Archive for January, 2009
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Coal and Politics
Update: now cross-posted at It’s Getting Hot in Here.
At Grist Magazine, they like to refer to coal as the Enemy of the Human Race. And, while that’s a bit of a rhetorical flourish, it’s true that coal is unavoidably one of the dirtiest ways possible to produce energy. If you’re interested in finding out more [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Work Shell-Shock and frustration
Today we got the surprising news from my boss that he’s leaving for another job in about two months. This sucks. Not only is he the most encouraging, grateful, humorous, relaxed, level-headed boss I could hope for, he’s also taken the station to new heights in development. We busted through past records during our October [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
Conventional Wisdom and Obama
Inspired by this post by Paul Krugman about the economic platitudes in Obama’s inaugural address, I had a thought about conventional wisdom.
Krugman suggests that waiting for conventional wisdom (it’s assumed by wonky types that that refers specifically to the DC political establishment & the media) to arrive at the truth is a recipe for ineffective [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Barack Obama’s inauguration
Barack Obama’s inauguration as our next president is a cause for great celebration. Three decades of conservative dominance, not to mention eight years of corruption and abuse of power, have finally been voted out by the American people. Our first black president will be the most popular president to enter office in the history of [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Encounter at Whately Diner
Let me tell you a little story about the peculiar and fantastic encounter I had tonight. Click below for the full story.
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
What a week.
I’m listening to the Inauguration “We Are One” concert on the NPR website. Tears have come to my eyes several times, including during the singing of the national anthem. There are lots of actors speaking words, and I recognize their voices: Denzel Washington, Laura Linney, Steve Carrell, Tom Hanks.
The contradances the past two nights were [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Snarky Commentary on the News: 1-15-09
Apparently a plane crashed in New York Harbour. I mean, I know it’s evocative of September 11th, but c’mon. It wasn’t even that slow a news day! Glad everyone’s safe, but really, it’s not that big a deal. And why is no one lamenting the lives of the geese that the plain thoughtlessly ran into? [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Vincent Ludwig and Khan.
Ricardo Montalban died this morning. He was 88. Most people knew him from Fantasy Island or The Wrath of Khan, and I never saw the former and enjoyed the latter, but I really knew him for Leslie Nielsen’s The Naked Gun, which I watched over and over again when I was in high school (”I [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Same Old Leaders in Energy Investment
I’m surprised that I got to this front page article in the New York Times before either Grist or Climate Progress (I don’t subscribe to info-overload Treehugger anymore). Titled “Gulf Oil States Seeking a Lead in Clean Energy”, there are a few points that need to be touched on:
There’s certainly some greenwashing going on here. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Alex
Sunday, January 11th, 2009
Coal and Fly Ash
Devilstower on Daily Kos has a phenomenal (I mean truly amazing) article up today about fly ash in coal, you know, the stuff that spilled in Tennessee recently. Seems like the stuff’s really toxic, and it’s managed about as well as that big scary essay is managed by an over-procrastinating high school student. We’ll just [...]
