Comments ninshubur has made
The Republicans have made you famous!
I knew it had to happen. It's beautiful. It's like when Republican Senator Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota put challenger Paul Wellstone's face on a dollar in a TV ad: He meant to suggest Wellstone would tax and spend; instead, he associated his opponent with George Washington -- and Wellstone win.
This is hurting them way more than it's hurting you. We should all feel bad for them.On A few choice bits from the hate mail that's come today posted 3 years, 1 month ago 9 Responses
There's only one way to get oil --
You have to drill oil out of the ground, fight over it, go to war over it, build a huge, morally bankrupt infrastructure around it, and then release all of its carbon into the atmosphere when you burn it.
At least with biofuels there are choices. And there is research being done into those choices -- research on biofuels made from rapeseed (canola), from algae, from waste products. We should encourage that research, not just declare war on biofuels because they'll necessarily raze all rainforests.
Biofuels are not all of the solution. But they certainly can be part of it. Here's to a polyfuel future!On Palm oil, that is posted 3 years, 9 months ago 2 Responses
And if you've been to Wyoming
And watched them mine methane from coal-beds, you have even more of a reason.On Natural gas posted 3 years, 9 months ago 4 Responses
And that press
It's appalling to me that the media geisha who attend this administration (I got that from Janeane Garafolo [sp?]) never question this pumped-up rhetoric, these more recent "claims of responsibility" or the government's motives in playing this thing to the hilt. What gives?
Thanks for tracking this stuff, David.On If ELF didn't exist, the Bushies would have to invent it. posted 3 years, 10 months ago 5 Responses
Not just fat prejudice
"In a crowd of guys with serious masculinity issues, this Hummer owner here has got to be one of the gayest. I think he's trying to sodomize that poor rifle."
I hate to be a humorless multiculturalist granola-eating lefty and all that, but isn't that like kinda homophobic? Or like really flat-out offensively hatefully homophobic?
Come to think of it, do we really need to stoop to ridicule to make our points?
I think we're doing a fine job making it uncool to drive Hummers. We don't need this shit. It's not even that funny.On Dweeb between the lines posted 4 years ago 6 Responses
Not just fat prejudice
"In a crowd of guys with serious masculinity issues, this Hummer owner here has got to be one of the gayest. I think he's trying to sodomize that poor rifle."
I hate to be a humorless multiculturalist granola-eating lefty and all that, but isn't that like kinda homophobic? Or like really flat-out offensively hatefully homophobic?
Come to think of it, do we really need to stoop to ridicule to make our points?
I think we're doing a fine job making it uncool to drive Hummers. We don't need this shit. It's not even that funny.On Dweeb between the lines posted 4 years ago 6 Responses
Stand up when you pedal!
It's more efficient and better for your back, too.
(Although personally, I suspect another industry plot here -- like the beef lobby's attack on soy.)On Too much time on a bike can impair sexual performance, researchers say posted 4 years, 1 month ago 8 Responses
recycled pine litter in the compost
I have two fabulous cats, who poop and pee happily in recycled pine litter. I scoop the poop and compost the rest. The cat urine in the compost has an added benefit: Mice and rats associate the smell with death, and give my garden a wide, wide berth.
By the way, the risk of toxoplasmosis can be eliminated if you poop-scoop your cat box regularly -- the stage of the parasite that's shed in feces doesn't become infectious for a full 24 hours. Even better yet: Keep your cat indoors, for the sake of the cat and your local avian ecosystem. Most cats get the disease from killing birds and mice. If nothing else, put a bell on that cat.On Umbra on kitty litter posted 4 years, 2 months ago 25 Responses
Electric "muscle" cars!
Lucy & Umbra:
You should check out these guys who run the electric vehicle segment of the drag-racing community. They build cars to race (I've seen 'em!) but they also build electric cars to motor around in. A guy named Ottmar Ebenhoech in Palo Alto has retrofitted a Porsche 914 to run on batteries, and it's a thing of beauty.
They've also made electric "muscle cars" out of Jeeps and motorcycles.
Depending on how much time (and $$) you have, you might be able to get one of them to give you some good advice. They're all extremely helpful people.
Some links:
SuckAmps EV Racing: http://www.suckamps.com/index.php?page=projects
National Electric Drag Racing:
There's also an Electric Vehicle Discussion List:
Electric Vehicle Discussion List at
ev@listproc.sjsu.eduOtmar's amazing Porsche:
It might not work for you this time around, but it's something for your husband to keep in mind.
Happy Birthday!On Umbra on whether to eco-retrofit an old car posted 4 years, 7 months ago 12 Responses
You're absolutely right
But I'm just not that evolved.On The magazine's editors note that environmentalism is already changing. posted 4 years, 7 months ago 6 Responses
But Pombo's crazy about wind power
It's worth noting that Pombo has a wind thing going on:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pombo7apr07,1,7827754,print.story
Aides to California Rep. Richard W. Pombo pressed officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior last year to suspend environmental guidelines opposed by the wind-power industry without disclosing that Pombo's family had a substantial financial stake in wind energy.
On That's what he called Bush's plan for a hydrogen economy. posted 4 years, 7 months ago 2 ResponsesThe guidelines, issued in 2003, seek to reduce the number of birds killed by the spinning blades of wind turbines, such as those that flank the Altamont Pass east of Oakland.
Hmmmm
Who, exactly, are those greens "rolling their eyes"? I subscribed briefly to the Economist thinking I might learn something, but found it generally badly written and misinformed. That last "slur" -- which I am not a big enough person to ignore -- proves my point.
To not know that environmentalists of all stripes have long been working hard with local and state governments on cost-benefit analyses of sustainable technology and all that stuff strikes me as profoundly ignorant. This kind of generalized nonsense is the reason Michael and Ted are getting so much radio time today.On The magazine's editors note that environmentalism is already changing. posted 4 years, 7 months ago 6 Responses