MaxRedline

The Population Bomb

It was really popular back when Ehrlich and his wife wrote it. OMG! We're all gonna be dead by 1980! A funny thing happened on the way to the apocalypse. In fact, in Westernized countries, we have the opposite issue.

Cincinnati Streetcars

Portland Streetcar 

Prior to running for mayor of Porkland, "Streetcar Charlie" Hales spent a decade peddling streetcars in other towns around the country, one such place being Cincinnati. So their vice-mayor and some other bigwigs flew out here to see how it's working out in Porkland. It looks like they got the full propaganda treatment, as "Tricky Rick" Gustafson, who heads Porkland Streetcar, schmoozed them with tales of how the thing "spurs development", while "Streetcar Charlie" and "Bicycle" Blumanure wined and dined them on taxpayer cash.

Apparently left out of the discussion on the glories of streetcars was the fact that all of the development allegedly "spurred" along the line here is due to taxpayer subsidies, tax abatements, and other goodies gifted to the developers. They did find that gentrification has occurred, though it's doubtful that the bigwigs had time for a tour of the R2D2 bum camp downtown. But the Porkland politicians assurred the bigwigs that they're finally figuring out how to recoup operating expenses.

They probably left out the part where Tri-Met pays some $4 million a year toward those expenses. And the streetcars themselves probably didn't come up, either, although one might think it'd be sort of relevant that Porkland "leaders" paid the Oregon Iron Works subsidiary known as United Streetcar for six cars, then subsequently agreed to accept only five for the same price. Also kind of important: the first streetcar has so many flaws that it needs to be taken out for at least six months for repairs.

Snow job. 

Displacement

One thing that "planners" love to do is to create more population density, whether it be through pushing stack-and-pack lab-rat cages or going with four skinny "houses" on a lot previously occupied by a single-family dwelling. Especially in the inner Northeast and Southeast parts of Portland, these large older homes are frequently transformed over a period of years into multiple one-bedroom apartments with low rents. But from the outside, they retain the feel of the neighborhood.

And then a developer buys the place, evicts the renters, tears down the building, and stuffs as many "houses" as he can into the available square footage. Over time, this process of gentrification reduces established neighborhoods with a mix of people into an homogeneous strata of well-off, mostly younger white folks who clot the neighborhood streets with their BMWs and Priuses. 

Despite their constant mantra of "diversity" and "transit", city "planners" actually accomplish the exact opposite: the former residents, a mixture of ages and ethnicities generally ranging between low and middle income - the very people most likely to depend upon public transit - are pushed to the outer margins of the city, where public transit is less available and pedestrian access to stores and services are limited. For the most part, thanks to Portland's "planners" so-called affordable housing which formerly existed in the inner neighborhoods has become even less affordable than "Affordable Health Care".

Not only are they destroying the character of neighborhoods; they're creating results which directly contradict their stated goals of enhancing public transit use and building diverse, "liveable, walkable" neighborhoods. What we see here is yet another argument in favor of limited government.

Unwarranted Ego Inflation For Porkland Politicians

As if Obama wasn't sufficient illustration of the fundamental lack of common sense endemic to Kenya, a group of them is wandering around Porkland, believing that they'll learn something. Although, in fairness, if corruption and cronyism is what they seek, they'll certainly find it in abundance here.

Patrick Mariru has a difficult task. He and other elected officials in Laikipia, a county in Kenya, are working to establish a brand new government. They're interested in urban planning, sustainability and citizen engagement, and they've come to Portland for ideas.

"The County Assembly is only one year old," said Mariru, the speaker of the newly formed County Assembly. "This city is established. We want to learn from this city."

Better yet, they're here as participants in a week-long "study program" directed, coincidentally enough, by Nancy Hales - the wife of Porkland mayor "Streetcar Charlie". Undoubtedly, they'll learn a lot.

Mendacity

Claiming that "it's our responsibility", the administration has been holding events at Mexican Consulate offices to enroll people in Obamacare; something that is explicitly forbidden in the law itself.

“Whether they’re Mexican nationals or whether they’re United States citizens or whether they’re in transition-- and if they’re there it is our responsibility within all of America to educate on the Affordable Care Act,” Enroll America Field Organizer Jose Medrano told Breitbart News on Wednesday.

Just one problemo, there-o, Jose: It's illegal. Mexican nationals aren't entitled to enrollment, let alone other federal benefits.

Print With Perfume

Ink-jet cartridge 

GSA estimates that the feds spend $467 million per year on ink. Part of that's because ink is so expensive:

Chanel No. 5 perfume costs $38 per ounce, while the equivalent amount of Hewlett-Packard printer ink can cost up to $75.

A 14 year-old working on a science fair project found that the feds could save $136 million per year simply by switching fonts - Times New Roman, favored by the feds, consumes 30% more ink than the equally-legible Garamond typeface.

While the Government Printing Office agrees that the kid's finding is remarkable, they remain noncommittal about moving to a less expensive font. Big surprise there.

Medical Advances

Trauma (medicine) 

The first suspended animation trials will begin on humans in a Pittsburg hospital:

If a patient arrives with a traumatic injury, and attempts to restart their heart have failed — if they’re on the doorstep of death — they will have their blood replaced with a cold saline solution, which stops almost all cellular activity. At this point, the patient is clinically dead — but if the doctors can fix the injury within a few hours, they can be returned to life from suspended animation by replacing the saline with blood.

The technique cools you down to 50 degrees F, and it's been successful in pig models. They hope to extend the approach to other issues as well, and of course, there's the possibility of eventually using it in conjunction with cryonics to achieve extended timelines; potentially useful in space travel. It also rather alters the definition of death.

On a more or less related note, my two-year issue with an unusual and particularly aggressive sarcoma has apparently concluded; my surgeon emailed me yesterday to inform me that the scans conducted earlier this month reveal no sign of metastasis and no recurrence of cancer. This appears to conclude two months of intensive radiation (how intense? Enough to burn the skin out of my armpit within the first three weeks) followed by surgery, followed by yet more radiation.

It weakened me considerably, and of course crippled the lymphatic system on my right side for several months. But that seems to have regenerated, and the tumor appears to have been utterly obliterated. Miracles of modern medicine, and all.

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The Scone Strikes Again

Jim Francisconi, a former Portland City Council member now running for Multnomah County Chair, is apparently willing to do whatever it takes to win that coveted union endorsement from two public employee unions:

Francesconi won key endorsements from two public employee unions after pledging that, if elected Multnomah County chairman, he would use his influence to increase the number of union workers employed by county contractors.

Francesconi also said he would require that the buildings the county owns or rents employ union janitors and security guards.

Worse yet, he put it in writing. Both actions promised would be illegal under state law, and when queried about it, the Scone denied ever writing it - at first. He subsequently admitted that he might have gone a little overboard, there.

Portland pollster Adam Davis, who has worked in politics for 30 years but is not involved in the county chair race, says he’s never heard of a candidate making such a bold proposition.

“Whoa,” Davis said when WW shared Francesconi’s response. “I haven’t heard of anything like that before in Oregon.”

The SEIU's political director says the Scone didn't do anything wrong. Of course she does.

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Portland Association Of Teachers Opposed Money

PAT, one might have thought, would be thrilled at the prospect of gaining an additional $100 million For The Children™, which passed in the 2013 legislative special session. One might have thought wrong; they opposed it because the legislative package included a reduction in Public Employee Retirement System benefits.

It's a minor change, but hey. So much for them being "all about the children". 

It's Official: Marinate In Beer

Before you fling that steak on the grill, marinate it in beer. Here comes the science: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which form on meats cooked on a barbecue are reduced by 53% if the meat is first marinated for four hours in a bath of dark beer. Since PAH are considered carcinogenic, that four-hour bath greatly reduces any risks associated with barbecue.

They call it "a suitable mitigation strategy". While you're waiting, you may also want to marinate your mouth and stomach a bit - purely for medicinal purposes, of course.

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