Your computer probably has a few billion spare cycles that you could use to assist in scientific research. For instance, there is the Rosetta@Home project:
As part of the process of giving these folks some cycles you will also find out how to participate in many other research efforts.
Via Pharyngula.
senator maria cantwell in September 2005:
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is convinced that the oil companies have artificially increased prices and wants President Bush to have the power to cap gas prices if necessary. She likens the conditions to those that caused the Enron fraud of the electricity market in 2000 and 2001.
…
“My constituents are frustrated. Consumers want to know what we’re going to do about this. Consumers definitely want to know what’s going on.”
Cantwell intends to introduce legislation on Thursday that would give Bush power to investigate price gouging and, if necessary, cap price increases. She discussed her proposal Tuesday at a Senate hearing on the hurricane’s impact on rising energy prices.
From the Sacramento Union, January 17, 2007:
“We may adjust the prices as we discover the full extent of the damage next week, but for now, if you bought an orange at the supermarket for 50 cents, expect to pay a dollar to $1.49 for it,” said Todd Steel, owner of Royal Vista Marketing, which sells California citrus to markets throughout the country.
Ignoring for the moment the ill-conceived idea of giving bush the power to do anything, I wonder just how soon we will hear her complaining about price gouging by orange growers.
Hat tip: The Knowledge Problem
Kip calls senator lautenberg to task for calling for more subsidies for Amtrak:
How much more remedial can one make it: Amtrak loses money because people don’t use it. People don’t use it because people neither need nor want to use it. People are — gasp! — relying entirely on airplanes and roads.
……
So when Lautenberg says, “We cannot depend entirely on airplanes and roads,” what he really means is “I get a warm fuzzy feeling from the thought of having Amtrak, and that’s more important than any other use that you might have for your tax dollars.”
Amtrak, roads, planes (airports), public transit and shipping are all heavily subsidized at the federal, state and local levels. Non-Amtrak trains have been historically heavily subsidized.
I don’t pretend to know which mode(s) of transport would win out without tax subsidies but it is time to find out. Let’s eliminate all the tax subsidies and put the mechanisms in place to assure that the folks using a particular transportation service are paying the full cost per use.
It will take time but I suspect that we will see dramatically different answers rise up than we have seen with the centralized planning of the last 150 years.
An Amtrak like service may or may not be one of the answers.
An uplifting and totally fascinating example of human capability and potential.
It is not about the dolphin you see in the YouTube window rather it is about a 14 year blind boy who can, well, go see for yourself:
Via Catallarchy.
Sooner or later we will all have to deal with stuff like bad news and brain death. In the mean time, there is probably someone you know just a thought away from tears.
Be aware. Be kind!
Via Grand Rounds at six until me.