Nine Shift

New Way For Boys to Die

Males are 99.9% of combat deaths; 94% of workplace fatalities; 84% of homicides; and 75% of suicide victims. Now there's a new way young men are dying: cirrhosis of the liver. 

The despair, stress, depression and anxiety afflicting Gen Y has caused another death statistic to skyrocket in the last ten years: cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol consumption. 

Dr. Elliott B. Tapper of the University of Michigan did the study, which was reported this month in the New York Times.  Here's the original publication of the study.

“These are the facts: people started dying at increased rates after 2008,” Dr. Tapper told the NYTimes. “Young people are more likely to die of alcoholic cirrhosis, and we know that there is a model of despair in young unemployed men who are likely to abuse alcohol.”  (my italics and boldface)

While Dr. Tapper sees a correlation with the recession of 2008-2010 and the rise, he is unsure of the cause. 

We got one cause. To be clear, this is not the only cause; but among smart young men, the cause is being denied college entrance and graduation.  Schools and colleges have taken away one's life's work from around 14 million smart males since 1980, and when they take away your life's passion, a good job, and the ability to find a likewise smart mate - - you get depression.  This is not speculation. Julie and I are surrounded by depressed smart (really smart) young men.  We see, and deal with it, daily. 

Photo: Monarch butterfly, threatened just a few years ago, seems to be making a comeback since a bunch of us planted milkweed plants in our backyards; and we see milkweed plants along the highways now too.  Maybe a success story, maybe.

Confused Reader Disputes E.U. Law

A confused reader disputed our post on July 23 that Americans would be protected under the new European Union law. 

Let's give two examples:
1.Earlier this week, my little organization wanted to get some software from a company in Europe to teach Americans, not Europeans. We had to file a statement regarding privacy that met the guidelines in the E.U. law.  No matter we are American, only Americans would use the software.

2.Say you flew from Wichita to Dallas on American airlines, say in 2014.  American Airlines has an office in Europe. Someone in the American Airlines office in Europe can look up your flight record.  But then the data would be "in" Europe.  So American Airlines will have to comply with the E.U. law. 

Same holds true if you have a Google gmail account, or bought furniture from Ikea, or hundreds of other examples.  They all do business in Europe. They all have to comply with the new law, even though you, dear reader, won't come near Europe. Got it now?

Photo: wild raspberries and daisy. Wild raspberries plentiful and juicy this year.

Europe and Now California to the Rescue!

If you thought the U.S. federal government was THE world's superpower, think again.  Europe, and now California, are making some critical moves right now.  Regarding net neutrality, California is on the verge of passing the nation's toughest, and best, net neutrality law. 

California is the world's fifth largest economy - - yes, the world's.

Here's what California state senator Wiener said this month:

“This will be the most comprehensive and the strongest net neutrality protection in the United States where we are restoring what we lost when Donald Trump’s FCC obliterated net neutrality,” Sen. Wiener said at today’s press conference.

And, as the auto companies have found out, so goes California, so goes the nation.  Many tech companies will not want the expense, plus pissing off California, to have two standards, killing net neutrality for the rest of the U.S. and preserving it for California.

 

Net Neutrality in Canada and Advanced Nations

Canada and other advanced nations may not suffer from the U.S. killing net neutrality, according to Belhassen, from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

He told us, ":We are fortunate enough to have enough bandwidth (generally) that we wouldn’t suffer enough, unless something truly drastic happens which is unlikely. What’s more likely is that we’ll see some services prioritized (Netflix), but with enough bandwidth “we may not notice”." 

You And Net Neutrality

The bigger impact for education and non-profits of killing net neutrality than losing out to YouTube for bandwidth could be serving those in non-urban areas. Earlier Dan Belhassen identified content - - the big guys like Amazon and Walmart and Google and Netflix, versus your program's content. You, with less money than Netflix, lose out and your customers get weak signals from you.

Next, here's what online guru Dan Belhassen told us, "A bigger impact, that I don’t see being discussed, in the impact on geography. For instance, let’s say that you’re a learner in Somalia. First of all, you have a disadvantage because perhaps you have less bandwidth to begin with.

"With NN (net neutrality) in place, you could at least be on an equal playing field accessing content in the US. But without NN, perhaps your entire country’s traffic get’s reduced, because you are classed as a less valuable traffic source. So now, you are having to deal with local bandwidth (which, at least, you could try to do something about), but also impacted with your entire region/country being slowed down."

NineShift needs to ask, what about rural areas in the U.S., already underserved by good connections?  

Photo: So-called 'high' speed Internet being advertised with yard signs near our cabin up north. Just the yard sign tells you we have lousy connections. 

Non-Net Neutrality To Hurt Education and Non-Profits Big Time

If Net Neutrality is killed in the United States, as is the government's plan, it would hurt education and non-profits big time.

Here's what online guru Dan Belhassen told LERN, 

"I see educational resources as being one of those categories that could be “killed in the crossfire”. Major telcos will eventually prioritize traffic that is most valuable to them.

There are two impacts – one is on the content, the other is on the geography.

What the media is talking about is typically content. As in, Netflix will be faster than Youtube, if Netflix has a deal with the local ISP. This, no doubt, might impact access to some educational resources."

Next: Geography an even bigger concern for Mr. Belhassen.

Are You a "Data Subject"?

Europe is creating the governmental infrastructure of the 21st century.  Saving your rights, and saving big business from itself. 

So, are you a 'data subject'?  Europe says yes. And the fascinating thing is, Europe is protecting you, and me, Americans, Canadians, not just Europeans.

"The European Union's new digital privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, doesn't just protect European residents or citizens. The law covers 'data subjects.'  You are a data subject," writes Atossa Araxia Abrahamian in the NY Times. 

A data subject is a person inside or OUTSIDE the European Union whose personal data is used by a controller or processor.  So this law actually protects you and me.  Thank you Europe. 

Photo: wild roses along the river last week.

The Numbers on Testosterone

The controversy over women's testosterone levels continues.  Some females support the new track and field standards, some oppose it. 

But one interesting thing was revealed in a recent NYTimes story, the levels of testosterone. "Most women, including elite female athletes, have natural testosterone levels of .12 to 1.79 nanomoles per liter, the I.A.A.F. said, while the normal male range after puberty is much higher, at 7.7 to 29.4 nanomoles per liter." 

The question being debated is whether the 7 out of 1,000 female athletes with higher testosterone levels should be allowed to compete.  The higher testosterone gives women in mid-range races of 400-800 meters a 5-6% advantage, an "enormous differences difference in events where milliseconds count." 

So, do only a few females with abnormally high testosterone compete, shutting out all other women? And what about males who identify as females? 

Or are women's athletics, which were never meant to be about competing with males, for the majority of women?

Did We Start The Recession Last Week?

There was a deep 18 month recession 100 years ago. It seems more likely than not that we will experience another one 100 years later, and for the same reason. 

Last week the U.S. began a useless no-win trade war against our allies and China.  And in the past year added substantially to the national debt, while at the same time not investing in trains and education, the essentials for economic prosperity in this century. 

One hundred years ago the recession was self-imposed - - just bad judgment by the government.  And here we seem to be going again.

Photo: Dick and Jane go canoeing!  Cover of a 1970s river guide my brother found. The water trails are still there.....

The Worst Book of the Year

Ellen Rupel Shell's new "Jobs" book is my nomination for the worst book of the year.

In short,
1.It is wrong factually.
2.It is morally unsupportable.
3.It is racist. 

Looking back and supposedly using data from the last century age of factories when a high school degree got one into the middle class, Shell makes an astounding and awful conclusion: "a college degree is worth less to people who most need a boost: those born poor." 

This is inexcusable, especially for a professor at Boston University whose mission is to educate us all. 

Even The New York Times, the disseminator of this misinformation, was compelled to have the two experts she cites write a refutation about the misuse of their research.  Tim Bartik and Brad Hershbein correctly state, 

"For the average college graduate from a low-income background (those who grow up with family earnings below 185 percent of the poverty line), lifetime earnings are about $810,000. But for the average person from a low-income background with just a high school diploma, average lifetime earnings are about $475,000."

-Ms. Shell compares those born poor to those born rich, suggesting that those born poor should be as rich as the rich with a college degree.

-She discourages those born poor from getting a college degree, which supposedly is part of, or all of, the whole mission of Boston University and all of higher education. 

-As any president of a black institution will point out, the main targets of Shell's discouragement are proportionally more black and Latino. Shell admits that HER children and grandchildren will get a college education, too bad for African-Americans. 

Thank you to Tim Bartik and Brad Hershbein for refuting this abominable factually incorrect book whose purpose, apparently, is to keep the poor poor and do away with the whole notion of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Boston University should be ashamed to have this caliber of professor teaching.  

Baby hummingbirds, photo taken this weekend, born poor.