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Archives for May 2010

Tip of the Week: Weight Loss

May 21, 2010 by rickety 17 Comments

Fruits and vegetables

What is your best weight loss tip?

.
Tell the readers what helped you lose weight. It can just be a simple tip or you can further describe how you personally used your tip to lose weight.

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Filed Under: Food

Are There More PIIGS in the Sty?

May 21, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

The acronym PIIGS refers to the economies of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain especially in regards to matters relating to sovereign debt and government deficits. These economies are seen to have high government debt levels and high government deficits relative to annual gross domestic product (GDP), despite being comparable with the Eurozone as a whole.

Some economies with similar financial problems, often notably the United Kingdom, are arbitrarily excluded. European Union member states are obliged to ensure their debt does not exceed 60 percent of their GDP.

It will be interesting to examine the debt levels of the PIIGS compared with other countries in the European Union (EU). For this I am using Google Public Data Explorer with the Eurostat dataset. First the PIIGS government debt as a percentage of GDP:

PIIGS debt to GDP

PIIGS general government debt as a percentage of GDP (click to enlarge)

Government debt is not supposed to exceed 60% of GDP. The PIIGS all exceed this except for Spain. But what of the EU as a whole? Observe:

PIIGS and EU debt to GDP

PIIGS and EU general government debt as a percentage of GDP (click to enlarge)

The EU weighs in with a hefty 73.6%, worse than Ireland and Spain. Methinks there are more PIIGS in the sty.

PIIGS and EU debt to GDP over 60 percent

PIIGS and EU general government debt over 60% of GDP in 2009 (click to enlarge)

We see that there are 12 EU countries over the 60% limit at the end of 2009. Spain, one of the PIIGS, is lower than them all and hence is not labelled. There are some large non-PIIGS economies in the top 12, namely France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Notice that Belgium, Hungary, and France are at a higher percentage than PIIGS Portugal. Germany, Malta, the United Kingdom, and Austria also weigh in higher than PIIGS Ireland.

Is it any wonder that the Euro is dropping in value? The whole Eurozone is practically one gigantic PIIGS sty. But the EU is not alone — the U.S. gross debt is 87% of GDP.

Play with the numbers yourself at Google Public Data Explorer. I have set it up to start with the PIIGS economies but you can add in more of the EU countries.

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Filed Under: Debt, Rickety Picks Tagged With: Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain

Caption Competition #8 Winner

May 21, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Mark and Connie hiking in Bryce Canyon

Mark and Connie hiking in Bryce Canyon last week

Judge Jake decided the winner of the latest caption competition. The competition was open to anyone but only the locals participated. Thank you everybody for the great captions. The first prize is a $100 trillion banknote.

Mark is this week’s caption winner.

  • First — Bryson! Check out my new hair clip! It’s all natural. I need to pick up some food for it though… Mark
  • Second — When Sarah went blind and deaf, instead of reverting to the Tactile Rochester Method to facilitate communication, she instead went with an Interpretive Cockatiel. Sean
  • Third — Sarah, when was the last time you washed your hair? I think you missed something. Melissa

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Filed Under: Competition Tagged With: Mark

Milford Wind Project: Utah Power For California

May 20, 2010 by rickety 2 Comments

An update to the original November 2009 article.

An event happening last year near Milford, Utah caught my attention. The first phase of the Milford Wind Corridor Project was completed and is the largest wind facility in Utah and one of the largest in the West. Here is what the official press release had to say:

Located in Millard and Beaver County, Utah, the first phase of the project will generate 203.5 MW of clean energy, making it the largest renewable energy facility in Utah. At a ribbon-cutting event at the project site near the town of Milford, First Wind officials were joined by Utah Lt. Governor Greg Bell, officials with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), state and local officials, as well as officials with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the cities of Burbank and Pasadena, and the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA).

The Milford Wind Corridor is the first wind energy facility permitted under the Bureau of Land Management’s Wind Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Western US states. But why wind power when Utah has plenty of cheap coal? This electricity is bound for California to help achieve the Los Angeles goal of 20 percent renewables by 2010.

Updates

Since the original story in November of last year there have been a few events concerning the Milford Wind Project.

February 11, 2010 — Kelsey Mitchell, a senior at Millard High School, will be the first recipient of a one-time scholarship of $3,000 through the First Wind Scholars program. In March the program was expanded to include as many as 10 scholarships for qualified students. In addition, one renewable scholarship of $5,000 for up to four years will be awarded to the most qualified student.

February 24, 2010 — First Wind was recognized during the Excellence in Renewable Energy award in Austin, Texas. The Milford Wind project received the “Reader’s Choice Award” by the readers of RenewableEnergyWorld.com, a widely read renewable energy news source.

April 27, 2010 — After a morning visit with Governor Gary Herbert in Salt Lake City, Interior secretary Kenneth Salazar visited Milford High School to congratulate the renewable energy class of Andy Swapp, whose students were instrumental in gathering information used in creation of the 204 megawatt wind farm.

May 9, 2011 — First Wind announced Monday that the construction of the 102-megawatt Milford Wind Corridor Phase II — Milford II — project has been completed and commercial operations have begun.

Why Wind Power?

Milford Wind Turbine Project

Milford Wind Turbine Project

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of generating electricity by wind. Perhaps you can think of some I have missed.

Advantages

  1. Wind turbines do not generate pollution or radioactive waste.
  2. Their construction and installation has less environmental impact.
  3. Individual homes can be supplied independent of power lines, ensuring electricity during natural disasters.
  4. Using larger turbines connected to the grid, power can be generated for large numbers of people.
  5. No non-renewable resources, like coal, natural gas, or oil are consumed.
  6. Wind is a domestic source of power.
  7. No water required (compared with 490 gallons per megawatt-hour for coal).

Disadvantages

  1. The cost of electricity is more than coal, natural gas, or nuclear.
  2. Subsidies are required.
  3. An undesirable appearance.
  4. Because of their height, they can be damaged by lightning.
  5. The blades of wind turbines can hit birds.
  6. Some turbines produce noise.

Technical Details

The Milford Wind Project consists of:

  • Generation of 203.5 megawatts.
  • 97 wind turbine generators.
  • A 90-mile transmission line connecting the wind farm to the IPA in Delta, Utah.
  • 13 meteorological towers.
  • A 34.5K volt power underground collection system linking each turbine to the next and to the Facility substation.
  • A Facility collector substation.
  • An interconnection facility at the connection between the Facility transmission line and the IPP substation.
  • A Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system.

From the press release:

Featuring 97 total wind turbines including 58 Clipper Liberty 2.5 MW wind turbines and 39 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines, the first phase of the project has the capacity to generate clean, wind energy to power about 45,000 homes per year. Managed by the dedicated team at RMT, Inc., construction on the 203 MW first phase of the Milford Wind Corridor project began nearly a year ago in November 2008.

Economic Benefits

The town of Milford and Beaver and Millard counties can harness this energy source to help the local economy.

  • Providing employment through construction jobs and long-term operations and maintenance positions.
  • Leasing land from area residents.
  • During construction and operation, increased use of local goods and services.
  • Reduced dependence on costly imported fossil fuels.
  • Tax revenues received from wind farms.

One of the substantial costs of wind power is building the transmission lines. In the map below the eventual route chosen was the IPP Corridor Route to the west across BLM land.

Milford Wind Corridor Project Map

Milford Wind Corridor Project Map

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Filed Under: Energy, Rickety Picks Tagged With: Electricity, Wind

500 Billion Dinara

May 20, 2010 by rickety 3 Comments

500 billion dinara banknote

I hold a 500 billion dinara banknote, worth $6 when first issued

Millions of U.S. citizens are concerned about deficit spending and the possibility of high inflation and even hyperinflation. To illustrate how easily fiat money can become hyperinflated, I have been highlighting the top four countries that have had hyperinflation. They are:

  1. Hungary, 207% daily inflation rate in July 1946
  2. Zimbabwe, 98% daily inflation rate in November 2008
  3. Yugoslavia, 65% daily inflation rate in January 1994
  4. Germany, 21% daily inflation rate in October 1923

Note that the inflation rates cited are daily. O my, I am glad I didn’t have to live through hyperinflation. Also observe that these countries are not confined to Europe. China is not listed but if they were they would come in at number 6. Anywhere fiat currencies are used (that’s basically everywhere) the danger of hyperinflation is forever present.

To complete the gang of four, today I am discussing Yugoslavia.

The 500 billion dinar banknote was introduced on December 23, 1993, and was worth $6. By noon it was worth only $5. By evening its value was less than $3. There was 5,000,000,000,000,000,000 percent inflation from October 1, 1993 to January 24, 1994 (prices doubled every 1.4 days).

From when the 100 dinara coin was struck in 1989 until the 500 billion banknote was issued on December 23, 1993, the currency declined in value 100 billion to one. The note was the largest nominal value ever issued by Yugoslavia. Children’s poet Jovan Jovanovich Amaj adorned the obverse of the bill.

Also see 34 Examples of Hyperinflation.
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Filed Under: Money, Rickety Picks Tagged With: Hyperinflation, Yugoslavia

Google Plots Fertility Rate

May 19, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment


If you cannot see the graph click here or here.

Google recently added the World Bank’s World Development Indicators to their existing US unemployment and US population data sets. The World Development Indicators consist of 17 data sets that Google plots as an interactive graph using their public data search. The graphs can be linked or embedded on a web page as I have done above. Note that in some data sets, a few countries do not have data, for example Andorran GDP growth rate.

In my graph I included the countries with the highest fertility rate (Niger, 7.0) and the lowest fertility rate (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1.2). I show the U.S. at exactly the 2.1 replacement rate. The World fertility rate has dropped to 2.5.

Links to Data Sets

I found that I could not easily access the public data sets. I had to display them using the right words in a search. Once I discovered the URLs I could save the links and go directly to the graphs. The links are listed below that have the World Development Indicators made available through Google’s public statistical data search. Clicking a link will bring up a blank chart, allowing you to select one or more country’s data to display. I have included the U.S. population and unemployment public data sets for completeness.

  • CO2 emissions per capita
  • Electricity consumption per capita
  • Energy use per capita
  • Exports as percentage of GDP
  • Fertility rate
  • GDP deflator change
  • GDP growth rate
  • GNI per capita in PPP dollars
  • Gross Domestic Product
  • Gross National Income in PPP dollars
  • Imports as percentage of GDP
  • Internet users as percentage of population
  • Life expectancy
  • Military expenditure as percentage of GDP
  • Mortality rate, under 5
  • Population
  • Population growth rate
  • US population
  • US unemployment

External Articles

This list is updated occasionally, with newer additions listed first.

  • The challenges and opportunities that come with population growth and seven billion people
  • Population bomb bogus — The global economy is doing a fine job of alleviating poverty.

Updates

Google now has a Public Data Explorer with a lot more data sets available. Andorra now has a GDP growth rate.
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Filed Under: Blogging, Population Tagged With: Data Set, Google

The Power Of Zero In Finance

May 19, 2010 by rickety 2 Comments

CheckbookI became acquainted with the power of zero early in life. The power of zero was my financial plan. Very simple really. The nearer my balance approaches zero the slower my spending. Worth repeating, in bold, italicized, and indented:

The nearer my balance approaches zero the slower my spending.

Zero was that grand guardian against excess. The magical cipher to hold one solvent. Admittedly, I did the work. I was the one who was disciplined to keep myself from falling into the abyss of interest payments. There was nothing to it really. Of course with any simple plan there are pragmatic principles present on the periphery. The power of zero is bolstered by these simple truths:

  • Borrow only for home, health, and education.
  • Debt is worse than the plague.
  • Be charitable.
  • A bargain is not a bargain if you don’t need it.

Once you absorb this power into your life be careful to always be true to zero. I once went against my own rule of borrowing by getting a loan to take my family to Disney World. I borrowed thousands of dollars that then had to be laboriously paid back over several years, with interest. This is where I learned that once the zero barrier is broken, there is no resistance to further spending.

There is only one zero, nothing else has the power of nil. Fortunately I came to my senses, paid back the loan, and got on the positive side of zero again.

No, there is naught like the power of zero.
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Filed Under: Debt, Rickety Picks Tagged With: Financial Plan

Arlen Specter Loss Jolts Political Establishment

May 19, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter

First Utah’s Senator Bennett (alias Bailout Bob) was stricken from the November ballot. Then Democrat Representative Mollohan of West Virginia lost to anti-incumbent sentiment. Last night Rand Paul soundly defeated establishment candidate Trey Grayson and Arlen Specter lost to a younger and far less experienced rival in Pennsylvania.

With record deficits it is obvious that Washington has failed. This is an anti-Washington year as incumbents are finding out. The big spenders are getting particularly hard hit, especially those that voted for the bailout. Now it is time for the voters to bailout the congressmen — all the way into retirement.

I am not one to get rid of an incumbent just because they have been in Washington a long time. I vote against the big spenders who keep on racking up the debt that one day will have to be paid back — plus a whole lot of interest.

See if it is time for your Member of Congress to be retired by perusing The Bailout Page.

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Filed Under: Elections, Politics Tagged With: Pennsylvania

Rand Paul Wins in Kentucky

May 18, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Ron and Rand Paul

Ron and Rand Paul

Last week Democrat Representative Mollohan of West Virginia lost to anti-incumbent sentiment. The loss came soon after Utah’s Senator Bennett (alias Bailout Bob) was stricken from the November ballot.

Now conservative Rand Paul in a Republican Kentucky primary has soundly defeated establishment candidate Trey Grayson. Rand Paul in his victory speech said:

We’ve come to take our government back. This Tea Party movement is a message to Washington that we’re unhappy and that we want things done differently. The mandate of our victory tonight is huge. What you have done and what we are doing can transform America. I think America’s greatness hinges on us doing something to save the country. The Tea Party movement is about saving the country from a mountain of debt that is devouring our country.

The Los Angles Times wrote:

Paul, 47, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist who had never sought political office, started far behind the establishment favorite Grayson. But he surged ahead with a plain-spoken style and a platform rooted in small-government, anti-Washington thinking: term limits, a balanced-budget amendment, a requirement that lawmakers read every word of legislation before it passes and a stipulation that laws spell out their constitutional underpinning.

See if it is time for your Member of Congress to be retired by perusing The Bailout Page.

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
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Filed Under: Elections, Politics

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Rick at homeI'm Rick Willoughby. I live in Utah, a retired Software Engineer. I'm a Mormon, married with 5 children and 12 grandchildren.

I emigrated from England in my late twenties, bringing with me one small suitcase and a few dollars. I appreciate the opportunities America has given me and the friendliness of the people to new citizens.

I blog about my family as well as politics, religion, finance, technology, and other topics.

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