March 2014 archive

Sunday Train: Car Subsidies & Ebbing Vehicles Miles Travelled

Earlier this month, the philly.com from the Philadelphia Inquirer carried a story, Drop in traffic on area highways forces review of plans. It cites several “area” road funding decisions based on assumptions of growing traffic, which turned out to be false:

  • A $2.5b New Jersey Turnpike widening justifiedm in 2005, by projections of a 68% increase in traffic volumes over the coming 25 years … where turnpike traffic in 2013 is only 90% of 2005 levels
  • The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission undertook to provide up to $900m in annual funding for other roads around the state, based on projections of Turnpike traffic growth of 3% to 5% … while to date, there hasn’t been any appreciable traffic growth
  • The Scudder Falls bridge taking I-95 over the Delaware River was a four lane bridge that the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission decided in 2003 to replace with a nine-line $328m bridge based on projected traffic increases of 35% by 2035 … and to date, that growth in traffic has not yet materialized

The article poses the question of “whether” the traffic growth that went away following the Panic of 2008 and which hasn’t shown up in the ensuing Depression of 2008 to, optimistically, 2015, might not ever turn up.

Well, it probably won’t. And that raises the follow-up question, what are we going to do about it?

Rant of the Week: Bill Maher’s New Rules: The Power of Language

Bill Maher New Rules Dead Man’s Party (The Power of Language)

On This Day In History March 23

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

March 23 is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 283 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1775, Patrick Henry voices American opposition to British policy

During a speech before the second Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry responds to the increasingly oppressive British rule over the American colonies by declaring, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Following the signing of the American Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Patrick Henry was appointed governor of Virginia by the Continental Congress.

Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786. Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 and is well remembered for his “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential exponents of Republicanism, promoters of the American Revolution and Independence, especially in his denunciations of corruption in government officials and his defense of historic rights. After the Revolution, Henry was a leader of the anti-federalists in Virginia who opposed the United States Constitution, fearing that it endangered the rights of the States, as well as the freedoms of individuals.

American Revolution

Responding to pleas from Massachusetts that the colonies create committees of correspondence to coordinate their reaction to the British, Henry took the lead in Virginia. In March 1773, along with Thomas Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee, Henry led the Virginia House of Burgesses to adopt resolutions providing for a standing committee of correspondents. Each colony set up such committees, and they led to the formation of the First Continental Congress in 1774, to which Henry was elected.

Patrick Henry is best known for the speech he made in the House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775, in Saint John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. The House was undecided on whether to mobilize for military action against the encroaching British military force, and Henry argued in favor of mobilization. Forty-two years later, Henry’s first biographer, William Wirt, working from oral testimony, attempted to reconstruct what Henry said. According to Wirt, Henry ended his speech with words that have since become immortalized:

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, Give me Liberty, or give me Death!”

The crowd, by Wirt’s account, jumped up and shouted “To Arms! To Arms!”. For 160 years Wirt’s account was taken at face value, but in the 1970s historians began to question the authenticity of Wirt’s reconstruction.[8] Historians today observe that Henry was known to have used fear of Indian and slave revolts in promoting military action against the British, and that according to the only written first-hand account of the speech, Henry used some graphic name-calling that failed to appear in Wirt’s heroic rendition.

In August 1775, Henry became colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment. At the outset of the Revolutionary War, Henry led militia against Royal Governor Lord Dunmore in defense of some disputed gunpowder, an event known as the Gunpowder Incident. During the war he served as the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia and presided over several expeditions against the Cherokee Indians, who were allied with the British.

Henry lived during part of the War at his 10,000-acre Leatherwood Plantation in Henry County, Virginia, where he, his first cousin Ann Winston Carr and her husband Col. George Waller had settled. During the five years Henry lived at Leatherwood, from 1779 to 1784, he owned 75 slaves, and grew tobacco. During this time, he kept in close touch with his friend the explorer Joseph Martin, whom Henry had appointed agent to the Cherokee nation, and with whom Henry sometimes invested in real estate, and for whom the county seat of Henry County was later named.

In early November 1775 Henry and James Madison were elected founding trustees of Hampden-Sydney College, which opened for classes on November 10. He remained a trustee until his death in 1799. Henry was instrumental in achieving passage of the College’s Charter of 1783, an action delayed because of the war. He is probably the author of the Oath of Loyalty to the new Republic included in that charter. Seven of his sons attended the new college.

March Madness 2014: Women’s Round of 64 Day 2

Yesterday’s Results

Seed School Record Seed School Record Score Region
2 * Duke (28 – 6) 15 Winthrop (24 – 9) (87 – 45) MidWest
8 Vanderbilt (18 – 13) 9 * Arizona State (23 – 9) (69 – 61) East
5 * Oklahoma State (24 – 8) 12 Florida Gulf Coast (26 – 8) (61 – 60) East
3 * Kentucky (25 – 8) 14 Wright State (26 – 9) (106 – 60) East
1 * Notre Dame (33 – 0) 16 Robert Morris (21 – 12) (93 – 42) East
7 * DePaul (28 – 6) 10 Oklahoma (18 – 15) (104 – 100) MidWest
4 * Purdue (22 – 8) 13 Akron (23 – 10) (84 – 55) East
6 * Syracuse (23 – 9) 11 Chattanooga (29 – 4) (59 – 53) East
4 * Nebraska (26 – 6) 13 Fresno State (22 – 11) (74 – 55) MidWest
7 Iowa State (20 – 11) 10 * Florida State (21 – 11) (44 – 55) West
7 * California (22 – 9) 10 Fordham (25 – 8) (64 – 63) East
1 * Tennessee (28 – 5) 16 Northwestern (16 – 16) (70 – 46) South
5 N.C. State (25 – 8) 12 * BYU (27 – 6) (72 – 57) MidWest
2 * Stanford (31 – 3) 15 S. Dakota (19 – 14) (81 – 62) West
2 * Baylor (30 – 4) 15 W. Kentucky (24 – 9) (87 – 74) East
8 * St. John’s (23 – 10) 9 USC (22 – 13) (71 – 68) South

Today’s Games

Time Network Seed School Record Seed School Record Region
12:30 ESPN2 4 Maryland (24 – 6) 13 Army (25 – 7) South
12:30 ESPN2 7 Louisianna State (19 – 12) 10 Georgia Tech (20 – 11) South
12:30 ESPN2 5 Michigan State (22 – 9) 12 Hampton (28 – 4) West
12:30 ESPN2 3 Penn State (22 – 7) 14 Wichita (26 – 6) West
3:00 ESPN 5 Texas (21 – 11) 12 Penn (22 – 6) South
3:00 ESPN 2 W. Virginia (29 – 4) 15 Albany (28 – 4) South
3:00 ESPN 4 N. Carolina (24 – 9) 13 UT Martin (24 – 7) West
3:00 ESPN 6 Dayton (23 – 7) 11 Florida (19 – 12) West
5:30 ESPN 3 Louisville (30 – 4) 14 Idaho (25 – 8) South
5:30 ESPN 8 Georgia (20 – 11) 9 St. Joseph’s (22 – 9) MidWest
5:30 ESPN 6 Gonzaga (24 – 9) 11 James Madison (28 – 5) MidWest
5:30 ESPN 1 S. Carolina (27 – 4) 16 CSU Northridge (18 – 14) West
8:00 ESPN 1 UConn (34 – 0) 16 Prairie View A&M (14 – 17) MidWest
8:00 ESPN2 6 Iowa (26 – 8) 11 Marist (27 – 6) South
8:00 ESPN2 3 Texas A&M (24 – 8) 14 N. Dakota (22 – 9) MidWest
8:00 ESPN2 8 Middle Tennessee (29 – 4) 9 Oregon State (23 – 10) West

March Madness 2014: Men’s Round of 32 Day 2

Yesterday’s Results

Seed School Record Seed School Record Score Region
1 * Florida (34 – 2) 9 Pittsburgh (26 – 10) (61 – 45) South
4 * Louisville (31 – 5) 5 Saint Louis (27 – 7) (66 – 51) MidWest
2 * Michigan (27 – 8) 7 Texas (24 – 11) (79 – 65) MidWest
4 * San Diego St. (31 – 4) 12 N. Dakota State (26 – 7) (63 – 44) West
3 Syracuse (28 – 6) 11 * Dayton (25 – 10) (53 – 55) South
2 * Wisconsin (28 – 7) 7 Oregon (24 – 10) (85 – 77) West
4 * Michigan State (28 – 8) 12 Harvard (27 – 5) (80 – 73) East
2 Villanova (29 – 5) 7 * Connecticut (28 – 8) (65 – 77) East

Today’s Games

Time Network Seed School Record Seed School Record Region
12:15 CBS 2 Kansas (25 – 9) 10 Stanford (22 – 12) South
2:45 CBS 1 Wichita State (35 – 0) 8 Kentucky (25 – 10) MidWest
5:15 CBS 3 Iowa State (27 – 7) 6 N. Carolina (24 – 9) East
6:10 TNT 11 Tennessee (23 – 12) 14 Mercer (27 – 8) MidWest
7:10 TBS 4 UCLA (27 – 8) 12 Stephen Austin (32 – 2) South
7:45 truTV 3 Creighton (27 – 7) 6 Baylor (25 – 11) West
8:40 TNT 1 Virginia (29 – 6) 8 Memphis (24 – 9) East
9:40 TBS 1 Arizona (31 – 4) 8 Gonzaga (29 – 6) West

Friday’s Results below.

Punting the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition

Punting the Punditsis an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with George Stephanopolis: This Sunday’s guests are: FiveThirtyEight.com editor-in-chief and ABC News special contributor Nate Silver; and  actor and Water.org co-founder Matt Damon.

The roundtable guests are Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., ABC News’ Cokie Roberts, and Foreign Policy Initiative co-founder Dan Senor.

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Mr. Schieffer’s guests are U.S. Airways Capt. Sully Sullenbrger and David Gallo, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; former presidential candidate Mitt Romney; Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Dick Durbin (D-IL); CBS News foreign correspondent Clarissa Ward; Leigh Gallagher of Fortune; and David Sanger of The New York Times.

Meet the Press with David Gregory: Sunday’s MTP guests are: President Jimmy Carter; chairman of the Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers (R-MI); and former homeland security chairman Michael Chertoff.

The roundtable guests are NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, New York Times columnist David Brooks, National Review Editor Rich Lowry and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Ms. Crowley’s guests are: underwater search and rescue expert Curt Newport; Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA); Reverend Earl Johnson, former National Disaster Spiritual Care Manager for the Red Cross; White House Deputy National Security Adviser, Tony Blinken and Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright.

Her panel guests are Newt Gingrich, USA Today’s Susan Page and Neera Tanden.

Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Malaysia flight MH370: Indian Ocean search resumes

 23 March 2014 Last updated at 07:39

  The BBC

More planes have joined an increasingly international search of the south Indian Ocean for missing flight MH370.

Eight planes were sent out on Sunday over a wider search area after China released new images of possible debris.

Australia is leading the search and said it was investigating sightings of a wooden pallet and other items.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people on board.

Malaysian officials believe the plane was deliberately taken off course.




Sunday’s Headlines:

Global warming to hit Asia hardest, warns new report on climate change

Al-Qai’da aid project shows the way in Afghanistan

More deaths in Venezuela amid pro and anti-Maduro rallies

Côte d’Ivoire hands Laurent Gbagbo ally to ICC

Turkey: Twitter Allows For ‘Character Assassination’

What We Learned This Week

Up substitute host, Krystal Ball and her guests share the big things they learned over the last week.

Random Japan

 photo ajiyoshi_zps1f89678c.jpg

 “Hungover today, sorry!” Laidback Tsukuba cafe gives hilarious reasons for frequent closings

  Mike

Tsukuba is a small, planned city nestled in the mountains of Ibaraki, which has a reputation for being a pretty chilled out place to live. The small population size and abundance of surrounding nature give the city a slow-paced, laid back feeling compared to the bustle of major cities like Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka.

We hear there are also a lot of great places to eat in Tsukuba, provided your restaurant or cafe of choice isn’t closed for the day because they couldn’t decide on the day’s menu items or the manager has a hangover.

Health and Fitness News

Welcome to the Health and Fitness NewsWelcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Inspired by Irish Soda Bread

Inspired by Irish Soda Bread photo recipehealthpromo-tmagArticle_zpsd3d714da.jpg

I put a little bit of white flour in my loaves, but you could use all whole-wheat flour if you prefer. With whole wheat, your bread will have more fiber, zinc, B vitamins and iron, and its glycemic index will be considerably lower than that of bread made with white flour. Irish-style wholemeal flour, available from King Arthur Flour and from importers, has a coarse crumb that is typical of Irish soda bread. I achieved the same crumb using my Community Grains whole-wheat flour and adding oatmeal to the mix. I used buttermilk as the liquid, but you can also use yogurt or a mix of yogurt and milk. You do need the acid from the fermented milk to react with the baking soda.

~Martha Rose Shulman~

Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Scones With Raisins and Oatmeal

These are diminutive, light scones like the ones that originated in Britain and Ireland.

Moist Brown Soda Bread Loaf With Oats

This soda bread is baked at a lower temperature so that it doesn’t develop a hard crust.

Whole-Wheat Soda Bread With Raisins (Spotted Dog)

A mix of raisins sweetens this brown soda bread.

Brown Soda Bread Loaf With Caraway Seeds and Rye

A regional version of soda bread that is dark-brown, grainy and moist.

Savory Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Scones With Rosemary and Thyme

A whole-grain scone that pairs well with cheese.

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