Some stats that I recently compiled...
Top ten states in residential energy efficiency:
1 Hawaii
2 California
3 New Mexico
4 New York
5 Utah
6 Texas
7 Arizona
8 Massachusetts
9 Rhode Island
10 Nevada
Bottom ten states in residential energy efficiency:
41 Montana
42 Wyoming
43 Tennessee
44 Kentucky
45 Indiana
46 South Dakota
47 Nebraska
48 Missouri
49 West Virginia
50 North Dakota
Top ten overall energy efficiency:
1 New York
2 Hawaii
3 Rhode Island
4 California
5 Massachusetts
6 Connecticut
7 New Hampshire
8 Florida
9 Arizona
10 Vermont
Bottom ten overall energy efficiency:
41 Montana
42 Indiana
43 West Virginia
44 Kentucky
45 Texas
46 Iowa
47 North Dakota
48 Louisiana
49 Alaska
50 Wyoming
Least energy consumed per generated:
1 West Virginia
2 Wyoming
3 North Dakota
4 Arizona
5 Alabama
6 New Hampshire
7 Montana
8 South Carolina
9 New Mexico
10 Pennsylvania
Most energy consumed per generated:
41 Virginia
42 Minnesota
43 Massachusetts
44 Louisiana
45 Idaho
46 California
47 New Jersey
48 South Dakota
49 Delaware
50 Alaska
Top ten renewable consumers as a percentage of their total consumption:
1 Washington
2 Maine
3 Oregon
4 Montana
5 South Dakota
6 Idaho
7 Vermont
8 Iowa
9 New Hampshire
10 Alabama
Bottom ten renewable consumers as a percentage of their total consumption:
41 Kentucky
42 Rhode Island
43 Louisiana
44 West Virginia
45 Texas
46 Utah
47 Ohio
48 Alaska
49 Delaware
50 New Jersey
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Uncharted Waters
Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, Iran and now Palestine. The Arab (and Persian) world is at a crossroads. All of these countries' leaders have fled, announced new elections, or clamped down on dissent. This will have vast and mixed consequences. We thin of democracy as always being good, but it can also bring about the most dangerous populist movements. The popular opinion of the U.S. and Israel is not favorable and, if that sentiment is reflected in the newly installed governments, it will most certainly mean rough seas ahead for our international relations in that region. On the other hand, Iraq's Nuri Al Maliki has announced that he will not run for another term in office. That could be an incredibly positive precedent for such a young government - much like George Washington stepping aside after only two terms in office during our own Nation's infancy. I would love to have a bright forecast on this, or any forecast at all, but I can only wonder. All of this uprising and fallout seems to have no particular flash-point and that confuses me. I cannot point to one group who is instigating and therefore I cannot predict a course for the future. The world seems to be sailing in ucharted waters. It is exciting and unnerving.
On a side note, I have recently discovered the Showtime series, Dexter. It is my new addiction.
On a side note, I have recently discovered the Showtime series, Dexter. It is my new addiction.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
DADT
The Senate passed a repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell today and it is a certainty that the president will soon ratify it. I am surprised by the speed with which this happened and pleased that those who offer their lives in the service of this country will now be able to do so without hiding their sexual identity. This is long overdue.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Warming Back Up
Yeah, it's been a while. I mean a long while since my last post. Give me a break. I've been getting my ass beat in the weeds of North Cakalakie (sp). so anyway, I didn't want to get right back into it with a long rant. I think that might just tire me out before I actually finish it. So here are a couple of articles to keep those conspiracy theory juices flowing:
Enjoy!
- Fox is a bunch of misleading assholes (again): http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012150004
- The EPA hates Bee People: http://www.fastcompany.com/1708896/wiki-bee-leaks-epa-document-reveals-agency-knowingly-allowed-use-of-bee-toxic-pesticide
Enjoy!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Writing for the Sake of Keeping Up?
It's almost the end of July and I am just now writing my first post of the month. Boo me. I can't even hide behind the excuse of having been too busy because that would just be false. Meh...
Some things in the news:
The Oil Spill:
I have mostly stayed away from this because there has been so much commentary in the media that I really don't have anything new to add. It is an incredibly sad event for the families of the lost oil workers and it is an environmental catastrophe - not to mention the damage that it will do to the economy of the Gulf Coast, which was just starting to recover from Hurricane Katrina. BP, for its part, has presented to the American public a parade of excuses, deflections, and criminally low estimates of the damage. The federal government, meanwhile, stands by helplessly while trying to convey the illusion that it has the situation under control. All of this has been said and my additions are nothing new, but there they are.
The Israeli Flotilla Raid:
A bunch of activists (many, though not all, with obvious extremist ties) set sail from Turkey with about six ships filled with aid supplies, knowing that they would be violating this Israeli naval blockade and that they would be putting themselves in great physical danger. I see this kind of like charging a police riot line - you may not agree with those guys with the batons, but that isn't going to make it hurt any less when you find yourself getting clubbed in the temple. Except of course that these were not police that the ships were challenging. They were the military, who is not trained very well in the art of detaining, but who are trained very well in the art of extreme physical violence. Knowing this, the activists on the ships could not have actually thought that their primary goal was to provide aid. If they had wanted to do that, they would have gone through the checkpoints like all the other international aid. But instead the goal was to create an international incident - which is exactly what they did.
I feel that I have to address my feelings about the Israeli position, lest I seem more lenient on them than I actually am. I have seen excerpts from the list of banned items and some of them do seem unreasonable. In addition to that, Israel has long grown tired of fruitless negotiations with Hamas (the faction that controls Gaza) and their reaction has been to forge ahead with policy unilaterally. This provides them with ability to move "forward," but not always in the most productive way. Israel - as with all democracies - is subject to whatever political power has been installed by its finicky electorate and those powers often make rash decisions in order to placate an oft reactionary and ill-informed constituency. I believe Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. Israel seems to be making that point. Israel is, at its core, a country of good people and a country that has every right to exist within secure and recognized borders. I just with it could get there more amicably.
Secret Military Documents Released:
Everyone seems to be getting all panty-bound about money being wasted, secret units that hunt high priority targets, Pakistan's ISI likely training or funding certain Taliban elements, the fact that drones sometimes miss and kill civilians, the revelation of shaky or downright misleading intelligence, or the stunning realization that some elements of the chain of command sometimes question our tactics about winning the war. All of that has been discussed extensively in the public already and, while the documents that have just been released may be classified, the fact their contents are true is not a secret. What should be getting people upset are things like the sudden wealth of after-action reports and that these reports may provide those who wish us ill an ability to find patterns, revealing strategies and tactics which, if discovered, may pose a grave threat to our cause and servicemen downrange.
I guess that's all I have the energy to discuss for now. More later, maybe.
Some things in the news:
The Oil Spill:
I have mostly stayed away from this because there has been so much commentary in the media that I really don't have anything new to add. It is an incredibly sad event for the families of the lost oil workers and it is an environmental catastrophe - not to mention the damage that it will do to the economy of the Gulf Coast, which was just starting to recover from Hurricane Katrina. BP, for its part, has presented to the American public a parade of excuses, deflections, and criminally low estimates of the damage. The federal government, meanwhile, stands by helplessly while trying to convey the illusion that it has the situation under control. All of this has been said and my additions are nothing new, but there they are.
The Israeli Flotilla Raid:
A bunch of activists (many, though not all, with obvious extremist ties) set sail from Turkey with about six ships filled with aid supplies, knowing that they would be violating this Israeli naval blockade and that they would be putting themselves in great physical danger. I see this kind of like charging a police riot line - you may not agree with those guys with the batons, but that isn't going to make it hurt any less when you find yourself getting clubbed in the temple. Except of course that these were not police that the ships were challenging. They were the military, who is not trained very well in the art of detaining, but who are trained very well in the art of extreme physical violence. Knowing this, the activists on the ships could not have actually thought that their primary goal was to provide aid. If they had wanted to do that, they would have gone through the checkpoints like all the other international aid. But instead the goal was to create an international incident - which is exactly what they did.
I feel that I have to address my feelings about the Israeli position, lest I seem more lenient on them than I actually am. I have seen excerpts from the list of banned items and some of them do seem unreasonable. In addition to that, Israel has long grown tired of fruitless negotiations with Hamas (the faction that controls Gaza) and their reaction has been to forge ahead with policy unilaterally. This provides them with ability to move "forward," but not always in the most productive way. Israel - as with all democracies - is subject to whatever political power has been installed by its finicky electorate and those powers often make rash decisions in order to placate an oft reactionary and ill-informed constituency. I believe Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. Israel seems to be making that point. Israel is, at its core, a country of good people and a country that has every right to exist within secure and recognized borders. I just with it could get there more amicably.
Secret Military Documents Released:
Everyone seems to be getting all panty-bound about money being wasted, secret units that hunt high priority targets, Pakistan's ISI likely training or funding certain Taliban elements, the fact that drones sometimes miss and kill civilians, the revelation of shaky or downright misleading intelligence, or the stunning realization that some elements of the chain of command sometimes question our tactics about winning the war. All of that has been discussed extensively in the public already and, while the documents that have just been released may be classified, the fact their contents are true is not a secret. What should be getting people upset are things like the sudden wealth of after-action reports and that these reports may provide those who wish us ill an ability to find patterns, revealing strategies and tactics which, if discovered, may pose a grave threat to our cause and servicemen downrange.
I guess that's all I have the energy to discuss for now. More later, maybe.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Disconnect
Right after I mention that NYC has very few fat people because the urban density forces them to have a low reliance on personal automobiles, my friend suggests increasing urban sprawl as a way to combat obesity in America because it would "encourage people to get outside and garden, etc." WTF?!
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