Health, Environment, Politics and Government
September 10, 2020 Leave a comment
Shipping a coronavirus vaccine around the world will be the “largest transport challenge ever” according to the airline industry. The equivalent of 8,000 Boeing 747s will be needed, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said.
Covid vaccine: 8,000 jumbo jets needed to deliver doses globally, says IATA – BBC News
July 29, 2020 Leave a comment
QUOTE FROM EX-SEN CLAIRE MCCASKILL (MO) ON MORNING JOE (MSNBC)
THE PRESIDENT SAYS IF THE WE GAVE ARMS TO THE TALIBAN THEN IT’S OK THAT RUSSIA GIVES ARMS TO THE TALIBAN.
PRESIDENT MUST HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST IN hydroxychoroquine
July 1, 2011 Leave a comment
The case for free trade is about microeconomics, about raising efficiency. There’s no particular reason to think that trade liberalization is good for fixing problems of inadequate demand. I mean, you learn in Econ 101 that aggregate spending is Y = C+I+G+X-M; that is, consumer spending, plus investment spending, plus government purchases, plus exports, minus imports. Trade liberalization raises X, but it also raises M. For any individual county it can go either way; for the world as a whole it’s a wash, since total exports equal total imports.
May 11, 2011 Leave a comment
Even the Chavez model seems neoliberal compared to the CubanMilitary-Based Economy. The Cuba’s will not find much solace in these so-called “reforms.” Sad but true for those who might have had some hope that there would be changes–I guess not in our lifetime
Raúl Castro’s consolidation of his position as successor to his brother Fidel confirms that his Cuba will give the military domestic hegemony, which makes any serious political or economic opening in the near future seemingly impossible. The Cuban Communist Party’s recent Sixth Congress reflected this, offering little new and rehashing a lot of the old.
via Has Cuba Lost its Last Chance? by Carlos Perez Llana – Project Syndicate.
April 12, 2011 Leave a comment
Coral Gables is privileged to be the home of the Miami Council for International Visitors (MCIV; www.miamiciv.org). This premier local organization, which is a member of the National Council for International Visitor (NCIV), is host to delegations to the South Florida region from throughout the world, whose participants are here experiencing the culture, society, politics, economics and social dimensions of our great region and city.
These visitors’ activities are financed through the Department of State and NCIV, and the delegations are selected by our U.S. embassies in the world. MCIV Miami is host to literally hundreds of visitors during the year and its “citizen diplomat” members of MCIV, host the visitors in their homes, offices and work places.
For those interested in becoming “citizen diplomats,” collaborating with MCIV and meeting these international visitors, you can contact Annette Alvarez, Executive Director MCIV, through their website at http://www.miamiciv.org.
March 24, 2011 Leave a comment
This explains that the actual permanent impact of significant disasters have been relative less than thought and that is likely to be the case in Japan.
…while the fear is understandable, this may turn out to have been an overreaction: history suggests that, despite the terrifying destruction and the horrific human toll, the long-term impact of the quake on the Japanese economy could be surprisingly small.
via Japan and the Economics of Natural Disasters : The New Yorker.
March 18, 2011 Leave a comment
Of interest to reference in these days of the nuclear accident in Japan.
Below are some facts and figures about the radiation hazard posed by the Fukushima breakdown and how it compares with other nuclear accidents in history. Many of the figures are measured in millisieverts, an international unit of radiation dosage. (One sievert is equal to 100 rems, which is a dosage unit of x-ray and gamma-ray radiation exposure; one millisievert is 0.1 rem.)
Radiation dose at the boundary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on March 16: 1.9 millisieverts (mSv) per hour
Peak radiation dose measured inside Fukushima Daiichi on March 15: 400 mSv per hour
Maximum allowable exposure for U.S. radiation workers: 50 mSv per year
Average exposure of U.S. residents from natural and man-made radiation sources: 6.2 mSv per year
Estimated total exposure at the boundary of the Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania during the 1979 accident there: one mSv or less
Average total radiation dose to the 114,500 individuals evacuated during the 1986 Chernobyl disaster: 31 mSv
Half-life of iodine 131, a dangerous radioactive isotope released in nuclear accidents: eight days
Half-life of cesium 137, another major radionuclide released in nuclear accidents: 30 years
Decay products of iodine 131 and cesium 137: both emit gamma rays and beta particles (electrons or positrons)
Amount of nuclear fuel in Chernobyl reactor No. 4 that exploded in 1986: 190 metric tons
Amount of nuclear fuel and fission by-products released into the atmosphere during Chernobyl disaster: 25 to 57 metric tons
Approximate amount of nuclear fuel in each crippled Fukushima Daiichi reactor: 70 to 100 metric tons
via Fast Facts about Radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors: Scientific American.
