The WSJ
Rethink chrysanthemums.
It's time for the chrysanthemum to shake off its reputation as a stiff, kitschy flower that returns each fall as predictably as Halloween. For those in the know, the mum is a horticultural star with more personalities than the clones in "Orphan Black." The Chinese, who discovered the flower around 500 B.C., quickly figured that out, worshiping it for its decorative beauty and extensive culinary and medicinal uses. The Japanese later elevated it to official status on their emperor's seal. But the plant crossed over into an all-out cult object in the 17th century, when England succumbed to a mad, mums-breeding frenzy.
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America, Syria, and The World: I might come back to this later. And then, again, maybe not. It is interesting to scroll through google's "red line in the sand" and see all the liberals who absolutely, 100%, unequivocally backed O'Bama's decision to bomb the heck out of Syria. And then Lurch gaffed.
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This I will definitely come back to -- but due to soccer games, etc., some of this will have to wait. Dialing back the alarm on climate change:
Later this month, a long-awaited event that last happened in 2007 will recur. Like a returning comet, it will be taken to portend ominous happenings. I refer to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) "fifth assessment report," part of which will be published on Sept. 27.
There have already been leaks from this 31-page document, which summarizes 1,914 pages of scientific discussion, but thanks to a senior climate scientist, I have had a glimpse of the key prediction at the heart of the document. The big news is that, for the first time since these reports started coming out in 1990, the new one dials back the alarm. It states that the temperature rise we can expect as a result of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide is lower than the IPPC thought in 2007.
Most experts believe that warming of less than 2 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels will result in no net economic and ecological damage. Therefore, the new report is effectively saying (based on the middle of the range of the IPCC's emissions scenarios) that there is a better than 50-50 chance that by 2083, the benefits of climate change will still outweigh the harm.
Warming of up to 1.2 degrees Celsius over the next 70 years (0.8 degrees have already occurred), most of which is predicted to happen in cold areas in winter and at night, would extend the range of farming further north, improve crop yields, slightly increase rainfall (especially in arid areas), enhance forest growth and cut winter deaths (which far exceed summer deaths in most places). Increased carbon dioxide levels also have caused and will continue to cause an increase in the growth rates of crops and the greening of the Earth—because plants grow faster and need less water when carbon dioxide concentrations are higher.
Up to two degrees of warming, these benefits will generally outweigh the harmful effects, such as more extreme weather or rising sea levels, which even the IPCC concedes will be only about 1 to 3 feet during this period.
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I'm looking out the window at Starbucks. I have never seen a dog with such short legs. It looks like some kind of terrier-dachshund cross. Its legs barely touch the ground. His ears are longer than his legs. His snout is longer than his legs. Moving from lying to standing increases his height, like, maybe an inch. If my wife were here she would take a photo with her iPhone. I don't have an iPhone.
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Volkswagen will come to regret this decision.
The United Auto Workers union, after suffering years of declining membership and power in Detroit, is moving closer to what could be an unlikely and historic win: organizing its first foreign-owned auto plant in the U.S. South.
UAW President Bob King said on Friday he is confident a Volkswagen AG plant in Tennessee will be unionized, and is hoping the auto maker will accept the UAW as bargaining partner for the plant's 2,000 assembly workers.
If the UAW succeeds in Chattanooga, it would be a dramatic turn for the South, which has long resisted organized labor and has used its antiunion stance to attract several foreign-owned auto makers.
Apparently the Germans just don't know to operate in a world without unions.
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All things being equal, this could be great news for Bakken operators.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is pressing energy companies in the U.S. to disclose how much of their reserves—a key gauge of future profit—consists of oil rather than less valuable liquids like propane.
After prodding from regulators, companies including BHP Billiton Ltd. and ConocoPhillips have recently joined Exxon Mobil Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in agreeing to break out how much of the fuel they can pump at a profit is crude rather than liquids derived from natural gas.
The question is becoming more critical as crude prices hover over $100 a barrel while prices of other liquid fuels have tumbled in the face of surging supply. But some companies continue to lump the two together, and SEC officials are pushing them to change that when the noncrude liquids are significant.All things being equal, side-by-side comparisons will raise the relative value of Bakken operators which generally target 95% crude oil.
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Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, considered a political centrist, joins at least three other Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee who are expected to vote against Mr. Summers if he is nominated.
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Like so many young Americans, Derek Wetherell is stuck.
At 23 years old, he has a job, but not a career, and little prospect for advancement. He has tens of thousands of dollars in student debt, but no college degree. He says he is more likely to move back in with his parents than to buy a home, and he doesn't know what he will do if his car—a 2001 Chrysler Sebring with well over 100,000 miles—breaks down.
"I'm kind of spinning my wheels," Mr. Wetherell says. "We can wishfully think that eventually it's going to get better, but we don't really know, and that doesn't really help us now."This comment will help put things into perspective:
Question for Mr. Wetherell: when you decided on a political science major, what were your career aspirations? Article doesn't say.The Bakken is crying for workers.
And then this:
I am puzzled when I read a young man has three credits left and doesn't finish college? Something else is going on besides being fearful of debt.Doesn't sound like he could make it in the Bakken; wouldn't last one winter.
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I cannot make this up. Government workers in Greece were given six additional paid vacation days if they used a computer at work. That little perk is now being rescinded. I guess instead of 64 days of paid vacation (not counting paid maternity and paternity time off), Greek government employees will only have 58 days paid vacation.
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Rebecca Kimberlain, a 44-year-old paralegal who doesn't have health insurance and never goes to the doctor for checkups, said that if she had a medical condition, "I wouldn't know about it." So as she walked around the Hatfield and McCoy Heritage Days festival here over Labor Day weekend, a health-care booth caught her eye.
Staffers promoting the state's health-insurance marketplace, which is dubbed kynect and scheduled to debut Oct. 1 as part of the federal health-care law, explained that Ms. Kimberlain likely would qualify for subsidies to pay for a private plan or perhaps for Medicaid coverage.
"I have not heard about this at all," said Ms. Kimberlain, who lives in Pikeville, a rural Appalachian town. "It sounds very interesting to me." She worried, though, whether the subsidies would be enough, as she can't afford to pay more than $100 a month.
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