You Do The Math - Best NFL Fans

I heard recently that Green Bay has the most loyal football fans, since it's the smallest city with an NFL team, yet manages to have great turnout all year, every year. Let's not take someone else's word for it. Today, You Do The Math.

Let's see how the biggest NFL city compares to the smallest. Using statistics from the Census Bureau for 2007, the greater NY City area, known as a Metropolitan Statistical Area, had a population of almost nineteen million. We can see that it's 80 miles as the crow flies, from the city of Middle Island, Long Island, to the bottom, left corner of the map. The numbers also add up to an 80 mile drive from Middle Island to Giants Stadium in New Jersey at Route 3 and I-95.



The same Census sats show that Green Bay had just over 300,000 residents. Looking at Green Bay on this map we see it's a mere 10 miles across:



The nearest town of Appleton is about a 30 mile drive or more for fans, so that should be included in the MSA. Manitowoc is about a 45 mile drive, while Oshkosh is about a 55 miles drive, depending on what part of town you live in. Why include Appleton? Just to make things easy. The Cincinnati MSA includes Middle Town, about a 35 mile drive to the Bengals stadium.



The Philadelphia MSA includes Trenton, New Jersey and Wilmington, Delaware, and all the rest of the yellow in this map. The drive would be around 35 miles from these "suburbs" of Philadelphia:



The Dallas - Fort Worth area is just under a 60 mile drive along Interstate 30, and the Cowboys stadium is at exit 28, pretty much in the center of all that. For most fans, it's also about a 35 miles drive. However, we're talking a 40, 50 and 60 mile drive from the suburbs of Plano, Allen and McKinney. That's a little unfair, compared to the 35 miles that Packers, Phillies and Bengals fans have to drive.



However, people in Texas are used to driving a lot. For instance, it's 25 miles to get gas for some people. I know, I've run out of gas twice in Texas, and relied on help from kind folks so I could avoid a 50 mile hike, round trip. Red state people are cool.

So, if you do the math, who has the greatest fans? Well, the Cowboys, of course. Not just because the stadium held almost 96,000 fans for the Giants game, not just because of the extra 60 miles of driving (round trip), not just because they keep gasoline on hand for idiots like me, but because that's my favorite team. Ha! The author always wins.

No, but seriously, check out these official NFL attendance numbers as they compare to the official Census Bureau Numbers. Apparently, Packers fans are fanatical. (is that an oxymoron?) With only half a million people in Green Bay and Appleton combined, the stadium "packs" in 70,000 plus people EVERY game. That means 1 out of every 7.35 people go to the game. Fanatics! That's like 1 person out of every 2 houses on your street. Imagine the Sunday morning traffic.

Compare that to the 18.8 million folks in the NY City area, where 79,088 go to see the Jets (typical sell-out numbers for 2011), and about 79,500 see the Giants on average. The attendance kept climbing until the second Redskins game, so it looks like fair weather fans, as hopes for a division championship keep rising. Both teams combined, only 1 out of 119 people make the trip. That's like 40 people out of every apartment building. Imagine the crowded sidewalks.

And let's not forget New Orleans. Even though they lost 300,000 people after getting whacked by Katrina, their attendance is still better than most cities with much larger populations.

Stadiums that sell out each game get a special nod, since we have no way of knowing how many people would actually be attending given a larger stadium. Teams with inconsistent fan turnout results in a lower rating. In some cases, such as the Denver Broncos, attendance was fairly regular until the Bengals showed up, and 2,000 Broncos fans stayed home. Awww, poor Bengals don't get no respect. In these cases, the home team gets docked about a tenth of a point, so no big deal.

Chiefs fans numbered over 72,000 except when the Bills came to town, when 3200 spectators stayed home. Colts fans get a special thumbs down. Their numbers were all under 65,200 except when the Steelers came to town, when another 1100 fans showed up, probably Steelers fans. And Steelers fans aren't immune from this stuff. All of their attendance was near the maximum around 64 thousand, except when the Browns showed up. On that day 3000 fans stayed home.

Special cases are for San Francisco and N.Y. City, where these MSAs share two NFL teams. Therefore, the population is cut in half before a score is taken.

Here're the rankings:

2007 Census Bureau Statistics vs. NFL attendance

Metropolitan Statistical Area population
vs. Stadium attendance, 2011 season, up to Dec 19th, High vs. Low
Citizens per Fan
Ranking
AFC
East
Buffalo Bills_________1,128,183 70,133 51,579 18.5 #3
Miami Dolphins______ 5,413,212 67,823 51,032 91.1 #29
New England Patriots__4,482,857 68,756 68,756 65.2 #21 *** all sellouts ***
New York Jets______18,815,988 79,088 78,702 119.3 #31 *** mostly sellouts ***

North
Baltimore Ravens____2,668,056 71,434 71,022 37.49 #13
Cincinnati Bengals____2,133,678 63,262 41,142 40.9 #15
Cleveland Browns____2,096,471 67,321 63,498 32.1 #10
Pittsburgh Steelers___2,355,712 64,851 60,754 37.51 #14

South
Houston Texans_____5,628,101 71,585 71,412 78.7 #27
Indianapolis Colts____1,695,037 66,309 63,928 26.0 #7
Jacksonville Jaguars__1,300,823 62,976 61,619 20.9 #4
Tennessee Titans____1,521,437 69,143 69,143 22.0 #5 *** all sellouts ***

West
Denver Broncos_____2,464,866 76,556 73,281 32.9 #11
Kansas City Chiefs___1,985,429 74,093 68,755 27.8 #8
Oakland Raiders_____4,203,898 62,572 57,300 35.1 #12
San Diego Chargers__2,974,859 68,908 62,236 45.4 #17

NFC

East
Dallas Cowboys_______6,145,037 95,952 78,122 70.6 #25
New York Giants_____18,815,988 80,634 78,290 118.5 #30
Philadelphia Eagles____5,827,962 69,144 69,144 84.3 #28 **** all sellouts ****
Washington Redskins__5,306,565 80,447 74,121 68.7 #23

North
Chicago Bears_______9,524,673 62,396 61,542 153.7 #32
Detroit Lions________4,467,592 67,861 60,040 69.9 #24
Green Bay Packers____519,157 70,604 70,498 7.4 #1
Minnesota Vikings____3,208,212 63,946 62,461 50.8 #20

South
Atlanta Falcons_________5,278,904 70,359 68,115 76.2 #26
Carolina Panthers_______1,651,568 73,245 71,704 22.8 #6
New Orleans Saints______1,030,363 73,068 73,002 14.1 #2
Tampa Bay Buccaneers___2,723,949 76,981 46,995 43.9 #16

West
Arizona Cardinals_____4,179,427 62,475 60,443 68.0 #22
San Francisco 49ers___4,203,898 69,732 69,732 30.2 #9 **** all sellouts ****
Seattle Seahawks_____3,309,347 67,039 66,004 49.9 #19
St. Louis Rams________2,803,707 57,179 56,029 49.5 #18




Notes on attendance:

AFC..................Area
East
Buffalo Bills________1,128,183 70,133 51,579 Jets max; Raiders & Patriots 68K, Eagles near 70k; D.C. min, Titans 56K, Dolphins 61k
Miami Dolphins.......5,413,212 67,823 51,032 Eagles max, Broncos 64K, others 50's
New England Patriots 4,482,857 68,756 68,756 *** all sellouts ***
New York Jets 18,815,988 79,088 78,702 *** mostly sellouts ***

North
Baltimore Ravens 2,668,056 71,434 71,022
Cincinnati Bengals 2,133,678 63,262 41,142 Bills min, Texans near min, Browns 3rd min, Steelers max
Cleveland Browns 2,096,471 67,321 63,498 Jaguars min, Ravens near min, Bengals max
Pittsburgh Steelers 2,355,712 64,851 60,754 Browns min, others near max Ha, ha!

South
Houston Texans 5,628,101 71,585 71,412
Indianapolis Colts 1,695,037 66,309 63,928 Steelers max, others < 65.2k
Jacksonville Jaguars 1,300,823 62,976 61,619
Tennessee Titans 1,521,437 69,143 69,143 *** all sellouts ***

West
Denver Broncos 2,464,866 76,556 73,281 Bengals min, others 75K or higher, ha, ha!
Kansas City Chiefs 1,985,429 74,093 68,755 all 72K plus but Bills!
Oakland Raiders 4,203,898 62,572 57,300 all below 60K but Jets and Patriots
San Diego Chargers 2,974,859 68,908 62,236 Packers max, Raiders near max, Chiefs min; Bills and Dolphins near min

NFC

East
Dallas Cowboys 6,145,037 95,952 78,122 DC 91k, climb from 78k~87.4k, then Giants 95K
New York Giants 18,815,988 80,634 78,290 kept climbing until 2nd Redskins
Philadelphia Eagles 5,827,962 69,144 69,144 **** all sellouts ****
Washington Redskins 5,306,565 80,447 74,121 Eagles max, Cowboys & Giants 80k, others vary

North
Chicago Bears 9,524,673 62,396 61,542
Detroit Lions 4,467,592 67,861 60,040 Chicago max, GB 66.2K, others below 64K
Green Bay Packers 519,157 70,604 70,498 301,131 & Appleton's MSA population of 218,026
Minnesota Vikings 3,208,212 63,946 62,461 Green Bay max

South
Atlanta Falcons 5,278,904 70,359 68,115 New Orleans max, others < 69.6k
Carolina Panthers 1,651,568 73,245 71,704 Jacksonville min, smooth range
New Orleans Saints 1,030,363 73,068 73,002
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2,723,949 76,981 46,995 Chicago max, 50K & 60K

West
Arizona Cardinals 4,179,427 62,475 60,443
San Francisco 49ers 4,203,898 69,732 69,732 **** all sellouts ****
Seattle Seahawks 3,309,347 67,039 66,004
St. Louis Rams 2,803,707 57,179 56,029 New Orleans max

You Do The Math - Kashi Go Protein

Bombarded with TV ads hyping Kashi brands cereal as high protein, and as an intrepid seeker of affordable protein for my adult life, I decided to formally look into this. As far as I can remember, insects are the highest in protein, followed by fish, dairy, eggs, fowl, pork, beef, vegetables, grains and fruit, in that order (give or take a few here and there). But since we don't need to grow fast like a little, turkey chic or a starved grizzly bear facing a long cold Winter, we'll not bother eating insects (for now).



As a fan of the Zone Diet, engineered by a college professor who created the AIDS drug AZT, and who's Zone Diet balances everyone's hormones, reduces cancer, heart disease and diabetes risk factors, and makes athletes perform better than their peak, I am keenly aware that a healthy person needs to balance his/her diet by making sure the protein intake is a certain percentage of the total intake. For the Zone Diet, this was 7 grams of protein for every 9 grams of carbohydrate, or about 44% protein, (And very little fat, by the way.)



Interestingly, The Zone diet falls in between the government's "food pyramid" and those high protein diets. The pyramid is more like 25% protein, while the high protein diets are more like 75% or more. As the old saying goes, "everything in moderation", so goes the Zone Diet. Or as Goldilocks says, "This porridge is too hot, this porridge is too cold, this porridge is just right."

Since Kashi brand cereals are expensive, but not too horribly so, it was hard to find a better product. After all, grains are low on the list of protein sources, and Kashi supplements their cereal with soybean grits. That's not necessarily good, vegetables don't offer a "complete protein", a combination of the 21 or so amino acids a human needs to consume. Meats do, but one has to combine beans and corn, or beans and rice, for a complete protein.

Good thing Kashi has 5 grains in their products, including rice and corn. Safe to say it offers a complete protein. Kellogg's Special K Protein Plus is also a high protein cereal, yet only has wheat and rice to complement the soy grits.

But does the high estrogen content of soy knock these cereals out of The Zone? Afterall, it was engineered to balance your many eicosanoids, thus balancing your other hormones. What's an infusion of estrogen going to do? And what's an infusion of dairy industry hormones going to do? Later on we'll see that skim milk is a nearly perfect Zone food judging by it's protein ratio alone,



For a complete protein, you can either spend $3.49 on 14.1 ounces of Kashi cereal, and eat it dry, or spend $2.00 on 16.4 ounces of Kroger brand shredded wheat squares and $1.75 on a half gallon of skim milk. Interestingly, the box of cereal and the half gallon of milk both have 8 servings, and both serving sizes are about a cup, so this combo will make 8 bowls of cereal rather nicely. However, I bought a whole gallon of milk at $2.50, because it comes to $1.25 per half gallon, a full 50 cents cheaper. Thus, I saved a dollar, which I had to spend on the expensive Kashi brand cereal (which I only bought in order to do this blog).

An important note is that of these three cereals, only the Special K has a large list of vitamins and minerals like most cereal boxes we are used to reading. The other two have fewer listed, and their "percent daily values" are much lower. The Kellogg's percentages are high enough it seems like we're eating half a vitamin pill with each serving size of 3/4 cup. Unfortunately, the Special K is higher in fat, over 4 times higher than Kroger Shredded Wheat and almost 5 times higher than Kashi Go Lean. The Special K PP is 11.1% fat, and 2/3 of of that is trans fats and polyunsaturated, knocking it out of most diets, as well as The Zone. But, hey, it's WAY better than what we eat every day, so let's keep it on the menu.



The Kroger cereal says that there are 7 grams of protein for every 58 grams of cereal, and "about 8" servings. Eight times 58 grams is 464 grams, and 8 times 7 is 56 grams of protein. However, since the box has a total of 16.4 ounces, and there are 28.34944 gams per ounce, then the box has 464.93 total grams, of which 56.11 of those are protein.

The Kashi Go Lean has an error in the opposite direction, giving less of everything than the label says. Listed as 13 grams of protein per 52g, and 8 total servings, yet the box has 14.1 total ounces of goodness. So this comes to 399.72 total grams, and 99.93 grams of protein.

Kellogg's Special K PP has an error in a good way, giving an extra half ounce, and a whopping 135 grams of protein out of 383 total grams.

In case you didn't notice, Kellogg's Special K PP is over 1/3 protein, Kashi Go Lean is about 1/4th protein, while the Kroger shredded wheat is about 1/8th. But, for a given amount of carbs, and for a given dollar, a different tale appears:

Kellogg's Special K Protein Plus: 41.67% protein =
10 grams protein vs. 14 grams carbohydrates => (10 / (10 + 14))

Kashi Go Lean: 30.23% protein =
13 grams protein vs. 30 grams carbohydrates => (13 / (13 + 30))

Kroger Shredded Wheat:12.96% protein =
7 grams protein vs. 47 grams carbohydrates => (7 / (7 + 47))

Kellogg's Special K Protein Plus:
135 g protein / $3.69 = 36.59 grams protein per dollar

Kashi Go Lean:
99.93 g protein / $3.49 = 28.63 grams protein per dollar

Kroger Shredded Wheat:
56.11 g protein / $2.00 = 28.06 grams protein per dollar



Let's figure out skim milk:
40% protein =
grams protein vs. 12 grams carbohydrates => (8 / (8 + 12))
51.2 grams protein per dollar =
8 grams protein x 16 servings ) / $2.50 = 128 grams protein / $2.50

This is nearly in The Zone. Imagine if we drank 100 gallons of skim milk per gram of cereal. We would be nearly in The Zone. But, if we ate a box of Kashi for every drop of milk, we would be down at the 30% level of the cereal. Realistically, since serving sizes are listed in terms of volume, such as 1 cup of Kashi Go Lean and 8 fluid ounces of milk, lets convert to grams of protein per unit volume.

The skim milk says that a serving size is 8 fluid ounces, and there are 16 servings per gallon. (This is 128 ounces per gallon, but that doesn't help us here.) A gallon divided by 4 is a quart (like a quarter dollar). Since there are 2 pints per quart, a gallon divided by 8 is a pint. And since there are 2 cups per pint, a gallon divided by 16 is a cup. So, an 8 fluid ounce serving is a cup.



The shredded wheat serving is 1.25 cups, so we must convert to a 1 cup serving:

Kroger Shredded Wheat:
7 g protein / 1.25 cups = 5.6 g protein per cup
47 g carbohydrate / 1.25 cups = 37.6 g carbohydrates per cup

The Special K PP serving size is 3/4 cup:
10 g protein / 0.75 cups = 13.33 g protein per cup
14 g carbohydrate / 0.75 cups = 18.67 g carbohydrates per cup

(1 cup Special K Protein Plus + 1 cup skim milk):
(13.3 + 8) grams protein / (32 + 20) total grams = 41.03% protein

(1 cup Kashi Go Lean + 1 cup skim milk):
(13 + 8) grams protein / (43 + 20) total grams = 33.3% protein

(1 cup Kroger Shredded Wheat + 1 cup skim milk):
(5.6 + 8) grams protein / (43.2 + 20) total grams = 21.52% protein



And affordability?

Special K Protein Plus: $3.69 / 9.75 cups = $0.37846 per cup

Kashi Go Lean: $3.49 / 8 cups = $0.43625 per cup

Kroger Shredded Wheat: $2 / 10 cups = $0.25 per cup

skim milk $2.50 / 16 cups = $0.15625 per cup

(I guess now we know what a hotel spends on your continental breakfast.)

1 c. Kellogg's Special K PP & 1 c. milk = 21.3 g protein / $0.53471 => 39.83 g/$

1 c. Kashi Go Lean & 1 c. milk = 21 g protein / $0.5925 => 35.44 g/$

1 c. Kroger Shredded Wheat & 1 c. milk = 13.6 g protein / $0.40625 => 33.48 g/$

Because Kashi and Special K cereals are like eating air compared to the shredded wheat, the cost of protein per cup tends to be similar. Of all the cereals in the big cereal aisle, most are low in protein. But, I found a few more good cereals, plus a bunch of other stuff.



The Queen City franks were a good price per ounce, and the highest protein content of any hot dog, frank, sausage, salami or bologna I could find in 10 minutes. The Land O'Frost turkey is similar to smoked turkey, and was also a good price per ounce, while high in protein. Both were quite tasty, by the way, compared to slimy, stinky deli chicken and the awful hot dog.



The Kroger mozzarella cheese has the highest protein content, and is quite affordable as far as cheeses go. However, it is "bland" flavored, and a bit dry thanks to it's lower fat content. In fact, it has a much better protein-to-fat ratio than most meats and meat products, such as franks and wieners. Still, not as good as chicken or turkey. These items, and some others, obviously don't fare well on the Zone scale, Check it out, these franks have twice as much fat as protein, and these are the highest protein franks I could find!



I also scoured the soup aisle for ten minutes, and was very disappointed. Be vary wary. Three out of four soups that had some type of meat in the title, such as "Beef Stroganov", did not have much meat or protein in the can. The titles should all read, "Cheap vegetable by-products with Beef added for Stroganov flavor". But, the four listed below were almost in the Zone, even considering they had 2 or 3 grams of fat per serving. They varied from 6.5% to 10.7% fat, with the two Chunky brand soups falling at 6.5 and 7.1 percent.

IN THE ZONE?

Land O'Frost turkey breast: 10 g protein & 3 g carbs & 2 g fat =>
(10 /(10+3+2)) = 67% protein
(2 /(10+3+2)) = 13.3% fat

Kellogg's Special K Plus Protein: 10 g protein & 14 g carbs & 3 g fat =>
(10 /(10+14+3)) = 37 % protein
(3 /(10+14+3)) = 11.1% fat

Kroger Chunky Beef:
10 g protein vs. 15 g carb => (10/(10+15)) = 40% protein

Chunky Split Pea & Ham:
12 g protein vs. 24 g carb => (12/(12+24))= 33.3% protein

Lifeway organic green Kefir phytoboost
12 g protein vs. 25 g carb => (12/(12+25))= 32.4% protein

Progresso Chicken Tuscany:
9 g protein vs. 20 g carb => (9/(9+20))= 31% protein

Chunky Sirloin Burger:
8 g protein vs. 18 g carb => (8/(8+18))= 30.8% protein

Kashi Go Lean:
13 g protein vs. 30 g carbs => (13 /(13 +30)) = 30.23% protein

Kroger Shredded Wheat:
7 g protein vs. 47 g carbs => (7/(7 +47)) = 12.96% protein

Quaker Oat Squares:
6 g protein vs. 44 g carbs => (6/(6+44)) = 12% protein

General Mills Oatmeal Crisp:
6 g protein vs. 47 g carbs => (6/(6+47)) = 11.3% protein

Kroger chunky beef soup:


PROTEIN PER DOLLAR

Kroger skim milk:
128 g protein / $2.50 = 51.2 g/$

Kroger mozzarella:
128 g protein / $2.99 = 42.8 g/$

Kelogg's Special K Protein Plus:
135 g protein / $3.69 = 36.59 g/$

Kashi Go Lean:
99.93 g protein / $3.49 = 28.63 g/$

Kroger Shredded Wheat:
56.11 g protein / $2.00 = 28.06 g/$

Kroger organic Soy Milk
56 g protein / $2.50 = 22.4 g/$

Kroger Oats & Honey Granola:
41.34 g protein / $1.99 = 20.77 g/$

Chunky Split Pea & Ham (best guess):
26.04 g protein / $1.65 = 15.78 g/$

Progresso Chicken Tuscany:
19.55 g peotein / $1.25 = 15.6 g/$

Kroger Chunky Beef:
21.75 g protein / $1.55 = 14.04 g/$

Quaker Oat Squares:
48.6 g protein / $3.95 = 12.3 g/$

Queen City franks:
55 g protein / $4.49 = 12.25 g/$

Land O'Frost turkey breast:
30 g protein / $2.50 = 12.00 g/$

General Mills Oatmeal Crisps:
48.19 g protein / $4.32 = 11.16 g/$

Chunky Sirloin Burger (best guess):
17.36 g protein / $1.65 = 10.52 g/$

Lifeway organic green Kefir phytoboost
48 g protein / $4.69 = 10.23 g/$

QR coding since 1994...

2011 minus 1994 equals 17. So there have been 17 years since Denso Wave created their Quick Response codes for Toyota. Now there are hundreds of apps for the iPhone that read or create them. And there are almost a dozen formats, such as your location on a Google map, your contact information, or just plain text. Here's the URL for this blog:



My prediction is that in another 17 years smart phones will snap a photo of a web page, a product, a pin on a map, a movie poster, a page in a catalog, or whatever, and using optical character recognition and artificial intelligence, will automatically create an SMS file (contact info), a product file, or a link to a movie in IMDB. So, 2011 plus 17 equals 2028.

You Do The Math - Crime And Punishment

When a high school football player is paralyzed for life during the game, and he'll be in a wheelchair, be in pain, have dozens of bad side effects, possibly never have children or a wife, none of the masochistic, psychopathic defensive football players (or their coaches) are sent to prison. In fact, local players, students, and citizens raise thousands of dollars for the victim and his current and future medical expenses. Two weeks after the injury, his team pauses their game before kicking an extra point, and possibly causes the loss of the game, because they decided to stop scoring any more points when they reached 26. The victim's number was 26.



http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Team-won-t-line-up-for-extra-point-in-tribute-to?urn=highschool-wp7487

When a young man runs on the field in a referee's outfit during a college football game, only to strip to his undies, and run around topless, wasting 3 minutes of everybody's time, he gets tackled hard by the cops, probably losing some skin, his face is pushed into the astroturf while cops lean on his head, he's arrested, spends the night in jail and finally charged with a felony that could land him a year and a half in prison.



And in the same game the two teams get in a brawl, but nobody gets arrested or faces charges. Off the playing field, this is assault and battery, and gets you years in jail, possibly.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/UCLA-8217-Zona-update-Suspensions-for-brawlin?urn=ncaaf-wp8455

Where's the math in this episode of You Do The Math? Nowhere, because without brains, the football hierarchy and the law can't do math.

You Do The Math - Desktop PC vs Smart Phone

Did you know that almost every dollar you spend in the US ends up paying for fossil fuels? How can this be? Firstly, imagine the retail outlet where you buy your products. Their costs are labor, energy, rent, supplies and finally the products they buy at wholesale prices to put on their shelves. Obviously their utility bill goes to energy, even the water bill, because we use energy to move water and clean the water. But what about rent?

Rent goes to pay for construction of the building and the asphalt parking lot. Asphalt is literally made from crude oil products mixed with an aggregate (fancy way of saying sand and gravel). And it's spread using diesel powered machines and steam rollers. It's even delivered in a diesel powered dump truck. But, what about the building?

The steel and aluminum structure (I beams, sheet metal, tubing, flashing, angled pieces) are delivered by trucks, assembled with cranes, welded or riveted or bolted together with electrically powered tools, or gasoline powered pneumatic tools, like Ignersol-Rand sells for construction purposes. Before delivery, the steel and aluminum parts were created by melting metal and using gargantuan machinery in absolutely huge factories.

Melting the steel and aluminum is by far the most energy intensive part of the project, because various formulations of steel melt between 2300 and 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. Aluminum melts at only 1200 degrees, but requires huge amounts of electricity to break the aluminum-oxide molecule apart. This is probably why aluminum pays 10 times more than steel at the recycler. Thankfully, moving and forming requires fractions of this energy. (Think of the 4500 watt furnace in your home, which uses maybe a 200 watt fan to move the heated air, but that heat accounted for the other 4300 watts.) The fancy assembly lines use machinery that run on electric motors or engines using diesel or gasoline or natural gas.

These foundries either use electricity to make heat, or have coal delivered to them so they can create their own heat more efficiently. This coal is delivered by diesel powered trains half a mile long (made of steel). Coal mines use electricity, gasoline or diesel powered machines. Machines made of steel and aluminum.

Then, keep in mind that the steel and aluminum came from melting rock, aka ore. Ore melts at these extremely high temperatures as well. But, only a small fraction of the ore is actually metal. There's a huge waste of energy there, heating all that rock. (That's why recycling aluminum saves over 90% of the costs of production, which is good for the economy and the environment.) And remember that all this ore must be blasted from a mountain with explosives, lifted by huge bucket loaders, carried by house-sized dump trucks, loaded onto trains, and delivered to the foundry. These machines are diesel powered.

Keep in mind that roads are made of steel-reinforced concrete with a layer of asphalt on top. The steel and asphalt are bad enough, what about concrete? Concrete is delivered by diesel powered cement trucks, after being mixed at electrically powered factories, whose materials were delivered by diesel truck or train. Moreover, concrete is made from cement, which is made by heating limestone for hours at extremely high temperatures, similar to melting iron ore or aluminum ore. Also, this limestone and cement's other ingredients must be mined and transported with explosives, diesel powered trucks and trains, and electrically powered equipment. Concrete is made from cement mixed with aggregate, which was also mined and transported.

And that's just the metals in the retail outlet. There's lots more. Similar manufacturing stories describe glass windows, linoleum floors, tile floors, concrete floors, carpeting, drywall, paint, copper or PVC plumbing, copper wiring coated in plastic, lights (glass and metal), light fixtures, counters, shelving, signage, cash registers, UPC scanners etc, etc. All are made from materials that need to be mined, transported, heated, formed, machined, and transported again. Many of these products are made from petroleum, such as all the plastics (officially known as thermosets and thermoplastics - note the word thermo, which means heat). Copper melts at around 1000 degrees and glass melts between 2300 and 2700. These are made from copper ore, sand and many other ingredients that melt at temperatures in the same range, around 1000 to over 2000.

At this point you might be saying that all these electrically powered machines don't necessarily get their power from fossil fuels. Sure, if they're run in France (mostly nuclear) or Sweden (mostly hydro power). But this is America, where our electricity is mostly made by burning coal, natural gas (coming from crude oil wells), or petroleum (crude oil) products, from the thicker fuel oils and diesel, to the more "liquid" gasoline, octane, heptane, and hexane, to the more gaseous methane, butane, propane and LPG, aka liquified petroleum gas.

The 2007 stats from the Department of Energy show that 8.21% of the US's total energy use is from nuclear, while only 6.84% is from renewable resources. All other sources are coal (22.51%), natural gas (22.43%), and petroleum (39.76%). Since 2007, solar power has more than doubled, which is probably a modest increase of a few percentage points. But, the US population keeps going up, as does our fossil fuel use. I highly doubt renewables are making a significantly bigger dent now than before.

So, what's left at this retail outlet besides rent, supplies and products? That would be labor. But what happens after the employee finishes his shift? He drives home in a 4000 pound car, 6000 pound van or SUV, or a 7000 pound pickup or Hummer. These are made from steel, glass, aluminum, plastic, rubber, etc. Then he stops at the gas station to buy gasoline or diesel, fill up his propane tank for a cookout later, and grabs a little butane lighter. Then he stops at the grocery store for food, then goes home. His home has the same manufacturing story as his work place, no need to repeat it. But what about groceries?

Fertilizers and pesticides are made from crude oil. Tractors that plant the crops are diesel powered. Combines and harvesting machines are run on diesel or gasoline. Delivery trucks and trains use diesel. Boats that ship bananas from Costs Rica or pineapple from Hawaii use diesel. Then the price of food goes up when it's placed in a grocery store, aka retail outlet. And we all know by now how much energy goes into making, furnishing and operating one of those places.

As it turns out, every dollar this employee earns is spent on one of two things: goods or srvices. Even if he dies, his money gets spent. And anything he buys has the same manufacturing or agricultural story... rape of the land by using fossil fuels. And when he spends his money on services, that money goes to equipment costs, energy costs, transportation costs, and finally labor costs. And all those costs end up spent on energy as well.

In the end, every penny you spend ends up spent on energy, and 85% of that goes to fossil fuels. This brings us back to the title of this story, "Desktop PC vs. Smartphone". Which uses more energy?



Assuming you always had and always will have a desktop PC, what energy savings can you expect by using a smartphone to do your computing needs? Obviously, buying a smartphone without a cell service contract will cost as much as a laptop. Last time I checked prices at a whatehouse club, the small (useless) smart phones were around $250 while the larger designs (useful) quickly went up in price to $450, $650 and $850. Since all of this money goes to energy, you could have simply not bought the smartphone, and spent your money on energy to power the desktop. At the national average of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, and a fast, modern, high-speed desktop using 300 watts, the $850 will last 25,757 hours. This is about 2.8 hours a day for 25 years!

If your electricity costs 21 cents per Kw-hr, then the $850 only lasts 13 years. However, if you use the desktop only 1 hour a day, the $850 will last 70 years. But, buying the cheaper models makes a huge difference. For instance, an iPodTouch can be had for under $200, it nearly replaces a desktop as well, and that $200 would power that desktop only 5.9 years.

However, these smartphones use energy, too. The original iPhone used 2 watts when charging. And because the USB 2.0 port puts out a maximum of 5 volts at half an amp, the most any USB 2.0 powered device can use is 5 times 0.5, or 2.5 watts. Let's assume you charge your $200 iPodTouch 20 minutes a day at 2 watts. This lets you use it an hour a day for a combination of low speed and high speed internet needs and wants, like watching video and checking email. This saves you from using the desktop until the end of the week when you have to print something out, upload photos from a camera, create a spreadsheet or other document, etc.

So the iPodTouch eliminates 6 hours of desktop usage a week. If your desktop uses 300 watts, then the iPodTouch saves 6 hours times 300 watts, or 1800 watt-hours. But, the iPodTouch used 6 times 1/3 hour times 2 watts, or 4 watt-hours. This is a savings of 1796 watt-hours a week. At 11 cents per 1000 watt hours, it would take 1012.35 weeks to save $200. That's almost 19.5 years!

Obviously, a $400 iPodTouch (the one with 64 gigs of memory), will require twice as long to pay off, 39 years. Same 39 years if your desktop only uses 150 watts (typical single processor, 1.5 giga-hertz era system). Worst case scenario is when you buy an $850 Android to augment your 150 watt desktop. It will take 165.75 years to pay off.

Going to the other extreme, let's say you do 3 hours of high speed internet video a day on your 300 watt desktop. Supplanting that with 3 hours a day on a $200 iPodTouch, 7 days a week, which may require an hour of charging at 2 watts per day. The desktop would use 21 hours times 300 watts, or 6.3 kilowatt hours. The iPod uses 7 hours times 2 watts, or 14 watt hours. Each week there's a savings of 6.286 kilowatt hours. At the extreme of 21 cents per kilowatt hour, it will take only 151.5 weeks for the iPodTouch to pay off. This is 2.9 years, just in time to upgrade to the next generation of iPodTouch (Apple stopped supporting your older model two years after you bought it, anyway, so you might as well upgrade).

BTW, I just wasted a 3 hours writing this blog on my iPodTouch, thus saving 5 cents by not doing it on my 150 watt desktop. Or, one could say, I wasted 1 watt hour writing this blog, or about 1/1000th of a kilowatt hour, which comes out to 11/1000th of a penny, or 0.00011 dollars. Darn it.

Universe not Expanding at Accelerated Rate

(originally posted Oct 5th, was edited Oct. 13th to remove some ignorance)

So I'm reading an article on LiveScience.com, where it tells how the Nobel prize winning scientists determined that the Universe is expanding at an accelerated rate. They used Type 1a supernova, which all have the same light signiature, a rising and falling set of frequencies, or colors. Similar to identifying a short song, like a wolf call, where guys use a whistle to indicate a woman is hot. This whistle starts with a note that rises sharply, ends abruptly, is followed by a pause, then is followed by an extended, slowly falling note.

And LiveScience.com said that all the type 1a supernova have the same pattern, and same frequencies, so measuring their red shift (Doppler shift) will tell you the distance from the Earth to the supernova. The nobel winners determined that all the closer supernova have a disproortionately large red shift, so they are moving away from us faster than they should be. And since light from closer supernova has been traveling for a much shorter time, then they are more recent supernova. Since more recent supernova are traveling faster than they should be, then they are speeding up.



And conversely, supernova that are further away are traveling about the right speed. Since their light left their supernova billions of years earlier, and since they are traveling at the right speed, then the Universe was expanding more slowly billions of years ago.

Now for my concerns.

If the red shift determines the distance to the Earth, then how do you know that "closer supernova have a disproportionately large red shift"? That's like saying "closer supernova are further away".

You would either:

1) Need a second metric to determine the distance to the Earth.

or

2) Assume that all supernova (and their galaxies) are proportionately distributed throughout the galaxy.

Turns out that there are other metrics to determine distance to other galaxies, one of them is using the apparent brightness of cepheid variables, which all emit the same energy. So, that kills my entire theory. However, let's continue as if the nobel winning scientists did not use another metric. (I'm sure they did, but maybe I'm on to something here.)

Option 2 leaves us viewing a Universe where all the closer galaxies are further away than they should be. And distant galaxies are about right.



Guess what this appears like? This is like looking at the Universe in a car's side-view mirror with a label on it saying "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear". The car's mirror has a shape that makes things look that way. Perhaps the Mily Way is shaped the same, and this shape is acting as a lens, possibly a gravitational lens, as Einstein showed that gravity bends light, or possibly something else entirely, since the cosmos has a way of surprising us.

The proof of such a claim is to examine the supernova from many distant galaxies whose light is being bent by a gravitational lens: a large galaxy or a galactic cluster. If this light indicates that the galaxies beyond the lens seem to have a disproportionate distribution, then perhaps the Universe is not expanding at an accelerated rate.

Is the Post Office smarter than a 5th Grader?

Recently someone from Mississippi had an item for sale on the internet. He said he was from northern ms, and could deliver in the area (to eliminate shipping costs). Everyone replied, "Where are you located?"

Of course they did!! What the heck does ms mean? Is that Missouri? It has two S's. Is that Massachusetts? It has four S's.

The think tank at the Post Office sat down in the 1980's to handle these tough questions. Here's how it went down at one of the meetings:

"Is it Minne-sota?", asks the sensical woman. "That's like two words, first word 'mini', as in 'small', second word 'sota' as in 'soda pop'. They even pronounce it that way up there. They say 'Minuh Soda."

The think tank looks slightly amused. The sensical woman quickly adds, "Also, South Dakota and North Dakota are next to Minnesota. They all sound like double words, and they all rhyme, and could be easily be ND, SD, and MS."

Boss man says, "No, that makes too much sense."

Sensical woman says, "How about Maryland? That's a state named after Mary, the favorite mistress of British governor Alfred the 2nd of Canterbury. I'm just kidding, totally made that up. But, Maryland really IS a state named after a Mary. Probably Queen Mary, like the big ship. Duh. It's her Land. It's Mary's Land! Let's abbreviate it ML."

The secretary at the meeting, who spends her life taking notes and using letters, replies, "Uh, let's use the D at the end of Maryland, since it's a unique letter not found in ANY other state that starts with M. MD is for Mary's Land."

Observant guy says, "Oh, so we are using unique letters now? So, let's abbreviate Mississippi with MP, since the P is unique to that state,"

"No", says the guy originally from Mississippi, "We can't." "Why?" they ask. "Because our famous college is 'Ol' Miss', and Miss is abbreviated MS, like a southern belle. We can't discourage the honor of our glorious southern college or our magnificent southern ladies. Besides, how would the American public feel if we switched from Miss, which has been the abbreviation for over 100 years, to MP, which stands for Military Police? We can't use MP, makes no sense.'

"Get 'er done", says the NASCAR fan.

"Dang it", says everyone else. Observant guy says, "So where does that leave Missouri and Massachusetts?"

Impatient guy says, "Heck, let's give Missouri an MO and Massachusetts an MA. "Wait", says the observant guy, "we should go in alphabetical order."

"Explain" says the boss. Observant guy replies, "C'mon, this is a no brainer. Montana comes first, it should be MO."

The boss replies, "But the 3 MI states come before Montana. And since Michigan comes first, then Mississippi, then Missouri, it's clear that Michigan has dibs on MI, and Mississippi has dibs on MS and Missouri has dibs on MO. That is, if you want it all alphabetical, smarty pants."

Observant guy says, "Then why isn't Maine abbreviated MA? It comes before Maryland and Massachusetts."

Boss man replies, "Are you kidding? We can't take MA away from my alma mater in Boston Mass. Everyone who's anyone is quite familiar with my distinguished college from New England. Besides, Mass has been the abbreviation for 200 years, we can't change it now. What on Earth would it be?"

The secretary says, "How about a unique letter not found in any other M state? Like MC?"

Impatient guy says, "Makes sense,"

"Absolutely NOT! We New Englanders are descended from noble men, and will never be referred to as MC's. Those are lowly hosts and disc jockeys. We are not named after the help."

"Neither am I", adds the NASCAR fan. "That's why Momma named me Delvis. Rock-n-roll, baby."

Observant guy says, "So, where does that leave Maine?" Boss man replies, "Maine wasn't really a state, it was leftovers from Vermont and New Hampshire. Let's give it an ME since E is at the end. And Maryland gets an MD, sicne D is at the end."

Scientific guy proclaims, "But the E is a silent letter in Maine. In fact, there are only 3 sounds in Maine and would be spelled MAN phonetically. We should abbreviate Maine with an MN, since that's pretty much how it would be spelled by a linguist using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Ask any linguistics professor in college."

"YOU are the smarty pants now", replies the impatient guy. "Vermont is VT, so anyone who knows geography knows that Maine is next to Vermont, and so both abbreviations use the LAST letter,"

Boss man replies, "Really? Vermont is next to Maine? You're this close to being fired."

Observant guy quickly realizes something. "Hey, New Hampshire is next to Maine, it's abbreviated NH, so why not use that same logic to abbreviate Maryland ML, as in Mary's Land?"

Boss man says, "Because I said so. Err, I mean, because I said 'Not so'. Whatever, MD uses the last letter, like Maine does."

Observant guy says, "Why can't Vermont be abbreviated VM, since Vermont is basically the French phrase Vert Mont, or green mountain?"

"Because nobody speaks French here, it would be too much to ask the American public,", proclaims the boss.

"Yeah, just ask the folks in St, Louis", says the secretary.

"My Mom is from Des Moines, Iowa, and Pierre is the capital of South Dakota", adds the impatient guy.

"I grew up between Eau Claire and La Crosse Wisconsin", adds the sensical woman.

"Lots of southern belles in Charlotte and Fayetteville, North Carolina", adds the NASCAR fan.

Boss man says, "All right everyone shut it!!!!" He turns to the secretary taking notes. "So, what have we got so far."

"Well, in alphabetical order we have...

Maine, abbreviated ME
Maryland, MD
Massachusetts, MA
Michigan, MI
Minnesota, nothing yet
Mississippi, MS
Missouri, MO
Montana, nothing yet."

Boss man says, "So, now it's down to Minnesota and Montana? That's just f'ing great! Both states have an N and a T. Minnesota has an S, but that's used up by Mississippi and 2 other states if we had it smarty pants' way."

Observant guy says, "I'm going to lunch, Bye."

Scientific guys says, "Hey, I thought I was the smarty pants. I'm outta here, too. See ya."

The sensical woman says, "I'm the smart one. I quit. Send me 2 weeks pay, boss."

The secretary hands her papers to the boss and says, "I'm on break now."

The NASCAR guy vrooms out of the room, "Hey, Lisa, got a smoke?"

Impatient guy scurries out of the room, "Hey, wait for me!"

The guy from Mississippi and the boss from Massachusetts now sit alone.

The guy from Ol' Miss says, "How about MT for Montana, since it sounds like two words, 'Mon' and 'Tana'? After all, it's right next to North Dakota and South Dakota and Mini Soda."

Boss man says, "Perfect. That leaves Minnesota with N. Yeaaaaah, that's it! MN stands for min, short for minimum, like a Mini Soda Pop."

"You are brilliant, boss, I'm glad I work for you."

"Thanks, looks like you're the only one left. Let's get lunch."

Ol' Miss guy says, "Hey, after lunch can we discuss all the states that start with A? I have a couple of ideas."

"No, we're using a coin toss for those."



And that's how decisions are made in the government.