Oil from sunken ships

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Global News has this up on the recovery of oil from sunken ships.  At first, I wondered at all the sunken ships and if they might be a resource for oil instead of drilling the Earth….and then they say the price tag for this is $50 million.

You would think with all the technology out there that they could come up with some system that would allow for easier recovery of oil from sunken ships.  Why couldn’t it be contained in some sort of rubber “balloon” that could more easily be recovered if a ship sank?  Surely they could come up with something like that?

Food, Food, Food

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Apparently, there is a square knish shortage due to a factory fire in New York.  I had no idea what a knish was until this piece, so thanks for enlightening this writer.  It sounds yummy.

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In other food blogs is Michael Twitty’s piece on the life of a slave.  A great glimpse into history we don’t usually read about.  It’s well written–puts the reader into the daily struggle for them.  I was thinking when he wrote about catching the fish, that the fish must have tasted so good being caught in non-polluted waters.  And even though the work was hard,  it must have been nice to work outside in the sunshine….don’t misunderstand me–I know it was very hard, but I personally really enjoyed working on a farm.  I even liked it when the rain came down.    I would be weeding the old fashioned way of pulling them, and a grasshopper might leap onto a leaf nearby…..or a butterfly come floating past….birds singing….

 

 

Education News

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Diane Ravitch highlights a blog by David Greene. 

From the post:

When Hinshaw compared the rollout of these school policies with incidences of A.D.H.D., he found that when a state passed laws punishing or rewarding schools for their standardized-test scores, A.D.H.D. diagnoses in that state would increase not long afterward.

Nationwide, the rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis increased by 22 percent in the first four years after No Child Left Behind was implemented.

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Bingo. Greene says it’s not a causal, but yeah, I disagree.  It’s certainly one of the causes, in addition to toxins in the environment and probably GMO’s.  

And it’s not that the kids are suddenly stricken with this subjective “disease”—rather, they are a) made to feel inferior by testing that isn’t really able to define what their brain cells are capable of (potential); and b) put under pressure by teachers and parents who must teach to the test in order for the school to keep from being downgraded to “failing” in order for them to get the money from the Federal gov’t to keep the school open….and do it all again the next six months….

That is a HUGE burden to put on a kid.  For shame.

He links to A World Without Privacy by Joe Nocera of the NY Times.   He talks of “The Circle” of a hybrid of internet companies like Google, F_cebook, and Twitter and the information they gather.    Even if you don’t subscribe to the last two, your privacy can be taken away from you by family members and friends who do use them.    That is probably how Nocera’s acquaintances/colleagues were connected to him. 

And they say you should not expect privacy in today’s world.  I say, unless you express in writing your willingness for someone else to have private information, then, yes, you have an expectation….and a right to privacy.  And giving up the right to privacy should not be coerced, as in, you have to click on this agreement to use our website.

Creatures of another name

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I think this is probably happening more frequently than women are aware of—

The police officer’s advice to “be aware of your surroundings and don’t rent from someone you don’t know” is so bogus.  I know of a woman who suspected her landlord was coming into her apartment while she was at work and she felt he was secretly filming her, too, but she couldn’t prove it.  She did come home for lunch one day (not her normal routine) and saw him taking a briefcase -sized black box out of the building (and trying to hide it behind him).

Always, always, always trust your instincts, ladies.

And as in the previous blog on the stupid MTV *cough* un-reality series of sexual titillation of nurses and women in general…this is playing into that mindset.  It’s degrading to women and once again turns them into objects to do things to instead of recognizing them as persons in their own right deserving of respect, honor, and equality.

 

Other sea creature news

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These have been washing ashore in California.  They quote scientist Phil Hastings as saying that these sea creatures “get confused” and end up here….but don’t explore the “why” of it–probably poisoned by mercury in the ocean or some other noxious chemical.  Maybe even corexit? Maybe their food has been poisoned?  There is a reason that they are washing ashore and that needs to be explored without consideration of polluters like BP and others.