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Sean McClure

Hamilton and the Saga of the $10 dollar bill

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Last year the move to replace Jackson on the $20 with a woman was replaced with the decision to replace Hamilton on the $10 with a woman.  Now, because of the success of the Broadway musical “Hamilton”  Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the hit Broadway musical“Hamilton,” said on Wednesday that he had received assurances from Jacob J. Lew, secretary of the Treasury, that admirers of Alexander Hamilton would not be disappointed by a forthcoming redesign of the $10 bill.   The New York times discusses this in detail on in an article by Michael Paulson on March 16, 2006.

Of equal interest, and the source of the picture of Hamilton on this page, is this interesting biography of Hamilton from Chris Weller, Gus Lubin and Skye Gould on TechInsider.

Hamilton is important in many ways and has his finger on the pulse of the future economy of America.  This is seen in his Report on Manufactures.

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

Treasury Energy Grant Programs in the News

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In the March 16, 16 online edition of The Hill Naoimi Jagoda discusses Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) questioning Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and IRS Commissioner Koskinen about the lack of oversight in energy grants in the article “Hatch questions Treasury and IRS about energy grant program” .

“This program is far too large with the potential for far too much fraud to simply be left without coordinated and sustained oversight by both the Department and the IRS,” Hatch said.

The article does not go into details about which of the several Treasury energy grant programs it is referring to.

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

Armenia and the historical role of metals

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I have not been able to find many articles on the Hittites lately, so I was pleased to stumble upon an interesting article written by Lilit Mkhitaryan, titled The Legacy of Armenia: Trade, Metallurgy, and Forging of Precious Metals of the Ancient World  on the website ancient-origins.net

The article shows pictures from Metsamor, in the Armavir region of Armenia, which is the oldest metallurgical site in the world, pre-dating sites in the Levant.

Here is a great photo from her article of Metsamor’s  foundry

metallurgical-complex-at-Metsamor,-Armenia

Mkhitaryan connects ancient Armenia, its tin trade and industrial past, to the ancient  trade of raw materials, and weapons with the major powers of the Bronze Age.  She mentions that the site was contested in the past, which ties to the 2014 Polish archaeological findings which show the city was razed in the 8th century BC, possibly by the  Argishti I, the ruler of Urartu.

Armenia-Metsamor-attack

I particularly like the connection to horse domestication and the ancient Armenians.

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

Methane Gas Leaks in California

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The leak by SoCal highlights the problems in this area. One of the articles lists this as a spill similar in scope to the Gulf Coast disaster, but since we can’t see it, it hasn’t gained the same focus.  According to some sites its like putting an additional 7 million cars on the road.

The story about the pilot is fascinating.

The IBTimes article shows the 400 cites in the U.S., all vulnerable to the same

http://www.wired.com/2016/01/meet-scientist-flying-methane-leak/

http://www.ibtimes.com/california-methane-leak-heres-where-over-400-us-natural-gas-storage-facilities-are-2265607

Archaeologists Recreate 4,000-Year-Old Hittite Feast

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In the Sept. 17th edition article of the online Smithsonian, Marissa Fessenden writes about a Hittite feast.  Turkish Archaeologists working at Alacahöyük, see image below, discovered ancient tablets which served as Hittite cook books.

“…wrote that they ate cold meat, cooked onion and bread on a festival day,” he says. “They did not use yeast while making bread or cook them in moist ovens. The team tried to make it with pounded wheat, not sifted flour.” The tablets also included details about olive oil, honey and vegetables as well as the names of more than 100 pastries.  Stone ground buckwheat was also popular.  The Hittites did not use utensils.

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

 

Non-Profit Promoting Youth Lifting

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I recently stumbled across an interesting article written by Jodi Mohrmanm for Jacksonville’s News Channel 4 discussing the benefits of  youth weight lifting.  The article discusses a St. Louis gym called Lift for Life and mentions an article in a pediatrics journal.

I looked for the article and came upon a recent article discussing the need to change exercise regimes for overweight youth.  The article,   A New Direction in Psychology and Health: Resistance Exercise for Obese Children and Adolescents  by Gill A. Ten Hoorab*, Guy Plasquia, Robert A.C. Ruiterb, Stef P.J. Kremersc, Geert M. Ruttenc, Annemie M.W.J. Scholsd & Gerjo Kokb  in the 18, Aug, 2015 edition of Psychology & Health discuss the potential positive psychological benefits of overweight youth doing resistance exercises rather than aerobic exercises.

If the youth are focused into an area of success that creates a positive self image, they are likely to do it more often and successfully, leading to an healthier youth.   The authors list getting over perceptions/misconceptions that weight training is not healthy for youth is a larger challenge.  A 2009 article in Sports Health notes that children as young as 7 and 8 are old enough to begin a weight lifting regimen with proper supervision.

One example of the success of youth lifting is Lift for Life in St Louis.   from the News 4 article (above) and their video it seems like a great program for at risk youth.   The cost is only $500K per year to provide a healthy and safe place for youth.  The organization operates on donations.  I  wonder if this model is sustainable and if it can be replicated beyond one gym in St Louis to other at risk youth across the country.

Not all of us can be like Armenia’s Simon Martirosyan who lifted 182kg (401 lb) see above) for the Snatch & Total Youth World Record, but it inspires the youth to lift to stay healthy.    If you start lifting at a young age the health benefits last a lifetime.

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

Scientists Revive 30,000 year old virus

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Stephanie Papas wrote a great article on 9-15-2015  in Livescience.com about giant frozen viruses, one that is 30,000 years old which scientists were able to revive.   Though not infectious to humans they are able to infect amoebas.

Chantal Abergel, a scientist at the National Center for Scientific Research at Aix-Marseille University in France and co-author of a new study suggested that precautions should be taken when drilling and moving permafrost in the region.

“The researchers’ technique to isolate and study these viruses doesn’t pose a threat to humans or animals, Abergel said, but it’s possible that dangerous viruses do lurk in suspended animation deep belowground, she said. These viruses are buried deep, so it’s likely that only human activities — such as mining and drilling for minerals, oil and natural gas — would disturb them. The discoveries of the giant viruses reveal that they can remain infectious for at least tens of thousands of years, Abergel said. So far, however, scientists have yet to discovery any ancient human-infecting giant viruses.”

The big part of these articles is that these viruses could be revived through the process of global warming.

http://www.livescience.com/52175-ancient-giant-virus-revived-siberia.html

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/09/02/1510795112.abstract

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

Burning all fossil energy would raise sea-level by more than 164 feet – and eliminate all ice of Antarctica

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In the September 11th issue of  Science Advances   http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/8/e1500589   lead author Ricarda Winkelmann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says that

“If we were to burn all attainable fossil fuel resources, this would eliminate the Antarctic ice sheet and cause long-term global sea-level rise unprecedented in human history…”

The article shows new calculations that Antarctica’s long-term contribution to sea-level rise could likely be restricted to a few meters that could still be manageable, if global warming did not exceed 2 degrees. Crossing this threshold, however, would in the long run destabilize both West and East Antarctica – causing sea-level rise that would reshape coastal regions around the globe for millennia to come.

” With cumulative fossil fuel emissions of 10,000 gigatonnes of carbon (GtC), Antarctica is projected to become almost ice-free with an average contribution to sea-level rise exceeding 3 m per century during the first millennium. Consistent with recent observations and simulations, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet becomes unstable with 600 to 800 GtC of additional carbon emissions.”

F2.large

The issue is that at a point on the chart, 600 to 800 GtC, the point of no return and that the melt will continue unabated.    That point, as seen in the chart is fairly early on in the process.

https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/burning-all-fossil-energy-would-raise-sea-level-by-more-than-50-meters-2013-and-eliminate-all-ice-of-antarctica

Winkelmann, R., Levermann, A., Ridgwell, K., Caldeira, K. (2015): Combustion of available fossil-fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science Advances

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

U.S. Factories Expand at Slowest Pace since May 2013

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On 9-1-2015 Oliver Renick wrote on Bloomberg how stocks tumble and factories expand at slowest pace since 2013.   S&P’s worst month since 2012 as reports react to struggling China economy.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-01/u-s-index-futures-drop-after-s-p-500-s-worst-month-since-2012

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

T-Bill Rates Jump To Weekly High

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The Associate Press article describes how the interest rates on short term Treasury bills jumped to the highest level in several weeks during the Monday auction.   The article highlights that:

The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.095 percent, up from 0.050 percent last week. Another $24 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.270 percent, up from 0.200 percent last week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/rates-jump-at-weekly-us-treasury-bill-auction/2015/08/31/3d53db0c-501e-11e5-b225-90edbd49f362_story.html

 

About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House.  Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.  

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