Jobs, jobs jobs

Jobs are coming to Bessemer.

The Birmingham News is reporting that a Pennsylvania company will create 80 new jobs with a new plant in Bessemer near the CSX railroad hub in Interstate Industrial park. This is at the former site of the Pullman-Standard rail car manufacturing plant.

Update: By the way, the Bham News claims "News Exclusive," when in reality this was reported and printed in the Western Tribune on December 2, 2009. Looks like the News snoozed when the story broke.

Also, J C Penney at Colonial Tannehill has a "now hiring" sign up. The planned opening of the store is in March of this year. I don't know how many people they will be hiring, but now is the time to apply.

I took this picture near the JC Penney yesterday. Think this driver is interested in a job?





Today is a good day to spend watching video.

At Bessemer Science and Nature, the Symphony of Science videos are entertaining and educational.

At The Examiner, there is a video that can convince anyone to stop the hate and that equality for gays and lesbians is the right thing. Also, there is a link to the video of the Prop 8 trail which begins today in California.

Bama - National Champs, Ron Sparks moving up

My friend Neal made an interesting observation.

The Crimson Tide is the National Champion-but keep in mind that the Tide defeated Texas by 16 points and Florida by 19 but Auburn by a mere 5! War Damn Eagle!

Congratulations to Alabama. Many of us Auburn fans pulled for Alabama in last night's BCS championship. Let's see how many Alabama fans will pull for Auburn next year when we are in that game.

So Tuscaloosa developer and Bessemer developer Stan Pate paid for the banner that flew around the Rose Bowl urging impeachment of Governor Bob Riley.

Picture credit Mark Almond

While Pate's explanation certainly holds water, his action shows a complete lack of class.

"Look, this guy is trying to shut down businesses that employ thousands of hard-working Alabamians while he's out there for a football game on the taxpayer dollar. I think what this guy tried to do in Dothan Wednesday was an act aimed at putting Alabamians out of work, and somebody has to hold him accountable and that's what the banner is doing."

"Impeach corrupt Alabama Governor Bob Riley," the banner read.

Regardless of who the governor is, when they are trying to promote our state, we should not detract from that. This was a celebratory event, even before the kickoff, and flying a banner around just seemed childish.

Oh, yeah. It was Stan Pate.

Riley will be gone soon enough. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that he will be removed from office before the regularly scheduled departure following the election this year.

The only question is, which democrat candidate will be replacing him?

Artur Davis' popularity is falling, and Ron Sparks' is rising. That's not based on polling, it's just based on listening.

Ron Sparks had the following to say about Governor Riley's failed plan to raid Country Crossings in Dothan.

“Governor Riley’s latest attempt to shut down gaming operations at Country Crossings in Dothan, Alabama is just one more example of why the State of Alabama needs to once and for all address gaming in Alabama and pass comprehensive legislation that regulates it, controls it and taxes it.

“Bob Riley’s campaign against an industry that employs thousand of working people across the State, has already cost the Alabama taxpayers in the millions.

“Country Crossings, in the short time that it has been open, has already generated over a million dollars in revenue for Houston County as well as employing some 2,000 workers.

“Regulated and taxed gaming will create jobs and jobs will create economic prosperity in our State. This is the right path for Alabama on the gaming issue and one that I will take as Governor.”

Western Tribune column January 6, 2010 Testosterone

Waiting on snow and Alabama football (that's hard for an Auburn fan to say) and wondering why homophobic hatred is replacing racial hatred in Birmingham.

I had so much fun writing this column and love sharing the information.

Western Tribune column

Now we understand anti-Obama frenzy

After Barack Obama took the oath of office it didn’t take long before those who voted against him to ramp up the rhetoric in opposition. Led by their leaders Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, they reached a frenzy during the summer with wild accusations hyped at “tea party” rallies.

Now we know why, extrapolating from a report in the January, 2010 issue of Scientific American.

Biologists from Duke University and the University of Michigan have determined that male voters who back a losing candidate experience a rapid drop in the hormone testosterone following a loss. Specifically, levels of testosterone remained stable for males who voted for Obama, while those who voted for John McCain and Robert Barr had a decline.

One of the effects of testosterone is increased libido, and when levels decrease, well, a man might get frustrated and angry as a result.

The study also showed that women’s levels of testosterone levels did not change significantly after a win or a loss by their candidate. But I suppose they might react to a decrease in affection by their mate.

The research team admits that there are many factors that influence testosterone levels and they controlled for many of these during their election night sampling. They do not know how long the effects due to the election loss will last, but they conjecture that since the dominance held by a winning presidential candidate lasts at least four years, it’s plausible that testosterone levels could remain suppressed in males for that long.

That’s a long time to do without, so don’t expect any taming of the rhetoric anytime soon.
And while my conclusion about libido and anger was not among the conclusions expressed by the researchers; they did state that the McCain voters reported feeling significantly more unhappy and unpleasant after the loss.

The researchers now want to focus on spectator sports to see if fans, lacking a direct influence on an outcome like voters do, exhibit similar changes in testosterone after a loss.

That makes me wonder if outcomes of policy battles (health care) might lead to fluctuating testosterone levels among members of congress that will be voting but also among the supporters and detractors of reform.

And I wonder as well just how much of how we act and what we do is controlled by hormones and chemicals in our body and not by our minds as we would like to believe.

Global cooling - not the way to go

Every year on a cold morning I take a picture of the fountain in its frozen state and post it on this site. As far as I can tell, the goldfish and their brown progeny are still alive, but I won't know for sure until the thaw takes place. They have survived previous freezes.



But its cold for us southerners. Of course, my brother in Minnesota would laugh at us for being such weenies when it comes to cold weather.

Speaking of weenies, and the cold, I wonder if David, standing near the fountain, experiences "shrinkage" related to the cold weather.



But what if the cold weather became permanent. While our immediate and more pressing concern is climate change in the other direction, there is a theory about global cooling that could occur if a local nuclear skirmish between India and Pakistan occurred.

Scientific American has an article where Alan Robock and Owen Brian Toon explore that possibility. (The entire article is only available online if you are a subscriber. I have the magazine if you want to borrow it).

Here are the key concepts from the article.

Nuclear bombs dropped on cities and industrial areas in a fight between India and Pakistan would start firestorms that would put massive amounts of smoke into the upper atmosphere.

The particles would remain there for years, blocking the sun, making the earth's surface cold, dark and dry. Agricultural collapse and mass starvation could follow.

Cooling scenarios are based on computer models. but observations of volcanic eruptions, forest fire smoke and other phenomena provide confidence that the models are correct.

Here is why the smoke particles from the fires would not just be brought down to the earth by rain and gravity.

"Fires ignited by bombs would send smoke up through the troposphere within two days." (That's up about 12 kilometers). "The sun would then heat the tiny particles and loft them into the stratosphere," by day 49. (That is up to 50 kilometers). "Precipitation never occurs there, so particles would take about 10 years to fully settle to earth's surface. Smoke in the troposphere washes out within a week or so."

The sky would look overcast everywhere.

Less sunlight and cooler temperature would shorten the growing season everywhere.

The authors report on the effects of volcanoes and forest fires. the most remarkable was the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia which darkened the skies and produced a global temperature decline of about 0.5 degrees C for a year. "1816 became known as 'The Year without a Summer' or 'Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death.'"

"In New England, although the average summer temperature was lowered only a few degrees, crop-killing frosts occurred in every month."

There are more examples of past effects and future possibilities in the article.

A solution is offered as well: Abolition of nuclear weapons.

"...on September 24 (2009), the president led the United nations Security Council to approve a draft resolution that would step up efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Our modeling results only strengthen the reasons to support further progress on such policy."

Here, Molly discusses the effect on our world from a nuclear war. While her scenario is a bit more explosive, the results are the same.

Don't be stupid

On a cold morning this was the view as I emerged from the Kirklin Clinic. Maybe not too noticeable in the photo, but jumped out at me, was this woman sitting on the edge of one of the planters.

Cut to the chase. Smoke exiting her lungs. Oxygen tank by her side (to her right, it is almost blocked by her purse in the photo).

See the little sign among the plants? See that there are three visible in this photo. Here is what they say.


In each of the planters are signs like this facing in all directions.

Now, I will be the first to admit that quitting cigarettes is difficult. I began smoking in the 8th grade, quit when I went to college, started again after college, quit again when fatherhood neared.

But worse, I watched my father suffer and die because of cigarettes. He tried to quit numerous times, and even tried acupuncture to help. He had heart disease, emphysema and COPD. He died.

Have you ever watched someone who couldn't breathe? I mean, really couldn't breathe?

The best way to quit smoking is to not start in the first place. If you are a young person reading this, don't be a fool. You can be cool without smoking. And you won't smell like a smokestack, your teeth won't be yellow and kissing you won't be like licking an ashtray.

If you already smoke...quit! Here are resources.

This is a kind of funny anti-smoking ad.

Full moon, blue moon, lunar eclipse...bring on 2010!

If you read my column this week, which follows this post, you will see that I am optimistic about 2010.

"Twenty ten," that just has a good sound to it.

We also get to experience a full moon, a blue moon, and for some, a lunar eclipse, on New Years Eve. How rare is that? Pretty dang rare. Blue moons, which means two full moons in a month, occur only once every 2.5 years. For it to occur on a certain day, December 31, must have special meaning.

Nancy Joy thinks so. Especially regarding the eclipse. She says it is an indication of the positive things that will happen in 2010. Among those, previously opposing forces will come together, integrate, in support of positive changes both within and outside of ourselves. I know, "blah, blah blah," but that's what I get from her message.

She says we are moving into an age of peace, a time of change. The biggest change is that all the energies that were rejecting this shift in 2009 will be supporting it in 2010.

Watch, and listen.

Western Tribune column December 30, 2009 Happy New Year

This column appeared in the Western Tribune on December 30, 2009

Has it really been 10 years? We were all Y2Krazy in December, 1999, wondering if the world as we knew it would end when the New Year began.

Glued to our televisions, we saw the fireworks from cities that celebrated before our clocks struck midnight. Airplanes did not drop out of the sky, elevators did not trap people in skyscrapers, and those on cruise ships did not return to ports devoid of people.

We are nearing the end of the aughts (or the zeros or however this decade will be remembered), and it is going out with a whimper.

Not as bad as it could have been, had the president not instituted policies which have helped turn the economy around. The job market is stabilizing and manufacturing reports indicate the beginnings of an economic recovery.

But the most encouraging news is that both houses of congress have passed historic legislation which recognizes that all Americans have the right to affordable health care. No longer will access to health care depend on one’s financial status or the whims of an insurance executive, assuming the kinks are worked out and a bill is presented for the president to sign.

This indicates a maturing of sorts of our democracy as we become a country that recognizes how important health care is to the economy and to our national welfare.

While ten years ago we welcomed the New Year with relief, 2009 was greeted with hope. Some have spent the past year fighting everything our president has tried to do, with no regard as to the merits of the issues.

They ask, “How’s that ‘change’ you voted for working out for you?”

Much better, I believe, than the negative change we were experiencing before Barack Obama became president.

Then they grade the president on the basis of what he has accomplished during his first year, as if all of the promises he made during his campaign had to be completed during that time period. There are three years left in his first term and another four years might follow.

As 2010 begins, the positive feelings that filled the nation a year ago are returning. Just as the country is being lifted, we can begin to expect a better community as well.

Birmingham will soon have a new mayor and later in 2010 Bessemer will have the opportunity to elect new officials as well.

Happy New Year.