An Act that changed America forever 

• ·          Loneliness is something I experience a lot. My spouse has middle stage alzheimer's and over the past 3 years I have lost not only his companionship but loss of friends, social outings and involvement in community offerings. We've been married 56 years and his apathy and lack of speech has been the most difficult challenge I've had to deal with; he is just there. I won't complain because he is complacent, does everything I ask (if asked the right way) and is not hostile or aggressive. He requires more and more verbal prompting to get out of bed, get dressed, to eat, etc. He goes to day care twice a week so he can have outside structure and involvement and give me a break. I've gotten to the point where I just want to go to sleep when he is gone. Our 3 sons give me verbal and emotional support but are unable to help me with day to day care. I have to use a walker and have my own physical limits so it is challenging. I recently have begun having bath help and housekeeping help; this is so great - really relieves me. How do others deal with loneliness? I've lost contact with lots of internet buddies due to their own personal problems.
• ·       This act is noble. However, I haven't figured out how with all my responsibilities of my 76 yo Mom and 46 yo special needs Brother. He is functional. I do total care of my mom. I retired from 27 yrs with the company and am permanently disabled. I am facing serious lumbar surgery of which I have no alternative. I am beside myself as to how I am going to do that. I am getting worse by the day and the pain especially at the end of every day is excruciating. I do not sleep well. Less than 4hrs and not all together. I have a sister and brother. I will just say they are not help and will not show up. Live less than a few feet of Mom's home (where I moved in to help) and got stuck. I just want to feel normal and alive again. Really lonely. Thanks for this
• ·         Used to be I had friendships that were on an equal footing. No time or mental energy for those relationships any more. Barely enough time to care for 3 needy people and the resultant financial responsibilities. Others tend to see me as a resource, not a friend. Like they say in Washington DC, if you want a friend, get a (companion-type) dog. Yes, more responsibility, but at least they live in the 'now' and love to cuddle.
• ·       I agree that caregiving can cause us to feel lonely. I have not had time in this past year to hang out with friends or even talk to them on the phone. My husband and I don't go out much either. We used to go out with friends, have friends over and go visit friends. Since my mom is getting worse, we rarely do anything. I always feel guilty doing for myself and my family because she is alone. Even though she has a caregiver that comes in a few days a week, I still feel guilty. Therefore, making myself lonely and isolated from my life. I am missing my time with my friends and starting to feel depressed. My mom depends way too much on me. She is planning on moving to an ALF and now is having reserves about it. I have to turn off my phone sometimes because she will call me 5x in a row. then I feel guilty doing that. I am tired of the isolation. I want my life back before my health starts going down.
• ·       For millennia, humans relied on the collective intelligence and strength of a group to defend against predators and forage for food. Just as low blood sugar triggers a hunger response and tissue damage trigger a pain response, so too does loneliness trigger an unconscious biochemical response, compelling us to sate our "hunger" for human connection.
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• Disabled does not mean he/she is not smart New York has largest paratransit system in US followed
• by Los Angeles and Chicago. Los Angeles just took over Chicago in that regard.

THE DISABILITY ACT

On January 23, 1990, the 101st Congress passed the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990" (ADA), which was then signed by President George Bush. It established comprehensive protection for people with a variety of disabilities in many aspects of public life. The impetus for the ADA grew out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. Federal legislation to protect civil rights initially focused on the prevention of racial discrimination. Having seen the federal government involve itself in protecting racial minorities, advocates for the disabled began to agitate for protection for their constituency as well. Their first success came when, in 1988, the Fair Housing Act was amended to add people with disabilities and families with children for the classes of persons covered. Then in 1973, the Rehabilitation Act prohibited discrimination against someone with a disability by anyone receiving federal assistance, but it did not cover discrimination by employers, public accommodations in the private sector, publicly funded programs or those providing federal financial assistance. Coverage for all disabilities did not take place until the passage of the ADA. Findings and purposes of the Congress (1) Some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and that number is increasing as the population as a whole grows older. (2) Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem. (3) Discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services. (4) Unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination. (5) Individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities. (6) Census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in the society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally. (7) individuals with disabilities are a discrete and insular minority who have been faced with restrictions and limitations, subjected to a history of purposeful unequal treatment, and relegated to a position of political powerlessness in the society, based on characteristics that are beyond the control of such individuals and resulting from stereotypic assumptions not truly indicative of the individual ability of such individuals to participate in, and contribute to, society. (8) the nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals. (9) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which the free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity. Purposes (1) To provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. (2) To provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities. (3) To ensure that the federal government plays a central role in enforcing the standards established in this chapter on behalf of individuals with disabilities. (4) To invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day to day by people with disabilities.

Electric Cars

Electric Cars

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~ (7) Years Later in 2017 October 24

Tesla, the US luxury electric car maker, said on Sunday 2017 first-quarter vehicle deliveries jumped 69 percent from a year ago to a quarterly record of 25,000 vehicles, bouncing back from delays in the previous quarter. In comparison, Tesla delivered 76,230 electric cars in 2016, missing its low-end guidance of 80,000 units.

Aston Martin has rarely been considered an eco-friendly brand, but it has announced an electric car of considerable heft

Japanese automaker Toyota is working with advanced new all-solid-state batteries and hopes to have a model on the market by 2022 Japan's biggest automaker is looking to close the gap with EV leaders such as Nissan Motor Co and Tesla Inc as battery-powered cars gain traction around the globe as a viable emission-free alternative to conventional cars.

Ford said it would launch a plug-in hybrid car in China in 2018 and a fully electric sport-utility vehicle in the next five years, as it works toward electrifying most of its lineup in the world's biggest auto market by 2025.

With Mitsubishi, Renault-Nissan is world's largest maker of all-electric cars which comprises the Renault, Nissan, Alpine, Dacia, Datsun, Infiniti, Lada, Mitsubishi and Venucia brands, also reported sales of 480,000 electric vehicles, which is the highest of any automotive group in the world. 

BMW crossed 100,000 cumulative electric-car sales in 2016, after a full three years of production.

Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz launch electric cars: 'anything Tesla can do, we can do better'. Volkswagen, the world's largest car company, said at the Frankfurt auto show in Germany that it expects to sell up to 3 million battery-powered cars by 2025, representing about a quarter of its vehicles. And Daimler luxury brand Mercedes-Benz said it would make an electric model of all of its vehicles by 2022. Volkswagen CEO Diess said sales of VW-brand electric vehicles could total 1 million by 2025, up from a negligible amount today and a projected 100,000 in 2020. VW's other brands include Audi and Porsche.

Despite low gasoline prices and U.S. market share of only 0.5% so far this year for electric cars, investments in the segment are accelerating for regulatory and technological reasons. Sanford Bernstein analyst Mark Newman projected that falling battery costs would make electric cars the same price as gas vehicles by 2021, which is "far earlier than most expect." Mercedes' ambitions are slightly less aggressive. The Daimler brand hopes to sell 500,000 electric vehicles by 2025, Warburton said.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said this week that companies likely will sell 700,000 electric cars in China in 2017. That’s an estimate based on the latest monthly sales figures for September, which hit 77,000, and brought the year’s total EVs sold in China to 398,000 so far. The last three months of the year historically have the best sales of electric cars in the country. China will likely continue to be the largest electric car market for years to come. In 2017 September, a Chinese official indicated that the country plans to develop a long-term plan to eliminate fossil fuel-powered cars completely. 

In comparison, there were 88.1 million cars and light commercial vehicles of all types sold worldwide last year, according to Macquarie Bank. Electric cars made up less than 1 percent of the total number of all cars sold last year.

` (7) years earlier in 2010 December 3 Friday

Electric cars are expected to have a major impact in the auto industry given advantages in city pollution, less dependence on oil, and expected rise in gasoline prices. World governments are pledging billions to fund development of electric vehicles and their components. The U.S. has pledged US$2.4 billion in federal grants for electric cars and batteries. China has announced it will provide US$15 billion to initiate an electric car industry. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has predicted that one in 10 cars globally will run on battery power alone by 2020.

Electric cars are a variety of electric vehicle (EV); the term electric vehicle refers to any vehicle that uses electric motors for propulsion, while electric car generally refers to road-going automobiles powered by electricity. While an electric car's power source is not explicitly an on-board battery, electric cars with motors powered by other energy sources are generally referred to by a different name: an electric car powered by sunlight is a solar car, and an electric car powered by a gasoline generator is a form of hybrid car. Thus, an electric car that derives its power from an on-board battery pack is a form of battery electric vehicle (BEV). Most often, electric car is used to refer to pure battery electric vehicles.

Electric cars enjoyed popularity between the mid-19th century and early 20th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for automobile propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. Advances in internal combustion technology led to a decline in the use of electric propulsion, effectively removing it from important markets such as the United States by the 1930s. However, in recent years interest rose in electric cars, which are perceived to be more environmentally friendly and cheaper to maintain and run, despite high initial costs.

California electric car maker Tesla Motors began development in 2004 on the Tesla Roadster, which was first delivered to customers in 2008. The Nissan LEAF , due to be launched in 2010, is expected to be the first all electric, Surprisingly media forgot about German Automakers plans like Audi , BMW.


All the geniuses here at General Motors kept saying lithium-ion technology is 10 years away, and Toyota agreed with us -- and boom, along comes Tesla. So I said, 'How come some tiny little California startup, run by guys who know nothing about the car business, can do this, and we can't?'

Electric cars are generally more expensive than gasoline cars. The primary reason is the high cost of car batteries.

Most of the running cost of an electric vehicle can be attributed to the maintenance and replacement of the battery pack because an electric vehicle has only around 5 moving parts in its engine, compared to a gasoline car that has hundreds of parts in its internal combustion engine. Electric cars have expensive batteries that must be replaced but otherwise incur very low maintenance costs.. Particularly in the case of current Lithium based designs.

While heating can be simply provided with an electric resistance heater, higher efficiency and integral cooling can be obtained with a reversible heat pump

HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Niicholas Cugnot invents a steam driven vehicle in Paris- 1771
Builds a fuel cell of carbon and nitric acid -1802
Principles of hydrogen fuel cell established – 1839
The first oil well in Titusville, PA – 1859
Invents the lead-acid storage battery – 1860
Invents the 4-stroke Internal Combustion engine (Otto Cycle) – 1876 **********
First electric vehicle was tricycle in Paris – 1881
Edison builds nickel-alkaline battery powered vehicle – 1889
First production of electric cars in Chicago – 1892
Produced first gasoline –powered car – 1893
The word ‘automobile’ is used by Pall-Mall Gazette London - 1895
Electric vehicle sets records of 68.8 miles per hour - 1899
Gas car beat electric car for the first time In Chicago race - 1900
Oil discovered in Texas – 1901 **********
Windshield wiper invented - 1903
Steam powered cars set speed at 127 mile per hour - 1907
Neon sign is used for ads - 1910
Electric starter invented – 1912 **********
Henry ford introduces moving assembly line – 1913**********
Steam and electric cars disappeared - 1921
Germany has 27,000 electric cars in service - 1940
Seatbelts introduced – 1958
__________________________________________________- ______
********** are the main reasons gas cars beats steam and electric cars in those days

Disputes in S China Sea

Spratly Islands, South China Sea

The Spratly Islands of the South China Sea are a potential tinder box in the region. Approximately 44 of the 51 small islands and reefs are claimed or occupied by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. The conflict is the result of overlapping sovereignty claims to various Spratly Islands thought to possess substantial natural resources -- chiefly oil, natural gas, and seafood. Overlapping claims resulted in several military incidents since 1974 and in several countries awarding foreign companies exploration rights in the same area of the South China Sea.

Oil and natural gas reserves in the Spratly region are estimated at 17.7 billion tons; Kuwait's reserves amount to 13 billion tons. The Spratly reserves place it as the fourth largest reserve bed worldwide.

China:
claims all islands in the Spratly region. China entered the dispute in three phases. The first phase encompassed China's claim to the Paracel Islands (which are north of the Spratly Islands) in the 1950s. The second phase took place in 1974, when China seized the Paracel Islands from Vietnam. The third phase began on 14 March 1988, with China's military engagement with Vietnamese forces over the removal of China's flag from a newly claimed shoal. The military clash resulted in China gaining possession of 6 islands in the Spratly region.

The Philippines:
claim approximately 60 of islands in the Spratly region. Joint exploration with Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Alcorn International near the Palawan Island. Phillipines has a mutual defence pact with US. ASEAN member

Vietnam:
claims part of islands in the Spratly region. ASEAN member. Vietnam's intervention in Cambodia and border skirmishes with China was directly linked to this issue

Taiwan:
claims all islands in the Spratly region. The Spratly Islands are strategically important to Taiwan for two reasons: (1) important shipping lanes pass through waters surrounding the Spratly Islands; and, (2) the South China Sea, in general, is fish abundant. Thus, Taiwan feels compelled to protect its interests. Taiwan has a mutual defence pact with US

Malaysia:
is the earliest oil operator in the sea and claims 3 islands and 4 rock groups in the Spratly region. ASEAN member

Brunei:
claims the Louisa Reef in the Spratly region, located adjacent to its coastline. Brunei became an active player in the Spratly disputes only within recent years. ASEAN member