Two-child

China's notorious restriction on families has been lifted - the famous "one-child" rule is no more. Couples are now allowed by the Communist Party to have two children. It's an effort to correct some unintended consequences that have shown up during 30 years under "one-child."

Population has decreased to the point where the elder portion of the population is booming, coupled with a declining number of working-age people to support them. A second effect is a big imbalance in gender. For every 100 girls born, there are 115+  boys born.

Under "Central planning", the state or elites will make many of your decisions for you. Ex: how many children you will have.

(cont'd Monday)

Adam & Eve

Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross have updated their book of ten years ago, Who Was Adam? As scientists and Christians, they speak and publish on the ways they see scientific evidence supporting the claims of the Bible.

Science progresses by testing theories with new information. When new evidence is consistent with that theory, it is strengthened. But previous theories must be evaluated in the light of new evidence whether it supports or contradicts them.

So, to allow comparison of the original text with the new material, they left all the original content in the updated book (didn't edit their original claims), and added 150 new pages to it containing information that's come to light since then.

Regarding Adam and Eve . . Rana and Ross demonstrate that the science seems to lean in the direction of a real couple as the first modern humans.

Russians

This is from bloomberg.com, "If Russians hate the U.S, so much, why do they want to move there?" I didn't know they did (want to move here).

When pollsters ask Russians if they like Americans, they say no. But "the number of Russians trying to emigrate to the U.S. has never been higher." They "increasingly see the U.S. as a safe place to park their money, maybe park their spouses and children."

A quarter million Russians got U.S. visas last year, while another 75,000 went to Europe. A Moscow political scientist who moved to Germany told Bloomberg, "Kremlin policy is forcing the educated class to choose: either line up under the banner of war with the West or leave."

An immigration lawyer says that they are afraid to talk openly about immigrating, that in Skype interviews they may say they are simply curious or inquiring for a friend. "Then, when they come in face to face, it's a different story,"

Can hurt

Dr. Sushrut Jangi of Boston says that, though many people think it harmless, marijuana certainly can hurt people, especially young people.

"There's no question at all that marijuana is addictive," says the head of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Boston Children's Hospital.

Smoking weed impairs memory in college students, says Asst. Prof. Gilman at Harvard Medical School.

Starbucks

Starbucks Coffee now offers to its employees (who work at least 20 hrs/wk) a free 4-yr college education through Arizona State University's online program. They figure it will cost them about $250 million and educate about 25,000 employees.

This article reports the results so far this year

• compared to the average online student, Starbucks employees are a bit younger (26) and a bit more committed
• employees have started to enroll in good numbers
• it's turned out to be an "epic" recruiting and retention tool

Of new hires, 63% say they are interested in taking up the offer, and most say that the offer is one of the main reasons they applied to Starbucks.

Charging hwy

The number of miles an electric vehicle (EV) can go before it must be re-charged is its "range." You may be limited in how far you can drive by the availability of a charging station, and this limits the number of people who choose to buy an EV.

So "dynamic wireless charging" is being researched, i.e. the charging highway. It charges your EV as you drive, in a way similar to wireless internet access. One possibility is to use coils embedded in the highway, and they might be powered by solar cells.

With a cost of just (gulp) $2 million per mile, the nation's interstate roads could be equipped with this technology for only $80 billion!

Fragile

What do the young adults in this article have in common with the eggs in this photo? Right, they're fragile. Eggs should break easily, but not college students.

The psychologist who wrote the article says "emergency calls to Counseling [have] more than doubled over the past five years. Students are increasingly seeking help for, and apparently having emotional crises over, problems of everyday life."

Professors are "afraid to give low grades for poor performance, because of the subsequent emotional crises they would have to deal with in their offices."

These young adults have learned to be very alert to their feelings, but have not learned how to manage them while they solve ordinary life problems. 

"So now, here’s what we have: Young people,18 years and older, going to college still unable or unwilling to take responsibility for themselves, still feeling that if a problem arises they need an adult to solve it."

Cost of power

If sunshine is free (and it is) and if wind is free (and it is) - then why aren't solar power and wind power free? Why is only 2% of the world's power produced by solar or wind? Are people just stubborn if they don't immediately drop fossil fuels?

If the problems with "renewable" wind and solar haven't been clear to you before, they will be clear after you watch this:

SC flooding

South Carolina is not used to flooding. But on October 4, freaky rainfall and dam breaches caused a historic flood that ripped away the income and investment of thousands of small-business owners. 

photo: ibtimes.co.uk

Kay Stafford owned a ruined frame shop. She says, "We lost all our retirement in the recession, and then this." At 76, she and her husband, who's fighting cancer, found that they were not all alone in the effort to salvage something of value. Crews of church members showed up. 

“People poured in,” she [said], sobbing. “They asked me, how can I help? Most of them I didn’t know because our church is so large. They rolled up their sleeves, tromped in the mud, shoveled, carried, and began helping me sort out what to throw away and what to keep.” 

A rare book store and a greenhouse, too, had a mess of mud and ruined inventory. "“There’s been tons of love here,” said the greenhouse owner. “I and other small businesses right here are just amazed. Churches, customers, friends, family, they just all came. Kids shoveled mud."

No pollution

Fracking has been suspected to cause water pollution for years. Some states allow it, some don't. New York's governor banned the oil/gas extraction method a year ago. He was advised to do so because of "potential health and environmental impacts."

Gov. Cuomo said, "let's ask the qualified experts." At that time, almost a year ago, New York's acting health commissioner said that there were not yet enough studies to show that fracking is safe, that "bona fide scientific literature is only now emerging."

A key piece of science has come out:

"Yale researchers have confirmed that hydraulic fracturing – also known as "fracking" – does not contaminate drinking water."

Good news! I'm guessing that the conclusion of Yale University is "bona fide scientific literature," so we can believe that fracking does not cause water pollution.

Changed

Could God still do a miracle today if He wanted to? Yes, I think He can and does! The book Miracles came out last year and was a best seller. Author Eric Metaxas shared in the book his own story of coming to faith in Christ through talking with a friend at work by the name of Ed Tuttle.

But Ed Tuttle has his own amazing story of coming to faith - and it's a miracle in which Jesus Christ reveals Himself in a supernatural way. Ed's life was transformed in a day.

This is definitely not the only way people choose to become Christians; in fact, I've never heard a story like it. But the point is - God might use anything to get someone's attention.

Listen to this podcast and be inspired.

Dad training

It seems there's a lot of statistical evidence for the benefits to children when their father has a good role in their lives. The kids do better at school, in relationships, and in later working life. "Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor."

So the federal government is giving Ohio $10 million to help low-income fathers get better at being fathers.

"Ohio plans to release funds to new and expectant low-income fathers in five counties across the state. Men ages 16-24 will receive benefits such as job training, parenting classes, and healthy marriage and relationship education . . " in counties chosen for poverty, out-of-wedlock birth, and infant mortality.

Iceberg

This illustration comes from economist Dambisa Moyo, originally from the African country of Zambia. She no doubt knows a thing or two about the path to success.

When you hear about someone's success, don't allow your thoughts to go to resentment. Success is more about persistence and hard work than good luck.

Closest

(cont'd)

There's a word for the kind of people-helping development that Robert Woodson's organization practices. It's an organizing principle that the Catholic church calls subsidiarity, which holds that "human affairs are best handled at the lowest possible level, closest to the affected persons."

That's exactly what they do when they enable and train neighborhood leaders who are already doing good things.

You saw Woodson in yesterday's video say that good medical care uses less invasive, less intrusive methods - antibodies as opposed to, say, a transplant.  The best solutions are closest to the problem, not outsider programs that must be "parachuted in."

Watch this video about one of his organization's ministries. "Outcry" reaches all sorts of addicts with hope that they can have a better life. You'll see former addicts helping current addicts, people who've kicked the disease sharing their antibodies.


(cont'd tomorrow)

Antibodies

Antibodies in the neighborhood are like antibodies in the human body, says this community development leader.

"We look at our grass roots leaders as antibodies. They are indigenous to the body, they are closest to the source of disease. If you strengthen the body's immune system, the body will heal itself.

"What government does when there is a problem is to sort of do a transplant instead of looking for the remedy which is closest to the problem."

When they go into low-income, high crime, drug-infested neighborhoods, they ask questions that professionals "never ask" of poor people: who is raising children that have not succumbed to those lures? When they find those people, they "apply miracle-grow" in the form of training and technical assistance. They "grow remedies" indigenous to these neighborhoods by reaching out to grass roots leaders who are in the midst of it all.

Find out how the pizza delivery solution worked in a New Jersey city (at about 1:45 in the video)

(cont'd tomorrow)

Rockefeller

Could anything good come from great wealth? It depends on the values of the one who creates great wealth.

Energy user

(cont'd)

"Conventional wisdom" has said that we in the U.S. may expect lower energy demand in the next few decades, since millennials prefer small living spaces and, for transport, bikes or high-mpg vehicles. 

But their direction now appears to be moving toward SUV's and suburban houses. So CW is changing to recognize that energy demand will stay high.

Where those millennials plan to live is significant to those who predict and plan for energy demand. That's because "the buildings where we live, work and vacation consume almost 40 percent of the nation’s energy–about twice that of all the cars on the road. This single fact explains why so much digital tech and public policy is preoccupied with “smart buildings” to save energy. " (For a look at a smart building, go here.)

An average house uses about as much energy per year as an SUV does. Just to build an average home consumes about as much energy as an SUV does over ten years.

New normal

Most millennials (66%) plan to live in a house in the suburbs - not a small apartment in the heart of the city. Do they drive an electric vehicle (EV) or hybrid to save energy? No, "their preferred car is not a Prius or Tesla, but station wagons and SUVs."

The data seem to say that the millennial generation's new normal is looking a lot like their boomer parents' old normal according to this author.

For decades the "baby boomer"generation (now age 51-69) dominated the American economy because of its great numbers. But this year the "millennials" generation (age 18-34) will outnumber them.  And they seem to want to live much like the boomers, which means energy demand will not go down.

The next generation is getting started on the most productive - and energy-using - years of their lives.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Arch gone

Destruction continues under Islamic State (IS). It's confirmed "that the Arch of Triumph, a jewel in the exquisite collection of ruins in the oasis city [of Palmyra, Syria], ha[s] been blown up."

photo: cnn.com

According to the chief of antiquities in Palmyra, "It's as though there is a curse that has befallen this city and I expect only news that will shock us. If the city remains in their hands the city is doomed . . 

"It is now wanton destruction ... their acts of vengeance are no longer ideologically driven because they are now blowing up buildings with no religious meaning."

"Palmyra was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world, according to cultural agency UNESCO, which has described it as the crossroads of several civilizations."

You may remember that after IS took the city in May, "the Islamic extremists . . beheaded the antiquities expert who looked after the ruins."

Civil

"Civil discourse" is conversation or discussion for the purpose of understanding an issue. A participant in this discussion will not attack the other participants' good judgement or moral worth, their motives or intelligence. It's necessary to treat them courteously and respectfully, or else the focus gets dragged off the point and onto personal feelings.

I just read an article on climate change whose author identifies his opinions but also gives respect to people who see the subject differently.

I say "well done" to this Scientific American blogger - who believes in climate change but who also says, "Not all those who doubt the scientific consensus on climate change are ideologues or idiots."

Model X

Maybe you already know . . Tesla's new crossover Model X was revealed this week. It has distinctives - of course it does.

It's an all-electric SUV that can seat up to seven "and all their gear." It's easy to get your babies into the middle row of seats because of the rear "falcon wing" doors that open vertically, but require only a foot of room on each side of the vehicle to do it.

It can accelerate from zero to 60 MPH is 3.2 seconds, "stupidly fast for any car, let alone an SUV." It has a panoramic windshield, and the front trunk is big enough for two golf bags.

Like the Model S, the other model Tesla makes, it can be charged at home or gratis at Tesla charging stations, and its range between charging is about 250 miles.

It's expensive - over $130,000. But 20,000 folks got their order in early. If you put yours in now, you may get it in 2016.

"Soul mate"

There's no such thing, according to Eric Metaxas. You know the idea, "there's just one perfect person for me and we'll have a perfect marriage or relationship without hardly trying because we're perfect for each other." Something like that.

His argument is realistic - no matter who you marry, compromise and self-sacrificial love will be required.

"As J. R. R. Tolkien once wrote to his son, “No man, however truly he loved his betrothed and bride as a young man, has lived faithful to her as a wife in mind and body without deliberate conscious exercise of the will, without self-denial."

Tolkien goes on in the letter to say, "When the glamour wears off, or merely works a bit thin, they think they have made a mistake, and that the real soul-mate is still to find."