Yup, that is what the former First Lady and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declared would be the result on her being elected President of the United States (POTUS) during her time on The View today 10-15-2007.
She went on to describe how in her delusion… er… ummm… vision, we will link arms with Nations around the world.
Whaaaa… We are going to link arms like in some drug fueled Woodstock dance? We are going to dance through the daisies in the rain singing in perfect harmony! We can braid each other’s hair, burn bras and sleep together in a communal bed. Just a minute, let me wash my eyes out with muriatic acid.
Maybe candidate Clinton was thinking of something like A Chorus Line or The Rockettes. A whole group of doplomats (sic) doing the high step, linked arm in arm wearing garters and little maid outfits, feather boas and matching headdresses.
This is what I have come to call a “Pajama Party” idea. If you have participated in or heard about an adolescent female Pajama Party (also known as a “Slumber Party” or a “Sleepover”). At these events, the participants do a lot of giggling, tittering and imaginative talking. Long term plans are made with the football team captain or quarterback. The class president or some other admired “hunk” that they know (or don‘t know). Weddings are planned, children are named, the number of children are declared, a house with a white picket fence is described. It is lovely.
None of these Pajama Party fantasies come true. They can’t real life gets in the way of fantasies. Hunks have B.O. too, they get sick, they have a mind of their own. They don’t like blonds or brunettes or redheads. They don’t want to be married to their mother. They go bankrupt, lose their hair or find some 19 year-old who will do those kinds of things.
See, the way I view it, Candidate Clinton is doing the VERY same thing she accuses the current President Bush of doing in Iraq. She has a “perfect plan” and doesn’t realize that any (Pajama Party) plan sounds like it will work until “the boots hit the ground”. “Linking arms” is good talk on The View. It is so unrealistic in real life. Nations have their own best interests in their minds. The World is a competitive place. Candidate Clinton seems to not understand this. She seems to believe that she will be the next Princess Di. The only issue that is glaring to me is that Candidate Clinton actually wants to be Queen of the World (ala Leonardo in Titanic). She will say or sell out anyone or anything to be able to wave from the motorcade again.
I am concerned that she believes the story of Marie Antoinette saying, “Let them eat cake!” Candidate Clinton seems to believe that the Federal treasury has no limits. She seems to believe she will have unlimited access to the Federal checkbook. More Pajama Party thinking.
Now, back to the adolescent Slumber Party. One common theme is the desire to have their hunk ride in on a white horse and save them. What is the theme of most movies? A lone hero, or a group of heroes coming in to save the day. Think about ANY western, or any hero or super hero movie. I mean ANY movie. Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Speed, Rocky, Die Hard, Beverly Hills Cop, Home Alone, Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon and even National Lampoon’s Vacation all have a hero who works pretty much alone, comes in to save the day. Even if he is a little bit of a bumbler.
I am sure that Candidate Clinton in her Pajama Party thinking believes that the world leaders will join together arm in arm to make her Queen of the world.
Reality says that it is the Cowboys that get things done. They don’t do it alone, but they lead the charge. Donald Trump, Patton, FRD, Eisenhower, Washington, Lincoln, GW Bush and Reagan all got things done.
Where is former President Clinton on this list? Well he is having his own Pajama Party with a 19 year-old... under the desk.
Below is some Cowboy Wisdom to consider:
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
Don't never whittle towards you and never spit against the wind.
There's two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither one works.
Letting the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n putting it back in.
If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
If you get to thinking you're a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around.
Be cautious in choosing a mate, don't go settlin' for one who can't open the gate.
A mountain lion felt so good after eating an entire bull he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him...........
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
Don't squat with your spurs on.
Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.
It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.
There are three kinds of cowboys: The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. And the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
Don't worry about bitin' off more'n you can chew; your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger'n you think.
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
Keep skunks, lawyers, developers, and bankers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plough around the stump.
Forgive your enemies. It messes with their heads.
Don't sell your mule to buy a plough.
Don't corner something meaner than you.
It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
Every trail has some puddles.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Don't interfere with something that ain't botherin' you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
It's better to be a has-been than a never-was.
Never drop your gun to hug a grizzly.
Making it in life is kind of like busting broncos. You're going to get thrown a lot. The simple secret is to keep getting back on.
There are more horses asses than horses.
Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut.
Like a good cowboy, a good hat just gets better as it gets older.
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
When you're throwing your weight around, be ready to have it thrown around by somebody else.
Never get up before breakfast. If you have to get up before breakfast, eat breakfast first.
The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swaller.
If it don't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably ain't.
Never follow good whiskey with water, unless you're out of good whiskey.
Genius has its limits. Stupidity knows no bounds.
Some men talk 'cause they got somethin' to say. Others talk 'cause they got to say somethin.
Never wrestle with a pig, You both get all dirty, and the pig likes it.
Careful is a naked man climbin' a bobwire fence.
If you can't sing -- dance.
Broke is what happens when a cowboy lets his yearnin's get ahead of his earnin's.
Generally, you ain't learnin' nothing when your mouth's a-jawin'.
A good horse never comes in a bad color.
Any cowboy can carry a tune. The trouble comes when he tries to unload it.
Behind every successful rancher is a wife who works in town.
You can't trust your dog to watch your food.
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Aren't we special
I saw this story recently. Please read it carefully, it is priceless~
Sea Level Rise Could Flood Many Cities
AP
Posted: 2007-09-22 16:08:13
Filed Under: Nation News, Science News
(Sept. 22) - Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting. In about a century, some of the places that make America what it is may be slowly erased.
Global warming - through a combination of melting glaciers, disappearing ice sheets and warmer waters expanding - is expected to cause oceans to rise by one meter, or about 39 inches. It will happen regardless of any future actions to curb greenhouse gases, several leading scientists say. And it will reshape the nation.
Rising waters will lap at the foundations of old money Wall Street and the new money towers of Silicon Valley. They will swamp the locations of big city airports and major interstate highways.
Storm surges worsened by sea level rise will flood the waterfront getaways of rich politicians - the Bushes' Kennebunkport and John Edwards' place on the Outer Banks. And gone will be many of the beaches in Texas and Florida favored by budget-conscious students on Spring Break.
That's the troubling outlook projected by coastal maps reviewed by The Associated Press. The maps, created by scientists at the University of Arizona, are based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Few of the more than two dozen climate experts interviewed disagree with the one-meter projection. Some believe it could happen in 50 years, others say 100, and still others say 150.
Sea level rise is "the thing that I'm most concerned about as a scientist," says Benjamin Santer, a climate physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
"We're going to get a meter and there's nothing we can do about it," said University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver, a lead author of the February report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris. "It's going to happen no matter what - the question is when."
Sea level rise "has consequences about where people live and what they care about," said Donald Boesch, a University of Maryland scientist who has studied the issue. "We're going to be into this big national debate about what we protect and at what cost."
This week, beginning with a meeting at the United Nations on Monday, world leaders will convene to talk about fighting global warming . At week's end, leaders will gather in Washington with President Bush .
Experts say that protecting America's coastlines would run well into the billions and not all spots could be saved.
And it's not just a rising ocean that is the problem. With it comes an even greater danger of storm surge, from hurricanes, winter storms and regular coastal storms, Boesch said. Sea level rise means higher and more frequent flooding from these extreme events, he said.
All told, one meter of sea level rise in just the lower 48 states would put about 25,000 square miles under water, according to Jonathan Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona. That's an area the size of West Virginia.
The amount of lost land is even greater when Hawaii and Alaska are included, Overpeck said.
The Environmental Protection Agency's calculation projects a land loss of about 22,000 square miles. The EPA, which studied only the Eastern and Gulf coasts, found that Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina would lose the most land. But even inland areas like Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia also have slivers of at-risk land, according to the EPA.
This past summer's flooding of subways in New York could become far more regular, even an everyday occurrence, with the projected sea rise, other scientists said. And New Orleans' Katrina experience and the daily loss of Louisiana wetlands - which serve as a barrier that weakens hurricanes - are previews of what's to come there.
Florida faces a serious public health risk from rising salt water tainting drinking water wells, said Joel Scheraga, the EPA's director of global change research. And the farm-rich San Joaquin Delta in California faces serious salt water flooding problems, other experts said.
"Sea level rise is going to have more general impact to the population and the infrastructure than almost anything else that I can think of," said S. Jeffress Williams, a U.S. Geological Survey coastal geologist in Woods Hole, Mass.
John Christy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a scientist often quoted by global warming skeptics, said he figures the seas will rise at least 16 inches by the end of the century. But he tells people to prepare for a rise of about three feet just in case.
Williams says it's "not unreasonable at all" to expect that much in 100 years. "We've had a third of a meter in the last century."
The change will be a gradual process, one that is so slow it will be easy to ignore for a while.
"It's like sticking your finger in a pot of water on a burner and you turn the heat on, Williams said. "You kind of get used to it."l
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-09-22 13:01:44
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/sea-level-rise-could-flood-many-cities/20070922130009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Okay, if I read this correctly, the problem is that some of what "we" hold near and dear MIGHT be flooded in ABOUT 100 years. Ever hear of Atlantis? I wonder what the residents of Atlantis thought. There is also a settlement in Port Royal, Jamaica that sank into the Gulf due to seismic activity. Life has gone on on Jamaica. The settlement had/has historic significance there too. OH WELL! http://nautarch.tamu.edu/portroyal/
If some of the sites they are talking about end up under water, it will save the taxpayers money by not trying to rehabilitate old missile sites and will cause new sites to be developed.
Now as to the "old money" people and their mansions. SO WHAT??? They will have the funds to move their estates. They will put pontoons on their mansions and float them away to new locations. This is supposed to make me feel bad or sorry for them? Oh, yeah, I am going to unplug my computer so that the Edwards, Bushs or Kennedys can continue THEIR opulent lifestyles.
Here is a financial tip, BUY PROPERTY IN ARIZONA! Do it now, so that you can join the Edwards, Bushs and Kennedys and be among the rich and ridiculous. Even if you don't live to see it, you can rest comfortable knowing that you left such a rich legacy to your family.
I still cannot believe how naive* the authors of these articles think the public is. They say that airports and highways will be flooded. Do they think that people will not notice and reroute the highways or move the airports. Maybe the highways will be built like some of the bridges in Florida that go between the Keys. They will be tourist attractions. Or cities can be built under the sea.
Some futurists say that undersea cities are the wave of the future (pun intended). Did you see Star Wars and the undersea city that Jar-Jar was from? That looked so very cool! Where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). If people decide to have no vision, they deserve to perish.
Did you notice that one of the BIG concerns is that Spring Break locations will no longer exist? Whaaaat?? Those sites of debauchery, drunkenness and mayhem? Heaven forbid that people in their late adolescence cannot have a week of two of immoral living. [Remember Natalie Holloway?]
What are we coming to?
You may ask if I ever experienced Spring Break. Yes I did, I was WORKING! I was trying to create some of my own old money. I paid my own way through almost 20 years of University. What have the attendees of the normal Spring Break actually done to need a BREAK? I worked full time and attended University full time. I didn't need a drunken orgy to have a break. I needed to finish University studies.
"We" have raised a bunch of wimps!
I know the authors are trying to garner support for their agenda by trying to scare the minds full of mush. There is an agenda that is soooo obvious to those who think. [I will address this later...]
I love it when the Global Warmingists can't get their lie straight. Take for instance this part of the above story:
"We're going to get a meter and there's nothing we can do about it," said University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver, a lead author of the February report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris. "It's going to happen no matter what - the question is when."
Now if you look at the letter sent out by Dane and Emily, you will see that "we" are supposed to do things to stop or at least slow down Global Warming. Here the "lead author" of some report (and it was a BIG report too) says that, "...there is nothing we can do about it."
Did you get that? An Expert says, "...there is nothing we can do about it." So what is all of the Inconvenient Truth all about? Or is the REAL Inconvenient Truth that these people don't know what they are talking about?
Yup, that is my vote. They don't know what they are talking about. They have an agenda and it is NOT to save the planet.
It is all about controlling you. Yes, it is about control.
It is about getting funds through the Government to conduct more studies. This lets them keep their jobs.
It is NOT about saving the planet.
They really don't care about the planet.
They care about money and CONTROL.
Oooops, I said I wasn't going to talk about it yet. Well, consider this a little tease of what is to come.
I have one further thought. Why don't we start serious work on desalination? We could use the clean water and it would help to keep the sea level lower. We could bottle MILLIONS of gallons of desal water and save the planet that way.
I wonder why no one is talking about the whole picture? Oh yeah, it isn't about saving the planet. It is about power and control.
*Naive
na·ive
(comparative na·iv·er, superlative na·iv·est) or na·ïve <BR>(comparative na·ïv·er, superlative na·ïv·est) or na·ïf
(comparative na·ïf·er, superlative na·ïf·est) adj
>R>1. extremely simple and trusting: having or showing an excessively simple and trusting view of the world and human nature, often as a result of youth and inexperience
2. not shrewd or sophisticated: showing a lack of sophistication and subtlety or of critical judgment and analysis a politically naive statement
3. artless: admirably straightforward and uncomplicated or refreshingly innocent and unaffected
4. arts rejecting sophisticated techniques in art: not using the conventional styles and techniques of trained artists, for example, in the treatment of perspective or light and shade
5. science not previously experimented on: not previously used in any scientific tests or experiments or not having previously used a particular drug naive laboratory mice
[Mid-17th century. From French naïve , feminine of naïf , from Latin nativus “born” (source of English native). The underlying idea is of the innocence or gullibility of the newborn.]
-na·ive·ly, adv
-na·ive·ness, n <BR>
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Sea Level Rise Could Flood Many Cities
AP
Posted: 2007-09-22 16:08:13
Filed Under: Nation News, Science News
(Sept. 22) - Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting. In about a century, some of the places that make America what it is may be slowly erased.
Global warming - through a combination of melting glaciers, disappearing ice sheets and warmer waters expanding - is expected to cause oceans to rise by one meter, or about 39 inches. It will happen regardless of any future actions to curb greenhouse gases, several leading scientists say. And it will reshape the nation.
Rising waters will lap at the foundations of old money Wall Street and the new money towers of Silicon Valley. They will swamp the locations of big city airports and major interstate highways.
Storm surges worsened by sea level rise will flood the waterfront getaways of rich politicians - the Bushes' Kennebunkport and John Edwards' place on the Outer Banks. And gone will be many of the beaches in Texas and Florida favored by budget-conscious students on Spring Break.
That's the troubling outlook projected by coastal maps reviewed by The Associated Press. The maps, created by scientists at the University of Arizona, are based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Few of the more than two dozen climate experts interviewed disagree with the one-meter projection. Some believe it could happen in 50 years, others say 100, and still others say 150.
Sea level rise is "the thing that I'm most concerned about as a scientist," says Benjamin Santer, a climate physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
"We're going to get a meter and there's nothing we can do about it," said University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver, a lead author of the February report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris. "It's going to happen no matter what - the question is when."
Sea level rise "has consequences about where people live and what they care about," said Donald Boesch, a University of Maryland scientist who has studied the issue. "We're going to be into this big national debate about what we protect and at what cost."
This week, beginning with a meeting at the United Nations on Monday, world leaders will convene to talk about fighting global warming . At week's end, leaders will gather in Washington with President Bush .
Experts say that protecting America's coastlines would run well into the billions and not all spots could be saved.
And it's not just a rising ocean that is the problem. With it comes an even greater danger of storm surge, from hurricanes, winter storms and regular coastal storms, Boesch said. Sea level rise means higher and more frequent flooding from these extreme events, he said.
All told, one meter of sea level rise in just the lower 48 states would put about 25,000 square miles under water, according to Jonathan Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona. That's an area the size of West Virginia.
The amount of lost land is even greater when Hawaii and Alaska are included, Overpeck said.
The Environmental Protection Agency's calculation projects a land loss of about 22,000 square miles. The EPA, which studied only the Eastern and Gulf coasts, found that Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina would lose the most land. But even inland areas like Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia also have slivers of at-risk land, according to the EPA.
This past summer's flooding of subways in New York could become far more regular, even an everyday occurrence, with the projected sea rise, other scientists said. And New Orleans' Katrina experience and the daily loss of Louisiana wetlands - which serve as a barrier that weakens hurricanes - are previews of what's to come there.
Florida faces a serious public health risk from rising salt water tainting drinking water wells, said Joel Scheraga, the EPA's director of global change research. And the farm-rich San Joaquin Delta in California faces serious salt water flooding problems, other experts said.
"Sea level rise is going to have more general impact to the population and the infrastructure than almost anything else that I can think of," said S. Jeffress Williams, a U.S. Geological Survey coastal geologist in Woods Hole, Mass.
John Christy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a scientist often quoted by global warming skeptics, said he figures the seas will rise at least 16 inches by the end of the century. But he tells people to prepare for a rise of about three feet just in case.
Williams says it's "not unreasonable at all" to expect that much in 100 years. "We've had a third of a meter in the last century."
The change will be a gradual process, one that is so slow it will be easy to ignore for a while.
"It's like sticking your finger in a pot of water on a burner and you turn the heat on, Williams said. "You kind of get used to it."l
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-09-22 13:01:44
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/sea-level-rise-could-flood-many-cities/20070922130009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Okay, if I read this correctly, the problem is that some of what "we" hold near and dear MIGHT be flooded in ABOUT 100 years. Ever hear of Atlantis? I wonder what the residents of Atlantis thought. There is also a settlement in Port Royal, Jamaica that sank into the Gulf due to seismic activity. Life has gone on on Jamaica. The settlement had/has historic significance there too. OH WELL! http://nautarch.tamu.edu/portroyal/
If some of the sites they are talking about end up under water, it will save the taxpayers money by not trying to rehabilitate old missile sites and will cause new sites to be developed.
Now as to the "old money" people and their mansions. SO WHAT??? They will have the funds to move their estates. They will put pontoons on their mansions and float them away to new locations. This is supposed to make me feel bad or sorry for them? Oh, yeah, I am going to unplug my computer so that the Edwards, Bushs or Kennedys can continue THEIR opulent lifestyles.
Here is a financial tip, BUY PROPERTY IN ARIZONA! Do it now, so that you can join the Edwards, Bushs and Kennedys and be among the rich and ridiculous. Even if you don't live to see it, you can rest comfortable knowing that you left such a rich legacy to your family.
I still cannot believe how naive* the authors of these articles think the public is. They say that airports and highways will be flooded. Do they think that people will not notice and reroute the highways or move the airports. Maybe the highways will be built like some of the bridges in Florida that go between the Keys. They will be tourist attractions. Or cities can be built under the sea.
Some futurists say that undersea cities are the wave of the future (pun intended). Did you see Star Wars and the undersea city that Jar-Jar was from? That looked so very cool! Where there is no vision the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). If people decide to have no vision, they deserve to perish.
Did you notice that one of the BIG concerns is that Spring Break locations will no longer exist? Whaaaat?? Those sites of debauchery, drunkenness and mayhem? Heaven forbid that people in their late adolescence cannot have a week of two of immoral living. [Remember Natalie Holloway?]
What are we coming to?
You may ask if I ever experienced Spring Break. Yes I did, I was WORKING! I was trying to create some of my own old money. I paid my own way through almost 20 years of University. What have the attendees of the normal Spring Break actually done to need a BREAK? I worked full time and attended University full time. I didn't need a drunken orgy to have a break. I needed to finish University studies.
"We" have raised a bunch of wimps!
I know the authors are trying to garner support for their agenda by trying to scare the minds full of mush. There is an agenda that is soooo obvious to those who think. [I will address this later...]
I love it when the Global Warmingists can't get their lie straight. Take for instance this part of the above story:
"We're going to get a meter and there's nothing we can do about it," said University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver, a lead author of the February report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris. "It's going to happen no matter what - the question is when."
Now if you look at the letter sent out by Dane and Emily, you will see that "we" are supposed to do things to stop or at least slow down Global Warming. Here the "lead author" of some report (and it was a BIG report too) says that, "...there is nothing we can do about it."
Did you get that? An Expert says, "...there is nothing we can do about it." So what is all of the Inconvenient Truth all about? Or is the REAL Inconvenient Truth that these people don't know what they are talking about?
Yup, that is my vote. They don't know what they are talking about. They have an agenda and it is NOT to save the planet.
It is all about controlling you. Yes, it is about control.
It is about getting funds through the Government to conduct more studies. This lets them keep their jobs.
It is NOT about saving the planet.
They really don't care about the planet.
They care about money and CONTROL.
Oooops, I said I wasn't going to talk about it yet. Well, consider this a little tease of what is to come.
I have one further thought. Why don't we start serious work on desalination? We could use the clean water and it would help to keep the sea level lower. We could bottle MILLIONS of gallons of desal water and save the planet that way.
I wonder why no one is talking about the whole picture? Oh yeah, it isn't about saving the planet. It is about power and control.
*Naive
na·ive
(comparative na·iv·er, superlative na·iv·est) or na·ïve <BR>(comparative na·ïv·er, superlative na·ïv·est) or na·ïf
(comparative na·ïf·er, superlative na·ïf·est) adj
>
2. not shrewd or sophisticated: showing a lack of sophistication and subtlety or of critical judgment and analysis a politically naive statement
3. artless: admirably straightforward and uncomplicated or refreshingly innocent and unaffected
4. arts rejecting sophisticated techniques in art: not using the conventional styles and techniques of trained artists, for example, in the treatment of perspective or light and shade
5. science not previously experimented on: not previously used in any scientific tests or experiments or not having previously used a particular drug naive laboratory mice
[Mid-17th century. From French naïve , feminine of naïf , from Latin nativus “born” (source of English native). The underlying idea is of the innocence or gullibility of the newborn.]
-na·ive·ly, adv
-na·ive·ness, n <BR>
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Friday, August 24, 2007
The misuse of words
"Words mean things."
That cannot be said enough. Words mean things because words have meanings and proper usages. You are probably wondering what I am talking about. Here is the set up:
Yesterday on a local radio station, the Mayor of a medium sized town announced that it was going to be possible to "dunk" a politician in the park this weekend.
The esteemed Mayor then began to say who was going to be available to "dunk". She said (paraphrased), "Town councilman So and So, county commissioner Such and Such, Myself and city manager Thus and Such will all be there."
Myself...? Myself...? Where was this person educated? Were they even educated?
I simply do not understand why people think they use Myself in a sentence in such an incorrect manner. I don't know if they think using "I" sounds self abosorbed or if they think that Myself sounds sophisticated.
There are proper uses for the pronoun Myself:
"I did it by myself."
"I found myself standing alone in the rain."
"Running by myself is easier than running with a partner."
"I tried to do it by myself, but it was too great a task."
The examples of correct useage could go on and on.
Here are some improper usages of the pronoun Myself:
"Three people put this dinner on, Jane, Carol and Myself."
"The speakers at next week's meeting will be Myself and two other linguistic experts."
"Myself and the committe wish to thank all of the little people who helped get this event together."
The examples of incorrect use are all too common.
To me the improper use of Myself is pretentious. It shows a lack of understanding of the word Myself and it's place in the English language. If you misuse the word Myself it leads me to believe that you actually have a very low view of yourself, and you need help!
Now on to another misuse of a word. My ex-brother-in-law (whew, that is a lot of dashes) likes to use the word Thusly.
I think he believes it makes him think that he is well read.
To me it makes him sound, well, pretentious. Look up the word "Thusly" in the dictionary. Oh wait, I will do that for you (below). Thusly is not an actual word. It is said to be used in a humorous manner.
Well, I don't find it humorous. I find it moronic. I want to poke the bloke in the nose every time he uses the word. (Can you tell that I am glad that he is an ex?)
Come on here, what is wrong with just speaking the language and not trying to get fancy with it. It seems like these people think they get "style points" for the new and exciting ways they come up with to use words.
Well for me, there are NO "style points" for the misuse of words. You can quote me on that!
The misuse of words will be an ongoing subject of my blog, so enjoy!
Definitions
us·age (plural us·ag·es) n
1. act or way of using something: the act of using something, the way something is used, or how much something is used
2. accepted practice: a customary and generally accepted practice or procedure
3. way language is actually used: the way in which words and phrases are actually used in speech or writing
4. example of language use: an example of a particular use of language
5. treatment of something: the handling or treatment of something
[13th century. Via Old French from, ultimately, Latin usus (see use1).]
my·self pron
1. refers back to speaker: used to refer to the speaker or writer (first person reflexive pronoun, used when the object of a verb or preposition refers to the same person as the subject of the verb)
I didn’t enjoy myself very much.
Of all the people I am hard on, I am hardest on myself.
2. refers emphatically to speaker: refers emphatically to the speaker or writer
I’m curious about that myself.
I can’t expect you to be able to read my writing; I myself can’t read it.
3. my normal self: my normal or usual self I haven’t been myself since the accident.
[Old English mēseolf , literally “me self” ( self in the obsolete sense of “same”)]
thus adv
1. consequently: as a result (formal)
2. like this: in this way (formal)
3. to this degree: to this degree or extent
[Old English ]
thus far up to this point The evidence thus far suggested that he was innocent.
thus·ly adv
thus: thus (humorous)
All definitions are from the following source:
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
That cannot be said enough. Words mean things because words have meanings and proper usages. You are probably wondering what I am talking about. Here is the set up:
Yesterday on a local radio station, the Mayor of a medium sized town announced that it was going to be possible to "dunk" a politician in the park this weekend.
The esteemed Mayor then began to say who was going to be available to "dunk". She said (paraphrased), "Town councilman So and So, county commissioner Such and Such, Myself and city manager Thus and Such will all be there."
Myself...? Myself...? Where was this person educated? Were they even educated?
I simply do not understand why people think they use Myself in a sentence in such an incorrect manner. I don't know if they think using "I" sounds self abosorbed or if they think that Myself sounds sophisticated.
There are proper uses for the pronoun Myself:
"I did it by myself."
"I found myself standing alone in the rain."
"Running by myself is easier than running with a partner."
"I tried to do it by myself, but it was too great a task."
The examples of correct useage could go on and on.
Here are some improper usages of the pronoun Myself:
"Three people put this dinner on, Jane, Carol and Myself."
"The speakers at next week's meeting will be Myself and two other linguistic experts."
"Myself and the committe wish to thank all of the little people who helped get this event together."
The examples of incorrect use are all too common.
To me the improper use of Myself is pretentious. It shows a lack of understanding of the word Myself and it's place in the English language. If you misuse the word Myself it leads me to believe that you actually have a very low view of yourself, and you need help!
Now on to another misuse of a word. My ex-brother-in-law (whew, that is a lot of dashes) likes to use the word Thusly.
I think he believes it makes him think that he is well read.
To me it makes him sound, well, pretentious. Look up the word "Thusly" in the dictionary. Oh wait, I will do that for you (below). Thusly is not an actual word. It is said to be used in a humorous manner.
Well, I don't find it humorous. I find it moronic. I want to poke the bloke in the nose every time he uses the word. (Can you tell that I am glad that he is an ex?)
Come on here, what is wrong with just speaking the language and not trying to get fancy with it. It seems like these people think they get "style points" for the new and exciting ways they come up with to use words.
Well for me, there are NO "style points" for the misuse of words. You can quote me on that!
The misuse of words will be an ongoing subject of my blog, so enjoy!
Definitions
us·age (plural us·ag·es) n
1. act or way of using something: the act of using something, the way something is used, or how much something is used
2. accepted practice: a customary and generally accepted practice or procedure
3. way language is actually used: the way in which words and phrases are actually used in speech or writing
4. example of language use: an example of a particular use of language
5. treatment of something: the handling or treatment of something
[13th century. Via Old French from, ultimately, Latin usus (see use1).]
my·self pron
1. refers back to speaker: used to refer to the speaker or writer (first person reflexive pronoun, used when the object of a verb or preposition refers to the same person as the subject of the verb)
I didn’t enjoy myself very much.
Of all the people I am hard on, I am hardest on myself.
2. refers emphatically to speaker: refers emphatically to the speaker or writer
I’m curious about that myself.
I can’t expect you to be able to read my writing; I myself can’t read it.
3. my normal self: my normal or usual self I haven’t been myself since the accident.
[Old English mēseolf , literally “me self” ( self in the obsolete sense of “same”)]
thus adv
1. consequently: as a result (formal)
2. like this: in this way (formal)
3. to this degree: to this degree or extent
[Old English ]
thus far up to this point The evidence thus far suggested that he was innocent.
thus·ly adv
thus: thus (humorous)
All definitions are from the following source:
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Open letter to Dane and Emily
I was recently sent the following with the instruction to share it with everyone on my email list. It is from "Emily" and "Dane" (I have changed the names to protect the... ). Of course, I couldn't leave it alone, so, my comments are in Green below. I do hope that Emily and Dane get a copy of this, but alas, they are not in my address book. Please read this with an open mind and a sense of humor (it is long).
Read at your own RISK!
Hi Everyone:
If you get a chance, pick up the Sept. 2007 issue of Packpacker (I think you meant "Backpacker") magazine.This months issue is devoted to the effects of Global Warming on our national parks, etc.. Very sad, but very real, it really brings home the problems and the effects. It is alarming!
The issue also gives info on what you can do to reduce your personal carbon impact on the environment.http://globalwarming-facts.info/50-tips.htmlhttp://www.eartheasy.com/article_global_warming.htm
I challenge you to send out an e-mail to your e-mail list with a list of what YOU are doing to reduce your carbon impact! Here is a list of things that Dane and I are already doing:
1) Changed light bulbs in the house to Compact Fluorescents.(we only have 2 light fixtures in the house that cannot take this type of bulb. Also, when I replaced the light fixtures in the bathroom last year, I made sure to choose fixtures that could use CFL bulbs).
Did you know that ALL fluorescent lamps contain MERCURY (Hg)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)
Mercury mining (taking it out of the ground) is extremely destructive to the Enviro. The majority of Mercury is mined in China. Then it is SHIPPED to where it is used (more fuel used). Speaking of China, did you know that almost all CFLs are made in Asia? That means that they are then SHIPPED to the store you buy them in here in the USA! I wonder if overall CFL are any better for the environment than the standard A19 light bulb with a tungsten filament, clear glass (silica), and brass base. These pesky details just get in the way though, so buy CFLs, don't ask questions and feel good about yourself!
2) Using power strips for our computer, printer, TV and stereo equipment. When we leave for the day or go to bed at night, we turn everything off by turning off the power strip. (this is something new we started doing last month, and our power bill went down $10.00
This one really gets me! Why waste the money on power strips when you can just go outside and flip off a circuit breaker. No need to buy a dozen or so power strips. The best breaker to shut off is marked "MAIN". This will shut off all of the power to your domicile. Don't worry, your food should stay fine for the 12 or so hours that you have cut the power off. (This will also make certain that the pesky Refrigerator light is not running with the door closed!) Most power strips are made in China too. Then they are SHIPPED to the USA to the store you purchase them from. Now let's look at the manufacturing process of a "power strip". The outer case is made of either metal or plastic. Have I mentioned that plastic is made from petrochemicals? It is! There is plastic coating on the wire for insulation too. Then there is the copper conductors. Have you ever seen how Copper (Cu) is mined? They use strip mining, or open pit mining to get the copper out of the ground. They use millions of gallons of water and several caustic chemicals to extract the product. HUGE machinery (that uses petrochemicals) are used to haul the ore from the site. Then it is refined (after being SHIPPED) at a huge power consuming plant. It is hauled to the assembly plant which uses "slave laborers" in "sweat shop" conditions. Once the assembly is completed, the power strip is SHIPPED out to a warehouse, then to a store that you drive to and you transport it to your home. Of course power strips are great sources of guilt and fear. Now when you leave home, not only will you wonder if you "left the Iron on", you will also feel bad when you remember you didn't turn off all power strips! That is why I recommend turning off the Main circuit breaker!
3) Cancel junk mail and catalogs. And recycle all office paper, mail, etc.. I keep a recycle bin by my desk and one downstairs, every piece of paper that enter this house is either filed or recycled!
Do you know what happens to most of this recycled stuff? It gets SHIPPED to a holding area and then it is basically ignored! Some of it even gets hauled off to the regular landfill. It is e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e to reuse paper products. Starting fresh is much cheaper and cleaner. BTW, I was thinking about hiring an Attorney, but then I discovered that it is possible to buy "recycled legal pads" and I have found that this is much cheaper than an attorney!
4) Use a laptop and not a desk top. Dane uses a lap top, and the next time I update my computer system it will be a lap top :) (Laptops use up to 80% less energy than a desk top) Where did you come up with this 80% figure? If you are talking about the "good old days" when an essential part of a computer was a CRT based monitor, you might be close. Most monitors now are LCD for either laptop or desktop. Heck it is hard to find a Television that is not LCD now. Be sure you recycle that old computer because it has GOLD and COPPER components in it. Actually if you really want to help the Enviro, just upgrade what you already have. That way you will not be causing more plastic to be used (remember plastic comes from petrochemicals).
5) Turn off the lights! When we leave a room or the house we do not leave the lights, TV or stereo on. We don't leave a porch light on at night!
Gosh aren't you an unfriendly person. What if someone is lost and your light saves them from being a victim of a crime. Why not put a CFL in your porch light? We put one in our post light and have not changed it in 4 years. Of course, I will have to decide how to recycle the Mercury in the darn thing when it DOES burn out. Maybe I will ship it to China!
Maybe we should start doing what used to do in the "old days". Go te bed when it gets dark and get up when it gets light. That way you won't be using power consuming items just to try to stay awake!
6) Recycle! We recycle everything possible. (The actual garbage that we throw out each week is less than a paper grocery bag).
That is pretty good. Why do you have that much junk? There are 4 people in our house and we generate just a little more than you say you do. In fact we coop our trash with our neighbor and rarely fill a small trash can between the two households. Of course we do pay someone to pick up the garbage.
7) Compost Kitchen Waste. I have used a composter for the past 12 years and I love it! I have it set up in the yard and I use a small covered container that I keep under the sink to put my kitchen waste in. When it is full, I empty it into the composter. I have only had to empty the composter twice in 12 years! And the soil it create is wonderful!
It depends on where you live. We did this at one house and the neighbor across the street called the health department on us. It was a real hassle and we eventually had to quit. Now we feed most of the vegetable matter to the goats (no, not the neighbors) who do most of the composting for us. We then use their "product" to fertilize the garden (this saves having vegetable shipped to the market). I seriously wonder what your neighbors think of your composting. If you have only "had to empty the composter twice in 12 years", you are doing it WRONG! You need to do some research on composting!
8) Pay bills online. We have been doing this for a few years now, it is easy and saves paper and postage. Also, we have our utilities send us an e-statement instead of a paper one!
Isn't this using the internet to "buy" things? (see further down) Okay, I am just yanking your chain, As long as you know that your info cannot be lifted (look for the "httpS" the "S" means secure) before entering personal info on the 'net! Make sure you can have access to the records for your record keeping.
9) Use reusable bags. I have had my reusable bags for 17 years now and I love them. They wash up in the washing machine and last forever!
I challenge your use of "forever". I have had bags wear out from use. The only bags that I know of that will "last forever" are the plastic bags that are so ubiquitous in this culture. Of course this is another source of guilt. Just think how bad you will feel when you forget your bag and have to use one of those nasty "plastic or paper" bags. If you really want to do the Enviro good, make your bag out of old clothes using a treadle sewing machine. Now we are talking!!
http://sewing.about.com/library/weekly/aa012400a.htm
10) Read the newspaper online, it's paperless!
Better yet, DON'T read the newspaper. It will fill your head with foolish thoughts. I hate online newspapers because then there is nothing to put in the bottom of the bird cage or to wrap the fish guts in after cleaning them. Painting with a computer to cover the floor for a drop cloth is futile! Think about the kids who won't learn the lessons taught by having a paper route. There has to be a middle ground here. Coupons are non-existent with the online newspapers. I like to look at all of the junk I don't need that some retailer thinks I should buy!
11) Use recycled paper products. look for the post-consumer waste % listed on the package.
As with all products, make sure of where the "post-consumer waste" has come from. After reading how often you process your compost, I don't want any of your "post-consumer waste". There really should be truth in selling on these items!
12) Drink tap water. We will buy bottled water for camping, but at home we drink good old tap water. When leaving for the day, I fill up a bottle from the tap to keep in the car.
This is a rather evian consideration. Most bottled water is just tap water! We reuse the bottles that bottled water comes in with our own filtered water. It tastes better than what came in it originally. The water bottles are good for a variety of uses. Just be creative!
13) Buy local produced products When I shop, I choose items that have been grown locally or within the State of California.
I prefer to buy items that are grown in our garden. Things grown in CA are SHIPPED over 1200 miles to our home market. Grow your own (as they used to say in the 1960s).
14) Buy energy efficient appliances. We have replaced our washer, dryer and refrigerator with "Energy Star" appliances.
Ummm, hello, ALL appliances are "Energy Star" rated. "Energy Star" is a rating system that helps you compare the efficiency of appliances. There is always a trade off between cost of purchase and cost to operate. Be smart for yourself! (I always admire people who leave the Energy Star rating on their appliances even after they move in!)
When it is time to replace the water heater, I am going with the "instant hot water" type, no more tank! And we keep our current water heater at 120 F, no higher, and it has a think (did you mean "tank"?) blanket on it.
Be careful here, some of those things are real junk and you could get burned in more than one way! Be sure you have some factual way to compare the energy consumption of the Instant and traditional means of heating water and how it correlates to your lifestyle. If that is confusing, you could always heat water on the stove… or… use a solar camp water heater. There are solar water heating systems that will provide MORE hot water than you can ever use. Even in the Winter time.
15) Drive fuel efficient vehicles! Dane has the longest commute of the two of us. He drives a hybrid vehicle. My commute is very short, but my car still averages 30 mpg.
Okay, I hope you feel r-e-a-l good about the hybrid vehicle. Did you check into where each part was made? The battery was made in China (because they don't care about polluting) the components are made all around the globe, the SHIPPED to an assembly plant so you can feel good about driving a car that saves the planet. Hmmm… the auto manufacturers are shrewd aren't they?
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/oct/26ford.htm http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/598bgjbv.asphttp://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm/printable
Our grown children both drive second hand Saturns that get over 40mpg. That is better than most hybrid vehicles.
BTW, I have a 1984 Ford Mustang SVO that gets 29mpg on the highway (when I keep out of the turbo). It also has enough "go" to keep up with a corvette, AND I don't have to plug it in at night. I am the 3rd owner, so I am actually recycling in a fuel efficient manner! If you rode a horse, you would be really reducing your impact on the Enviro AND you could use the "byproducts" to help your garden!
16) Replace single-pane widows with double-pane. We replace our old double-pane windows with new double-pane windows this last year. The old windows seals had broken and they were very hard to open and close.
What did you do with the old windows? Hopefully you made sure that they were recycled. Actually with a little bit of work you could have upgraded with existing windows by replacing seals and freeing them up with a little elbow grease (which is not petroleum based!).
17) No carpet The downstairs of our house is tiled, upstairs is carpet.
Do we think that tile is "native"? Check to see where the tile was SHIPPED from. Often it is from a foreign country, not the neighborhood. I asked my wife to help me with this one. She said it must be because of not having to vacuum non carpeted floors. Okay, I am all for not having to run that noisy beast! Carpets are a form of insulation and hard surfaces are not. They transmit cold, and heat so indoor climate control devices will have to work harder. They look great too!
18) Donate items we no longer use to the Goodwill. I am always amazed at the things people just throw into the trash. We either re-sell or donate!
We buy at the Goodwill (or other second hand) store. That is the real essence of recycling. You are a primary user, I am a secondary user. Truthfully that makes me the real Enviro friendly consumer. I also save money because you pay "retail", I pay "second hand", and I feel good about it!
19) Use cloth napkins.
This one is great! Don't use Kleenex either. Cloth hankies are much better. Don't use the white ones though, they stain (don't ask me how I know). While we are on the subject, use CLOTH diapers too. Those disposable diapers are made with plastic (which is made or petrochemicals) and then hauled to the landfill as RAW sewage! Just imagine what the archeologists will think 1,000 years from now when they find that we have carefully preserved… BABY POOP!
Dane and I each have a cloth napkin and placemat that we use many times before washing. I do not allow paper towels in the house, we only use them when camping :)
The burning question I have is, "Do you use only ONE square of TP?" Maybe you use leaves… just be careful that they don't have red on them or are in groups of three!
Things Dane and I are planning to do soon:
1) Remove the roof rack from Dan's car to improve gas mileage.
Great! Those things are as ugly as sin. Just for the aesthetics, please remove that abomination! If you get better gas mileage, that is great too! (With a Prius, you will probably save 1 to 2 gallons of gas per year.) I was also wondering why you don't use the bike to go to work. For recreation, QUIT DRIVING to camping and bicycling sites, just ride your bikes around the neighborhood. You might be surprised at what you can learn by being out where you live. We walk AND pick up trash along the roads here. It is cheap and we get money back on the cans we collect!
2) Continue to replace household appliances and lights with more efficient ones.
This one is a "catch 22" because what do you do with the old items? Have you allowed them the old item to run out it's life? Are you just being a consumer to be vogue? Most "trash" or replaced items become Enviro unfriendly because there is no means to actually recycle them (ever seen a recycled light bulb?).
3) Buy less packaging and buy local.
This is a great idea! The problem is that most packaging is designed to thwart thieves. The other reason for so much packaging is that we are attracted to shiny things (just like magpies or crows). Buying local is a great idea, as long as you don't need much. People used to be content with what they could get locally. Now people are shallow and greedy and want to have what "everyone else" has, so they demand that the multi-national stores feed their need... er... umm... greed.
4) Continue to check tire pressure and keep air filters clean.
You might get dizzy doing this while you are driving. If you stop every mile or so to perform these minor maintained items, you will be really doing the Enviro good. Your friends will admire you and it will keep you off of the road more. Be sure to shut off the engine each time because idling engines are real fuel wasters. Actually checking tire pressure once a month is sufficient. If you are OCD, you might do it weekly, but anymore than that is really not going to tell you much.
5) Buy less from the internet.
This one is just silly (on face value), the internet is not a seller, it is a medium of communication and commerce. Now I assume that you are saying that items purchased over the internet are delivered by a carrier. So are things that are delivered to a store. UPS and FedEX are in the neighborhood anyway so their delivery route makes them only about a mile away from most locations. They only deliver what you order and not stuff to fill a whole store.
Q: What happens to all of the stuff that doesn't sell in a store?
A: It gets shipped to another location.) You only order what you plan to use!
6) Bike or walk to work.
I like this one. Everyone should live closer to work and stop wasting time driving. Relationships would be better. There would be less frustration and anger in society and people might even know their neighbors!
7) Replace carpeting with bamboo flooring.
I seriously doubt that these are raised in California. They have to be cut down, shipped out of the forest, shipped (literally) across the ocean, trucked to the store, then hauled to your location. The adhesive used to keep these on the floor is petroleum based.
http://www.shawcontractgroup.com/html/html/literature/Adhesive_pdf
Most carpet is made of RECYCLED plastic like soda bottles and other recyclable plastic.
8) Plant water saving landscaping and plant trees!
Better yet, don't landscape. It takes fuel to haul the plants from place to place. It takes special greenhouses to grow them. If you have to mow or trim you are wasting fuel (or electricity).
9) In the winter, heat the house only when needed, turn off the heat at night and when not home.
Reality does not bear this out. It takes more fuel to recover from a cold condition than to maintain a steady temperature. Just try it with a cup of tea. If you start with COLD water it takes longer to heat than if you start with warm water. REALLY, try it!
10) Only run the washer, dryer and dishwasher with full loads.
This one makes good sense. Better yet wash clothes after you have worn them for a MINIMUM of three days. This will really cut down on your need to use a washer. DON'T use a dryer it is a waste of resources. The sun does a great job of drying things out. If you don't believe me, just try to beat the sun while you are washing the car. Sand works well for washing dishes, so just replace your dishwasher with a sand box (your cat will appreciate it too!).
NOTE: If you want real information on how to cut costs and cut your pollution, email me and I will give you some real ways to accomplish what you say you want to do. Warning though, it might take some work on your part. Not just sending an email to everyone in your address book! ;-)
Communism does not work, because people like to own stuff.
Frank Zappa
Read at your own RISK!
Hi Everyone:
If you get a chance, pick up the Sept. 2007 issue of Packpacker (I think you meant "Backpacker") magazine.This months issue is devoted to the effects of Global Warming on our national parks, etc.. Very sad, but very real, it really brings home the problems and the effects. It is alarming!
The issue also gives info on what you can do to reduce your personal carbon impact on the environment.http://globalwarming-facts.info/50-tips.htmlhttp://www.eartheasy.com/article_global_warming.htm
I challenge you to send out an e-mail to your e-mail list with a list of what YOU are doing to reduce your carbon impact! Here is a list of things that Dane and I are already doing:
1) Changed light bulbs in the house to Compact Fluorescents.(we only have 2 light fixtures in the house that cannot take this type of bulb. Also, when I replaced the light fixtures in the bathroom last year, I made sure to choose fixtures that could use CFL bulbs).
Did you know that ALL fluorescent lamps contain MERCURY (Hg)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)
Mercury mining (taking it out of the ground) is extremely destructive to the Enviro. The majority of Mercury is mined in China. Then it is SHIPPED to where it is used (more fuel used). Speaking of China, did you know that almost all CFLs are made in Asia? That means that they are then SHIPPED to the store you buy them in here in the USA! I wonder if overall CFL are any better for the environment than the standard A19 light bulb with a tungsten filament, clear glass (silica), and brass base. These pesky details just get in the way though, so buy CFLs, don't ask questions and feel good about yourself!
2) Using power strips for our computer, printer, TV and stereo equipment. When we leave for the day or go to bed at night, we turn everything off by turning off the power strip. (this is something new we started doing last month, and our power bill went down $10.00
This one really gets me! Why waste the money on power strips when you can just go outside and flip off a circuit breaker. No need to buy a dozen or so power strips. The best breaker to shut off is marked "MAIN". This will shut off all of the power to your domicile. Don't worry, your food should stay fine for the 12 or so hours that you have cut the power off. (This will also make certain that the pesky Refrigerator light is not running with the door closed!) Most power strips are made in China too. Then they are SHIPPED to the USA to the store you purchase them from. Now let's look at the manufacturing process of a "power strip". The outer case is made of either metal or plastic. Have I mentioned that plastic is made from petrochemicals? It is! There is plastic coating on the wire for insulation too. Then there is the copper conductors. Have you ever seen how Copper (Cu) is mined? They use strip mining, or open pit mining to get the copper out of the ground. They use millions of gallons of water and several caustic chemicals to extract the product. HUGE machinery (that uses petrochemicals) are used to haul the ore from the site. Then it is refined (after being SHIPPED) at a huge power consuming plant. It is hauled to the assembly plant which uses "slave laborers" in "sweat shop" conditions. Once the assembly is completed, the power strip is SHIPPED out to a warehouse, then to a store that you drive to and you transport it to your home. Of course power strips are great sources of guilt and fear. Now when you leave home, not only will you wonder if you "left the Iron on", you will also feel bad when you remember you didn't turn off all power strips! That is why I recommend turning off the Main circuit breaker!
3) Cancel junk mail and catalogs. And recycle all office paper, mail, etc.. I keep a recycle bin by my desk and one downstairs, every piece of paper that enter this house is either filed or recycled!
Do you know what happens to most of this recycled stuff? It gets SHIPPED to a holding area and then it is basically ignored! Some of it even gets hauled off to the regular landfill. It is e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e to reuse paper products. Starting fresh is much cheaper and cleaner. BTW, I was thinking about hiring an Attorney, but then I discovered that it is possible to buy "recycled legal pads" and I have found that this is much cheaper than an attorney!
4) Use a laptop and not a desk top. Dane uses a lap top, and the next time I update my computer system it will be a lap top :) (Laptops use up to 80% less energy than a desk top) Where did you come up with this 80% figure? If you are talking about the "good old days" when an essential part of a computer was a CRT based monitor, you might be close. Most monitors now are LCD for either laptop or desktop. Heck it is hard to find a Television that is not LCD now. Be sure you recycle that old computer because it has GOLD and COPPER components in it. Actually if you really want to help the Enviro, just upgrade what you already have. That way you will not be causing more plastic to be used (remember plastic comes from petrochemicals).
5) Turn off the lights! When we leave a room or the house we do not leave the lights, TV or stereo on. We don't leave a porch light on at night!
Gosh aren't you an unfriendly person. What if someone is lost and your light saves them from being a victim of a crime. Why not put a CFL in your porch light? We put one in our post light and have not changed it in 4 years. Of course, I will have to decide how to recycle the Mercury in the darn thing when it DOES burn out. Maybe I will ship it to China!
Maybe we should start doing what used to do in the "old days". Go te bed when it gets dark and get up when it gets light. That way you won't be using power consuming items just to try to stay awake!
6) Recycle! We recycle everything possible. (The actual garbage that we throw out each week is less than a paper grocery bag).
That is pretty good. Why do you have that much junk? There are 4 people in our house and we generate just a little more than you say you do. In fact we coop our trash with our neighbor and rarely fill a small trash can between the two households. Of course we do pay someone to pick up the garbage.
7) Compost Kitchen Waste. I have used a composter for the past 12 years and I love it! I have it set up in the yard and I use a small covered container that I keep under the sink to put my kitchen waste in. When it is full, I empty it into the composter. I have only had to empty the composter twice in 12 years! And the soil it create is wonderful!
It depends on where you live. We did this at one house and the neighbor across the street called the health department on us. It was a real hassle and we eventually had to quit. Now we feed most of the vegetable matter to the goats (no, not the neighbors) who do most of the composting for us. We then use their "product" to fertilize the garden (this saves having vegetable shipped to the market). I seriously wonder what your neighbors think of your composting. If you have only "had to empty the composter twice in 12 years", you are doing it WRONG! You need to do some research on composting!
8) Pay bills online. We have been doing this for a few years now, it is easy and saves paper and postage. Also, we have our utilities send us an e-statement instead of a paper one!
Isn't this using the internet to "buy" things? (see further down) Okay, I am just yanking your chain, As long as you know that your info cannot be lifted (look for the "httpS" the "S" means secure) before entering personal info on the 'net! Make sure you can have access to the records for your record keeping.
9) Use reusable bags. I have had my reusable bags for 17 years now and I love them. They wash up in the washing machine and last forever!
I challenge your use of "forever". I have had bags wear out from use. The only bags that I know of that will "last forever" are the plastic bags that are so ubiquitous in this culture. Of course this is another source of guilt. Just think how bad you will feel when you forget your bag and have to use one of those nasty "plastic or paper" bags. If you really want to do the Enviro good, make your bag out of old clothes using a treadle sewing machine. Now we are talking!!
http://sewing.about.com/library/weekly/aa012400a.htm
10) Read the newspaper online, it's paperless!
Better yet, DON'T read the newspaper. It will fill your head with foolish thoughts. I hate online newspapers because then there is nothing to put in the bottom of the bird cage or to wrap the fish guts in after cleaning them. Painting with a computer to cover the floor for a drop cloth is futile! Think about the kids who won't learn the lessons taught by having a paper route. There has to be a middle ground here. Coupons are non-existent with the online newspapers. I like to look at all of the junk I don't need that some retailer thinks I should buy!
11) Use recycled paper products. look for the post-consumer waste % listed on the package.
As with all products, make sure of where the "post-consumer waste" has come from. After reading how often you process your compost, I don't want any of your "post-consumer waste". There really should be truth in selling on these items!
12) Drink tap water. We will buy bottled water for camping, but at home we drink good old tap water. When leaving for the day, I fill up a bottle from the tap to keep in the car.
This is a rather evian consideration. Most bottled water is just tap water! We reuse the bottles that bottled water comes in with our own filtered water. It tastes better than what came in it originally. The water bottles are good for a variety of uses. Just be creative!
13) Buy local produced products When I shop, I choose items that have been grown locally or within the State of California.
I prefer to buy items that are grown in our garden. Things grown in CA are SHIPPED over 1200 miles to our home market. Grow your own (as they used to say in the 1960s).
14) Buy energy efficient appliances. We have replaced our washer, dryer and refrigerator with "Energy Star" appliances.
Ummm, hello, ALL appliances are "Energy Star" rated. "Energy Star" is a rating system that helps you compare the efficiency of appliances. There is always a trade off between cost of purchase and cost to operate. Be smart for yourself! (I always admire people who leave the Energy Star rating on their appliances even after they move in!)
When it is time to replace the water heater, I am going with the "instant hot water" type, no more tank! And we keep our current water heater at 120 F, no higher, and it has a think (did you mean "tank"?) blanket on it.
Be careful here, some of those things are real junk and you could get burned in more than one way! Be sure you have some factual way to compare the energy consumption of the Instant and traditional means of heating water and how it correlates to your lifestyle. If that is confusing, you could always heat water on the stove… or… use a solar camp water heater. There are solar water heating systems that will provide MORE hot water than you can ever use. Even in the Winter time.
15) Drive fuel efficient vehicles! Dane has the longest commute of the two of us. He drives a hybrid vehicle. My commute is very short, but my car still averages 30 mpg.
Okay, I hope you feel r-e-a-l good about the hybrid vehicle. Did you check into where each part was made? The battery was made in China (because they don't care about polluting) the components are made all around the globe, the SHIPPED to an assembly plant so you can feel good about driving a car that saves the planet. Hmmm… the auto manufacturers are shrewd aren't they?
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/oct/26ford.htm http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/598bgjbv.asphttp://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm/printable
Our grown children both drive second hand Saturns that get over 40mpg. That is better than most hybrid vehicles.
BTW, I have a 1984 Ford Mustang SVO that gets 29mpg on the highway (when I keep out of the turbo). It also has enough "go" to keep up with a corvette, AND I don't have to plug it in at night. I am the 3rd owner, so I am actually recycling in a fuel efficient manner! If you rode a horse, you would be really reducing your impact on the Enviro AND you could use the "byproducts" to help your garden!
16) Replace single-pane widows with double-pane. We replace our old double-pane windows with new double-pane windows this last year. The old windows seals had broken and they were very hard to open and close.
What did you do with the old windows? Hopefully you made sure that they were recycled. Actually with a little bit of work you could have upgraded with existing windows by replacing seals and freeing them up with a little elbow grease (which is not petroleum based!).
17) No carpet The downstairs of our house is tiled, upstairs is carpet.
Do we think that tile is "native"? Check to see where the tile was SHIPPED from. Often it is from a foreign country, not the neighborhood. I asked my wife to help me with this one. She said it must be because of not having to vacuum non carpeted floors. Okay, I am all for not having to run that noisy beast! Carpets are a form of insulation and hard surfaces are not. They transmit cold, and heat so indoor climate control devices will have to work harder. They look great too!
18) Donate items we no longer use to the Goodwill. I am always amazed at the things people just throw into the trash. We either re-sell or donate!
We buy at the Goodwill (or other second hand) store. That is the real essence of recycling. You are a primary user, I am a secondary user. Truthfully that makes me the real Enviro friendly consumer. I also save money because you pay "retail", I pay "second hand", and I feel good about it!
19) Use cloth napkins.
This one is great! Don't use Kleenex either. Cloth hankies are much better. Don't use the white ones though, they stain (don't ask me how I know). While we are on the subject, use CLOTH diapers too. Those disposable diapers are made with plastic (which is made or petrochemicals) and then hauled to the landfill as RAW sewage! Just imagine what the archeologists will think 1,000 years from now when they find that we have carefully preserved… BABY POOP!
Dane and I each have a cloth napkin and placemat that we use many times before washing. I do not allow paper towels in the house, we only use them when camping :)
The burning question I have is, "Do you use only ONE square of TP?" Maybe you use leaves… just be careful that they don't have red on them or are in groups of three!
Things Dane and I are planning to do soon:
1) Remove the roof rack from Dan's car to improve gas mileage.
Great! Those things are as ugly as sin. Just for the aesthetics, please remove that abomination! If you get better gas mileage, that is great too! (With a Prius, you will probably save 1 to 2 gallons of gas per year.) I was also wondering why you don't use the bike to go to work. For recreation, QUIT DRIVING to camping and bicycling sites, just ride your bikes around the neighborhood. You might be surprised at what you can learn by being out where you live. We walk AND pick up trash along the roads here. It is cheap and we get money back on the cans we collect!
2) Continue to replace household appliances and lights with more efficient ones.
This one is a "catch 22" because what do you do with the old items? Have you allowed them the old item to run out it's life? Are you just being a consumer to be vogue? Most "trash" or replaced items become Enviro unfriendly because there is no means to actually recycle them (ever seen a recycled light bulb?).
3) Buy less packaging and buy local.
This is a great idea! The problem is that most packaging is designed to thwart thieves. The other reason for so much packaging is that we are attracted to shiny things (just like magpies or crows). Buying local is a great idea, as long as you don't need much. People used to be content with what they could get locally. Now people are shallow and greedy and want to have what "everyone else" has, so they demand that the multi-national stores feed their need... er... umm... greed.
4) Continue to check tire pressure and keep air filters clean.
You might get dizzy doing this while you are driving. If you stop every mile or so to perform these minor maintained items, you will be really doing the Enviro good. Your friends will admire you and it will keep you off of the road more. Be sure to shut off the engine each time because idling engines are real fuel wasters. Actually checking tire pressure once a month is sufficient. If you are OCD, you might do it weekly, but anymore than that is really not going to tell you much.
5) Buy less from the internet.
This one is just silly (on face value), the internet is not a seller, it is a medium of communication and commerce. Now I assume that you are saying that items purchased over the internet are delivered by a carrier. So are things that are delivered to a store. UPS and FedEX are in the neighborhood anyway so their delivery route makes them only about a mile away from most locations. They only deliver what you order and not stuff to fill a whole store.
Q: What happens to all of the stuff that doesn't sell in a store?
A: It gets shipped to another location.) You only order what you plan to use!
6) Bike or walk to work.
I like this one. Everyone should live closer to work and stop wasting time driving. Relationships would be better. There would be less frustration and anger in society and people might even know their neighbors!
7) Replace carpeting with bamboo flooring.
I seriously doubt that these are raised in California. They have to be cut down, shipped out of the forest, shipped (literally) across the ocean, trucked to the store, then hauled to your location. The adhesive used to keep these on the floor is petroleum based.
http://www.shawcontractgroup.com/html/html/literature/Adhesive_pdf
Most carpet is made of RECYCLED plastic like soda bottles and other recyclable plastic.
8) Plant water saving landscaping and plant trees!
Better yet, don't landscape. It takes fuel to haul the plants from place to place. It takes special greenhouses to grow them. If you have to mow or trim you are wasting fuel (or electricity).
9) In the winter, heat the house only when needed, turn off the heat at night and when not home.
Reality does not bear this out. It takes more fuel to recover from a cold condition than to maintain a steady temperature. Just try it with a cup of tea. If you start with COLD water it takes longer to heat than if you start with warm water. REALLY, try it!
10) Only run the washer, dryer and dishwasher with full loads.
This one makes good sense. Better yet wash clothes after you have worn them for a MINIMUM of three days. This will really cut down on your need to use a washer. DON'T use a dryer it is a waste of resources. The sun does a great job of drying things out. If you don't believe me, just try to beat the sun while you are washing the car. Sand works well for washing dishes, so just replace your dishwasher with a sand box (your cat will appreciate it too!).
NOTE: If you want real information on how to cut costs and cut your pollution, email me and I will give you some real ways to accomplish what you say you want to do. Warning though, it might take some work on your part. Not just sending an email to everyone in your address book! ;-)
Communism does not work, because people like to own stuff.
Frank Zappa
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)