This and That

38% of adults say climate change is a crisis while another 38% say it is a major problem but not a crisis.

37% say that reducing the negative effects of global warming will require major sacrifices while 48% say it will only require minor sacrifices.

When it comes to funding climate policies, 68% support raising taxes on wealthy households and 60% support raising taxes on companies that burn fossil fuels even if they lead to increased electricity and transportations prices.

On the other hand, a majority oppose a $2 monthly tax on U.S. residential electric bills, adding to the national debt, increasing federal gas tax by 10 cents/gallon or 25 cents/gallon, or a $10 monthly tax on residential electric bills. [WP – Kaiser Family Poll/WP 9/14/19]


18% of U.S. adults say they personally know someone who prefers that others use a gender-neutral pronoun when referring to them.

22% of U.S. adults say they have heard a lot about gender-neutral pronouns. An additional 38% have heard a little.

Not surprisingly, younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to have heard of people preferring gender-neutral pronouns and to know someone who goes by these pronouns.

There is a decided difference between the comfort of Democrats and Republicans if asked to refer to someone by a gender-neutral pronoun. 64% of Republicans say they would be uncomfortable while only 33% of Democrats say they would be uncomfortable. [PEW 9/5/19]


In 2012, 94% of cellphone users had used their cellphones to speak to someone in the prior week. In the spring of 2019, only 45% of cellphone users reported using the cellphone to speak to someone in the previous week. In fact, it had fallen to be the least popular use, behind texting, emailing, posting to social media and using chat apps. [WSJ 10/19-20/19]


Have you ever wanted to determine the number of days between one date and another? WW has discovered that you can Google it.

This issue of WW is dated November 8, 2019 and election day 2020 is November 3, 2020. In the search line of Google, type in “number of days between November 8, 2019 and November 3, 2020”. And the answer is, 361.


At a recent visit with one of my doctors, before he came into the exam room in which I was waiting, I heard him talking to someone about facts relative to my status and treatment.

Then the doctor came in and began his examination and treatment and I realized that he had been talking into his Apple watch, which he did throughout our visit rather than making written notes after our previous visits.


Notwithstanding the fact that Amazon just lost a large DOD contract to Microsoft, it is a special service. Recently I decided to test the speed and economics of the service.

6:00 a.m. September 22 – I decided that I needed a numbered set of three- ring notebook dividers. I am sitting at my desk in our home in N.W. Washington.

6:04 a.m. September 22 – I logged into Amazon, searched under office supplies and scoured through dozens of options for three-ring dividers and eventually found exactly what I was looking for – and ordered it. The cost was $15.63, including delivery scheduled for the next day, September 23.

Later on September 22 – I received confirmation that it had been shipped.

6:11 p.m. September 23 – The package arrived and was logged in at the front desk of our condo building having been shipped from the Amazon fulfillment service center in Lexington, KY.

Next, I went to the website of The Office Depot. I found the same product for $9.99. Next day delivery for purchases under $45 is $9.95. The total cost to have it delivered was $19.94.

Thus, I got the dividers I needed for $4.31 cents less from Amazon than from Office Depot.

(Debbie pointed out that if I had gotten in my car and driven to The Office Depot about a mile and a half from our home, parked the car and gone in and then driven home, it would have been cheaper. But the way I did it was so much easier.)


The average sales prices of a dozen eggs fell to about 92 cents, 30% lower than a year earlier. The reason? Too many overly productive hens, resulting in an oversupply in the market. [FiveThirtyEight.com 10/1/19]


A new National Labor Relations Board rule would block research assistants and graduate students who are teaching, from forming unions on the basis that they do not qualify as employees. [Public Policy 360 9/20/19]


Portrayal of tobacco use in PG-13 movies – when characters are smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products – increased by 120% between 2010-2018. [Shraddha Chakradhar/StatNews.com 10/31/19]


59% of Americans say that the ideal number of pre-show trailers is one to three, while most cinemas screen five to eight trailers ahead of a feature. [Hollywood Report/Numlock News 9/17/19]


Every woman, man, child, sister, brother, mother, father, grandfather who died by gun fire at El Paso, Dayton, Parkland, Tree of Life, Las Vegas, Aurora, Sutherland Springs, Charleston, is important to someone. Until such time as one or more of the people who dies by gunfire are important to public leaders who oppose various forms of gun control…nothing will happen. [WW]