Noah

You've probably heard criticisms about the movie, "Noah," which just opened.  We went to see it this weekend. Being thoroughly Hollywood, it has huge drama that certainly is not in the Bible account, but it also had things I liked.

This Noah "aspires to goodness and justice"; he wants to do what's right; he puts distance between his family and the surrounding moral darkness of his society. The script in this respect is better than you might think if you've heard (dumb) remarks from (fine) actor Russell Crowe.

At one point, Noah makes a mistake about what God wants him to do. After all, this really is ancient history - he didn't have scripture as a guide, he didn't have the Holy Spirit living within. He makes the right decision, and one of the other characters explains that maybe The Creator left the momentous decision to him to make.

Opinions abound! For a reviewer who hated the movie, see this - and this is a neutral point of view.

More corn

According to World Bank, "Innovation plays an important role in creating jobs, generating income, alleviating poverty, and driving social development".

It's easy to see innovation in process by looking at Stine Seed (see yesterday's post) and their vision to double global production of corn.  The strategy is to develop corn plants which can grow closer together (12") and thereby yield an increased number of bushels of corn per acre at harvest.

cornandsoybeandigest.com

Feed the world

Back in the 1970's, The Population Bomb claimed that the goal to feed all earth's people  had already failed, and that there would definitely be millions/billions dying of starvation by the end of the 20th century.

That didn't happen.  Innovative human beings created countless improvements in the production of food.

One of them is Harry Stine of Iowa (not a household name).  He founded the largest private seed company in the world and has 900 patents, all while coping with dyslexia and mild autism.

He thinks he can double the world's output of corn, earth's most popular crop.

"[S]ome of the most impressive and fundamentally important advances on Earth are occurring today in agriculture, and the global epicenter is America’s heartland. . "

Japan's singles

In Japan, the rapid demographic shift to a smaller working-age population compared to a growing elderly population is fueled by a declining birth rate.  Having an average of 1.39 babies per woman just can't keep those numbers balanced (it takes an average of 2.1 babies per woman to maintain stable population).

A significant cause of the low birth rate may be that about one million young men have withdrawn from all society, contributing to fewer marriages and the resulting fewer children.  The syndrome in Japan is called hikikomori.  A man tells his personal story here in a BBC interview.

Japan's elderly

Did I say yesterday that the changing worker-to-retiree ratio would change entitlements and social patterns?  That was maybe putting it too gently.  The need to reduce the cost of social entitlements, especially to the elderly, is going to get severe.

It may be starting already in Japan (see yesterday's post).  

Just last year a high-ranking government official put things extremely bluntly. Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said that "the elderly should be allowed to “hurry up and die” to reduce the burden on a country tasked to pay for their medical expenses."  He apologized for his words.

Japanese aging

The number of elderly persons relative to the number of persons of working age in Japan is a ratio that gets a lot of attention because Japan is "the world’s fastest aging society."

"Japan’s shrinking labor force means there are fewer taxpayers to pay for state-funded care of dependent seniors. A quarter of Japanese are older than 65 years now and by 2060 about 40 percent will fall into that demographic . . " (As a comparison, "Seniors made up 13.3 percent of the U.S. population in 2011 and will account for at least 20 percent of the population by 2060 . . ")

This means entitlements will have to decrease as there are fewer people making money, and more people needing support.

This article at Bloomberg.com explains that the government is starting to change its reimbursement policies for feeding tubes for the elderly.

Scant sleep

Lack of sleep kills brain cells - at least in mice.  That's what was found in a new study from the University of Pennsylvania and Peking University.

"The researchers limited the test mice to four to five hours of sleep over each 24-hour time period. After just three days of sleep deprivation the mice experienced a 25% loss of LCs in a particular section of the brain stem."

More research is needed to confirm that this happens to humans as well, but it seems likely.  Maybe it would be good to take seriously the need for enough sleep.  We all need all our brain cells.

Good kids

Dennis Prager suggests that you ask your kids a particular question to find out what you have been communicating to them about what's important.

Paycheck

New grads starting to earn a substantial paycheck will have a few choices to make - what to do about 401k's, health savings accounts, IRA's, checking accounts, special benefits.  There's good information at "New Grads, Here's What to Do with Your First Paycheck."

It's the first in a series of four articles helping you, or someone you know who has recently entered the workforce, to get momentum & habit going in a successful direction for you right from the beginning.  Or the middle, or whatever stage you're in.

Intellectual snobbery

Sometimes we hear from atheists that they are the only smart truth-seekers, with the assumption that believers are dumb.  A writer at The Atlantic calls this "intellectual snobbery."

She reviews a new book by a British historian that traces atheism through the history of prominent people who were captivated by it.  She says the book seems to assume that everybody must adopt atheism because smart and respected people have done so.  She has a problem with this, as follows:

"This is problematic for several reasons. For one thing, it suggests that believers are inherently less thoughtful than non-believers. [The atheist book] tells stories of famous thinkers and artists who have struggled to reconcile themselves to a godless world. And these are helpful, in that they offer insight into how dynamic, creative people have tried to live.

"But that doesn't mean the average believer's search for meaning and understanding is any less rigorous or valuable—it just ends with a different conclusion: that God exists. Watson implies that full engagement with the project of being human in the modern world leads to atheism, and that's just not true."

Good point.

Energy card

"[I]t would surprise no one if Russia played the energy card to control events."  Right, and they did so on Saturday.

Russia brought troops and weapons across the Ukraine/Crimea border to take a village and a natural gas distribution station.

Is the sovereign, independent nation of Ukraine going to be progressively invaded and subdued by Russia?  Pray that they are able to repel invaders and keep their independence.

Incomes & energy

Increased production of oil and natural gas in America is very good news for American families. Energy prices go down and more jobs provide more income, this we know.

IHS has researched what those results will actually look like in terms of dollars for families:

"Robust energy production will increase wages, cut energy and manufacturing costs and add as much as $2,000 a year to each family's income by 2015 . . . "  In 2013, the value added to an average household was about $1200.

Why is this happening?  Because oil and natgas production has become much more productive, i.e. more energy can be made with less expenditure of resources (money, labor).

Escaping the DPRK

More from that report by the U.N. inquiry into human rights in North Korea:

“What we have seen and heard so far – the specificity, detail and shocking character of the personal testimony – appears without doubt to demand follow-up action by the world community, and accountability on the part of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Michael Kirby, chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK . . 

“We heard from ordinary people who faced torture and imprisonment for doing nothing more than watching foreign soap operas or holding a religious belief,” said Kirby, a retired Australian judge with broad international experience."

There have been escapes from the nightmare.  An estimated 50,000 are thought to be hiding in China, often aided by Christian pastors.  

Back in 2009, National Geographic had a story on the lives of escapees:

"For Red, whose family lived within sight of the border, China appeared a seductive paradise. "I could see so many lights from apartment blocks and a power plant. China looked so rich." She had been raised on a collective farm in the province of North Hamgyong, the poorest part of North Korea and the source of most border crossers. "I grew up seeing people getting sick and dying from eating grass," she said."

That U.N. report will come out this month.  But it will certainly not be news to the world.

UN on North Korea

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights reports the stories of hundreds of people who have been witness to terrible things in North Korea.

Eric Metaxas urges that the U.S. pass a bill that sanctions North Korea to put pressure on that government for the sake of the people whose lives are being ruined.

Straw bales - NY

I didn't hear about it until last August. The NY Times heard of it  way back a year ago, and I didn't even know they were interested in gardening.

Straw bale gardening was national news a year ago apparently.  It's used where there is no soil, like in the city surrounded by blacktop and concrete.  It's used where the soil is no good, even polluted. Check the stories of people who became a little fanatical.

To quote, "straw is a hot commodity in Manhattan."

Avalanche story

Sixteen expert ski professionals and one back-country run on 32" of new powder - it had the allure of adventure and a bit of risk. In this case, the risk got the better of the risk-takers. They found themselves overtaken by an avalanche and some died.

More than just text, better than just video, this story from 2012 draws you in with compelling visual and creative structure.

It's pretty long, but scroll through at least the first chapter to get the impact. It's a headline made up close and personal.

Floating turbines

The U.S. has no floating wind farms on the west coast yet, but a project has just been approved by the government for five floating 6Mw turbines (with a cement ballast system) about 15 miles off the Oregon shore.

Portugal already employs a floating turbine.  There are fewer regulations involved since it is not bolted to the seabed, and a 20% higher cost per mega-watt hour.

No resolution yet to the ongoing question of whether there is a self-sustaining, competitive business model for wind energy.  I keep watching for it.

Ukraine's gaslines

Russia's big bargaining chip in this conflict is natural gas.  NY Times reports that they have used their gas and oil resources for coercion before.

Russia supplies most of the natural gas that Europe uses, and a lot of it travels by pipeline through Ukraine.  So not only does Ukraine depend on Russian natural gas, but Europe depends on the Ukraine route.  Russia has a good hand if they like to play a tough game (and they do).

You may remember that America has been producing natural gas at a tremendous rate and has huge resources.  There is a movement to urge the U.S. government to approve exporting it - to Ukraine as our first customer, and without delay - because it would surprise no one if Russia played the energy card to control events.

In addition to potential help for Ukraine, see Time U.S. for another way American natural gas is playing  a part in foreign policy.

Ukraine's situation

When the new government was set up in Kiev and the fighting stopped, that was not the end of this story.  As you know, Russia did not like the outcome and sent troops across Ukrainian borders.

Greg Satell, contributor at Forbes, makes these corrections to Western media reports about the  Ukraine story:

1. The new government is not inept, but experienced - not undemocratic, but rather chosen by their own parliament. 

2.  The country is not radically divided against itself.

3.  Ukraine's forces are very competent and not helpless victims.

4.  Russia does not totally have the upper hand.

MTD Beliefs

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) is thought to be the common core of religious beliefs among American teenagers.  It's common regardless if they're Christian, Jewish, or something else.

It's not based on truth claims, but on a common view of God - that He would like us to be kind and nice, and that He is kind and nice too.

According to this author, teenagers have gotten this message from their nominally religious/Christian parents who have few convictions.

God-like imagining

We as humans imagine possibilities that don't exist yet.  It's the basis of all creation - the starting point to build anything worthwhile.  Before all that, the imagination pictures it (the creation, the achievement, the building, the improvement).

Christianity gives a plausible explanation for this ubiquitous human trait:  the One who created us included in our nature something of His own nature - in Latin  the term is "imago dei," the image of God.  He imagined and He then created,  as recorded in Genesis.

Sometimes the imagination is suppressed, with bad results.  We were created to imagine.  When we're not allowed to imagine and to create, grief follows.  

The supernatural, personal God is real and designed you to imagine and create.  What kind of future are you imagining today?

Learning gap

Tony Norman, who writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettte, thinks that we are off the mark when we explain the racial education gap by poor teaching or poor funding.  

The gap isn't because of "some defect in the cognitive abilities of black students. Education isn't racially coded to prevent minority kids from learning the material."

"Parents of black students have to become insistent stakeholders who personally reinforce the value of education even if they're not educated themselves."

He thinks the key to closing that gap is in the parents.  This should sound familiar if you've read about KIPP charter schools.  When the two KIPP founder/teachers started to be successful with students, one of their discoveries was that education works best when the parents are personally involved stakeholders.

Tesla on track

Tesla's Model S, selling for about $50-60k, was the new best-selling full size luxury sedan in the U.S. in 2013, with about 18,000 cars sold.  Production of the Model S is projected to grow by a whopping 50% in 2014.

You may remember (post December 10) that owner Elon Musk's strategy for his electric car company was to start out with a high end model (done), then the Model S (successful), then a mass market version.  

That last step, the Model X, will probably start being delivered to customers in 2017.

An essential step to the mass market Tesla is something Musk calls the "Giga factory."  "Current worldwide battery production of laptop cells — the kind Tesla uses — would be more than doubled to meet the company’s needs for the new vehicle and Tesla believes the best way to do it is a purpose-built factory."

 This coming mass-market electric vehicle is  "the car we’ve always wanted to make,” Musk told CNN.

Ukrainian lad

"A lad from Lviv" seems to have created a turning point in history.  

As you know (yesterday's post), protests against the government resulted in the president fleeing the country.  I didn't know til today that a 26-year-old young man, Volodymyr Parasiuk, probably was responsible for that.

photo:  univest, inc

Tense negotiations between protesters (the opposition) and the government had resulted in an agreement last week that kept Pres. Yanukovych in power, based on his promise that he would allow elections later this year.  

Then last Friday night, Parasiuk jumped up in front of the crowded city square and "made an electrifying impromptu speech denouncing the opposition for "shaking hands with this killer."  82 people had died on the streets during the protests, mostly killed by Yanukovych's  forces.

Yanukovych  "flew out of Kiev by helicopter that night."

Ukrainian restraint

Ukraine's protests (see post of February 7) have turned into full-fledged revolt against their government and President Yanukovych, who just days ago ran from the capitol.

 People poured into his compound this weekend and found luxury that astonished them.

Instead of escalating protest into civil war, there has been restraint.  Parliament moved quickly to set up a new government which is supported by the police and the military.

And, in the midst of the chaos, there has been no looting.

Ukrainians, I salute you and I wish you well.

Inherited suffering

Here's a view of the drug overdose death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman that you probably haven't heard yet.  It's the viewpoint of a psychiatrist.

Dr. Keith Ablow says, "I know what kind of damage Hoffman has done because I routinely pick up the pieces after addicts decimate their families." 

"They [children and spouse] often wonder whether anything in life can be trusted, whether they can ever be safe from catastrophe.  And that makes them vulnerable to depression and drug addiction and personality disorders, just like their dad was. Round and round and round. That’s the real way psychiatric suffering is passed through generations.

"I am on the front lines.  I know this to be true."

Leverage an idea

Luis von Ahn had a wonderfully productive idea - a way to get the web translated completely freely.  It would cost about $50 million to hire professionals just to translate Wikipedia into Spanish, so how expensive would it be to translate the whole web?

The amazing idea has started the project and gets it done for free.  Watch this TED talk to get the idea.  Luis von Ahn is the inventor of CAPTCHA and Duolingo (see the posts of February 13, 14, 17)).

Lake Superior

A good percentage of you readers are outside the U.S. and may not know that Lake Superior is located on the American-Canadian border along the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

It's the largest lake in the world by surface area, though Lake Baikal is deeper.  Its water is cold all year and violent storms have sunk ships (like the Edmund Fitzgerald).  The Minnesota shoreline is rocky, rugged, dramatic.

Duluth, Minnesota, at the farthest western point of the lake, is an inland seaport and a take-off point for wilderness hiking and camping along the North Shore.  If you go, do see Canal Park, Lake Superior Railroad Museum, and the S.S. William A. Irvin Oar Boat.

Ice Caves

Lake Superior, the biggest freshwater lake in the world, has something rare to offer this winter:  ice-filled caves which are accessible on foot.  The lake is nearly completely frozen over, so it's possible to walk out there a couple of miles (instead of boating) to the caves.

Pictures abound.  There's some excellent ones here at Minnesota Public Radio.  National Parks Traveler has a great video of the ice formations.

Monuments movie

We saw "The Monuments Men" this weekend:  really enjoyable despite the fact that the plot doesn't always progress smoothly .

Not that we needed it, but the true WWII story upon which it's based gives additional reason to be appalled by Nazism.  Hitler ordered the stealing of works of art scattered all over Europe.  Homes, churches, museums were looted.  But there's even more:  he ordered it to be burned in the event of his losing the war . . which happened. This movie tells the story of a group of Americans who set out to save and return the art pieces.

Big names star in the movie, among them one Bill Murray (we love "Groundhog Day").  He seems to be pretty unconventional even for Hollywood, to the point that he fired his agents and managers ten years ago and he's interviewed here.