Wednesday, May 24, 2017

America's cities are running out of room

Housing costs soar as population continues to increase and cities run out of room. Some cities, like Dallas, TX. or Kansas City, MO. remain more affordable as new development just keeps sprawling out.

Other cities, like Seattle, WA. are in regions where sprawling farther out eating up new land is less likely. Environmental rules, such as Washington State's growth Management laws, attempt to curb sprawl plus many of the outlying areas are hard to build on. Steep mountain slopes and so forth.

New development, in cities like Seattle, tend to be in dense downtown like areas. People like these type of areas where lots of urban life is handy and the neighborhoods are walk-able. Problem is, there isn't enough room in these denser areas to accommodate the people moving in. Metro areas, like Seattle, need to devote more of their land to dense "downtown style" development since sprawling out isn't really an option. Everyone who wants to move to Seattle area can't affordably fit in the limited zones that are downtown like; the urban villages. There's still too much land, in their metro areas, that is devoted to single family and low density residential.

Monday, May 22, 2017

The Trump banner guy running for Bellingham City Council?

A person named Eric often comes to Bellingham's Friday peace vigil with a large Trump sign. It's basically to annoy folks at the peace vigil who tend to not support Trump. In the last two weeks, Eric hasn't been there. Trump doesn't look that good, these days, so I think he doesn't show because he likes to rub it in people's faces, so to speak. Right after the Trump victory, he was down there gloating, but that gloating wouldn't be as effective now.

I hear, through the grapevine, that he is running for city council. A new chapter in his performance art, I guess. I see it as performance art. Antagonizing mostly liberal crowds. He's brought anti gay signs to the gay pride rally. Someone like that would never win in fairly liberal Bellingham. Not even for the County Council tho the county is more conservative. His campaign must just be to get attention.

With the fire and brimstone anti gay signs that he had before, he could pass out campaign literature near the gay pride parade, ha, ha. Political suicide, but such a person wouldn't get very many votes in Bellingham anyway.

There's speculation that someone is sponsoring him. Who would want to sponsor performance art for antagonizing folks? Makes me think of anarchists on the other side of the political spectrum. Give em hell.

People often argue with him, but most of the discussions are like shouting matches across the street. I find those kind of conversations pretty useless so I tend to ignore. I wouldn't mind sitting down to a civil discussion with him, talk theology and so forth, but I have never attempted to do that. The shouting matches around him are not easy to talk over. I save my voice for different kinds of discussion.

Too bad Trump and US arms industry licking it's chops over big arms deal to Saudi Arabia

Jobs, jobs, jobs? Selling them solar panels would be better for the world. Too bad they aren't in the market for that much wealth in solar panels. Weapons are most of what they seem to buy. Is Trump trying to throw gasoline on the flames of Sunni Shia rivalry? The recent election in Iran provides hope for moderate leadership, but that situation might be fragile.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Good news. Moderate Rouhani wins in Iran. Hopefully the Iranian people will have enough patience to keep supporting reform even though prosperity may be a difficult thing to bring about.

Good news. The moderate and more reform minded leader has won in an Iranian election. I hope that Iran can still make progress toward human rights and more quality of life.

There is worry that if Rouhani's promises for a more prosperous economy are not met, it could send the tide of popular opinion another way; such as back to a hardliner. Bringing more prosperity is difficult in any society, including our own here in USA. Meanwhile, many improvements in quality of life don't cost a lot. Prosperity shouldn't be seen as a prerequisite for better quality of life, tho it does help. Hopefully the Iranian people will have enough patience to keep supporting reform even though prosperity may be a difficult thing to bring about. Without reform, prosperity would be even less likely.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Diluting my chocolate milk with regular milk is helping

Had a checkup yesterday. I have a new doctor as my doctor retired. The new doctor is very, very good looking, but, more importantly, the numbers from my blood test were very good looking. Sugars and so forth are in the good range. Blood pressure is good.

Diluting my chocolate milk with regular milk is helping. Also the many salads and apples I eat. Drinking some unsweetened ice tea in restaurants and putting a small amount of Pepsi in it, just to make it slightly more flavorful helps. All the bicycling and dancing I do burns many calories.

The new doctor seems to share my philosophy of fairly light touch medicine. Lifestyle and diet comes easier than medical intervention. I like that attitude for many reasons, but also my insurance has a real high deductible past the preventative things that insurance companies are required to provide by law.

Possibly my only symptom of physical discomfort is an occasional pain in one ankle and a cough that persists for a while. This most likely relates to being on my feet constantly. Work, walking and so forth. A good excuse to sit in front of my computer.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Lower diet standards in schools but deny diabetics healthcare

Trump's budget chief Mulvaney wants to leave a big part of the 29 million Americans living with diabetes out in the cold.

Diabetics don't deserve health insurance? This call to pull the plug comes, ironically, as the Trump Administration acts to relax healthy eating standards in schools. Also to, at least, delay more nutrition reporting for restaurant foods.

Denying healthcare is harsh, even if people haven't had the best eating habits. Also, in some cases, diabetes is caused by genetics and other factors besides diet and lifestyle.

I'm sure some "right to lifers" are troubled by Republican ideas for rationing medical care, but secular libertarians, among the Republicans, might just say, "go ahead and pull the plug; save tax dollars." Libertarians are against government spending and non religious folks might be less troubled by right to life arguments.

On the front for promoting healthier living, Michell Obama is coming out with criticisms of Trump's school lunch policies. She is an advocate of better diets.

I can sort of see why "conservatives" want to allow chocolate milk back on school lunch menus. I know, I drink it myself. It does taste good. These days, I dilute my chocolate milk with regular milk as I know the sugar is bad. When I was a kid, I craved the stuff so much that I would eat cocoa powder right out of the can. Sometimes I wouldn't even bother with the milk. My mom would say that "I liked a little milk with my chocolate powder."

Yes, it is hard to get kids to eat healthier, but it's good to try and do the best we can.

More links.
American Diabetes Association Disappointed
Michelle Obama on Trump rollback of school lunch standards

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Changes in Congress in 2018 could be as important, if not more important, than who is the president

If scandals bring down Trump, we still have Pence and the Republican majority in Congress to deal with. It could be no better or even worse. Thank goodness it's not too far to the 2018 election. If enough people vote, we can repeal and replace most of Congress. That could be as big, if not bigger of a sea change than a new president.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Several connotations for the word conservative

The term "conservative" has quite a few connotations. On the one hand, there's the concept of investing conservatively; meaning low risk investments.

Then there's the concept of conservation, but for most of my life, conservation of the natural environment hasn't been part of the perception of conservative politics. More recently, there are those who talk about the conservative case for protecting the environment. There's groups like Evangelicals for Environmentalism, but this seems kind of new and only around the edges of political conservatism.

People's concepts of conservatism have been discussed in a few threads. My perception is as follows: at least about political conservatism.

Political Conservatism. Favoring policies that provide and preserve material wealth. Hard work, saving and protecting wealth. Pro military and safety; pro business, pro private enterprise and private development.

Political conservatism often includes principles from fundamentalist Christianity, but there's a tenuous relationship between religious conservatism and promotion of business interests.

In more recent times, conservatives have become increasingly flamboyant. Masters of entertainment, such as Rush Limbaugh. This was less the case in my childhood. There was, tho "Chamber of Commerce" style business promoters.

My mom used to say, about the city of Spokane, WA. which was quite conservative in the 1960s, "Spokane thinks it's big." "Seattle knows it's big."

Spokane seemed to be promoting itself. After all, much of its economy is being a retail trade center. Seattle was a lot bigger and more sophisticated. Seattle didn't need to brag about it as much.

Donald Trump is part of a trend of entertainment, flashy oriented conservatives which seems to be gaining ground in recent years.

Friday, May 05, 2017

The rest of the world should not follow conservative, overpopulated ways from Nigeria

There is much debate over gay rights within the Anglican (Episcopal) Church which is rooted in both the west and countries like Nigeria.

The west has been moving toward acceptance of sexual diversity while much more conservative attitudes prevail in African branches of the church. Acceptance of sexual diversity includes GLBT people while more conservative thinking sees a stronger link between sexuality and procreation. I think the world needs more sexual diversity as over population indicates that there's more than enough procreation.

I would not want the rest of the world to follow Nigeria's leadership. Could be the international Anglican Church needs to split as the theologies are in different worlds. I'm not part of that church, so I'm no expert on their politics, tho. I think it's already split here in USA.

A lot of our world's outmoded ideas, like conservative attitudes sexual diversity, can lead to problems. If procreation is the only accepted outlet for sexuality, it can cause overpopulation problems. This becomes an environmental issue as people, all over the world, aspire to a richer life.

From what I read, Nigeria's population is growing rapidly and may surpass the US in population within a few decades, tho it has far less land area than the US. An environmental nightmare as traffic and consumption rises. The average American's consumption of natural resources is higher than that of the average Nigerian, today, but people all over the world aspire toward more consumptive lifestyles. Think of all the get rich quick schemes, on the internet, that originate in Nigeria. Of course that proliferation of scams doesn't necessarily represent all of Nigeria, but it's hard for me not to bring it up.

The situation of people's aspiration toward growth in consumption prevails around the world. China is an example of vast populations aspiring to live richer lives. For instance trading in bicycles for cars in recent decades. China is often held up as an example of why people wouldn't ride bikes, in mass, if they don't have to. It's used as an example for why Americans aren't likely to cut back significantly on automobile use.

For our world to remain livable, there needs to be more innovation and acceptance of diversity in both sexual lifestyles as well as traditional aspirations for what a richer life entails. There is some good news from China, however. Bikes are making a comeback. Not only are crowding and pollution pushing some Chinese into bicycling, but new technology is leading the way. Uber / Smartphone technology is making a new bike sharing program very convenient. See How the smartphone brought young Chinese back to bicycling.

We need forward looking innovation, not backward looking mindset, as this crowded, aspiring world evolves. We need innovation, especially in the face of climate change.

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

With self driving cars, the commute could be part of the work day, rather than added on top of the work day.

I just got to thinking, when the self driving car arrives, it can be a big time saver. People can work in their cars as they are being driven to work, by the car. The commute can become part of the work day. If society is smart (tho I'm not holding my breath) folks would need to spend less time at the office since they can get much of their work done on the way to and from the office. Time at the office could still be used for interactive, face to face things such as meetings. Some of the rest of the cubicle time could be done in the car. This could free up more time for family life and so forth. Today, people have both the long work day and the long commute on top of that. If cars must still prevail, the cars of the future must be run on green energy, however.

Monday, May 01, 2017

$700,000 for a typical house in Seattle? Crazy.

I've heard the phrase, "rising tide raises all boats." This phrase points out the virtue of increasing prosperity, but another phrase may be more applicable these days. "Rising tide swamps all boats," or at least swamps many boats. Trying to buy a house in Seattle's stratospheric market often means being outbid (like your boat being swamped) by the rising tide of other folks with greater wealth. This effects the rental market also. To continue the analogy, the damaging wake that can be created by big boats.

Median price in Seattle hits $700,000.

Apr 10, 2017, KIRO 7 story.