News Report: “Gas prices are going to go up because hurricane damage limits production.”
Or so we are told. But don't fall for it. What we are seeing is pure market manipulation to make the rich much richer.
A look at the "rolling blackouts" that occurred in California provides us a detailed road map for what is occurring with the oil companies now. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission confirmed that California's blackouts were a business strategy where power companies systematically shut down plants to decrease production in order to drive prices much higher, and reap incredible profits.
Contrast this with the outpouring of assistance from Americans from all parts of the nation. While average Americans are opening their hearts, homes, and wallets, the big oil companies are exploiting the natural disaster for their own financial gain.
What are we getting for all of this increase in price? Are we getting refineries that are more hurricane-proof? Nope. Are they building in more reserve refining capacity? Nope.
What we get are increased oil company stock prices, and gouged at the pump.
On 11/03/05, blimp head wrote: > T.P.ing teachers houses is cruel. I hate cleaning up tolit > paper off of my lawn at 3:00a.m. in the morning. well im a student and i hate doing Homework so were even! Bitch
Dearest Student, Please spend more time on your homework since you need definite assistance in your writing skills, and if any lady teacher wanted to be called "bitch" by anyone, we would all be married to men who love to use the word. Rudeness and obnoxious language only paint you as an extremely uneducated child. Neither of these actions are warranted here on a teachers' chat board where we come to support each other not to read more of the vulgar language that we hear on a daily basis from uneducated, uncultured, undisciplined children such as yourself. Showing respect is a reward in itself. Hopefully, you will learn this some day. Peggy On 2/17/06, student wrote: > On 11/03/05, blimp head wrote: >> T.P.ing teachers houses is cruel. I hate cleaning up tolit >> paper off of my lawn at 3:00a.m. in the morning. > well im a student and i hate doing Homework so were even! > Bitch
Does your district have a plan in case of a bird flu pandemic? It may or may not happen, obviously, but if it does, it could be a terrible thing. Will schools be among the first places shut down because the flu can spread quickly through a classroom, or will they stay open because they are such a critical part of societal infrastructure? If it hits, a classroom is NOT going to be a safe place for anyone.
I was originally alarmed to hear the expected death rates of fifty percent. But it turns out this is way above what would really be expected. The worst we would really expect would be a two percent death rate and that would be very high. Apparently the fifty percent figure is based only on people who are very sick. It is most likely that others who are not very sick are not being counted at all at this early stage. And thus the figures have been grossly overstated.
My area just had a practice massive flu shot administration and this worked very well, inoculating some 700 people in a matter of hours. Things will be okay.
Monica Ghee
On 11/05/05, B wrote: > Does your district have a plan in case of a bird flu > pandemic? It may or may not happen, obviously, but if it > does, it could be a terrible thing. Will schools be among > the first places shut down because the flu can spread > quickly through a classroom, or will they stay open > because they are such a critical part of societal > infrastructure? If it hits, a classroom is NOT going to > be a safe place for anyone.
It only took hiim 30 years to figure this out. Meanwhile in August we spent $23 bil. on imported oil.
Agriculture commissioner sees ethanol as state's next big farm product
By MARK JOHNSON Associated Press Writer
November 13, 2005, 10:10 AM EST
ALBANY, N.Y. -- There are about two million acres of former farmland in New York that could be used to boost the state's rural economy while reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil, the state's agriculture commissioner said.
Nathan Rudgers, head of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, said the land, particularly in struggling areas like northern New York and the Southern Tier, could be used to grow crops to make ethanol. Typically, ethanol is made from corn, but scientists have been exploring the use of other crops, as well as grasses and trees.
It is the fuel made from those sources, called cellulosic ethanol, Rudgers is touting as "the most exciting future opportunity" for New York farmers.
"If you take the troubled combination of a pretty big rural land base here that has a lot of marginal farm land, crops that might be grown there that aren't being grown now, and a ready market for the end product of that crop production, that's a compelling case," Rudgers told The Associated Press.
According to the industry, only about 500 of the 180,000 fuel stations in the United States currently offer E85, an alternative fuel made from a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. There are about five stations in New York offering E85.
Just a fraction of the vehicles on the road are able to burn E85, and those have tended to be sport utility vehicles or pickup trucks such as the Dodge Durango or the Ford F-150. Industry officials say more automakers will soon be offering the so-called flexible fuel vehicles as ethanol becomes more readily available.
In New York, Northeast Biofuels is building a $110 million refinery to produce ethanol at a former Miller brewery in Fulton. Ethanol production at the plant is expected to begin in late 2006, producing a minimum of 100 million gallons a year, managing partner Eric Will II said.
Another group of New York farmers is building an ethanol plant just outside Seneca Falls, 30 miles west of Syracuse. It will produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol a year and employ 35 people.
The plants could eventually be used to make cellulosic ethanol.
"The capability certainly exists to bring in all these feed stocks to make ethanol," Will said. "It's up to the folks on research side. There's no doubt you can do it, but has to be in a cost-effective manner."
Rudgers estimates that cellulosic ethanol will be a commercial reality in about five years.
"I think he's right on target with that," said Larry Walker, a professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University. "There is research and development that is going to cause revolutions."
Cheap oil for the past 20 years has kept alternative energy sources from gaining more widespread acceptance. But with oil prices skyrocketing this year, alternatives like ethanol make more economic sense, Walker said.
Walker cited estimates that ethanol could replace up to 50 percent of oil use in the next 20 years.
He said a "whole spectrum of industrial chemicals" that are now made from oil can also be made from ethanol production byproducts.
Both Cornell and SUNY's College of Environmental Science and Forestry are doing research on cellulosic ethanol. Large chemical companies, such as Cargill Inc., Dow Chemical Co. and Dupont are partly funding projects with the Energy Department to bring cellulosic ethanol to the marketplace, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Because ethanol cannot be transported by pipeline (it tends to pick up water and impurities), New York's proximity to major markets that are home to 20 percent of the U.S. population would give it an advantage, Rudgers said.
Currently, the estimated cost to produce cellulosic ethanol is $2.30 per gallon, according to the Energy Department. There is an added cost of about 40 cents a gallon for transportation and some taxes. There are also various state and federal credits that lower the price at the pump. Last month, ethanol retailed for more than $2 a gallon.
Chris Kielich, an Energy Department spokeswoman, said the cost should come down in the next few years.
"We have made strong headway in reducing the cost of conversion of cellulosic feedstock to ethanol and into high value products, including chemicals," she said. Research and development "coupled with the revenue provided by the co-products, will indeed make the biorefinery, using cellulosic materials, economical in five years."
Still, there are many logistical hurdles to cross.
"The change in adding infrastructure is never going to happen overnight," Will said. "But I think we're finally headed in the right direction."
_____
On the Net:
Department of Agriculture and Markets: [link removed]
National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition: [link removed]
I am not a primary or secondayr school teacher. (My mother was a 3rd grade school teacher in NYC for over 25 years - so I guess it's i the blood).
I am enrolled in a Masters ind Educational Leadership Program at Argosy University. In a current class I was given the question "What are the main impediments to change in your school or district?"
Can anyone out there can give me some brief answers to this question?
1. A HUGE lack of understanding of the importance of scientific research in practice. As a psychologist, I am appalled at how teachers and administrators lack a genuine understanding of how important research is when we adopt new programs, interventions, and policies. It's sickening that TONS of precious education monies are spent on pure junk (i.e., unproven programs, materials, and curricula)---yet good, scientific research-based programs sit by the wayside because no one realizes their importance and value.
I once read the following statement: "In medicine, tranferring new research-into-practice takes approximately 6 months. In education, it takes a generation."
2. A COMPLETE lack of efficiency. Education is such a convoluted bureaucracy--rare are its policies and procedures evaluated for efficiency. Instead the top-down policies just keep building upon teachers' responsibilities. Rarely are programs or procedures analyzed to determine if they can be removed and replaced with a more efficient system. New things are just dumped on top of old policies/procedures--- and each year, the pile increases.
3. Often in districts, the left hand not only doesn't know what the right hand is doing---the left hand doesn't even KNOW a right hand exists! Re-invention of the wheel seems to be a mantra of Education.
I wil think of more examples and post later...
GREAT question!
On 11/19/05, Daniel Scharfman, D.C. wrote: > I am not a primary or secondayr school teacher. (My mother > was a 3rd grade school teacher in NYC for over 25 years - > so I guess it's i the blood). > > I am enrolled in a Masters ind Educational Leadership > Program at Argosy University. In a current class I was > given the question "What are the main impediments to change > in your school or district?" > > Can anyone out there can give me some brief answers to this > question? > > Thanks > > Dan
I am a former middle-school English teacher who cathartically wrote an autobiographical comedy movie script based on my experiences with teaching and testing. Since I have not been able to sell it as a screenplay, I hereby offer it for free reading on the Web to any bedraggled teacher who needs (a) a laugh, and (b) to realize that he/she is not alone. Read the script at:
On 1/14/06, Rob Eberly wrote: > I am a former middle-school English teacher who > cathartically wrote an autobiographical comedy movie > script based on my experiences with teaching and testing. > Since I have not been able to sell it as a screenplay, I > hereby offer it for free reading on the Web to any > bedraggled teacher who needs (a) a laugh, and (b) to > realize that he/she is not alone. Read the script at: > > [link removed]!!
The GEODE Initiative at Northwestern University is developing a new environmental science unit designed to help teachers tie local issues into their curriculum. The unit is intended to supplement an environmental science curriculum we have developed at Northwestern called Investigations in Environmental Science, which is being published by It’s About Time.
We would like the unit to include as many “real-world” cases of how teachers like you have connected environmental issues to the community. These could be activities that you have done within the classroom, within the community, using technology, or on scant resources. It is our aim to give all teachers, teaching in a wide variety of settings, examples they can use with their own students.
Teachers who submit cases will be credited for their contributions when the unit is published and will have opportunities to submit pictures and other artifacts as well.
If you have an example you would like to submit please send me a brief email about what you did and how I may contact you.
Please also feel free to take a look at the curriculum’s website or email me with any questions:
[link removed]
Sincerely,
Jean Sutow Research Analyst Northwestern University Annenberg Hall 2120 Campus Drive Evanston, Illinois 60208 j-[email removed]
If you would like to join Senator Feingold's move to censure Bush for his illegal wiretapping, visit moveon.org and sign the petition. Hold the president accountable for his actions.
...it had come from any place but moveon. Their biased agenda, with absolutely no attempt to look at both sides of an issue, does not make them a credible source of information. Difficult to sort fact, from opinion, from rumors.
On 3/17/06, why? wrote: > On 3/15/06, more wrote: >> If you would like to join Senator Feingold's move to >> censure Bush for his illegal wiretapping, visit moveon.org >> and sign the petition. Hold the president accountable for >> his actions. >> >> mad as hell > > You do realize that the democrats won't even allow the vote to > happen. Feingold is a publicity wh0re, and this was a simply a > stunt.
Dearest Student,
Please spend more time on your homework since you need definite
assistance in your writing skills, and if any lady teacher
wanted to be called "bitch" by anyone, we would all be married
to men who love to use the word. Rudeness and obnoxious
language only paint you as an extremely uneduca...See More