Saw this on my walk this morning
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arig:
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Biggest jump ever seen in global warming gases
WASHINGTON (AP) — The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the U.S.Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world’s efforts are at slowing man-made global warming.
The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.
“The more we talk about the need to control emissions, the more they are growing,” said John Reilly, co-director of MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
The world pumped about 564 million more tons (512 million metric tons) of carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009. That’s an increase of 6 percent. That amount of extra pollution eclipses the individual emissions of all but three countries — China, the United States and India, the world’s top producers of greenhouse gases.
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Jesus, save us from your followers.
Next Tuesday, Virginia voters will decide whether they want to elect former state Rep. David Black as a state senator. Luckily for Virginians, Black has a substantial record by which to judge him. In 2005, Black proposed investigating all Virginians to see if any Virginians adopting a child were gay. He is also well-known for sending plastic fetuses to lawmakers to advertise his anti-abortion stance. He also fought to allow pharmacies to refuse to sell birth control, or what he called “baby pesticides.” But perhaps Black’s shining moment came when he stood against the prosecution of spousal rape cases in 2002 because, after all, “how on earth could you validly get a conviction in a husband-wife rape when they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie,” he said. “There’s no injury, there’s no separation, or anything.” (HT: Jezebel)
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“But even by the sorry standards of the mainstream press, this story is ridiculous. Both parties have jobs bills, both parties block jobs bills, and the concept of “partisan gridlock” has somehow gained sentience and agency and now works to defeat popular legislation independent of the actions and desires of actual human legislators!”
— Demons run when @pareene goes to war. -
We should have listened.
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More than 270,000 organic farmers are taking on corporate agriculture giant Monsanto in a lawsuit filed March 30. Led by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the family farmers are fighting for the right to keep a portion of the world food supply organic—and preemptively protecting themselves from accusations of stealing genetically modified seeds that drift on to their pristine crop fields.
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Get Some Sleep!
by Randy Murray
It’s tempting when you work independently or as a freelancer to drive yourself and work as many hours as possible. You fuel up on caffeine and sugar and keep at it. But there’s a psychosis that sets in after you’ve driven yourself like this for some time. You’ll begin to think you’re doing better and better work.
Trust me, that’s an illusion. Your work will suffer and become much more error prone. And your customers will notice. Or you’ll end up spending much more time reworking before you can submit your work. Either way, you’re losing out.
I’ve worked with people who claim they can work for days straight or get by on only two or three hours of sleep a day. And I’ve seen the claims online from supposedly successful business people that say, “sleep when you’re dead!” The intentionally sleep deprived can’t see it, but everyone around them can: they’re temporarily insane.
I typically get by on around seven hours of sleep and I do much better on eight or nine. And I really benefit from a short nap late in the afternoon. I find that when I’m rested, I do my best work. And I always need to be doing my best work, so it’s a business necessity to for me to stay rested and healthy.
And sleep plays a critical role in our problem solving, thinking, and memory. Students do better if they sleep before a test rather than cram. And most of us find that we have more creative ideas and solutions to problems after we sleep and dream. Why rob yourself of this valuable opportunity just to say you’ve put in a few more hours of work?
Here are five things to consider in improving your sleep and your work:
It doesn’t matter when you sleep, but you need a regular schedule. Sleeping at different times of the day doesn’t work well.
Cut out caffeine at least five hours before you’ll sleep. Even if you get to sleep after a strong cup of coffee, you won’t sleep as deeply with your system artificially energized.
Don’t sleep with the TV or music on. Sleep isn’t just to rest the body; it’s the time for your mind to process information and rest. External stimulus, like TV, will give you weird dreams and slow the processing and storing of information.
Find a way to wake naturally. This is tough for many people, but if you work on a regular sleep schedule, you’ll find that you typically and naturally wake at the same time, daily. I wake up, on my own without an alarm, at 6:11 AM almost every weekday. It’s strange, but that’s how it works for me.
When you wake up, get up. Welcome the morning (or whenever you wake) and get immediately out of bed. Lingering, snoozing, and delaying won’t improve your mood or productivity.
Sleep is one of the great joys of life. And sleep deprivation is used as a torture technique, a way of programming inductees in cults. Why would you torture yourself, diminish your mental capacities and do inferior work?
Get some sleep!
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About the Author
Randy Murray is a writer and marketing consultant and lives just outside of Columbus, Ohio. He publishes on business marketing, writing, technology and other issues five days a week at First Today, Then Tomorrow and you can follow him on Twitter.
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arig:
“Chief Justice John Roberts asked what the difference was ‘between email and a pager?”
From the case of City of Ontario v. Quon (via WSJ Law Blog)
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From Utne.com: Shooting Teabaggers: Impressions From Behind a Camera
Image by Stephanie Glaros.
