Category Archives: spirituality

If It’s Good Enough For The Queen Why Not Us – America is always behind

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Maybe that will change with a Democrat in the White House:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/22/technology/queen_turbine.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008092212

Her majesty’s big,

honkin’ windmill

The Queen of England is buying

 the world’s largest wind turbine,

which towers over Big Ben and

will light up thousands of British

homes.

By Todd Woody, senior editor

Last Updated: September 22, 2008: 12:15 PM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) — It’s been a century or so since Britain ruled the waves, but Queen Elizabeth II will soon reign over the wind. Earlier this year the Crown Estate, which manages royal property worth $14 billion and controls the seas up to 14 miles off the British coast, agreed to purchase – for an undisclosed sum – the world’s largest wind turbine.

It’s a 7.5-megawatt monster to be built by Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, Calif. Now the Royal Turbine is getting even bigger: Clipper has revealed to Fortune that Her Majesty’s windmill has been supersized to ten megawatts, producing five times the power generated by typical big turbines currently in commercial operation. The giant’s wingspan stretches the length of two soccer fields. At 574 feet, the turbine soars over Big Ben and roughly equals 111 Queen Elizabeths (the actual queen) plus one corgi stacked on top of one another.

The Queen’s turbine will displace two million barrels of oil as well as 724,000 tons of CO2 over its lifetime. This prototype will be the flagship for Clipper’s Britannia Project, an effort to create a new generation of massive-megawatt turbines to be placed on deep-sea floating platforms. When the windmill goes online in 2012 somewhere off the British coast, it could power 3,700 average homes.

 http://gizmodo.com/5053873/queen-of-england-buying-the-worlds-largest-wind-turbine

 We don’t know how much it cost her, but word is that the Queen of England has put down some mega-bucks to buy the world’s largest wind turbine. The 10-megawatt monster machine built by Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, California will have a wingspan larger than two soccer fields and will stand 574 feet tall when completed. The windmill is expected to displace two million barrels of oil as well as 724,000 tons of CO2 over its lifetime. It will also serve as the flagship for Clipper’s Britannia Project, an effort to produce massive new turbines on deep-sea floating platforms. If all goes as planned, the Queen’s windmill will light up thousands of British homes starting in 2012.

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California Was A Disappointment In This Election – First the religious bigots again outlaw marriage for those that are gay

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But then they knock down a couple of very important environmental initiatives. I so tired of Christian flakes and kooks I could tear my hair and scream.

 http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/11/05/mixed-bag-for-state-environmental-ballot-initiatives/

ballot-boxes.jpg

Mixed Bag for State Environmental Ballot Initiatives

Written by Timothy B. Hurst

Published on November 5th, 2008

[Update: I seemed to have overlooked an important constitutional amendment passed in Minnesota that established a funding mechanism for conservation programs. My apologies to our friends in the North Star State. See comments for more.]For many Americans, participatory democracy means choosing between the people who will choose for you. But for voters in 36 states, electoral democracy exists beyond the parameters of representative government. In the states where the tools of direct democracy like referendums and ballot initiatives are employed, preferences of voters are gauged directly on amendments to state constitutions, specific policy questions, budgeting issues and more. Of the 153 measures at stake across the country in yesterday’s election, about a dozen dealt with energy and the environment. Below are the results and analysis of eight of the more notable measures (in no particular order):

 Missouri Proposition C: Yes

Colorado Referendum 58: No

Colorado Referendum 52: No

Florida Amendment 4: Yes

Washington Proposition 1: Still undecided

Ohio Issue 2: Yes

California Proposition 1A: Yes

California Proposition 2: Yes

California Proposition 7: No

California Proposition 10: No

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No To 100 Nukes – Thanks for that.

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We waited breathlessly last night to find out if we would be building 50 nukes with a goal of 100. The answer NAH. Energy drenched America may have finally woken up.

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/happydays.htm

[Music and Lyrics by J. Yellen and M. Ager]

So long sad times
Go long bad times
We are rid of you at last

Howdy gay times
Cloudy gray times
You are now a thing of the past

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let’s sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again

Altogether shout it now
There’s no one
Who can doubt it now
So let’s tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again

Your cares and troubles are gone
There’ll be no more from now on
From now on …

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So, Let’s sing a song of cheer again

Happy times
Happy nights
Happy days
Are here again!

Contact NIEHS (NIH, DHHS)
Children’s Privacy and Other Disclaimers
NIEHS Sing-Along Index
NIEHS Kids Page Main Index

Gas Prices In Springfield Illinois Fall To 1.85$$ – We are all going to die!

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Conspiracy theoriests say that this is the result of collusion between, Big Oil, Dick Cheney, President Bush, the Big Refiners, the Gasoline Dealerships and certain Rich Republicans (you know who you are) to artifishally lower the price of Oil and Gasoline to steal the election from Barack Obama and hand it to John McCain. Damn that was a long sentence.

It’s not because the Oil Markets were destabilized by speculators for the first time in nearly 100 years and prices are going to swing widely as a result. I bet Oil Prices go to 40$$ per barrel, before they skyrocket out of sight again. The Saudi’s are getting soaked. That sucking sound you hear is billions of Saudi $$s flowing into the US. I imagine at some point the Saudi’s will take murder contracts out on the hedge fund managers, the super wealthy, and the currency traders who caused all this craziness in the first place. Which is fitting I suppose.

I am busy with the election so maybe no energy post to follow but Dan Piraro asked me to pass along a couple of cartoons that were rejected by a really really famous magazine that ethics prevents us from naming (Time):

 http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/

 piraro_time_01sm.jpg

 piraro_time_02sm.jpg

If you find the titles too hard to read the first one says “mommy is too tired to run her hands under your bed clothes tonight, honey” and the other one says “let me put my glasses on because it doesn’t look as big as you said”

And if you believe that well you probably believe the conspiracy theory above. Oh go to dan’s web site and click on the cartoons. They magically get bigger and then you can read the print.

GET OUT AND VOTE!

Witches And Sarah Palin Make For Crazy Energy Policy – Better give the kids their candy or it’s a nasty trick for you

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Witches are so cool. Feared because they were powerful woman who paid no mind to no man. But then some people fear them, well, because they are fearful all the time:

 http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080925_13_ANCH744416

Palin once blessed to be free from ‘witchcraft’

By GARANCE BURKE Associated Press Writer
9/25/2008  9:41 AM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A grainy YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for her protection from “witchcraft” as she prepared to seek higher office.The video shows Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft.”“Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan,” Muthee said as two attendants placed their hands on Palin’s shoulders. “Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. … Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”Palin filed campaign papers a few months later, in October 2005, and was elected governor the next year.

Palin does not say anything on the video and keeps her head bowed throughout the blessing. She was baptized at the church but stopped attending regularly in 2002

Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan,” Muthee said as two attendants placed their hands on Palin’s shoulders. “Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. … Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”

Palin filed campaign papers a few months later, in October 2005, and was elected governor the next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj-on3kfWuE 
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 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/24/video-palin-shown-praying_n_128873.html

 Blumenthal, in addition to his on the scenes reporting, posts video of the sermon which Palin references (footage begins at 7:30). In it, the minister implores Jesus to protect Palin from “the spirit of witchcraft.” Earlier, he states, “We need God taking over our education system. If we have God in our schools, we will not have our kids being taught how to worship Buddha, how to worship Muhammad. We will not have in the curriculum witchcraft and sorcery.” He also preaches, “The other area is the media. We need believers in the media. We need God taking over the media in our lives.” 

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This stuff seems rather ho hum until you go from Halloween to the real world.

🙂

MINISTRY STUDENTS: Governor asked them to pray for troops, pipeline.

By GENE JOHNSON
The Associated Press

Published: September 4th, 2008 01:50 AM
Last Modified: September 4th, 2008 06:35 PM

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a “task that is from God.”

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it “God’s will.”

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

“Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God,” she said. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan.”

A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God’s Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.

Palin told graduating students of the church’s School of Ministry, “What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys.” As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she’d work to implement God’s will from the governor’s office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.

“God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,” she said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhs-Faxi55o

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Now I know what you are thinking, many oil Executives have prayed and prayed that their pipelines got done on time and under budget. But that was so they didn’t lose any money. Sarah’s praying to get the pipelin to happen. Geez, I thought that was Congress and the EPA’s job. Happy Halloween!

Oh and for a real witch:

 http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/

 biz_lesbianwitches_10-31-07_wb.jpg

Dan he is funny, oh I mean damn – never mind

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To Continue In The Halloween Spirit I give you Frankenstein! Oh god the little kiddies love their candy

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OK so it is really the Miami Museum of Science Exhibit on electricity safety. But shouldn’t it be Frankensteen?:

http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/frankenstein/index.html

 franktitle.gif

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With lessons like this:

What is young Dracula doing wrong? If you guessed “using a hair dryer near water” you’re right!

Hair dryers and water don’t mix, and can be very dangerous! Never use a hair dryer near water and never place a hair dryer in water.

If you see a hair dryer or any other electrical appliance in or near water, stay away and go tell your parents or an adult!

Remember: Electricity and water don’t mix!

vandergraphanimate.gif 

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And messages like this:

What is the young Mummy doing wrong? If you guessed “putting something near a lamp” you’re right!

Lamps use electricity to make light and can get very hot! If things get to close to a hot lamp they can catch on fire!

Never place anything near or inside the lamp shade. The lamp shade acts as the lamp’s safety zone. Nothing should be inside this safety zone.

Remember: Lamps can get very hot! Never place anything near or inside the lamp shade.

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Wish they would have know that at GE when they first started making these:

http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarchive/Safety-HTML/HTML/State-to-Warn-About-Halide-Light-Dangers~20050314.php 

January 31, 2005Oregon schools, warehouses and businesses will soon be getting a state safety warning about the potential danger of ultraviolet exposure from cracked metal halide lights.State officials said they will also notify the federal government about an unusual but very real danger of severe “sunburn” and irritated eyes that can come from such exposure.The warnings follow a November incident that left about 80 Lake Oswego teachers suffering a range of symptoms after being exposed to ultraviolet radiation from a cracked metal halide bulb burning in a school gym.It was similar to a 2000 incident in which several spectators at a junior high basketball game in Sutherlin suffered from sore eyes and skin rashes that resembled sunburn.An environmental specialist hired by the state estimated that those sitting directly under the cracked light in Lake Oswego would have received a full day’s exposure to ultraviolet radiation in just eight minutes.

Metal halide lights are common in large spaces because of the bright, white rays they emit.

But a 1980 federal Food and Drug Administration directive says only metal halide bulbs that self-extinguish when cracked should be used in places where people could be exposed for more than a few minutes, unless other safety precautions are in place.

The FDA also ordered that warnings be placed on the packaging of metal halide lights that don’t self-extinguish.

Last week, the Oregon office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded an investigation that found many school districts and other employers are not aware of the danger of ultraviolet radiation.

The Lake Oswego incident happened when a metal halide light in the Bryant Elementary School gym in Lake Oswego was struck by a volleyball Oct. 18. The district maintenance staff didn’t change the bulb because, although cracked, it was still emitting light.

But a four-hour teacher training session in the gym in November left many teachers with symptoms ranging from sensitive skin to burned corneas and temporary blindness.

Teachers union president Kathy Lundeen said although doctors told teachers their symptoms should soon subside, “more than a handful” of teachers are still suffering dry eyes and sensitivity to light more than two months after the incident.

“I don’t think anyone should have to go through what the employees have gone through here,” Lundeen said.

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A final one:

What is the young Wolf Man doing wrong? If you guessed “placing something on top of a power cord” you’re right!

Placing objects on top of power cords can damage them, causing power shortages or even fires!

Remember: Don’t place objects on top of power cords.

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But this is my favorite:

 atomsmall2.gif
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The Report Says We Can Be Done With Fossil Fuels In 80 Years – My question is do we have that much time?

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The answer is definitely NOT:

 http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn15043-2090-is-the-deadline-for-the-end-of-fossil-fuel-use.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

World can halt fossil fuel use by 2090

  • 12:13 27 October 2008
  • NewScientist.com news service
  • New Scientist staff and Reuters

The world could eliminate fossil fuel use by 2090, saving $18 trillion in future fuel costs and creating a $360 billion industry that provides half of the world’s electricity, the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and environmental group Greenpeace said on Monday.

The 210-page study [pdf] is one of few reports – even by lobby groups – to look in detail at how energy use would have to be overhauled to meet the toughest scenarios for curbing greenhouse gases outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Renewable energy could provide all global energy needs by 2090,” according to the study, entitled “Energy (R)evolution.” EREC represents renewable energy industries and trade and research associations in Europe.

A more radical scenario could eliminate coal use by 2050 if new power generation plants shifted quickly to renewables.

Solar power, biomass such as biofuels or wood, geothermal energy and wind could be the leading energies by 2090 in a shift from fossil fuels blamed by the IPCC for stoking global warming.

The total energy investments until 2030, the main period studied, would come to $14.7 trillion, according to the study. By contrast, the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises rich nations, foresees energy investments of just $11.3 trillion to 2030, with a bigger stress on fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with ex-US Vice President Al Gore, called Monday’s study “comprehensive and rigorous.”

Dangerous change

“Even those who may not agree with the analysis presented would, perhaps, benefit from a deep study of the underlying assumptions,” Pachauri wrote in a foreword to the report.

EREC and Greenpeace said a big energy shift was needed to avoid “dangerous” climate change, defined by the European Union and many environmental groups as a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius since before the Industrial Revolution.

The report urged measures such as a phase-out of subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy, “cap and trade” systems for greenhouse gas emissions, legally binging targets for renewable energies and tough efficiency standards for buildings and vehicles.

The report said renewable energy markets were booming with turnover almost doubling in 2007 from 2006 to more than $70 billion. It said renewables could more than double their share of world energy supplies to 30% by 2030 and reach 50% by 2050.

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But it will only cost 17 trillion dollars:

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/21375/1066/

 Sven Teske, with Greenpeace and co-author of the report, stated, “Unlike other energy scenarios that promote energy futures at the cost of the climate, our energy revolution scenario shows how to save money and maintain global economic development without fuelling catastrophic climate change.”Teske added, “All we need to kick start this plan is bold energy policy from world leaders.” [EREC]Teske concluded, “Strict efficiency standards make sound economic sense and dramatically slow down rising global energy demand. The energy saved in industrialised countries will make space for increased energy use in developing economies. With renewable energy growing four-fold not only in the electricity sector, but also in the heating and transport sectors, we can still cut the average carbon emissions per person from today?s four tonnes to around one tonne by 2050.” [EREC]

In the foreword to the report, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri wrote, “Even those who may not agree with the analysis presented would, perhaps, benefit from a deep study of the underlying assumptions,” [EREC]

Dr. Pachauri, who is the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former-U.S. Vice President Al Gore,

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For more links:

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49Q2I820081027

Green Sex Life – Yes its true, you can do it in the dark

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OKOKOK talk about pandering:

 http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/sex/index.html

How to Go Green Sex..:}

[by Jacob Gordon]

Whether you’re single and playing the field, settled down with that special someone, or someplace in between, most of us consider good, satisfying, sexy sex an important part of this complete breakfast. It might not be the first thing we think of while working towards a sustainable and graceful life on this fragile planet, but there’s a lot we can do to make our sex lives greener. In the process of greening the ecological footprint of our love making, we might also open up some new doors to deeper pleasure, satisfaction, and romantic connection.

Buzz up!I can’t go on but for more you can go here: 

http://evilbeet.blogspot.com/2007/03/green-sex.html http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/04/13/gree.DTL

http://blogs.takepart.com/2008/04/09/top-10-ways-to-green-up-your-sex-life/ 

http://buzzfeed.com/buzz/Green_Sex

 http://www.eartherotics.com/

 http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/eco-sex-guide

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/eco_kink_japans.php

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19333870/

 http://www.usnews.com/blogs/fresh-greens/2008/10/15/sex-sells-green-pinup-girl-calendars.html

I could go on but I think they already have.

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They Say Environmentalist’s Have No Sense Of Humor – But we do But we do But

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My favorite humorist right now is Dan Piraro who allows me to steal his cartoons shamelessly (well I have some but don’t tell him). He does environmental stuff about 4 times a year and I try to give him a little extra boost. (like he needs it and we give him what maybe 3 extra viewers) So with out further dodo here it is:

http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/

windmills.jpg

Presidential Energy Policy – What if Community Energy Systems was running for President?

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What would our collective Presidential Energy Policy look like? :

1. Ban the sale of Gasoline and Diesel as of January 2015, except 1 gallon containers and Heavy Transport Trucks.

2. Ban Diesel and Gasoline sales to Heavey Transport Trucks by 2018.

This would allow everyone to keep mowing their grass and having their backyard barbeques while the USA shifts its transportation capacity to cleaner safer fuels.

3. Ban the Burning of coal in Electrical Generating Stations in 2020.

That would require switching all those plants to another fuel source, probably natural gas.

4. Fund 3 Hot Rocks Power Stations. One in California to replace Diablo Nuclear Power Plant, One to replace Clinton Nuclear Power Plant in Illinois and one to replace Savannah Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia. This would begin the proceess of Converting our economy to geothermal energy on existing sites where Nukes should not be in the first place.

This would proceed for all Nuclear Power Plants in the nation.

 5. Create and support manditory energy conservation programs in both the residential market and the commercial market to reduce their consumption by 50%.

Lets insulate and modernize our world.

6. Order all Landfill operaters and Waste Haulers to begin the mining of all landfills and dumps for metals, glass, plastics and and paper products. Compost the rest.

7. Mandate that all materials be recycled with the goal of a steady state materials economy in the USA by 2020

8. Using tax incentives to increase the Market share of solar, geothermal and wind generation by 25% per year until the USA is largely energy self sufficient.

9. Create a maglev train system in the USA

10. Create a light rail system in the top 50 major markets.

11. Ban the sale of diesel fuel to the railroads in 2025.

12. Open the Yucca Mountain repository by Executive Order if necessary and order all spent nuclear materials to be stored there.

To pay for this I would cut the military budgets of the following services: reduce the Navy to 2 active Fleets, one on the West Coast, one on the East Coast; reduce the Army to 4 batallions; reduce the Airforce to 4 Airwings; leave the Marines alone.

To pay for these policies I would slash the Pentagon staff in half, and the “spying budget” by 1/3.

To pay for these policies I would close the Federal Office of Education. Then I would start in on some of the stupid Federal Budget items that we as tax payers fund, like closing the National Helium Repository in Texas. We sure won’t need the Strategic Petroleum Resevre.

This program would create million of new good paying jobs. Put this country back to work and not flipping burgers at McDonalds.