Thursday, September 27, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Water bottles
According to the October issue of Fast Company magazine (page 155:
Last year, Americans threw away 38 billion plastic water bottles, about $1 billion worth of plastic.(1) That's a huge waste, especially considering 1.5 million barrels of oil -- enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year -- were used to produce the bottles.(2) And that's not even including the oil used for transportation.
(1) Fishman, Charles: "Message in a Bottle?" Fast Company, July 2007.
(2) Arnold, Emily; Larsen, Janet: "Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain," Earth Policy Institute, February 2, 2006: earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update51.htm
A motto for the UK?
Gordon Brown reportedly wants to come up with a motto for the UK. The ever-helpful BBC has asked readers to send in suggestions. My personal choice, "The UK - At least it's not France" is the first one listed.
Some of my other favorites:
Britain - All it needs is a coat of paint.
Si non confectus, reficiat (If it's not broke, fix it anyway)
UK: Obesité, Apathé, Hostilité
Bothering foreigners since 1066
It'll brighten up later
May contain nuts
Read the rest here.
Some of my other favorites:
Britain - All it needs is a coat of paint.
Si non confectus, reficiat (If it's not broke, fix it anyway)
UK: Obesité, Apathé, Hostilité
Bothering foreigners since 1066
It'll brighten up later
May contain nuts
Read the rest here.
Friday, September 21, 2007
More advice
Way back in May, I posted my Advice to Young Couples Part 1. My main (if ungrammatical) point was "Fight Fair".
On the Mormon Coffee blog today is a re-statement of what I said, this time directed at posters to that website. They say it so well, I'm quoting it here:
Sound advice for young couples, and the rest of us, too.
On the Mormon Coffee blog today is a re-statement of what I said, this time directed at posters to that website. They say it so well, I'm quoting it here:
Consider these two fictional examples of comments:
“I disagree with your conclusion. I don’t think it makes any sense, and here’s why.”
This is a criticism directed at an argument; it is welcome on Mormon Coffee.
“Jason, you are an idiot. You only talk about this because you hate Mormons. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
This is a criticism directed at a person; it is not part of a respectful dialog.
Christian author and speaker Greg Koukl has pointed out,
“The minute one is labeled mean-spirited simply for raising an opposing view, it cuts off debate. This simply isn’t fair. We avoid what may be a legitimate discussion by simply calling names. Worse, we compromise our ability to know the truth.
“It’s absolutely imperative that we not silence dissent in this way. We ought to learn how to argue fairly, reasonably, and graciously. We need to cultivate the ability to disagree with civility and not take opposition personally. We also must have the grace to allow our own views to be challenged with evidence, reasoning, and Scripture. Those who refuse to dispute have a very poor chance of growing in truth.”
Sound advice for young couples, and the rest of us, too.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The real betrayers
Those foaming-at-the-mouth whiners at moveon.org published a newspaper ad the other day calling General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General of the Multi-National Foce-Iraq, "General Betray-us". They basically accused him of lying. More than that, they implicitly accused the whole military of lying. President Bush, for all his faults, called this one correctly when he said it was "disgusting". Agree with the President or the Democrats, agree with the war or disagree ... there's no reason to call into question the integrity or honesty of our military leaders without cause. Just because what they report isn't what you want to hear doesn't make them dishonest.
So, today, the US Senate considered an amendment to a bill. That amendment was "To express the sense of the Senate that [Petraeus] deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces." Pretty cut-and-dried, right? Doesn't matter which side of the debate you fall on, surely you could support this one, right? Anyone who doesn't agree with this one is a traitor to the United States of America, right?
OK, here's the list, in all it's glory:
Akaka, Hawaii
Bingaman, New Mexico
Boxer, California
Brown, Ohio
Byrd, West Virginia
Clinton, New York
Dodd, Connecticut
Durbin, Illinois
Feingold, Wisconsin
Harkin, Iowa
Inouye, Hawaii
Kennedy, Massachusetts
Kerry, Massachusetts
Lautenberg, New Jersey
Levin, Michigan
Menendez, New Jersey
Murray, Washington
Reed, Rhode Island
Reid, Nevada
Rockefeller, West Virginia
Sanders, Vermont
Schumer, New York
Stabenow, Michigan
Whitehouse, Rhode Island
Wyden, Oregon
Notice the names of a few candidates for President in that list of traitors? Now, here's the real kicker: Mr. Biden of Delaware and Mr. Obama of Illinois simply failed to vote. They knew they couldn't go on record voting against this amendment, but they are so under the thumb of moveon.org that they couldn't vote for it. So skipping the vote saves their political careers for both the election and for the rabid left-wingnuts.
My respect for Ms. Clinton couldn't get any lower (except for that respect I have for a mastermind of crime ... how does she manage to get away with it, time after time?). But any shred of respect I had for the others on that list (Obama and Biden included) is now gone.
So, today, the US Senate considered an amendment to a bill. That amendment was "To express the sense of the Senate that [Petraeus] deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces." Pretty cut-and-dried, right? Doesn't matter which side of the debate you fall on, surely you could support this one, right? Anyone who doesn't agree with this one is a traitor to the United States of America, right?
OK, here's the list, in all it's glory:
Akaka, Hawaii
Bingaman, New Mexico
Boxer, California
Brown, Ohio
Byrd, West Virginia
Clinton, New York
Dodd, Connecticut
Durbin, Illinois
Feingold, Wisconsin
Harkin, Iowa
Inouye, Hawaii
Kennedy, Massachusetts
Kerry, Massachusetts
Lautenberg, New Jersey
Levin, Michigan
Menendez, New Jersey
Murray, Washington
Reed, Rhode Island
Reid, Nevada
Rockefeller, West Virginia
Sanders, Vermont
Schumer, New York
Stabenow, Michigan
Whitehouse, Rhode Island
Wyden, Oregon
Notice the names of a few candidates for President in that list of traitors? Now, here's the real kicker: Mr. Biden of Delaware and Mr. Obama of Illinois simply failed to vote. They knew they couldn't go on record voting against this amendment, but they are so under the thumb of moveon.org that they couldn't vote for it. So skipping the vote saves their political careers for both the election and for the rabid left-wingnuts.
My respect for Ms. Clinton couldn't get any lower (except for that respect I have for a mastermind of crime ... how does she manage to get away with it, time after time?). But any shred of respect I had for the others on that list (Obama and Biden included) is now gone.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I was duped ... but I'm in good company
In an earlier post, I said that the LDS church had issued an "apology" for the events at Mountain Meadows 150 years ago this past September 11. Turns out that the LDS church never intended their message to be taken as any sort of apology, and is apparently quite upset that some people took it that way.
I was led on by the first news story I read about the event, on the Deseret Morning News website. Their reporter, along with the one from the Salt Lake Tribune, simply got it wrong. According to LDS spokesperson Mark Tuttle, “We don’t use the word ‘apology.’ We used ‘profound regret.’”
Read all about it at:
Mormon Coffee
Fox News
I was led on by the first news story I read about the event, on the Deseret Morning News website. Their reporter, along with the one from the Salt Lake Tribune, simply got it wrong. According to LDS spokesperson Mark Tuttle, “We don’t use the word ‘apology.’ We used ‘profound regret.’”
Read all about it at:
Mormon Coffee
Fox News
Monday, September 17, 2007
Kansas Weather
Norma's new car also has a readout of the outside temperature on the dash. As you may recall, Sunday's forecast was for sunny and 87, but it dawned rainy and stayed cool and wet all morning. We left Manhattan shortly after noon, and the temp was in the mid-60s. By the time we got to Salina, the readout said 79. We stopped for a fill-up of E85 (at $1.999 per gallon!), and headed for Hutchinson. By the time we arrived there, the temp read 95. I was sure glad I had brought a short-sleeved shirt!
Comedy on XM
Norma's new car has XM Satellite Radio, and I got quite a bit of windshield time this past weekend with a Saturday trip to Liberty, MO followed by a Sunday trip to Hutchinson, KS. Just like my TV, there's 150 channels, and quite often nothing to listen to.
No, that's not true. I can nearly always find something to listen to. When there's nothing else, I find myself drawn to channel 151, comedy. There are a couple of other comedy channels, especially 150, but 150 doesn't cut any language, and some comedians are very, very prolific users of untidy words. So 151 is it.
Some of the most memorable lines from this weekend on 151 included one guy talking about a blind date in college. "She looked like a test pilot at a broom factory."
Another was the old chestnut about the stammerer who got hired to sell Bibles door-to-door. At the end of the month, he had sold $17,000 worth. The boss called him in and said, "How in the world did you sell so many Bibles in one month? Our usual best salesman is lucky to do $2000!"
The guy replied, "W-w-w-w-well, I j-j-j-just kn-kn-kn-kn-knock on the d-d-d-door, and s-s-s-s-ay, 'W-w-w-w-w-ould you l-l-l-like t-t-t-t-to b-b-b-b-buy a B-B-B-B-Bibie, or w-w-w-would you l-l-l-l-like m-m-m-m-me to r-r-r-r-read it t-t-t-to you?"
No, that's not true. I can nearly always find something to listen to. When there's nothing else, I find myself drawn to channel 151, comedy. There are a couple of other comedy channels, especially 150, but 150 doesn't cut any language, and some comedians are very, very prolific users of untidy words. So 151 is it.
Some of the most memorable lines from this weekend on 151 included one guy talking about a blind date in college. "She looked like a test pilot at a broom factory."
Another was the old chestnut about the stammerer who got hired to sell Bibles door-to-door. At the end of the month, he had sold $17,000 worth. The boss called him in and said, "How in the world did you sell so many Bibles in one month? Our usual best salesman is lucky to do $2000!"
The guy replied, "W-w-w-w-well, I j-j-j-just kn-kn-kn-kn-knock on the d-d-d-door, and s-s-s-s-ay, 'W-w-w-w-w-ould you l-l-l-like t-t-t-t-to b-b-b-b-buy a B-B-B-B-Bibie, or w-w-w-would you l-l-l-l-like m-m-m-m-me to r-r-r-r-read it t-t-t-to you?"
Friday, September 14, 2007
San Franciscans and water
San Francisco is full of funny people, but I doubt if that catches you by surprise. They want to be so eco-friendly. They try hard, they really do. Until it comes to water, that is.
Just like most of the rest of the US, they're all caught up in the bottled water craze. During my week there, I was served water called Calistoga (or something like that). My mind immediately began to picture semi trucks coming down out of the mountains of California loaded with bottles of this stuff. As if water weren't heavy enough, they bottle it in glass. So you can imagine the diesel fumes that are spewed every day just to cart water into San Francisco.
Another day, I was served Fiji water. Yes, it's actually from Fiji. It's bottled at the source from an ancient aquifer. The source is sealed, and the water is never exposed to the atmosphere until you open the cap of the bottle you bought. And it's good water, I'll admit. But then I think about shipload after shipload of it being transported to the US from Fiji. And then I think about truckload after truckload of it going all over the US. (You can even buy Fiji water in Wamego!) And then I think about the tons of fuel being burned to move ... water. So when you do open it, the first atmosphere it's exposed to is full of diesel fumes!
The most amazing part of it all is that I found the San Francisco tap water (at least in my hotel room and at the drinking fountains I used) to have excellent flavor.
In the interest of fairness, I must admit to the occasional purchase of a bottle of water. Sometimes for convenience, but mostly it's because I don't like the taste of Manhattan water. So I buy a case of Wal-Mart's best about once a year. Then I use the bottles to carry water from my house to my office, using a handy canvas totebag. After a year or so, the bottles begin to show too much wear, so they get tossed and I buy another case.
Just like most of the rest of the US, they're all caught up in the bottled water craze. During my week there, I was served water called Calistoga (or something like that). My mind immediately began to picture semi trucks coming down out of the mountains of California loaded with bottles of this stuff. As if water weren't heavy enough, they bottle it in glass. So you can imagine the diesel fumes that are spewed every day just to cart water into San Francisco.
Another day, I was served Fiji water. Yes, it's actually from Fiji. It's bottled at the source from an ancient aquifer. The source is sealed, and the water is never exposed to the atmosphere until you open the cap of the bottle you bought. And it's good water, I'll admit. But then I think about shipload after shipload of it being transported to the US from Fiji. And then I think about truckload after truckload of it going all over the US. (You can even buy Fiji water in Wamego!) And then I think about the tons of fuel being burned to move ... water. So when you do open it, the first atmosphere it's exposed to is full of diesel fumes!
The most amazing part of it all is that I found the San Francisco tap water (at least in my hotel room and at the drinking fountains I used) to have excellent flavor.
In the interest of fairness, I must admit to the occasional purchase of a bottle of water. Sometimes for convenience, but mostly it's because I don't like the taste of Manhattan water. So I buy a case of Wal-Mart's best about once a year. Then I use the bottles to carry water from my house to my office, using a handy canvas totebag. After a year or so, the bottles begin to show too much wear, so they get tossed and I buy another case.
Advertising
I heard it again on the radio yesterday. Some car dealer in Kansas City was having a sale (big surprise there, eh?), and the announcer said that they guaranteed 100% acceptance of all credit applications.
Sure enough, they'll accept your application. Whether or not they'll give you credit is still to be decided.
Sure enough, they'll accept your application. Whether or not they'll give you credit is still to be decided.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Innumeracy, part 2
Today's Wamego Smoke Signal has an interesting factoid on the front page:
This is wrong in a couple of ways. The first is obvious, and I'm surprised that the reporter (or at least the Editor) didn't catch it. If you produce 68 percent of something, you cannot be the second largest producer. In fact, if you produce even the tiniest fraction over 50 percent of something, you're guaranteed to be the biggest producer of that thing. Second, I just don't see how it's possible for Kansas to produce 68 percent of the world's cattle. I'll admit we have a lot of them here, but just think of how many are in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, and a whole lot of other states. Then start thinking about how many are in all the other countries of the world.
If the article had said we produce even 6.8 percent of the world's cattle, I might have done a double-take, but I wouldn't have doubted it too long. That is on the order of a number that strikes me as reasonable ... and yet it's still somewhat larger than I might have expected.
The name of the reporter is a new one for the Smoke Signal, so let's give her the benefit of the doubt. She's probably very new to the job, fresh out of school, and not particularly polished at the art of taking notes at a meeting and then writing a story later. I hope she learns from her mistake. At the very least, Melissa took the paper to her Newspaper class at the High School today, so her fellow journalists could learn from it.
Update: According to the USDA Economic Research Service website, in 2006, Kansas produced $6.25 billion in Cattle and calves. This is 60.4 percent of the state's total receipts from agriculture, and 12.7 percent of the nation's. Our distant second most profitable agricultural activity was Wheat ($1.27 billion) followed by Corn, Soybeans and Hogs. As far as exports, Wheat was number 1 ($912 million), and we were number 1 in the nation in that commodity.
Did you know Kansas produces 68 percent of the world's cattle? We are the second highest producer in the world; Texas came in first.
This is wrong in a couple of ways. The first is obvious, and I'm surprised that the reporter (or at least the Editor) didn't catch it. If you produce 68 percent of something, you cannot be the second largest producer. In fact, if you produce even the tiniest fraction over 50 percent of something, you're guaranteed to be the biggest producer of that thing. Second, I just don't see how it's possible for Kansas to produce 68 percent of the world's cattle. I'll admit we have a lot of them here, but just think of how many are in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, and a whole lot of other states. Then start thinking about how many are in all the other countries of the world.
If the article had said we produce even 6.8 percent of the world's cattle, I might have done a double-take, but I wouldn't have doubted it too long. That is on the order of a number that strikes me as reasonable ... and yet it's still somewhat larger than I might have expected.
The name of the reporter is a new one for the Smoke Signal, so let's give her the benefit of the doubt. She's probably very new to the job, fresh out of school, and not particularly polished at the art of taking notes at a meeting and then writing a story later. I hope she learns from her mistake. At the very least, Melissa took the paper to her Newspaper class at the High School today, so her fellow journalists could learn from it.
Update: According to the USDA Economic Research Service website, in 2006, Kansas produced $6.25 billion in Cattle and calves. This is 60.4 percent of the state's total receipts from agriculture, and 12.7 percent of the nation's. Our distant second most profitable agricultural activity was Wheat ($1.27 billion) followed by Corn, Soybeans and Hogs. As far as exports, Wheat was number 1 ($912 million), and we were number 1 in the nation in that commodity.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
This blog is rated G.
Officially rated "G", that is, and here's the seal to prove it:
They said I used the word "crap" once, but I guess that wasn't enough to merit a "PG" rating. Frankly, I'm surprised I only used that word once, since there's so much crap around to talk about.
Oops. Now I've used it three times.
They said I used the word "crap" once, but I guess that wasn't enough to merit a "PG" rating. Frankly, I'm surprised I only used that word once, since there's so much crap around to talk about.
Oops. Now I've used it three times.
Breaking news ...
...that I'm still reading about. It appears that the LDS church has issued an apology for their part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the cover-up which occurred after that. The killing happened 150 years ago today, and was recently the topic of a movie called "September Dawn." Read along with me:
Deseret News Article
From the LDS website
Text of Elder Henry B. Eyring's remarks
More info later as I find it.
Deseret News Article
From the LDS website
Text of Elder Henry B. Eyring's remarks
More info later as I find it.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
I knew it!
Sometimes I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't like popcorn. It's mostly the smell, I think. Especially the microwave stuff. I always thought that the fumes from that were toxic, and now I have proof!
Read about the toxic fumes here!
Read about the toxic fumes here!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Innumeracy
Over the lunch hour, I heard an old song (1986) on the radio. It is by Wang Chung, and it's called "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".
In the first line of the song, the lyrics say, "I'd drive a million miles to be with you tonight." It's a nice sentiment, but let's look at the reality.
Assume you could average 60 miles an hour. That's driving 75mph or more, with occasional breaks. A million miles at that speed would take a million minutes, which is 16,667 hours. Even driving 16 hours a day, that would take over 1041 days, or the better part of 3 years.
Love (lust?) is blind, and sometimes innumerate.
In the first line of the song, the lyrics say, "I'd drive a million miles to be with you tonight." It's a nice sentiment, but let's look at the reality.
Assume you could average 60 miles an hour. That's driving 75mph or more, with occasional breaks. A million miles at that speed would take a million minutes, which is 16,667 hours. Even driving 16 hours a day, that would take over 1041 days, or the better part of 3 years.
Love (lust?) is blind, and sometimes innumerate.
I still walk the earth...
... but I've been lax at posting lately. I just looked, and the last post I made was while I was in San Francisco. Bad.
I get a little magazine called "Imprimus" from Hillsdale College. It is on my "must-read-immediately" list when it comes in each month. It's only a single article, usually about 4 pages, on a topic of current interest. If you don't get it, you should. It's free. If you can't find out how to get it, let me know and I'll have them add you to the list.
This month's issue is on the Global Warming situation. I was going to write about it here, but my buddy Wes did such a good job that I'll just point you to his blog. I'm lazy that way. He even went to their website and got the entire article and quotes it!
Click here to read it!
I get a little magazine called "Imprimus" from Hillsdale College. It is on my "must-read-immediately" list when it comes in each month. It's only a single article, usually about 4 pages, on a topic of current interest. If you don't get it, you should. It's free. If you can't find out how to get it, let me know and I'll have them add you to the list.
This month's issue is on the Global Warming situation. I was going to write about it here, but my buddy Wes did such a good job that I'll just point you to his blog. I'm lazy that way. He even went to their website and got the entire article and quotes it!
Click here to read it!
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