Round 'N Round

Merge Records: "Round 'N Round (video)"

I love Lou Barlow. I love his cover of Ratt's (infamous) "Round 'N Round" from his Emoh record. What I did not realize until today, was that there is a video for it. It's not too exciting or anything, but I think it captures Lou's intent and feeling well.

Rock on.

-Harry

Mistaken Cost of Nuclear Plant

The most common mistake in Cost-Benefit business models is not including all of the cost factors in the model. This mistake jumps off the page from President for Progress Energy Jeff Lyash's letter on the cost effectiveness of nuclear energy.

While nuclear energy has known cost effective benefits over fossil fuels, rarely do these cost-benefit analyses include factors such as the cost of protecting the plant from terrorist attacks (which they have refused to do), the cost of transporting the nuclear waste out safely on trucks and trains (also vulnerable to crashes and attacks), the cost of storing nuclear waste, and the cost to the environment for storing the waste, and the drain on state water resources.

Plus, in the event that there is an accident, the consequences should be weighted much higher for that potential cost. In nuclear power, the costs of human mistakes are much higher than for other types of fuel. Furthermore, until Progress Energy can assure fire regulators that their protocols are practiced and safe, the NRC may fine or block new projects, also escalating the costs for nuclear power. For these reasons, including possible terror attacks and nuclear waste’s toll on the environment, the cost of nuclear energy is much higher than business leaders think.

Levy's Fresh Air interview on Raunch Culture

I really found Ariel Levy’s take on the Rise of Raunch Culture to ring true. She says so eloquently what I, and perhaps many of us, have been thinking for a few years now. Click the link below to listen:

NPR : Women in the Girls Gone Wild Era http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6549015&sc=emaf

My thoughts are on why men behave badly is because women let them. If women respected themselves, men would be forced to rise to the task. The rate of out of wedlock births has skyrocketed to 37% last year. This bodes sadly for the feminization of poverty and the shrinking middle class.

It seems that these are desperate times for women. The times may call for the desperate measures of encouraging women not to “give the milk away for free.” It seems like this may be only bargaining chip young women have left.

Securing reproductive rights is also paramount. Levitt in Freakonomics links the drop in crime from the 90’s on to the unwanted children who would have committed crimes but who were not born to do so. Levitt also found that the one predictor of child success was that the mother was over 30 at the birth of her first child. Women need time to grow up and get their education.

Finally, a lot of my friends with young children, like me, are now looking for low-paying education or service jobs. These women were executives and software engineers, and me – a Ph.D. But we all want to work school hours and don’t want to scramble on holidays or in the summer. We can’t find any companies to hire us under these constraints. The jobs just aren’t there. There aren’t even many job-sharing jobs. I’ve been encouraging my bright mother friends to do consulting instead of becoming a teacher’s aide or a lunch lady. We need to create more flex-time corporate jobs, one way or another. Right now our choices are the tyranny of housewifery or somewhat sacrificing our childrens’ well-being or at least some needed time with them.

Thank you for teaching, mentoring, and encouraging young women today. They need you more than you know!

Residents want a playground near (St. Pete Times)

Amy's in the paper again! This one is from the Neighborhood Times section, November 12, 2006. Check it out: Residents want a playground near - Archives: St. Petersburg Times

Florida Constitutional Amendments

The wording of the Amendments up for vote on the Ballot is like the Emperor's New Clothes: No one wants to admit it is entirely perplexing, lest one seem the simpleton. However, I fear for democracy that I, a well-read learned adult with advanced degrees, cannot understand the Amendments as they are worded on the Ballot.

Stop the insanity: state the Amendments in plain English for regular people. Otherwise democracy is surely impeded.

Raunch Culture relates to marriage stats

The statistics show that married adults are now in the minority (49.7%). This phenomenon has profound effects for our social structure and how future generations will understand their lives.

Research has consistently shown that everyone wants to get married: That goal has never faltered. Yet fear of divorce and changing social mores have stalled the trip to the altar. Ironically, couples who "test drive" marriage by moving in together first are more likely not to get married, and if they do, these couples are more likely to divorce.

Suspiciously, the rise of "Raunch Culture" coincides with the decrease in households with married couples. It seems that when women allow men to "sit on the fence" about marriage, objectify women’s bodies with no consequence, and stay adolescent forever, men will.

Marriage requires the hero's journey. It is a sacrifice not to “a ball and chain,” but rather to a conscious life freely chosen and fully embraced. Are most men today willing to take up the gauntlet? And are most women today settling for a boy, not a man?

The Democrats’ Opportunity

How the Democrats Can Step Up - washingtonpost.com

Dear Mr. Ignatius,

What a delight it was to read your deeply insightful piece called “The Democrats’ Opportunity” today in my St. Pete Times. You describe, for the first time in the national discourse, exactly the issues we are facing and the dearth of leadership regarding these points.

I am pessimistic, however, that the Democrats will present a clear alternative emphasizing real change towards accountability, basic ethics, and cooperation, because they’ve failed to communicate a coherent statement on Iraq and general foreign policy in a post 9-11 world. Further, democrats failed to win the Presidency in 2002 because regular American democrats were not necessarily “For Kerry,” we were merely “For Anyone but Bush.” The reason Americans were not “For Kerry” was because he did not have a clearly communicated USP, or what we call in marketing, “Unique Selling Proposition.” A USP is something the people want, but are not getting, and can not get, someplace else. This makes the alternative clear and attractive.

Is the Democratic platform clear and attractive? No. The Democrats are being fed by the same hands of corruption in Washington. Democrats are getting more of a “pay-off” to stay mired in corruption and confused. Please see Moyer on America on PBS for the in-depth report on Abrahamoff/DeLay scandal.

Also, see my letter in the Times…