When Free Speech is Not Allowed

From an AP article: An illegal, Orwellian violation of free-speech rights? Or just a smart tactic to protect train passengers from rowdy would-be demonstrators during a busy evening commute?

The question resonated Saturday in San Francisco and beyond as details emerged of Bay Area Rapid Transit officials' decision to cut off underground cellphone service for a few hours at several stations Thursday. Commuters at stations from downtown to near the city's main airport were affected as BARTofficials sought to tactically thwart a planned protest over the recent fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man by transit police.

So here are a couple of questions for you:





Many thanks for taking the time to answer.

Map

The map shows the incidence rate of AIDS in the US.

Here is the full story:

 One of the reasons I did this was to get an idea of factors that might be related to the underlying variable.  Call it "crowd sourcing" relationships if you like. 

Here is the AIDS map again

Looking at one of the suggestions, unemployment rate, there is a rather striking similarity between the real unemployment rate and the AIDS map.

Although ethnic diversity was not suggested while looking for a map of the distribution of Hispanic people in the US I found the map below.  It is for Ethnic Diversity.  There are interesting similarities  between the Diversity map, the unemployment map and the incidence of AIDS maps.

 Here are the suggestions that I have gotten so far:

The number of people taking part time jobs?
The number of people taking unemployment payments?
The number of people using Medicaid?
The density of foreclosures?
The density of unwed mothers?
Increase in Hispanic population over the past 10 years. (2)
Density of non-white population
Climate change
Areas with above average Temperatures
Some political variable.
Boat resistrations
Distribution of illegal aliens
Incidence of flu
Number people voting Democratic

So far there have been only one duplication of response which is interesting in it's own right.

In the process of looking at these maps I have stumbled upon a few others of interest.  For example here is the map for the rate of alcohol induced deaths:

Ain't that weird -- the states with the lowest rates of AIDS have higher alcohol induced death rates.

And one last one -- foreclosures:

In Mississippi we might be croaking from AIDS but at least we are doing it in our own homes.

Thanks for taking time to respond,

Bill

Gasoline Prices

Here in the US the average family pays about $3,000 per year for
gasoline. Or about 900 gallons per year.
If you lived in Venezula you would be paying about $252 for your
family's yearly gasoline bill for your car.
If you lived in the Netherlands your bill would be about $8,500.
Or doing the numbers a different way we find that the average miles driven by people in the US is 15,000 miles. Lets assume 18mpg. That translates to 833 gallons per year. The costs in each country would be:
Venezula $234
US $2,900
Netherlands $7,800
As you can see both ways of estimating the costs give similar figures.
And now three questions:
The first question is "Why do these countries have such widely differing prices for gasoline?"
Next is what is the "Right price" we should be paying?
And third, "What would be the effect on the US economy if we had gas prices the same as Venezuela? The Netherlands?

Re: High curbs in Augusta

This is good!  Part of it is a total fabrication, but what makes it so good is that it was made to look like a newspaper clipping that had been scanned in.  I have only run into this a couple of times before and did some background research on this kind of thing.  There is actually a website that lets you do some simple things and make something that looks like a 'clipping'.

I have observed that when I get nailed with a hoax it is generally when I agree with the sentiments of the hoax.  For example I was recently nailed by one of the many Social Security hoaxes.  It was close to the truth and had some things that I knew to be factual (step one in getting you to forward a hoax) and it agreed with my thoughts on the SS program (step two in getting you to forward a hoax, it has to be something you agree with or like.)  And lastly, it should be seen as being from a credible source. This one looks like a newspaper clipping and we all know if it is in the paper it has been checked out by the editorial staff.

It is a tricky world.  We all get nailed occasionally.

More Squirrels

I rebuilt the support structure for holding the squirrel’s corn a few days ago.  I made a new pole to support the corn hanger out of 4” PVC.   It is now very difficult to climb.  Some squirrels climb it while other squirrels leap from the ground, grab  the corn and then pull themselves up to the bar supporting the corn.  Once one is up on the top and having their corn feast no other squirrels try to get up.  Prior to this, when the top was not so hard to get to, there were always changes in the “top squirrel”.   A squirrel would hold the top position for maybe 5-10 minutes and another would go up and challenge the top squirrel, sometimes displacing it.  Now, once on top the top squirrel has no challengers.  The top has become an unassailable position and none of the rest of the squirrels even attempt to claim it when it is already occupied.  I should add that the top squirrel drops a lot of left over corn after the nutrious kernel is eaten.  The squirrels on the ground seem to content themselves with the droppings.


The more I watch my squirrels the more I ask myself -- “What can I learn from these squirrels?”

Take care and try to stay on the top bar!

Another Squirrel Observation

Today I raised the bar for the squirrels. Now the corn is too high to be reached from the bench. In order to get to it the squirrels must go up the brace and out on the support to get to the corn. It is not hard but it is not as easy as just standing on the bench and chewing off a kernel or two.

When the corn was easily accessible the dominant squirrel would chase away any other squirrels that came within about a four foot range. Now that it takes a bit more effort to get the corn the squirrels are not quite so territorial. Said another way, their personal space is smaller when maintaining it results in a greater expenditure of energy.

I keep wondering if it is possible to extrapolate from the behavior of squirrels to the behavior of humans?

New squirrel pictures this weekend.

Poop

Sometimes it is just about impossible to make up something more weird that what is real. This is an example of one of those things.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04/pentagon-wants-troop-poop-porta-reactors/