Saturday, July 07, 2007

It Ain't Easy Being Green

In the “For What It’s Worth” Dept… London’s Daily Mail has an analysis of how green (or not) the Live Earth concerts are. I learned something by reading this… (a) Live Earth ain’t green at all (the promoters are purchasing one million Pounds Sterling worth of carbon off-sets to compensate for LE excesses) and (b) Madonna owns a Maybach, two Range Rovers (models unspecified), an Audi A8, and a Mini Cooper S. OK, she ain’t Jay Leno. But those are still some serious gas hogs. And she’s gonna tell me how to reduce my carbon footprint or otherwise Save The Planet? YaGottaBeKiddingMe.

Mark Steyn, at The Corner:

I want to bequeath the wonders of this earth to the next generation, but I worry that my grandchildren will never know the feeling that you've totally demonstrated your tremendous concern and commitment to taking action just by going to a concert and staying until halfway through the George Michael set when he started doing stuff from the new album. I worry that my grandchildren will never know the thrill of being hectored by Bono and Bob Geldof, and that many already rare species will simply vanish from the earth - Seventies supergroups who've not yet had a long-awaited charity-gala reunion, hot young acts who haven't had the chance to cover "Imagine" with the lights down and everybody in the stadium holding disposable lighters, Eighties girl groups who've not yet reunited for a Playboy shoot, the last three celebrities who haven't duetted with Elton John, bald-headed Eagles doing the 50th anniversary performance of "Hotel California"...

Oh. One more thing. Will I be watching? I’m undecided at this point. Probably not.

And now for something REALLY stupid… Will Her Face Determine His Fortune? Is this the New York Times or The National Enquirer? OK, the prose gives it away, I suppose. But, still. A newspaper with pretensions of being “serious” actually asks the question “Is America ready for a president with a trophy wife?” Must be a slow news day.

But, Hey! Mrs. Fred is a stunner. That’s about as far as I’d go, other than having an occasional private fit of jealousy. I mean...the man is two years older than me. Why am I not with a woman like that? (The question is rhetorical: snarky answers in comments will be deleted.) (OK, not really. The "delete" bit.) (Snark away, if'n it serves ya.)

Here’s some good news on the technology front… “New battery packs powerful punch.”

A new type of a room-size battery, however, may be poised to store energy for the nation's vast electric grid almost as easily as a reservoir stockpiles water, transforming the way power is delivered to homes and businesses. Compared with other utility-scale batteries plagued by limited life spans or unwieldy bulk, the sodium-sulfur battery is compact, long-lasting and efficient.

Using so-called NaS batteries, utilities could defer for years, and possibly even avoid, construction of new transmission lines, substations and power plants, says analyst Stow Walker of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. They make wind power — wildly popular but frustratingly intermittent — a more reliable resource. And they provide backup power in case of outages, such as the one that hit New York City last week.

We’re talking about megawatt-plus batteries here. And they ain’t cheap, yet. Mass-production is expected to bring costs down, and that’s a good thing.

Venus Williams wins Wimbeldon…the men’s final is tomorrow. Ms. Williams was the 23rd seed; this is her fourth Wimbeldon title. Good on her!

Today’s Pic: Scraping the bottom of the archives…again. Here’s an old photo I e-mailed to SN3 back in 2004, that being YrHmblScrb and one of his best buddies, at the time. The Best Bud is Dandy, the ex-GF’s cocker spaniel. Someday I might post a video of him running around the house destroying things.

Clovis, NM. February, 2004.

9 comments:

  1. GBN1 watched the video with me. She said, "Whas that dogs name?" My dogs where watching too, or at least listening. Their ears perked up when Dandy barked. What fun! My rat terrier acts similar to Dandy - killing her toys and barking. The great Dane puppy tries to shake the dog toys, but tends to fall over when she slings her head.

    Okay, I admit it. I wash old bottles and reuse them for water. Does that make me green - about as green as Madonna.

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  2. From the "Will Her Face Determine His Fortune Article" - “I think women have an innate ‘ick’ reaction when they see a wife so much younger and vital than her husband,” Professor O’Connor said.

    What? I've never heard such nonsense. And come on, the woman is 40, not a real young thing. Give me a break. She is beautiful, and apparently smart and successful. I say good for them. The potential for 'ick reaction' is a lot higher when there is a much older woman with a younger man.

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  3. Laurie sez: The potential for 'ick reaction' is a lot higher when there is a much older woman with a younger man.

    Hmmm. Like 51 (female) and 38 (male)? Raises MY eyebrows, LOL! Along with that, I agree with your comments completely, Laurie. The whole article was pretty danged DUMB.

    Lou: Re-using old bottles is pretty "green," if you ask me. I can't visualize The Material Girl doing the same sort of thing. (BTW: I do that, too.)

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  4. "Is America ready for a xxxxx as President" is perhaps the oldest, and definitely most transparent, way to tell the commoners what to think while pretending to be delivering them hard news.

    It is reprehensible as it is worn-out. If I take over the entire country, I intend to ban it from ever being done again, by anyone. It is Number 20 on my list, so you can see you have really hit on one of my pet peeves once again.

    Great job on the Daily Mail article. It's a great supplement to something that stuck in my craw yesterday morning, and I'm sure if I really put the energy into looking for more supporting evidence I'd have no problem finding it. And even though the point of diminishing returns has been crossed in that department, your contribution from DM/uk is a better example than most.

    Laurie, I think the Professor is discussing a very broad cross-section of the fairer sex whereas your comments can only be aplied to yourself, and women who have reached an equivalent maturity level. The difference between his data set, and yours, probably explains the difference in your conclusions. It's just plain old jealousy. If I'm a good looking woman, and I've hit 35, and I see a 70-year-old man married to a 35-year-old woman, that's a possible threat to my "cred." It's just the way people are wired.

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  5. We're on the same page, Morgan. Except for the fact I don't have high-powered REAL climate experts (as opposed to wanna-bee climate experts) commenting on my blog like you do. I was impressed.

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  6. "Laurie, I think the Professor is discussing a very broad cross-section of the fairer sex whereas your comments can only be aplied to yourself, and women who have reached an equivalent maturity level. The difference between his data set, and yours, probably explains the difference in your conclusions. It's just plain old jealousy. If I'm a good looking woman, and I've hit 35, and I see a 70-year-old man married to a 35-year-old woman, that's a possible threat to my "cred." It's just the way people are wired."

    Well, first, the professor is a woman. And second, she is a professor of political science, not sociology or psychology. Thirdly, there is no reference to any study used to support her statement so we don't know if it is based in fact or just based on her own opinion. And, there are a lot of other issues that such opinions are based on besides jealousy.

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  7. Mmmkay, well since I'm not asserting that O'Connor's opinion is meritorious because of her non-existent doctorate in sociology or psychology, or because she's performed a study, or because *cough* she's a man -- since I'm asserting none of those three things, my point stands.

    Geez lady, I was paying you a compliment.

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  8. "since I'm asserting none of those three things, my point stands."

    LOL! Okay. I guess we all agree the article was absurd. And did anyone else notice that next Buck posts about Jack Nicholson and his bevy of young beauties? Coincidence, or was he baiting us?

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  9. Laurie sez: And did anyone else notice that next Buck posts about Jack Nicholson and his bevy of young beauties? Coincidence, or was he baiting us?

    Pure coincidence. If I were that prescient I'd be spending my time shorting stocks rather than posting pics of fat old actors with young nubile women (and not-so-secretly wishing it were me)(except the women I'd be hanging with would be (a) older and (b) a lil more zaftig).

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.