Friday, Beer Thirty
and
Have a happy!
rojo
Friday, July 17, 2009
Overheard on the Radio
The Rude Pundit visited Stephanie Miller yesterday and they had a few gems I can paraphrase--
The hearings are kind of like Mayberry when a Puerto Rican comes to town...
Jeff Sessions is not used to the help talking back to him.
He kept waiting for someone on the judicial committee to break into Stick to Your Kind from West Side Story
When Lindsey Graham keeps say "I like you" he sounds like an old white guy in a gay bar.
I guess he is going to be a regular guest on that show on Monday mornings.
Could be fun. and probably not safe for work.
rojo
The Rude Pundit visited Stephanie Miller yesterday and they had a few gems I can paraphrase--
The hearings are kind of like Mayberry when a Puerto Rican comes to town...
Jeff Sessions is not used to the help talking back to him.
He kept waiting for someone on the judicial committee to break into Stick to Your Kind from West Side Story
When Lindsey Graham keeps say "I like you" he sounds like an old white guy in a gay bar.
I guess he is going to be a regular guest on that show on Monday mornings.
Could be fun. and probably not safe for work.
rojo
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Odds and Sods
Listening to the radio, watching TV news and reading the paper has given me grist for thought and chuckles. The chuckles started with Stephanie Miller and one of her mooks coining the adjective Massengillatude to describe the douchery of Jeff (racist) Sessions. That should be in the dictionary tomorrow.
One a more serious note, the San Joaquin Valley is going through ground water (well) depths lowering severely. It is causing the actually ground to lower. State Highway 158 or 152 (the one to Los Banos and Dos Palos) has dropped 4-6 feet. Other areas areas have subsdided more. The problem with this is that the dirt does compact and the aquifer, if were to ever receive water again does not expand. The aquifer keeps getting smaller the more the earth subsides. Another problem is the canals from Sacramento that feed the agriculture in the Central Valley are subsiding along with the ground and have developed low spots so they cannot carry as much water as their design calls for. Less water for LA and San Diego and the Central Valley. When will people think about the sustainability of practices, rather than how to USE the water as a MASTER of THE Universe. I mean,how big does your dick have to be? Do you want to bludgeon buildings with it? source Sac Bee
Another is the State Water Resources Control Board is finding that the rivers have too much pesticides washing down from peope's yards and it is killing zooplankton and miniature shrimp. The feature story of today's SacBee showed the drainage right behind my house a major source. I drive the state a lot and see planes applying pesticides to rice fields by the river and KNOW that they overspray and it gets in the water. Household owners overapply weed and bug sprays. Where do you think it goes? Into the river and people wonder why fish don't spawn here anymore. One thing of note in the story is that Stockton does not have these pesticides and herbicides in the effluent of their wastewater plant. It seems they settle out in the ponds or something. I wonder what the sludge has in it? It is probably composted, but the heat of compost will break these down. Iam sure no one has sampled the sludge or compost for that as it is not regulated. These compounds were not even a blink in the eye of regulators when sludge (biosolids) were being regulated.
Here is one that made me want to cry yesterday. The town that was flooded with coal ash is still inundated. And children are getting sick. Of course the Tennessee Valley Authority said everything is safe. The heavy metals in the coal ash are completely safe. Think! The TVA is the largest employer in the State. They produce the water and the power and they have billions of gallons of coal ash waste sitting there. Of course it is safe. They just don't know what to do with it and even if they did know how to get rid of the waste, the cost would be prohibitive. Do they think people are that stupid?
Also, gun sales in Sacramento are up 40+%. In other areas of CA, gun sales are up about 30%. Greatest cause when asked why--We are afriad of what Obama is going to do. (source, Sac Bee, yesterday) What????? Why are people so afraid? I don't get it. Maybe we should quit being so damned afraid. It is not easy, but why are people so afraid of the government? They are going to take my guns in the future so I better buy them now while I can still get them. Are you going to shoot urban deer with your handguns? Take on the army? I can see protection, but I can see myself upon hearing someone trying to break into my house, waking up in a sleep-induced mental fog, try to find my gun, aim it and not kill my houseplants, dogs or my wife as I save my big screen TV. Yes, I am afraid I will have to retire and live in a meth head trailer court with nothing to my name because of the recession. No question about it. But keeping my stuff just is not that high on my list to cause me to start packing in my house. Aside from that, I think if someone tries to break in, my pit bulls bark really, really loud! and scare people. Little do they know that they think they are lap dogs (at 60 pounds).
rojo
Listening to the radio, watching TV news and reading the paper has given me grist for thought and chuckles. The chuckles started with Stephanie Miller and one of her mooks coining the adjective Massengillatude to describe the douchery of Jeff (racist) Sessions. That should be in the dictionary tomorrow.
One a more serious note, the San Joaquin Valley is going through ground water (well) depths lowering severely. It is causing the actually ground to lower. State Highway 158 or 152 (the one to Los Banos and Dos Palos) has dropped 4-6 feet. Other areas areas have subsdided more. The problem with this is that the dirt does compact and the aquifer, if were to ever receive water again does not expand. The aquifer keeps getting smaller the more the earth subsides. Another problem is the canals from Sacramento that feed the agriculture in the Central Valley are subsiding along with the ground and have developed low spots so they cannot carry as much water as their design calls for. Less water for LA and San Diego and the Central Valley. When will people think about the sustainability of practices, rather than how to USE the water as a MASTER of THE Universe. I mean,how big does your dick have to be? Do you want to bludgeon buildings with it? source Sac Bee
Another is the State Water Resources Control Board is finding that the rivers have too much pesticides washing down from peope's yards and it is killing zooplankton and miniature shrimp. The feature story of today's SacBee showed the drainage right behind my house a major source. I drive the state a lot and see planes applying pesticides to rice fields by the river and KNOW that they overspray and it gets in the water. Household owners overapply weed and bug sprays. Where do you think it goes? Into the river and people wonder why fish don't spawn here anymore. One thing of note in the story is that Stockton does not have these pesticides and herbicides in the effluent of their wastewater plant. It seems they settle out in the ponds or something. I wonder what the sludge has in it? It is probably composted, but the heat of compost will break these down. Iam sure no one has sampled the sludge or compost for that as it is not regulated. These compounds were not even a blink in the eye of regulators when sludge (biosolids) were being regulated.
Here is one that made me want to cry yesterday. The town that was flooded with coal ash is still inundated. And children are getting sick. Of course the Tennessee Valley Authority said everything is safe. The heavy metals in the coal ash are completely safe. Think! The TVA is the largest employer in the State. They produce the water and the power and they have billions of gallons of coal ash waste sitting there. Of course it is safe. They just don't know what to do with it and even if they did know how to get rid of the waste, the cost would be prohibitive. Do they think people are that stupid?
Also, gun sales in Sacramento are up 40+%. In other areas of CA, gun sales are up about 30%. Greatest cause when asked why--We are afriad of what Obama is going to do. (source, Sac Bee, yesterday) What????? Why are people so afraid? I don't get it. Maybe we should quit being so damned afraid. It is not easy, but why are people so afraid of the government? They are going to take my guns in the future so I better buy them now while I can still get them. Are you going to shoot urban deer with your handguns? Take on the army? I can see protection, but I can see myself upon hearing someone trying to break into my house, waking up in a sleep-induced mental fog, try to find my gun, aim it and not kill my houseplants, dogs or my wife as I save my big screen TV. Yes, I am afraid I will have to retire and live in a meth head trailer court with nothing to my name because of the recession. No question about it. But keeping my stuff just is not that high on my list to cause me to start packing in my house. Aside from that, I think if someone tries to break in, my pit bulls bark really, really loud! and scare people. Little do they know that they think they are lap dogs (at 60 pounds).
rojo
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Sunday Deep Thoughts
I think the only reason Billy "Fish Lips" Kristol and Newt are so much behind Sarah Palin as a Republican candidate is that they would like to do the Humpty Dance with her. I can see it now, Newt getting a divorce and being the First Man behind Sarah. What a team. BTW, did you see or hear of this?
and secondly, we now know Cheney asked for eight years of secrecy on a super-secret-unspeakable CIA mission. No one still wants to talk about it, or can't because it is so EVIL. What could it be? Assassination? internal probing of the opposite party? We probably need an investigation. and then prosecution. and it would tear at the fiber of this country.
and Jonathan Turley on Keth Olbermann on Friday stated the case only too well. I paraphrase. We now know George Bush and not just Cheney called for many illegal internal and international programs, including lying to get us into war, illegal domestic spying, unofficial CIA programs and worse. Do we have the political will to go after one or more of our leaders in an attempt to find justice not knowing what the outcome is?
Good and pertinent question. If this had happened after Iran/Contra instead of a broad brush forget-about-it, that's--all-water-under-the bridge pardon, Reagan would be known as the man who killed many people in an attempt to keep the commies out of Latin America. Oh yes, brought drugs to the ghetto. All those things. and even better, his accomplices would have been charged and there would have been less fecal matter to become the key components of the Bush Administration.
My opinion is we need to ferret out the corruption now and maybe people will think twice next time. Power does corrupt, as does fear and the past administration used both. But normally those are used for private gain. These guys were just mean bastards. Maybe they liked being sadists? Don't know or want to know, but wonder how any of the elections were even close? Does the majority of America really want to have a beer with a mean, ill read and ill bred sadist? Has this become the american dream?
rojo
I think the only reason Billy "Fish Lips" Kristol and Newt are so much behind Sarah Palin as a Republican candidate is that they would like to do the Humpty Dance with her. I can see it now, Newt getting a divorce and being the First Man behind Sarah. What a team. BTW, did you see or hear of this?
and secondly, we now know Cheney asked for eight years of secrecy on a super-secret-unspeakable CIA mission. No one still wants to talk about it, or can't because it is so EVIL. What could it be? Assassination? internal probing of the opposite party? We probably need an investigation. and then prosecution. and it would tear at the fiber of this country.
and Jonathan Turley on Keth Olbermann on Friday stated the case only too well. I paraphrase. We now know George Bush and not just Cheney called for many illegal internal and international programs, including lying to get us into war, illegal domestic spying, unofficial CIA programs and worse. Do we have the political will to go after one or more of our leaders in an attempt to find justice not knowing what the outcome is?
Good and pertinent question. If this had happened after Iran/Contra instead of a broad brush forget-about-it, that's--all-water-under-the bridge pardon, Reagan would be known as the man who killed many people in an attempt to keep the commies out of Latin America. Oh yes, brought drugs to the ghetto. All those things. and even better, his accomplices would have been charged and there would have been less fecal matter to become the key components of the Bush Administration.
My opinion is we need to ferret out the corruption now and maybe people will think twice next time. Power does corrupt, as does fear and the past administration used both. But normally those are used for private gain. These guys were just mean bastards. Maybe they liked being sadists? Don't know or want to know, but wonder how any of the elections were even close? Does the majority of America really want to have a beer with a mean, ill read and ill bred sadist? Has this become the american dream?
rojo
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Sunday Morning Thoughts
I mentioned watching a man in a wet suit win a $500 bet by swimming the Cuyahoga River recently. Here is an old documentary (1964) about pollution in the area.
What really strikes me about this is, that even then there was so much talk about pollution laws will kill all the business. Sound familiar. Green energy will cost too much. The Clean Water Act did cost money. Did it kill the way we lived? Why, no! Some of the pollution clean up costs were rolled into consumer pricing. Many wastewater plants and water plants were built with government grants, creating jobs, not losing them. duh, whodathunk?
So any time you hear these stoopid talking points, just walk away, like you would a preacher saying the world will end tomorrow. After a while, no one will listen to the stupids.
BTW, the dead fish the kid is kicking is a Carp or a Sucker, killed by pollution. I can still recall watching the river flow by, turning orange, neon green, red and then back to normal. And the silted up spawning beds mentioned by the fisherman are what allowed zebra mussels, a non-native filter feeder to establish themselves.
rojo
I mentioned watching a man in a wet suit win a $500 bet by swimming the Cuyahoga River recently. Here is an old documentary (1964) about pollution in the area.
What really strikes me about this is, that even then there was so much talk about pollution laws will kill all the business. Sound familiar. Green energy will cost too much. The Clean Water Act did cost money. Did it kill the way we lived? Why, no! Some of the pollution clean up costs were rolled into consumer pricing. Many wastewater plants and water plants were built with government grants, creating jobs, not losing them. duh, whodathunk?
So any time you hear these stoopid talking points, just walk away, like you would a preacher saying the world will end tomorrow. After a while, no one will listen to the stupids.
BTW, the dead fish the kid is kicking is a Carp or a Sucker, killed by pollution. I can still recall watching the river flow by, turning orange, neon green, red and then back to normal. And the silted up spawning beds mentioned by the fisherman are what allowed zebra mussels, a non-native filter feeder to establish themselves.
rojo
Friday, July 03, 2009
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Is It Any Wonder?
This, from an article in Salon.com--
"Researchers spent a year approaching almost 14,000 fishery experts, including marine biologists, fishery managers and university professors around the globe, asking them to take an online survey in either English, French, Spanish, German or Portuguese about local fishing practices and policies. Almost 1,200 completed the survey from 243 countries and territories, including representatives from every country that borders the ocean. The survey asked the experts about their respective nations' scientific data about fish populations and ecosystems, and how they translated those scientific findings into regulations and enforcement.
The dismal results: Only 7 percent of coastal states did rigorous scientific assessments to generate fishing policies; a pitiful 1.4 percent have a participatory and transparent process for turning that science into policy; and fewer than 1 percent had strong mechanisms to insure enforcement with fishing policies."
You have to love that only 1.4% of the world's fisheries have done a scientific approach and asked what may be sustainable before making policy. It is my guess that the other 98.6% make policy by looking at tea leaves, scratching their privates, seeing how much they can make in graft and future investments, nod their heads sagely and either exceed to expedient requests or throw darts to make policy that governs one of the largest food resources in the world. And if you were to lok at enforcement of fishing policies, I am sure that the above order is changed so that graft is above nodding sagely and scratching privates. Just a guess. If the researched and projected date of 2048 for viable marine "harvesting" (great euphamism, that--shows little of the dignity of drag nets or bottom trawling, as if there were any to begin with), is correct; then, there really is little time to change a world culture.
and many, many people will then go hungry and the world will lose species after species.
a helpful guide.
rojo
This, from an article in Salon.com--
"Researchers spent a year approaching almost 14,000 fishery experts, including marine biologists, fishery managers and university professors around the globe, asking them to take an online survey in either English, French, Spanish, German or Portuguese about local fishing practices and policies. Almost 1,200 completed the survey from 243 countries and territories, including representatives from every country that borders the ocean. The survey asked the experts about their respective nations' scientific data about fish populations and ecosystems, and how they translated those scientific findings into regulations and enforcement.
The dismal results: Only 7 percent of coastal states did rigorous scientific assessments to generate fishing policies; a pitiful 1.4 percent have a participatory and transparent process for turning that science into policy; and fewer than 1 percent had strong mechanisms to insure enforcement with fishing policies."
You have to love that only 1.4% of the world's fisheries have done a scientific approach and asked what may be sustainable before making policy. It is my guess that the other 98.6% make policy by looking at tea leaves, scratching their privates, seeing how much they can make in graft and future investments, nod their heads sagely and either exceed to expedient requests or throw darts to make policy that governs one of the largest food resources in the world. And if you were to lok at enforcement of fishing policies, I am sure that the above order is changed so that graft is above nodding sagely and scratching privates. Just a guess. If the researched and projected date of 2048 for viable marine "harvesting" (great euphamism, that--shows little of the dignity of drag nets or bottom trawling, as if there were any to begin with), is correct; then, there really is little time to change a world culture.
and many, many people will then go hungry and the world will lose species after species.
a helpful guide.
rojo
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Cleveland Rocks!
I came across this article on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland in the Sacramento Bee today. I know it sounds very weird, but that river actually burnt! I can remember drinking beer watching a man win a $500 bet by swimming the width of the river in a wetsuit. Randy Nueman wrote a song about it. We can owe much of our environmental regulations at the nationwide disgust at the way the industrial corridor in the Akron/Cleveland area treated the river. Sewage plants dumped barely settled sewage into the river and its tributaries!
As a kid, we were not allowed to play in the river or any of the creeks that fed it. I can remember a storm sewer burning and discharging an oily goo into the area we played ball and picked raspberries. Fish did not go up the river to spawn from Lake Erie for over 18 years, and then it was clean enough for one pike and one bluegill. Now, my little brothers catch steelhead trout, salmon (both transplanted breeds) on the river and its tributaries. They can catch fish in Lake Erie and keep the little guys with less mercury (coal-fired power plant gifts) to eat. Now there are 40 species of fish! It is pretty cool.
and silliness from today's paper--
rojo
I came across this article on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland in the Sacramento Bee today. I know it sounds very weird, but that river actually burnt! I can remember drinking beer watching a man win a $500 bet by swimming the width of the river in a wetsuit. Randy Nueman wrote a song about it. We can owe much of our environmental regulations at the nationwide disgust at the way the industrial corridor in the Akron/Cleveland area treated the river. Sewage plants dumped barely settled sewage into the river and its tributaries!
As a kid, we were not allowed to play in the river or any of the creeks that fed it. I can remember a storm sewer burning and discharging an oily goo into the area we played ball and picked raspberries. Fish did not go up the river to spawn from Lake Erie for over 18 years, and then it was clean enough for one pike and one bluegill. Now, my little brothers catch steelhead trout, salmon (both transplanted breeds) on the river and its tributaries. They can catch fish in Lake Erie and keep the little guys with less mercury (coal-fired power plant gifts) to eat. Now there are 40 species of fish! It is pretty cool.
and silliness from today's paper--
rojo
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sextoy Chappedass
OMG, I was listening to Saxby Chambliss on Hardball tonight just before bed. He stated that absolutely the people in Iran do not hold it against the U.S. that the CIA overthrew their democratic government in 1953. Has he forgotten that the Ayatollah was the end result of the revolution to overthrow the remnants of the government we installed? I am sure that no one in Iran remembers that. And this hairbrained asshole is a Senator. on committees. And he kept talking about some Iranian named AmyJinnyDad. The last DAD had two syllables. Nice respect. Maybe learn the President of Iran's name. He might consider it disrespect if on national television I called him Sextoy ChappedAss all night.
What a tool.
rojo
OMG, I was listening to Saxby Chambliss on Hardball tonight just before bed. He stated that absolutely the people in Iran do not hold it against the U.S. that the CIA overthrew their democratic government in 1953. Has he forgotten that the Ayatollah was the end result of the revolution to overthrow the remnants of the government we installed? I am sure that no one in Iran remembers that. And this hairbrained asshole is a Senator. on committees. And he kept talking about some Iranian named AmyJinnyDad. The last DAD had two syllables. Nice respect. Maybe learn the President of Iran's name. He might consider it disrespect if on national television I called him Sextoy ChappedAss all night.
What a tool.
rojo
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Thoughts on a Sunday
My morning ritual involves reading the paper and slowly sipping tea and then reading internet news. Around 2006, I was so mad at everything, I started posting. Today, I did the same and just wonder why I even bother to read anymore. If I were a depressive, I would be drinking by now. Okay, Bloody Mary's sound good any Sunday morning, but if I were to start drinking, it would be because I was in a good mood--not for depression.
What made me so depressed?
1) Iranian elections. Not as subtle as the Bush stealing of 2000 and 2004. There he only had to cheat in one state in each election. And if Republicans really believed in the true outcome of elections, like they state in Minnesota now, they would have waited for a complete recount. But I digress. Now the incumbent declared victory by a huge margin even as the polls were closing. And then the challenger is arrested. Gotta love a democracy. They learned well as we replaced the democratically elected government with the Shah years ago.
2) Right Wing Patriot Groups. The Minutemen actually invade a home and kill 2. WTF? What, were they non-whites? The worst part is that just like the late 60s, I fear that there will be much more right-wing, race violence. Is it to undignified for Janet Napolitano to go "Nayh, nayh, I told you so!" or to rescind her apology?
3) Can Mitch McConnell move to CA for a short time so he can have a chin transplant? Nothing like watching a chinless person play macho and try to break bad while looking like Elmer Fudd. I guess this my deep thought for the day.
4) Water wars in CA. Todays Sac Bee (best local paper I have had the pleasure of reading since the Des Moines Register!!!!) had an editorial section today again focused on water rights, animal rights and water use. Not once in that debate did anyone mention sustainability. Let's see, the population tripled in the last 20 years, there are government tax breaks (aka welfare and grants) for growing water hungry corn and alfalfa in a desert, people in Sacramento use 300+ gallons of water per day (national average has decreased back to around 125) and the NPDES discharge permit system in CA has no nitrient limits! Ammonia (aka a fishkiller found in human waste) is okay to discharge because we believe that the solution to pollution is dilution. The rivers are big. I have run small wastewater plants in mountain communities of less than 400 people who have exceedingly more strict discharge permits. I mean, San Diego has primary settling, which means settle some condoms and sanitary pads, some toilet paper and some feces settle out and then they chlorinate the hell out of it and pump it to sea. The ocean can dilute a ton, I guess. AAARRRGGGH! The arguments are all wrong. They are all about how we can USE the resource the best, not protect it.
Well, to ease my mood, here is a hot little toone. After that, walk the dogs. And sorry, but again a dinosaur band.
rojo
My morning ritual involves reading the paper and slowly sipping tea and then reading internet news. Around 2006, I was so mad at everything, I started posting. Today, I did the same and just wonder why I even bother to read anymore. If I were a depressive, I would be drinking by now. Okay, Bloody Mary's sound good any Sunday morning, but if I were to start drinking, it would be because I was in a good mood--not for depression.
What made me so depressed?
1) Iranian elections. Not as subtle as the Bush stealing of 2000 and 2004. There he only had to cheat in one state in each election. And if Republicans really believed in the true outcome of elections, like they state in Minnesota now, they would have waited for a complete recount. But I digress. Now the incumbent declared victory by a huge margin even as the polls were closing. And then the challenger is arrested. Gotta love a democracy. They learned well as we replaced the democratically elected government with the Shah years ago.
2) Right Wing Patriot Groups. The Minutemen actually invade a home and kill 2. WTF? What, were they non-whites? The worst part is that just like the late 60s, I fear that there will be much more right-wing, race violence. Is it to undignified for Janet Napolitano to go "Nayh, nayh, I told you so!" or to rescind her apology?
3) Can Mitch McConnell move to CA for a short time so he can have a chin transplant? Nothing like watching a chinless person play macho and try to break bad while looking like Elmer Fudd. I guess this my deep thought for the day.
4) Water wars in CA. Todays Sac Bee (best local paper I have had the pleasure of reading since the Des Moines Register!!!!) had an editorial section today again focused on water rights, animal rights and water use. Not once in that debate did anyone mention sustainability. Let's see, the population tripled in the last 20 years, there are government tax breaks (aka welfare and grants) for growing water hungry corn and alfalfa in a desert, people in Sacramento use 300+ gallons of water per day (national average has decreased back to around 125) and the NPDES discharge permit system in CA has no nitrient limits! Ammonia (aka a fishkiller found in human waste) is okay to discharge because we believe that the solution to pollution is dilution. The rivers are big. I have run small wastewater plants in mountain communities of less than 400 people who have exceedingly more strict discharge permits. I mean, San Diego has primary settling, which means settle some condoms and sanitary pads, some toilet paper and some feces settle out and then they chlorinate the hell out of it and pump it to sea. The ocean can dilute a ton, I guess. AAARRRGGGH! The arguments are all wrong. They are all about how we can USE the resource the best, not protect it.
Well, to ease my mood, here is a hot little toone. After that, walk the dogs. And sorry, but again a dinosaur band.
rojo
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Loose Ends
There was good story on the shut down of a nuclear power plant in the Sacramento Bee on Sunday. It was closed by popular vote 20 years ago. Sacramento Utilities (SMUD) has since gone into wind, solar and preventative means. The article listed one means I never thought of. My wife and I have always been amazed at how many trees there are here, particularly after living in semi-arid Colorado. Well, SMUD planted 500,000 trees to keep it cooler as along term energy plan. It works! I had a long conversation with a treatment geek who works with our firm in Burbank and she was going gaga over the green roofs she had seen in Chicago for cooling. They have been used in Germany extensively and are now finding a home in the Midwest. I am reminded of John Todd's Living Machines he wanted to introduce to urban areas and the greenhouse wastewater plants he conceived. They worked well and had specific application. In fact, for small plants, as photovoltaic cells are further developed, they would work great. Here is another source for living machines. Plants do amazing things. There has been little follow up on the work of Kathe Siedel of the Max Plank Institute as she tried to show which plants preferred which pollutants, or emitted antibacterial and antiviral secretions that could be used to partially disinfect wastewater.
Another item I saw last week were signs over plowed fields stating Congress Caused Dust Bowl. This meant the field was prepped and plowed, but there was no water allocation for irrigation as there just is not enough water for people, wildlife and farming. This year farming is losing. In fact, there was yet another ruling in Congress that fish ladders have to be built so slamon can spawn where they used to. This a means there must be enough water allocated for fish spawning. Apparently it has gotten to the point where killer whale pods are starving because there is no salmon to eat because they have no spawning areas anymore. This is a water battle that will get worse. There were miles of dead fruit trees down I-5 as irrigation is not available. CA is used to redirecting water, draining lakes and rivers, etc for economic advantage This is codified in state law, even for wastewater.
Finally, I see the Supreme Court is stopping the Chrysler sale until it can review the claims of those who are losing investment. This could be a rough one. And will effect GM. This could put a big stop on any economic recovery. Maybe the Court could look at bonuses while they're at it for bankers.
rojo
There was good story on the shut down of a nuclear power plant in the Sacramento Bee on Sunday. It was closed by popular vote 20 years ago. Sacramento Utilities (SMUD) has since gone into wind, solar and preventative means. The article listed one means I never thought of. My wife and I have always been amazed at how many trees there are here, particularly after living in semi-arid Colorado. Well, SMUD planted 500,000 trees to keep it cooler as along term energy plan. It works! I had a long conversation with a treatment geek who works with our firm in Burbank and she was going gaga over the green roofs she had seen in Chicago for cooling. They have been used in Germany extensively and are now finding a home in the Midwest. I am reminded of John Todd's Living Machines he wanted to introduce to urban areas and the greenhouse wastewater plants he conceived. They worked well and had specific application. In fact, for small plants, as photovoltaic cells are further developed, they would work great. Here is another source for living machines. Plants do amazing things. There has been little follow up on the work of Kathe Siedel of the Max Plank Institute as she tried to show which plants preferred which pollutants, or emitted antibacterial and antiviral secretions that could be used to partially disinfect wastewater.
Another item I saw last week were signs over plowed fields stating Congress Caused Dust Bowl. This meant the field was prepped and plowed, but there was no water allocation for irrigation as there just is not enough water for people, wildlife and farming. This year farming is losing. In fact, there was yet another ruling in Congress that fish ladders have to be built so slamon can spawn where they used to. This a means there must be enough water allocated for fish spawning. Apparently it has gotten to the point where killer whale pods are starving because there is no salmon to eat because they have no spawning areas anymore. This is a water battle that will get worse. There were miles of dead fruit trees down I-5 as irrigation is not available. CA is used to redirecting water, draining lakes and rivers, etc for economic advantage This is codified in state law, even for wastewater.
Finally, I see the Supreme Court is stopping the Chrysler sale until it can review the claims of those who are losing investment. This could be a rough one. And will effect GM. This could put a big stop on any economic recovery. Maybe the Court could look at bonuses while they're at it for bankers.
rojo
Saturday, June 06, 2009
New American Car Company
So, Roger Penske of Smart car and Indy racing and rental truck fame (he used to be a racer, too, back in the hay day of American sports car racing). Now, an offer sheet for Saturn. He will purchase cars from GM factories until 2011. Then, ??? My guess is he will will have his own engineers or purchase engineered packages from whatever manufacturer will provide the best that he sees. A car company without its own manufacturing arm. Hey, privatization can work or fail miserably. My guess is with his track record, he will succeed.
With all that said, today's music video is a good one from King Crimson
Have a good weekend,
rojo
So, Roger Penske of Smart car and Indy racing and rental truck fame (he used to be a racer, too, back in the hay day of American sports car racing). Now, an offer sheet for Saturn. He will purchase cars from GM factories until 2011. Then, ??? My guess is he will will have his own engineers or purchase engineered packages from whatever manufacturer will provide the best that he sees. A car company without its own manufacturing arm. Hey, privatization can work or fail miserably. My guess is with his track record, he will succeed.
With all that said, today's music video is a good one from King Crimson
Have a good weekend,
rojo
Monday, June 01, 2009
A Sad Day, GM Declares Bankruptcy
A few words on the subject from Michael Moore.
And a few from me. It is a shame that the bizheads there never caught on to what America wanted and needed. It is a classic case of poor management plus. OMG. First, planned obsolescence. Then, bad cars. Fighting emission and safety regulations. Yet having some of the best engineers money can produce. The culture just sucked. My dad worked for them designed scrapers (Euclid) and dozers. When they were purchased by a West German firm (okay, there is no more West Germany--let's you know how long ago that was), he was amazed at what they had to work with. No more unmuffled deisels using the same transmission as a stressed member for twenty years. You could actually speak next to the machines as they ran, and many transmissions and design possibilities were open. He was happy he had to think again.
The culture sucked. It was all about non-innovation and sales and maximizing profits. Sad that mediocrity could last so long. They weren't always mediocre.
And Michael Moore is right--we could actually diversify and build things that work and are relevant. What a shock.
rojo
A few words on the subject from Michael Moore.
And a few from me. It is a shame that the bizheads there never caught on to what America wanted and needed. It is a classic case of poor management plus. OMG. First, planned obsolescence. Then, bad cars. Fighting emission and safety regulations. Yet having some of the best engineers money can produce. The culture just sucked. My dad worked for them designed scrapers (Euclid) and dozers. When they were purchased by a West German firm (okay, there is no more West Germany--let's you know how long ago that was), he was amazed at what they had to work with. No more unmuffled deisels using the same transmission as a stressed member for twenty years. You could actually speak next to the machines as they ran, and many transmissions and design possibilities were open. He was happy he had to think again.
The culture sucked. It was all about non-innovation and sales and maximizing profits. Sad that mediocrity could last so long. They weren't always mediocre.
And Michael Moore is right--we could actually diversify and build things that work and are relevant. What a shock.
rojo
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