Movie: Crash

Just finished watching Crash. The movie sums up the good and bad in all of us. We all have our own fears and anger that course through us. Why can’t we just stop and tell our brothers and sisters that we love them. Why can’t we see past skin color, nationality, fat, skinny, tall, short, man, woman, gay or straight. I’ve left out a bunch of things we need to see past because at the moment it would take far too much space.

I think part of it is because we’ve become so disconnected from each other. Busy lives lead to insular feelings. A general disconnectedness from the universe, so to speak. Sure, I have my electronic world and the physical world. In both I try to be as fair as I can. But sometimes I catch a learned bias and it surprises me that its still way down inside me, a part of me.

All I can tell you is that if you haven’t yet seen the movie, see it. It enraged me, saddened me and then left me with the hope that, to quote Donnie Hathaway, “…someday we’ll all be free.” Free from our learned prejudices, free from opression in any of its forms, free from fear, free from jealousy.

Oh Nice – Gasoline From Cow Dung

This is interesting. When one considers the amount of bovine effluvia here in the United States you can see the promise.

In the case of the Japanese, they generate 551,155 tons of cow dung annualy. At a rate of 666 pounds of dung to one gallon of gasoline, this would net the Japanese 1,656,321 gallons of gasoline. However the process large quantities of heat and pressure. I suppose you could always use the methane from the cow dung to generate the power necessary to do that.

Now imagine for a moment how much cow dung we generate here in the United States. Not to mention the bovine effluvia being expelled from the mouths of politicians in the United States. Ok, that tongue in cheek comment aside, this really is interesting.

And of course lots of people have been using biodiesel. I think it’s great – cooking oil be it corn, soy, canola or some other oil. And of course TDP (Thermal Depolymerization) takes plastics, turkey offal, etc. and turns it into oil.

We might finally be approaching Type I civilization status. Using all the energy of our planet, but we still need to start harnessing the power of our star to make it all the way there. Solar isn’t quite up to speed, with roughly 30% to 50% efficiency at the moment. But solar power is a long way from what it was in the 1970’s.

Hey, there’s even a company that uses solar power to make beer. How cool is that?

It gets better. How about a home completely off the grid?

Its great – rising fuel prices always fuel innovation. And I for one would love a house off the grid. I bet lots of people would.

Ok – I’ll stop with the treehugger monologue here.

Find Out If You’re Being Snooped Upon

Go to this site and fill in your info. Print and mail the request. Wait to see what you get back.

Got this from The Huffington Post|Raw Feed RSS feed that I’m subscribed to.

As If Light Pollution Wasn’t Enough

Now we astronomers, both amateur and professional, have to contend with pollution caused by aircraft.

Where I live, light pollution is a pretty big deal. Our brilliant former mayor, who is now serving a term on a RICO conspiracy charge, wanted to light up the big buildings. So what did everyone do? Uplighting. I’m glad the son of a bitch is in the federal pen. Not so much for the RICO thing, which I consider to be an abuse of law, but for the light pollution his legacy has left us.

But the whole thing saddens me. As a kid I remember being able to lay in my back yard in the city proper, and still see a sky loaded with stars. Now you’re lucky if you can see a few dozen. Every now and then I have to head out to a friend of mines place in Foster in order to see a sky that looks like its been spackled with stars.

Pay Off Your Credit Card – Homeland Security Snoops

I can’t believe this. It flew right under my RADAR. That Homeland Security can stop a large payment to a credit card company smacks of constitutional violations. Yet the U.S. Senate re-authorized the PATRIOT act.

When things like this happen it makes me ashamed to be a United States Citizen.

This Is An Oddity

Apparently a teacher comparing Bush to Hitler gets some pretty harsh treatment in Aurora, CO. Matter of fact, I applaud the students that walked out in protest of said treatment.

What disturbs me is the fact that a student recorded the lecture in order to bag the teacher. A neo-nazi Republican in training I suppose. Already acting as informer on his teachers, what next for this punk?

Recently Release Pictures from the Civil Rights Era

Apparently the Birmingham News thought it could stop the civil rights movement if it didn’t publish these photographs.

All I can say is that we are WAY overdue for another revolution in this country.

Craven Republicans

The latest on Duke Cunningham – the CA Republican congress person that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

If anyone believes for a moment that politicians aren’t mostly on the take they should look a little deeper.

For example, why would someone with money want to run for political office? Ask yourself that.

Thing is, this crosses party lines. It isn’t just the Republicans that are on the take, the Democrats are too. It’s just the degree to which each party commits such acts that changes. Democrats live high on the hog, whereas Republicans live high on several hogs.

This is why we need real campagin finance reform, and perhaps a break on the two party stranglehold over our political system.

The following are required reading for all who read this blog:

Barbara Ehrenriech’s “Nickle and Dimed” and “Bait and Switch”
Arianna Huffington’s “How To Overthrow The Government”
Steve Squyer’s “Roving Mars”
Steven D. Levitt’s “Freakonomics”

and if you can find it:
Robert Manchester’s “The Arms of Krup: 1587 to 1968”

What? Don’t look at me like that. It’s only about 1,800 pages or so in total. But if you read those books you’ll more understand this blog.

DeLay’s Cronies try to harass a Texas Non-Profit

Using the IRS to investigate enemies has been SOP for Presidents, Congress and law enforcement for many years. It’s ultimately how they bagged Al Cappone.

But the fact the DeLay’s political ronies used it to harass Texans for Public Justice just becuase they questioned DeLay’s campaign finance is beyond despicable.

I hope Mr. DeLay serves a nice long sentence at Club Fed because if there’s one thing I cannot stomach is when a politician uses said power to menace those critical of them. By that measure, I’ve been openly critical of the Republican leadership in Congress, the President and even local politicians so I’m more than likely sure I’ve been looked at by various agencies in the past and present. That I haven’t positive knowledge of the fact is even more scary.

Get Ready for World War III

If Al Qaeda is indeed intent on destroying Saudi oil production we better be prepeared.

Here’s a list of what oil is used for in the United States:

Obvious:
Heat
Energy
Gasoline
Oil
By extension of that above – our food supply is dependent on oil. Even some pesticides are petroleum based.

Not terribly obvious:
Pharmaceuticals
Plastics
Detergents
Product Packaging
That computer you’re using.

This is just the short list. Peter Allan wrote “Rumsfeld’s Paw” on the Huffington Post. It inspired me to write this little note of warning.

You see, the United States isn’t the only country that depends on oil. Europe depends on oil, China is now very dependent on oil, as is India.

What happens when more than half the supply suddenly disappears? You guesses it – contests in which winner takes all gains new meaning.

Thank you George W. Bush for making the world less secure.