Rain in California, Cold in Montreal

My West Coast friends are posting happy news about much-needed rain.

Good on them, since the drought there is bad for all concerned.

As for me, I'm steeling to go out this morning at -18 C (0F)--this cold is getting old.

More on Energy: When Too Much Hydro Is Too Much Hydro

Le Devoir leaked a report from a government commission this week on the future of energy in Quebec, a report that has been making waves.  In short, it says that contnuing to build hydro projects and to support windmill electricity generation is costing too much and that current electric capacity is more than enough for the province's needs.  If the projects now underway continue, taxpayers will be out a lot of money, and Quebec's economy will not benefit in the least from the outlay of billions of dollars.

Not surprisingly, the PQ government pooh-poohs the conclusions, although it can't deny them.  Nor can it ignore recently released information about the sweetheart deals between Hydro Quebec and aluminum plants.  The pay peanuts for their electricity, and even got a break when they locked out their workers last year. Rather, say government spokepersons, providing low cost power is important for the province's industry.Future capacity is designed to take care of future needs.

The report comes as the economic health of  various oil projects, including the pipelines that are supposed to carry Alberta tar sands oil to (take your pick) the US, Atlantic Canada or British Columbia, is up in the air.

We seem to be in a situation where all bets are off on  the supply of energy, given the sudden increased availability of natural gas from frakking and the like.

Where are we going? What do we really need?

Energy Debate: Nuclear and Other Forms of Electricity

Last week the Globe and Mail contained the most recent issue of Corporate Knights, a magazine that calls itself "The Company for Clean Capitalism." Rarely have I come across such a series of informative, thought-provoking articles about where we are going in terms of our use of energy.

Among the articles are an evaluation of the various costs of electricity generation, which contains this startling statement about nuclear power:

"Given the rapidly falling cost and potential of efficiency and renewables, the speed with which they can be deployed, as well as the availability of gas as a transition and complementary resource, the economically rational path for the next quarter century is crystal clear: New nukes aren’t necessary."

In other words, going for better energy efficiency and using other sorts of low-carbon, renewable eneergy is going to be a lot cheaper for the forseeable future. 

Definitely worth reading.

Saturday Photo: Sun on Winter Leaves

This is the winter sun shining on one of my plants that do well inside.  It'll be a long time before anything is green outside, so I like to have a reminder that the season isn't always winter.

Going in the Wrong Directon: PQ Budget and Krugman's Take-Down of Austerity Memasures

As usual Paul Krugman is worth reading today.  His analysis of why stimulus in the US hasn't done what it should have is clear: there should have been more, not less, and things would be much worse if there hadn't been the stimulus package in 2009.

He writes that the "huge natural experiment Europe has provided on the effects of sharp changes in government spending....  If stimulus opponents had been right about the way the world works, these austerity programs wouldn’t have had severe adverse economic effects, because cuts in government spending would have been offset by rising private spending. In fact, austerity led to nasty, in some cases catastrophic, declines in output and employment."

The message about the adverse effects of austerity hasn't been heard in Quebec City (or Ottawa, for that matter),  given the budget that Pauline Maurois's PQ government brought down Thursday.  Lots of talk about fiscal responsiblity and zero deficit, and no recognition of the important role government should play in  supporting public programs and putting the emphasis of full employment. 

We're headed for an election here, and certainly the PQ, the provincial Liberals and the right of centre Coalition pour l'avenir du Québec aren't going to talk about the need for stimulus.  Thank goodness Québec solidaire is around to raise some important questions. "The old model is broken down," commented Amir Khadir, one of the two QS members of the National Assembly.

Paris, Because Mavis Gallant Loved the City

The recent death of Mavis Gallant reminds me of how deeply seductive Paris is.  After Montreal, it is a place I'd like to live.

What a pleasure that we have Gallant's stories about the two cities to enjoy.  That is the legacy of writing, particularly when it crosses to line and becomes literature.

Big Money to Fight Elections against Climate Change Nay-sayers

I remember back in the 1970s when the environmental movement was beginning around here and I realized that it was going to be a long row to hoe to get 1) better water pollution control, 2) air quality emissions standards, 3) recycling and 4) everything else that was necessary to make the world liveable.

The problem was that the eco-guys and gals (not that we/they were called that then) just didn't have the money to get their message across.  The companies that stood to profit from pollution could advertise their spin on things in every media, but we had to slog it out in the trenches.  This meant that even when there was a victory (as in the fight to remove phosphates from detergent) it could be subverted by clever campaigns.  (See my post about this from 2007.)

But maybe some of the big money has wised up.  The New York Times has a very interesting story to day about hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer who has set up a huge fund to fight elections against climate change nay-sayers. 

The NYT reports that he  "is rallying other deep-pocketed donors, seeking to build a war chest that would make his political organization, NextGen Climate Action, among the largest outside groups in the country, similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch.

"In early February, Mr. Steyer gathered two dozen of the country’s leading liberal donors and environmental philanthropists to his 1,800-acre ranch in Pescadero, Calif. — which raises prime grass-fed beef — to ask them to join his efforts. People involved in the discussions say Mr. Steyer is seeking to raise $50 million from other donors to match $50 million of his own.

"The money would move through Mr. Steyer’s fast-growing, San Francisco-based political apparatus into select 2014 races."

A good thing, maybe, although the question of how big a role money should play in a democracy looms behind.  Certainly worth following.  And certainly would be interesting to see if any big money in Canada would be interested in following Steyer's example here. 

Advice from Pete That Should Be As Unforgettable As He Was

Too often we don't say what we think to people we expect won't agree with us. But that's a mistake, as Pete Seeger used to say.

And just for good measure, here's a song about talking.

Saturday Photo: Snow Removal

The picture was taken a while ago, but that's what we're doing these days around here.  A long winter, but made bearble by some lovely sunny days, and frequent sbowfalls that make everything lovely.

Well, What It Was, Was Herpes Zoster...

This morning I started a regime of cortisone type and anti-viral, anti-stomach upset drugs.  Seems those excruciating pain and the rash that I thought were back-related and due to a reaction to acetominophen were actually due to shingles.

Not your typical shingles--the resurgence of the virus that causes chickenpox decades later--because the rash didn't itch, and the nerve where the virus attacked were was in my hip and leg, not my torso.  Neverthless it all is a drag, literally.  My left foot is numb and I'm not using it properly: the hope is that with the drugs, the nerve function will return quickly.

The pain is still there, but not as intense, thank goodness  And thank goodness for physio Christine Gibson who told me I should have a doctor look at what was going on in my body.  It's not a case for exercise, she said in effect.

One of the drugs has excitability as a possible side-effect, and I'm almost looking forward to that after two weeks of feeling the pits.

Cold Day: Warm Food: Chili

As I wait to go to the doc (may not have been an acetomiophen reaction I had last week, but shingles) I'm thinking of what might taste good for dinner.

Chili sounds just right, but I don't have any cooked red beans.  Never fear, though, The New York Times says today, real Texas chili doesn't have beans. Just a mixture of various meats, spices and peppers.

Don't know abou that, but here's a good recipe on this morning when I don't feel up to thinking of much else. 

1 pound lean  beef, chopped into small pieces

6 slices of bacon

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

 5 cups of dark red kidney beans, cooked until soft

1 number 2  can of tomatoes

 2 tablespoons chili powder

 1 teaspoon ground cumin

  1 teaspoon dried oregano



Directions

    In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook meat until evenly browned. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
    Add vinegar, beans, chili powder and vinegar. 
    In a slow cooker, combine the cooked beef, kidney beans, tomatoes, celery, red bell pepper, and red wine vinegar. Season with chili powder, cumin, parsley, basil and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to distribute ingredients evenly.
    Cook for  one hour over low heat on stove, or bake in oven from 2-3 hours at 300 F.
    Serve with tortillas

That Routinue Mammogram Could Be Not What the Doctor Needed to Order

Eight years ago, just about now, I got a call telling me that a routinue mammorgram had showed suspicious tissue, and it looked like I had ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS.)  By the end of the summer, I'd been biopsied, excised and radiated, and was telling people how important mammograms were.

Since then I've become more skeptical,  Even then it was clear that DCIS the majority of time doesn't  into real cancer, and there was a big question whether tamoxifen should be given as a follow up.  One study reported in The Lancet of North American women said yes, but another, also in The Lancet, of women in Australia, New Zealand and the UK counseled against giving the drug to post-menopausal women because now benefit was found. (Had a fight with my surgeon about that, and changed doctors, actually.)

Now it looks like the tool used to find my DCIS is really unnecessary.  A new, very large Canadian study shows no benefit to mammography. It "found that the death rates from breast cancer and from all causes were the same in women who got mammograms and those who did not. And the screening had harms: One in five cancers found with mammography and treated was not a threat to the woman’s health and did not need treatment such as chemotherapy, surgery or radiation."

Interestingly, Enbridge, the questionable pipeline and fossil fuel group, is sponsoring a benefit concert for cancer research in Montreal Feb. 28.  Who's going to really benefit?

   

Important Interview with Elizabeth Kolbert

This is an interview worth reading  and  a book that might have a big impact.

Elizabeth Kolbert on the Sixth Extinction, coming up whether you like it or not.

Saturday Photo: Mile End's Secret Forest

I know, I know, this is not one of my photos, and it's Monday, not Saturday.  But this morning was the first in a week that I've been out walking, so I went ot check out the lovely "Secret Forest" that some Mile End residents put up a couple of weeks ago.

The idea was to liberate Christmas trees put out for recycling by "planting" in the disused space near the railroad tracks in Mile End that has become an very special sort of urban park.  For a while I thought our tree, put on Jan. 6 and gone the next morning a week before the regular recyclers came around, might figure among the trees which line a desire line across the space.  But they were all too small (and besides one of my contacts says that they went tree rustling after Jan. 6)  The result is quite delightful, and I'd like to think that there is perhaps a really "secret forest" somewhere in which our trees is spending the winter.

Careful with Acetominophen...

Update, 14/02/2014 (a palindrom!)

So it was shingles that was causing my pain--and it was/is intense.  The rash appears to have been merely coincidental with the acetominophen use.  But the warning holds: don't take too much!

Original post:

Okay everyone, back at work after several days away from the computer because of back/leg problems.  Physio seems to have help a lot, as it has in the past.  But I also took too much acetominophen it seems, and have developed an allergic reaction.  Not the end of the world, but a reminder that there are no free lunches, and no drugs without occasional side effects.

And it seems that acetominophen can have serious ones.  Here's a link to the FDA warning about taking too much/possible reactions.

It reads in part:

"Although rare, possible reactions to acetaminophen include three serious skin diseases whose symptoms can include rash, blisters and, in the worst case, widespread damage to the surface of skin. If you are taking acetaminophen and develop a rash or other skin reaction, stop taking the product immediately and seek medical attention right away."

My consult with 811 says to take Benedryl and to go to a doctor if things don't get better in 48 hours.  Just checked in our medecine chest: yep,  we had some, with an expiry date of 2007.  Obviously we don't get this kind of thing very often!

Time Out, But Nto for Long, I hope

No excuses. but I've got an aching back, so I'm lying low.

Getting Rid of Hydrocarbons: Good News from Denmark

Today's La Presse has an excellent and thought-provoking story about Denmark and its long term plans to quite using fossil fuels by 2050.  And this in a country which has profited recently from oil production!

In brief, here's what the Danes are doing:

In 2012, 95 per cent of the legislators from all parties voted to adopt policies which aim at having 100 per cent of all energy consumed  coming from renewal sources.  Currently 30 per cent of electricity comes from wind power, with a goal of 50 per cent by 2020.  And it would seem that they're well on the way: in December 2013 60 per cent came from wind power with some days where 100 cent was.

They're opting for green energy as an economic motor: the wind sector has already created 30,000 jobs.

Most conventional electrical plants now have been converted from oil to coal, which will be gradually changed to biogas. Heat from these plants heat houses, while cold water from the sea provides air conditioning.

The big challenge is transport, but the Danes plan on using taxes breaks to favour electric and bio-gaz vehicules.  The Metro in Copenhagen has been expanded, and 40 per cent of all travel to work and school is done by bike.

Food for thought, certainlly.

A Novel That Is As Counter-Cultural as Pete Seeger

Just this minute finished Michael Chabon's Telegraph Avenue--2:30 p.m., right in the middle of time I should be using for writing my own stuff, but I had to finish it.

This is probably the most engaging novel I've read in more than a year.  A multi-layered story, it has  a rather conventional plot:  couple of dreamers find their unsuccessful record store about to be overwhelmed by competition while their wives face problems, plying their trade as midwives.  Turns out one of the guys--the younger, African American one--has a 14 old son who shows up out of the blue.  The other--Jewish, with severe psychological problems--also has a son, who falls in love with other boy.  Along the way there are malpractice cases and "liberation" of a Zeppelin, as well as great riffs about music and life.

But it;s the journey that matters, and Chabon conveys us with splendor and  

It happens that I know a lot of the territory covered, and I remember another legendary record store on Telegraph Avenue, this one just across from the UC Berkeley campus.  That probably adds to the charm of the book for me, but I also was sometimes breathless at the images Chabon uses. One, both apt and hilarious,  chosen at random, about suburbs beyond the Oakland hill: " "Sprinklers chittered.  Titlesists traced white rainbows aginst the blue Contra Costa sky.  Along the forearms of hard-shopping women in tennis skirts, sunshine lit the bolden down." 

There are several loose ends, like the parrot named 58 who flies away after the death of his master.  The reason for the name is never given, although it seems that 58 sounds like "sure to prosper" in one dialect of Chinese.  On the other hand,  in Feng Shui numerology 58 means "no money." Does this mean hat the world is impossibly difficult to understand and basically contradictory?  Or are we just to take flight with the bird as it soars over 10 pages toward an improbable wild santuary?

Then there is the manner of a white guy assuming the voices of people of colour.  I haven't yet gone looking to see what kind of reviews the book received from those who might be upset by Chabon's appropriation of voice.   There are some, I imagine, who would be insulted by his audacity at trying to get inside the heads of his mixed-raee characters.  The voices sound good to me, just as good as his description of child birth.  The man is a good observer, for sure, and his soul is full empathy.

The photo, by the way, was taken almost 50 years ago during the Free Speech Movement: the crowd was marching off campus toward Telegraph Avenue.  Long time ago.

Pete Seeger: A Model for Us All (Turn,turn,turn)

Sometime when the Ingerman kids were young and the Soderstrom kids were only a hope, Doris and I took the gang down the Hudson to Albany (I think) to see Pete Seeger on The Clearwater, in the beginning of the campaign to clean up the Hudson.

Here's to him, all his good music and good causes. He leaves this world the better for his actions.

The Paranoia of the Plutocrats

The rich are different from you and me department:  as usual Krugman nails it in today's New York Times.  He comments about the out-of-the-ballpark criticism by the 1 per cent of attacks on what they have and receive:

"We are...talking about wheeler-dealers, men who push money around and get rich by skimming some off the top as it sloshes by. They may boast that they are job creators, the people who make the economy work, but are they really adding value? Many of us doubt it — and so, I suspect, do some of the wealthy themselves, a form of self-doubt that causes them to lash out even more furiously at their critics."

He adds: 

"Anyway, we’ve been here before. It’s impossible to read screeds like (these) without thinking of F.D.R.’s famous 1936 Madison Square Garden speech, in which he spoke of the hatred he faced from the forces of “organized money,” and declared, “I welcome their hatred.”

"President Obama has not, unfortunately, done nearly as much as F.D.R. to earn the hatred of the undeserving rich. But he has done more than many progressives give him credit for — and like F.D.R., both he and progressives in general should welcome that hatred, because it’s a sign that they’re doing something right."