - Sicilian proverb 

Infographic: Biological Attack - Are We Ready?

I don't think this infographic is an April Fools' Day joke but I could be mistaken. It is from an outfit called Security Degree Hub. 

To enlarge, click on the graphic once, then again.

Enjoy!

 "Most people would rather be certain they’re miserable than risk being happy." - Robert Anthony (thanks to Faruck Morcos)