Life in the man camp (5x8 - 1/27/12)

Posted at 7:33 AM on January 27, 2012 by Bob Collins (17 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8

First this announcement: I'll be on MPR's Midmorning this morning as one of several panelists on a roundtable. Midmorning is trying this out in advance of the debut of Kerri Miller's new show next month. Be sure to call or email your questions about romance, home fix-up projects, and UFOs starting after the news at 9 (CT).

1) WHAT NOW, WILLISTON?

When you're 24 and life is still an adventure ahead of you, the oil fields of North Dakota might be more exciting than for those trying to carve out a living by leaving family behind and heading for the (black) gold rush. Minneapolis native Andrew Shay is 24, and just got a job with Halliburton in Williston, ND, his mother, Linda, wrote to us yesterday.

Shay is living in a "man camp," with 500 other men, few of them doing what he's doing: blogging.

His blog, I Am Here, debuted earlier this month. It's worth following:

Things are wild here. Everyone's looking back, or forward; talking about the good days' or talking about how they are gonna spend their cash when they get home. Every dude that we trained with has been out to the field so far; I think we are some of the last ones to get out. The guys who i trained with offered good advice, and wish me luck; but most of them just say; be safe. And I guess that's the key; be safe.
wish me luck

BusinessWeek dropped into Williston recently to assess the impact of the oil boom. It found the dreams of local residents for the future of their town are being dashed in a hurry:

Prices for gasoline and groceries in Mountrail and Williams counties -- the heart of the boom -- are 30 percent higher than in the state's largest cities. Lines to eat at local restaurants often top an hour. Finding a plumber or a handyman can take weeks and often cost three times as much as it did three years ago.

There were three rapes in the town last summer, 100 kids in the school system are homeless, the roads are crumbling, and the mayor says the city is going backward.

One after another yesterday, officials tried to tell a committee of the North Dakota Legislature to pay more attention to what's happening:

"Our quality of life is gone. It is absolutely gone," Williams County Commissioner Dan Kalil said. "My community is gone, and I'm heartbroken. I never wanted to live anyplace but Williston, North Dakota, and now I don't know what I'm going to do."

2) DISPATCHES FROM THE AMERICAN NOW

On my commentary segment with Mary Lucia on The Current the other day, I mentioned an idea I had for a more useful State of the Union address. Take 10 or so people from all walks of life and all parts of the country and give them each five minutes to talk to a joint session of Congress about life in the real world.

What would that be like? It'd be like this, as it turns out. Colleagues Jeff Jones, Jeff Severns Guntzel, and Neal Karlen (meet them) of American Public Media's Public Insight Network, have just unveiled their latest project: Dispatches from the American Now.

They're interviewing people across the country -- a virtual road trip, they're calling it -- not only about what they expect from America, but considering what we expect from each other.

As Karlen puts it:

Maybe like Kerouac on that last page of his book, some of the voices we find will be down on the American dream, believing simply that, "nobody -- nobody -- knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old."

Others along the way likely will feel the exact opposite -- it's okay to be in that one per cent! Success is a cherished American theme.

And yet others will have mixed feelings about where the American Dream has both failed them and come true. After two weeks reporting from the virtual road, we hope to have a better grasp of the issues facing the folks we meet along the way, and to listen to some voices that haven't been heard before. Then we'll let what we hear guide where we go next.

3) THE FLAG TATTOO

Many adults have little knowledge of the American flag code -- that's why we wear American flag ties, and eat off American flag paper plates on July 4th -- so is it surprising many kids have no clue?

At a high school in St. Francis, a kid has been suspended because, according to KSTP, he's wearing a tattoo of the confederate flag below a tattoo of the American flag. Everyone involved in the controversy seems oblivious to the fact a tattoo of the American flag disrespects it, too.

Officials say the tattoo violates the school's dress code, which is the least of the violations.

"I'm just going to keep wearing what I want to wear and go to school and if the school doesn't like it then they'll have to keep suspending me for it," said Neal Carlson.

Meanwhile, in State College, Pennsylvania, the shrine to the late Joe Paterno is growing. Someone stuck this flag on JoePa's statue, probably thinking it was a patriotic statement. It wasn't. There are at least four flagrant violations of the flag code here:

4) A CYCLIST'S BLIND FAITH

Matt Wadsworth has a dream. He is determined to set a world record for distance jumping by clearing 100 feet on his Honda CRF450R motorcycle, Wired.com reports today.

"I've loved motorcycles since I was a kid," Wadsworth says. "I loved the sound of them. Right from as early as I can remember, I used to sit on them in the street and all I wanted was to have a minibike. I was lucky enough to get one when I was six."

"I think jumping is the hardest thing I've ever tried to do. And I have tried to do some pretty difficult stuff. We started with a pretty big jump, but just riding over it slowly. We had to work so hard on going in a straight line and finding ways to do just that. We put rumble strips on the sides of the runway, but that didn't work because I'd hit the strips and not know whether I should turn left or right. We don't know until we try it."

He's blind.

5) THE STAND-UP SOCIETY

The fad sweeping offices everywhere has old roots, we learn today. More cubicle critters are standing up in the workplace, a practice that goes back to Hemingway. He liked to write standing up.

Now, there are tangible health gains being recognized. In studies, the death rate for those who spent six or more hours a day sitting was significantly higher than for those who sit for three hours or less. That's true for women more than men, for some reason.

Today, the Star Tribune reports, the Mayo Clinic is also studying whether and why this is the case.

Sitting is sort of the new smoking,'' the Mayo Clinic endocrinologist said Wednesday on the eve of an experiment designed to tackle so-called "lifestyle'' diseases.

He and a team of researchers from Mayo and the University of Minnesota believe that even modest increases in daily activity could help people lose weight and improve their health -- and help control the nation's staggering health care bills.

Levine, who walks on a treadmill while he works and believes in "walking staff meetings,'' said similar studies have suggested that employees can burn up to 350 additional calories per day, reduce their health care costs and perform better at work by replacing 2 1/2hours of sitting with standing each day.

What else can make you sick by sitting at work? Work.

NPR reports on a new study in Britain showing working long hours increases depression.

All the people in the study were white-collar workers in the civil service, so it's a pretty small snapshot of the working world. Those working longer hours were more likely to be men in higher-level job grades. They were also more likely to be married or living with someone, and likely to drink more than they should.

Sounds almost like a British version of Don Draper, the hard-drinking ad exec at the center of the AMC series Mad Men.

The correlation between long working hours and depression didn't come to light until the researchers adjusted their data to level out income. That's a standard statistical technique to try to determine the effect of different factors. "In terms of prevention, revealing the relevance of long working hours as a risk factor among high-[socio-economic status] employees who otherwise have lower risk of depression seems important," the researchers write.

Bonus: Finalmente, Ricky! Ricky Rubio in GQ.

TODAY'S QUESTION
After he promised to establish a moon base by the end of his second term as president, Newt Gingrich responded to earlier suggestions that he was grandiose. He said that "Americans are instinctively grandiose because we believe in a bigger future." Today's Question: Is grandiosity an appealing characteristic in a president?

Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) - First hour: The Roundtable with panelists: Tim Nelson, MPR News reporter; Bob Collins, writer the NewsCut blog for MPR News; Dane Smith, president of Growth and Justice. He spent 30 years as a reporter with the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press; Ben Golnik, founder and principal of Golnik Strategies, a political consulting firm.

Second hour: Winter home repair.

Midday (11 a.m. - 1 p.m.) - First hour: The week in politics with political panelists Todd Rapp and Maureen Shaver.

Second hour: Rebroadcast of last night's GOP presidential debate in Florida.

Talk of the Nation (1-3 p.m.) - First hour: Solar flares and how space weather affects us on Earth.

Second hour: Where science is done without secrecy. Plus, the first use of embryonic stem cells to restore sight.

All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) - The iPhone is a hot seller in both the U.S. and China. But not all American products are such a big hit over there. That's what Kraft Foods found out when the company brought the Oreo to China.

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The case of the scavenging women (5x8 - 1/26/12)

Posted at 7:36 AM on January 26, 2012 by Bob Collins (24 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8

1) YOU ARE: A COP WHO DISCOVERS SCAVENGERS

One of the most fascinating elements of the community newspaper is the local police log. Many of the calls are mildly serious -- the woman who heard her garage door opening, for example. Police found no criminal activity. But this entry in the Woodbury Bulletin is worth discussing.

Two Twin Cities women learned the hard way that Woodbury doesn't allow so-called Dumpster diving.

An officer on patrol Jan. 6 outside of Trader Joe's, 8960 Hudson Road, spotted a car parked behind the store near a Dumpster. The officer located two women inside the gated Dumpster area collecting food that had been discarded by Trader Joe's.

The women - one from Minneapolis, the other from Fridley - were informed that scavenging is illegal in Woodbury. The officer took the scavenged food and returned it to the Dumpster.

Both women were released with verbal warnings.

The scavenging ordinance is pretty clear:

It is unlawful for any person or business to scavenge or otherwise collect garbage, other refuse, recyclables, white goods, or yard waste at the curb or from recyclable containers without a license therefor from the city and an account relationship with the owner of the premises.

We don't know further details. The women could've been looking for expired food to resell, for example. Or they could have been hungry. If it's the latter, it's hard to imagine a cop taking food away from hungry people and tossing it back in the dumpster. So we prefer to think it's the former.

You are: the police officer. What do you do?

Dumpster diving tips, by the way, are available at Do It Green Minnesota:

The tools that I recommend bringing are a flashlight, a backpack and possibly gloves (depends on what you're dumpstering). When a dumpster needs to be liberated, bolt cutters or lock picks are a must. If you're shopping for clothes or furniture the best place to find them is in University areas. College students throw out tons of good stuff, especially at the end of semesters. Call each college to find out specific dates.

I've heard of people finding computers and I knew a woman who found a pair of pants with a hundred dollar bill in it! Furniture can also be found on curbs and alleys all over in residential areas. Building materials can be found at construction sites, especially in residential areas also. People are fairly laid back about taking scraps from construction dumpsters, because it's not as socially deviant as taking food out of the dumpsters. But for all of you social deviants out there, food can be found at bakeries, co-ops and non-chain grocery stores.

The other issue here, of course, is the amount of food thrown away in the first place:

Dive! Trailer from Compeller Pictures on Vimeo.

(h/t: Jen Keavy)

2) THE COST OF COOL

What's in your iPad? A lot of human misery, the New York Times reports. It investigated the conditions under which workers labor, assembling the products favored by a demographic that's generally sensitive to human struggles.

Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple's products, and the company's suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.

More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers' disregard for workers' health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning.

Earlier this month, Ira Glass jumped into this on This American Life when he talked to a self-described "Mac cult" worshiper who learned a little more about the birthing process of his favorite gadgets:


3) "LET THE ROBOTS DO THE DYING"

Will eliminating human casualties of war make war more likely? That's the crux of the ethical debate that naturally follows word (via the Los Angeles Times today) that the U.S. military is testing a drone that isn't under the control of anybody. Current drones use a "pilot" in a far-off, safe location. But the X-47B is, basically, a robot.

"Lethal actions should have a clear chain of accountability," said Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist and robotics expert. "This is difficult with a robot weapon. The robot cannot be held accountable. So is it the commander who used it? The politician who authorized it? The military's acquisition process? The manufacturer, for faulty equipment?"

Next year the X-47B will land on an aircraft carrier for the first time... by itself. Experts say humans might "monitor" the killing decisions of the drone over a battlefield, but not actually make them.

4) REQUIEM FOR A FUNERAL

True or false: Taxpayers have to pay the burial expenses of people who don't have the money for the final trip? True, and that's causing a problem for at least one funeral home in Mille Lacs County. The Mille Lacs Messenger reports on one funeral home director who asked the county board to increase the reimbursement for embalming and burials from the current $920. The commissioners refused. Die poor in the county now, the funeral home director said, and there'll no longer be any funeral services and embalming required for public viewings. And the hour-long visitation and burial service is out, too.

5) MORNING EDITION LYRICS

Who knew? There are lyrics to the Morning Edition theme song. They've been posted on NPR's Tumblr page:

Oh I hate to get up in the morning
Please don't wake me up this morning
Let me stay in bed ... and ... sleep (I don't like to daydream)

****
The world can turn without me today
And if you wake me up I can say
That we will not be friends... for... long

****

Remember when... we used to sleep forever?
Dreams... floating as light as feathers
When... will those delightful dreams

Come back again?
Tell me when!!!

****

For crying out loud, please would you shut up
No news, no features, I've had enough ...
But, say, who wrote your great ... theme ... song???

Bonus I: Confirmed by mathematics. SpongeBob Squarepants does not live in a pineapple house under the sea. It's a mathematical impossibility:

Bonus II: Behind the scenes at WCCO. Doesn't anyone there have a messy desk?

Sneaking Around WCCO TV from Sean Skinner on Vimeo.

TODAY'S QUESTION
Google has announced that it will begin tracking the web-surfing habits of users across all of its many services, and not give users the chance to opt out. Technology watchers say the change will allow Google to target ads more precisely to individual consumers. Today's Question: How have your perceptions of Google changed over the years?

WHAT WE'RE DOING

Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) - First hour: Can the GOP appeal to Hispanics in Florida?

Second hour: Do you have destination you've always wanted to visit? If you do, travel writer Patricia Schultz can probably tell where to go and what to do when you finally get there.

Midday (11 a.m. - 1 p.m.) - First hour: Political analysis with Susan MacManus.

Second hour:American RadioWorks' "The President Calling"

Talk of the Nation (1-3 p.m.) - First hour: The crisis in Nigeria. The New year has seen mounting tensions in Nigeria. A series of coordinated bomb blasts, hundreds killed, entrenched corruption, and massive labor strikes. The country is a huge oil producer, yet still imports its gas.

Second hour: What happens when multiple generations live under the same roof?

All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) - How debates have shaped the GOP race for president.

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