SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR LIFE TODAY

I'm back to normality.  Thought I'd, again, provide simple solutions to our societal problems and needs, each from the Star Advertiser today (by page number):

A1.  The headline article is the University of Hawaii Board of Regents clearing the Athletic Department of $13 million in debt, plus other concessions.  Where did the money come from?  Well, academia/students, if you are of the opinion that there are only real two missions.  Got to give new Athletic Director Ben Jay huge credit for this arrangement.  Will this then be the end of their problem?  Nope.  I have a better solution:  find a dedicated billionaire!

A3.  Should President Obama be impeached for the IRS giving the Tea Party a bad time?    Well, every White House and/or party in power has used influence.  The recent George W. Bush administration intimidated scientists and those opposed to the Iraq War.  Clinton?  He was impeached.  But that was the Monica Affair.  These issues bug every White House, and you can almost understand why the Tea Party drew the attention of the Internal Revenue Service.  No new taxes?  No wonder there was scrutiny.  So what is the solution?  We already have one in place.  The opposition party.

A5.  Richard Brill points out that at one time Man used fire for light.  The efficiency was less than 0.3%.  Incandescent bulbs jumped the technology to 3%.  Not Thomas Edison, but Humphry Davy of England invented the first electric light, in 1809.  Edison came along around 1878 and patented a bulb.  His first filament to last more than a thousand hours came from bamboo.  Edison helped form General Electric and tungsten became the ideal filament.  However, it was not until 1964 that improvements reduced the cost of Edison's original system by a factor of 30.  The first patent for the fluorescent tube came in 1901.  General Electric also played a role and first sold a fluorescent lamp in 1938, for the efficiency now showed potential for 12%.  Many governments are just now getting into the act eliminating incandescent bulbs.  China has banned them from 2016.  Brill indicates that the light-emitting diode (LED), with efficiencies up to 40% is next.  Plus, unlike compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), LEDs can last up to ten times longer, with no toxic substances. All your digital lights (as in portable electronics) use LEDs.  However, they are not yet affordable.  EvoLux sells LED lights with the equivalent of a 100-watt incandescent for around $80, but it will glow for 50,000 hours, costing only $2/year.  Amazon.com has 100 watt-equivalent CFLs for nearly $3/bulb, and they last for around 10,000 hours, or roughly a cost of 40 cents/year.  Here is another comparison:

 So what's the simple solution?  Use CFLs for your household lighting.  Yet, the 20May13 issue of TIME magazine analyzed 60-watt equivalents and came up with LED at $1.14 per 3-hr day, CFL at $1.45 and incandescent at $2.55.  However, the article indicated that the Cree LED bulb cost $12.97.  Amazon.com has this lamp at $23.95, which would mean that the $1.14/day really is closer to $2.10.  I suspect the author (Michael Grunwald) wanted to show how great LEDs are.  I don't think he is right.  Someday, but not today.

A19.  Hawaii's homeless population is growing.  Government does not want to spend much, and many of the homeless just don't like to be told what to do.  Frankly, the public cannot afford to solve the homeless problem.  However, in combination with churches public schools and military bases, maybe:

Finally, whether they like it or not, churches have become the solution for the homeless problem, or should. Church space is not used at night and the membership generally wants to do well. A well-organized community effort, moving these dispossessed to the religious “home” of their choice, will spread the predicament, provide contacts with caring members and furnish a second chance. There will be problems, of course—for the homeless are just that because they are on drugs and have a high incidence of dysfunctional characteristics—but, certainly, there should be solutions. Military bases, public schools and other concerns with capabilities, land and a roof to offer should be part of the team, of course, but churches are best. The problem is that most churches are still looking the other way. In time, success stories around the world will galvanize religion to work with government and industry to help solve the homeless problem.

This is one of those solutions, though, where you might not want to even start, for the more we solve this problem, the more homeless will come.

B2.  Hawaii's jobless rate hit a five year low, 4.9%.  However, in 2006, unemployment rested at 2.7%.  Both figures are incredible, as many work at two jobs.  The national figure stands at 7.5%, while the Eurozone last month rose to 12.1%.  Is China at 4% or 8%?  It depends on who you believe.  Hawaii has no simple solution for the future.  When the next oil price spike happens, and stays high for a while, we will become the first location to enter into a prolonged depression, for our entire economy is dependent of tourism.  I've tried to initiate R&D into next generation aircraft and did everything I could to diversify our economy.  The Blue Revolution Hawaii advocacy for the Pacific International Ocean Station is just one of many initiatives.

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This getting almost boring, but the Dow Jones Industrials again attained an all-time high today:  15,294.  Gold, incidentally, dropped to $1366 per ounce, down 18% this year.


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