And you think you're fat

A Firefighting Life

One example of the future

Talking reality not politics

 

Blame the volunteer

Two runners from Kenya were far ahead in the Quad Cities Marathon but didn't win the race because a race volunteer screwed up and diverted the runners off the course. The winner was the first U.S. runner since 2001 to win the race through the Quad Cities along the Mississippi River in Illinois and Iowa. It was his personal best and enabled him to take home the first prize of $3,000.

How old is she?

What was your answer?

The woman in the photo is my wife's Aunt Margaret, who will be 102 in January. She lives alone in her house of many years.

GRATs

GRAT stands for grantor retained annuity trust. It is a way very rich people avoid the estate tax. More than half of the nation’s 100 richest individuals have used GRATs and other trusts to avoid estate tax. Among them: former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg; Leonard Lauder, the son of cosmetics magnate Estée Lauder; Stephen Schwarzman, a founder of the private equity firm Blackstone; Charles Koch and his late brother, David, the industrialists who have underwritten libertarian causes and funded lobbying efforts to roll back the estate tax; and Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

The GRAT applies only to individuals passing more than $11.7 million, or couples giving more than $23.4 million, to their heirs. The federal government imposes a roughly 40% levy on amounts above those figures before that wealth is passed on to heirs. 

The trust pays back an amount equal to what the trust’s creator put in plus a modest amount of interest. But any gains on the investments above that amount flow to the heirs free of gift or estate taxes. So if a person puts $100 million worth of stock in a GRAT and the stock rises in value to $130 million, their heirs would receive about $30 million tax-free.

Corporations are doing better re taxes

How do you prevent this?

Is this you driving?

Living with chemical waste

There are 13,100 nuclear weapons

The UN's International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is today, September 26.

Have you read these?

We're dieing faster

We used to have just about the same life expectancy as Germany, the United Kingdom, or France. But something happened in the 1990s. American life spans started falling significantly behind those in similarly wealthy European countries. Or, so says a paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The gap persists no matter what age you’re looking at. Compared with Europeans, American babies are more likely to die before they turn 5, American teens are more likely to die before they turn 20, and American adults are more likely to die before they turn 65.

Average life expectancy surged above 80 years old in just about every Western European country in the 2010s. In the U.S., by contrast, the average life span has never exceeded 79—and now it’s just taken an historic tumble.

It doesn't seem to make a difference between rich and poor communities. Black teenagers in the poorest U.S. areas are roughly twice as likely to die before they turn 20, compared with those in the richest U.S. counties. In Europe, by contrast, the mortality rate for teenagers in the richest and poorest areas is exactly the same—12 deaths per 100,00.

In America, the problem is not just that poverty is higher; it’s that the effect of poverty on longevity is greater too. White Americans living in the richest 5 percent of counties still die earlier than Europeans in similarly low-poverty areas.

Cannabis may help Parkinson's victims

A Park Ranger at 85

That's how old Betty Reid Soskin was when she joined the National Park Service, first as a consultant in 2003, then as a ranger in 2007. She celebrated her one-hundredth birthday on September 22. Soskin is the oldest active ranger in the National Park Service. Tom Leatherman, the park’s superintendent, said Soskin has had a profound impact on the park. “She has been fundamental to us being able to tell a more complete story,” he explained. “She has become a symbol of how we can do a better job of incorporating stories that haven’t been shared before.”

And that's what she does - tells stories. She has made it her mission to stay in the proverbial room — which, in her case, was in the park’s visitor center, where she has sat on a stool countless times, sharing her story with a room full of strangers. Since becoming a ranger, Soskin was awarded the Silver Service Medallion by the National WWII Museum, she was presented with a commemorative coin from President Barack Obama, and she has written a memoir, called “Sign My Name to Freedom,” which is currently being made into a documentary film.

Is he disabled?

Babies must like microplastics

According to the Oxford Language dictionary, microplastics are extremely small pieces of plastic debris in the environment resulting from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste.

They cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a variety of sources, including cosmetics, clothing, and industrial processes. And we make more microplastics by dumping huge amounts of plastic waste into the ocean every year, much of it ending up as microplastic.

 
A recent study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, found that infants have an average of 10 times the concentration of a type of microplastic in their poop than adults.

The research focused on two types of common microplastics—polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC)— and measured feces from six infants and 10 adults. They also looked at three samples of newborns' first waste, which is known as meconium. All were from New York state, and they were all found to have at least one kind of microplastic.

PC levels, the researchers found, were similar between the infant and adult groups. PET concentrations, however, revealed a stark difference, with those in infants' feces found to have levels more than 10 times higher on average. It could be a result of products they commonly use like teethers and bottles. 

A volcano in action

Achoo

Two oldest identical twins

Guinness World Records has certified two Japanese sisters as the world’s world's oldest living identical twins and the oldest ever identical twins at the at 107, in an announcement Monday coinciding with Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday in Japan.

Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama were born the third and fourth of 11 siblings on Shodoshima island in western Japan on Nov. 5, 1913. 

They were separated after elementary school, when Kodama was sent to work as a maid in Oita on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu. She later married there, while Sumiyama remained on the island where they grew up and had her own family.

The sisters later recalled their difficult younger days. Growing up, they said they were bullied because of prejudice against children of multiple births in Japan.

Avoiding waste

Lockdown not needed

Bees like penguins

A bee swarm killed 63 endangered African penguins on a beach near Cape Town, South Africa, last week, said Table Mountain National Park. The dead birds showed they all had multiple bee stings, and many dead bees were found at the site.

The Penguin

The Swarm

The African Penguin is an endangered species; its population has fallen by 80% in the last 50 years. Around 41,000 African penguins remain in the world, and its population. The biggest threats to the species include commercial fishing and climate change.

Seaweed is important

Elvis is still making money

Elvis Presley died in August of 1977, 41 years ago but he is still popular in the world of auctions. Kruse GWS Auctions from California claims to have auctioned off a jar of Elvis' hair, along with "Extensive Documentation," for $72,500. Did you know that your hair will last so long?

That wasn't all that was auctioned off. They also found buyers for Elvis Presley’s racing helmet from “Viva Las Vegas” sold for $23,750; the Elvis Presley “Frankie & Johnny” Tuxedo Tailcoat sold for $75,000; Elvis Presley’s personal and stage worn boots sold for $28,750; Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special Sheet Music sold for $15,000; Elvis Presley’s Schick Electric Razor sold for $3,000; and an Elvis Presley Custom Eagle Belt made by Mike McGregor sold for $25,000.

Housing is expensive in Canada

You should make an offer

Sotheby says the offer should be between $15 and $20 million. What will you be bidding on? An extremely rare original copy of the American constitution, signed in 1787 in Philadelphia. 

It is one of only 11 known surviving copies and will be sold in New York in November, the auction house said.

It was signed on September 17, 1787 at Philadelphia's Independence Hall by America's founding fathers, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison and ratified the following year. 

Sotheby says, "This was probably printed in an edition of 500 copies. Now only eleven are known to survive and this is the only one in private hands." 

The document is in excellent condition and currently belongs to American collector Dorothy Tapper Goldman.

Improving your brain

A different kind of singer

Courtesy of our Florida correspondent

Roof Gardens

Thailand has turned most of their taxis into rooftop gardens; in fact they have 2500 taxi rooftop gardens and only 500 regular taxis.

The gardens begin with black plastic garbage bags stretched across bamboo frames. On top is soil in which a variety of crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers and string beans, were planted.

The Thai economy is in tough shape, especially the taxi economy. One executive says, “The vegetable garden is both an act of protest and a way to feed my staff during this tough time. Thailand went through political turmoil for many years, and a great flood in 2011, but business was never this terrible.”

When will it rain?

Going to the MooLoo

The MooLoo is where cows who have been trained properly go when they have to urinate. This training was started as another step in climate control. 

There are an estimated 1.4 billion cows on Earth and they happen to emit a lot of harmful waste products — through burping, urination and defecating — making the animals a major driver of climate change. The scientists who 'invented' the MooLoo hope it will help lower greenhouse gas emissions amid the global warming crisis.

11 out of 16 calves were taught to use the MooLoo in just 15 training sessions — a result that compares favorably to the amount of time it takes to toilet-train children ages 3 to 4.

During the training process, the animals were rewarded with a sweet treat when they urinated exactly where they were supposed to go — in a special pen installed in their barn. If they toileted outside of the area they were offered a mild punishment: a short burst of water.

Good jobs

Business Insider predicted the 30 fastest growing and highest paid jobs that will be coming over the next few years.

Here are their top five:
1. Software developers and software quality assurance analysts and testers; number of new jobs - 409,500; median income - $110,140
2. General and operations managers; new jobs - 

226,300; income - $103,650
3. Registered nurses; new jobs - 276,800; income - $75,330
4. Financial managers; new jobs - 118,200; income - $134,180
5. Medical and health services managers; new jobs 139,600; income - $104,200

Whales moving

It's getting hotter faster

It's getting hotter according to the BBC
The total number of days above 50C (122F) has increased in each decade since 1980. On average, between 1980 and 2009, temperatures passed 50C about 14 days a year.

Zebras find freedom

Becoming a nuclear power

Victim #1

Economic Forecasting

How much faith should you place in their forecasting?

 

Waiting 200 years

Benjamin Franklin was certainly a major factor in the creation of this country. He is a part of our history and made his mark in the world of science. And, he did some unusual things. One of which was to bequeath $2,000 each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia to be invested in community philanthropic initiatives 200 years later.

In 1990, the Pennsylvania Legislature used some of the then-$2 million total to create the Ben Franklin Funds and have allocated monetary gifts to several foundations and institutions. According to a now-archived article published by The New York Times at the time of the 1990 disbursement, the $2,000 fund in the Boston trust, meanwhile, was worth about $4.5 million. 

Swimming camels

Language 'Rules"

Why don't we act?

Truthout has a summary of where we are now re climate change. Some excerpts:

"Nearly one third of all Americans live in a county that experienced a weather disaster this summer, according to an analysis from The Washington Post. 

Over 32 percent of Americans lived in a county or state declared a disaster area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to the analysis of federal disaster declarations. The publication also found that 64 percent of Americans live in an area that experienced a multiday heat wave over the past months. 

The share of Americans living in a weather-disaster-afflicted county or state has increased steadily since 2018, when it was only 5 percent. 

Nearly 200 people in Washington and Oregon died. In July, heat waves hit elsewhere in the West, where Death Valley experienced the hottest temperature in recorded history. July ended up being the hottest month in Earth’s recorded history."

FRIGHTFUL

An arrest in Colorado City

Karen Garner, now 75 years old, suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken arm when two police officers in Colorado arrested her for shoplifting last year.

America 2021

Lebanon is in Hell

Managing Electrical Demand

Some people are doing something to reduce their use of electricty. And, there is at least one company trying to help them. OhmConnect is based in California. Its customers earn discounts on their power bills by responding to signals of distress on the electric grid. You might get a text from OhmConnect at 4 p.m., for example, and respond by going around the house turning off lights and unnecessary appliances. That reduction would be measured at your electric meter, and you would get points from the company that could be turned into cash or rewards like gift cards.

The company provides smart thermostats for residents to install on their electric devices, such as air-conditioners. The thermostats link to OhmConnect’s computers so the company could automatically turn the temperature up or down a couple of degrees. Or, you could put one on your refrigerator, which lets the company shut off power to the fridge for an hour or so at a time.

During a grid emergency in late 2020, the company suppressed enough electrical demand to replace the output from an entire gas-fired power station. And the company is planning a big expansion. Indeed, across the nation, this type of demand management needs to expand rapidly as the stresses on the power grid intensify.

OhmConnect is not unique as electric companies have used this type of demand management on a small scale for decades, generally signing up a few factories willing to have their power cut in a grid emergency. But the big opportunity is to take the idea into tens of millions of homes and apartments, using it routinely to gain much larger power savings. 

911 Rescue Boats

They rescued almost 500,000.

Sent to jail for not following Vietnam's Covid rules

A Vietnamese man was sentenced to jail for five years for violating Covid-19 rules and spreading the virus. The court said that he was guilty of "transmitting dangerous infectious diseases" to eight people, one of whom eventually died. He was sentenced to five years in jail at the end of a one-day trial, and was also fined $880. 

The problem occurred when he travelled by motorcycle from Ho Chi Minh City to his home province Ca Mau in the south of the country. There, authorities discovered that he lied on a health declaration form which asked about his recent travel history, and also failed to comply with isolation rules. 

He was later tested positive for Covid, and was found to have transmitted the virus to members of his family as well as staff at a welfare center which he visited.

Recycling masks

A frightening editorial

What else can you say when more than 220 health journals around the world publish a joint editorial calling for "urgent action to keep average global temperature increases below 1.5°C, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health." These journals included the cream of the crop - The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Chinese Science Bulletin, The East African Medical Journal, Brazil's Revista de Saude Publica, and The National Medical Journal of India.

Some excerpts:
"The science is unequivocal; a global increase of 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse."

"Despite the world's necessary preoccupation with Covid-19, we cannot wait for the pandemic to pass to rapidly reduce emissions."

Indeed, no temperature rise is 'safe.' In the past 20 years, heat-related mortality among people older than 65 years has increased by more than 50%. Higher temperatures have brought increased dehydration and renal function loss, dermatological malignancies, tropical infections, adverse mental health outcomes, pregnancy complications, allergies, and cardiovascular and pulmonary morbidity and mortality. Harms disproportionately affect the most vulnerable, including children, older populations, ethnic minorities, poorer communities, and those with underlying health problems.

Global heating is also contributing to the decline in global yield potential for major crops, falling by 1.8% to 5.6% since 1981; this, together with the effects of extreme weather and soil depletion, is hampering efforts to reduce undernutrition. Thriving ecosystems are essential to human health, and the widespread destruction of nature, including habitats and species, is eroding water and food security and increasing the chance of pandemics.

"Governments must make fundamental changes to how our societies and economies are organized and how we live. The current strategy of encouraging markets to swap dirty for cleaner technologies is not enough.

Governments must intervene to support the redesign of transport systems, cities, production and distribution of food, markets for financial investments, health systems, and much more."

"The greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C and to restore nature," the journals conclude. "Urgent, society-wide changes must be made and will lead to a fairer and healthier world."

Conjoined Twins - 3 cases

Lose $300 a week and look for a job

Refinancing is the thing now

Rain in the city

Fortune's view of some housing markets

Here’s a look at the 10 most overvalued markets and the premium buyers are currently paying:

Boise, Idaho - 80.64% 

Austin, Texas - 50.72% 

Ogden, Utah - 49.70% 

Provo, Utah - 46.16% 

Detroit, Mich. - 45.57% 

Spokane, Wash. - 45.21% 

Salt Lake City, Utah - 42.41% 

Phoenix, Ariz. - 42.31% 

Las Vegas, Nev. - 41.88% 

Stockton, Calif. - 38.50%

He lost his gold medal

Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli of Malaysia was awarded the gold medal for shot putting at the Paralympics. But, just a few days later, he lost it. He did not misplace it; it was taken from him by the officials. They took it back because he arrived three minutes late for the event. 

Of course, he wouldn't have been awarded the medal unless he actually competed; and he did compete. He was allowed to compete because at the time he had a "logical" reason for being late, the officials said. 

Maybe it was because he was late to the call room before the event began that triggered the officials' decision. He said he was late because he had not heard "the announcement or it was in a language" he did not understand. 

However, a referee later found there was no "justifiable reason" for him to be late. This caused some rivals from other countries to complain. It seems as though this inspired the officials.

Different Wildlife

This female mosquito, with its fabulous furry legs and iridescent shimmer, is a total stunner. But it is a carrier of tropical disease.

 

Wildlife

Here's another new one for me - the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. The aim is to show anthropomorphic expressions from the animal kingdom. 

Some of the finalists:

Dancing away to glory, by Sarosh Lodhi, taken in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, India

Monday morning mood, by Andrew Mayes, taken in Rietvlei, South Africa

See who jumps high, by Chu han lin, taken in Taiwan

Mr. Giggles, a gray seal in Ravenscar, UK

Birds

Did you know that there is an annual contest to select the Bird Photographer of the Year? 22,000 photos from around the world were entered. Here are some of the finalists:

A Great Grey Owl

A male ovenbird

A female crimson sunbird

Feral Pigeons

Numbers