Bird Brain

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This will be a bit of a departure from the norm, since the focus won’t be on the origin of the expression, which was and is used to describe someone who is foolish and scatterbrained. Scientists have made another important contribution to knowledge by studying birds and learned that birds aren’t all that foolish or scatterbrained. “An international consortium of 29 neuroscientists has proposed a drastic renaming of the structures of the bird brain to correctly portray birds as more comparable to mammals in their cognitive ability. The scientists assert that the century-old traditional nomenclature is outdated and does not reflect new molecular, genetic and behavioral studies that reveal the brainpower of birds.” Their studies (how did they get the money to do these studies?) have found birds have all sorts of “cognitive abilities.”

Thanks scientists, for setting us straight! However, I’m guessing if someone does something foolish and/or scatterbrained, they will likely still be called “birdbrain.”

Out of Thin Air

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I heard this expression during the broadcast of a baseball game during which a team was described to have “manufactured a run out of thin air.” Apparently that is an unusual use of the expression, which has more commonly been used to describe magic tricks that appear to make things appear or disappear without a trace or explanation. The FreeDictionary.com has the best explanation for the use by the baseball announcer, saying it means “…out of nowhere, out of nothing…” It gives the example of “You just made that excuse up out of thin air.” According to the Phrase Finder Shakespeare started the overall use of the expression in 1604 by having a character describe how something would “…vanish into air…”

More Problems for College Graduates

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The problem of student loan debt has been extensively reported, but there is an additional problem. There are more graduates in several fields than there are jobs available. I doubt that most young people entering college consider the marketability of the degree they are pursuing, but it would be wise to think about whether there will be a job available when you graduate. You will spend many tens of thousands of dollars to get your education, and one goal should be to be rewarded with a job that pays well.

The Colorado Office of Economic Development reports that there are more than enough graduates in the state to replace everyone currently employed in the fields of advertising, marketing and public relations. There are fifteen times as many students with a degree in physical science than there are open positions and thirteen more in life sciences. There are shortages of graduates to fill logistics and teaching jobs. There are too many graduates with management degrees while there are shortages of people trained in office and administrative support positions that don’t require four years of college. There are also sufficient positions for engineering and health care graduates.

We need to be encouraging high school graduates to think about going to trade schools instead of college. They would miss out on the college parties but would begin life with decent jobs and no college debt.

GMO Labeling

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There is a new bill establishing national requirements for labeling foods with GMO content that is expected to be signed by President Obama. A Denver Post editorial supports the bill, but the anti-GMO advocates aren’t happy. Perhaps all that would have made them happy would have been a complete ban on GMOs. That ban would have taken almost all of the corn, soybean, canola, and sugar beet products off the market. Those ardently opposed to GMOs would probably respond that reducing the amount of available food is preferable to allowing what they call “Franken foods” to be grown and sold. I assure you I would eagerly eat Franken foods if the choice was not eating.

The new law would allow companies to label their GMO products with an actual label or a QR code. The small QR codes that smart phones can read will tell consumers the GMO content of the food. There is a realistic alternative for small companies who can still be able to comply by providing a web address or phone number.

Many food producers and processors continue to resent the fact that labeling is going to be mandated. They point out that the overwhelming scientific consensus is that GMO foods are safe, which means there is no scientific basis for the need of labels. However, they will probably be mollified by the knowledge that a federal law, regardless of whether it provides any actual improvement to food safety, will stop individual states from passing laws such as the one approved by Vermont voters.

Law and Order – something we’ve wanted for a long time

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Before this phrase was a TV series, it was a political demand for stricter criminal penalties, especially for violent crimes. Since the 1960s it has been a reoccurring theme in American politics whether crimes rates were rising or falling. Wikipedia says the phrase was introduced by Barry Goldwater in his run for president in 1964.

But dictionary.com says the concept was stated by Aristotle and that the phrase has been used since the late 1500s – though they offer no citation. I wouldn’t be at all surprised – legal terms seem to get fossilized into out language.

Decline or Rise of a New Prosperity?

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Manufacturing is dying in America, and the middle class that was built on post-WWII GI bill education and manufacturing is going with it. Jobs move overseas to cheap labor markets thanks to trade deals that favor a powerful elite. Millions around the world are rising from extreme poverty at the price of the Western World’s middle class – which might look like a good tradeoff to aliens watching from space, but isn’t so good if you happen to be losing. We should all be sad and angry.

I’ve heard that a lot and I guess I believe it. Just look at the tags in my tee shirts – all manufactured overseas.

I also tend to think of the Christian Science Monitor as a reputable news source, so I read their recent article carefully.

The surprising truth about American manufacturing

“United States manufacturing output is at an all-time high, worth $2.2 trillion in 2015, up from $1.7 trillion in 2009. And while total employment has fallen by nearly a third since 1970, the jobs that remain are increasingly skilled.

“Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: Instead of having too many workers, as they did during the Great Recession, they may end up with too few…

“In western Michigan… unemployment here is low (around 3 percent)… For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers – and upward pressure on wages.” CSM

The situation isn’t all rosy: “Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970 to 12 million in 2015. The steepest declines came after 2001, when China gained entry to the World Trade Organization and ramped up exports… In areas exposed to foreign trade [like my tee shirts], every additional $1,000 of imports per worker meant a $550 annual drop in household income per working-age adult.” CSM

Despite job openings, lots of young workers don’t want to work in manufacturing. They watched their parents shoulder large amounts of overtime only to get laid off in the Great Recession, see the overall downward trend, and are being pushed into college instead of trades by parents, schools, and the government.

I checked Wikipedia, which seems like a decent place to get an overview.

“In 1990, services surpassed manufacturing as the largest contributor to overall private industry production, and then the finance, insurance and real estate sector surpassed manufacturing in 1991. Since the beginning of the current economic downturn in 2007, only computer and electronic products, aerospace, and transportation have seen increasing production levels…

“A total of 3.2 million – one in six U.S. factory jobs – have disappeared since the start of 2000. The manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy has experienced substantial job losses over the past several years.” Wikipedia

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