CBC

The freshman English thing was sort of a joke, it is true because he put it off so long. It's just a family joke because he still makes my mom proofread things for work on occasion. The flip side of this was I don't really remember too many non-engineering and non-science/science ed majors taking the Physics series for kicks. The truth is very few people in college really have that thirst for knowledge that they will take classes outside of the required classes or their comfort zone.

^Where's the like button when you need it...

^ Hey Dan B. what's a slide rule? HaHa. JK. The engineering programs being light on non-technical classes isn't exactly a new thing, my engineer father didn't take freshman English until he was a Senior, and he still needed my mother's help with it.

^ How about the more recent Mangini/Kokinias hiring and subsequent firings.... Edit:Oops, don't type and then post 15 minutes later.

^ C Dawg, I clicked through a couple of pages, but didn't see this addressed. I am assuming that is an average salary for full employed college grads. How much of that decline is people in the sub group making less in the same type of jobs, and how much is grads being forced into non-degree type jobs to make ends meet? Is it 50/50? With wage freezes and what I have seen in job opportunities, it seems that both factors are greatly contributing. Also I if you notice that huge spike in 2000 for male grads. I was actually some what relieved that I didn't graduate on time because there were was a fairly large group of kids that I knew that got crazy job offers, moved across the country (I remember Motorola in PHX, giving out jobs like candy) and then were layed off in a matter of 9 months when the recession started in early 2001. They all were basically F'd.

^ Ah, it makes perfect sense now.. JK

^ we are married, what is mine is her's and what is her's is her's too... Back on topic, I get just as frustrated trying to find a cheaper alternative, usually by the time I figure out the real price it's not worth switching...

Why is that? What is their tax credit like?

Ugh, don't remind me. I choose not to think about it....Service is fine but the $$$ just so my wife can watch the Real Housewives....

Excellent article in the Atlantic giving a pretty comprehensive look at manufacturing in the US today and what challenges the workers and companies face. Making It in America In the past decade, the flow of goods emerging from U.S. factories has risen by about a third. Factory employment has fallen by roughly the same fraction. The story of Standard Motor Products, a 92-year-old, family-run manufacturer based in Queens, sheds light on both phenomena. It’s a story of hustle, ingenuity, competitive success, and promise for America’s economy. It also illuminates why the jobs crisis will be so difficult to solve. By Adam Davidson Image credit: Dean Kaufman I first met Madelyn “Maddie” Parlier in the “clean room” of Standard Motor Products’ fuel-injector assembly line in Greenville, South Carolina. Like everyone else, she was wearing a blue lab coat and a hairnet. She’s so small that she seemed swallowed up by all the protective gear. Tony Scalzitti, the plant manager, was giving me the grand tour, explaining how bits of metal move through a series of machines to become precision fuel injectors. Maddie, hunched forward and moving quickly from one machine to another, almost bumped into us, then shifted left and darted away. Tony, in passing, said, “She’s new. She’s one of our most promising Level 1s.” Read more at: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/making-it-in-america/8844/1/

West Side!!! I love the warm lake it keeps the snow from falling at my house...Now my drive to my office at Alpha Park may not be that great...

Since, I grew up by Youngstown I've got a lot of Steelers fans on my FB feed. Let's just say tonight has been entertaining.

After watching the Cavs play the Pacers, and then seeing what Miami did to the Pacers this week sans Wade, I am A OK with the Cavs losing more than winning if it means another lottery pick. But they are exciting to watch right now, and I like that. The bench is into the games and these guys are really supporting each other. Also its nice to see the ball getting passed around and not watching somebody dribble for 20 seconds each possession.

Looks good to me. One point about CO2 emissions. Anytime that you are burning "new" biomass for power it is considered a zero sum emission because most of the alternative fuels (except wind, solar and nuke) are releasing trapped CO2. And if trash goes into the landfill, any methane produced will be burned off as flare gas, the C02 will be released anyway and none of the power will be captured. They do have nice little self contained generators in shipping containers to burn landfill gas that are becoming quite popular. Lets the hope the city will have enough fuel to run it. When I was at FirstEnergy they had this big hoopla that theye were going to convert their old Burger coal plant down on the river to bio fuel, burning what I believe was some sort of switchgrass pellet. Turns out that somebody did the math wrong and there was no way to supply enough fuel to run a steam turbine of that size.

^ Part of the reason the big boys from out of state(Chesapeake, etc) are involved is the that the leases required for a horizontal well start at around 250 contiguous acres, compared to 40 for a vertical well. That requires a lot of cash up front to secure leases, either in the form of swapping/buying leases with other owners or paying out new lease of smaller parcels in aggregate landowner groups (Smaller owners would have been too small before to justify buying the mineral rights from). Chesapeake had to take a $2.5 B influx of cash from a French energy company, in exchange for 25% of the output, just to secure the land rights they felt they needed (and to probably control output for the region as not to kill prices). Apparently the test wells are also producing a lot of valuable liquid hydrocarbons used in plastics that usually have to be refined from crude oil.

Just to address some of C17 concerns above. The landowners in Mahoning, Trumbull and surrounding counties are well organized on this. They have been aggressive and the leases they are signing are lightyears beyond the old 2 page gas well leases that gave the owners a few bucks a year and 2% of the output. Obviously somebody at Chesapeake and the other gas/oil companies believes that this is going to be huge, because they are putting their money where their mouth is. Huge amounts of cash has been leveraged on this. The leases the land owner groups have negotiated have an unheard high $ per acre and shares of the output above 10%. There have been several land owners in the area that have become millionaires over night based on the leases they signed, and that doesn't include the $ they will get if a well goes into production. There will be a lot more money pouring into the area than if they didn't do anything. Also, these gas wells and renewable energy are not an either/or proposition. I would love nothing more to see Cle-burgh region become a center for all sorts of energy. The demand for fossil fuels is not going to disappear over night. We have the manufacturing expertise to build and supply parts for wind turbines and other renewable energy products, and apparently we have the natural resources to supply gas and oil too. Win-win in my book.

^Yeah, somebody posted that article on FB and I wondered how the Hell it was from Scene. Nice change of pace piece for them.

^Oh yeah, the well water around Youngstown is horrible. Before they had city water, my parents opted for a pond because the well water was so horrible. I was just talking about the Youngstown Earthquakes, the Youngstown seismic activity all seems to be centered around the one injection well. The Ohio drilling regulations are suppose to be a model for the rest of the nation. At least that is what the ODNR is saying. Triple casing with two layer of drilling mud until several hundred feet below the deepest water table. They also are requiring that all of the brine needs to be stored in tanks, so there aren't going to be containment ponds. The leaking/spilling over ponds are the major source of the groundwater contamination related to fracking wells, not from leaking wells. IMO this is too important for the area not to resolve. I am 33 years old and originally from the Youngstown area and I have never seen any kind of economic energy in the area like this. Lots of money coming to town and being spread around. These issue can be resolved and worked through for the mutual benefit for everyone. I am not downplaying the earthquake, I am just saying once they understand what is goin on, they need to come up with a work around.

It may all come down to closing this one (or four) injection well. All of the seismic activity has been centered in a pretty confined area, given the vast size of the Utica shale formation. Of course treatment and release is also a option, like what is discussed in KJP's article.

^ Local roses. I like it. San Diego is probably my ideal climate and location. I always liked it out there and I am glad to hear that you like it too.

Wow, I missed how well they were doing in Basketball. Go Bobcats!

Hope everybody is having a good holiday.

^LOL Thanks I needs a good laugh this morning. My kids started waking us up around 4:30. I managed to hold them off until 6:15. Santa went to bed around 2:00. Oy! And I open the paper to a negative convention center article and a Larkin anti- choo choo piece.

Ditto on everything that Hts. said about the humidity.

Good to see he followed through with his promise.