Nine Shift

Socialists start anti-car war

This week was the first time I have seen the phrase "anti-car war" in the media.

Serge Schmemann's excellent column in the New York Times, describing the efforts of the Socialist mayor of Paris to restructure the transportation system in Paris.  Another "leftist" mayor, Ken Livingston of London, England, is doing the same thing.

Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has taken the bold and smart move of decreasing the number of lanes available for cars, and allocating an entire lane just for buses, bikes and taxis.  The lane is separated by a granite divider so cars can't cheat. The Parisians are also using technology, so that every bus stop now has a screen saying when the next bus will arrive.
What is new here is the outright declaration of war on cars.  Mass transit has moved, at least in these two major cities, from being a supplement to autos to replacing autos.  We hope they win the anti-car war.  What do you think? Is it too early, or just plain wrong, to declare war on cars?

“1919” one of best books ever

If you like the historical parallels with 100 years ago that Nine Shift presents, you’ll love John Dos Passos’ classic book “1919.”     

First read the first book in the trilogy, which addresses the time period 1900-1910. Then read “1919.” 

By 1919, high school was regarded as the standard or desirable education to get a good job; cars were everywhere; women were cutting their hair short; correspondence courses flourished; factories were proliferating; advertising and public relations was emerging as an industry (for good or ill), and Woodrow Wilson was advocating “industrial democracy.” A news account of the time reports “some vague new order”, what we came to know as typical life in the last century.  

Dos Passos’ ability to convey the feeling of the times he writes about is acute and profound. The difference in feeling in society and among young people between the first decade and the second is so pronounced, you can see the industrial age taking over from the fading agrarian society. What a book.

What are you reading this summer?

Reading anything Nine Shift related this summer? Tell us!

I've just finished "The Way of All Flesh," by Samuel Butler, the first great novel of the 20th century and one of the top 100 novels of the last century.

The story points out the hypocrisy of Victorian moral standards and how obsolete they were for the time. Fathers hitting sons, the leisure class having no positive social role, institutions not protecting the mass of people. 

Here's a great line from the book about change and what is deemed "right"  "Right is what seems right to the majority of sensible, well-to-do people; we know of no safer criterion than this....."

And so as we move from one age to another, what is "right" eventually gets changed.
What are you reading? Any implications for society and change? Tell us!

Reprieve again for Internet Radio

I listen to radio stations over the Internet every day, so this story is good news.

The record industry has put off increasing royalties for playing music on the Internet. The increase would have shut down the operations of hundreds of radio stations playing their music over the Internet.

This all part of the big intellectual property debate of the 21st century.  There's just no last-century-Industrial-Age answer.  What do YOU think should happen with royalties for music played over the Internet by radio stations?

Democrats kill auto congestion plan

NineShift has said that when it comes to the new century, Republicans and Democrats behave the same. But why did the Democrats have to go and prove it?

Democratic lawmakers in the state of New York killed the New York City auto congestion initiative last week. Proving that they are no more progressive or change oriented than the Republicans. 

Related news on the auto pollution, alternatives to transit, and America falls behind themes:

RELATED NEWS.

Europeans move ahead again.  French President Sarkovsky and UK Prime Minister Brown propose taxing environmentally firendly products, including clean cars, at a lower rate.  Why should a car that saves the world cost more than buying one that kills the world? they ask.  Nice job Europeans.

There's behind, and then there's even further behind.  Milwaukee billionaire Michael Cudahy flew the mayor and county exec all over the US to see alternative transit at work in Portland, Denver, etc. The Milwaukee officials were unimpressed and still do not have a transit plan...

London "laps" New York again

London is "lapping" New York again.

While New Yorkers are debating a congestion tax for diriving into the City (we hope it passes), London is going one step further, according to London mayor Ken Livingston.  Writing in the NY Times, Livingston says the congrestion tax has worked so well in London (and Singapore, and Stockholm) that "The next stage of congestion chargingin in London will be a move to emissions-based charging." SUVs and older fuming cars will have to pay about $40 a day for the privilege of polluting the air.

Irony for the State Department:  Since the American Embassy refuses to pay the congestion tax in London, what will its position be if and when New York City adopts the same tax?

Cars continue to decline

More good - bad news for cars.

Sales decline.
June auto sales for the U.S. show a whopping 6.6% decline over June 2006.  That's according to Ward's AutoInfoBank, and published in the New York Times.  The annual selling rate has dropped from around 17 million a year (both cars and "light trucks") to 15.54 million a year.

Carriages and buggy sales declined about 10% between 1900 and 1910, so car sales are on pace with the buggy's phase-out 100 years ago.

Gas staions decline.
Maybe not near you, but in New York City.  The number of gas stations has plummeted 9% in just four years.  Not a good sign for cars either.

Why there's a Scientist Shortage: Last Part

If you think the scientist shortage is merely a topic of conversation, think again.

American high-tech companies, for one, are hollering about the need for more scientists. In the last month Google, National Semiconductor, the American Electronic Assocaition and other companies complained to the U.S. government they are not able to recruit enough American kids as scientists and want to be able to get more foreign scientists into the U.S.   Congress said no. *story by Robert Pear in June 24 New York Times.

If you look at the 20,000 foreign skilled workers given H-1B visas to work in the U.S., I am sure you will find that the vast majority of them are male.  And if you look at the eastern European countries, China, and other places where Americans are hollering about them producing so many more scientists than us, you again will find the majority of them are male.  Not all. Statistics indicate that women are 20% of typically male occupations, including  China born Ching who babysat for our son when she was getting an advanced science degree.

To find why millions of smart boys are missing from college in the UK, US and other post industrialized countries, as well as the simple no-cost answer to getting them degrees, see our work at SmartBoysBadGrades.com

Bottom line: as long as our schools and colleges deny a college degree to every qualified student (2 million smart boys a year in U.S; est 50,000 or more in the UK) we're going to have a scientist shortage. 

Why there's a Scientist Shortage: Part III

What's going on with women in science is interesting.

Here's the best chart that shows women going into science.   As you can see, the numbers of women in science as a percentage of total women employed stays pretty much constant over the past decade. In other words, women are not making up the gap in scientists. 

Women ARE getting more science degrees. There are millions of dollars spent in the US to get women to go into science.  Every girl who wants to become a scientist should have the opportunity, and be encouraged to become a scientist. 

But the reality of what happens after women get an advanced science degree is that the majority go into teaching science, not working in research or for high-tech corporations where employers are hollering about the shortage. Not only do women go into teaching, but according to a Chronicle of Higher Education article they are forsaking research universities in favor of liberal arts (teaching only) colleges.  It's not surprising, nor bad.  As Nancy Coles of ETS noted in her classic work on gender, communication is the area where women are superior to men.

Bottom line: women are not makinig up the scientist shortage.

Why there's a Scientist Shortage: Part II

Here's the best of the documentation on why there's a scientist shortage in the UK and US.

Look at this chart of male employment in the UK from 1991 - 2001. It graphically shows what's up.
* All of the science, engeering, and technology professions show a decline except one: computer analysts and programmers.
* The reason: all of the declining occupations require an advanced degree.  But to work with software and computers you do not need a college degree.  So tons of smart boys (who are either not admitted or graduated from college) go into computer programming and related fields (web design, game design, etc.).