Group items tagged

The share of Americans who say they're independent has climbed considerably, according to Gallup's quarterly party affiliation data. In the late 1980s, roughly one-third of Americans identified as Democratic, Republican or independent. Now, 40 percent or more identify as independent, while the share who identify as Democrats or Republicans has fallen to around 30 percent or lower. he problem is that few independents are actually independent. Roughly 3 in 4 independents still lean toward one of the two major political parties, and studies show that these voters aren't all that different from the voters in the party they lean toward. Independents who lean toward a party also tend to back that party at almost the same rate as openly partisan voters.

Here are 12 critical facts about TTHM as the city's fight to reduce it continues: 1. Trihalomethanes are actually a group of four chemicals that are formed along with other disinfection byproducts when chlorine reacts with organic materials such as leaves or dirt in water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2. TTHMs are odorless and colorless, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. That means the high levels of TTHM in Flint water last year are not related to problems such as discoloration and odor in tap water. 3. The four trihalomethane chemicals are chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane and bromoform. 4. U.S. EPA regulates TTHM at a maximum allowable, annual, average level of 80 parts per billion. The standard has been in place since December 2001 for large public surface water systems and since December 2003 for small surface water and all groundwater systems. 5. Four of eight testing sites in Flint averaged more than the acceptable limit of 80 parts per billion of TTHM last year. 6. Testing for TTHM is done on a quarterly basis, which means that people who use the system are exposed to water for several months before public notice is required. That's because TTHM is a chronic -- not immediate --health threat, according to the DEQ. 7. U.S. EPA estimates the 80 parts per billion standard prevents an estimated 280 cases of bladder cancer each year out of a total of more than 330 million people who use public water supplies nationwide. 8. Since it started using the Flint River as its water source, three quarterly tests have produced these TTHM results in the city: 15 samples have been above the TTHM threshold. Nine samples have tested at less than 80 parts per billion. 9. The most recent quarterly test showed just one site of eight that was above the 80 parts per billion threshold. And a voluntary test of the same sites in late January by the city were all within were all within the limits. 10. The testin

"In Gallup polling throughout the first quarter of 2021, an average of 49% of U.S. adults identified with the Democratic Party or said they are independents who lean toward the Democratic Party. That compares with 40% who identified as Republicans or Republican leaners. The nine-percentage-point Democratic advantage is the largest Gallup has measured since the fourth quarter of 2012." What I found to be more significant was the following: "The 44% of Americans who identify as political independents, whether they subsequently express a party leaning or not, is up from 38% in the fourth quarter of 2020 and is above 40% for the first time since 2019. This is consistent with the historical pattern whereby independent identification typically declines in presidential election years and increases in odd-numbered years. However, the percentages identifying as independent in 2020 and thus far in 2021 have been unusually high compared with prior presidential election and odd-numbered years. Thus, the current level of independent identification ranks among the highest Gallup has measured in any quarter since 1988" More people relate to neither party than to one, so why do they both continue on a trajectory of not satisfying the public? Is the message never heard that the Center is where most of America lives?

"Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg-who in the past openly pandered to Chinese officials, likely in an effort to ensure the social media giant's entry into the Chinese market-recently made a speech at Georgetown University in which he criticized the Chinese regime for its internet censorship, striking a remarkably different tone. "

"To their fans, the promise of expanding our reach beyond this planet is thrilling. For critics, the money poured into private vanity projects is unforgivable when there is so much to be done right here on Earth. This race has only deepened the divide between those who love to see the very rich launch into space and those who wish they would never come back."

In 2020 Europe saw a great reverse migration, as those who had sought work abroad returned home. Exact numbers are hard to come by. An estimated 1.3m Romanians went back to Romania-equivalent to three times the population of its second-biggest city. Perhaps 500,000 Bulgarians returned to Bulgaria-a huge number for a country of 7m. Lithuania has seen more citizens arriving than leaving for the first time in years.

The article talks about religon in the next 30 years. Most all major religons will grow. There will also be growth in the number of people who don't idenitfy with any religon. Islam seems to be the religon with fastest growth, while Christianity will see the highest concenrtration outside of the US where we see most christians today.

Called "Xavier," the robots are equipped with seven cameras that enable them to detect "undesirable social behaviour," for instance if you incorrectly park your bike, if you smoke in an unauthorised area or if social distancing is not being respected. "If the robot is around and something happens, the people in the control room will have a trace and will be able to see what happened", he said. This type of activity can have huge social impacts: paranoia with anything and everything you do. Who decides 'undesirable social behavior'? How about when only part of the scenario is captured by the robot, who is believed? You or the robot? What's next - a taser-armed robot, with someone in a room with a joystick ready to deploy? On do we eventually get so many robots that we just let them decide? And how about let's hack in to a few thousand of those armed robots…

Eighty-one percent of U.S. adults say the future of U.S. democracy is under threat, a sentiment shared by most Republicans, Democrats and independents. But when they were asked which party poses the bigger risk, it was a statistical tie between people who said the Democratic Party (42 percent) and the Republican Party (41 percent). An additional 8 percent of Americans blame both parties for playing a role. "We have one point of bipartisan agreement that the ship is sinking," said Edward Foley, who directs the election law program at Ohio State University. "But the problem is that each side blames the other for the ship sinking."

The Economist reports on the pipeline of former American regulatory officials becoming lobbyists or advisers to the cryptocurrency industry. Perhaps the most prominent is Jay Clayton, former head of the SEC, but others include Brian Brooks, who until January was the acting Comptroller of the Currency, and Chris Giancarlo, head of the CFTC between 2017 and 2019. In Britain, Philip Hammond, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, joined Copper, a crypto startup, in October. The Economist notes that, worldwide, "reams of regulations are now in play," and people who know the enforcement systems intimately are in high demand, and paid accordingly. The magazine adds, "The rewards for walking through the revolving doors are only going up.

- By 2050 nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some degree of hearing loss and at least 700 will require hearing rehabilitation. - Over 1 billion young adults are at risk of permanent, avoidable hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices. - An annual additional investment of less than US$ 1.40 per person is needed to scale up ear and hearing care services globally. - Over a 10-year period, this promises a return of nearly US$ 16 for every US dollar invested.

"The defining characteristic of this new version of the creative class may not be where it lives, but its ability to live anywhere it wants. Put differently, people move to certain cities in search of better-paying jobs, but it's now possible to earn high (if not the highest) salaries from almost anywhere. That has been true in certain smaller cities in recent years (Austin and Denver in the United States, for example, and Manchester and Leeds in Britain). To a lesser extent, it has also been true for people who chose not to live in cities at all." Workers hold the power and they need to be able to live and work where they want when they want. We're very reliant on humans, we need to make them valued and show that we are investing in the things they care about.

Despite its humanistic, universalizing pretensions, however, NewSpace does not benefit humankind as such but rather a specific set of wealthy entrepreneurs, many of them originating in Silicon Valley, who strategically deploy humanist tropes to engender enthusiasm for their activities. We describe this complex as 'capitalistkind'. Moreover, the arrival of capitalism in space is fueled by the expansionary logic of capital accumulation. Outer space serves as a spatial fix, allowing capital to transcend its inherent terrestrial limitations. In this way, the ultimate spatial fix is perhaps (outer) space itself. We are seeing a big back lash for the billionaire space race. People don't understand why we're spending all this money for space when we have so many problems on earth.

The closing of thousands of bank branches in the aftermath of the 2007-09 recession has served to intensify societal concerns about access to financial services among low- income and minority populations, groups that are often affected disproportionately in such situations. These sorts of concerns were expressed recently by, among others, researchers Terri Friedline and Mathieu Despard in an article in The Atlantic.1 We explored these concerns from the perspectives of those living in existing banking deserts as well as those who are dependent on isolated branches that, if closed, would create new deserts.

In 2012, this article stated: "The University of Nairobi's Tonny Omwansa, who is writing a book on mobile money, believes the slow growth of mobile cash in the US comes down to Americans' trusting relationship to banking institutions, despite recent protests." Declining trust in established institutions and government since that time may mean that America is ripe for Mobile Money expansion.

"What sounds like sci-fi is now becoming a reality, and as these minute cameras pass through your body, they take two pictures per second checking for signs of cancer and other conditions like Crohn's disease." This new technology is a less invasive and more convenient alternative to current practices. The ease of this care provides a more comfortable experience for those who would have needed a traditional endoscopy.

I've swallowed the pill camera before to check an issue in my gut. It was 14 hours of video!!!