Podcasts

I’m not doing much these days, but one thing I am still doing is listening to podcasts. Two years ago I listed all my favorite podcasts [link]. Here’s an updated list. These are all podcasts I like and listen to.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
When this comes up on my mp3 player, I know I'm going to enjoy the next hour. Dr. Steven Novella and his "Rogues" discuss the latest science and the state of rational thinking. More than a little irreverent, but they take reality seriously. My favorite podcast.

This American Life
I’ve been listening to This American Life on public radio since it started back in 1995. It is a mix of fiction and non-fiction told as a story. “I laughed. I cried.“ I had a cliché moment. I don’t think there’s anything out there like it or better than it.

Radio Lab
A highly produced science program asking irreverent but relevant questions about science and our relationship to science.

Astronomy Cast
Dr. Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain review a topic in astronomy every week. Having listened to the podcast and their voluminous archive I feel like I’ve gained a pretty solid amateur background in astronomy and astrophysics.

The History of Rome
A straightforward telling of what happened and when in the Roman Empire. Made interesting by describing competing interpretations of personalities and motivations and by placing events within the sweep of history. I visualize the podcaster, Mike Duncan, with a bit of a smirk on his face as he tells his stories.

Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
I enjoy hearing from Brian Dunning as he blows another bit of pseudoscience out of the water. Unfortunately, in trying to make his points, he sometimes uses logical fallacies himself. Especially creating a straw-man arguments implying that a few points represent an entire concept.

The Material World
A science program from BBC Radio 4. Host Quentin Cooper does an excellent job of making the science straight forward and interesting.

The Classic Tales Podcast
Classic short stories read by B.J. Harrison. Many stories and authors I’ve wanted to read, but never got around to.

Selected Shorts
Short stories presented live at “Symphony Space” in NYC. Mostly modern fiction. Some stories can be challenging and sometimes I’m not in the mood for the story presented, but there are plenty of good ones to make it worth listening to.

Point of Inquiry
Calm and incisive interview show put on by the Center for Inquiry “focusing on CFI’s issues: religion, human values and the borderlands of science“.

All in the Mind
A fascinating and far ranging program from Australia’s ABC Radio National hosted by Natasha Mitchell. All programs have interested me and some programs have moved me.

Science Talk by Scientific American
Calm and incisive interview show put on by Scientific American. Science and technology are always interesting.

A Way with Words
Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett are two people with a love and knowledge of language. They share their passion with callers and guests and with us through a weekly podcast.

Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Grammar should be fun. Short interesting discussions about grammar and usage.

Legal Lad’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life
Understanding the law should be fun too. Short interesting discussions about the law.

To the Best of our Knowledge
A calm-and-rational detailed look at a topic twice per week. I've been listening to it on public radio for years.

New Yorker: Fiction
Deborah Treisman, fiction editor for the New Yorker sits down once a month with a current fiction author for the New Yorker and the current author reads an older piece of fiction from the New Yorker. The quality of the stories is remarkable and the insights available from an editor and an author are fascinating.

Escape Pod
Science fiction short stories roughly weekly. Edited and hosted by Mur Lafferty.

Clarkesworld Magazine
Science fiction short stories twice monthly. Podcast director Kate Baker.

X Minus One Podcast
Classic radio science fiction from the 1950s. Some of it is excellent and some is dreck; all of it is an insight to the thinking of the time.

The Onion Radio News
Short satire in a news radio format. A hilarious new item every day.

The Moth Podcast
True stories told live weekly.

Science Times
A podcast based on the New York Times science section.

Tech Talk
The New York Times Bettina Edelstein, J.D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado weekly review of what’s happening in technology. This helps me keep in the loop about what toys are coming out and what people are saying about them.

The Tolkien Professor
Corey Olsen is a tenured English professor breaking down the separation between an academic perspective and that of a general reader. He makes it easy to take Tolkien seriously, but doesn’t take the fun out of the fantasy.

In our Time with Melvyn Bragg
Every week Melvyn Bragg interviews experts in some area of history. Wide ranging. The last three weeks covered the ideas of Thomas Malthus, the Origins of Infectious Disease, and the Battle of Stamford Bridge

The Straight Dope
Cecil Adams answers questions with wit and thorough research.

Merriam Webster’s Word of the Day
Short and sweet. A word, its definition, origin, and usage. Sometimes it’s a word that’s completely new to me, other times it’s one I use regularly.

People of Equal Talent

"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."

Stephen Jay Gould

Perhaps that quote will help me sleep.

Google "Search Pages" ?

My iGoogle Google Search window has two new buttons: "Search the Web" and "Search pages".

I just noticed it late last night. The results appear to be identical regardless of which button is pushed. Nothing obvious comes up with the search above. I wonder what it is.

Unsubscribing from Obama

Does nobody else have this problem?

Back when I was hopeful about Obama, I tried to steer him in the right direction and I joined the President Obama, Please Get FISA Right group. I had hope. What was I thinking? That's passed.

I can't unsubscribe from the group e-mails. Over the last couple of months I've tried multiple times. When I request to unsubscribe, I get an e-mail asking me to confirm. Clicking on the link gives me this message -

"An error occurred with the unsubscribe link. If you pasted it into your browser please make sure that you copied the entire url"

I'm not an idiot, I know how to click on a link, but the Obama website won't process my unsubscribe request properly. I know running the country is hard, but they should have the website thing down by now.

Frustration.

Rudeness on the Radio

Letter to my local AM radio station:

I don’t usually listen to W*** during the day, but I happened to tune in to Rush Limbaugh yesterday.

I wouldn’t let anyone talk like that in my home;
No one would ever be allowed to talk like that in a school;
I’ve never heard anyone talk so rudely in any work environment;
People get angry at city council meetings, but I’ve never seen such incivility.

The local people I hear on W*** are good folks – why do you allow this to happen in your place of business?

I know it's not really as simple as this, but it really is as simple as this.

Medical Bills - How to Deal With

I've no special expertise, but this is how I have dealt with them lately.

1. Wait at least two months for all the bills and insurance statements to come through. (Generally there's no penalty so long as you pay within 90 days, but check and make sure.)

2. Take the time to figure out, as much as you can, exactly what the bills and statements say. This can be nearly impossible.

   All the people you will talk to are reasonable people trying to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Treat them well. Their job is confusing and difficult and you need their help. Document all conversations including the name of each person you contact and the time of the call. Remember that they are doing their best but their job is to maximize payment to the hospital or minimize expenses for the insurer.

3. Call the hospital and confirm that you understand what the bills say.

4. Call the insurance company and confirm that you understand what they are willing to pay.

5. Study your insurance plan documents. Keep in mind that the summary which you may have is not an official document. You may have to get the original. You will probably have to contact the insurance company to get clarification. Their interpretation will favor them as much as possible, but it isn't necessarily correct.

6. If it makes sense at this point, go ahead and pay the remainder. If it doesn't make sense, get on the phone again and ask them to explain. Be respectful and as nice as you can, but be insistent. Don't get put in the position of relaying information from the provider to the insurance company. Insist that they contact each other. Provide the names of the people you have talked to so they can talk to the same people. If the people you talk to aren't forthcoming or reasonable, ask to speak to their supervisors.

7. If it makes sense now, pay the remainder. If it doesn't make sense, go to the person who negotiated the policy with the insurance company. That will usually be the benefits person at your employer or the person who sold you the policy. Ask for their help in understanding the situation and ask them to advocate for you with their contacts. Be nice but insistent all the way through the process. Document everything.

I've had to do this twice in the last year. It took a lot of my time and frustration and it took a lot of their time and frustration, but I got a reasonable solution each time. (Actually one is still in process, but I think it will be solved.)

(No political message here, but keep in mind that in most other modern countries none of this is necessary.)

Blogger Link Colors

I had the hardest time trying to fix the color of the links here in Blogger. It used to look like this.

Actually the blue was quite a bit brighter and it virtually strobed against the pale tan background. I wanted a less jarring color. I was also unable to change the color of the title.

I tried to fix it through the Customize/Layout/Fonts and Colors - controls and that made no difference.

I Googled around and found some suggestion on how to change them in HTML. I opened up the HTML through Customize/Layout/Edit HTML and saved a copy before making any changes. The variables for the text were already set to the colors which I had specified in Fonts and Colors. Further down, in the section with "a:link", "a:visited", and "a:hover" the colors were assigned by the variables above. I tried substituting specific colors for the variables, but it made no difference. (I'm only barely HTML literate.)

Then I tried radical changes. I selected a whole different template. That changes the appearance dramatically, but the color of the title and of the links didn't change. That indicated to me that template was not causing the trouble. I thought it was the template which controlled this, but apparently not.

Then I learned something interesting. If I only display one posting at a time, the colors I specified do show! That indicated again that there must be some code outside of the template which caused the problem. The only remaining place is in a posting. I don't know why this would be, but it seems to have been the case. Here's what I did:

1. I decreased the number of posts displayed at a time - Customize/Settings/Formatting/Show - to five. At that point, my first page looked right. It didn't have the bright colored links.
   
2. I went through the pages to see when the bright colored links were displayed.
   
3. On the page which had the problem, I looked at each posting one at a time. I found the one posting which had the problem.
   
4. I looked at the HTML for that posting and there was a ton of code which I didn't recognize and which didn't seem to have anything to do with the text or the pictures. (I was experimenting with using an online blog editor and MS Word to write blog posts at about that time. I suspect that caused the problem.) I deleted the excess HTML and the bright blue was gone!
   

I had to go back and play with the settings again, but I could do it with the standard controls at Customize/Layout/Fonts and Colors and it worked just fine.

Eureka!

Before I figured this out I had no luck finding instructions which related to the problem above. Now that I figured it out and wrote the above, all the instructions which comes up relate to this problem. (frustration) I recommend the clear instructions by BlogBulk.

Health Care Reform # 8

I watched Barrack Obama’s speech to the joint session of congress while eating dinner last night. I purposely haven’t read any commentary yet. I wasn’t optimistic about the speech, but I had hope. Here are my thoughts:


He is starting from a position where he has already compromised on critical issues. He’s proposing a regulated private system with public funding for the poorest. He is being accused of communism. Since he is already demonized, he may as well take the step to a government funded capitalist system like the rest of the world.

I think I heard him say that a single-payer system is a government controlled health care system. If that’s what he said, he’s wrong. It is a taxpayer funded capitalist system. He says that we must support the health insurance and the pharmaceutical industries which have served us so poorly. If we want savings and improved outcomes, we have to make a difficult transition. We may as well do it now.

As I listened, I didn’t hear anything about the public option until near the end. He seemed to describe it as no different from the health co-ops which have been discussed. His public option seems to be available only to those who could not otherwise afford insurance. This seems to guarantee that no one would choose it voluntarily. It also makes it impossible for the public option to become the dominant health plan. That should mollify the critics, but probably won’t. I think it makes it a failure over all.

He didn’t do anything to contradict the stories about his deals with the pharmaceutical industry or hospitals.

He teased Republicans about malpractice law. He got them excited. Then he showed that he wasn't serious. Think how betrayed the Republican’s felt after sitting there applauding his idea. Of course abuse of the legal system is not a major part of the problem, but it is part of the problem. Why not compromise here. At least establish standards of care and caps on pain and suffering.

I didn’t hear anything he said that would really decrease costs. He’s adding layers.

I don’t like the idea of punishing people for failing to buy insurance. We should have a system which provides for all instead of a system which punishes people for trying to manage without government involvement. I respect people like that. That is going to anger and mobilize many people – for good reason.


Most importantly, he had no specific plan to offer. The current hodgepodge of messy bills still exists. There is no one plan which can be explained and defended. I can’t believe he doesn’t see this.


Good things:

He made it clear that insurance companies had to be reasonable.

He did refer to some statements as lies, but he didn’t get specific. He addressed death panels, cuts to Medicare and illegal immigrants.

He made clear that Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid were all seen as disasters for the country and they weren’t. In fact, we are dependent on them.


I’ll work for this, but he’s fighting for a small thing. We have to fight as hard as if he were trying to accomplish a big thing.

StumbleUpon Back-up

BACK-UP

I used to hang out on StumbleUpon (SU) as SchreiberBike. I decided that I wanted to archive all my reviews to keep on my own PC, but there was no obvious ways to do it.

Putting together a suggestion by Heritas from the Help Group and the use of a macro, I was able to get a backup my 964 reviews and blog postings without much work. It looks like I could similarly backup all 3753 “thumbs up” I made while I was using SU, but I don’t think I’ll bother with that.

I use the Firefox browser and installed the Scrapbook extension. That allows you to download a copy of one page with linked pictures to your PC.

One page at a time for 97 pages would be a bit boring though. I used a macro program to automate the process.

Using a macro, you can set it to:

1. Copy the page
2. Wait five seconds
3. Move to the next page
4. Wait ten seconds
5. Repeat

It worked for me.

Shaker Workbench

I really want to put together a nice post showing my workbench and explaining why it was built the way it is, but I haven't done it. So, here are a bunch of pictures.











Click on "Workbench" to see more posts about my Shaker Workbench or "plans" to see the SketchUp model

Since these pictures, I've added the anti-wrack pad to the front vise (which works great by the way) covered the chops of the front vise with leather, added the sliding board jack, and probably other things too.

More pictures and better formatting later.

Health Care reform - # 7

Another letter to the President:

Mr. President,

I can't believe you are screwing up health care reform. You are too honorable for this. You are too wise for this. You're greatest strength is your ability to look at a problem from many sides and at many levels. You're a smart guy.

You've got to step back and take a fresh look at health care reform.

If you don't know how, try this: http://schreiberbike.blogspot.com/2009/07/health-care-reform.html. I sent it to you earlier, but clearly you didn't take it seriously. Nor are you taking your supporters seriously. We voted for change, not for the appearance of change.

If you can’t do better than this, hope fades.

Sincerely,

John Schreiber

cc blog

I'm getting frustrated. I want so bad to believe.

Sinophobia, Factoids, and Facts

Here's a ubiquitous "factoid" I'd heard a number of times over the years. I ran into it again and thought I'd check it out.

If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

It presents itself as an interesting fact, but it's totally racist and hearkens back to the Sinophobia which has been a major part of American history. It is another bit of propaganda teaching us to be afraid.

I even found a reference to this being presented during the Cold War as if you lined up all of the Chinese and machine-gunned them as they walked by you you'd never kill them all because they'd reproduce too fast. Next time somebody tells you that the 50s were the good-old-days, remember this kind of racism.

Anyway, I wondered if it were true. It's repeated enough, there must be some basis in it. Right? Right? No. A Google search was unenlightening. The trivia was repeated again and again, some people didn't believe it, but no one seemed to have checked the math. I found one reference, but it was off by a factor of 60. A similar question is answered (mostly) right here.

I did the math. Based on reasonable assumptions and current population and rate of growth of China, the entire population would pass in less than 10 years. The assumptions and the math are shown in this pdf.

In 1950, when this had more currency as propaganda, it would have been less than five years. I modeled an extreme scenario" with the highest ever population and the extreme rate of population growth one year after the "great leap forward." It still takes less than 11 years for all to pass. If it's a single file line instead of eight abreast, it does take a long time, 106 years, but that's very different from never. It surprised me, but in a column 8 wide, walking slowly with reasonable space between people, 140,000,000 will walk past a point in a year. That makes quick work of the population of any country.

Conclusion: there's no basis in fact for this often repeated bit of trivia / racist propaganda.

Health Care Reform # 6

From: Joe from Philly a.k.a. Joe the Nerd a.k.a. Joe Ferraro
To: The President in a call in radio show

I'm getting a little ticked off that it feels like the knees are buckling a little bit. We have overwhelming majorities in both the House and the Senate. And we own the whole shooting match. And I'm just not getting - it's very frustrating to watch you try and compromise with a lot of these people who aren't willing to compromise with.

Joe says he was satisfied with the answer. I have been a strong supporter of Obama since the Iowa primary; I’m not satisfied.

I think Obama is throwing this away. Why is he doing that? In order, from least to most likely:

1. He’s a fraud

• He doesn’t really believe this stuff, but it got him to be President and that’s what counts.
• Not impossible, but I can’t stand to think it.

2. He’s overwhelmed

• The fight and the issue and the politics are complex and he can’t adapt proactively.
  
• This is what it looks like, but I don't think it can be true. Thinking at many levels at the same time is his strength. He proved this during the campaign.

3. He’s threatened

• My most paranoid side says that he has been told by some person in a position of total trust that awful things will happen to his family or to other innocent people if he threatens corporate interests.
• Like I said, it’s paranoid, but sometimes you can’t be paranoid enough.

4. He believes that creating a new kind of politics is more important than actually achieving any one goal.

• The political/ideological environment in the USA is toxic. People are shouting and playing for points rather than talking to each other and solving problems. The influence of money has made democracy a cover for plutocracy.
• Barack Obama wants to change that.
• Perhaps he believes that compromise on principle and accommodation to those who are dedicated to his destruction is the best approach.
• I think instead that non-violent struggle lead from the bully pulpit would be the best approach. Organization, moral persuasion, mass action and negotiation from a position of strength are tools which he knows. He can persuade us to recognize dignity in us all and demonstrate the best of progressive values. That would lead to a change in the public environment.
• Health care (and other) reform would be a natural outgrowth.

5. He’s part of the system

• There are two sides of American politics: 1) a savage, “beat the peasants in submission” capitalist side and 2) a realistic “keep the peasants from seeing the need for revolution” capitalist side. Another way to put it is that there is just one political party in this country, the Republican Democratic Party of Money. He’s a member of the party.
• He was acceptable to the corporate media, ‘nuff said. This is realistic but sad.

6. He is hoodwinked by corporate interests

• He doesn’t trust his own judgment and he has given in to pressure from inside and outside the government.
• It seems clear that this is what happened in the finance crisis, so perhaps it’s happening here. He is to some degree part of the system, and if he is being overwhelmed by the pressures of the Presidency, then this may be what is happening. He may even be justifying his weakness and vacillation by telling himself that he is moving toward a new kind of politics.

At least # 4 puts a a kind of positive spin on this. I desperately hope he wants change and that he can get back up on his feet and lead the country.

Leather work

I used leather to cover the faces of my woodworking vise. I had extra leather and I found that I can make some very useful things without too much work.

The only tool that was really necessary was the needles. I already had them from some rope work I had done in the past, so they didn't cost anything.

I bought an overstitch wheel which marks the stitches before drilling the holes. I used it only on the second larger sheath. I think the even stitches there look much better and they certainly were easier to mark.

The chunk of scrap walnut has been smoothed on one end on a belt sander. It is used to smooth the edges and rub the leather into place.

The piece of hickory with the hook on the end is for marking where the stitches go in comparison with an edge. It is effectively a marking gauge.

I might invest in a v-gouge at some point in the future. It is used after the marking gauge to cut a thin depression for the threads. This decreases wear on the threads. It is also used to cut thin strips from the inside of the leather to make it fold more easily.

I also used contact cement, a utility knife, a straight edge, a hammer, and my belt sander. That's about it for tools.

The lower sheath was stained with walnut Watco Danish Oil. I don't really think it looks better, but it was interesting to try. It worked very well even though it's not meant for leather. It has also been heavily waxed. The upper sheath has not been treated at all. I'd like to try soaking it in hot paraffin, but haven't got that far yet.

The button is one I cut from a branch and soaked for a couple of months in boiled linseed oil.

I couldn't find any description of how one might make a draw knife sheath or a push knife sheath anywhere on the web. If I made the push knife sheath again, I'd cut it so that it was narrower where the straps come over the back so that the straps would bear directly on the back of the blade. I'd also attach the button further from the back of the blade. The draw knife sheath might be improved a little. It should fit the length of the blade more closely and the flap should be larger and looser (I'm not sure how to make it looser). That would allow the knife to be inserted without having to hold the sheath right near the very-sharp blade.

This is not sophisticated leather work, but I was quite pleased with what I was able to do without a lot of practice or training.

Rendering – Industrial Machine

Some people like to make photo-realistic images out of 3D models. It’s very cool to see something I’ve made in SketchUp turn into something which looks real.

A real photograph taken from the Grizzly catalog:

Two views of a SketchUp model which I made:

A rendering of my SketchUp model by Solo:

I enjoy making models in SketchUp. When I am modeling something which already exists, I am effectively reverse engineering the object. In doing that, often I can understand better how it works and why it works that way.

Rendering is something very different. Changing the characteristics of the surfaces and changing the light sources makes the picture more realistic, informative or interesting. The process is iterative in that a light source can create another light source in the form of a reflection. Then that reflection’s presence has to be accounted for by the program. There is judgment and subtlety involved in preparing a rendering. The computing power and time is huge, and while it’s not too hard to do a decent job, doing an excellent job is very challenging. Then, if you are doing it in a 3D animation, each frame of the animation must be rendered, and that takes even longer.

In this example, I was planning a future workshop layout and I wanted to see how I might fit a knife belt sander into the plan. I only needed a rough model for this purpose, but as I tend to do, I went overboard and made it as close to perfect as I could. I posted it as part of a contest in the SketchUcation forums.

Similarly, there’s a rendering of a wrist watch which I modeled here.

Writing -- Blogging

"I don't know what I think until I see what I say"
– attributed to Flannery O'Connor

“Every clear sentence I write removes more undergrowth of confusion from my mind.”
– attributed to Robert W. Russell

"We do not write in order to be understood, we write in order to understand."
– attributed to C. Day Lewis


I write to think. I write to learn.


Putting thoughts into sentences, and reading and editing them, lets me see each thought on its own and helps me to see how those thoughts go together. It helps me figure things out and helps me determine if an idea is significant or trivial.

I want each sentence to be defensible. I know how complex the world is and I don’t like broad statements which deny exceptions. But I also know that words like “usually,” “often,” and “mostly” make writing sound tentative. I walk a tightrope between simplification and accuracy, which can sound like the difference between confidence and mushiness.

As an example, each of the quotes above says “attributed to . . .” Quotes from famous people often have a life of their own apart from what the person actually said or believed. If it doesn’t come from an authoritative source, I don’t want to say that it’s a quote. “Attributed to . . .” is a fine compromise here.

Each word should say something, and I have to make sure that the entire piece says something. I am careful about word choice. I usually take out the unnecessary words and sometimes the unnecessary sentences. I know that I tend to leave in too many paragraphs. If I am writing for myself, it’s good to put the entire argument down to make it as clear as possible. If I am writing for others, I can let assumptions stand on their own.

My spelling is bad; my grammar is fair. Spell check takes care of most of that and grammar check helps. I like to leave a piece be for a while and come back to edit it. If I am writing something which I feel is important, I try to have it edited by someone else – but that’s a pain.

I tell myself that I don’t care if anyone reads what I write, and it’s mostly true. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be excited if other people did read what I wrote.

It is self indulgent, but that is mostly ok.

Health care reform # 5

I just sent this off to the White House.

Office of the President:

I know it doesn’t work like this, but I just wrote a draft of a statement I’d like to see the President make. Please give this approach some consideration.

Statement begins:

I don’t like to tell you this, but the fact is; I can’t get a good health-care bill through the congress right now. The insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies are pushing millions and millions of dollars into lobbying your senators and representatives. The people’s voice is not being heard in Washington. There are also those who legitimately disagree over the place of government. They don’t want a government which solves problems and serves the people.

I could work with congress and entrenched interests and have a measure passed and signed this year. But that measure would have so many compromises that it wouldn’t really solve the problem. I want to work with the Republicans in the House and Senate, but I’m disappointed to say that I can’t find enough Republicans who share my beliefs and there are too many who for political purposes are willing to sacrifice the public good because they want to bring me down.

I know from the people I talk to, and from reading the stories that are sent to me, and from studying the polls, that Americans want a health care system which provides for all Americans. I know that they want a system which controls the skyrocketing cost of our health-care system. They want a system that doesn’t fail them when they need it most. They want a system where illness does not bring financially secure families into bankruptcy. We want a healthcare system that we can be proud of – one where American rates of infant mortality and lifespan are as good as those of the rest of the industrialized world.

Here is the plan I put forward today. In a year and a half, we have midterm elections for the House and the Senate. There will be 35 seats up for grabs in the senate and the people will vote for all 435 seats in the house. I will campaign for some of those candidates.

By the end of 2009, I will announce and publish a clear and simple proposal for universal health care. It will be a smart plan. It will not be a confusing - conflicting - costly plan put together by the competing interests of corporations. It will be based on the best of American health care and the best of other countries around the world which have had universal health care for 30 – 40 – 50 years. If the people who support my plan are elected into office, then in two years we will pass real health care reform. This will be a national referendum on health care.

No plan will make everyone happy. Entrenched interests will oppose it. I know the fact that it will not be good for every industry. But it will be good for America. It will give America what it wants, what it deserves, what it needs.

End of statement.

I truly believe that this is what the President should do at this time. A single-payer plan or its equivalent is the only way to solve this problem.


Sincerely, John Schreiber

Copy to blog

As I said above, I know it doesn't really work like this, but maybe it could. At very least, it helped me think through my feelings.

The real reason some people oppose gay marriage

I am a supporter of gay marriage. Lots of people disagree. I start with an assumption that the people I disagree with are rational, but in this case, I was having a hard time understanding them. Why do people feel that marriage is under “attack” and that it needs “defending.” I thought about it a lot – still assuming rationality.

I started demolishing the stated arguments point by point, but many people had already done that and I didn’t really add anything new. I knew there had to be more than the stated arguments. Homophobia is one explanation, but it can’t be a reason by itself. Then I recognized that there is a huge overlap between groups who oppose gay marriage and those who support a male dominated hierarchical world view.

I think I figured it out. Gay marriage DOES threaten society, if you have an old definition of marriage.

If one believes that in a marriage:

• roles are defined based gender, or
• that men must have a leadership role and women must have a submissive role, or
• that the family is a patriarchal, ownership institution, or
• that the man is the master and his wife and children are chattel,

then a marriage between two people of the same gender is impossible.

A marriage between equals means that those traditional views of marriage can not true. How can two women marry? There would be no leader. How could two men marry? There would be two leaders. In the traditional view, where roles are decided based purely on each person’s sex, there is no room for two people of the same sex.

If such a marriage can succeed, the traditional view of marriage must be wrong. If sex roles are flexible, how does a man know his place? How does a woman know her place? How does a man remain the king of his castle and keep his woman in her place?

If gay marriage is allowed, the whole hierarchical structure of society is under attack. If I depended on such a structure, I would feel like I am under attack. I find that those who most depend on a hierarchical society, who have the most to lose if their positions are threatened are also those with the greatest objection to gay marriage.


I wish this lead to a strategy, but at least right now, I don't see one.

Experiments with Glue and Wood

I wanted to glue up a workbench top 90” long, 30” wide, 4” thick using laminations of 1 1/4" southern yellow pine (SYP). To do it with clamps every six inches would require 14 clamps. I only had four clamps over 30" long, so I wanted to try another way. I got advice on the SawMill Creek forum and decided to try applying glue, screwing each board to the next one, then after the glue dried, removing the screws and gluing on another board.

I wasn’t sure if the screws would apply enough pressure, so I experimented.

Experiment 1:

Two pieces of SYP each 9" x 7”.
Screws centered on long axis 1.5” and 4.5” from one end.
#10 x 2-3/8" ProMax Round Washer Head Dry Lube Screws - from McFeely’s
Titebond glue spread with the objective of just getting a bit of squeeze out after clamping

As you can just see in the lower left corner, the screw force caused the two pieces to bend away from each other on one side. In the right picture, the 9 x 7 grid has been cut into 63 pieces for testing.

I laboriously started measuring the breaking force for each joint.

It's not a sophisticated system, but I was able to fill the bucket hanging at the end of that cord with junk until the joint broke, then weigh the bucket. I soon noticed that there was a lot of variation in measurements but there were just three kinds of breaks: 1) at the glue line, 2) partly at the glue line, and 3) all in the wood. I stopped weighing the bucket and started breaking the blocks and recording the kind of break.

Here are the results of experiment 1:

Clearly, the bent boards I mentioned above caused the upper board to bend away from the lower along the left edge and there was little or no clamping force there.

Conclusions from Experiment 1:

The screw force was sufficient to make a good glue joint.
The clamping force appeared to extend along the grain at least 4 1/2”
The clamping force appeared to extend across the grain 1 1/2".
Wood bends when you squeeze it.






Experiment 2:

Two pieces of SYP each 13" x 4”.
Screws centered on long axis 2.5” and 4.5” from one end.
#10 x 2-3/8" ProMax Round Washer Head Dry Lube Screws
Titebond glue spread with the objective of just getting a bit of squeeze out after clamping

Here’s a SketchUp version of the setup.














I cut one inch squares the long way and short way. Because my circular saw doesn’t cut deep enough, I finished the remaining short cuts with a handsaw. It wasn’t necessary to finish the long cuts.

You can see in the right side picture that the square on the right edge of the glue-up, furthest from the screws broke off cleanly with no adhesion.




Here are the results:

There is a definite anomaly here. It was caused by an oily knot which was on the bottom of the top board. I had hand-planed both boards, but I had not wiped them with naptha as is suggested for SYP.

Conclusions from Experiment 2:

The clamping force appeared to extend along the grain at least 8 1/2”
The clamping force appeared to extend across the grain 2 1/2".
Oily spots, usually related to knots, do not glue well.















Experiment 3:

Based on the data above, I had a theory. A screw puts a point load on the top surface of the wood where the head rests. Force spreads from that point in an oval which is substantially longer in the direction of the grain. For a 1 1/2" board, it covers about 4” side to side and about 12” along the grain. Because it’s an oval, it doesn’t cover the corners of that rectangle.

Based on that theory, I thought I could glue up my 4” wide board with screws every 5” staggered from side to side and an extra at each end. It would look like this, but it would be 90" long.



Two pieces of SYP each 26x4.”
Screws centered on long axis 2.5” and 4.5” from one end.
#10 x 2-3/8" ProMax Round Washer Head Dry Lube Screws
Titebond glue spread with the objective of just getting a bit of squeeze out after clamping

This is what it looked like after I had broken each 1" square and put all the samples back in place. All had broken in the wood, meaning that the glued joint was stronger than the wood itself.


Because the screws were removed after the glue dried and before the next board was glued on, there is no metal in the top. And, it worked. It's been about six months and my top has not shown any cracks nor has it warped at all since the first month.

Conclusion: A $7.50 box of screws can substitute for $500 worth of clamps. But it will take a whole lot more time and effort.

Podcasts

I like to listen to podcasts. Music doesn't interest me - I'm tone deaf. Podcasts are like talk radio except I can choose my area of interest and choose hosts who aren't idiots. That's not generally an option on broadcast radio. I listen while I do housework, yardwork, work in the shop or drive. It's great just about anytime when I'm alone, don't need to concentrate too hard on my work and in the mood to learn.

I don't always listen though, often I give my full attention to my work or I prefer natural sounds.

This has changed the way I consume news. I still get most of my news in written form from the Internet, but I don't pick up as much from radio (and I don't watch TV at all). That gives me a less frenetic response to current events. I know enough about the world that I don't need fresh details every hour. I need more quality analysis and less distraction.

This American Life
I’ve been listening to This American Life on public radio since it started back in 1995. It is a mix of fiction and non-fiction always told as a story. “I laughed. I cried.“ I had a cliché moment. I don’t think there’s anything out there like it or better than it.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
When this comes up on my mp3 player, I know I'm going to enjoy the next hour. Dr. Steven Novella and his "Rogues" discuss the latest science and the state of rational thinking. More than a little irreverent, but they take reality seriously. One of my favorite podcasts.

Bill Moyers Journal
A very smart, very experienced journalist who interviews experts in detail. I often learn that what I thought I knew about an issue was wrong and/or oversimplified. I understand the world better because I listen to this. Some topics don’t interest me as much, but the intelligence makes it worthwhile to listen to anyway.

The History of Rome
A straightforward telling of what happened and when in the the Roman Empire. Made interesting by describing competing interpretations of personalities and motivations and by placing events within the sweep of history. I often listen to each podcast twice because I am unfamiliar with the names and the time line. I visualize the podcaster, Mike Duncan, with a bit of a smirk on his face as he tells his stories.

The Classic Tales Podcast
Classic short stories read by B.J. Harrison. Many stories and authors I’ve wanted to read, but never got around to.

To the Best of our Knowledge
A calm-and-rational detailed look at a topic twice per week. I've been listening to it on public radio for years.

Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
I enjoy hearing from Brian Dunning as he blows another bit of pseudoscience out of the water. Unfortunately, in trying to make his points, he sometimes uses logical fallacies himself. Especially creating a straw-man arguments implying that a few points represent an entire concept. Many skeptics don't want to be called debunkers. Skeptoid attacks bunk every week.

Media Matters with Bob McChesney
This comes out of my hometown public radio station - WILL AM. Bob McChesney has high-powered, knowledgeable guests on every week to talk the world with special emphasis on the media. Recent guests include Naomi Klien, Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky. Similar to Bill Moyers Journal in that I learn that what passes for news and discussion is really just a mask covering the real issues.

Slate’s Political Gabfest
Three smart, knowledgeable and opinionated people talk about the week’s national politics. Very “inside the beltway.”

Blast the Right
A look at the talking points of the political right, addressed from the political left. Presented as arguments to use when you meet your favorite “right-winger” at the water cooler. Host Jack Clark has a confrontational style, but the facts are good and the style is exciting.

Radio Lab
A highly produced science program asking irreverent but relevant questions about science and our relationship to science.

Point of Inquiry
Calm and incisive interview show put on by the Center for Inquiry “focusing on CFI’s issues: religion, human values and the borderlands of science“.

Science Talk by Scientific American
Calm and incisive interview show put on by Scientific American. Science and technology are always interesting.

Selected Shorts
Short stories presented live at “Symphony Space” in NYC. Mostly modern fiction. Some stories can be challenging and sometimes I’m not in the mood for the story presented, but there are plenty of good ones to make it worth listening to.

Grammar Girl: quick and dirty tips for better writing
Grammar should be fun. Short interesting discussions about grammar and usage.

Stuff You Missed in History Class Podcast
I finally came up with the word to describe the hosts: glib. This show brings out the curmudgeon in me. None the less, I enjoy it and learn from it.

Live Blogging - Iran

I've been following Nico Pitney's "live blogging" of events in Iran for over a week. It has been an exciting and frightening experience. My admiration for Nico Pitney's work goes out to him. My admiration even more goes out to the Iranian people fighting for democracy. Their best and most effective efforts seem to be in non-violent struggle.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

It's worth pointing out that "live blogging" does not rise to the level of journalism by itself, but it is a valuable way of communicating what "seems" to be happening with a wonderful sense of being in the moment.

Health Care Reform # 4

The President has a lot on his plate right now. I’d rather he take health care reform off the table and deal with it right in two years.

I’ve been reading about health care systems around the world and I’ve been reading about proposals being made to change health care in the USA. In my opinion, NONE of the proposals being advanced by those in power are worth fighting for. Here’s what I believe we need:

• Single payer or even a public option is not necessarily required. But for health care to work without it, insurance companies must become public utilities, simple administrators of a plan set by law. That appears to be the format in other countries which do not have single-payer plans.
  

• Primary care must be the emphasis. Most health care is simple and people can take care of it themselves. Most of what remains can be handled by a family practitioner. Expensive specialist treatment should be the exception not the rule. Reimbursement rates should match usefulness. That means more time communicating with patients and fewer expensive tests and high-tech images.
  

• Evidence based standards for health care should be established and practice guidelines recommended. There is no reason why 10% of pregnant women get cesarean sections in one town, but 45% get them in another. This would also set standards for testing. That eliminates unnecessary testing and testing performed merely to prevent lawsuits. Similarly if a doctor follows established guidelines, they should be protected from lawsuits.

• I’m willing to make medical school free so that doctors don’t have to start out with huge debits. Of course, I think that should be true for all higher education, but I’ll start with those who serve our health.

• Mental health, dental health, optical care, substance abuse treatment, and prescriptions should all be included in the plan.

• Fraud should be investigated aggressively and punished harshly. Stealing from the public damages the public trust out of proportion to the dollars stolen.

I don’t want to sound like a revolutionary who wants things to get worse instead of a little bit better. But all the “serious” proposals being advanced support entrenched “traditional” interests which sap the current system and do not allow for real progress. I guess I am a revolutionary. I want CHANGE. Can we have it? YES WE CAN!

Health Care Reform # 3

I got an email from My.BarackObama.com asking me to "join up with local supporters, get the facts, make a plan for building support in your neighborhood, and start putting that plan into action." I attended that meeting this evening.

Of the 20 people there, almost all specifically advocated for a single payer health care plan. There was recognition that the perfect can be the enemy of the good, but there was also fear that the plans currently being discussed would effectively be a sell out. They would be so far less than perfect that they won't really solve the problem.

There was much to discuss, but it was hard to move forward without answering the first question. Is it worth working for anything less than a single payer plan?

Although we didn't resolve that, the next step seems to be some sort of a Health Care Day of Service on June 27th.

Change

I found this quote from President Obama in Thomas Friedman's 6/3/09 opinion piece in the NYT.

"We have a joke around the White House," the president said. "We’re just going to keep on telling the truth until it stops working."

Though I often disagree with the President, this is the kind of things that gives me hope.

Health Care Reform - # 2 Letters to my representatives

While each letter below says basically the same thing, I think of what I know about the person while I write and edit. They each come out a little different. Probably says more about my assumptions than anything else.

Senator Durbin,

A single-payer health care system is the solution. The math for real solutions only works for a single-payer plan. The people have made it clear in poll results that they want a single-payer. Any other solution just pushes the problem down the road.

Right now, opposition to the insurance industry may seem to be a politically expensive choice, but I believe that opposing a single-payer plan will cost more. We are capable of rising above deceptive advertising and scare tactics. In the modern media environment - deception will be uncovered and the facts will speak (not always, but enough to make a difference).

If you and the Democratic party take the lead, there will be a tidal wave of support as people stop having to worry about health care costs. In fact, if we get this done, I can’t imagine the Republican party coming back for 20 years.

There are millions of us out here ready to fight the good fight for a single payer plan. I hope I can be part of your legacy of solving the health care crisis.

Senator Burris,

I hope you are able to rise above the controversy surrounding your position and are able to work for the people of Illinois.

I want you to know that a single-payer health care system is the solution to the health care crisis. The math for real solutions only works for a single-payer plan. The people have made it clear in poll results that they want a single-payer. Any other solution just pushes the problem down the road.

The insurance companies do not own you or congress. We are capable of rising above deceptive advertising and scare tactics.

If you and the Democratic party take the lead, there will be a tidal wave of support as people stop having to worry about health care costs. In fact, if we get this done, I can’t imagine the Republican party coming back for 20 years.

There are millions of us out here ready to fight the good fight for a single payer plan. I hope I can be part of your legacy of solving the health care crisis.

Representative Johnson

I believe that a single-payer health care system is the solution our country needs now. The math for actually solving the problems only work for a single-payer plan. The people have made it clear in poll results that they want a single-payer. Other proposals just push the problem down the road.

A single-payer health care system is good for business, good for entrepreneurs, good for America. There will be strong opposition from insurance company lobbyists, but we are capable of rising above deceptive advertising and scare tactics. In the modern media environment - deception will be uncovered and the facts will speak (not always, but enough to make a difference).

If Americans put the troubles of this crisis behind them and the perception is that the Democrats made this happen and Republicans stood in the way, I don’t think it will be fun to be a Republican for a long time.

There are millions of us out here ready to fight the good fight for a single payer plan. I hope I can be part of your legacy of solving the health care crisis.

Each letter above submitted to the representative's website. I do put "cc blog" at the bottom of each to indicate that I consider them to be open letters.