2015 > How Hot Was It?

Source: NOAA

2015 Was the Hottest Year on Record, by a Stunning Margin.
We actually broke the record for breaking records.
A powerful El Niño is largely responsible for the year’s extremes, but make no mistake: This is what global warming looks like. Temperatures are rising 10 times faster than during the bounce back from the last ice age. Fifteen of the hottest 16 years on record have come in the 21st century.

According to a report  by Tom Randall and Blackie Magliozzi yesterday from Bloomberg Business The heat during 2015 was relentless. Monthly records were broken for every month except January (second hottest) and April (third hottest), according to data from NOAA. The year ended with an exclamation point in December, recording the most extreme departure for any month on record.
Results from the world’s top monitoring agencies vary slightly, but NASA, NOAA, the Japan Meteorological Agency, and the U.K.'s Met Office all agree: 2015 was unprecedented. The heat was experienced differently around the world, but most regions were unusually warm to downright scorching for much of the year.
Up Next: More Broken Records.
The current El Niño has been a bit unusual in that it seemed to start in 2014 before faltering and re-emerging in 2015, said Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. As a result, the warming that typically comes after an El Niño may have already occurred, Trenberth said. "If I had to guess, 2015 will probably beat out 2016."
So 2016 might set another record. Or it might not. But one thing is certain: It won't be normal. Those days are behind us.






January 20, 2016

Open Data from Mesa City Hall >> Where Is It?

Why open data should matter - transparency, efficiency, and innovation.

The simplest reason for why open government data makes sense is that government data belongs to the people – the gathering, maintenance, and analysis of government data is paid for by tax dollars, so citizens should have access to this data.

To be useful this data needs to be in a central location and cataloged so it can be findable. 
It also has to be published in “machine-readable format” so that the user of that data has the ability to perform their own analysis on the data. A .pdf on a hidden page of an agency website doesn’t cut it.
Transparency depends on access to information about what government does.
Open data accomplishes this.

Yours truly got a sweet Tweet two days ago 

Bloomberg Cities tweeted: .@WhatWorksCities is helping 100 mid-sized US #cities use #data & #evidence to make better decisions: #WhatWorks

Mesa applied for and was accepted in an invitation to join Bloomberg Philanthropies WhatWorksCities on Aug 05 of last year.
As of Jan 05, 2016 - six months later - City Hall is still wondering where to begin. Bureaucratic inertia maybe? In some glorious and colorful graphics presented at an Economic Development Advisory Board meeting,



Where to begin was followed with
"City-wide Cross-Functional Collaborations"
1. Transform Neighborhoods
2. Increase prosperity of Mesa residents

-[apologies to Robert Downey Jr. He's recovered]

 

Here a brief 1:03 Chicago Tech YouTube video

Published on Jan 18, 2016

Overview of OpenGrid, an open-source geo-spatial platform that lets users explore events that happen around

 

Here's a 8:30 upload for OpenGrid Intro Tutorial

 

For Spanish speakers a video from Ecuador

 

Taking A Look Re:Tithing | Medieval Practice or Mormon Flat-Rate Income Tax?

Just getting my "daily dose of Mormonism" via inbox from The Mormon News Report 3 hours ago at 7:01 a.m.
Yours truly was busy getting other posts up here on this site, but went back to scan the inbox to keep up-to-date on what's getting published online from Salt Lake City and learning more about that interesting religion.
Way-back-when, your MesaZona blogger and his brother were "altar boys" passing the basket to the congregation in a place of worship. Most people gave what they wanted or could afford to give. Having the pleasure to meet and talk with a few LDS members here, they all made a point to say they paid the 10% obligation to the Mormon Church. [A detail like that would never be asked by me since it's a matter of practicing one's faith].
Nonetheless, the mystery remains ... maybe it's like being required to pay dues if you belong to a union? Maybe it's some kind of income tax levying an exact percentage on what you earn? Are there credits and loop-holes and deductions? . . .

Today there was on Page Two a featured link
Letter to the Editor:
 Utah’s flat tax rate like LDS tithe rate
The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Jan 19 2016 06:42AM    •    Last Updated Jan 19 2016 06:42 am

In "The hypocrisy tax: Utah not shy about taxing the poor" (Jan. 15), the Tribune makes the case that Utah doesn't have a lottery as a means to fund schools and highways because the LDS Church holds that a lottery is too cruel for Utah to use to raise revenue because a lottery will come down hardest on those who can least afford it — the poor.

Yet Utah has hypocritically enacted essentially a regressively flat tax on income as well as relying on regressive sales taxes, both of which impose a disproportionate regressive burden on the poor who can least afford it — while favoring the tax status of the rich and super-rich

Utah's regressive state taxing system actually mirrors the LDS Church's tithing system. The 10 percent tithe on LDS members' income is essentially a regressive flat tax imposing a disproportionate tithing burden on those who can least afford it.

So if a lottery is bad, why aren't the regressive state taxing system and the regressive LDS tithing system held to be equally bad by church authorities?

Don L. Miller

St. George

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There seem to be at least two views of the feudal-age practice for tithing - imposed

1. A tithe (/ˈtaɪð/; from Old English: teogoþa "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government.

Is it a contribution to a religious organization?

Is it a compulsory tax to government?

Maybe a religious organization wrongly thinks it is a government ?????

                         

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2. What is tithing? [following the law anciently?]

To tithe is to freely give one-tenth of one's income annually to the Lord through His Church. . . The Bible indicates that God’s people followed the law of tithing anciently; through modern prophets, God restored this law once again to bless His children. To fulfill this commandment, Church members give one-tenth of their income to the Lord through His Church.

“Tithing is the great equitable law, for no matter how rich or poor we are, all of us pay the same one-tenth of our increase annually (see D&C 119:4), and all of us receive blessings so great ‘that there shall not be room enough to receive [them]’ (Malachi 3:10).”

Source: https://www.lds.org/topics/tithing?lang=eng

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2016’s Best & Worst Cities to Find a Job > Tools in The Economic Development Tool-Box

Let's start off with an assumption that five cities in the Valley of The Sun - Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale and Gilbert - all have access to and use all the same tools in their economic development Tool-Box. [see image to left]
Mesa's Director of Economic Development Bill Jabjiniak writes that it's a competitive environment.
"Today, competitiveness encompasses more than being low cost. Companies focus on regions with features that enhance their productivity and ability to compete in a global marketplace."

He goes on to say that cities in the region are competitors reinvesting and creating economic development tools that they have and use against us [?]
Use this link to access the newsletter >>http://www.mesaaz.gov/business/economic-development/news-room/economic-reporter-newsletter/first-quarter-2016

A fundamental change is underway in the practice of economic development and in the very ways in which regions compete for economic growth.
As the global economy shifted from manufacturing to innovation, geography was supposed to matter less. But the pundits were wrong. A new map is being drawn and it's not about red versus blue or rich versus poor. The rise of American brain hubs is causing huge geographic disparities in education, income, life expectancy, family stability, and political engagement. Dealing with this split—encouraging growth in the hubs while arresting the decline elsewhere—will be the challenge of the century, and The New Geography of Jobs lights the way
Publisher Houghton Mifflin http://www.hmhbooks.com/newgeographyofjobs/

 . . . so how's that working out for Mesa in this region?
Let's take a look at one metric: job creation

The business website WalletHub recently published a study you can find here >> https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-jobs/2173/ about job creation that starts out like this
"Now that 2015 is behind us, it’s time to start thinking again about fresh starts. But whether that entails making a small change or a complete life overhaul, finding a new or better job will be a top New Year’s resolution for many Americans . . . Your luck of finding employment, of course, depends on where you live. In order to assess the relative strength of local job markets, WalletHub’s analysts compared 150 of the most populated U.S. cities across 17 key metrics. They range from job opportunities to employment growth."
The results: Mesa is ranked the lowest of the five cities. [Overall rank numbers are added]
Scottsdale 59.83 #16
Chandler 58.74 #20
Gilbert 57.19 #28
Phoenix 53.08 #47
Mesa 52.75 #50

Room for improvement? .....yes and the questions remain who, how and what strategies can deliver the results and outcomes?

 

Here This Weekend: 26th Annual High Noon Winter Antiques Show

Photos courtesy of Brian Lebel

Over 350 lots of authentic western art, artifacts and collectibles will cross the block at this annual auction taking place here iat the Mesa Convention Center.
To look at this month's events and upcoming events please go here >> http://apps.mesaaz.gov/events/calendar.as
Those going to the show and auction on Saturday can cross directly on Center Street to see two homes featured in
The 16th  Annual Historic Home Tour in Mesa from 10am to 4pm.
Tickets will be available the day of the tour at 9:30 a.m. at a location in neighborhood (stay tuned for details) or tickets may be purchased in advance, online with a credit card.
Until January 22, you can buy tickets online, or in person at the museum. On the day of the tour, you can buy tickets in the historic district.

More details and information can be found in the following link >> http://www.valleyhistoryinc.com/2016-home-tour/
Tickets are $20 and all proceeds benefit the Mesa Historical Museum
Why not make a day or over-night stay for antiques and history in the New Urban DTMesa?  
On/Off Main Street you can Find History by George and antique and collectibles at shops and plazas, The Old Brick House Vintage Market, Primitives at Pole Barn, toys for kids and adults at Lulubell's and Power Pill vintage arcade + salons and boutiques for men and women, cookie and ice cream shops, pizza, coffee shops/galleries and fast-food joints all within blocks of each + blockbuster attractions like Mesa Arts Center, The Arizona Museum of Natural History - and you can find more!

If you are bi-coastal and deep-pocketed you can also attend The Park Avenue Armory Winter Antiques Show that runs for a week

January 22–31, 2016

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Park Avenue Armory

The Winter Antiques Show in New York City is the leading art, antiques, and design fair in America, where curators, designers, and collectors vie for the best works on the market, from Antiquity through the present.

http://winterantiquesshow.com

Highlights for fhe High Noon Winter Antiques Show here in DTMesa include:

• 50 years of western pulp art from three important collections
• The contents of the classic Arizona saddle shop, Carlock Saddlery
• Art and artifacts from the collections of Iron Eyes Cody and his neighbor, artist Clarence Ellsworth
• Great Meanea saddles and other Meanea material
• Roy Rogers' boots
• A massive and elaborate Mexican bridle that belonged to Buck Jones
• Spectacular Native American beadwork from the collection of Bob & Lora Sandroni;
• An extensive collection of saloon barback bottles; and much, much more.

Live, online, phone and absentee bidding options available.

SHOW: Saturday, January 23, 2016
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Sunday, January 24, 2016
9:00 am - 3:00 pm

$10 daily or purchase online and save.
Under 12 free. Free parking.

Show Location:
Mesa Convention Center
263 N. Center Street
Mesa, AZ 85201

Dealer set-up Friday, January 22nd. VIP and early entry tickets available.

AUCTION:
Saturday, January 23, 2016
5:00 pm
Preview Hours:
Thursday, January 21: 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Friday, January 22: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday, January 23: 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Both the Auction and Preview are free and open to the public

Auction Location:
Phoenix Marriott Mesa
200 N. Centennial Way
Mesa, AZ 85201

Next door to the show; free parking.

Host hotel and accommodations:
Phoenix Marriott Mesa
200 N. Centennial Way
Mesa, AZ 85201
800.835.9873 or 480.898.8300
or visit them online

The 4th Industrial Revolution > Ready or Not // Why we need a public cloud for the public good

What do you, dear readers, tune into for the news?
Shocking headline stories yesterday here in Mesa about child abuse/sex trafficking and a gunman pointing a rifle out of a hotel window? or Trump and Palin [what a pair, huh?] attracting viewers like flies to cow-shit? ...
You might have missed what's happening in Davos Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, the annual meeting of business and political leaders.
If those people are all too much to wrap your heads around, there are celebrities speaking also.

Leaders there are focusing on issues impacting the world in the fourth industrial revolution, a digital transformation brought about by ubiquitous, powerful, mobile and networked technologies. It’s not the next technological revolution – it’s already here.
Here's some context - that most mass media don't  provide - As with the three industrial revolutions that came before, this is about more than fancy new technology. The Spinning Jenny of the first industrial revolution didn’t just make it faster and easier to produce textile products – it fundamentally altered the Western world’s social landscape, from one dominated by small, rural craftsmen to one of factory workers and machine manufacture.

The third industrial revolution wasn’t just about personal computers and mobile phones –  research shows it increased the amount of time children spent studying and professionals spent working, breaking down the age-old barrier between public and private life.

Similarly, the fourth industrial revolution will transform everything from how we learn, work, live and socialize, to the way we see the world and our role in it. What distinguishes this revolution from those of the past is its scale and speed. With previous industrial revolutions, change came slowly, sometimes leaving entire countries and continents unaffected. Not this time.

THIS IS NOT A FAST-READ OR A QUICK-JAB > readers will hopefully choose to interact with this page to access and process more information in some links provided.

 

One of the links provided is to the blog that announced yesterday at Davos what Microsoft is doing. [Hey! Satya Nadella, Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer blogs ]

Today Microsoft Philanthropies, the recently-announced expansion of our commitment to global giving, is making a big statement. We will donate $1 billion in cloud computing resources over the next 3 years to 70,000 non-profits and NGOs worldwide.

http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/01/19/why-we-need-a-public-cloud-for-the-public-good/

 

World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

20-23 January 2016 Davos-Klosters, Switzerland

Live Speakers

Agenda-Events-Reports-Projects and webcasts!

Go to >>  World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016

Peer-To-Peer Sharing > Parallel Universe for 2 Bloggers?

First of all, yours truly wanted to bring up the concept of PTP Sharing that hit me  in the head at that Internet of Things DevFest last weekend at the Elliott/Nesbitt Theater in the Mesa Arts Center. You know - where everything gets connected to everybody and everything, right?
Sometimes yours truly feels like a Neanderthal alien in the fast-emerging IoT universe until starting up a conversation with a BlockChain entrepreneur snagged leaving the fest. He nailed it to me by saying "You know the way email disrupted the world. Right? . . "  ah-Hah!
A parallel universe is a theory of a self-contained separate reality co-existing with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality.
It was one of those revelations that rocked my world for sure.
Anyway ... here's a connection to an urban dude not previously known to me: Richard Layman who lives and works in Washington D.C. The only connection between him and me is that your MesaZona blogger enjoyed four years there at Georgetown University way-back-when.
Richard publishes a blog called Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space   
"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging."
Certainly both this blog and that blog tune in on some of the wavelengths
Check him out >> http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/