Galilee Grand Opening on Friday

Boost for fishing, tourism

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, will host a grand opening event for the Galilee Boat Ramp Improvement Project at 3 p.m. Friday, June 27.

The improvement project involved the construction of a new, double-lane, 60-foot wide pre-cast concrete boat ramp with two adjacent rows of floating docks. The project also included the elevation and expansion of the existing fixed pier walkway to provide access to the pier and floats for boaters with disabilities. The new double-lane system with added floats will greatly increase the efficiency and ease of use of the facility, and is expected to reduce wait times for users of this busy boat ramp.

The NRA’s Accidental Brush with Sanity

The group blames an unnamed and lowly staffer for accidentally criticizing Texan gun advocates for hanging out at restaurants while brandishing assault weapons.

By Jim Hightower

Whoa, that was close. The National Rifle Association nearly shot itself in the foot recently with a common-sense editorial it posted online.

The group of rootin’-tootin’, bullet-spittin’, doctrinaire, guns-everywhere extremists finally saw something involving firearms that even it considered too extreme. 

In Texas (naturally), worshippers of the glorious gun god have taken to shouting out their ideological absolutism in coffee shops, museums, chain restaurants, and other public places by having a dozen or more of their ilk walk in together with shotguns, assault rifles and other weaponry strapped onto them.

PRIVACY: Is there anything that's secret?

Everything We Know About What Data Brokers Know About You

by Lois Beckett ProPublica.

June 13, 2014: This story has been updated. It was originally published on March 7, 2013.

We've spent a lot of time this past year trying to understand how the National Security Agency gathers and stores information about ordinary people. But there's also a thriving public marketfor data on individual Americans—especially data about the things we buy and might want to buy.

Consumer data companies are scooping up huge amounts of consumer information about people around the world and selling it, providing marketers details about whether you're pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you drive. But many people still don't know data brokers exist.

Poll results explain a lot about political rancor

13 Charts Show Startling Differences Between Liberals And Conservatives

By Mindy Fischer

We are perhaps more politically polarized today than we’ve ever been before. And that polarization is now showing up in more than just our political debate. It is actually now evident in the way we live our lives. A recent Pew Poll shows some very interesting new data on this very thing.

It seems that this partisan battling has done more than just make us polarized about our politics, it has also greatly increased the animosity felt for the opposing party, “bordering on a sense of alarm.” More than one third of Republicans and about a quarter of all Democrats now see the other party as a direct threat to our nation. This poll also shows that the more a person is politically involved, the more they are likely to be polarized and the more they believe in the threat of the opposing side.

 

An evening in Charlestown with Seth Magaziner

Good show of support for Democratic candidate for General Treasurer

By Will Collette

Seth at the Charlestown Gallery, June 21

A roomful of friends and supporters crowded into the Charlestown Gallery on June 21 to hear Seth Magaziner and to kick in their contributions to aid in his tough primary fight to become Rhode Island’s next General Treasurer.

Seth has been enthusiastically endorsed by the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee. He is running in a three-way primary fight with two DINOs (“Democrats in Name Only”) as his opponents.

The current favorite in that race is the former General Treasurer in the years leading up to RI’s pension crisis, Frank Caprio. Caprio ran one of the state’s worst campaigns ever for Governor in 2010, finally killing his chances by disrespecting the President of the United States, telling President Obama to take his endorsement and “shove it.” Caprio later disaffiliated from the Democratic Party, but returned so he could run what is turning into his Redemption Tour.

Punked

History of the Toothbrush

Most Americans didn't brush until after World War II
Another instructional graphic by Andy Warner

For the entire graphic history, click here.

Wind turbine payback

Environmental lifecycle assessment of 2-megawatt wind turbines
Science Daily

US researchers have carried out an environmental lifecycle assessment of 2-megawatt wind turbines mooted for a large wind farm in the US Pacific Northwest. Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, they conclude that in terms of cumulative energy payback, or the time to produce the amount of energy required of production and installation, a wind turbine with a working life of 20 years will offer a net benefit within five to eight months of being brought online.

Hamster-Wheel Economics 101

Given the bleak outlook, it's a relief to see growing momentum for raising the minimum wage to livable levels.

By Emily Schwartz Greco and William A. Collins

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew comes across as somewhat optimistic about the rather lackluster national economy.

“Evidence continues to mount that our economy is gaining traction,” Lew recently said. 

“Nevertheless, we cannot escape the fact that millions of Americans continue to struggle and their pain reminds us that our work is not finished…For too many families this hardly feels like a recovery.”

At least he’s being honest.

Getting ready for the next big one and the one after that...

URI researchers win post-Sandy grants to foster a storm-ready Rhode Island

Todd McLeish, URI

Professor King on the job (EcoRI photo)

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. –Researchers at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography are among several Rhode Island groups awarded federal funds for projects to make the state more resilient to flooding and erosion caused by storms and sea level rise. 

An $870,000 grant to Oceanography Professor John King will enable him to collect new data to inform the developing Rhode Island Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan (Beach SAMP), a regulatory plan that will guide how coastal communities prepare for, and adapt to, storms and encroaching ocean water as seas rise. 

Platter of Charlestown Tapas

Starting with a really good one

By Will Collette

Charlestown unemployment drops but so does the workforce

RI’s Department of Labor and Training’s latest numbers for Charlestown for the month of May are really good news. For the first time since September 2008, Charlestown’s unemployment rate was down to 7.0%. The total number of Charlestown workers collecting unemployment compensation was down to 313. A large part of the reason for the drop can be attributed to another 60 Charlestown workers dropping out of the labor force which meant that only 13 Charlestown workers found new jobs. Despite that, these new numbers are still a welcome improvement.

For the first time in a while, Charlestown’s unemployment rate is lower than the state average, even though the overall state unemployment rate fell to 8.2%.

Charlestown housing news not so good

Talk and Awe

John McCain invades your Sunday morning

By Brian McFadden 

Click here to see John McCain do the Surge.

Now, about US health care being the best in the world....

The Commonwealth Fund

Enough to break down our economy

The Costs of Climate Change Induced Flooding

By Richard Matthews in Global Warming Is Real

The combination of thermal expansion, melting ice, and extreme precipitation are contributing to flooding, which significantly increases the costs of climate change. Recent flooding in Central Europe accrued unprecedented costs and the UK in particular experienced some of the worst flooding in the island nation’s history. 

We have seen record setting downpours in Japan and recurrent widespread flooding in Australia. Last summer, we saw “Biblical flooding” in Colorado and most recently, the Balkans are suffering under a massive deluge. Even countries in the Middle East have been inundated by anomalous heavy precipitation in recent times.

In the past 140 years, sea levels have risen 7.7 inches and they are rising faster all the time. By the end of this century, scientists predict the seas will rise by as much as 7 feet. This will inundate cities around the world, including 1700 U.S. cities and the homes and businesses of 5 million Americans. By 2100, up to 600 million people or five percent of the global population could be affected by coastal flooding.

Save the Cod!

We Can't Afford to Create Next Fisheries Disaster

By PETER BAKER, from EcoRI

Federal and state officials recently announced a plan for the distribution of millions of dollars in disaster assistance for New England fishermen who depend on cod and other groundfish. But some of these same regional officials are considering a proposal that threatens to make things worse by cutting back habitat protections for depleted groundfish species.

In 2012, Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank declared a disaster after declines in the populations of groundfish forced sharp cuts in the allowable catch. A resulting framework agreement announced last month by regional officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) fisheries service would divide nearly $33 million in federal disaster assistance to six states.