43 New APIs: StubHub, AppURL and Miniflux

This week we had 43 new APIs added to our API directory including a service to connect applications to HTTP URLs, online marketplace for event tickets, RSS feed reading service, application monetization platform and human body 3D imaging service. We also covered an API to help with the recruiting process as well as a bug reporting service. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.

Ably API: Ably is a hosted, real-time messaging service for web-enabled devices. The subscription-based service provides a scalable, fast, and secure solution for connecting any Internet-enabled device or app to any other device or server in milliseconds.

The Ably REST API provides a way for a wide range of server and client devices to communicate with the Ably service. API functions include authentication, publication of messages, retrieval of message history, retrieval of presence state and presence, and retrieval of statistics for application usage.

Algorithms.io API: Algorithms.io is a cloud service using machine learning algorithms to deliver predictive analytics to businesses of all sizes. Customers simply upload data, select and run an algorithm, and receive a JSON formatted response. Algorithms.io exposes this workflow through a REST API that allows developers to embed algorithms into their applications.
The API supports HTTP GET/POST/DELETE calls allowing applications to manage datasets, jobs, and account balances.

App55 API: App55 is a UK-based online payment service that enables merchants, websites and mobile application developers to offer their customers secure, one-click payments for products or services via any internet-enabled device.

App55 offers a restful API for access to their payment services. Use the API to send requests to the App55 platform in order to manage users, manage cards, and perform transactions. Responses are returned in JSON or JSONP. Authentication is via API key.

AppURL API: AppURL is a service that connects applications to the web using HTTP URLs. AppURL offers features such as cross-platform linking, ability for applications to show up in search engine results, and documentation to help other developers understand how to link to the applications.

The AppURL API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of AppURL with other applications. Some example API methods include transforming apps to links, uploading JSON files to URLs, and retrieving URL links.

BugDigger API: BugDigger provides users with bug reporting services for their websites. It is designed to capture all potentially useful information, including a screenshot, environment data, and website usage history. Screenshots can be marked up easily using a built-in editor.

BugDigger can be integrated with bug tracking systems via REST or JavaScript API so that information is automatically collected and sent to the tracker. As of this writing, there are plans to extend the API's functionality to include "read" operations and other features.

Cloudbase.io API: Cloudbase.io is a backend management service for mobile developers that takes care of all of the relational and non-relational data storage required for an application?s data. Shared API functionality allows developers to turn their mobile app into a platform by sharing data between applications or with other cloudbase.io developers.

Cloudbase.io offers a set of RESTful APIs for developers. API functions include data, register-device, cloudfunction, applet, log, log-navigation, notifications, email, paypal, and shared-api. Supported output formats include JSON and XML.

Count.io API: Count.io is a simple counting API that can be used to keep a persistent count of anything the developer wants, such as clicks on a link or conversations between users. Developers can access the API's functions using JSON-formatted REST calls. This API is currently in beta. Interested persons can sign up to receive updates by email.

Dashbook API: Dashbook is a platform that allows users to create and manage all of the information they want in one dashboard screen. Users can tailor and customize the feeds and information they want to see in their dashboard.

The Dashbook API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Dashbook with other applications and to build new applications. Public documentation is not available; interested developers should sign up here http://dashbookapp.com/#contactForm for access.

Datalanche API: Datalanche is a database and server management service for working with structured data. It is designed to provide persistent data storage for mobile and web apps. It also offers a public data repository containing things like directory information and medical codes. This repository can be queried via REST API or downloaded as a CVS file.

Datalanche is also capable of acting as a central repository for structured data from multiple sources. The REST API can automate the aggregation of this data and then access it from a single point. Datalanche users can share their structured data privately with 3rd parties, or share an API endpoint that lets others read or write the data.

DNSDB API: DNSDB is a database of both passive and authoritative DNS data. Passive data comes from Farsight Security's Security Information Exchange while authoritative data is provided by various zone operators. DNSDB allows users to easily search for individual RRsets and provides additional metadata as well. It can also perform inverse, or RDATA, searches. Developers can use DNSDB's REST API to make automated bulk queries against DNSDB in JSON format.

Fare Buzz Flight Gateway API: Fare Buzz is a travel booking site, connecting customers to flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages. Fare Buzz provides clients with access to published and consolidator air fares through their Flight Gateway Web Service. This SOAP API can be used to search for and book fares through a 3rd party application or website.

Fareclock API: Fareclock provides web-based employee time tracking services built around biometric verification. Fareclock offers a REST API enabling customers to integrate their service into 3rd party applications. The API delivers employee clock in/out times as well as accompanying metadata. Responses may be JSON or XML formatted.

FlixFit API: FlixFit provides applications and websites with the ability to take high quality human measurements through imaging. It can use regular consumer devices such as laptops, smartphones, and iPads to take pictures of an individual. FlixFit then uses those images to create a three-dimensional representation of their body. It is designed to replace traditional methods of taking body measurements and provide sizing information for online shopping.

gazeMetrix API: gazeMetrix is a service that allows brand marketers to find and curate pictures from social networking sites that contain their brand. The service uses optical character recognition to identify brands present in images, even in low light or when the logo is tilted. This allows users to discover such images without the aid of captions or hashtags. gazeMetrix also provides analytics to help discover where a brand is popular and which people and events are influencing the brand's image.

gazeMetrix's data and functionality can be integrated with other applications via REST API. Developers need an API key in order to view the documentation.

GigaTools API: GigaTools allows artists, bands, labels, and agents to manage and promote future gigs online. Musicians can integrate their performance schedules with sites like Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, and Mixcloud as well as their own blogs or websites. Labels and agents can use GigaTools to manage all of their artists' schedules from one place, keeping information up-to-date across all personal sites and social networks.

The GigaTools API allows users to retrieve data on upcoming gigs from the GigaTools website. Users can search for gigs by location, venue, date range, or the artist's Soundcloud or Twitter ID.

Hall API: Hall is a communications platform for organizations, teams, and businesses. Hall offers a variety of communications and collaboration features, such as group chats, file sharing, and instant messaging on multiple platforms.

The Hall API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Hall with other applications, such as Zapier, Zendesk, Github, and Get Satisfaction. The main API method is linking Hall to accounts on these other applications.

Hollybyte API: Hollybyte is an online video platform that offers a solution for managing, distributing and monetizing digital video across multiple channels and devices. Hollybyte offers multiple video uploading options as well as an intuitive interface to sorting, managing and organizing your video content.

The Hollybyte API allows developers create their own rich video sites and applications.

Host Stream Sell API: Host Stream Sell is a video hosting and streaming solution for providing secure access to your videos. Use the platform to upload, encode, and securely store your videos in the cloud. Access to your videos is permitted using simple API calls in your application. The API enables you to send requests and retrieve information dynamically for display to your users. The API also provides methods to grant and remove access to videos on your website based on a user's unique user ID. Requests are returned in XML or JSON format. An API key is required.

InterMine API: InterMine lets users create databases for integrating and analyzing complex biological data from many sources and formats. InterMine comes with a user-friendly, customizable web interface as well as an API for accessing stored data. InterMine also provides a JavaScript API to make it easier to load JS and CSS libraries. This service loads libraries based on the dependencies between them and skips libraries that already exist or pass a specific check.

jwmoz Pinterest API: Pinterest is essentially a virtual pinboard where users can post and share images, which are referred to as "pins." It can be used to collect recipes, project ideas, clothing items, vacation destinations, and pretty much anything else found online.

This unofficial API was developed at a time when Pinterest lacked their own API, circa June 2012. It has recently run into some difficulties since Pinterest made changes to their backend, but it is still capable of retrieving pins via REST calls.

LaunchPad Recruits API: LaunchPad Recruits is an online video interview service that allows you screen job candidates more effectively than by a resume or curriculum vitae alone. Video interviews can be an alternative to phone screening or first round interviewing.

Tha LaunchPad Recruits API allows you to integrate video interviewing into your own application. API resources include accounts, interviews, questions, candidates, invites, and callbacks. The API is RESTful and all responses and error messages are returned using JSON.

MailerMailer API: MailerMailer is a service that helps users run their email-based marketing campaigns and newsletters. It can be used to create or import lists of recipients and will automatically remove bounces, unsubscribes, and invalid email addresses. MailerMailer also provides an editor for creating professional and visually-appealing email messages from scratch or with a template. Legally required features, such as an unsubscribe link, are automatically included.

MailerMailer also provides users with metrics on the number of opens, clicks, bounces, signups, unsubscribes, and complaints that their emails receive. It uses several authentication technologies to reassure ISPs that users' email messages are legitimate and improve the rate of successful delivery. Developers can connect MailerMailer to their websites or applications via XML-RPC API.

Marketingship API: Marketingship is an email marketing and email newsletter service. Organizations can create, manage, and track email marketing campaigns with Marketingship.

The Marketingship API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Marketingship with other applications. Public documentation is not available; interested developers should contact info@marketingship.com for more information.

Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority API: MiamiBeachAPI.com is a service of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (VCA) that delivers information on Miami Beach businesses and events. The site is powered by a RESTful API, through which the VCA exposes this information. The free API requires no signup and supports browsing and searching of events and businesses by category. Responses are JSON formatted.

Miniflux API: Miniflux is an RSS feed reader that's been optimized for simplicity and readability. It only comes with basic features and does not support social networking. It also eschews ads and pixel trackers. It does, however, provide support for keyboard shortcuts and viewing entire articles directly from the application. Users can download and use Miniflux for free or subscribe to the hosted version, which costs ?10. Miniflux can be accessed programmatically via JSON-RPC API.

MoPub API: MoPub is a monetization platform and service for mobile and web applications. MoPub offers features like advertising integration, a dashboard of revenue, and other monetization services for applications.

The MoPub API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of MoPub with other applications. Some example API methods include retrieving revenue lists, retrieving transactions, and managing account information.

NACapp API: NACapp is a service for relaying notifications, alerts, and chat messages to groups of mobile devices. It is designed to provide timely messaging services to teams who communicate primarily via mobile devices. Users can create messages by logging on to the website, via email, or by using the REST or SOAP APIs. Once a user sends a notification, they can see which devices have received, viewed, and acted on the notification.

Olapic API: Olapic is a crowdsourced visual content platform. Olapic offers eCommerce features for attracting customers, buying, and selling visual content and photos.

The Olapic API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Olapic with other applications. Public documentation is not available; interested developers should contact Olapic for more information: https://www.olapic.com/contact-us/.

ScreenPlay API: ScreenPlay provides an API web service for customers to access their video database with a simple series of parameters. This method of accessing ScreenPlay content allows publishers to integrate with websites and apps more efficiently by programming specific calls from the Screenplay API. Some example API methods include requesting specific titles, categories and retrieving data.

Public documentation is not available; interested developers should contact information@screenplayinc.com for more information.

Sippy SoftSwitch API: Sippy Softswitch provides a complete network management platform for VoIP (Voice over IP) carriers. Its call-control software allows developers to build VoIP networks that are both scalable and reliable. This software is based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and handles thousands of client networks around the world. Developers can integrate Sippy Softswitch with other software and applications via XML-RPC API.

SlidePay API: SlidePay is a credit card payment acceptance service. SlidePay allows merchants and users to accept swiped credit card payments in their applications on a variety of platforms.

The SlidePay API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of SlidePay with other applications. Some example API methods include processing payments, retrieving payments, and sending receipts.

SlimSurveys API: SlimSurveys is a survey creation and management service. Users can create mini surveys that can be completed in a short amount of time. SlimSurveys offers features to create different types of surveys, with images and different responses.

The SlimSurveys API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of SlimSurveys with other applications and create new applications. Public documentation is not available; interested developers should sign up here: https://slimsurveys.com/developer.

SnapComms Desktop Alert API: SnapComms is a push notification solution for employee communication on desktop and mobile devices. The SnapComms API gives organizations the ability to integrate the SnapComms push notifications with other platforms (for example, intranet and contact center solutions). Notification formats include: pop-up alerts, scrolling tickers, pop-up quizzes and surveys and interactive screensaver messaging.

Public documentation is not available; API access comes with account service and login.

Squirrel Tools API: Squirrel Tools is an API that lets users calculate poker odds and hand rankings. It works for regular poker with hands of 5, 6, or 7 cards as well as for Texas hold'em with 3, 4, or 5 cards on the table. It will also determine the winner for a group of known hands and return the Sklansky group for a pair of cards in Texas hold'em.

StubHub API: StubHub is an online platform for people to buy and sell tickets. Users can list and sell concert tickets, sporting event tickets, and other event tickets for others to purchase and use.

The StubHub API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of StubHub with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include managing account information, retrieving events and listings, and searching ticket inventory.

Tiramizoo.com API: Tiramazoo.com is a German product delivery service built for ecommerce. Tiramazoo.com offers both direct integration through a plugin and a REST API. The API is capable of creating or cancelling orders, and delivering service area information. The API communicates over SSL, authenticates with an API token, and returns JSON formatted data.

Traveller Map API: Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) in which characters travel between star systems to explore, fight, and trade. It is a fairly open-ended game, and players may choose whether to seek out wealth, technology, political power, or new discoveries. Traveller Map is pieced together from several different official maps of the Traveller universe. The map can be accessed and viewed directly through the website, or it can be retrieved programmatically via REST API.

UltraHook API: UltraHook is a free webhook service. UltraHook allows users to create and manage webhooks over localhosts, allowing for updates over HTTP requests.

The UltraHook API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of UltraHook with other applications. The main API method is sending webhooks.

USERcycle API: USERcycle is a service designed to help optimize products through actionable learning. It starts off by benchmarking product performance and identifying constraints or metrics that can be improved. From there, developers can make changes and measure whether those changes make the product better or worse. Developers can feed data into USERcycle from their product or app by using either the REST or JavaScript API.

Vivocha API: Vivocha is a cloud-based customer interaction platform that enables businesses to engage with their customers online at the right time and using the most effective communication channel. Businesses can communicate with customers using any combination of VoIP, video, chat, and callbacks as well as collaboration tools such as assisted browsing and form and document sharing.

The Vivocha REST API offers access to the main features of the platform. Use the API to subscribe webhooks to vivocha events, request new contacts, set a custom webservice for checking agent availability, or get information about pending contacts and current status.

Washington State Department of Transportation API: The Washington State Department of Transportation uses an API to provide developer access to their traveler information data. The API, accessible through RESTfull HTTP calls or through a SOAP service, is capable of delivering information on border crossings, highway alerts, mountain pass conditions, traffic flow, travel times, ferry information, and much more.

World Travel and Tours API: World Travel and Tours is a real-time tour marketplace that connects travelers, tour providers, and travel affiliates. World Travel and Tours exposes its activities and tours database to affiliates through an API.
The API accepts HTTP GET calls and provides access to information and booking capabilities for tours and providers. Responses are XML formatted.

yourtaximeter API: Yourtaximeter is a free online service that calculates taxi fares in the UK. Calculations account for local rates, date, time, passengers, and surcharges. The yourtaximeter API allows 3rd party applications and websites to instantly calculate fares as well as lookup car license plates and confirm that a vehicle is a licensed taxi. The API requires an API Key and returns XML or JSON formatted responses.

Source: http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/08/11/43-new-apis-stubhub-appurl-and-miniflux/

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Caesars gives up on Macau casino plan, sells US$438 million golf course to Pearl Dynasty

August 10, 2013
Latest Update: August 10, 2013 02:31 pm

US casino operator Caesars Entertainment has agreed to sell a golf course in Macau to Pearl Dynasty Investment Ltd for US$438 million (about RM1.31 billion), effectively giving up on its wait for casino operating rights in the Chinese gaming enclave.

The Las Vegas-based company said yesterday it plans to use proceeds to fund other capital expenditures or repurchase debt obligations, according to a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It did not comment further.

This followed a move by Caesars in April to spin off assets, with buyout firms Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital LP investing US$250 million each in a new business free from the shackles of the company's debt, potentially raising up to US$1.2 billion for Caesars.

The company was taken private by a consortium led by the two private equity firms in 2008 for US$30.7 billion and went public last year. It is struggling to cope with debt topping US$20 billion, according to its interim results announced on July 30.

Caesars does not own a licence to operate casinos in Macau.

The company had bought the land near the territory's Cotai strip for US$578 million in 2007 with the intention of developing a hotel-casino complex, but the Macau government has not increased the six casino operating licences issued since 2001. - Reuters, August 10, 2013.

Source: http://business.rss.themalaysianinsider.com/c/33362/f/567636/s/2fc89502/sc/24/l/0L0Sthemalaysianinsider0N0Cbusiness0Carticle0Ccaesars0Esells0Eus4380Emillion0Emacau0Egolf0Ecourse0Eto0Epearl0Edynasty/story01.htm

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Six of 12 small cars do well in front crash tests

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, file photo, Honda Civic and Honda CRVs are parked outside of a Honda car dealership in Des Plaines, Ill. Only the two-door and four-door Honda Civic models earned the top rating of ?good? in the front-end crash tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, while the Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and the 2014 Scion tC got ?acceptable? ratings. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, file photo, Honda Civic and Honda CRVs are parked outside of a Honda car dealership in Des Plaines, Ill. Only the two-door and four-door Honda Civic models earned the top rating of ?good? in the front-end crash tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, while the Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and the 2014 Scion tC got ?acceptable? ratings. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

DETROIT (AP) ? Six of 12 small cars performed well in front-end crash tests conducted by an insurance industry group, but some popular models fared poorly in the safety evaluations.

Only the two-door and four-door Honda Civic models earned the top rating of "good" in the tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and the 2014 Scion tC got "acceptable" ratings.

But popular models such as the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic and the Volkswagen Beetle got "marginal" ratings, while the Nissan Sentra and the Kia Soul and 2014 Kia Forte each were rated "poor."

The group didn't test the Toyota Corolla because a new version is coming out in the fall. The Corolla is the No. 2 selling small car in America, behind the Civic.

The IIHS ratings are influential because many auto shoppers find them while researching vehicles on the Internet.

The market for small cars is one of fastest-growing in the U.S. Automakers have made the cars quieter and more refined as people who want good gas mileage turn to compacts and subcompacts. So far this year, Americans have bought more than 1.8 million new small cars, up 12 percent over a year ago, according to Autodata Corp.

The cars were rated for their performance in the insurance institute's "small overlap" test of crashes that cover only 25 percent of a vehicle's front end. These tests, added to the IIHS's evaluations last year, are forcing automakers to bolster the front-end structure of all cars in order to avoid bad publicity from a poor performance.

The IIHS tests are more stringent than the U.S. government's full-width front crash test. The institute says that in many vehicles, a crash affecting one-quarter of the front end misses the main structures designed to absorb the impact. Yet such crashes account for nearly a quarter of the frontal collisions that cause serious or fatal injuries to people in the front seats, IIHS says.

The two Civic models and the Dart, Focus, Elantra and Scion tC each earned the IIHS' coveted "Top Safety Pick Plus" award for performing well in multiple tests, including the small offset crash. So far, 25 vehicles of all sizes have earned the award.

IIHS said that as a group, small cars performed worse than midsize cars, but better than small SUVs. Results for mini-cars will be released later in the year, the group said.

"Manufacturers need to focus on the whole package," David Zuby, the Institute's chief research officer, said in a statement. "That means a strong occupant compartment that resists the kinds of intrusion we see in a frontal crash like this, safety belts that prevent a driver from pitching too far forward and side curtain air bags to cushion a head at risk of hitting the dashboard or window frame."

Kia said in a statement that the IIHS test goes beyond U.S. government requirements and noted that the Soul and Forte received top safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nissan said it will review the IIHS tests. The Sentra, it said, performed well in other IIHS tests.

GM, which makes Chevrolet, said it's working to improve the structure and restraints in its small cars where technically possible. Volkswagen said its cars exceed all federal safety standards.

Honda bolstered the Civic's front structure as part of a redesign late last year, said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. Some older models, such as the Cruze and Sonic, were designed before the test was announced.

A strong performance in the IIHS tests will help people feel safer when buying small cars, Brauer said in an email.

IIHS, a nonprofit research group funded by insurance companies, conducts its small offset test by crashing vehicles into fixed 5-foot-tall barrier at 40 mph to simulate collisions with a utility pole or tree. The institute gives vehicles demerits when the structure intrudes into the passenger compartment, or if a crash dummy suffers injuries to head, neck, chest or other parts of the body. The group also measures how well seat belts and air bags protect people. "Good" is the top rating, followed by "acceptable," then "marginal" and "poor."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-08-08-Crash%20Tests-Small%20Cars/id-2b1c927cb3a545a5885da42e8afcb74b

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Oil, energy and capitalism: An unpublished talk by Barry Commoner

Barry Commoner.

?Oil companies do not operate for the purpose of producing oil. They operate for the purpose of producing maximum profit. To solve the energy crisis, we have to reorganise our economic system.?

July 30, 2013 -- Climate & Capitalism, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with permission -- Dr Barry Commoner was the best-known ecologist in the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s. His picture appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1970, and his 1971 book, The Closing Circle, was a best-seller and remains a classic of radical environmental analysis. As this talk shows, he was also an ecosocialist, before that word was created.

Commoner gave this talk at the Community Church of Boston on February 22, 1976, just before publication of his book, The Poverty of Power, when the ?oil embargo? and energy crisis were still central political issues.

The transcript, which to our knowledge has not been published before, was found in Commoner?s papers by Philip Wight, a doctoral student at Brandeis University who is researching the origins of ecosocialism. We have corrected obvious typos and repetitions, and to improve readability we have added paragraph breaks and subtitles. -- Ian Angus, Climate & Capitalism

* * *

Science and political power

By Barry Commoner

I?m going to talk about the relationship between science and political power. I imagine that most of you feel that science is eminently powerful and that your own relation to political power is one of weakness. The Berrigans are in jail, people who are still looking for amnesty?there aren?t many victories that the people can point to in their relation to political power. So that in certain ways there?s a sharp contrast between the two things that I?m going to talk about.

Now, let me talk for a moment about the connections between these two apparently disparate things. First, let?s look at a recent exercise of political power?a rather supreme exercise?we got rid of Mr. Nixon. I think you?ll agree that that was a rather intense exercise of political power. He had a great deal of it, and he lost it all. He may be regaining a little in the hands of the Chinese right now, I don?t know.

How did that happen? If you think back you?ll notice that no troops surrounded the White House to get him out; it was not done by military force. It wasn?t even done by legal action. He wasn?t brought to trial. Nor was it in fact done by any riots; there weren?t many picket lines, nobody surrounded the White House, chanted.

A very simple thing happened. Some people got at the truth. Facts. Information? I think it?s clear that it was the work of the newspapers, largely the newspapers, largely Mr. Bernstein and his friend, Woodward, that really lost the power for Mr. Nixon. It was pure information. But it wasn?t just information, it wasn?t just that Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Woodward got the goods on Mr. Nixon. What happened was that information that was in Mr. Nixon?s hands, on his tapes, became known to the public. And very suddenly, he lost the exclusive possession of certain facts.

When the public had all those facts, there was no longer any argument, there was no need for any legal force, military force, he knew that he had lost.

Science versus secrecy

What I?m saying is that there is a close relation between political power and the ability to keep information to yourself. Exclusive knowledge is a source of political power. Now there?s the connection with science, because science also deals with knowledge. But it deals with it in exactly the opposite way. It deals with open knowledge, openly available to everyone. It deals with open discourse about the facts.

And ? you may wonder why science is so antagonistic to secrecy. The reason is that the way in which science gets the truth is by making its mistakes in public. It?s known as publication. The reason why scientists have, I think, a justified reputation for getting at the truth better than some other professions is not that they are more truthful than other people, it?s simply that we have adopted this rule that whatever mistakes we make will be known to our fellow scientists.

And we do that simply by making the mistakes, or calculations, or theoretical statements, are put out where everyone can see, and if we?re wrong, and anyone can show that: they demonstrate it gradually, bit by bit, you get closer to the truth, as we argue back and forth.

So science really represents the kind of social action that we see in Watergate. And what I want to talk about is the way in which scientific knowledge has been related to political developments, to political action, in recent years in this country, particularly as exemplified by environmental issues and now energy issues.

Let me just remind you of a couple of examples of what might be looked on as environmental victories and some environmental defeats. What I mean by a victory is that an environmental problem was solved, just put it that way, that the pollution, the degradation of the environment, was brought to a halt.

An environmental victory: nuclear tests

The best example I know is the earliest one that many of us were involved in, and that?s the fallout from nuclear tests. You remember some years ago when we were exploding nuclear weapons in this country and in other parts of the world and radiation from that was distributed throughout the world, moving through the ecological life cycles, getting into our bodies, and raising certain very serious problems.

Now, why is it that we have an end to testing in the atmosphere? The reason is that there was a Test Ban Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. Let me remind you how that came about.

It came about shortly after Mr. Kennedy came into office, and he sent his science advisor, Mr. Weisner, to Moscow, and a draft treaty was produced. Now I remember when he came back there was great consternation because everyone suddenly realized the Senate had to ratify the treaty, and the Senate at that time was rather reactionary and it was believed to be impossible to get the Senate to ratify the treaty.

Because you realize that that represented the largest change, the most dramatic change, in U.S. foreign policy, up to that time. You remember that Mr. Stevenson lost an election over the question of nuclear testing. It was clear that the government was committed to nuclear testing. Suddenly Mr. Kennedy came into office and said, ?We?ll do it the other way,? and the question was, would the Senate turn around? Well, they did. Most of the Senators, about three-quarters of the Senators, voted for the treaty, and it was signed.

And a little while later it was looked into, why did this change take place?

What was discovered was the Senators got a lot of mail from their constituents. But what impressed them was not that their constituents were against nuclear testing. What really got to them was that the people who wrote the letters knew how to spell strontium 90. They had the facts. It was a complicated thing, and the people who wrote to them exemplified a condition that they would face when they returned home, namely that they would face constituents who knew the facts about nuclear testing and could compel the legislator to respond to those facts. I remember Senator Clinton Anderson, who voted one way a little earlier, switched around simply because he said he read his mail, and the people knew what they were talking about.

So that?s an example of an environmental victory, and it came about by the people understanding the problem. Now, how did they understand the problem? Well, I should tell you that I never heard of strontium 90 until 1953, and I?m fairly well-trained. I went to Harvard, and so on. Most people didn?t know about strontium 90. Well, they learned it, and they learned it from scientists.

Many of us studied fallout, studied the physical, chemical, and biological processes, just as though we were getting ready to teach a course in it, and some of us did later on. And then we went out and appeared in churches like this, and other kinds of churches, and I assure you my knowledge of religion in St. Louis suddenly broadened enormously. I think I?ve been in almost every church in St. Louis as a result of going around talking with people.

And they began to learn. And when they learned, and the political issue came up, they told their legislators what they knew and what they wanted and they got it. So, there is a case of where knowledge about a fairly technical thing, given to the people so that they could understand it, resulted in a political change, a rather important one, and an environmental victory.

An environmental defeat: Alaska pipeline

Now, let me give you an example of an environmental defeat. The Alaska pipeline. I think most ecologists will say that was a terrible thing. The Alaska pipeline, which was built from the north shore of Alaska, down to the shipping point. And you remember there was a big battle over it, between the ecologists and the oil companies, and the ecologists lost.

And I want to ask, ?Why do you think they lost?? Well, the battle was fought over what issue? I was reminded about it when you sang your song. The battle was fought not over a human issue at all, it was fought about caribou, and lichens, remember? They said the caribou would trip over the pipeline, and the lichens would be destroyed when the tractors ran over the frozen tundra.

Now, I don?t remember any arguments that were relevant to human beings. And the ecologists lost. But in a way they deserved to lose, because they were fighting the wrong battle.

Now let me explain to you, and of course this is hindsight, how that battle could have been won, hands down, not perhaps that year, but certainly one or two years later. And that would be if the environmentalists had gone in what I like to think of as hot pursuit of the truth. Now what do I mean by that? Well, there was a problem. The pipeline was going to be laid down, it intruded on the environment and on the people of Alaska, and you have to ask yourself the question, well, what?s the origin of this piece of foolishness, why is it being done? What effects would it have? And the environmentalists got to the point of understanding that it had something to do with the environment, and then said, well, here we stand our ground, the environment is going to be spoiled, and we?ll fight it at that ground.

Now, if I were an oil company executive at that point, I would be chuckling, quietly, secretly, because that?s exactly the battle ground that the oil companies wanted to fight on. What battle ground would they have lost on? Well, if the environmentalists had gone in hot pursuit of the truth, from ecology to economics, and said, ?We would like to know what the economic significance and effects of this pipeline would be. We want to see your books. We want the tapes. We want to know what?s in it for the oil companies.?

You know what would have happened? A couple of years before the great expose of the high profits that oil companies were making, the ecologists would have revealed that to the public, because it?s now clear that the Alaska pipeline is a huge economic bonanza for the oil companies.

In other words, if the scientists had extended the pursuit of truth to the true origin of the problem, namely that oil companies were doing it to make profit, a huge profit, and had that become known to the people, I think we would have had the kind of political reaction that we saw in 1973, which was just a couple of years after the Alaska pipeline controversy, you remember, when even Mr. Jackson found it necessary to line up the presidents of the seven oil companies and shake his finger at them because they were making so much money. And when The New York Times began to publish on the front page, every other week, a graph showing the rising profits of the oil companies, and of course the oil companies responded by reporting the rising profits of The New York Times.

Get the facts to the people

Well, what I?m saying is, I use these as two case histories, when one gets at the origin of this problem and exposes it to the people, you seem to be able to get a political victory, so to speak, political action. If you fail to pursue the problem to its true source, then you?re in trouble. And you?re also in trouble if you don?t get the facts to the people.

With that as a background, I want to do an experiment here today, it?s not a physical one, but an intellectual one.

I think you?re all aware that there are very serious problems now regarding the willingness of the country to support environmental improvement. In New York State, Governor Carey has now issued an edict that anyone in his administration who favors the environment over the improvement of business had better get out. The Governor of New Jersey has said the same thing. Mr. Ford has acted vigorously in that direction.

I think most people think the environmental movement is in retreat. It?s in retreat because it can?t stand the force of economic priority, that jobs are more important than the environment, after all. And I should say that if there were a choice between jobs and improving employment, I personally would favor improving employment. However, that?s not the choice.

And what I want to do as an experiment is this: I want to discuss with you the interactions among three rather complicated areas of life?the question of the environment, and the use of energy, the whole business of the ecosystem and our resources, and how this relates to the production of goods, our welfare, jobs, and how this relates to the economic difficulties that we now face.

I think you?ll admit these are three very complex areas, and the experiment I want to carry out is this. I?m going to carry on an experiment along the lines of what I?ve been talking about, about what I call sensible, political action, that represents the welfare of the people of this country on these issues, the terrible knot of issues that now troubles everybody. We will get action on that insofar as the people of the United States understand the complicated facts, and then make that known to their representatives. That?s my hypothesis.

The test is, and I think you?ll all admit, most of you, that this is not an area in which you are so well-informed that you?re ready to write, let?s say, to the Governor of New York state, and tell him how it?s possible to have both good environment and jobs. Or to explain to someone how you can save energy and still save the economic system. In other words, this is a difficult problem which I think most people are not ready to deal with, and as a result they?re rather pessimistic about being able to cope with the political power.

I was at a discussion of nuclear power over at MIT the other night and a number of the experts kept saying, well, here?s what?s going to happen. We?ll have to have nuclear power, as though there were some external force driving us in this direction rather than ourselves making up our own minds. Many people feel weak, subject to this kind of, you know, you can?t fight City Hall, we?ve got to do something about jobs, and so let?s forget about these other things.

So the experiment I want to perform, and it?ll be a brief one, but I think it can be done, is to share with you some of the key facts about these problems and go in hot pursuit of that truth and see where it gets us with respect to the question of what we need to do politically. Let me take a couple of exemplary problems.

As you know, we have a shortage of domestic oil in this country, we import about 35 or 40 percent of our oil, and as a result in 1973 there was an embargo. You people, particularly here in New England, had a great deal of trouble, because there was a shortage of fuel oil and gasoline. You were told at the time that the problem is we are running out of oil in the United States, because after all there?s a limited amount of oil under the ground, we?ve been using it very rapidly, and if you look at the data you?ll find that the amount of oil in the United States is falling off.

And indeed, since 1955 or so the rate of finding oil in the United States has dropped to about half of what it was. If you can?t find oil it means we?re using up the oil that is easily found and that we?re just running out, and that?s why we?re importing oil and unfortunately it led to the embargo.

I think that?s a fair summary of what most people believed?that?s what they were told. This turns out to be totally false, and let me explain it to you on scientific grounds.

It?s true that the rate of finding oil in the United States has dropped. But let me explain why it has dropped, because you have to go in hot pursuit of the truth. Well, how do you find oil? There are two things that are involved. One is, how much oil is under the ground. The less there is, as you use it up, the harder it is to find.

But finding oil also depends on looking for it. And it turns out that there were measures of looking. So, for example, there are statistics on the number and depth of exploratory wells which are drilled in the United States each year. The more you look, obviously, the more you?ll find. So an interesting question arises. What has happened to the intensity of looking since 1955? And what you?ll find is that it has dropped by 50 percent.

Well, this tells us right away, a very simple fact. That the reason why we are not finding oil is that the oil companies are not looking for it. That seems rather simple. Well, let?s not stop there. Let?s go in hot pursuit of the truth. Why are they not looking for it? Well, what you do then is do what I did in getting ready to write a book about this recently, I went to the library, and I looked up, I simply went to the section on geophysical exploration of oil, and what I did literally was pull them all off the shelf and sit down with them. I?m no expert in this area and I didn?t know where to start, I just looked.

I found an article written by a man named Blauvelt who is now President of the Continental Oil Company, he was at that time I guess executive vice?president, and you?ll see why he was promoted in a moment. Mr. Blauvelt gave a paper before a geophysical conference in Texas. His paper was entitled, and I?m quoting, ?How to Become a Foreign Oil Company.?

The paper was given in 1966, and he was very proud to report that the Continental Oil Company, which for many years operated solely within the confines of the United States, in the 1950s made up their mind to go foreign, to produce oil outside the United States, and they were very successful in doing that, and he was proud to report how it was done and why it was done.

I want to read to you two statements from his paper which explains why the Continental Oil Company became foreign. He said, and I?m quoting now,

First, there was the need to maintain and increase our sources of low-cost oil. Only the low-cost operator can survive and earn a reasonable profit. The cost of finding and developing a barrel of crude oil in the United States was revealing a stubborn upward trend. The discovery of prolific reserves in the Middle East beginning prior to World War II had made it evident where the large fields of low-cost oil can be found.

And then he continued,

A major consideration important in our decision was the apparent profitability of foreign oil operations. As overseas crude output rose, profits also grew rapidly, and the rates of return earned by U.S. companies from their international operations proved considerably higher than the returns from their U.S. operations alone.

And he had a graph in the paper which showed the rise and fall of profits from domestic operations and foreign operations for U.S. oil companies, and what he showed was that whereas between roughly the 50s and the middle 60s the profitability of oil produced in the United States dropped from 15 percent return on equity to 14 percent, and it rose from 15 percent to 28 percent for foreign operations.

And at the time he was speaking, the profitability of foreign oil operations was just about twice the profitability of domestic oil operations, and what he said was that Continental Oil, this rational, intelligent company, went where the profits were greater. And as a result it closed down much of its oil exploration activity in the United States. Why look for oil that isn?t profitable? And went abroad.

So as part of the experiment, do you agree with me that the explanation for the shortage of domestic oil that has troubled us is what? It?s the fact that oil companies do not operate for the purpose of producing oil. They operate for the purpose of producing oil at a maximum profit. At a profit greater than the one that they have now. In fact, they?re not even interested in producing oil.

Profit rules

I now quote something else for you, again from an oil company executive. This is John J. Dorgan, senior vice-president of the Occidental Oil Corporation. He said, this is quoted from an interview in Newsweek magazine,

It doesn?t mean a thing to say to a private company that there?s a great need for oil. You have to have incentive. If it turns out that phosphate rock is more profitable, we?ll put our money there.

In other words, an oil company is in the business of producing profit, not oil.

That explains it. Because clearly in this country all corporations operate according to that precept, that?s well known, it?s known as the bottom line. You do that which maximizes your profit: in this case it was to go abroad. The consequences were the huge results of the embargo, a very rapid escalation in the price of fuel, the price of fuel had been very constant for about 20 to 25 years and suddenly in 1973 it began to shoot up, and incidentally was the driving force in inflation.

It is the most rapidly rising sector of our prices, and it?s carrying up the price of fertilizer for the farmer, carrying up the price of food for everyone else, and what we have here is a social disorder created by the normal, natural operation of the private enterprise system.

You notice I have just made a statement about social disorder, private enterprise, and economics, and I started from a geophysical question. Right? Well, I went in hot pursuit from the geophysical behavior in the ecosystem all the way to what I think is the locus of the problem, namely, the design of the economic system.

And I can tell, since I?m a very experienced teacher of freshmen, that most of you understood what I said ? so, so far the experiment is a success, and I dare say that you could, if you wanted to now, write to your Congressman and say there is something wrong in the way in which the oil companies are behaving, having to do with the fact that they produce for profit rather than for the social needs of the country. I don?t advise you to do it, but I think you could.

Explaining thermodynamics

Well, let me continue with the experiment. This is an example of one of the features of the energy problem, namely, how much is there? And it exemplifies the kind of thing that we face as we use more and more energy. Now the other side of energy is using it, and I want to take an example now of the use of energy, and see if we can understand how it relates to the question of jobs and the economic system, and so on.

Well, I have to inform you that there is a rather detailed and complicated science of energy called thermodynamics. I also have to inform you that although I was very carefully trained in thermodynamics at Harvard, I really don?t understand it, and I speak for many scientists?it?s a very tricky field, very tricky. There are a few physicists and physical chemists who understand thermodynamics. Most of us know how to use it, but the minute we start to use it, everything else gets sort of vague and fuzzy, so we don?t really know exactly what it?s about.

If you give me, say, four minutes, I?ll explain it to you.

I can explain it because, as I wrote in my new book, I confronted this very difficult problem; I want to talk about energy, and if we?re going to talk about energy we have to know the facts, and even though I didn?t understand thermodynamics, I knew somebody had to. So I learned it. Well, obviously we?re not going to do it all in four minutes, but let me give you a couple salient features of thermodynamics that we need to understand in order to come to grips with the energy problem.

There are two main laws of thermodynamics. One of them is that energy cannot be destroyed or created. And cleverly enough, that?s known as the First Law of Thermodynamics, Energy is Constant, in and out. That?s a very interesting law, because it suddenly makes everything look kind of crazy. If energy can?t be created or destroyed, what?s the fuss about? How come we?re running out of energy? Try that out on some oil company executive. It?s a very interesting thing.

It turns out that whereas the First Law is an important statement, it reveals that you need to know more about energy than how much you have. You have to ask yourself, ?What is energy good for? What do you do with energy?? It turns out that what you do with energy is get work out of it. Work has a physical meaning, but you all know what work is. Moving around is work, doing things is work. Making something happen that otherwise wouldn?t happen is work.

That?s a pretty accurate thermodynamic definition of work, incidentally. If you want me to put it in fancy terms, I will say that any spontaneous action can only be reversed by using work. That?s the fancy way of saying it. But what you know is if you want something to happen that won?t happen by itself.

For example, if I let go of this, it goes down by itself. No problem. Right? I don?t have to do any work for that. But if I want to pick it up, obviously it won?t happen spontaneously; I can?t hold my hand here and say up. It won?t happen. It will lie there forever. I can wish all I want, it?ll stay there, it?s an absolutely sort of eternal thing. And yet I can?I shouldn?t say this here in church?I can reverse eternity just by bending down and picking it up. That means work. I have to use energy to do it. The energy I use is what I had for breakfast, and so forth. Alright? So energy is a way of achieving work, and in fact, it?s the only value that energy has. The only meaning of energy is that you can get work out of it.

Now, then you have to ask yourself, ?How do we get work out of energy, and how much do we get out?? Okay? There are various ways of using energy, and I?m going to skip over a lot of thermodynamics. Most of thermodynamics tells you the efficiency with which you can get work out of energy. Sometimes you can?t get any work out of it, sometimes you can get a certain amount.

Wasting energy with bad design

It turns out that one of the laws of thermodynamics is that you can never get all of the energy converted to work. A Frenchman named Carnot discovered that in 1824. That whenever you try to run a steam engine, for example, a steam engine works, goes around, you can only get at most about 40 percent of the energy that?s in the fuel in the form of work. The rest of it goes off as heat. The engine gets hot.

And so every power plant we have, the most efficient power plant we have, converts the energy that is in fuel to the mechanical motion of the generator which produces electricity, and electricity is really sort of mechanical motion, it happens to be electrons. That generator can only turn about 35 percent of the fuel?s energy into electricity. The rest goes off as heat, and that?s what?s called heat pollution. That?s the warming up of the river, the cooling water goes through and it warms up the river.

So, what we?ve learned so far is that if you want to get mechanical motion, work, out of a source of fuel, inevitably you divide it into two pieces. One is, let?s say, electricity, which is easily translated into work, you just run a motor, and the other is low-temperature heat. The waste heat. Two outputs. Okay?

That?s enough thermodynamics, that?s about five minutes, now let?s ask a very interesting question. We want to conserve energy?or conserve fuel, let?s put it that way. We now know that we have a private enterprise system, so that we can?t seem to be able to produce all the fuel that?s available in the United States, and therefore for the moment we have to conserve it until we do something about the economic system. So, meanwhile we?re going to have conservation.

And I want to ask the question, ?How should we conserve?? Well, now suppose we have a task, keeping this room at 70 degrees while it?s cold outside. I don?t suppose this building is heated electrically, but some of your homes are. And therefore, what you are doing is plugging your heater into the electric outlet at the power plant, right? You?ll notice that there is another outlet of energy at the power plant, the heat waste. And the waste heat is just right for warming up the room. It?s low temperature heat.

And in fact in New York, in a few parts of New York, the electric generators distribute steam, low-temperature heat, to buildings. You see steam coming out of the ground in various places, that?s the steam lines which are using the waste heat from the power plant to do just what you should with waste heat, which is to warm up places. Most of Moscow is heated that way.

So we have a very interesting situation. A power plant has two energy outlets. One outlet is good for doing things like driving your washing machine, because that?s mechanical, takes work, and you need the electricity to do it. But if you want to warm up the water for the washing machine it would be much more efficient to use the waste heat from the power plant rather than electricity. As you know, that?s not the way it works. For example, dishwashers have an electric heater in them to heat up the hot water.

So we have a bad arrangement between the power plant and our homes. We?re not plugged in the right way. The vacuum cleaner should be plugged into the electric outlet, but the hot water heater should be plugged into the waste heat outlet. But that?s not the way things are arranged.

Incidentally, let me tell you now what the thermodynamic efficiency of producing hot water is. What that means is?what?s the value of energy? Work. So, if we want to ask what?s the thermodynamic efficiency, how much work are you using relative to the amount that you need to use, the minimum amount you need to use, to accomplish a work-requiring task. Let?s take the task of producing hot water in your home. That takes work, you?ve got to get it done. Well, this computation?s been done, very recently, and it turns out that the thermodynamic efficiency is about two percent. Just about two percent. We are using fifty times more work to heat our hot water in the United States than we need to. And the reason is that we haven?t got good arrangements between the sources of power and the uses of power.

Wasting energy with inefficient transport

Well, I can give you many more examples. The thermodynamic efficiency of our transport system is 10 percent. And the reason is that we put little engines in vehicles and since Mr. Carnot tells us that only a small part of the energy in an engine can be converted to motion, the rest goes off as heat. And when you drive down the street, you are putting most of the energy in the gasoline into heating the air. Meanwhile, you?re driving past somebody?s home who would love to have that heat to warm up their home. That seems simple. And it can be done.

The way you do it is by having this split between mechanical motion and heat. A [power plant] is not something that flits about, but sits still. And then you can recapture the heat, and what you do is take the electricity and use it to run a train. So, mass transit, using electric trains, would allow us to make proper thermodynamic use of the energy and would be much more efficient.

Well, let?s pursue this a little further. A beautifully thermodynamic efficient way of moving about the city is an electrified trolley. Do you have any trolleys in Boston? No. We don?t have any in St. Louis, and we have to ask why.

Did they get sick and die? No, they were killed. They were killed by a corporation made up of General Motors, Firestone Rubber Company, and the Standard Oil Company of California. A man named Bradford Snell, a couple of years ago did a beautiful analysis of the destruction of the trolley systems of the United States?the best thermodynamically efficient way to have urban transport.

It was done by this company, it was called I think the American Transit Company. What they did was go into a city, they did in St. Louis, buy up the trolley company, tear down the wires, junk the trolleys, and buy buses, and Firestone tires, and Standard Oil gasoline. Then this company, apparently not really interested in running transportation, sold the company to somebody who wanted to run buses and took their money and went to another city, bought up another trolley line and destroyed the trolleys and the electric wires.

They were brought into court in the Chicago Federal District and fined $5,000. The vice-president of the company, who had single-handedly, apparently, participated in the destruction of a hundred million dollar trolley system in Los Angeles, was fined $1.

Now I think it?s clear we?ve gone from thermodynamics to power plants to Carnot to what? To the understanding that the reason why we haven?t got a thermodynamically efficient urban transport system is that the profit arrangements are such that it is entirely expected of a company that wants to sell buses to destroy its competition so that it can make a better profit.

Well, I could go on, but I?ll put in a plug. You can buy my new book, which is called The Poverty of Power. It?ll be out in May, but in it I?ve gone through a series of discussions of this sort, all of which lead to the conclusion that the problems that we have derived from the operation of the private enterprise economic system. And, what the problems show, what the analysis shows is that the reason why we are wasting energy is that we are supplanting human labor with machines.

Wasting energy with synthetics

Let me give you a quick example?am I running terribly over my time? Alright? Let me give you one example of the way in which we?re meeting our needs that I think exemplifies it. We?ve talked about the human need of having a room at 70? and moving from here to there, and we found that we were using energy wastefully. Let?s talk about another human need, and I?m going to focus on that purse down there, that handbag.

Now there are two ways of making a handbag, generally, you can make it out of leather, or you can make it out of plastic. And as you know, plastic has displaced leather. Many more handbags are made out of plastic now than used to be. And I will assert that the end use of a handbag made of leather and plastic is about the same. Now I know there are all sorts of aesthetic differences, but as a first approximation we?ll say that a handbag is a handbag, whether made of leather or plastic. That?s the social use value of a handbag.

Now I?m going to ask a question: What does it cost society to produce the two alternative handbags? The numbers are available. What are the costs? Well, to make the handbag you need to use energy and other resources. You also need to use machinery, which has to be bought by capital. Well, so there?s the efficiency of the use of capital, and then there?s the efficiency of the use of labor. Let me quickly give you a rough picture of the figures. If you ask how many handbags you can produce out of a unit of energy, you?ll find out you can produce about five or ten times as many handbags out of leather per unit of energy as you can plastic. It takes much more plastic, much more energy to make plastic than leather.

The reason is that plastics are made of petroleum, and various kinds of chemical reactions have to be carried out. So, plastics consume a lot more energy per unit output than leather. So every time you buy a plastic bag or synthetic shirt it takes about ten times as much energy to make the fiber for a synthetic shirt, nylon or what have you, as it does to make cotton. You?re using more energy. It turns out that you also use about three or four times as much capital, because the petrochemical plants are very big, with an awful lot of machinery and capital in it. So, producing a plastic bag is wasteful of energy, wasteful of capital, but it uses much less labor.

The petrochemical industry, which is petroleum, chemicals, and if you add transportation in, represents companies which produce about 20 percent of our gross national product. They employ a little over two percent of the work force. So that?s been going on, and this is typical of what?s been happening in the country, is that energy is being used to drive the machines that displace labor. The result is that we?re heading towards a shortage of energy, a shortage of capital, and an excess of labor, or a shortage of jobs. So that if we were to really save energy, we could create jobs, for example, by cutting back on the petrochemical industry.

The solution is socialism

And again, we?re right back where we were before. The decisions that are made in this country about how we produce goods are based on what maximizes profit, not human need. And as far as I can tell the answer to Governor Carey and the answer to the pessimistic view that we can?t have a good environment and jobs is that there?s something wrong with the way in which we?re using our resources.

We?re using the profit motive to make elaborate decisions about thermodynamics, about chemicals, about natural materials, when clearly we ought to be asking what?s good for people.

And it would have been a blooming miracle if the thousands of decisions made in this country that have transformed shirts from cotton into plastic, from soap into detergents, from leather to plastics, all of these changes, all of which were made according to one criterion, increasing profitability ? it would have been a fantastic miracle if out of that came a beautiful, sensible way to use our resources efficiently without fouling the environment and giving people lots of jobs. It didn?t work.

Well, I think the answer is then that we have to reorganize the way in which we run our economic system.

You see, I?ve described for you what was described most precisely and initially by a scholar of the capitalist system named Karl Marx.

I?ve described exactly what Marx talked about, the displacement of labor by capital and the resulting inefficiency of the operation, so that people are now forced to lose jobs in order to avoid polluting the environment.

There?s something wrong, and I think the answer is that we have to now begin to think about replacing the capitalist organization of the economic system by a system which is governed by human need, by social need, and of course, with a small s, that?s socialism.

Thank you.

Source: http://links.org.au/node/3469

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'2 Guns' shoots past 'Smurfs,' 'Wolverine' to claim box office

By Ronald Grover and Chris Michaud

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - "2 Guns," starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as rival federal agents, shot through its weekend competition at movie theaters, collecting $27.4 million to lead the North American box office, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.

"The Wolverine," last weekend's box office leader, finished second with $21.7 million in ticket sales and has totaled $95 million during its two weeks in theaters.

Sony's "Smurfs 2," the newly released sequel to its 2011 movie "The Smurfs" starring Neil Patrick Harris and a band of small blue elf-like creatures, was third with $18.2 million in ticket sales.

The horror film "The Conjuring," about a house possessed by a demon, continued its strong run and was fourth with ticket sales of $13.7 million. The animated "Despicable Me 2" was fifth after five weeks with $10.4 million in ticket sales.

"2 Guns," an adaption of the graphic novel by the same name published by Boom! Studios, fell somewhat short of some industry projections that it would generate about $30 million in ticket sales in a summer in which a number of films have failed to live up to expectations.

Walt Disney's "The Lone Ranger" and Sony's "White House Down" and "After Earth" bombed earlier this summer.

"We're thrilled" with the numbers, said Nikki Rocco, president for domestic distribution at Universal Pictures, which distributed "2 Guns" and chalked up its seventh number-one opening this year. She added that "this was a very healthy box office weekend" at a time when "people used to talk about the August doldrums."

Rocco said the studio had anticipated "2 Guns" would open "somewhere in the twenties" of millions, so "we're very satisfied."

"Smurfs 2" fell short of the $35.6 million in ticket sales for Sony's 2011 original film, which was released in late July. The film is based on a Belgian comic first published in 1958 that has been expanded into movies, a TV series and even an Ice Capades show.

"We would have hoped for a little more domestically," said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures' president of worldwide distribution. "But worldwide we're very, very happy with this film," he added, given the $52.5 million it racked up overseas for a $80.3 million global total.

"It's the world that's the stage for the Smurfs," he added, predicting "this one absolutely is going to be a huge success for the studio."

Universal Pictures, a unit of cable operator Comcast, also produced and distributed "Despicable Me 2. "The Wolverine" was distributed by 20th Century Fox, a unit of Twenty-First Century Fox. "The Conjuring" was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers, a unit of Time Warner.

(Reporting by Ronald Grover and Chris Michaud; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-guns-shoots-past-smurfs-wolverine-claim-box-154736436.html

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Florida's 2013 sales tax holiday now includes iPads and computers

Aquarius

If you're organizing a social event, people will soon cut up rough if they don't like what you're suggesting. For instance, there could be a dispute about how much things will cost, with someone using this as an excuse to have a mini-tantrum or dredge up past grievances. You may also meet resentment through someone who wants what you've got. Or maybe you're feeling jealous of what they've got?

Source: http://www.topix.com/tech/ipad/2013/08/floridas-2013-sales-tax-holiday-now-includes-ipads-and-computers?fromrss=1

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Pope has no intention of doing for the church what Gorbachev did for the USSR

Pope Francis?s recent aerial press conference certainly tricked with the iconography of contemporary power. He may still have been wearing his cream maxi-dress but, that aside, the incident looked very much like one of those chats US presidential candidates are required to have with the press posse. Francis didn?t roll up his sleeves or toss an American football from hand to hand. But he got the formal informality down perfectly.

We have seen enough to know that the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio is significantly more accomplished in the field of presentation than his predecessor. Insiders attest that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is perfectly amiable in private. When at his balcony, however, he exhibited a supernatural ability to lower the world?s temperature by several degrees.

Francis has washed the feet of Muslim prisoners. He has admitted that atheists can be good people (much obliged, Frank). And he made what I take to be rather a good joke about granting his Twitter followers time off from purgatory.

There is nothing to suggest we?re not seeing the real Francis in these gestures. But we?re still just talking about skilled public relations. None of this points to any ? to shuffle our political parallels ? whispers of glasnost in the upper reaches of the hierarchy. After all, Pope John Paul II was, in his very different way, also very adept at image management and there were no great ideological shifts during his papacy.

Some signs that Frances may be to the Catholic Church what Mikhail Gorbachev was to the Soviet Union did, however, show themselves at the back of that Alitalia jet. The subject under discussion was homosexuality. ?If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?? he said.

The characteristically Jesuitical argument ? Francis did emerge from that order ? seems to be that it?s all right to have homosexual longings, but not at all okay to perform homosexual acts. Does this knock the sin of gayness down the hit parade of infamy? It is not, one assumes, acceptable to contemplate robbing banks, punching your neighbour or executing complex tax frauds. By implicitly separating gay activity from those sins, the pope has gone some small way to reversing centuries of dehumanisation.

Anchoring a legacy
If Francis really intends to liberalise the church then ? to revisit the American analogy ? he should consider how the last few US presidents have attempted to anchor their legacies. Bills can be quickly repealed (the Republicans have tried to repeal Obamacare 40 times). Funding decisions can be immediately reversed. But Supreme Court judges tend to stay at the bench until the undertaker comes to call. Ronald Reagan left America the conservative Antonin Scalia. Obama picked the liberal Sonia Sotomayor. If Francis were to begin appointing reformist cardinals then, when the time comes for somebody else to take over, the conclave could, if it had the mind, choose to continue down the path to modernisation.

It?s an attractive fantasy. But further analysis of Francis?s airborne comments deflates any notion that he is minded to make radical assaults on doctrine.

?On the ordination of women, the church has spoken and said no. John Paul II, in a definitive formulation, said that door is closed,? he said.

No means no
We should not be altogether surprised that the pope has rejected the ordination of women. What?s worth attending is the reasoning ? or lack of it. ?The church has spoken and said no.? In an otherwise open exchange, Francis makes no effort to outline the shaky scriptural basis for the earlier pontiff?s ruling. Why is it so? Because your father said so, young lady.

We should not pretend that the Catholic Church is any kind of cosy democracy. Nor should we exaggerate the impetus for any further opening up of the organisation to women and gay people. If you want to make up your own mind about ?spiritual? matters, exercise independently devised attitudes to sexuality and set an original moral compass, then you don?t really belong within any established religion. Get on board any Christian faith and you are accepting the Bible as your guidebook. Leviticus is ? in its King James version, anyway ? pretty clear on the ?abomination? that is homosexuality. Without the implementation of doctrine the church would lose its reason to exist.

What pope would want to be the church?s Gorbachev? By setting the USSR on the road to freedom ? subsequently subverted by bandit capitalism ? that unlikely visionary guaranteed the annihilation of the Soviet experiment. Tinkering at the corners of Catholicism may pacify a few disgruntled celebrants. But wholesale reform really could threaten the church?s continued existence. Good luck squaring that theological circle.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/851/f/10845/s/2f7f69e2/sc/7/l/0L0Sirishtimes0N0Cnews0Csocial0Eaffairs0Creligion0Eand0Ebeliefs0Cpope0Ehas0Eno0Eintention0Eof0Edoing0Efor0Ethe0Echurch0Ewhat0Egorbachev0Edid0Efor0Ethe0Eussr0E10B1483330A/story01.htm

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The Creative Writing Process - Margaret Atwood Shares Her ...

Author Margaret Atwood discusses her creative process in this novel writing speech. Atwood starts out by saying that the urge to write comes naturally, along with a slew of strange ideas. She says that people who want to pursue writing, but don't know where to begin, may not be cut out for this line of work.

Atwood claims that she often ends up selecting her most outrageous ideas and attempting to turn them into books. While a part of her feels as though she would be better off writing something more tame, she prefers a creative challenge.

Margaret advises aspiring writers to carry a notebook with them where ever they go, in case a brilliant or bizarre idea pops into their head. Atwood reveals that when she's caught without her notebook, she'll resort to writing ideas on her arms.

Lastly, she states that not every book will start off on the right foot. Often writers will have to start over more than once until they get it just right.

Source: http://www.trendhunter.com/keynote/novel-writing-speech

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Traditional Home in Virginia Hampton Roads area - Debbiedoo's

Hello Debbie and Debbiedoos readers!

I?m so thrilled to be guesting here today and give you a tour of my home!

? We lived in Virginia, in the Hampton Roads area, for three years. (we are a military family and move around from time to time!)

?and this was our beautiful Virginia home!

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Our home celebrates our military lifestyle and our family?s past.? We were fortunate enough to inherit this gorgeous Mahogany dining room set from my husband?s family.

? We?ve had so much fun entertaining friends and family at this table! (You can see more of my dining room here).

The pretty chandelier has pineapple details on it?did you know that the pineapple is an international symbol of hospitality and welcome?

Our home is filled with memories of our travels and each time my husband is deployed he returns with something locally made for our home!

Our foyer with a handmade carpet from Afghanistan and masks from Djibouti, Africa:

Here?s a close-up of the sea green vase and DIY Photo Art I have in my foyer:

I created a spa like feel in our Main Floor Bathroom:

Here?s our Back Entryway ? a white framed mirror is the focal point of our entryway and adds a sense of height to the antique school desk.? A rush basket works as extra storage.? I tied on a metal number 4, as in Setting for FOUR, (this is actually a house number!) to the basket with twine. :

I love the layout and fireplace in our Family Room:

The pillars flanking the Dining room add a nice architectural detail to the room and separates it from the foyer and living room open concept areas:

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Vacation mementos from a fun trip to Belize ? a picture of our boys bodysurfing on the beach and a shell we found while scuba diving:

I also love to add meaning to our home by filling it with our children?s accomplishments and creativity!

I framed a piece of art that my youngest son drew for me a few years ago.? It?s a picture of our family all holding hands!? I love all of the Love arrows interconnecting us!? Check out how I turned this piece of art into a Turn Children?s Art into Tea Towels DIY.

Adding ?our story? to our home is deeply meaningful to our family. And a large part of ?our story? is that we are a proud military family; our home celebrates my husband?s military career, service to country and all of the personal sacrifices he has made.

I like to add his military memorabilia to our home in subtle ways.? My husband?s pewter mug adorns our fireplace mantel.? Traditionally, when a military member is posted and as a way to say goodbye, each member of my husband?s regiment is presented with a pewter mug monogrammed with his regiment?s insignia on it.? Here I filled it with boxwood clippings from our yard.? I love the play of the silvery pewter against the green foliage!

My Spring Mantel:

?and here is my hubby?s pewter mug on my Coastal Summer Mantel too!

I also love to bring the beauty of nature indoors, add plants and fresh flowers!

On our sofa table I placed this gorgeous white orchid in a silver ice bucket.? I also added these easy handmade DIY Love Votive Candles for a soft glow at night!

In spite of my love of home decor and the pretty things I add to the rooms, the most beautiful thing about our home is when all of my family is actually physically together in it..?it really is as simple as that.

With my husband often away on military training exercises or deployed overseas and now with my 19 year old son away at military college and officer cadet development training, to have all four of us together in our home is truly, a real treasure.

~ After all, family is the true meaning of any home! ~

I?m close to getting our new home ?Home Tour? worthy but I?m not quite there yet!

But to give you a sneak peak, here is my entryway!

I?d love for you to pop by Setting for Four and say hello!

Follow along with me here !

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Thanks again Debbie for allowing me to share my home with you and your readers today!

?Thank you Heather for sharing your home today!

?

Source: http://debbie-debbiedoos.com/2013/08/traditional-home-in-virginia-hampton-roads-area.html

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