Aaaahhhh….
This is the only way to spend a friday.
One interesting thing about Seattle is how few of my pastimes are possible anywhere nearby.
I managed to find a few decent lakes to fish in, but the nearest airsoft field is an hour drive from me, good metal detecting spots are almost twice that far, anywhere to hunt game is a two-day trip.
I’m going to have to figure out how to marry my hobbies with my desire to live in the city.
Several weeks ago I bought an Airsoft version of a Steyr AUG, it finally arrived today.
I was shocked at how heavy the thing was, it’s mostly metal just like a real version of the rifle.
Now to get the rest of my airsoft outfit.
When Sarah came to visit me I got her a monthly bus card thinking we would use the bus a lot.
This did not come to pass and I ended up carrying the pass around using it for people who I saw paying with cash since nobody on Craigslist wanted to but it at more than 1/20th of it’s face value.
Today a gentleman at the bus stop was getting out cash and happened to mutter, “gotta save to get a pass”. So I gave him that spare one, much to his shock.
That action felt much nicer than letting someone haggle it out of me for a pittance online.
Hopefully he’ll pay it forward.
So, I headed to the lake this evening with my little boat. The weather was partly cloudy, with a light wind.
Didn’t get any bites at all until about 6pm, then anything I threw into the water caught a perch near the Meridian entrance (there is a tree fall blocking this entrance now BTW) the largest one was about 12″. I got one rock bass as well.
They were still biting when I got bored at about 8pm and headed home.
What is up with the price of gas?
By C. Marcus Parr
Who’s responsible for rising gas prices?
Asking this question makes sense when we’re paying so much to fill the tank. Seven years ago, the price for a barrel of crude oil was $30. It recently reached a high of $137. Oil not merely doubled or tripled in price during President Bush’s administration, but more than quintupled.
In all fairness, the staggering cost of gasoline cannot be laid solely at the feet of George W. Bush. Several factors are at play – the falling value of the U.S. dollar, a diminishing supply (or scarcity) of oil versus rising demand, and speculators in the futures market.
The dollar has lost about 60 percent of its value against the euro over the last seven years. It has lost even more value against gold and petroleum. When the dollar drops in value against foreign currency, Americans pay more for a barrel of oil on the international market.
Alternatively, when speculators set oil futures at $130 a barrel, we pay more at the pump and the United States’ trade deficit increases. Our annual oil import bill has risen from $106 billion in 2006 to approximately $500 billion today.
Are speculators at the root of this problem? According to T. Boone Pickens, legendary Texas oilman, the futures market is not a “bubble” about to burst. Oil futures are rising because of scarcity and high demand, not speculation. George Soros, the hedge fund billionaire, counters Pickens’ argument by saying the global oil price explosion is caused by commodity futures’ speculation. He believes that speculation is exaggerating the “true price of oil.”
Are we running out of oil? Some say we’ve already passed Peak Oil. Finding and extracting crude has become difficult for oil companies. Today, worldwide demand for oil is outpacing production.
No matter which view is right or who is at fault, the world economy runs on gasoline and we’re burning it faster than we can pump it out of the ground.
We need to reduce our energy consumption through conservation. This is a good policy for our pocketbooks and the environment. Commute with others. Use mass transit. We have a marvelous bus system in Sandy: Fareless SAM. It’s clean, it’s safe and it’s free!
Save energy by making your home more energy-efficient: insulate, put in new windows or passive solar systems and buy energy-friendly appliances. We need to buy local produce and goods rather than imported goods. Many of us already have vegetable gardens or shop at local farmers’ markets. Yes, it’s true that conservation will take a major change in the way we live, but these habits will pump money into our local economy, help conserve energy and help build a sustainable community.
The other day the New Yorker magazine published it’s July 21, 2008 issue, with cover art by artist Barry Blitt. (Shown below)
It shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist.
The magazine says “the cover is meant to satirize the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the presidential election to derail Obamas campaign”.
But with how stupid the US populace is, do you seriously think they will realize it’s a joke? Especially when there is nothing printed in the magazine that explains or relates to the cover art. The comments from the publisher above came out only after they were questioned regarding the image.
So I try talking to one of my co-workers about the new TSA regulations. And no matter how bad a theoretical situation I bring up he says:
“I don’t care, they can do whatever they want for my safety”
Why oh why are people so willing to give up their freedoms for thinking they are safer?
So I’ve been noticing more and more the rift widening.
And I’ve really been wondering, why?
I’m going to list it as I see it.
#1 Conservatives believe they have a god-given right to anything and everything.
Think about it, they want to anything no matter how bad it is, they want to drive huge cars that get bad gas mileage, they don’t care about the environment, they want to keep every cent of every dollar they ever make for themselves.
In short, they don’t like anyone telling them they have to do ANYTHING.
Why? The USA has become the land of absolute individualism, “Do what you want as long as it directly doesn’t hurt anyone else”, but what about indirectly hurting others? When did that stop mattering? We just think “Gee, that’s not my concern” and go on with our wasteful consumer culture figuring it’ll all work itself out, and we don;t have to be part of the solution.
#2 Liberals see a moral reason to be concerned about indirect hurts.
My car hurts the environment, my choice of hiring illegals or not hurts them and the economy, my bad business tactics are morally hurtful.
Many people seem to think this is somehow weakness, “They just feel guilty for everything”, but in reality it’s an enlightened view that we cannot just care about ourselves.
#3 Money
The USA teaches you that money is hard to get, it’s rare, and you’ll have to work your ass off for it. Along with that you have to pay a ton of money to go to school, so once you have paid for your school you have no desire to make less than possible.
Is this the only way? In Denmark for example school is free.
Yep, it costs nothing to go to school.
If I went to school to learn how to do what I really wanted to do, would there be a learned behavior to somehow feel I needed to earn a ton of money? Highly doubtful.
#4 Welfare
Conservatives do not believe in “Externalities”. They like to believe that all the people that are poor, homeless, on welfare, etc. want to be there. “If they don’t want to be poor they would just work harder”. In truth why should they have to? So long as they are contributing members of society in some way why shouldn’t we help them to have at least a basic level of comfort?
#5 Taxes
It’s an evil word, I know. The forced redistribution of wealth.
But how is it that we still love Robin Hood?
He stole from the rich and gave to the poor, that’s exactly what taxes do, why? Because the rich don’t want to give up their money to help anyone else. Is it wrong for the state to force them to?
Liberals say morally it is our obligation to help others.
Conservatives see it as wage slavery, that they shouldn’t have to give anyone anything or have morals forced on them.
When are we going to start accepting that there is more to life than trying to get ahead for just ourselves and start living in the “United” States of America rather than the divided states of individualism?
Sooner than later I hope.
Your papers please…
TSA Announces Enhancements to Airport ID Requirements to Increase Safety
June 23, 2008
Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity.
This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. Cooperative passengers without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures.
Under the law that created TSA, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, the TSA administrator is responsible for overseeing aviation security (P.L. 107-71) and has the authority to establish security procedures at airports (49 C.F.R. § 1540.107). Passengers that fail to comply with security procedures may be prohibited from entering the secure area of airports to catch their flight (49 C.F.R. § 1540.105(a)(2).
This initiative is the latest in a series designed to facilitate travel for legitimate passengers while enhancing the agency’s risk-based focus - on people, not things. Positively identifying passengers is an important tool in our multi-layered approach to security and one that we have significantly bolstered during the past 18 months.
In short if you refuse to show ID as is your constitutional right you will not be allowed to fly, if you have lost it, or forgot it you will.
Why? We don’t know, since the Bush administration has made all TSA documents “Secret”. Nothing like being forced to follow secret laws.
Fascism anyone?
Body of “flying priest” balloon adventurer recovered off Brazil
July 5th, 2008 by Mohit Joshi
BrazilRio de Janeiro - The body of “flying priest” balloon adventurer Adelir de Carli has been recovered some 100 kilometres off the Brazilian coast, local media reports said Saturday.
Father de Carli went missing in April while attempting to fly with 1,000 helium-filled party balloons tied to a chair. The body was recovered by a tugboat crew off Rio de Janeiro state, reports said.
Police said clothing, a rucksack and shoes left little doubt that the body was that of the priest. DNA tests would be conducted to provide final proof.
Father de Carli, 42, had set out on April 20 on what was planned to be a 20-hour flight from the town of Paranagua, in the state of Parana, to Dourados, in neighbouring Mato Grosso do Sul, to break a 19-hour world record and “to promote religion,” as he put it.
He had also been seeking to raise money to build a chapel and to contribute to the cause of long-distance lorry drivers demanding longer breaks.
He went missing eight hours into the flight attempt as the wind blew him off course towards the sea. Rescue teams at sea later found the balloons the Roman Catholic priest had been using and fragments of what may have been his chair some 50 kilometres from the seaside resort of Florianopolis, in the state of Santa Catarina.
Authorities feared at the time he had fallen into the sea and been dragged south. They broadened the scope of the search, hoping to find De Carli at sea or on an island in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
On January 13, the priest made a successful attempt to fly supported by balloons, travelling 110 kilometres from Ampere, in Parana, to the Argentine town of San Antonio, in a four-hour flight. He used 500 balloons and reached an altitude of 5,300 metres
Friends did not regard de Carli as a “crazy priest” but as an experienced flier and parachutist, who completed several survival courses.
Recently, the list of world’s happiest countries was out.
The winner? Denmark!
The survey for happiest nations was conducted by University of Leicester,and what exactly was asked isn’t revealed. But,what’s striking is that the list which is here, is appearing to be more or less the same in any survey conducted across the globe.
The 20 happiest nations in the World are:
1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
11. Ireland
12. Luxembourg
13. Costa Rica
14. Malta
15. The Netherlands
16. Antigua and Barbuda
17. Malaysia
18. New Zealand
19. Norway
20. The Seychelles
Other notable results include:
23. USA
35. Germany
41. UK
62. France
82. China
90. Japan
125. India
167. Russia
The three least happy countries were:
176. Democratic Republic of the Congo
177. Zimbabwe
178. Burundi
What do I personally find striking about this list? That most of the happiest nations tend to be welfare states, have extremely high tax rates, or general socialistic tendencies.
It’s also worth noting that another survey by livescience.com showed: “Americans are no happier today than they were 50 years ago despite significant increases in prosperity, decreases in crime, cleaner air, larger living quarters and a better overall quality of life.”
So, exactly what gives?
My opinion? The USA will never be happy with “what it haves”. It’s far too busy trying to get more and more and more that people cannot stop and enjoy what they have currently.
Maybe in a few decades that’ll change, but either way we have to drop pure individu
At 71 George Carlin left the stage for the last time the other day.
Vulgar as he was few can argue he spoke volumes about modern life worth listening to.
He’ll be missed.
So, my mother flew me out here from Seattle this weekend to meet the family, for the first time since I was 8 years old my uncles and aunts on my mother’s side of the family are together in the same place.
It’s been a very interesting day to say the least.
So while browsing http://www.thislife.org/ looking for a show I missed recently that I wanted to listen to I noticed a constant request for money.
Not just the general NPR begging but directly to pay for the roughly 15 Terabytes of bandwidth per month that was eaten up by people downloading their podcast.
Immediately a fix sprang to mind, use BitTorrent. People that have no money to donate or don;t want to donate will probably be willing to cough up a little bandwidth.
So I posed the idea to them.
Their response? They said they’d think about it, but I realized they are probably not thrilled about the idea of having their radio shows strewn across the public ether free, since once those shows are archived after 30 days they are no longer free.
So, which is it? Are they offering it up free and asking for donations to cover your bandwidth, or are they using the free shows as a teaser to get people to snag the archived non-free shows?
I’m afraid they can’t have it both ways.
Had a reasonably decent trip to AZ last weekend.
Saw Sarah and the rest of the crew. Everyone seemed happy to have rain come down with me.
Just can’t say i’ve really felt much like babbling lately.
So as I was walking to the bus stopop I saw the bus coming up behind me. Knowing only the #5 served that stop I broke into a run to beat it.
As I came up to the stop only one of the many people waiting got on. “It’s only the local” one lady said to me, my thought in return was “so?”.
According to the bus schedule the #5 express bus would indeed get me to downtown faster, a whole 2 minutes faster. Since the express was due along in 3 minutes the bus I got on will beat it to downtown by 1 minute.
I take a bus earlier than I have to so i’m on time if I miss it and have to take the next one, so either way I get to the office a good 20 minutes early.
I’m glad that i’ve slowed down enough to just be worried about catching the bus, not catching the fastest bus.
Finally getting used to riding the bus. A friend at work gave me an unlimited yearly bus pass which cuts 65$ out of my monthly expenses.
My throat is feeling better little by little and i’m looking forward to seeing Sarah again in a few weeks.
Hopefully work will assign me a permanent shift soon so I can begin scheduling my private life a little more.
Life goes onward.
It’s hard to see but this circle of a line goes all the way around the fourth floor of the Pacific Place shopping center.
They are all waiting for Speed Racer.
I estimate three hundred heads.
(I found out this morning that it was an advanced screening, since it seemed kind of odd for a movie to open on a Monday)
I caught this on the news and even tho i’m not a big sports fan I think it deserves attention.
Carrying injured opponent around bases eliminates CWU from softball playoffs
JOSEPH B. FRAZIER; The Associated Press
Published: May 1st, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: May 1st, 2008 07:36 AMPORTLAND – With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she’d never done, in high school or college.
Her first home run cleared the center-field fence at Central Washington University’s home field in Ellensburg.
But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.
She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she’d be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.
Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count – an act that contributed to their team’s elimination from the playoffs.
Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky. The umpire said there was no rule against it.
So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky’s legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg.
“The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt,” Tucholsky said. “I told her it was my right leg, and she said, ‘OK, we’re going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,’ and I said ‘OK, thank you very much.’”
“She said, ‘You deserve it, you hit it over the fence,’ and we all kind of just laughed.”
“We started laughing when we touched second base,” Holtman said. “I said, ‘I wonder what this must look like to other people.’”
“We didn’t know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run,” Wallace said Wednesday. “That makes the story more touching than it was. We just wanted to help her.”
Holtman said she and Wallace weren’t thinking about the playoff spot, and didn’t consider the gesture something others wouldn’t do. As for Tucholsky, the 5-foot-2 right fielder was in pain.
“I really didn’t say too much. I was trying to breathe,” she said in a phone interview Wednesday.
“I didn’t realize what was going on until I had time to sit down and let the pain relax a little bit. Then I realized the extent of what I actually did.
“I hope I would do the same for her in the same situation,” Tucholsky added.
As the three reached home plate, Tucholsky said, the entire Western Oregon team was in tears.
Central Washington coach Gary Frederick, a 14-year coaching veteran, called the act of sportsmanship “unbelievable.”
For Western Oregon coach Pam Knox, the gesture resolved the dilemma Tucholsky’s injury presented.
“She was going to kill me if we sub and take (the home run) away. But at the same time I was concerned for her. I didn’t know what to do,” Knox said.
Tucholsky’s injury is a possible torn ligament that will sideline her for the rest of the season. Her home run sent Western Oregon to a 4-2 victory, ending Central Washington’s chances of winning the conference and advancing to the playoffs.
“In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much,” Holtman said. “It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run.”
Dave and crew were playing Civilization today.
Seven players in total and the game has been going for about eight hours now.
Been taking some down time lately to try and clean stuff up here.
Had a good time with Dave, Cecile and everyone else Saturday. They had a “meeting & games” day since Dave’s sister was in town.
I’ll babble more when I think of something to babble about.
So lately Rowling is inflamed over a fan publication “The harry Potter Lexicon”.
Does she really think this will impact her wealth? all 1.9 BILLION dollars of it?
If I recall right she came from very poor beginnings, but seems to have totally forgotten that fact.
It seems once a person gets ahead they do all they can to stomp on anyone trying to ride their coattails.
Sure, the guy might be plagerizing her content, but she was all in favor of it when it was online, the least she could have done was bought his Lexicon site or the rights to the book, not sue the guy.
So I bought a Garmin 60cs before I headed from AZ to WA to make sure I could get where I figured I wanted to go, and it’s been working great.
The problem recently has been that the keypad is coming apart.
Here is a link to a photo of the problem:
So I called Garmin to see how much it would cost to get a replacement keypad. I’m good with electronics, i’m sure I could replace it without any trouble. Except they don’t sell parts.
So, I asked how much to repair it, and was aghast to find out they wanted $129.00 to fix it.
I mean seriously, it’s already a damned expensive unit to begin with, but that much just to replace a faulty keypad? Absolutely ridiculous.
So for whatever reason my Moto Q9m has gone dead. (White screen on boot, then shutdown) I changed batteries to my backup and it came up fine.
Beginning to wonder if one of the installed programs is sucking battery life away somehow.
Or perhaps it’s original battery is bad.
Either way i’m going to need to sort it out ASAP.
So recently I ended up in this hellish argument with some folks up here about fertility treatments.
They thought that no matter the cost or the pain it was the right thing to do to keep trying time and time again to have a child of their own. It’s probably pretty obvious but I don’t agree. I think it’s a pointless exercise in futility when there are so many children out there needing to be adopted into a loving family.
As one doctor said to a patient after 3 miscarriages, “Is the point to be pregnant, or to be a parent and raise a child?”.
Unfortunately folks these days can’t seem to accept that being a parent is the important part.
Well, I started my new job Wednesday at Real.com.
It’s not bad at all, I hope it goes well. I’m making almost double my best previous pay rate (And finally making more than Sarah, tho it’s not like I feel I have to, heh. Frankly she should ALWAYS be making more than me considering how hard a worker she is).
The place is really nice. It has a 2-lane bowling alley, a pool table, a ping-pong table, a nap room and a no-fee atm.
It’s also nice that most of the guys in the area i’m in have no idea what the words “Politically correct” mean, heh. And the boss is dryly sarcastic (Except when you screw up).
My commute is about 0 minutes, but I add on 20 minutes just in case I miss a bus. It’s pretty nice to not have to drive. (I never had the option of taking a bus in Phoenix). Tho it seems i’m the exception not the rule, most folks drive (Given that we have non-standard hours because it’s a 24/7 operation it makes for a reasonable commute).
Drawbacks? There are limited options for food in that area, especially given the odd hours. Since i’m a temp I have to buy my own bus pass (tho it’s only 54$ a month). No dental care. Things get insanely stressful when some of the feeds die (I think that’s only really stressing me out now because I feel useless while learning what i’m doing).
All in all it could be far worse.
I only recently found out about the ultra-slim bluetooth keyboards from iGo.
It also seems recently they are completely discontinued.
Today I asked a question via support and got this response:
“The keyboards have all been discontinued and there will be no further updates to them or the drivers. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Best Regards,
iGo Product Support”
Doesn’t really make sense, they seemed to be incredibly popular.
Who would have guessed that the downfall of the Fundamentalist Mormon Church would come at the hands of the Texas Child Protective Services.
They’ve hauled away hundreds of children and arrested one adult. It’s definitely not a public relations win for the FLDS church. And it probably removes one-third of their cult members.
The cops are still digging for evidence, i’m dying to see what they found in the place.
I’m also wondering what other juicy bits of information and new cases they’re going to gain from all the children they took into custody.
Time will tell.
I noticed the following on my news feeds this morning:
“Faced with attempts by anti-Chinese protestors to breach the cordon of security surrounding the procession, the torch-bearer was repeatedly ordered to retreat to the safety of a bus, when the flame was extinguished for safety reasons.
Although the “source”, which is kept in a protective casing similar to a miner’s lamp, remained lit, thus maintaining the flame’s unbroken passage from Ancient Olympia to China, the symbolism of the torch being deliberately put out for the first time ever was the biggest PR disaster of an already deeply disrupted relay.
While the flame had remained alight even with protestors trying to wrench it away from the torch-bearers in London yesterday, the French acted pre-emptively to avoid scuffles.
Pro-Tibet activists trying to reach the foot of the Eiffel Tower had already been driven back by police using loudhailers to demand that protestors carrying Tibetan flags leave a security zone.
Similar demands were not made to those carrying French or Chinese flags.“
From what I read this story is correct, and this marks the first time EVER in the history of the modern Olympics that the torch has been intentionally extinguished.
I think it has been an awful decision by the Olympic committee to hold the Olympics in Beijing, but I guess it’s too late now to change that, the only hope is it’ll cause some change in things as this mess unfolds.
For those of you that are curious, it has gone out a few times in the past:
“When the Olympic flame came to the Panathinaiko Stadium, stadium of the 2004 Summer Olympics, to start the global torch relay, the night was very windy and the torch, lit by the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, blew out due to the wind, but was re-lit from the back up flame taken from the original ceremonial flame at Olympia. This was the second time that the Olympic torch flame was put out.
The first occurred at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Canada. After a rainstorm that doused the Olympic flame a few days after the games had opened, an official relit the flame using his cigarette lighter. Organizers quickly doused it again and relit it using a backup of the original flame.”
Well, I found out this morning that starting next Wednesday I will be gainfully employed.
**cheers**
Making around 50k a year doing techie stuff. Shouldn’t be too bad.
Spent most of today over in Bellevue doing endless paperwork. Ended up coming back right at rush hour, I don’t think i’ll ever be working on the easy side of Lake Washington unless I live there too, traffic on the bridge was awful.
Noticed this as I was out walking today.
Definitely not a car I would park on the side of the road in Seattle.
Seen on a large Toyota Land Rover, I think it fits perfectly.
One has to wonder what meaning the owner gives to it.
It’s fuzzy, but this shows the signal I get in the “accordion” section of the bus. I kinda stumbled onto this fact by accident.
Normally I’m lucky to see 2 satellites, and that’s holding the unit up against the windows.
Here I have 8 solid signals, and the location is to within +/-16 feet.
Looks like Google has a good one going with their new “Gmail Custom Time” Service. It supposedly allows you to backdate up to 10 emails per year.
I made it, kind of crowded but we’ll see how it goes.
**40 Minute presentation**
The speaker this time was a specialist in climate modeling. He did a good job, but the presentation was rather heavy on conspiracy theory relating to the Bush administration and big oil squashing any satellites that might provide proof of global warming. (He didn’t have to try so hard to sell the idea to his audience)
Maybe the one tomorrow will be better.
This is the Moto Q i’ve been using to post with lately. If anyone is curious i’m using the Postie” plugin for Wordpress. It’s not bad, trying to make a few edits but my PHP skill is lacking.
The phone is pretty decent, most things can be hacked with a registry editor.
I noticed this while biking home from the bank.
The field at Ballard High School is getting replaced with astroturf.
I should bring the detector out here before that happens.
Now, before I start this tirade let me make it clear i’m not in favor of making any species extinct.
However, it seems that we’re horribly concerned about any species going extinct.
Why?
Over 99% of species that ever lived are now extinct.
Earth’s largest extinction (the P/Tr or Permian-Triassic extinction event) killed 53% of marine families, 84% of marine genera, about 96% of all marine species and an estimated 70% of land species (including plants, insects, and vertebrate animals).
Do we cry over this? No, the earth moved forward, life held it’s grip, and eventually thrived once again.
So what is different now?
Guilt. We feel guilty because this time we are the cause.
Is that a scientific or logical reason to be concerned? No. Extinction is a natural part of evolution, the cause is a triviality.
Does it really impact the earth in a horrible way if a plant goes extinct? No, the earth doesn’t care, another species moves in to take over.
We don’t like things to change. We like them to stay exactly how they are. So, what happens someday if a species is going extinct due to completely natural reasons that mankind has not impacted? Would we try and save that species too, even tho it’s normal and acceptable for it to go extinct?
I’m sure people would, should they?
Just a test post from my new moto q.
This is the yurt in it’s new location, on the land of it’s new owners.
So I got on the bus yesterday and tried to buy an all-day pass for 3.50 by dropping in 3 1$ coins and 2 quarters. The bus driver said they only sold those on weekends.
Ok, my screwup, I didn’t read the rules, so I lost 2$. I reached for a transfer and he said “You only gave me 1.25″.
Turns out in King County the bus drivers add up the coins dropped into the machine visually.
Am I the only one that thinks that’s exceedingly stupid given that the coin slots allow you to put in dollar coins? Along with the fact the driver has a scant few seconds to look at the coins he’s been given and determine how much was dropped in. (I had used 3 of the new gold dollars too, not the old Susan B’ silver ones)
Called in a complaint about it this morning, doesn’t feel like a situation that should continue as-is.
I tried heading over to a “New to Seattle” group meeting, but I just stood around feeling stupid so I left. I think the problem is when I stop being tactless and sarcastic I have nothing to fill the void with. I end up with no idea what to say.
From there I tried to catch the lecture by Michio Kaku at the Pacific Science Center. It was completely sold out.
And then I got snowed/rained on while I walked a mile to try and find the right bus and waited half an hour for it.
Yeah, i’m just thrilled.
I got about 3/4 of my stuff moved from Olympia to Seattle today.
Made for a really long day. The hand truck I bought was useless on the stairs, so I had to hand-carry everything up.
I am certainly NOT looking forward to doing that again anytime soon.
Tomorrow I’m heading back to snag the rest of my stuff and to help the yurt-buyers get the site ready for the yurt move on the 29th. I’ll be very glad when that is over with.
Off now to find some food. I noticed on the map that “Gordito’s Healthy Mexican Food” is nearby, as opposed to what I wonder, “Bob’s Unhealthy Mexican Food”? I also noticed that Safeway is a whole 2000ft away from here, I don’t know if I can handle that long trip. (Tho I might break down and ride the bike, my feet are killing me)
Well, looks like I get to move in this friday.
Now to figure out when to actually roll out based on traffic.
Kinda looks like there isn’t a “good time”.
Caught this line in an episode of House M.D. that I watched last night.
It sums up my life quite well. I’m not areally a people person, but I am very confident in my abilities. I kind of worry i’ll lose something if I stop being so arrogant, abrasive and tactless.
My first meeting of the day was with an older couple in the Greenlake area. It went smashingly well and I told them i’d take it.
One cause of stress down, several left to go.
Headed back to Seattle tomorrow to try and find a room to rent.
Wish me luck.
Someone else in the house was sick over the weekend, looks like I caught it.
Oh i’m just overjoyed, this is definitely NOT the time to get sick, too many things need to be done..
*sigh*
Now, i’m sure most of you know that Daylight Savings Time (DST) is in effect to save energy by giving people an extra hour of sunlight.
But what if that wasn’t true? I found this article that uh, shed some light on the issue.
From the Wall Street Journal, written by Justin Lahart
For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time, which begins March 9, reduces energy use. But a unique situation in Indiana provides evidence challenging that view: Springing forward may actually waste energy.
Up until two years ago, only 15 of Indiana’s 92 counties set their clocks an hour ahead in the spring and an hour back in the fall. The rest stayed on standard time all year, in part because farmers resisted the prospect of having to work an extra hour in the morning dark. But many residents came to hate falling in and out of sync with businesses and residents in neighboring states and prevailed upon the Indiana Legislature to put the entire state on daylight-saving time beginning in the spring of 2006.
Indiana’s change of heart gave University of California-Santa Barbara economics professor Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. student Laura Grant a unique way to see how the time shift affects energy use. Using more than seven million monthly meter readings from Duke Energy Corp., covering nearly all the households in southern Indiana for three years, they were able to compare energy consumption before and after counties began observing daylight-saving time. Readings from counties that had already adopted daylight-saving time provided a control group that helped them to adjust for changes in weather from one year to the next.
Their finding: Having the entire state switch to daylight-saving time each year, rather than stay on standard time, costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills. They conclude that the reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during daylight-saving time is more than offset by the higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings.
“I’ve never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this,” says Mr. Kotchen, who presented the paper at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference this month.
A 2007 study by economists Hendrik Wolff and Ryan Kellogg of the temporary extension of daylight-saving in two Australian territories for the 2000 Summer Olympics also suggested the clock change increases energy use.
That isn’t what Benjamin Franklin would have expected. In 1784, he observed what an “immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles.” (Mr. Franklin didn’t propose setting clocks forward, instead he satirically suggested levying a tax on window shutters, ringing church bells at sunrise and, if that didn’t work, firing cannons down the street in order to rouse Parisians out of their beds earlier.)
During the first and second world wars, the U.S. temporarily enacted daylight-saving time as an energy-saving measure. Over time, most states began changing their clocks, and in response to the 1973 oil shock, the country extended daylight-saving time in 1974 and 1975. Analyzing that time shift, a 1975 report by the U.S. Department of Transportation concluded that the change reduced electricity demand by 1% in March and April. But in a 1976 report to Congress evaluating that analysis, the National Bureau of Standards concluded that there were no significant energy savings.
Still, the Transportation Department study stuck. Speaking before the House of Representatives in 2002, Indiana Rep. Julia Carson said that under daylight-saving time, Indiana families would save “over $7 million annually in electricity rates alone.”
In 2005, Reps. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Fred Upton of Michigan drafted legislation that would extend daylight-saving time nationwide. Congress approved the amendment, which called for clocks to be sprung forward three weeks earlier in the spring and one week later in the fall. The change went into effect last year.
The energy-savings numbers often cited by lawmakers and others come from research conducted in the 1970s. Yet a key difference between now and the ’70s — or, for that matter, Ben Franklin’s time — is the prevalence of air conditioning.
“In an inland state like Indiana, it gets hot in the summer,” says Steve Gustafsen, a lawyer in New Albany, Ind., who filed a suit in 2000 in an effort to get his county to abandon daylight-saving time. “Daylight saving means running the air conditioner more.”
That was borne out by the study by Mr. Kotchen and Ms. Grant. Their research showed that while an extra hour of daylight in the evenings may mean less electricity is spent on lights, it also means that houses are warmer in the summer when people come home from work. Conversely, during daylight-saving time’s cooler months, people may crank up the thermostats more in the morning.
Still, the case on daylight-saving time isn’t closed.
“My read on this study is that it’s one data point that gives us something to think about,” says Richard Stevie, an economist with Duke Energy, of Mr. Kotchen and Ms. Grant’s research. “I think that additional research really needs to be done.” And UCLA economist Matthew Kahn points out that even if the evidence on Indiana is airtight, the effect of daylight-saving time on other states might be different — a point that Mr. Markey makes as well.
“One study of the situation in Indiana cannot accurately asses the impact of [daylight-saving time] changes across the nation, especially when it does not include more northern, colder regions,” the congressman notes.
There may also be social benefits to daylight-saving time that weren’t covered in the research. When the extension of daylight-saving time was proposed by Mr. Markey, he cited studies that noted “less crime, fewer traffic fatalities, more recreation time and increased economic activity” with the extra sunlight in the evening.
In Indiana, the debate goes on. “The simpler the issue, the more people have opinions about it,” says Indiana State Rep. Scott Reske, who voted against the switch to daylight-saving time. In the aftermath of the time shift, “a lot of people who hated it now love it, and a lot of people who loved it now hate it,” he says. A separate debate over whether the state should be on Central or Eastern Time rages on.
Can you believe this crap?
He went so far as to say this:
“We have no higher responsibility than stopping terrorist attacks,” he added. “And this is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe.”
Yet what attacks has it prevented? What useful information has CIA torture gained us? We don’t know because the whitehouse refuses to release any information. Nice little closed loop of fooling the public, don’t you think?
One more horribly dark stain on GWB’s legacy, and our country as a whole.
Well, I headed to Seattle yesterday to try and find a room to rent.
Unfortunately the places I had lined up to visit were all washouts. Going to try it again this coming weekend and see if I have any better luck.
One of the two couples that came to look at the yurt this weekend decided to buy it!
They’re going to draw up a contract and give me a down payment. Then I get to go to Seattle and find a room to rent and look for work. Everything should be finalized by the end of the month if i’m lucky.
It feels SO good, like i’ve finally gotten rid of the albatross around my neck.
So it seems that everywhere security measures (aka. roadblocks) to getting online secure information have gotten more and more annoying.
It has turned from “please enter your password” to “please enter your password, mother’s maiden name, pet’s name, model of car, city you were born in, blood type, favorite pizza topping, etc.”
Yet both times any of my secure information has been compromised it has been the banks fault. Because their servers were hacked, or someone walked off with the data, or somehow they simply screwed up on the backend.
So it really pissed me off today when Desert Schools asked me one of those questions that I don’t recall giving an answer to.
After 2 failed attempts it locked me out of the account, so I cannot get into it until Monday morning.
I’m beyond pissed at this point. I practice excellent security with my materials, why the fuck do they need to go and screw around with things just because they think it’s going to be an improvement?
Finally, the last of the gear is moved in and the storage is closed. (Public Storage had a “first month for 1 dollar” deal so it was only 23$ total for the storage unit)
Heard a hard “thump” in the truck on the way back to Olympia today. Didn’t see anything wrong when I pulled over, perhaps I lost a wheel weight or something because it still ran fine.
Decided i’m going to try and sell the yurt within the next few months. It’s just much more of a boat anchor for me then I need right now.
Other than that, not alot going on, time to pour my battered body into bed and get some rest.