I struggled with the first part of the book by Spencer R. Weart, my interest in the title kept me reading, and I’m glad I did. I suggest beginning with the personal note at the end of the book. The opening sentence explains the book’s focus on the psychology of fear and the “forces of imagery and their pressure upon policies.” The author also reveals his personal opinions, and I was frankly somewhat surprised that he believes we should develop nuclear energy. The book carefully presents the pros and cons, with more emphasis on the cons, that I hadn’t anticipated that position. Continue reading
Category Archives: Current Events
The Benghazi Talking Points
Steve Hayes wrote an excellent article in the Weekly Standard about the editing of reports describing the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. The was obviously done to make the narrative “politically acceptable” to the administration during a Presidential election campaign. Click on the link if you want to be informed about the story. I expect there will be more information revealed as additional journalists decide they have to put aside their desire to protect President Obama and actually perform as journalists. If you chose to read this postings you will find that I consider the most important question that has not been asked is what did the Commander-In-Chief know and what did he do. Continue reading
Renewable Energy
There were two articles in a recent Denver Post about the wisdom of mandating renewable energy. The first that I’ll mention is titled “A job killer or a job creator” by Allen Best. He mentions that the town of Craig, Colorado was “rocking” with construction of coal-fired power plants. Then the construction crews departed after the Colorado legislature mandated that Colorado must get 20 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. That mandate not only reduced the flow of money into the Craig economy; the renewable industry is expected to go to Wyoming and Nebraska to obtain wind resources that are more dependable and cheaper. Continue reading
Turbo Tax Hint: Removing Problematic Forms
I’ve been using Turbo Tax to file my taxes for years. I have become more comfortable with using the package and particularly enjoy letting the computer download capital gains and losses, dividends, and interest directly from financial institutions.
I learned something this year while talking to the help center looking for assistance to correct an error. The error was associated with the information on a 1099-R form received on my withdrawal of funds from a retirement account. However, the hint applies to any form that has an error.
I don’t know whether the errors on both federal and state taxes were from a glitch in the software or, more likely, I had made an error in entering the information. I tried going back and retyping the information, but the error persisted. The call center (and it took some work to find the number to call) told me deleting and retyping information often does not correct errors. They had me click on the “Forms” icon that is the third icon to the left on the top right side of the page. (Warning: I understand that the Mac version might show the forms icon in a different location. Look for the icon that represents a stack of papers and is labeled “Forms.”)
Clicking on the “Forms” icon opens the entire menu of forms for both federal and state taxes to on the left side of the page (federal forms first followed by state forms). I scrolled down to find the federal form that had an error, opened, deleted it, and filled out the information again. (I understand the Mac version uses the term “Remove” instead of “Delete.”) I was told that “delete or remove,” depending on whether you are using Windows or Mac, is the only way to correct a form that has an error.
The next step was to once again to click on the “Forms” icon to locate the erroneous state form generated from the previously incorrect federal data. I was instructed to delete that form. The program immediately completed a new and correct form.
The “Forms” icon was replaced by “Step-By-Step” after I fixed my problematic forms. The error check after clicking the new icon gave me clearance that the mistakes had been corrected and I was able to file my return. Good luck with completing the increasingly complex tax filing process!
Gun Safety Starts With Gun Knowledge
There is so much fear-mongering involving guns right now. The debate over gun violence has led media outlets to cover a lot of shootings lately. Do not let this panic you. Violence in America (and among humanity in general) is going down. I repeatedly receive chain-emails that equate the government with Nazis; that tell me I will need to fight off the American Army from a bunker; that mock and vilify my fellow citizens. These messages are designed to inflame emotions and suppress rational discussion. Delete, delete, delete.
There are many problems that guns are a part of: suicide is different from accident, which is different from domestic violence, which is different from mass shootings, and so on.
Carbon Dioxide Concentrations in the Atmosphere
Those who advocate that there is global warming caused by the activities of man are eager to find any measurement that gives them hope their ideas are correct. There were news reports that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere “surged” from 2011 to 2012. Carbon dioxide concentrations did increase 2.42 parts per million to just under 395 parts per million by the end of 2012/ The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that increase was the highest since 1998, “…which saw a rise of 2.93 ppm.”
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/global-carbon-dioxide-levels-show-biggest-spike-15-131534825.html
The inference is that we are on a destructive path to global warming because of man’s insistence on burning fossil fuels. There are so many misleading aspects that it is difficult to know where to begin. Meteorologist Bill Collins warned against taking too much from the recent data. He gave some facts that would give hope to global warming advocates, such as his acknowledgment that 2012 was a “hot year.” He then observed that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is strongly influenced by plant activity, since plants use carbon dioxide as a food. He wrote that “…year to year variability is often caused by uptake of plants and trees.” Continue reading