Counting Trees

The City of Richardson has a goal of planting 50,000 trees in its 28 square miles. Impossible? Maybe. Or maybe not. That's a question for another post.

Today, I want to discuss how we'll count all those trees being planted as part of the "Tree the Town" program. 1, 2, 3, ..., 50,000. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, right? Maybe. Or maybe not.

After the jump, how another city is counting its own trees and the many benefits of the effort. Maybe Richardson ought to consider upgrading its own efforts in this area. (Hint to Amir Omar: think of an app as cool as RunKeeper, but for trees.)

OTBR: Atop the Cliffs on Mornington Peninsula

Latitude: 38.4871 S
Longitude: 144.9746 E


A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

It's Hot. Officially Hot.

And dry. It's one for the record books:

"It's official: Texas is now in the midst of the worst one-year drought on record. ... July was the warmest month recorded since data collection began in 1895."

This good news comes from State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon of Texas A&M. I know what you're thinking. Who knew Texas even had a state climatologist? With a European-sounding hyphenated name. From Texas A&M of all places. Texas climatologist must be a cushy job. What's there to study? Texans know that the climate isn't changing. I recommend that you check if this Texas "State Climatologist" is real or if this story is something from The Onion before paying off any global-warming-is-bunk bets you might have lost to tree-hugging, environmentalist friends.

If you're wondering whether this hot weather is "normal", the answer is no. Or at least it won't be for another ten years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who keeps track of such things, just updated its dataset of "normal" weather based on actuals from 1980-2010. This summer's heat wave won't contribute to NOAA's definition of "normal" until the next update, due out in 2021. Expect "normal" to be redefined upwards then. I can't wait.

---

By the way, the heat is putting a strain on the state's electricity grid. The City of Richardson deserves credit for using its backup gasoline generators to power the Civic Center during peak demand this week, reducing a little demand on the grid. Every little bit helps. Turn up your thermostats, folks, during those peak demand hours of 3-7 pm. Don't worry, it won't mean you've changed your minds about global warming.

It's Hot. Is This the New Normal?

If you put a frog in a pot of hot water, he will sense the heat and jump out. If you put a frog in a pot of cold water and raise the temperature ever so slowly, the frog will rest happily until it eventually cooks to death.
-- Folklore

We can all agree that it's hot. This week's temperatures: Sunday, 107; Monday, 110; Tuesday, 109; Wednesday, 109; Thursday, 107. This whole summer has been hot. We're at 34 days in a row over 100 degrees F and counting. But the longest streak was set way back in 1980, so it's not like Dallas hasn't had hot weather, before. So, relax. It's normal. Right?

After the jump, is this normal?

Fun With Medicare Math

Q. What happens when the smartest guy in Oklahoma moves to Texas?
A. The average IQ of both states drops.

I was reminded of that old joke when I was reading about some of the proposed ways to cut the cost of Medicare. One of the policy changes discussed as part of the deal to raise the federal debt ceiling was increasing the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67. Sarah Kliff, in a Washington Post blog, warns of a possible negative consequence:

"A recent Kaiser Family Foundation report found that premiums in the [states' health insurance] exchanges would rise about 3 percent if all eligible 65- and 66-year-olds enrolled. Medicare would see a similar premium increase, with its youngest, healthier subscribers leaving the program."

That is, if Medicare drops them and the insurance exchanges are forced to enroll them, this addition of older (and therefore, on average, sicker) Americans will cause exchange premiums to go up. And if Medicare loses these very same 65- and 66-year-olds (who are, on average, healthier than the even older Medicare enrollees who would be left in that program), then Medicare's premiums will go up, too. Sounds like a lose-lose situation, right?

After the jump, how to turn it into win-win.