Thursday, November 10, 2016

Wesleyan Student Finds Answers In Trump

Time to post an entry in this blog, dormant since Midsommar, as you can see below. After Donald Trump became the next US President elect, we have been subjected to countless articles claiming that he is there thanks to the group "less-well educated white males out of work". The New York Times has had such articles. Times reporters seemingly found it difficult to actually talk with the American people (see Times Public Editor article today 10 November).

Therefore I was particularly interested to read this Times article by a Wesleyan student, Bryan Stascavage. Bryan seems to say that he was not at all aware that there is a major income gap between a select 1% of the American people and the rest us until he took an Economics course at Wesleyan. I do not know how this could happen unless Bryan only read Social Media entries until he enrolled at Wesleyan.

In any case, Brian tells us that learning this and other useful information led him to be a Trump supporter who voted for Trump. Strangely, he fails to tell us what Trump has said about this gap and  if Trump wants to reduce the gap. Brian seems unaware that such a gap does not exist in a number of 21st Century countries, one of which is the one named in the title of my blog.

So in a comment on Brian's column I have suggested he might want to look at some older posts here. They do not address the income gap directly but they do show people who receive support for their children, Universal Health Care available to every single Swedish person I show, and, in the most recent, several asylum seekers who are supported by the Swedish government while the Immigration  Agency reviews their applications.

This to Brian: Brian, many of us supported Bernie Sanders because he seemed interested in making the USA more like Sweden. Your man in the White House has as his goal the making of a US that has as little resemblance to Sweden as possible.

So if you read this, Brian, why don't you tell us what will happen to the 10s of 1000s of people covered by ACA when your man does away with the ACA. We are listening.



On Campus

My Liberal University Cemented My Vote for Trump

By BRYAN STASCAVAGE
The econ department taught me about the income gap. The history and classics departments showed me that change rarely succeeds with a smile.
Or, copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://nyti.ms/2eFSMwF

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Midsommar på Anns Ö, Styrsö - Midsommar On Ann's Island, Styrsö

All over Sweden these "Majstången" are raised to show where Midsommar will be celebrated a few hours later. This one is on Styrsö at Styrö Bratten. Videos to be added will show you what goes on here. But first three other pictures, the first a new addition on July 03 for reasons explained in the caption, all three showing new additions to the traditional Styrsö Midsommar thanks to the arrival of these young men from Afghanistan.
This photo added today July 03 after reading Nicholas Kristof's column in the New York Times OnLine where a comment from Bos closes with specific reference to the words on this T shirt. I have filed a reply to BOS telling him that if he visits my blog he can see the T shirt he is quoting, albeit in a very unusual setting, Midsommar on a Swedish island. 

On Styrsö, hundreds of people of all ages will gather round Majstången. Many will be wearing a krans (A crown, a wreath with flowers) like the one worn by den svenska flickan (the Swedish girl) here. But next to her is a bearer of new tidings as we see from his friends in the next picture

Here are two of his friends bringing perhaps a new tradition

to Midsommar, a flower over the ear. To the left of the man 
with the hat is another svensk tjej (Swedish girl) also with
 the traditional krans.


When the dancing was over I found these three and a few more friends and asked if they spoke Dari (Persian, Farsi as spoken in Afghanistan. I had guessed right, they are all asylum seekers who have been living on the island for about a year while waiting for a decision. I told them that if I see them on the boat we can fika and I can lead them to the blog.











Sunday, June 5, 2016

Burlington Discover Jazz Festival - Take One - Discover Walker Adams Project

Came down from my lair on the top of Mount Philo to discover the Walker Adams Project on Center Stage on Church Street last night, June4th. Meet the leader, Walker Adams, just briefly. (see explanation at bottom, maybe). Next is trumpet player Evan who by strange coincidence lived in Rochester, NY (Brighton) 14618 perhaps when I was starting lessons as an adult with Nate Rawls. Evan - last name not yet revealed - went to high school in Pittsford and studied trumpet with an Eastman School teacher.

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Sunday, April 17, 2016

Renewable Energy 101 for New York Times Commenters

A recent OpEd by a reader expressing her opposition to the laying a natural gas transmission pipeline across a farmland tract in Pennsylvania triggered a set of responses that became for me the straw that broke the camel's back or, more literally, the recognition that this long-dormant blog must be revived.

The responses to every article about the continued use of fossil fuel in the US cover a familiar range but at one end of this range are the comments that illustrate that a set of readers knows only as renewable energy choices the two called solar and wind.

In the comments I therefore note that there are renewable technologies widely used in northern Europe and in a few places in the US that represent an untapped potential for controlling further expansion of fossil fuel use in America.

Reactions demonstrate that Times commenters whom I assume on average to be much better educated than at least 50% of Americans are not much interested in learning anything about renewable energy technology that is not solar and wind. The subset who has, for example, heard the word "geothermal", generally display the same lack of knowledge of the benign form of geothermal that is displayed in the rare times article about potential use of geothermal in the US. The rare Times articles refer to to the Cornell Science Center on Roosevelt Island and invariable contain erroneous information.

So the least I can do is link to previous posts here and begin to add Year 2016 information.

That's all for now, 09:29 CET from the Doll House By The Sea, heated primarily by an air-air heat pump.

Air-Air heat pump 101- Keepiing this simple now since I only have a few minutes. Figure 1, heat pump installed on the foundation below the room where the internal unit will be placed. The fan is virtually silent. Figure 2, internal unit delivers warm or cold air as regulated by remote control thermostat. Figure 3 The setting in which this unit operates. It maintains the temperature of the adjacent rooms at a temperature just below that of the central room
The owner A, talked with friends on Styrsöbåten, telling her to call B who installs these heat pumps. B agreed to install the next day at 9 AM. At 11 AM the system was turned on, cost a little more than $1200 USD. It replaces the direct electricity system that was common when nuclear power was to provide almost free electricity - a pipedream. The system is turned on and off according to the programming of the remote or by turning on and off. If you have lived in homes heated by oil as we did in America you cannot imagine why anyone would not convert to air-air and air-water if the other standard Swedish alternatives are not available.

Figure 1 - Heat pump

Figure 2 - Internal unit

Figure 3 setting in which the heating-cooling unite operates