asking for trouble
Oct. 3rd, 2005 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdSince people have asked, here's the Seattle Art Museum's description of the statue for which funds have been donated. The ... interesting ... fundamentalist "Faith and Freedom Network"'s description does, of course, strike me as slanderous, but is standard old-school "homosexuality==pedophilia" rhetoric.
In nicer news, my carrots are sprouting! They're tiny things, little and green, kind of like unplucked pikmen! Only, you know, if you pull them up they don't walk around and help you kill bugs, find treasure, and stuff. But hopefully they will later turn into yummy food. They're still in a place that's getting a lot of sun, even though the weather really has turned - the heater has kicked on a couple of times already, and there'll be more of that to come no doubt.
I really liked what the horizon looked like this morning - so much so that I ran downstairs and got Paul's camera to shoot it:
Fog at Sunrise
Click here for a much wider view. Seriously, it's worth the click - it's just too wide for livejournal and I hate scrollbars in friends view, so I cropped down a sample to put inline and am just linking to the main shot.
I got out some, in the mid afternoon, just to walk about a bit since the sky had cleared up; it's easy to stay at home right now, since I still mostly can't talk. (I have a little voice back but I'm not using it. It sounds weird, is very quiet, and makes my throat hurt a little. Anyway, writing things out for people is annoying!) I'd planned to walk to market, even still, and take along paper, but it turned out![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
risu was going, so I got her to get some bread and some more cough suppressant, so I didn't have to after all, which saved some time. (I'm researching for another article. And on that topic, I'd like to take a moment to say that RFC 3501 is one of the most opaque mail-related RFCs I've had to trudge through. I dislike it. And I'm no fan of the protocol, either, for that matter. But I digress.)
While I was walking, I was thinking more about energy - oil and its possible replacements, in particular; I'd just read a couple of articles on various estimates about maximum possible biodiesel output using best known technologies - and it kind of sank in that we're already kind of living the lite version of the post-cheap-oil lifestyle. (Note: this is not the same as the declining-supply lifestyle.) Oh, I'm not saying we're anything remotely like energy-independent, because obviously we're not. Nor are we trying to be. But we've succeeded in not being entirely dependent on our car - and personal transport makes up 70% of oil use, nationally. We have a car, we even use it - but it's generally optional. We don't drive it because we have to.
As a result, the price of gas hasn't affected us much directly, despite having been pretty edgy financially for a while. (That's improving, btw. Slowly. But improving!) If oil were to hit $200/barrel tomorrow (which, barring, I dunno, a nuclear exchange in the middle east overnight, it won't) and gas were to hit $12/gallon (or more), it wouldn't be a lifestyle-breaker for us. I'd probably have to stop going to Anime Night, which would be very sad, but that's... kind of it.
At least, not until the inflation wave hit, but hey, that'd be a fun ride for everybody everywhere. :-p
It's not that we're innately immune, it's that we've done a pretty decent job of positioning ourselves for significant oil cost issues. For a lot of the country, this is going to be kind of wrenching. Not life-destroying, but wrenching. For us - well, it'll be more expensive, but it'll also be something like business as usual. It's a pretty good position to be in.
That doesn't mean being finished with thinking about this, don't worry. There're too many ways in which I could be wrong! Not to mention the natural gas issue. That, we're more likely to feel. (Also, something I hadn't considered: the multiplier effect of higher natural gas costs on oil sands recovery costs. Note to self: think about that.) And I don't know enough about biodiesel energy ratios yet. And stuff like that. More stuff to dig into, I suppose.
Anyway, mostly, I'm happy about the carrots and having a nice walk. And the pretty fog this morning when I got up! ^_^
Finally, here, have a flower picture. ^_^ At the P-Patch on 25th, again:
Not Actually Plastic
ph33r me puny mortals!
In nicer news, my carrots are sprouting! They're tiny things, little and green, kind of like unplucked pikmen! Only, you know, if you pull them up they don't walk around and help you kill bugs, find treasure, and stuff. But hopefully they will later turn into yummy food. They're still in a place that's getting a lot of sun, even though the weather really has turned - the heater has kicked on a couple of times already, and there'll be more of that to come no doubt.
I really liked what the horizon looked like this morning - so much so that I ran downstairs and got Paul's camera to shoot it:
Fog at Sunrise
Click here for a much wider view. Seriously, it's worth the click - it's just too wide for livejournal and I hate scrollbars in friends view, so I cropped down a sample to put inline and am just linking to the main shot.
I got out some, in the mid afternoon, just to walk about a bit since the sky had cleared up; it's easy to stay at home right now, since I still mostly can't talk. (I have a little voice back but I'm not using it. It sounds weird, is very quiet, and makes my throat hurt a little. Anyway, writing things out for people is annoying!) I'd planned to walk to market, even still, and take along paper, but it turned out
risu was going, so I got her to get some bread and some more cough suppressant, so I didn't have to after all, which saved some time. (I'm researching for another article. And on that topic, I'd like to take a moment to say that RFC 3501 is one of the most opaque mail-related RFCs I've had to trudge through. I dislike it. And I'm no fan of the protocol, either, for that matter. But I digress.)While I was walking, I was thinking more about energy - oil and its possible replacements, in particular; I'd just read a couple of articles on various estimates about maximum possible biodiesel output using best known technologies - and it kind of sank in that we're already kind of living the lite version of the post-cheap-oil lifestyle. (Note: this is not the same as the declining-supply lifestyle.) Oh, I'm not saying we're anything remotely like energy-independent, because obviously we're not. Nor are we trying to be. But we've succeeded in not being entirely dependent on our car - and personal transport makes up 70% of oil use, nationally. We have a car, we even use it - but it's generally optional. We don't drive it because we have to.
As a result, the price of gas hasn't affected us much directly, despite having been pretty edgy financially for a while. (That's improving, btw. Slowly. But improving!) If oil were to hit $200/barrel tomorrow (which, barring, I dunno, a nuclear exchange in the middle east overnight, it won't) and gas were to hit $12/gallon (or more), it wouldn't be a lifestyle-breaker for us. I'd probably have to stop going to Anime Night, which would be very sad, but that's... kind of it.
At least, not until the inflation wave hit, but hey, that'd be a fun ride for everybody everywhere. :-p
It's not that we're innately immune, it's that we've done a pretty decent job of positioning ourselves for significant oil cost issues. For a lot of the country, this is going to be kind of wrenching. Not life-destroying, but wrenching. For us - well, it'll be more expensive, but it'll also be something like business as usual. It's a pretty good position to be in.
That doesn't mean being finished with thinking about this, don't worry. There're too many ways in which I could be wrong! Not to mention the natural gas issue. That, we're more likely to feel. (Also, something I hadn't considered: the multiplier effect of higher natural gas costs on oil sands recovery costs. Note to self: think about that.) And I don't know enough about biodiesel energy ratios yet. And stuff like that. More stuff to dig into, I suppose.
Anyway, mostly, I'm happy about the carrots and having a nice walk. And the pretty fog this morning when I got up! ^_^
Finally, here, have a flower picture. ^_^ At the P-Patch on 25th, again:
Not Actually Plastic
ph33r me puny mortals!
| You Are Internal - Realist - Powerful |
You feel your life is controlled internally. If you want something, you make it happen. You don't wait around for things to go your way. You value your independence and don't like others to have control. You are a realist when it comes to luck. You don't attribute everything to luck, but you do know some things are random. You don't beat yourself up when bad things happen to you... But you do your best to try to make your own luck. When it comes to who's in charge, it's you. Life is a kingdom, and you're the grand ruler. You don't care much about what others think. But they better care what you think! |
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 09:24 am (UTC)Ah, so that's where all the cool went. We're facing record highs for this time of year, approaching 90F, with fairly high humidity as well. Okay summer, buh-bye now, had enough of you!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 02:36 pm (UTC)My personal situation means I don't have to rely as much on gas as many others - my commute is only around 30 miles a day round-trip and since I can get a good 300 miles out of one tank I can get away with filling up once a little over every week depending on how much other driving I do. It's the vacation drives that get me, really.
Still, filling up last time and putting $30 in the tank was a first.
Alternative Energy
Date: 2005-10-04 03:11 pm (UTC)It occurs to me that a high percentage of energy is now being wasted in friction (and heat) between tire and road. I can't help but wonder whether we are poised for a sea change in power transmission technology, for example a shift from wheeled vehicles to ground-effect (hovercraft) or similar technology. It may be the case that just as rail beds are converted to bike trails, the interstate highway system may one day be converted to rail or some other high speed bulk cargo/ferry/mass transit network, with other existing highways and roadways being used for commuting and leisure.
In the meantime, our family is doing what we can to limit fuel usage. We've managed to keep our gasoline spending flat (by selling one vehicle and limiting use of the other). We spend less time running errands, too, as we now cover multiple destinations in a single trip. It requires better planning, but it seems to be working. We were actually $30 under budget last month. Some of that can be attributed to the drop from $3.02 to $2.76 per gallon in this part of the country, though.
Re: Alternative Energy
Date: 2005-10-04 09:45 pm (UTC)As far as I know, hovercraft are not efficient (even though they have improved). I heard a radio documentary on the hovercraft the other day; the summary at the end of it was that you don't want to use a hovercraft anywhere you could use a boat, and you certainly don't want to use one where a wheeled vehicle would do. It's an appropriate technology for amphibian use, though. (Kind of a shame: as a child I crossed the Channel several times on the large passenger/car hovercraft ferries that were running then, and those things were awesome :) They have since been replaced by catamarans.)
Re: Alternative Energy
As to hovercraft, you are correct; current technology (pioneered in the 1950's and '60s) is impractical for use on dry land. However, it does work pretty well on snow and ice, something we have plenty of here in the Upper Midwest, at least four or five months out of each year. I think ducted fan technology will probably supersede the hovercraft. However, I don't look to the private sector to develop it (without a mandate from government).
The free market, after all, is responsible for the explosion of gas guzzling SUVs on our roads (I know, our family owns one), as well as the reanimation of the 'hemi' powered muscle car, which went extinct along with go-go dancing, platform shoes and the introduction of a 55mph speed limit (which we will see again, before we see fuel rationing). Free market forces are a wonderful thing, one of the tenets of our American society, but we cannot count on the private business sector to lead the way; it never has before.
Without government involvement, the aerospace industry in this country (for example) would still be trying to perfect the rigid dirigible for passenger transport. The Space Program, and all its resultant spin-off technologies which we take for granted in our everyday lives, was mandated by the U.S. government. If our elected officials will lead, then business and industry MUST follow. The other way 'round doesn't work, despite what Republicans would have you believe about the wonders of privatization. That refers strictly to wonderful profit margins.
Re: Alternative Energy
Date: 2005-10-05 08:11 pm (UTC)Mind you, it does look like this is going to happen whatever climate scientists and environmentalists say.
Hydrogen fuel isn't green, except at the point of use; it's really an energy-distribution solution (an alternative to batteries in [electric] cars, and electricity transmission lines across longer distances; hydrogen pipelines would be a more efficient way to move energy than electricity lines) and doesn't solve the overall 'we need energy' problem. Extracting hydrogen uses energy, so hydrogen technology only becomes green when you produce the hydrogen using renewables. A potential advantage is that you may be able to produce hydrogen locally rather than having to transport it around the country (i.e. if you've got a wind farm near the town, you can produce hydrogen for that town).
By the way, not sure if there's some confusion about EU tax rates; VAT *is* sales tax, though it is indeed much higher than typical in the US (17.5% here), and I don't know what you mean by user fees. Maybe you were referring to the additional taxes specifically on petrol, which are indeed very high. This has been suggested as one reason why oil consumption has (apparently) plateaued in Europe, while it's still rising in the US where prices are somewhat subsidised.
Re: Alternative Energy
Date: 2005-10-07 05:59 pm (UTC)User fees are political newspeak for taxes, pure and simple. Example: There is a streetlight across the street from our home. My immediate neighbors and I are assessed a 'user fee' by our municipality for the 'use' of the streetlight. The street it illuminates is a public thoroughfare. This is particularly frustrating, as the light from it shines through our bedroom window, often keeping my wife awake at night! Whenever the state legislature or the city council levies a user fee, at election time they will still boast that they did not raise taxes during their term (when the net result is just that)!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 07:29 pm (UTC)Funny how no one is posting pictures of the design that I can find. If it was so innocent, you'd think they'd be showing off the design to prove their point. Which makes me start to wonder if maybe this statue is as bad as claimed. Why else would you hide it?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 10:06 pm (UTC)The frontmost hill in the picture is the next hill over from our house, and is the hill that goes town towards downtown Kenmore (to the right). Past that, the next hill layer is Bothell. Past that, you've got Woodinville, then the low mountains, then the high mountains.
For comparison, this a picture taken from the other bedroom window, which puts a telephone pole in the way and makes the distance between the trees a bit smaller, but gives you the general idea.
View
Date: 2005-10-05 03:53 pm (UTC)Re: View
Date: 2005-10-05 04:01 pm (UTC)(And yet, we're only eight minutes from major transit! And are walking distance to two major shopping hubs! ^_^)
Re: View
no subject
Date: 2005-10-06 06:35 am (UTC)