Federal Budget...and Ultrarunning

Saw a great post over at Firedoglake a couple weeks ago that with plain and simple graphics talks to the Federal Budget...and options for solving "the problem."

I can't embed the graphics so I ask you to click over there.  But the narrative is quite simple and direct:

If you are truly worried about the budget deficit, which is an idiotic thing to actually be worried about at a time of incredibly low government borrowing rates and high unemployment, the place to start would be looking at the basic outline of the federal budget.

Our Federal budget is mostly military spending, public health care spending, and Social Security. If you really want to reduce the deficit your options are raise taxes or cut from those three. Since our tax rate is low by international and historic standard, it could be easily raise tax revenue by a modest amount.

When it comes to cuts, though, any legitimate cost benefit, efficiency or needs analysis would say radically cut the military spending is the most logical move.

The simple fact is that the United State is a nuclear power. We are a mostly geographically isolated country. We only share a border with two smaller and weaker allies. Finally, we have a well-armed and fiercely nationalist population that makes a theoretical foreign occupations a bloody nightmare.

Even if we eliminate all military spending except for the national guard, there would still be zero chance the USA would be invaded or attacked by another nation state. Achieving what should be the only real goal of our military can be done for probably about 1/40th our current spending.

Tough to argue with that.  Ponder while you're out the the trails today.

Cats in Art: The Two Beggars (Ceruti)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I am using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

Click to enlarge, then ESC to return.  Image credit About.com Art History, The Two Beggars, Giacomo Ceruti, 1730-1734, oil on canvas, 52" x 67", held by Coteca Tosio Martineco, Brescia, Italy.

Zuffi comments:

Cats are often the companions of the poor folks that inhabit the world painted by Il Pitocchetto, "the little beggar," as Ceruti was known [aside by Gary: I like this guy already, just based upon that fact!].  Sad and emaciated like their owners, they nevertheless share the poignant humanity that to canvas with few concessions to the pathetic or sentimental....These three living creatures, perceived from a low point of view, gaze at the viewer with a mixture of melancholy resignation and human dignity.  And if they are capable of loving a kitten--ragged and disheveled as they are--they have a heart like everyone else.

Cats touch our hearts...just as they did for these two beggars and their painter nearly 300 years ago.

Also, since most of us see world class art only via the medium of print (such as a coffee table book like Zuffi's), I pay close attention to the listed size of the painting.  Many images actually are tiny--perhaps only 12" on a side--and others are huge, measuring several feet on a side.  Ceruti's The Two Beggars is large, nearly 4' x 7'.  If I ever get to Italy and get to see this painting I would likely just stand there and stare at it in awe for a long, long, time.

Local Paper, Dumb Criminal, and Ultrarunning

From the Chambersburg Public Opinion on 24 April 2012:

Man Leaves Cell Phone at Scene of His Crime**

A Shippensburg man was cited after he allegedly broke a garage window on Richard Avenue, defecated on the ground, and left his cell phone behind. 

In a written statement issued Monday, PA State Police said Michael Keith Hess, no age given, was charged with criminal mischief in connection with the incident about 2 a.m. Saturday at 25 Richard Avenue.

The crime was apparently linked to Hess because "he left his cell phone next to his poo," police said.

Sometimes we Ultrarunners are careless when we do potty breaks in the woods (but NOT like this joker!).  Dumping in the woods is the most natural thing in the world, but PLEASE make sure that you are well off a trail where someone later could see or step in your mess. 

  **Note: in trying to source this article back to the Public Opinion, I Googled "Man Leaves Cell Phone at Scene of His Crime."  Try it, you'll get something like 4,000,000 hits.  Apparently this lapse is quite common (and there are only so many ways to entitle that news story).

Silent Spring

Over at Lawyers, Guns and Money, Erik Loomis marks an important milestone.  It's a short post, so I quote it in full:

Fifty years ago, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, the landmark book connecting pesticide usage with species decline. Carson noted the very real threats of chemicals on humans as well as species and helped usher in the environmental movement that transformed the nation in important ways during the 1960s and 1970s. Elizabeth Kolbert wonders if, a half-century later, we have learned anything. It seems not. Kolbert cites several studies suggesting that colony collapse disorder in bees, a disease threatening the commercial viability of several fruits and vegetables we routinely eat, has happened because of a new type of pesticide. These neonicotinoids are neurotoxins that all these studies show completely decimates bee hives.

We may not have learned anything from Silent Spring, but Monsanto sure has. Unhappy with a research firm that produced a study critical of the Monsanto-produced neonicotinoids that are causing colony collapse, Monsanto simply bought the research firm. That’s some old-school Gilded Age action right there, like when Jay Gould used to buy newspapers who said bad things about him.

I can only sadly shake my head, and again ask, "Have these people no children?  No grandchildren?"  What kind of person chooses short term profits over potentially civilization-destroying practices?

Favorite Ultrarunning Clothing

[photos by Gary]

For me, one of my favorite garments is a baseball cap from the 2002 JFK 50 Mile Run.  This was not swag from the race, but sold by an apparel vendor the night before at an expo at the race packet pickup.

I wear this cap when I run, pretty much year-round (though when it gets much below about 35 F or so, I do don warmer headgear).  Anyway, after 10 years of hard use, the buckle in the sizing band on the back corroded through and I was forced to do some repairs in the form of sewing male and female Velcro strips onto the sizing band.  See below:

If I do say so myself, the repair looks professional and should keep the cap functional for another 10 years.

By the way, I never wash this cap or wear it in the rain or snow.  I keep adding layer after layer of crusty white sweat to it.  I have told the bride that if I predecease her, this cap must be among the memorabilia and photos that should be displayed at my memorial service.  Possibly more than anything else, this cap embodies my identity as an Ultrarunner.

Cold, Rainy Run

After a March that was 10+ degrees warmer than normal, April has been downright chilly.  In fact, on Monday morning after the bride dropped me off on her way to work so I could run back home, I encountered 38 F temps, a stiff headwind out of the west at 20 mph, and a stinging rain mixed with occasional wet snowflakes.

In short, it was a somewhat miserable run.  Although I was properly dressed for the occasion, still I was thoroughly chilled by the time I got home after 7 miles.  Thank goodness the wood stove was blazing and I quickly was warm and dry again.

Despite the poor conditions, while I was actually running, I quite enjoyed it.  After all, I could be in a situation where I could no longer be a runner, or even commenced the long dirt nap.  I always say that some of my best runs are when external conditions, frankly, suck.  I call it the smugness factor--you're out there and nobody else is because it's pretty miserable. 

Complaining about the weather is nonproductive.  Within reason, there is no such thing as bad weather, just weather for which you are not prepared.  And in any case I continue to thank my lucky stars for life and health and the ability to run.

India, Some Interesting $$ Facts

From India Facts of the Day:

India spends 2 percent of its GDP [Gross Domestic Product] treating diarrhea, according to TERI, one of the country's most prestigious scientific research institutes [...] Not one of the 35 largest cities in India has water service more than an hour or two a day-including the name-brand cities we've all heard of: Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi.

Now, here's what India spends on Defense:  2.8% of its GDP, or some $35 billion dollars.

Couple observations:

Given India's geographic location and its chronic disputes with neighbors China and Pakistan, maybe $35B is the right number for defense, I can't say.  But it boggles my mind to think that the diarrhea budget nearly equals that of the military.

Now, if the same ratio were true here in the U.S., our military budget would be quite minuscule (I guess that means I'm in favor or more diarrhea here...?). 

Also, I was going to make a point about how we ought to forgo military aid to India in favor of humanitarian aid to combat diarrhea...when I found out that India is NOT on our A list for military stuff: we give them only $1M (not billion) in military aid and only $132M in other economic aid (source = Census Bureau). 

I would have thought we supported India's military, big time.  Note that we do give India's neighbor Pakistan some $1.3 billion annually (2009 data).

This is kinda rambly and disconnected, but I am a stats geek to a certain extent and these data were shocking to me, to say the least.

Where I Run: Abandoned Railroad Truss Bridge

This "through truss" bridge is about 3 miles from my home, crossing the Conococheague Creek.  It once carried the line of the Southern Pennsylvania Iron and Railway Company from near Marion, PA to Mercersburg and thence to Richmond Furnace, PA.  From the east:

And a bit closer....

[preceding photos by Gary]

This railroad through truss bridge was built around 1896 and abandoned around 1973, according to local bridge aficionado Jodi Christman:

Southern Pennsylvania Iron and Railway Company built this bridge as part of the railroad with a mission to connect to ore lands where new furnaces were built. Richmond Furnace, being one of the furnaces, unfortunately turned into an expensive disappointment. Later in the 1950s there was a surge on this railway as additional tunnels for the Pennsylvania Turnpike were built. I believe the railroad closed in 1973, but I am not certain. SOURCE-"Railroads of Western Franklin County" by Randy Watts

Jodi's site contains maps, coordinates, and many additional photos.

I've run across this bridge a few times, most recently about two years ago when PENNDOT was rebuilding the auto bridge 1/2 mile north and the creek was just too high to ford.