Solar 'puts power in the hands of the little guy'

Solar power will soon have "grid parity" with coal and other dirty forms of power production. Germany is at the forefront. Meanwhile, solar panels on every house and in every backyard are making energy production local and distributive, instead of remote and concentrated:

By decentralizing power generation, the renewables boom could do to the power industry what the Internet did to the media: Put power in the hands of the little guy, and force power companies to rethink how they do business.

Can You Have Too Much Solar Energy?

By Andrew Curry

March 29, 2013 | Slate

URL: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/alternative_energy/2013/03/solar_power_in_germany_how_a_cloudy_country_became_the_world_leader_in_solar.single.html

No Electoral College, no shenanigans

I can't support the Republican or the Democratic party on this one. I'm with the majority of Americans: let's scrap the stupid anachronistic elitist Electoral College altogether.

Instead let's elect our President by a national popular vote, just like every other democracy does. We're big boys and girls now, we can handle it.

Republicans Face Backlash Over Controversial Electoral College Plan

By Amanda Terkel

March 25, 2013 | Huffington Post

URL: http://huff.to/15L7G9k

DC Johnston: Average Americans $59 richer since 1966

Everybody's gotta read this. I'm not even gonna give you snippets, just read the whole thing.

My man David Cay Johnston is back on the case!

Income Inequality: 1 Inch to 5 Miles

By David Cay Johnston

February 25, 2013 | Tax Analysts

URL: http://www.taxanalysts.com/www/features.nsf/Articles/C52956572546624F85257B1D004DE3FC?OpenDocument

14 million Americans collect disability

Did you know that, "The federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled former workers than it spends on food stamps and welfare combined"?

Funnily enough though, "There's no diagnosis called disability:"

As far as the federal government is concerned, you're disabled if you have a medical condition that makes it impossible to work. In practice, it's a judgment call made in doctors' offices and courtrooms around the country. The health problems where there is most latitude for judgment -- back pain, mental illness -- are among the fastest growing causes of disability.

Unfortunately, "disability has also become a de facto welfare program for people without a lot of education or job skills." But just like regular welfare, it's not all glam and gold:

But going on disability means you will not work, you will not get a raise, you will not get whatever meaning people get from work. Going on disability means, assuming you rely only on those disability payments, you will be poor for the rest of your life. That's the deal. And it's a deal 14 million Americans have signed up for.

Basically, the number of adults -- and kids -- pulling disability checks has more than made up for the decrease in welfare recipients since Bill Clinton's Welfare To Work bill in 1994 that "ended Welfare as we know it."

Unfit for Work

By Chana Joffe-Walt | NPR

URL: http://n.pr/Z1KId4

Universe just got 80 million years older

This is pretty cool, awe-inspiring stuff. Turns out, the universe is 13.82 billion years old, about 80 million years older than previously thought. And it looks like a rugby ball.

By comparison, spaceship Earth is about 4.5 billion years old.  And it's round.

I wonder: what was God up to for the first 9.3 billion years before he made the Earth, and the first 13.8 billion years (or 13.829999 billion years, if you're a Creationist) before he made us? God must be a very meticulous planner.

Planck shows almost perfect cosmos – plus axis of evil

By Jacob Aron

March 21, 2013 | New Scientist

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23301