This week has not turned out as I thought it would. Influenza A has a way of doing that. Instead of having my post 70-year-old colonoscopy today, I have been recovering from the flu. I guess it was inevitable after attending three funerals and a couple of holiday gatherings last week. Recovery is slow, but it is going in the right direction. Yes, I had my enhanced flu shot.
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I was excited reading about the scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility formally announcing the first nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than it took to create the reaction. As Heather Cox Richardson said in her blog last night, “This is a huge deal. If it can be recreated at scale, it would provide limitless, carbon-free energy. While that application is still decades away, today’s announcement is the culmination of decades of work to get to this point. Heartfelt congratulations to the scientists.”
This discovery is something the entire world should support. It is a game changer in so many ways. Instead of spending money on war, the international community should support this in every way possible through financial capital and human capital. The benefits are endless. Lets not wait for it to be commercialized and profitable to a select few. Let’s make it a benefit for all the world to enjoy. As Nolan Finley said in his blog today, “A breakthrough in fusion energy promises a carbon-free future, and perhaps free us from those awful windmills.” Two good reasons to throw our support behind this effort.
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With the Detroit Lions victory over the Minnesota Vikings, the Lions bandwagon has gotten very crowded. People that had jumped off when they were 1-6 are now trying to get back on. This town is starved for some excitement from our major professional teams. It is exciting that they are playing meaningful games in December. The scoreboard watching starting this weekend will be much different than past years. In the last five years Lions’ fans were watching the scoreboard in hopes of improving their standing in the draft. Now they are watching it to see if making the playoffs can become a reality. It is fun.
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Per the Detroit News today, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vowed Wednesday to enact laws that would make records from within her office and the Legislature publicly available and said Michigan needs to examine loopholes in lobbying policies that potentially contributed to the actions of former House Speaker Lee Chatfield.
As part of her campaign in 2018 she promised to tighten Michigan’s transparency laws, but she failed to do so. She now has a friendly legislature so making this happen should be one of her highest priorities. Currently Michigan ranks at or near the bottom in the U.S. for state government transparency. No more excuses.
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Two of my primary sources of news and information are Bridge Magazine and The Guardian. I choose these two sources because they are not owned by anyone. They are not beholding to any person or corporate structure. They rely on donations to exist. Bridge Magazine is a Michigan non-partisan non-profit started by former U of M Regent Phil Power. The Guardian is a British newspaper which operates around the world. It is like a non-profit in that all of its profits are reinvested into the company and are not distributed to owners or shareholders. An editorial written by The Guardian columnist Robert Reich says it best why I value sources like Bridge Magazine and The Guardian. Here are excerpts from Reich’s recent column.
The problem with today’s media isn’t so much that it’s mis-informing as that it’s mis-framing. Distortions come less in outright lying than in leaving out pertinent information. Less in deceiving the public than in presenting false choices.
In my experience, most editors, publishers and producers don’t seek to mislead the public. They’re just more attuned to what their corporate owners or political benefactors would like emphasized than to what the public should understand.
And their decisions about what’s important to report, what facts to include or exclude, and the implicit choices posed, are becoming ever more concentrated in the hands of a few very people – such as Elon Musk, Chris Licht, Rupert Murdoch, and a handful of super-celebrities such as Dr. Phil McGraw and Tucker Carlson.
Which brings me to the reason I read the Guardian every day. It’s the same reason I write for it.
I trust it.
What does it mean to trust the media today? Not just trusting it to report the truth. It’s trusting how it reports – how it prioritizes what’s important, selects which facts are the most relevant and frames the implicit choices.
These hows are often hidden but they have a huge impact on what the public understands and values. They affect our daily conversations. They shape our politics. They divide or connect Americans. They help set the national agenda.
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Quote of the Day: “We’re in that situation & I’m so focused on the wave that I can’t hear.. I look up & we’re throwing it to Penei Sewell & I go what the f**k are we doing” ~Lions head coach, Dan Campbell, explaining that he was watching the wave going around the stadium and had no idea that that the offensive coordinator had told him they were going to run the trick play to their offensive tackle. See my Video of the Day.
Orchid of the Day: To my daughter Katy, for finally getting rid of her five-year-old Chrysler Pacifica and replacing it with a brand new Honda Odyssey. The Pacifica has been a problem for her since day one. It is a shame because the Pacifica was a very family friendly van when it was working correctly.
Onion of the Day: The Lions fans who are now trying to jump on the bandwagon.
Question of the Day: Do you believe that Dan Campbell is telling the truth in my Quote of the Day?
Video of the Year: A Dan Campbell classic