in and out the window

Whole Foods Demands Confidential Data from New Seasons

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 07:48:40 GMT

I was concerned to read this article in the Oregonian. Apparently, Whole Foods has subpoenaed "two years' worth of New Seasons' weekly sales data, internal e-mails, inventory records, marketing and expansion plans" for Whole Foods' use in its anti-trust case with the FTC.

New Seasons' response can be found on their blog. Also: the Oregonian's editorial on the subject.

Brain scientist describes her own stroke

Mon, 26 May 2008 20:46:22 GMT

I thought this video was fascinating: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

It's about a brain scientist who happened to have a stroke (luckily she has recovered), and what she learned from temporarily losing the connection to her left brain.

Insightful article on global warming

Tue, 08 May 2007 04:02:57 GMT

From the Vancouver Sun (aka, our friendly neighbors to the North)

Over the past century, global temperature has risen by 0.3 to 1.0 degrees C.

In the past, the changes in temperature that occurred between the advance and retreat of ice ages were of the order of one degree C per millenium, so an increase of one degree in a century represents a tenfold increase in the warming rate.

And some scientists are predicting an increase of two to six degrees over the next 50 years!

...

But, there's more!

NEVERTHELESS, because some models predict there is no threat of global warming, U.S. President George Bush has been persuaded that there should not be any international targets set for reducing carbon emissions until scientists have a better idea of what is going to happen.

But that could take decades, if ever.

Since our scientific knowledge base is minuscule and our ability to predict the consequences of humanity's impact on the planet is very poor, we should take the many eco-disaster scenarios seriously and act most conservatively to avoid them.

It is dangerous to keep putting out more greenhouse gases for no other reason than that we don't know what effects they will have.

By acting now to reduce these emissions, we will reap massive secondary benefits like conservation of resources, reduced acid rain and air pollution, improved health, less garbage and economic savings.

But if we do nothing and global warming continues and accelerates, future generations will pay the price of our reckless gamble.

That article was written by David Suzuki... on May 12th, 1990!

Solar in Oregon

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:24:12 GMT

Solar plant may hire 1,000

...in Hillsboro. It will be the nation's biggest solar plant.

MECOP Assignment

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 16:38:44 GMT

I got my MECOP internship assignment last night, and it looks like I'll be working at Tektronix (in Beaverton) from April - September.

For those of you who I haven't told before, the process is a little unusual in that students don't apply to specific companies, but the companies choose amongst themselves which students they want. I actually hadn't talked to anybody directly from Tektronix before I got my company assignment (I got to talk to fewer than half of the company representatives directly), but I hear that they're a pretty good company -- and I'm excited to be around Portland!

Green Energy Fee

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:46:53 GMT

Tonight I helped present two fees to the Student Incidental Fee Committee (SIFC). One was the regular sustainability fee ($1.85/term), which went really well. I'm on the advisory board -- which is why I was helping present -- and we got a lot of compliments and unanimous renewal of the fee.

The other portion of the presentation was the proposal of a new fee to buy green tags to, in effect, make all of OSU's electricity use renewable. It would have cost $8.50/term, but the SIFC turned us down flat (although they did seem to agree that renewable energy was important). Despite a large amount of evidence that students strongly supported the fee -- including a survey of over 1300 students with over 90% supporting some level of fee -- they were concerned that it might not be a legal use of student fee money. I'm sure it didn't help that somewhere around $50 in fee increases had already been approved, and we were the second-to-last group to present. They did, however, suggest proposing the fee in initiative form instead.

So... can you guess what I'll be helping work on for the rest of the term?

The window thing

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 03:19:41 GMT

I thought I'd give this thing a try, since I didn't do it the last time it went around. You should fill it out. Leave a comment with a link if you want me to fill one out for you.

http://kevan.org/johari?name=twagner000
http://kevan.org/nohari?name=twagner000

Endangered Wildlife Ring Tunes

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 02:25:35 GMT

Hmm... an interesting idea here. I think I'll test out the Beluga one and see how quickly it gets annoying.

I just watched a pretty good interview of Amory Lovins on Charlie Rose, which you might find interesting if energy policy is your thing. It looks like there is a ton of Charlie Rose on Google Video.

In other news, I'll be heading back to Corvallis on Sunday.

Follow-up on Congressman Ellison

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 21:19:24 GMT

In case anybody who read my last post missed this update, Congressman Ellison (freshman Democrat from Minnesota, and the first Muslim elected to Congress) was sworn in using not just any copy of the Quran, but specifically a copy that had belonged to Thomas Jefferson.

Whomever came up with that idea deserves some serious congratulations. Also, things like this remind me how lucky we got with our founding fathers in a lot of ways. Despite their many flaws, the fact that the author of our Declaration of Independence owned a copy of the Quran just makes it so much easier to argue against wackos who try to disguise their bigotry as "patriotism."

Way to befriend your new colleague...

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:11:43 GMT

Congressman Criticizes Election of Muslim

That congressman may have just been being an ass, but the columnist mentioned in the same article appears to be painfully ignorant of the Constitution:

The fracas over Mr. Ellison’s decision to use the Koran during his personal swearing-in ceremony began last month when Dennis Prager, a conservative columnist and radio host, condemned the decision as one that would undermine American civilization.

“Ellison’s doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal — the Islamicization of America,” said Mr. Prager, who said the Bible was the only relevant religious text in the United States.

“If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress,” Mr. Prager said.

And here's part of Article IV of the Constitution:

...

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Now let me see... who's the one undermining American civilization?

So long, and thanks for (killing) all the fish

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:35:11 GMT

China's River Dolphin Declared Extinct

As a sidenote, the baiji dolphin was one of the creatures pursued by Douglas Adams in Last Chance to See, a non-fiction book in which he travels around the world in an attempt to observe various highly endangered animals before they go extinct.

I don't question that Chinese citizens deserve a raise in their standard of living, but they're really going to have to get creative and have to figure out new ways to do things if they don't want to kill the whole world in the process. This is just the beginning.

On the other hand, the developed countries should really be the ones doing a lot of the experimenting, with their increased flexibility due to their surplus resources. Unfortunately, China (and India) can't rely on what the developed countries should be doing.

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:13:23 GMT

I'm back in Portland for the break. If anybody else is back yet and wants to hang out, they should let me know.

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 18:10:15 GMT

I think I was mostly amused by the idea of myself even having a "seduction style"...

This sort of reminds me of a quote from Eric's infamous IM quotes page (whatever happened to that? I hope it's not incriminating me out there somewhere), which is now on his Facebook. Hopefully he doesn't mind me stealing it here:

dee s sedelamour: flirting is a science.
ericl234: not a real science, or else id be good at it

In other news, it sounds like our April Fool's joke on Mrs. Snyder is getting closer to truth.

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 04:46:47 GMT

I just volunteered to be the web chair for the student chapter of the International Society for Industrial Ecology -- which essentially just means conducting basic site updates. I figure it could look nice on my resume and possibly help me get a bit more involved in the organization/field, which would be cool.

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 06:38:39 GMT

Ah... Bollywood always makes me feel so much better. :)

OSU people may have already seen this...

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 05:23:35 GMT

An amusing song in light of the elections, set to video.

See the credits at the end? Kevin Ahern is a professor in the OSU biochem/biophysics department, and a pretty cool guy. His wife Indira (my honors bio lab prof from freshman year) is really awesome, too! In fact, I'm think I may attend some biochem club meetings in the future.

Silly videos aside, though, Kevin is actually implementing a unique policy that I think is actually pretty cool. He always gets tons of requests for letters of recommendations (particularly from premed students), and from now on he's going to start requiring that students pass a test (with at least 70%) on current affairs before writing any. I assume he'll try to keep any political bias out of the test itself -- I think the point it to make sure that students actually know what's happening in the world around them.

[EDIT: Oh, and I've signed up to take Kevin's test for fun when he writes it. Judging from the Barometer article above, it may be a bit of a challenge.]

No, the point isn't to pass the laws you always wanted to pass...

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 17:47:06 GMT

As featured in a recent NY Times article: Fantasy Congress.

It's basically just betting on seniority, etc., but still an amusing concept in the context of fantasy sports teams...

Obama Says He’s Weighing 2008 Run

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:12:19 GMT

According to the NY Times...

I expected Google would do something like this sooner or later...

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:55:35 GMT

Google plans to install solar panels to supply 30% of its HQ's power...

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:46:53 GMT

Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh won the Nobel Peace Prize!

Whatever the intentions may be behind the World Bank, etc., it often seems to me that microcredit has the power to affect people's everyday lives in developing countries to an enormously greater extent...

I love these Nobel Peace prizes awarded to people who really had quite simple ideas (Wangari Maathai, too) -- but then they actually did them, and did them well.

OSU People - Read This

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:00:03 GMT

There's an ASOSU survey about renewable energy on-campus that is two questions long -- you should take it here.

If that link doesn't work, find it through the ASOSU website.

Why do only old people vote?

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 04:04:19 GMT

In the Oregonian:

The battle between Democratic incumbent Ted Kulongoski and Republican Ron Saxton is essentially a dead heat, according to a new survey by Portland pollster Mike Riley.

The same poll found just over half of likely voters supporting a ballot measure that would require parental notice before minors can have an abortion. It also found a plurality against a proposed state spending limit - although nearly half say they are still undecided. Lastly, support outweighs opposition for a measure to elect appellate judges by district, with 40 percent undecided.

Riley's poll projects an unusually small turnout in November - 55 percent - with fully 61 percent of voters aged 55 or older.

Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts, who did a recent poll for The Oregonian, says he thinks turnout will be closer to 65 percent, which tracks more closely to average turnout in the last 10 gubernatorial elections. He also projects that over-55 voters will be 45 percent of the electorate.

The Riley poll doesn't show big age-related swings on the governor's race or ballot measures, so it is unclear how his different methodology affects his findings.

Free beer-flavored ice cream?

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:20:40 GMT

It's been a good couple of days. First, there was this photo in the news:

(Kenyans embrace U.S. senator visiting father's homeland)

Two very cool people -- Barack Obama (Democratic senator from Illinois) and Wangari Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize winner for the Kenyan Green Belt environmental movement) -- together, planting a tree! Obama already has a pretty good environmental record; maybe he will be further inspired. I think it's the most encouraging thing I've seen in the news in awhile.

Also, free ice cream at work today was definitely a positive contribution. It was not only free ice cream, though -- it was free butter pecan Ruination IPA ice cream, made by Stone's own team food.

Then I had a toothpaste adventure this afternoon. It was the first time I've used Consumer Reports to buy anything, but my mom mailed me this article on toothpaste, so I figured I might as well use it. It meant I spent more than 5 minutes staring at the shelf, then back at my list, then at the shelf again, before deciding -- and the cashier laughed out loud at me when she saw my photocopy on toothpaste brands. I bet she's just jealous of my superior toothpaste strategery.

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:42:39 GMT

I read about this group in an article about crosswalk stings conducted in Portland:

Elders in Action

For some reason, the name struck me as particularly amusing. It sounds like they go to various political rallies and have their own network of undercover shoppers. I want to join... in maybe, like, 50 years...

Anyone interested in a Tibetan tangka?

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 02:26:31 GMT

Would anybody be interested in buying a Tibetan tangka? This is what mine looks like:

The reason I ask is because my Tibetan friend Hugo is having to choose between graduating with his degree in English in December, and taking a job that starts in September (before he graduates) so that he can pay off his school bills.

Anyhow, since I bought my tangka for a pretty good deal when I was staying with Hugo's family, I was wondering if anybody else would be interested, and the profit would to go helping Hugo get enough money to finish his degree. My tangka cost $50, but shipping would probably add another 50% onto that. I think that Hugo would probably need at least 40% profit for this plan to work (that would mean about $125 for a tangka the size of mine), but I'm sure that he could find some smaller tangkas too, if anyone is interested. Through informal browsing of Tibetan stores, a tangka about the size of mine appears to sell for $300-400, but I would check those numbers if you plan on basing any decisions off of them.

Also, if anybody is interested in buying a Tibetan jacket (no idea on the sizing -- that could be pretty risky), apparently they would cost Hugo about $20.

Here's a photo of my friend Hugo:

Let me know if anyone is interested in helping out!

EDIT: If anyone wants to just donate some cash (like $20 or something), that would work too. I'll be throwing in some money myself. Also, the total amount Hugo needs is about $475 (US), in case anyone's curious.