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Corporate America Is Doing Great

by FlorentDuckett Posted on May 24, 2017

Mother Jones

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If you’re wondering why the stock market is doing so well lately, here’s the answer:

Earnings at U.S. companies grew at the fastest pace in nearly six years in the first quarter, the latest boon to a bull market that has stretched into its ninth year.

With nearly all companies in the S&P 500 having reported results, aggregate earnings for the first quarter are on track to grow 13.6% from the year-earlier period….Beyond the jump in growth, many investors have been encouraged by signs that the quality of the results is improving. That contrasts with recent years, when investors worried that corporate share buybacks and ultralow interest rates were juicing stock gains in the absence of business improvement.

It’s not Trumpmania, it’s just old-fashioned earnings growth. More people are buying stuff and companies are making more money. It’s simple.

How long will this last? I don’t know any more than anyone else, but my guess is that the current expansion has another year to go. I’m starting to see signs of an economy that’s getting a little too exuberant, and I suspect that 2018 is going to be a mild recession year. Please note that this prediction is worth every cent you paid for it.

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Corporate America Is Doing Great

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Films to Quench Your 60’s Music Nostalgia

by HymanLeist Posted on December 12, 2016

Mother Jones

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The Beatles
Eight Days a Week—The Touring Years
Capitol/UMe

T.A.M.I. Show/The Big T.N.T. Show
Shout! Factory

Courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd./UMe

Nostalgic fans of a certain age who like to pontificate about how great music was in the ’60s can cite a couple of new home video releases to back up their argument. Directed by Ron Howard, documentary Eight Days a Week—The Touring Years offers a concise, 100-minute survey of the Fab Four’s career up to the point they stopped touring in 1966. Inevitably, it only skims the surface, but the music is (of course) terrific and the footage of the lads sending audiences into a hysterical frenzy captures the bizarre, sometimes frightening energy of the day. Extras on the two-disc edition include charming reminiscences by American fans and uncut performances of five songs that prove what a cooking live act they were. While The Beatles probably had to stop touring just to preserve their sanity, it’s hard not to conclude from this engaging film that a special spark left their music when they retired from the road, even as their artistic ambitions expanded exponentially.

T.A.M.I. Show/The Big T.N.T. Show pairs two mid-’60s concert films presenting rock and soul acts live on stage, each delivering a brief set in the style of multiple-artist package tours of the day. The previously available T.A.M.I. Show offers strong performances from the likes of Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, The Beach Boys, Lesley Gore and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, among others, as well as a few duds, but the centerpiece remains James Brown’s surreal, over-the-top display of genius. Writhing and shouting, yet always fully in control, the Godfather of Soul embodies performance art at its mind bending best, and makes the Rolling Stones, who follow him in the movie, seem like capable but callow little boys by comparison. (T.A.M.I. is “Teenage Awards Music International,” fyi, but there were no such awards.)

Long unavailable, The Big T.N.T. Show isn’t quite in the same league, but more than bears watching. Highlights include the sloppy and charming Lovin’ Spoonful, witty country songsmith Roger Miller and early rock’n’roll great Bo Diddley, laying down deep grooves (not to mention The Byrds, Ray Charles and The Ronettes). The weirdest moment occurs when folk queen Joan Baez fronts an orchestra for a faithful cover of The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” with Phil Spector, who produced the original, conducting the musicians. It’s as astounding in its own puzzling way as James Brown’s titanic “Please Please Please.” Those were the (strange) days.

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Films to Quench Your 60’s Music Nostalgia

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Stop trying to get Instagram likes by destroying natural wonders

by LarhondColorado Posted on April 29, 2016

Graffiti is seen scratched into a sandstone wall in Utah’s Arches National Park. REUTERS/National Park Service/Handout

Stop trying to get Instagram likes by destroying natural wonders

By on Apr 29, 2016Share

This is why we can’t have nice things, people.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that some assholes have carved their names into the rocks at Arches National Park. Graffiti is — surprise! — illegal in the park, punishable with up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. This, however, seems not to have deterred a recent “tidal wave” of vandalism, according to park superintendent Kate Cannon. Cannon suspects the recent surge in graffiti has something to do with social media. Yup: They do it for the likes.

As to who “Andersen 16” is, we’re hunting down some early leads: Ron Andersen, American bridge player, Carl-Albert Andersen, Norwegian pole vaulter, and the ghost of Hans Christian Andersen — because leaving your mark on literature isn’t enough; sometimes you need to leave it on some big rocks, too.

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Stop trying to get Instagram likes by destroying natural wonders

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NASA Facebook page manager has had enough with climate deniers

by ChristaU73 Posted on April 15, 2016

NASA Facebook page manager has had enough with climate deniers

By on 15 Apr 2016commentsShare

This story was originally published by Huffington Post and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

“We invite you to comment on our page, but we ask that you be courteous and cite credible sources when sharing information.”

That’s the disclaimer posted atop NASA’s Global Climate Change Facebook page. And judging from the normally staid government agency’s response to a handful of climate change deniers who ran amok this week under a post by media personality Bill Nye, they mean it.

Nye, known as “the Science Guy,” shared a story on NASA’s page Monday about a climate change denier who refused to accept $20,000 in bets that the planet will continue getting hotter. The post inspired readers to share a torrent of poorly substantiated — yet fiercely defended — theories in the comments section, ranging from outright climate change denial to vitriolic attacks on NASA itself.

After a couple days of the lunacy (as of Friday morning, the comments section was still growing), whoever manages NASA’s climate change Facebook page finally had enough and decided to set the record straight.

One reader, who referred to NASA as a group of “leftards,” but nevertheless claimed NASA has confirmed “that fossil fuels are actually cooling the planet’s temperature,” earned a clear rebuke: “Do not misrepresent NASA,” the agency responded. “Fossil fuels are not cooling the planet.”

That stone-cold retort appears to have since been deleted, but other similarly blunt replies remain:

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Most of NASA’s replies were informative, well-substantiated, and written with admirable restraint:

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NASA Facebook page manager has had enough with climate deniers

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Keystone leaks and reminds us why we’re glad there isn’t an XL pipeline out there

by Bob Dole Posted on April 5, 2016

Keystone leaks and reminds us why we’re glad there isn’t an XL pipeline out there

By on 4 Apr 2016commentsShare

A major section of the original Keystone pipeline is out of commission after an oil spill near the pipeline was detected in South Dakota on April 2.

The spill, estimated at 187 gallons of crude oil, serves as a reminder of the risks that pipelines pose — and that with the Obama administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, we’ve likely avoided the potential for an even bigger, more disastrous spill.

Part of the original argument against Keystone XL was that eventually, the proposed pipeline was bound to spill. A 2013 Forbes article (which claimed that it was “crazy” to think Keystone XL wouldn’t leak) pointed out that as pipelines age, they are often not properly maintained, leading to a greater possibility of a leak occurring.

The recent oil spill was discovered, of course, by TransCanada’s state-of-the-art spill detection technology — oh, what’s that? My state-of-the-art Tweet detecting system’s “Bill McKibben” sensor just went off:

Apparently, a South Dakota landowner first noticed signs of a spill and informed TransCanada of the leak. As a result, TransCanada shut down the section of the pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Cushing, Okla. (The section of Keystone that runs from Cushing to Texas is still in operation.)

Transcanada says that “no significant impact to the environment has been observed” from the April 2 spill. We hope it stays that way — and in the meantime, we’re glad that there’s one less huge pipeline out there to worry about. Spilled milk might not be worth crying over, but unspilled pipelines are definitely worth celebrating.

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Keystone leaks and reminds us why we’re glad there isn’t an XL pipeline out there

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Pigeons with tiny backpacks test the air in London

by Soon9014mxz Posted on March 15, 2016

Pigeons with tiny backpacks test the air in London

By on 14 Mar 2016commentsShare

Shielding your picnic lunch from London’s plentiful pigeon population is almost as much of a tourist tradition as taking a selfie with Big Ben. But one group of pigeons have a job quite different than stealing your sandwich: measuring the city’s air pollution.

Equipped with air quality sensors and GPS trackers in small, feather-light backpacks, six racing pigeons from the Pigeon Air Control project are flying around London to get on-the-ground (or in-the-air?) readings of nitrogen dioxide and other toxic compounds.

Today, the birds started tweeting. And no, that’s not the chirps of a long-awaited springtime you hear — it’s the pigeons’ Twitter account, which promises to provide air quality readings for Londoners who tweet at the handle @PigeonAir.

The three-day campaign from Pigeon Air Control, from March 14 to 16, is mainly a publicity stunt to draw attention to dirty air in London (aka “The Old Smoke”). In 2015, The Guardian reported that 9,500 Londoners die each year from long-term exposure to their city’s noxious cloud.

According the The Guardian, Pierre Duquesnoy, the pigeon project’s visionary, said “he was inspired by the use of pigeons in the first and second world wars to deliver information and save lives, but they were also a practical way of taking mobile air quality readings and beating London’s congested roads.”

It’s become surprisingly popular to strap equipment onto our feathered friends and send them out to gather data in the world’s major cities. First, there were garbage-detecting vultures in Lima — and now, this. What’s next? Strapping laser technology onto the world’s seagulls to measure sea-level rise?

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Pigeons with tiny backpacks test the air in London

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Ben Carson Says Islam Is Not a Religion But a "Life Organization System"

by JanisPolglaze Posted on January 29, 2016

Mother Jones

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Ben Carson has a homework assignment for Iowans the weekend before the presidential caucuses: read up on the history of Islam. And what message will they take away? He thinks that, after a bit of studying, “you won’t call it a religion, you’ll call it a life organization system,” one that has a “apocalyptic vision.”

During a speech at the University of Iowa, Carson said that the US needed to take ISIS more seriously. The first step? He implored the Iowans in the room to learn more about the origins of the religion, hinting that ISIS’ violence is an inevitable result of the founding of Islam. “What I would suggest is that everybody here—we’ve got a weekend coming up—take a few hours and read up on Islam,” Carson said. “Please do that. Read about Muhammad. Read about how he got his start in Mecca. Read about how he was seen by the people in Mecca—not very favorably, by the way. How his uncle, nevertheless, was an influential guy. Protected him. When his uncle died, he had to flee. He went north to Medina. That’s where he put together his armies, and they began to massacre anybody who didn’t believe the same way they did.”

I didn’t want to read too much into Carson’s description of Islam, so followed up with him after the event, asking what lessons exactly he wanted Iowans to draw from his reading assignment. “I think they don’t understand all the aspects of it, including Sharia, how that plays in,” he responded. “I don’t think most people actually understand what jihad is. They don’t understand the whole apocalyptic vision that they have. When you understand that, you understand what drives an organization like ISIS.”

Still a bit confused, I double checked to see if those lessons encapsulated the entire religion, or just ISIS. “It doesn’t encapsulate everything,” he replied. “It’s really not, once you read it, you won’t call it a religion, you’ll call it a life organization system.”

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Ben Carson Says Islam Is Not a Religion But a "Life Organization System"

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7 Ways to Keep Your Old Christmas Tree Out of the Trash

by RondaHindmarsh Posted on December 27, 2015

It’s such a waste to trash a Christmas tree after the holidays. It took about 10 or 15 years to grow that tree, and then it’s used for a couple of weeks and tossed out.

Instead, here are 7 ways to put your tree to good use so it doesn’t end up in a landfill.

1) Make potpourri or sachets out of the needles – Snip the needles off the branches and collect them in an 8 oz. jar with a tight-fitting lid. From time to time, transfer a couple of tablespoons of needles into a small decorative bowl, or a small cloth bag sachet that closes tightly with a drawstring. Put the bowl in a dresser or in your bathroom. Squeeze the needles, which will release the oil they contain and emit a nice piney aroma. Put the cloth bag in a dresser drawer or bathroom cabinet, where you can give it a squeeze every now and then to release the pine scent. When the needles dry out, replenish them from the fresh ones in the closed jar. Here are instructions on making the sachet.

2) Use the branches as mulch in your garden or landscape – Use garden shears or, for thicker branches, a small saw. Cut the tree branches one by one. Then, layer the branches under trees and bushes. They make an excellent mulch, and provide shelter for wildlife.

3) Create a bird sanctuary –ThisOldHouse.com recommends placing your tree in its stand outdoors. Fill bird feeders and hang them from the boughs. You can also drape the tree with a swag of pinecones coated with peanut butter.

4) Cut the trunk into pieces and use to edge your garden or for pathways – Cut the trunk into pieces 3 inches thick so they won’t decompose quickly in the elements. Place them flat if you’re creating a path out of them, and on their side if you’re using them as edging.

5) Slice the trunk into coasters – While you have your saw out, cut a section of the trunk into slices about a half inch thick. Leave the outer bark on the wood, but use sandpaper on both sides until they’re smooth. Glue felt to the bottom of the slice. Stain the top of the slice with a water-based stain. You can find the rest of the instructions on Instructables here.

6) Cut the trunk into differing heights to create stands for pots or an interesting winter sculpture – If you’re going to use the trunk as a pot stand, it needs to be made from the thickest part of the trunk, and the bottom needs to be completely flat so it is stable. The top also needs to be flat, so whatever you put on it won’t tip over. There are no rules when it comes to making a sculpture! One option is to make a sculpture out of differently sized pieces of wood. Another is to whittle away pieces of the trunk into a fun and visually interesting design. Do whatever makes you happy!

7) Use it to control erosion –FortCollinsNursery.com reports that many communities use old Christmas trees to shore up eroding beaches and to create windbreaks that help sand dunes rebuild.

If none of these options appeal to you, hopefully, your community will pick up the tree for chipping or composting.

What other ways do you use your old Christmas tree? Please share!

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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7 Ways to Keep Your Old Christmas Tree Out of the Trash

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Self-driving cars are good. Too good

by DrewKilfoyle Posted on October 9, 2015

Self-driving cars are good. Too good

By on 9 Oct 2015 3:37 pmcommentsShare

Guys, we’re so not ready for the future. The chrome-plated, fuel-efficient, robot-everything future we’ve been working toward? Trust me, we can’t handle it.

Exhibit A: Engineers at Google have been running road tests with a fleet of some 20 autonomous vehicles for six years, and in that time the robo-drivers have been involved in 11 “minor incidents.” I know what you’re thinking: “Not bad! I’d like to see the average human driver cover a million miles without getting into a scrape or 11.”

But with the sensory data of an omniscient god and reflexes that make the rest of us looks like drunk, mitten-handed babies, how did the autonomous fleet get in so much as a single fender bender?

Well, it comes back to said mitten-handed babies. Just because Google’s cars are extremely good at avoiding accidents doesn’t mean they can keep US from hitting THEM. In many of the 11 recorded incidents, a driverless car edging into an intersection or hesitating at a stop sign was rear-ended by an overeager human driver behind it.

That’s right. The robots are here, and they drive like my gran. Where a human driver, used to cruising alongside fellow jerks, might accelerate to cut into the flow of traffic, a driverless car will stop short to minimize risk. Smart? Maybe — but that doesn’t count for much if it’s too smart for the rest of us to catch on.

So we COULD all take a lesson from the robot cars and chill … or, we could program autonomous vehicles to be a little more like us. Which, in the Wall Street Journal, Google admits they’re already doing, by making their cars drive a bit more “humanistically.”

You hear that, future? Stay in your corner. Right now, we need driverless cars that can tailgate and ignore speed limits with the best of us — really, it’s for the greater good.

Source:

All the Accidents California’s Driverless Cars Got in by Being Too Good at Driving

, gizmodo.

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Self-driving cars are good. Too good

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Jeb Bush Just Helped This Dude Make the Worst Mistake of His Life

by MosesPolley Posted on August 11, 2015

Mother Jones

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A Pennsylvania man with a strong devotion to Jeb Bush and bizarre viral videos just got the Republican presidential candidate’s name tattooed on his neck.

Vic Berger’s new ink job is the result of an internet promise he made in July, pledging to go through with the tattoo no one asked for once a Vine he created attracted one million loops.

Upon learning of Berger’s tattoo goals, Bush actually took to Twitter to encourage followers to help turn this unfortunate stunt into an indelible reality.

Let’s just hope Berger’s tattoo is a lame temporary one.

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Jeb Bush Just Helped This Dude Make the Worst Mistake of His Life

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