Thursday, August 31, 2017

Target Criminals, not Repulsive Ideologues

From a law enforcement viewpoint, the whole concept of radicalization is slippery to monitor and not that helpful in identifying possible offenders. What the research shows is that folks who eventually carry out terrorist acts tend to have other violent acts in their history. Time and treasure spent on watching ideologues could be more productively used by watching previous offenders. It seems they typically latch on to the ideology as a motivation to do what they already want to do and that's to just hurt people.

Primer on Voting Efficiency

This is a good primer on the mathematics used to evaluate the level of gerrymandering in a given set of district boundaries.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Abstinence-only-until-marriage Programs and Policies Are Failures

Yet another study shows that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and policies fail miserably.
Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and policies in the United States are ineffective as they do not delay sexual initiation or reduce sexual risk behaviors, two scientific review papers show. They also violate adolescent human rights, withhold medically accurate information, stigmatize or exclude many youth, reinforce harmful gender stereotypes, and undermine public health programs. Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have been widely rejected by health professionals who care for young people.

So now, can we just get on with having real science-based sex education programs?

Medicaid for All


Here's a path to the public option that didn't get into the ACA.

There's More Than One Way To Get Nuclear Power

The TVA is increasing nuclear power in 3 ways, adding an SMR, completing a partially-built power station, and uprating an existing reactor.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Hospitals in Trump Country Suffer

A friend of mine has pointed out that we could make great progress towards reducing our health care costs by making it easier for qualified doctors from foreign countries to work in the United States. Unfortunately, the Trump immigration policies tends to drive them away. And it's our rural citizens who suffer. 

Self-healing Rubber Developed

What's cool about watching research is that occasionally you see things that could someday change the world as we know it. Rubber is one of those materials has been so important that the ability to produce it has strongly contributed to the winning of wars and thereby the course of history. Imagine how our future might change if rubber could be self-healing. Rubber bands would last forever. New possibilities would open up for all kinds of devices and materials for medical, industrial, and consumer use.

Increase Minimum Wage, Reduce Child Neglect

Lindsey Rose Bullinger of Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs says,

Money matters, When caregivers have more disposable income, they're better able to provide a child's basic needs such as clothing, food, medical care and a safe home. Policies that increase the income of the working poor can improve children's welfare, especially younger children, quite substantially.
Those professing to truly care about the welfare of children should look at raising the minimum wage.

Renewable Subsidies Pay for Themselves

A paper in Nature Energy examines the health benefits from moving away from fossil fuels and it finds that the benefits of wind and solar offset all the subsidies.

Tuesday, August 08, 2017

This Could Be Huge

This reprograms skin cells with as simple touch of a button.

Rich are Hoarding the Growth

Economic growth thrives on demand. When workers don't have sufficient disposable income, demand dries up. This article explains where all that money is.

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

For My Navy Friends