'Timid Litany of Limitations'

Hi, Marttoni. Hi, cassandra. Congratulation to bia. Happy anniversary TBA. 25 is a hard number to achieve. You sailed it.

Hi, Marttoni. Hi, cassandra. Congratulation to bia. Happy anniversary TBA. 25 is a hard number to achieve. You sailed it.

I only skimmed the docs, but I didn't notice anyone mention methane caputure.

Seems to me that there's a lot of potential energy locked up in the Russian tundra, Argentinian cattle and American pigs.

Another item to consider is this: With the advent of Global Warming, won't there be more energy trapped in Earth's atmosphere and oceans themselves? And the best we can do is to fret about the weather (like we don't do this already?) and watch the ice melt?

More later, but all of the energy available on a global scale from thermal energy exchanges and state transitions as this planet warms up has to add up to something, doesn't it? Like more than enough to power a cell phone for a day?

As far as commuting to work goes, I remember an old idea for low energy and low emission commuting: everybody works to the west of where they live. At a certain time in the morning, we jack the East Coast of the US up and let everyone coast to work. In the evening we lower the East Coast and jack up the West Coast, and let everyone coast home.

With a long enough lever on that jack it seems simple enough (ignoring silly stuff like plate tectonics, of course).

bc

I only skimmed the docs, but I didn't notice anyone mention methane caputure.

Seems to me that there's a lot of potential energy locked up in the Russian tundra, Argentinian cattle and American pigs.

Another item to consider is this: With the advent of Global Warming, won't there be more energy trapped in Earth's atmosphere and oceans themselves? And the best we can do is to fret about the weather (like we don't do this already?) and watch the ice melt?

More later, but all of the energy available on a global scale from thermal energy exchanges and state transitions as this planet warms up has to add up to something, doesn't it? Like more than enough to power a cell phone for a day?

As far as commuting to work goes, I remember an old idea for low energy and low emission commuting: everybody works to the west of where they live. At a certain time in the morning, we jack the East Coast of the US up and let everyone coast to work. In the evening we lower the East Coast and jack up the West Coast, and let everyone coast home.

With a long enough lever on that jack it seems simple enough (ignoring silly stuff like plate tectonics, of course).

bc

Hey there daiwanlan. A lot of off and on lurkers have been popping up the past couple of days...

Whoops, we clearly have some sort of a Boodle Twofer Thursday problem going on.

bc

Am I the only Boodler who can handle a single post anymore (just kidding...)

Jeez, we went a whole hour and almost a half before discovering a new kit? We're off our game here on the boodle.

As I've said previously, tell me the answer and I'll run with it. But please make good energy policy first.

They were all scoffing down their scones and quaffing tea, slyness.

Surprised? One of the prizes from my Tuesday afternoon foray to the used bookstore was picking up Daniel Yergin's 1991 Pulitzer prize-winning "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power." Since oil is going to be in the news for some time, I thought I'd really better bone up on the subject and this excellent tome seems like a good place to start.

That said, I was disappointed not have purchased the hardback version of "The Prize." I had waited too long for a discount sale over Memorial Day at the same store, and by the time I circled in to buy it, the hardback was gone, but Steve Coll's early book on Getty Oil still remained, though by Tuesday that had sold, too.

PBS created a series of programs (1992?) from Yergin's book, but I don't recall having watched them.

So I was surprised to learn that Yergin, who is getting up in years but who is still as sharp as the proverbial tack, had testified before the Senate Joint Economic Committee hearing in Washington just yesterday. This link has a snippet of his testimony or views, but one could try to locate the Webcast.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200806251536DOWJONESDJONLINE000732_FORTUNE5.htm

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Yergin's name is mentioned, along with those of Enron, Phil Gramm and Joe Lieberman, in Tim Egan's op-ed this morning at the NYT, titled "Petro-Manipulators." (Yergin is blasted by one of the commenters, however.)

http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/the-petro-manipulators/index.html

However, I would like to ask Tim a question about his sentence that contains the phrase, "tight supply during the end stages of the 200-year reign of fossil fuels." I was reading last night the prologue and first pages of the first chapter of Yergin, when I ran across this, "the determination of one man ...,who, more than anybody else, was responsible for the creation of the oil industry."

George Bissell visted western Pennsylvania in 1853. Bissels, Porters, the Rev.s family, Griswolds and Loomises sailed up the Connecticut River in the same boat to Windsor in 1638. So, I'm wondering how Egan calculates the start of the 200-year reign of oil. I do know that many consider the past century to have been the century of oil.

If you want to look at the death of environmentalism, look no further than Michael Chertoff, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S.-Mexico border fence and the Supreme Court decision this week giving Chertoff a free reign [sic].

reposted from tail end of last boodle-

Listening now to WAMU clips of people talking about how they'll feel safer in their homes with their "2nd ammendment rights" and their loaded guns in DC.

I will never understand people who think owning and/or carrying a loaded handgun makes them safer. More comfortable than most women with weapons my personal favorite is the M60 machine gun because once I decide to fire there wouldn't be any doubt about my intentions. In the garage at Chez Frostbitten North are an assortment of shotguns for small game, and I have participated in more than a few games of blindfolded assembly and disassembly of sidearms (the Lt's favorite drinking game). However, for the life of me I can't contemplate having a loaded pistol anywhere in my home. It would be like leaving the top off the drano at toddler height and not expecting it to be accidentally ingested. I hope the people who think they are going to be safer in their home still feel good about today's decision when a teenager gets his head blown off by the dad who is "protecting his castle." On the bright side, there might be a dip in infidelity as cheating spouses contemplate how much easier it is for the wronged party to grab a loaded 9mm out of a nightstand than to find a shark to orchestrate a slow and painful death.

Joel,
You ask great questions, those questions embedded in your Kit. For the sake of us all, let's hope that you circle back to them in (timeframe of your choice), but let's day for the sake of example, three, five, ten year's time.

On a quick side note, some car companies utilize a tool to describe the environmental footprints of their manufacturing processes.

Volvo has what many consider the gold standard for an overall view of the environmental impact of their manufacturing and products:

http://www.volvocars.com/intl/corporation/Sustainability/GRI/Pages/EnvironmentalPerformanceIndicators.aspx

Several other manufacturers consider this a defacto standard for measurement and compaison, even if they don't publish the results.

I've often wondered if the US Government might require that all companies manufacturing and/or selling cars in the US report to this standard, and that there possibly be some flexibility to emissions and CAFE standards attached to them, if the overall net results are more efficient energy use and reduced emissions...

bc

Some leftover housekeeping from late in the last boodle:

bc, no need to appologize, my good man. I was just taking a page from somebody else's playbook, by using your idea and reducing it to absurdity. It was merely for comedy, and seemed to fall flat on it's face. Glad to see that the boodle is getting used to that, and just ignoring it.

frosty, the thought of you waving an M60 around wildly, blindfolded, swilling a brewski, makes me, well, just binking weak in the knees. 'scuse me while I wipe up the sweat off my face. :-)

Oh, sure, thanks bc. Break my a--. I don't have enough crap to edit around here.

No worries, Don.

Clearly, the idea that the purpose of new widgets (and news content to be delivered by them) to control our reaching for our wallets was intended in jest as well.

The other parts about news content syndication weren't.

Apologies for any possible confusion, folks.

And Mudge, I have a few comments witheld in the Wordy Durd filter regarding the state of your @$$, but I will summarize by suggesting that yours may already be well- broken in (please note that I didn't use the phrase, "rode hard and put away wet").

Don't mean to make more work for ye Mudge, but if the car companies want money from the Feds to develop new technologies (and they aren't making much money from customers at the moment), I suspect they're going to have to toe the line on the terms of that research investment cash.

And this is one way to regulate it without being too terribly dictatorial (oh, had to be careful about *that* spelling).

bc

I'm wondering if NYT op-ed writer Tim Egan thinks or believes that the world supply of the fossil fuel oil will be depleted (or nearly depleted) by 2053? That would make sense as far as a 200-year reign of oil.

I'm LOL.

slyness, you asked about the logistics of champagne cork popping. It's a highly complicated endeavor. At the beginning of every academic year, the department's graduate students designate a defense party person who is in charge of procuring for every defender a bottle of champagne and a cake saying "Congratulations Dr. X." Plus making sure that there is a Sharpie available. The money for these purchases used to be solicited from among the defender's friends, but in recent years an annual book drive within the department has provided funds via the local used bookstore. After the defense is over and the official page is signed, the defender and her committee members adjourn to the department's lounge area (a luxurious wide spot at the end of the hall), arriving to the cheers of the assembled masses who use the occasion to renew their hope that someday, it will happen for them, too. Then the defender pops the cork into a ceiling tile, climbs on a chair, and signs and dates the dent as a record for posterity. And then everyone eats cake and drinks champagne (or sparkling apple cider, as preferred), and usually there's a toast, and eventually everyone drifts back to their offices and gets back to work. Ah, tradition.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1818028,00.html

Oh, and to those of you who seem to feel that you should have gotten a doctorate instead of heading off into the real world with a master's, no, you shouldn't have. Not if you're able to do what you want professionally without the degree. Lots of people enter Ph.D. programs because they're good students and don't know what else to do with themselves. I say there's no reason to do it unless you either need it for your professional goals or you're so crazy obsessed with your field that you'd be spending all your time researching it anyway, so you might as well get the degree along the way (I've heard tell of such people, but I don't know that I've ever met one). The academic system has ultimately done well by me, but I've seen it leave too many smart, hard-working people feeling like failures, usually because life, luck, and/or money got in the way.

Now, as a post-retirement activity, given the means, I can see how that could be fun.

dr, I wouldn't dream of stealing your handle! Though I must say that my mind's ear still hears "doctor" whenever you post. So Mudge, ask her about your wrist and all.

It's real easy. Attach a carbon footprint tax to everything. Competitive drive would find a way to lower that cost immediately. One of the boogey-men of economic nay-saying is the phrase "best available technology". That fails to account for future improvements or yet to be developed technologies.

Nobody has a right to pollute. We've been putting foxes in the chicken guards shack for a long time. We could have lower polluting emissions if we were willing to pay for them. Decreasing CO2 is another issue altogether. That requires either less energy or different energy.

good link anonymous poster of 1:47

I refuse to install the window AC at Chez Frostbitten North until we have at least a week of weather that reminds me of NoVA-that is, just as hot at night as it is during the day. We are still dipping to at least the mid 50s at night so I may make it to mid-July. It's a shame to have to carry a sweater everywhere in Tampa in June because indoor spaces are so cold.

Glad to oblige, Mudge.

Even if you're laughing *at* me.

I am nothing if not a source of amusement to my friends and a warning to children everywhere to not grow up to be like me.

My kids realized this at an early age, thankfully.

bc

I'm LOL.

I'll be darned if I understand how I could post something at 1:36 AND at 2 p.m., and only hit the "submit" button once.

bc, you know I only laugh "with" you, except when you're dazzling me with the gladiator outfit. Oh, and that time or two down in Mexico during the Fluffitado 1500 race.

I will concur that overcooling indoor spaces is a problem, but that is an operational issue that is mostly defensive. It only takes one sweaty complainer to keep the facility manager's thumb on the thermostat. Let it good a little warm and customers stay away in droves.

When I worked in Florida I used to say that my job was to make the area safe for Yankees. Air conditioning has made great swaths of the world more productive but it can't take all the brunt for climate change. People vote with their feet.

Tropical climates are known for the torpor of their work force for good reason, it gets too dang hot. I wish the US had a siesta tradition

The AC industry is now completely ozone-friendly but the new refrigerants are less efficient requiring more power and hence, more greenhouse gases. Those are the sorts of trade-offs you deal with in the real world. Can't change the laws of physics.

Gladiator outfits (sans the breastplate) are much cooler than business casual apparel. I say make it the national dress code and save tons of energy.

Geez, yellojkt. "Can't change the laws of physics." "Nobody has a right to pollute." You'll never get anywhere in politics with these notions. Think outside the box, man! Sell the right to pollute and use the proceeds to create some new physics. Or build a new planet. Whatever.

Here on Earth our state gummint has asked each agency to talk with its workers about implementing flexible days to help save gas. We have no efficient mass transit (and none at all for most people) so a lot of people commute, and there aren't many opportunities to carpool. It is nothing here to drive from a small town 40 or 50 miles away to a metro area. The gummint is wisely leaving the details open - 4-day weeks, 9-day cycles, telecommuting, whatever - but the message to agency heads is clear. It will shake up some stick-in-the-muds. This may do more to encourage flexibility, and save energy, than the "creativity" and "work-balance" bugs ever will.

Of course, I meant "implementing flexible work hours" or "office hours". Implementing flexible days is truly thinking outside the box, but it might take more than agency heads to get it done.

$7.00 a gallon anyone? Latest prediction for Economist at CIBC.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080626.wrubin0626/BNStory/energy/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080626.wrubin0626

The quaint notion of introducing the concept of "flexiblity" to "government" and "management" is just making my head explode. "Flexibility" is the one thing gummints and "suits" just have no clue how to do. Along with other quaint ideas, such as "efficiency," "saving money," reducing energy," etc.

My agency has been talking about increased telecommuting for several years. I expect it will "talk" for another decade or so. This will result in putting together a committee to move from the "talk" phase to the "study" phase, followed by the "recommend" phase, followed by creation of the Implementation Task Force.

Folks will be waterskiing in Hudson's Bay in January by that time.

There's also the problem of the office dress code. A place has to be pretty chilly to be comfortable for men in suits and ties. Maybe let them take their jackets off and wear short-sleeved shirts?

Ivansmom-I like the idea of flexible days. Let's swap Friday evening and all its weekend promise for Sunday afternoon when the dread of the work week sets in. I'd like to slow down Friday afternoon to Monday morning pace, making it easier to make deadlines. Most of all, let's put a couple extra hours between midnight and 2:00AM for the extra sleep.

Gasp, I guess I never thought of Mudge as wearing a tie when he boodles. Eeeeew, I've never imagined any of the boodle men in ties (except S'nuke when he's on camera). I know my background warps me a bit in this regard, but to me nothing makes a man look more useless than a suit and tie.

Now that flip-flops are officially considered summer business attire there is the problem of the freezing footsies. We have two ladies on our floor with electric heaters under their desk. That's efficient.

If you are planning to do business with the Canadian gunmint next Monday please think again. Next Tuesday being a federal holiday (Canada Day) I, as acting big-cheeze, just approved a 6th vacation day for next Monday. In a section of 11 persons that's a lot. Big Cheeze has left for a meeting in Washington BTW. As I said before I get Regina, Winnipeg and Drayton valley and he does Geneva, Washington and san Diego. Drats.

I agree with Senator McCain. Liberals and Progressives (there's a difference?) are alway carping, "You can't do this, you can't do that." Nuclear energy, drilling in ANWAR, "clean coal": all bad. What, we're supposed to walk everywhere?

Just think what would happen if we embraced John McCain's vision of the future: JetPacks, 75 mph Segways, giant domed cities, giant SUV's powered by Magic Dust. It's all possible, you just have to believe!

Now, click your heels together and repeat after me, "I believe in McCain's Magical Energy Plan!"

"I believe in McCain's Magical Energy Plan!"

"I believe in McCain's Magical Energy Plan!"

See? The future is getting better already!

I suspect myself of being the anonymous poster of the Joe Klein "Kill Your Air Conditioner" article. I didn't do it, though. Still, I concur wholeheartedly and want to encourage the anonymous poster to rant away if you want, and if people gang up on you (folks can get awfully defensive about their energy addictions) I will take up for you.

I have never lived with air conditioning, since I left my parents' house. We stay comfortable in the humid Florida summers with fans, showers and appropriate clothing (shorts, tank tops, sandals). We enjoy the fresh air year-round and have saved tens of thousands of dollars in electric bills. My husband even works in his un-airconditioned art studio all summer--he adopts the siesta schedule and takes breaks at the municipal swimming pool.

The concept of a "climate-controlled" living space has, in my opinion, really gotten out of control. I know there are some cars that have individual climate control zones--are people really that sensitive? It seems like Americans can only exist comfortably in about a three-degree temperature zone, and then it's not even the same three degrees for each person. In my climate controlled office, a day rarely passes without someone complaining about the temperature, either that it is too cold or too hot.

I have a weakness for men in suits.

There's nothing we can burn that dosen't create some kind of waste and pollution.
Curbing usage, room tempreture super conductors, smart appliances and homes, the phase-out of incandescent lighting. Renewable energy: solar, the pull of moon on tide, wind, natural thermal, hydrogen, local, instead of regional generation of electricty (to reduce the energy lost in long-range transmission) are all part of a solution.
Nuclear fusion would be good.
Since we can mass-produce large-format LCD TVs for a pittance, we ought to be able to mass produce solar panels at a fraction of their current cost.
At 4.50 a gallon people still drive like it's 1999. Maybe at 8 a gallon they'll drive like they feel it.

I love a man in a suit, with a white shirt and a beauoootiful tie. Very natty. Good shoes, too.

Ah, I dream! Suits are going, going except in the legal profession.

I admire you, kbertocci. I didn't have air conditioning in my apartment in DC, or Southern California for that matter, but found it impossible not to use it through an Oklahoma summer. We keep it set no colder than 76 degrees (F), though, and use fans and appropriate clothing to keep cool. Chilled white wine helps, too.

One fact of life working in an Historic Gummint Building is the complete randomness of the temperature. We can't control it. I'm friends with the building & grounds guys so my office (and consequently desks for 5 other people) are kept relatively temperate, but occasionally the A/C kicks in with a vengeance. I have a shawl and foot heater just in case. When it gets too cold to type I call and complain.

Our agency finally joined the ranks of the telecommuting this spring, after the judges forced it. They asked for it last year but our IT guy ignored the request because he didn't want to do it. I know this because he told me so, in front of two other people. I think he didn't know how. When they finally insisted (after hearing about that conversation) he went to another agency and got them to set it up for us. With online research and a protected connection to our system, most of the attorneys and judges here really can do a majority of our work at home. We just have to come in to get or review the huge boxes and file folders containing transcripts, exhibits etc.

dmd, Yoki, yes suits are grand. I wear a suit or a sport-coat-tie combo every day except on Fridays. They're great, except June through August. Making the trek from parking lot to office in 90 degree heat and 1000% humidity is just ridiculous. I can't see how businesspeople in the 19th century lived, wearing coats and ties EVERYWHERE.

Other problems: You can't bike to work in a suit; they get dirty and wrinkled too easily and they're expensive to dryclean. Taking a scooter to work would be just a bit better, unless you hit a puddle on the way!

So, I like suits too (my wife does too and she picks out the coolest ties for me), but they're best if you drive a Lincoln or Cadillac.

And now from left field

Since when is A$$ an acceptable crossword answer when not talking about a mule?

*rushing home to put on a suit*

Frosty, I wore a necktie for the first year or so at my present job, and about two years ago took it off one day and haven't worn one at work since, Over time, the other three guys in my unit have done likewise (always knew I was a fashion trendsetter).

When I worked down at Pax River Naval Air Station, the civilian side (which was, like, 14,000 people) were predominantly engineering types, and the "dress code" was khaki slacks and golf shirts. Nary a necktie on the civilian side anywhere. The Brown Shoes, of course, always wore their baggie one-piece flight suits (whether they were flying that day or not). Most of the Marines (enlisted, anyway) wore their utilities. Even the admirals were tieless most days unless there was a ceremony. About the only consistent tie-wearers on base were non-flying Marine officers, and the odd visiting VIP. (It was a great place to work; loved it down there. Loved eating [govt.-subsidized]lunch in the O Club or the enlisted restaurant.)

But for most of the previous 35 or so years in the work force, yup, I wore a tie most days. (I am infamous for my humorous and/or subversive neckties.)

When I started out in the newspaper biz, a jacket and tie were standard for every (male) reporter and editor, every day, in all cases. And whenever I have to go to a church for a wedding, funeral or chrsitening, I put on a coat and tie -- along with all the other over-55 men in the room. Nowadays people go to weddings, funerals and regular Sunday morning church services in sweatshirts and cut-offs (and my wife has to poke me in the ribs to stop muttering and grumbling about it). Whenever we go out to a "fancy" event my wife and I always make a bet about the percentage of neckties versus non-neckties in the room. If I were going to a play at the Kennedy Center tonight, I'd wear a jacket and a tie.

Not for nothing am I a curmudgeon.

Curmudgeon is being modest. We all know he even has a white tuxedo jacket, for dining with the ship officers. He even has his own cumberbun.

My last job had a dress code stuck in 1958. Even the technical staff was expected to wear ties. The boss would wear short sleeves in the summer, but the white short sleeved shirt and tie look just screams Michael Douglas about to go medieval on somebody.

There's a BPH picture somewhere of me in a tie getting my shoes polished. My current job is officially business casual, but there's some peer pressure to wear a tie a day or two a week just to stay in practice.

Today it's khakis (w/pleats) and a company logo golf shirt. Our field office is a mobile trailer and the AC was set this morning to 68. We snuck it back up, but it's still too cold.

I was very impressed by that article about the hard numbers. So all I have to do to eliminate the guilt of owning a big screen television is to skip a few hot showers? I can handle that. Cold showers come in handy anyway.

Three cummerbunds, actually. And I think four clip-on dress bowties (two match the cummerbunds).

And I should point out that in the height of my newspaper reporter days, I always wore my necktie "loose," not snugged up, and the collar unbuttoned, in that "working kinda guy" look.

I still wear a (button-down) "dress shirt" every day here, except on dress-down Fridays. Then it's my favorite (but still button-down) denim work shirt. I think I have worn the basic cotton Oxford style button down shirt more or less every day or at least most work/school days for the past 45-47 years.

CowTown, yes Mudge has his spiffy white tux and cumberbund. But I'm guessing he stays cool because he's wearing his white, summer-weight thong. Again, *guessing* here, just guessing.

That's true, Don. But some d@mn piece of metal keeps flying off the thong and hitting me in the eye.

I also think it is a shame that good old fashioned conservation isn't being stressed more. It isn't that hard to do, and is probably the single most effective short-term solution to our current fix.

But everyone knows this. We knew it back when George Carlin first started talking about dirty words. Then oil prices collapsed and the world forgot all about such silliness. And this is my fear - that this will happen again.

ivansmom, a while back I had a big argument with a friend who lives in Oklahoma. He claimed it was impossible to live there without air conditioning, that it would be hazardous to your health to attempt it, and that "nobody" lives without a/c in the Sooner State. The thing is, I was born in that state and our family lived in a little house in Seminole until I was 5. No air conditioning. Of course it is possible. I remember that in the summer I would sometimes take my afternoon nap in the yard, under a shade tree. I remember that we had no incentive to stay in the house and we were outdoors all the time. I remember this exchange, repeatedly--Mom: "I'm going to the store. Do you want to come with me?" Me: "Do I have to put on my shoes?"

Remember that song--oh, yes, *Tim knows that song, "Summertime and the Livin' is Easy"--air-conditioned people don't really know what that means. Also, cold watermelon is much less thrilling with air conditioning. Also, lemonade and swimmin' holes.

Where I work the dress code is related to the floor you work on. Down in my subterranean lab it is short sleeve shirts and khakis. But by the time you reach the Forbidden Upper Levels, tailored suits are the norm.

Kerric, to answer your 3:14 post:

When the clue is: "Your boss" and the first letter is already filled in for you.

Betcha can't guess that *my* boss isn't in today.

When I retired, I didn't change the programmable thermostat, so the summer day setting is still on 77. Mr. T has me spoiled; it does get awfully still and stuffy so I turn it down to 75 and am comfortable. It goes down to 73 when his arrival from work is imminent. He would have it down to, oh, 65, but I rebelled. Besides, he pays the electric bill.

A generation ago, when I started work, business attire was required: dress or suit, heels, hose. Every day. Our office was on the third floor of a building constructed in the 20's, with HVAC to match. Productivity was a problem in the summer. There weren't elevators, and the temperature rose every step we took.

Nowadays, I wear shorts except for church and special occasions. Then I'm most likely to wear slacks and a nice top, with sandals. No hose anytime.

Mudge -- did you ever get a fish tie? The tie bar was a fishing hook. I once got a salmon tie for a Norwegian friend of mine who, upon looking at it, announced that it was *not* a Norwegian salmon (he was right -- I think it was a Pacific salmon). I also got, for a lawyer colleague of mine in Michigan a . . . . *wait for it* . . . . large mouth bass. (well worth waiting for, eh?).

So, is there anyone who still doesn't think the presidential election is about the configuration of the Supreme Court? Geez!

Maria Sharapova, who asked me to take her to the prom a few years ago, just got bounced at Wimbledon by somebody ranked 154th. If I told her once I told her a hundred times, stop thinking about me and keep your mind on the game. Jeez. *big sigh*

Mudge -- did you ever get a fish tie? The tie bar was a fishing hook. I once got a salmon tie for a Norwegian friend of mine who, upon looking at it, announced that it was *not* a Norwegian salmon (he was right -- I think it was a Pacific salmon). I also got, for a lawyer colleague of mine in Michigan a . . . . *wait for it* . . . . large mouth bass. (well worth waiting for, eh?).

So, is there anyone who still doesn't think the presidential election is about the configuration of the Supreme Court? Geez!

You're not complaining about the tonguestun ornamentation again, are you 'Mudge?

DLD

FTB, I came within a catfish's whisker of having a "fish" tie. Boater's World carried them for about 20 minutes, and I was looking at buying one, but they were about 20 bucks, which at that time exceeded my tolerance for a joke necktie. But it was close.

Hey guys, in honor of Dreamer, TBG spawn and Nuke spawn at the BPH, should we all wear neckties?

Mudge-you have it down exactly right. Events require a suit and tie, but no one expects you to have to be useful at a wedding or christening, and only slightly useful at a funeral.

Re. all the comments on business attire...

Japan tried to switch up its summer wardrobe a couple of years ago by having managers, company execs, and the PM hissself dress without a jacket and tie.

But apparently (Bruce Wallace, LATimes, link below), an earlier attempt at eco-friendly dress codes went horribly wrong. I don't know how they're getting on two years later though.

But seriously... this is hilarious:

"Briefly prime minister in the mid-1990s, Hata, now 69, is best remembered for his energy-efficient wardrobe. (He was prime minister for just 64 days.) Most memorably, he took to public podiums in 2000 modeling his notion of sensible wear: sort of a safari number called the e-cool suit -- "e" being short for "eco" -- a jacket cut from a thin textile and boasting sleeves that stopped alarmingly at the elbows.
Not only did it not catch on, it caused a collective fashion trauma that lingers."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/05/BUGKQCK16N1.DTL&type=business

Are you asking about the tie, the thong, or Maria's tongue piercing, DLD?

Given that I *do* need to be media-ready at a moment's notice, it's dress shirts every work day.

Short-sleeves April-Nov., of course. And ties only in "formal" meetings.

Now if only I could do all my work behind an anchordesk, I wouldn't have to worry about pants.

:-)

Oh I agree, kbertocci, it is perfectly possible to live in Oklahoma without air conditioning. I use open windows most of the spring and fall. I just admit that I, personally, found that I could not be comfortable during the summer months, which may start as early as April depending on the humidity, without some A/C. And if I'm not comfortable, you can bet Ivansdad wouldn't even consider it.

I admit, I see all those Giant-Roofed Houses built in the last few years, on their must-commute,no-bus-line far suburban stretches, with their two-story living rooms and thousands upon thousands of square feet, and I chuckle. Of course I never liked them anyway, and I always said they were energy hogs. When folks could afford the electricity and gas they didn't care. Now the worm is turning. "Conservation" indeed.

Take your pick, but referring (slowly, vvvery sloooowwwly) to the thong.

DLD

Maria has a tongue piercing? !!!!

DLD

If we agree that pollution is a related topic to energy conservation, this isn't too far off topic: from the New York Times Sunday Magazine, a feature about pollution in the ocean.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Plastics-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=print

I was impressed with the writing--very literary--even a reference to Donald Barthelme, I haven't heard that name in a long time. So I looked for the description of the author and found this:

"Donovan Hohn, a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine, is at work on a book about a shipment of bath toys lost at sea."

Do we imagine that is fiction, or non-fiction? Either way, I bet it will be worth reading. Check out this opening paragraph from the NYTimes story:

"Off Gore Point, where tide rips collide, the rolling swells rear up and steepen into whitecaps. Quiet with concentration, Chris Pallister decelerates from 15 knots to 8, strains to peer through a windshield blurry with spray, tightens his grip on the wheel and, like a skier negotiating moguls, coaxes his home-built boat, the Opus -- aptly named for a comic-strip penguin -- through the chaos of waves. Our progress becomes a series of concussions punctuated by troughs of anxious calm. In this it resembles the rest of Pallister's life."

bia (from last boodle), i'm m.phil dissertating right now, so it's back to classes once i jump on the PhD bandwagon back in the US o' A (which will be, as you suggested, out of a muddied combination of enjoying my subject and a paralyzing fear of real jobs).

and phdcomics is eerily accurate.

cassandra (from ages ago), i think it's time that more people felt more bad about the strains that most people go through with basic bills. it's terrifying how blithely the gunmint (gun-mint?) will bail out the richest and leave the majority to feel the affects of economic "readjustment."

in general: i wonder if there will come a mass transit tipping point or if we've already built (most) our cities so that it's impossible to be car-less. and are we temperamentally opposed to mass transit or will economic realities override temperaments?

If the government really wants to do something about the energy crisis, why not provide every single home and business in the US with solar panels? I'm not talking tax credits. I'm talking paid for by the government up front, no matter what.

At any given time, a good chunk of the country is getting sunlight. Plug them *all* into the grid so that even if you're having a cloudy day in Toledo, the solar energy captured in Atlanta will power your fridge.

Centralized power plants would become obsolete and the companies that own them could transition to a delivery platform from a generation one.

I'm sure there are flaws with my idea, but heck... it's much more practical than hooking up methane collection hoses to the rear ends of farm animals.

Bless you, uva yankee - a Phil. phd! I'm in awe. I decided I didn't have the kind of original thoughts necessary for that degree.

I also was struck by Cassandra's earlier comment, about how things are really getting hard for a lot of people. I see it here too, in the great middle class as well as people who live on minimum wage or work two jobs. There is more planning, more conservation (there's that word again), less spending on entertainment or frivolity.

I do think that, at least here, the public is slowly starting to come around to the idea of real mass transit. Several of our city leaders are already there; they just have to convince the people to pay for it. I predict another city-wide sales tax proposal within a couple of years, and I also predict it will pass. We are known for taxing ourselves to improve downtown, infrastructure and the schools. So far it has worked every time. With a track record of success we may have a chance to put in some transit infrastructure and programs.

uva, I'm familiar with six or eight East Coast cities, plus Chicago, New Orleans (pre-Katrina) and San Francisco, and I'd say they are all fairly easy to get around in on public transportation. I think the problem lies more in the suburb-to-city travel, as well as the suburb-to-suburb rings around city centers.

Of course, a lot of people seem to hate public trans in cities, but I love it. (I'm a city kid at heart, I guess, but I'll jump on a bus or subway/El or trolley/cable car in a heartbeat. I rode them all the time in college in Philly. But my wife the country girl and some of my kids think I'm nuts and that pub. trans is inherently dangerous and full of psychos and bag persons. Then again, I'm also one of those "map" people who like to study maps, and after just a few minutes of study "know where everything is" [kinda], and the best way to get from A to B. I've been to London, Miami, New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco "cold," without having been in them before, and within an hour knew the layout and how to get around. This seems to terrify other people, though I don't know why.

My wife has accused me of strategic ignorance any number of times.

The more I think of it, the more I think we need to attempt to harness the Earth's natural forces... wind, geothermal and hydro (including tidal energy).

I also like the idea of more nuclear power generation (on paper) -- zero emissions (except when a reactor goes belly up) -- but since I live within the fallout circle of Three Mile Island, I do have qualms about it. I've been hearing that France gets 75% of its power from nuclear plants. No wonder they can grow such fine grapes.

I know that technology has come a long way since the Three Mile Island incident and that nuke plants are much safer and the disposal of spent fuel rods isn't as much of an issue as it used to be, but it still makes me nervous.

I'm sure Scotty has a Powerpoint presentation that would alleviate fears like mine.

For martooni and an earlier poster - Here is a link to an article about printing solar panels for $1 per Watt output:

http://www.edn.com/blog/1470000147/post/1980028598.html

Now, you have to add some protection for the outdoors and some electronics for DC to AC conversion and utility switch-over but this could get the pay back time down to 5-6 years, maybe less if we can get the utilities to by back any excess.

Mass producing the electronics would also reduce the buy-in costs considerably. Costs are high now because the electronics are almost totally custom made.

DLD

Ivansmom, this community voted ten years ago for a half-cent sales tax for mass transit. Last year, some Repub nutjob decided we needed to revisit the issue and paid for enough signatures to put the tax up for referendum. The vote to repeal the tax was rejected by about 70 percent. Even City officials were surprised.

The first light rail line opened last fall and has been a resounding success. The bus system has been reengineered and beefed up, and there are plans for other types of public transit - streetcars, flexible buses, etc. Yeah, I think everybody will get on board. Even in the suburbs.

kbert, that is a real story! It was covered pretty extensively about a year ago; a ship carrying some thousands of yellow plastic duckies from China or some such manufacturing powerhouse went down in the Pacific several years ago; duckies began, and continue, to turn up in a wide circle of the Pacific Rim, including Washington State, British Columbia, India, etc. There have been several newspaper articles and magazine stories about it (either the New Yorker or Harpers had a long story about a year or so ago). Cool, eh?

SCC - ...buy back...

Also, I like the idea of hydro generation by tidal motion. How much energy could be harnessed by several hundred acres of water moving back and forth continuously?

Used to love nuclear but boy is it messy and expensive.

Oh, and today is one of the greatest days ever. re: SC 2nd amendment ruling.

DLD

I gotta get in touch with my Dad... he builds power plants for a living.

Funny that though this is a subject I'm very interested in and have opinions on, I've never really discussed it with him.

Unfortunately, he's in Argentina on a job site, so "getting in touch" is kinda iffy at best.

==

As for the tidal energy thing... I seem to remember watching something on Discovery or PBS about Holland (maybe not?) using some sort of baffle system that moved back and forth with the tides and generated electricity. For the life of me, I can't remember details (or even where this was installed), but it sounded like a dang good plan and was apparently paying off. Tidal forces are pretty powerful... if they could be harnessed... sheesh... we could tell OPEC to kiss our dupas.

I stand corrected, the ship did not go down, a container merely fell off a ship.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1996553.ece

The is in the works a plan to attempt to use the power of the tidal surge in the Bay of Fundy. Seems they are working their way through the environmental concerns.

http://dcnonl.com/article/id27799

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-226983-Province-looking-at-cautious-tidal-power-development.html

nukespawn AND tbg spawn are gonna be at the BPH? oi vey! i have a previous engagement but... sheesh how can i turn that down? AND dreamer???? i'll even wear a tie! (i waited tables for a long time and we had to wear ties so every tie i had was a whimsical cartoon tie - can't take oneself too seriously i always say!)

I was struck by Cassandra's comment in the last Boodle, too.

I would guess that many Boodlers feel no economic pain--guessing that many Boodle household incomes are upwards of $100,000 or more. The average household income in San Antonio is about $44,000--give or take; I looked it up not long ago. That figure, for the most part, represents several kids and two working spouses.

As much as many editorial writers, also very well-paid, and people who post here poo-pooed Clinton and McCain's proposal to roll back the gas tax as a short-term solution, my position about it is more in line with Tennessean Harold Ford Jr. Ford obviously feels and sees the pain of folks in his home district. Wish this YouTube clip of Ford had better audio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI19wuSJeow

And I'm sure you're all aware of news of the financial markets today. Oil over $140 a barrel for the first time and the stock market dropping more than 350 points.

Wil the next century be one of downsizing? "Honey, we shrunk EVERYTHING." Smaller cars, smaller homes, smaller closets, smaller meals, smaller waistlines, smaller families--perhaps some other nations other than China implementing a one-child policy, smaller cities, since many will want to live not in the burbs but closer to their jobs?

FTB, it appears that Justice Kennedy is arguably the most influential person in the US. The Court's current dynamic is really making for entertaining reading at least. Makes for really nasty dissents.

I stand happily corrected... glad there are movements toward mass transit. I have noted recent articles that there are people using motorcycles, amtrak, mass trans more and more recently.

as a NoVa kid growing up, I felt completely helpless sans car. but I agree with 'Mudge that the situation within individual cities is often much better, though I vaguely recall being thoroughly frustrated by Miami.

biking and walking-commuting still seems to me unfeasible for most people. biking places can be quite a dangerous experience in my experience. anyone know of particularly cycle-friendly cities and how they did it?

Roberts, 53
Stevens, 88
Scalia, 72
Kennedy, 71
Souter, 68
Thomas, 60
Ginsburg, 75
Breyer, 69
Alito, 58

Average age Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito: 60.75

Average age Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer: 75

This might help - article on the most bike friendly cities.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25267048/

I \wish we had better mass transit here in the suburbs. I would much rather take a bus or a train than drive. Unfortunately, unless I want to nearly double my commute time and lose all flexibility, this really isn't a reasonable option for me.

Much like conservation, it seems as if a real commitment to mass transit - even if this means double-decker buses - would be a sensible thing to do.

ust last week "S" and I noticed that a local restaurant we go to a lot has put solar panels on its roof. I will be interested to see how much they save as we have mentioned doing that to the house. I am feeling very anxious about our economy lately and today's stock market plunge along with all the environmental bad news isn't helping my mood. I am really scared to look at my IRA statement. I may never be able to retire.

On a lighter note, and heaven knows I need one, the subject of edible rabbit came up this morning. This reminds me of the one time I ate it. My ex's grandmother was Italian but strangely, not a good cook. We were there for dinner many years ago when the girls were quite small and Granny served cacciatore. I realized what the meat was when I saw the fur still attached. How I ate it without barfing I don't know, but it certainly left a major impression regarding eating cute little bunnies. It did however, taste like chicken.

And to finish up with another small critter tale, #2 has a chipmunk in her house (don't ask how it got in). Her friend came over with a net and they attempted to catch it but it kept jumping out of the net. It's now hiding behind the snake cage. Of course the dog is going crazy and #2 can't do much about it unless it comes out of hiding and she can whack it with her crutch. If it knew what it was hiding behind, it would probably just drop dead from a heart attack.

Perhaps the snake will eat the chipmunk, bad sneakers. That's something like justice, isn't it?

SonofCarl and firsttimeblogger are absolutely right. This presidential election is indeed all about the Supreme Court. Justice Kennedy took O'Connor's position as the swing vote and may well be the most powerful person in the country. While this year has provided a few surprise decisions, don't fool yourselves into thinking that the civil liberties and rights you take for granted are writ in stone. They could change at the drop of a Supreme Court member. Remember when police couldn't search your entire car and the locked containers in it on a traffic stop, with no warrant? Them days is long gone.

martooni, some companies are expermenting with undulating barges off the coast of Oregon. Lots of objections from the fishing and shipping industries- long anchored lines of barges. Off the coast of Coos Bay is considered an ideal place because there used to be big lumber mills there that installed big transmission lines to bring power in. Now the mills are closed and the attraction is to use the transmission lines to wheel the power from the undulating barges out.
San Francisco and PG&E (northern Califorina power monolopy) keep spending $millions doing studies for reversable turbines under the Golden Gate bridge. PG&E says it won't pencil out. The SF mayor, Gaven(SP?) says he going to have the city install one anyway.
The Dutch seem to make these work.

Bad Sneakers, I had to laugh at your comment about the chipmunk, and the heart attack.

My comment in regard to the situation most of us face is that it does affect those that can cope the least, the most. I live on a small Social Security Disability income, and when prices change, the money does not change. As for parents with children, I know it is a nightmare. At the Center, we're getting more children each day. For breakfast, they have cereal or breakfast bar with milk. For lunch, a sandwich of some kind of thin meat(not identifiable sometimes)and milk. The Director was trying to put together a menu for breakfast with more food, and this will be a one time deal. In society, children and old people suffer the most when things get bad. It is just bad for a lot of people.

Time for bed. I'm tired and beat. It was so hot here today, and when I left the Center I went to that laundry room, and spent the better part of the day there. Came in and went straight to the kitchen to try and round up something for these boys. We won't be able to make the Soup kitchen tomorrow, it will be closed by the time I leave the Center. I take my grandchildren there for the food, and for the experience. The experience of knowing there are people in the world that need a soup kitchen, like your grandmother, and others. Children can be selfish. They need to know it is not always about what they want.

Have a good evening, folks. Night, boodle. Sweet dreams.

Adoph Sutro,

http://www.nps.gov/goga/historyculture/sutro.htm

tried many years in the time of 'mudge to make electrical power from the wave action at his Sutro Baths at the headlands of San Francisco. The technology for electric power generation was still infant then.

I still feel fortunate that I was able to visit the Sutro Gardens and museum 1956 before the burned.

Cassandra - I worry very much about the effects of high energy prices on those who can least afford it. On the other hand, I rejoice in the fact that high gasoline prices are slowly weaning this country away from low MPG vehicles. So there are these two competing goals.

The solution, to my mind, is for the government to do what good governments have always done - help those most in need. Perhaps the government needs to reconsider the amount of your income in light of these hard times. Because it isn't as if gasoline requires special money. It is your over-all expenses that matter.

And heck, if that means folks like me might have to pay a bit more in taxes - even gasoline taxes - well, I can live with that.

Check out page 26 (39 of the pdf index) for a reference to Sutro's wave generators.
http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/annualreports/06-07_Annual_Report.pdf

Holy moly, RD, if you can persuade the Government of the United States of America to give money to the poor, you'll get my vote!

I am constantly *amazed* (pronounced "appalled") by the language even centrists use when they talk about what we in Canada call "social programs" and the US politicians call "entitlements" (spit out as though it were an insult to all right-thinking people).

It seems self-evident to me that in a rich country the rich should be taxed that the poor and disadvantaged can be helped to use their intelligence and drive to, if not improve their own circumstances, at least give their children and grandchildren some options (though it would be best if they could improve their own circumstances as well).

I can't quite remember the exact quotation, but it goes something like 'a society is judged on how it treats its weakest members.' By that measure, the Republican powers-that-be fail miserably, and I'm not feeling too confident of about the (party-system) Dems, neither.

Nor, for that matter, the Conservative Party of Canada and its poster-boy, Stephen Harper. Or the Liberals who can't win an election even when they move centre from left.

A bunch of capitalist lap-dogs, the bunch of them.

Error in 08! (But without the guns)

Loomis... this Boodler is well below the $100K mark and feels every twitch in the markets (stocks, commodities, futures, etc.) very personally, even though I don't own any stocks or play the markets. I play the grocery market and every week I get less for my dollar. Imagine getting poked in the eye and kicked in the crotch every time you start your car or go to the grocery store -- that's my world.

But even though I would love to save a few cents at the pump, I know that if we don't bite the bullet collectively, it's only going to get worse. A "gas tax holiday" is nothing more than bullsh!t. Holidays are holidays and eventually you have to go home.

I think what bothers me the most is that in 1985 I had a car that got 40+ mpg (and I bought it used for about a grand) and there were many other cars out there that got the same kind of mileage. I know that today's cars have a lot of extra baggage they gotta carry, but still.

If anyone has a Renault "Le Car" for sale, I'm interested.

This rising tide of inflation is not raising boats but drowning the fixed income. A recent editorial I read worried that we are on the cusp of a round of 70s era mega-inflation. I joke that all my money is tied up in consumer debt.

Unfortunately, hyperinflation is how most third world countries handle economic crises brought on by incompetent leadership.

That Supreme Court list suggests that Alito and Roberts are going to be with us a long time. I wish O'Conner was still on the bench as a buffer. Most SC decisions go 5-4 because the splitting of hairs makes that necessary. Where the decision gets split requires more tea reading. This week we have had decisions in favor of gun owners, Exxon, and child rapists. A rather mixed bag of winners.

Or, as another quotation that I cannot accurately attribute would have it, "I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it left."

Howdy folks, times are tough in my neck of the woods too, you just learn to do without things,for me it's no phone,tv or internet. I've learned to find bargains,shop at the dollar tree and just do without. No big deal I guess,things will get better for all of us, you just need faith and happiness and everything will work itself out.

Finally got a chance to see Sci-Tim's video. It was great....I loved it.

I feel very fortunate that Mr. F and I are both in growth industries. He in the wielding of death and destruction at the hands of a nutjob, whose decisions will bind the next couple of administrations and thus protect us to retirement-I in service to the poor and downtrodden, which isn't much on profit margins but we are making that up in volume.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are great biking cities. Bike lanes and routes are clearly marked and there are miles and miles of trails that are completely separated from motor vehicle traffic. Twice in 4 years Mr. F and I have made a home buying decision based on him being able to walk or cycle to work. Each time we've downsized significantly in square footage but increased our quality of life (at least we think we will in St. Paul). When we first moved to Tampa it took us a couple months to realize he could work a bit late, run or ride home, and still be home at a reasonable hour for a full family dinner. In NoVa we ate without him more often than not.

Eh Yoki!
EL PUEBLO UNIDO JAMAS SERA VINCIDO !!
Make the rich pay!

The seventies weren't only about disco you know.

Frostbitten, your description of your "growth industries" was absolutely brilliant. I laughed and winced at the same time. I, too, am in a growth industry. As I like to say, there's always crime.

Jesting apart we choose this house for the size of the property (1.25-1.5 acre), the availability of public transportation and distance from the city (12.5 km or about 7.5 miles from the Peace tower). We used to take the bus but Mrs. D had to take a job at the airport 26km away so we drive in in the morning, I take the bus at night and and she drives back all the way because there are no other option (it's a traffic pattern thing as well).
We need to lose the old inefficient windows though. They lose much heat in the winter and don't provide ventilation in the summer. I will not install AC for the 3-4 weeks of hot weather we have each year, the shade provided by the big trees has to do. As pointed out in Joël's last link, leaky old homes are a great untapped resource, tax credits would go a long way to ensure these homes get a proper insulation package. My, I put trémas on Joel name, time to go to bed.

Hey, this is pretty cool:

From Marc Kaufman's article about the latest results from the Mars Phoenix lander: "Early results from the first-ever "wet" chemical analysis of the surface soil of Mars show the planet harbors many of the nutrients needed for life and none of the acidity that some feared would make life highly unlikely."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/26/AR2008062603578.html

I like the idea of Martian aparagus.

bc

Now, does your pee smell of Martian a(s)paragus if you enjoy a few stalks?

Indeed, shrieking denizen. You may have noticed that my whole politics and aesthetic is echt 70s. What can I say? I'm a product of my times.

Or, as Gracie corrected Tom and Jasper when they were arguing over whether "'tis better to rule in h3ll than to serve in heaven" is in the Bible, she informed them it is Milton. How did she know that?

"Hey, Residential School wasn't just about abuse and cultural genocide, it also gave us a first rate English-literature education!"

I just love native-American humour.

So greenwith, how did you get here? A internet cafe? Teleportation? No matter what the mechanism, very glad to see you.

Yes, Ivansmom, we'll always have crime. (Heavy sigh.)

Toodles boodle, and sweet dreams. By this time tomorrow I hope our stuff is all loaded and on its way to Minnesota, or at least to the warehouse to await a trucker to take it north.

Ah! Yoki, I've been to catholic summer camps. I know exactly what the first nations guys are talking about.
Speaking of which one of the favourite inspector working in our program is a fisrt nation guy. He is about 6'5" tall, the width of an ordinary commercial door and has one of the sharpest wit I know of. It's that English education thing. (his sister is director general in a federal department, their mother raised no dummies). All deadpan, of course as you know already; Indians don't laugh at their own joke.
He plays the dumb injun with a gusto that should raise doubt but don't. When he writes those 2-3 thousand dollars tickets you see bravado collapse in a sorry heap. But it's fun to watch.

Hi... backboodling after spending a lovely day with a fun cousin-in-law.

For the past several months I've been sharing a thermostat with someone who continued to set it so that the air was completely off in my office. She claimed she was always cold.

I brought in a digital thermometer and the temps in my office reached 82°F by the end of the day. If we worked late, after the A/C was turned off, it would climb to 88°F before we left for the night. This was with a fan running nonstop. I started wearing flip flops and capris to work some time in March.

Let me tell you... with no air and no window a person cannot be productive in an office that hot. I was miserable and no amount of begging her would change things. The powers that be just told us to "work it out."

For some reason, an edict recently came down from above: "Keep the thermostats at 72°-74°F at all times in order to balance the temperatures throughout the building." What a difference that has made in my life. With the thermostat set at 74°, my office is probably at around 76°. I can live with that.

martooni,
We, too are below the $100K mark and feel it. For some time now, whenever we make a trip that's more than five miles, my husband insists that we take my four-cylinder car so that we save on gas.

My mother wasted more food than I ever will. I waste next to nothing. We don't need anything, so buy little for the household except groceries. My exception is books, mostly used. We are considering cancelling the very long awaited vacation we planned this year to the Sierras--having added up all the incidental costs. My husband's medications are expensive. Luckily, I'm on nothing yet but a daily vitamin. We fear the future because of the cost of catastrophic illness and/or the cost of long-term care, although we are not seriously sick in any way, shape or form. That said, my husband's father died of a massive heart attack at age 65 while mowing the lawn.

My husband had this situation this week, (the same week Len Downie retired). On Tuesday, my husband was honored by the company where he works for 15 years of service. Because of a takeover, he really has worked there only a year, but they added up his cumulative experience. They bought him a nice decorated sheet cake with a message in icing across the top of the frosting and faxed him a photo of the personalized cake in North Carolina. Someone locally bought a plain sheet cake for him and his coworkers to enjoy. He received a framed picture noting his years of service, signed by the president of the company, except the president is no longer president having been very, very recently let go.

SCC: picture ... certificate

We went looking for little green men and found little green vegetables.

TBG,
You've complained about your offices AC before and it's my professional opinion that it is FUBARed (not to get too technical).

We had an A/C brownout on one of the recent 95+ days and it got to 85 in a hurry. We turned off the lights and ran fans to no avail. Luckily, it was fixed by the next day.

I know most of you are asleep by now but will be awake in a few short hours. I just read the front page WaPo article on David Addington and John Yoo testifying (or not testifying, as the case may be) in front of the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. Milbank's column is also telling. Boy, their arrogance is unbelievable. Cheney has his own Cheney according to Milbank. It's very frightening to learn that these are the people who designed the President's interrogation policy. What else are they behind (maybe I don't want to know)? David Addington who started the whole "imperial presidency" idea, as Milbank writes, is one son of a you-know-what. Guys like him get to be in very influential positions in our country. Somewhat of a travesty in that.

Aloha kakahiaka Aloha

I'm up. Wish I wasn't, yet. But there it is.

Good morning Mudge, Cassandra, Scotty, and all the rest (once you all get around to getting up and out of bed...

Still up. Just about to push our equipment out into the dome to be ready for mounting on the telescope tomorrow. Tomorrow, we pull a 20-hour workday. Oh, joy!

Whenever Yoki uses the word "echt" I just get all warm and tingly inside. (This was her second usage, by my count. I think she does it once a year just to tantalize me. I can hardly wait until next June or July.)

'Good morning, Boodle. I see friend omni has joined the Dawn Patrol this morning; you can fly wingman to Padouk, old chap. Hope you remembered to bring your silk scarf; it gets cold up there. We like to keep the formation tight, and keep turning your head to look for bandits coming out of the sun (in the morning); we hate getting jumped by Fokkers.

(Yes, that was the world's greatest set-up line; even so, just leave it alone.)

If you're still with us Aloha, then aloha. Yes, Milbank's article on Addington was something. And people think Novak is the Prince of Darkness.

Krauthammer and Gerson both have columns about Obama. The odds of my reading either of those columns is roughly the same as my chances of getting a date with Natalie Wood. (Yes, I know.)

Gene Robinson has a rather gutsy column defending the Supremes' gun decision, and which is worth reading (as his stuff always is).

Our household is also suffering economic cutbacks. With the housing mortgage crisis, my wife hasn't sold a house in six months, cutting her income to approximately zero. Last year for her birthday I took her to New York for dinner and a show, and for our anniversary to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. This year for her birthday it was Pizza Hut. For our anniversary it's going to be an HBO special, I think. If we can afford to keep HBO. Fortunately, I'm a big fan of franks and beans.

Well, the good news is it's Friday. One down and about 300 more of them to go before retirement. But who's counting. C'mon, Cassandra, Scotty, yello. We can't let a whippersnapper like omni beat us to the mess tent.

Padouk, you too. They're warming up the 'copter as we speak.

SciTim, that was the most unabashedly erotic thing you've ever posted on the Boodle. Keep up the good work.

Squeeze me, old chap, but you don't wear a silk scarf for warmth donchaknow.

Reporting for Dawn Patrol. Sorry for being late for muster but I couldn't fine my brown Robert Conrad Signature Line Black Sheep Squadron Flying Aviator's Jacket, so I had to settle for my Mad Max Gyro Captain Beanie.

Is my omelet ready? I hate scones.

SCC: "find" for "fine"

And has some one seen my flight suit catheter? This much Earl Grey in the morning goes right through me.

Morning all - last day of school for my kids today - so summer seems official is our house today - helps that it is hot and muggy.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Yep Mudge, TGIF and I'm looking forward to a week's vacation.
Science Tim is really getting smutty. Mounting a telescope, sheesh. Reminds me of the summer I spent monitoring tank car being humped.
On the economic front we are still doing very well but the last 2/3 tank of fuel for the furnace ($900) did hurt. At the current price it will be about $1300 next winter. Luckily we can substitute in large part with (hydro) electricity with our bi-energy system. That thing looked expensive at the time but has paid itself handsomely.
See you on the other side of the commute.

Yep Mudge, TGIF and I'm looking forward to a week's vacation.
Science Tim is really getting smutty. Mounting a telescope, sheesh. Reminds me of the summer I spent monitoring tank car being humped.
On the economic front we are still doing very well but the last 2/3 tank of fuel for the furnace ($900) did hurt. At the current price it will be about $1300 next winter. Luckily we can substitute in large part with (hydro) electricity with our bi-energy system. That thing looked expensive at the time but has paid itself handsomely.
See you on the other side of the commute.

Morning, all. Yello, what do you want in that omlet? You're a lot of trouble, you know.

Being lazy this morning, had a hard time getting to sleep last night. I don't know why, just one of those things.

I am fortunate to have been able to retire and not have to get another job. But yesterday I got the info on health benefits for the coming year. The increase will be the smallest in three years but will still consume the cost-of-living raise I will get in July. Yeouch.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

Morning, friends. I'm here, Mudge, just dragging bad. I woke up this morning at one o'clock, and couldn't go back to sleep until a few minutes before time to get up. Running real late.

Ivansmom, and all in your growth industries, crime will always be with us, but I suspect bad economy may make it a bit more?

Slyness, Martooni, Scotty, and Omni? Morning to all.*waving*

Today is Fear Factor Friday at the Center. The Director has come up with a game the kids will like, hopefully. It's going to be hot again, so something inside is good.

I have to hit the water, and I don't think the kitchen is going to be an option this morning.

Have a great day, folks. I know the Stock market was a downer yesterday, maybe things will be better today. I find it amazing that people that can afford to play the stock market suffer just like the consumers that fuel the markets. I suspect we need each other? But then, there's the dirty old man. Greed.

Maybe I get to talk later.

When we replaced our furnace a few years ago, we went the the ultra high efficiency model, no air because we just don't need it, and a high efficiency water heater. We upgraded the insulation, the windows, the doors, and still our energey bills are still way too high. Changing suppliers seems to have helped.

Next step, an on demand water heater. And then to unplug. A lot of things use power just sitting staying ready to use. Tvs, computers, my coffee maker (commecial type), all sorts of things.

Morning all. I think in the interest of carrying weight of the 'copter I am going to stick with my nice bowl of oatmeal this morning. Although, wild man that I am, I'm putting on the brown sugar *and* raisins.

Now where did I put that scarf?

RD, you left your paisley scarf on the flagpole during May Day celebrations. If I have told once, I have told you a thousand times:

raisin in oatmeal leads to wanton lasciviousness.

Get a grip, man.

---
DR, one name for the plugged-in-excess is PHANTOM CURRENT. Be 'fraid, very 'fraid.

Mornin' all...

Mudge... franks and beans rock. What's even better are brats and beans (or even more so, a big hug from Little Miss Bean [who has been known to be a brat on occasion] first thing in the morning).

I finally got our minivan's brakes sorted out. Mrs. M called early yesterday to report they'd gone out completely and we had to get her Mom to pick her up and then deliver me to the break-down scene to see if I could be useful. Started it up and put it in gear and heard a clatter. Dropped a mostly disintegrated brake pad. But then it drove like new. No noise, good brake power. So I drove it home (very carefully) and replaced the brake pads on the driver's side and it's like new. The rotor is torn up, so this won't last, but to quote "The Who"... "we're mobile".

Very busy day lined up, but I'll be checking in (you've been warned). Now I gotta get me some eggs and toast and a cuppa tea or three before I head off to sawdust and fairy dust land...

Peace out... :-)

Sorry for the double post, the home connection is twitchy sometimes.

The Conservation Nazis at the office call those idle electronic devices "current leaks". It includes battery chargers, portable puters, external hard drives etc. that are drawing a bit of current and heating up the place.

The falling stock market causes a different kind of economic pain.

My wife and I have always lived far below our income level. And a lot (though thankfully not all) of that money has gone into diversified stock funds. This is the money we will retire on and, I hope, take care of my daughter long after I am gone.

So when the market goes down it doesn't mean I can't pay my bills. It means that I will have to keep working longer and increases my anxiety regarding my progeny.

It also makes me a little bitter that the luxuries we passed up in order to be prudent savers were for naught. It makes me think that maybe we should have taken that expensive cruise or bought that fancy car instead of upping my 401K plan. It makes me think that those people who spend themselves into crazy debt might not be as foolish as I believe.

But that's probably just the oatmeal talking.

Yes Friday, dress more casual, jeans allowed and looking forward to dinner with old old friends tomorrow night. Spent a good half hour last night looking through old photos so I could answer #2's question about which leg she broke when she was 12. Turns out it's the same one that's broken now. She has a PT appointment this morning and I'm curious to find out how it went. I'll be heading down to her house tomorrow morning to be her maid.

That Milbank piece about Addington is dangerous if you have high blood pressure and merely infuriating if you don't. What sort of upbringing contributes to making someone so 'evil?'

It is really hard to unplug everything though. Leaks indeed SD. It would mean we'd have to actively participate. What everyone seems to be looking for is a way to lower our carbon footprint, without changing how we live. Can't happen, I say.

I gotta rush off and do some consulting before work this morning. Drat and gol darn it, consarn it and all.

That "hard numbers" article that Joel links to suggests that if we *really* want to conserver power, we need to reduce our recreational bathing. The article claims that a single hot bath uses as much electricity as six months worth of stealth current.

Ah, the wonders of WiFi @ home, bein able to Boodle while semi-painfully horizontal in bed on what was supposed to be the first day of vacation on the train with NukeSpawn going into DC for some museum-ing...

*SIGH*

'toon, I do indeed have lots of information that will counteract what you've been told. I forget exactly where you are, but phrases such as "in the fallout circle of Three Mile Island" lead me to think you've been listening to people who aren't particularly interested in the facts. In fact, IIRC, you live much closer to the Beaver Valley plant. *shrug*

And since I'm home, I can go so far as to say today's U.S. nuclear power plants, while certainly not perfect, have been demonstrably safe for quite a long time.

Thus endeth my semi-rant for the day. Now where did NukeSpouse leave those leftover Tylenol 3?

:-)

That "hard numbers" article that Joel links to suggests that if we *really* want to conserver power, we need to reduce our recreational bathing. The article claims that a single hot bath uses as much electricity as six months worth of stealth current.

martooni, I'm sorry to hear about your van's continuing brake problems.

What's the deal? Is there anything I can do to help you get 'em changed out?

It's a warm morning, so instead of the oatmeal, I went with Rasin Bran draped with a chopped up banana and a few blueberries (on sale for $.99 a 12 oz package!). Living the wild wild life, that's me.

I saw the title of the Krauthammer column and just snorted. The name Krauthammer does not translate to 'balanced,' 'evenhanded,' or 'non-partisan' in any language I'm aware of.

cassandra, I don't think that the majority of people investing in the stock market are greedy (although some certainly are, as in any enterprise). Many people put their money there as investment vehicles for retirement or for their children's education, rather than in a bank savings account (which these days pays next to nothing). Also, that money flowing into Wall Street provides capital for businesses to keep operating (either directly or for companies to borrow against). Wall Street keeps the American and world economies moving by providing vehicles and methods for money to keep businesses and industries going. If people didn't invest there, businesses would go belly-up and millions of Americans would be unemployed as the economy unravels.
This, of course, is why the terrorists targeted the WTC on 9/11 - they were trying to hit this economic system at a nexus in order to hurt it - and *us.*

Are the opportunites that the current economic systems afford abused? Sadly, yes. The SEC does what it can, of course, but as you point out, sometimes greed makes people do bad things. And sometimes the good guys win, too. What few investments I have are in companies I belive in, ones that I think contribute to society. I try to be true to my own ethics, FWIW.

Now, back to my plans for cornering the interplanetary markets for Martian asparagus.

bc

Woah - Double post gremlins.

RD -"But that's probably just the oatmeal talking."

If you look real close RD I'll bet its those pesky raisins. Probably from California, and singing "Heard it through the grape vine".

shrieking - Can you tell us more about the bi-energy system in your house. What was the expensive thing?

DLD

slyness,

Didn't realize you had drawn camp cook duties. My usual omelet order is diced ham, tomatoes, mushrooms (shiitake, if you have them) double cheddar. If you're really feeling wild, throw some spinach in.

David Addington is one of the featured members of my Torture Trading Cards:

http://livebythefoma.blogspot.com/2007/10/torture-trading-cards.html

John Yoo also makes the list. Let's hope Congress collects the whole set.

We're out of eggs, so my toast was dip-deprived.

RD... just remember, you can't take it with you and progeny are supposed to make their own (a small bump from Mom and Dad doesn't hurt, but still... if they're viable, they're viable and no amount of help or hindrance will make a difference.)

I hate Fridays, btw. For the rest of the world, Friday means "I'm almost free!". For me it's deadlines and two more days of busy. Orders promised on Wednesday that still need work. And Saturday is a "half day" as far as shipping goes, so whatever I'm working on that was supposed to ship Wednesday that isn't ready to go by 1:00 Saturday, it has to wait until Monday.

I so need a manager-with-a-whip type person (not that Mrs. M doesn't try) to keep me on schedule.

And an accountant and/or office manager.

And I really want to find a 1981 Renault Le Car. Good gas mileage and the perfectly sized ride for a maker of small doors.

Red asparagus, bc? Man, that'd be a marketing challenge...

Just think what it'd do to the color of your pii (rhymes with wii, doncha know, in order to avoid the Wirty Dird phenomenon)...

:-)

A former coworker of mine made the big move from Towson to Stewartstown, PA so he could double his house and his commute. He kept the evacuation maps for both TMI and Peach Bottom tacked to his cubicle wall. He wasn't seriously concerned, but liked to stay aware.

Scottynuke, I hope you back gets better soon, sir.

As sd pointed out last night at 10:06 or so, it may not be the color so much as the smell.

Could this phenomenon could be harnessed as a marketing tool? Hmmm.

bc

Only today, Yello. Check the KP list on the bunker door to see when your time comes up.

RD, that statistic about baths and stealth current depresses me. Mr. T is always turning lights out. That's annoying, especially since the ones in the kitchen are the energy-saving type. I will give up air conditioning before I will live in the dark.

Dual-energy furnace are more expensive because they have an additional hot box where the electric heaters are located. There are equipped with a little more electonics as well. The deal with the (hydro) electric utility is as follow. When the temperature is above -12C/10F the heating, when needed, is electric and the rate is about 20% (4.33 cents vs 5.4 cents per kWh)less than the basic residential rate. When the temperature drops below the threshold the heating switch to oil and the rate climb to an astronomical 300% of the basic residential rate (17.55 cents per kWh). This system works fine with us because we use lots of power all year long. We have three adults and two teenagers using the electrical water heater, a 3/4 hp well pump, a 1/2hp sump pump, a 3/4 hp sh1t pump, a 1hp pool pump, ceiling fans, lights to grow plants, 2 fish tanks, etc. so the 20% discount dwarfs the extra cost incurred below the threshold temperature. It works because, unlike most of the US, peak demand for the utility is for heating in the winter. If peak demand is in the summer, it obviously doesn't work for the utility and they would not offer the deal.

The furnace comes with convenient override buttons as well. It's useless now but when the fuel was at 50 cents per liter it was mightily tempting.

G'morning boodle. We are at that point where breakfast is a combo of clearing the pantry and takeout. Today's menu-sushi and cornflakes.

As our community nonprofit closes on the sale of our fair city's newly closed school, energy efficiency is our first priority. We got the building for $100 but it will be no bargain if we can't do better than the $45,000 the school district spent on heat and lights last year. Thankfully, the contractor who is partnering with us in developing the building as Boys and Girls Club, community technology center and library, business incubator and low income senior housing is both very interested in the latest technology and deeply committed to the community. He'll make a $ for sure, he wouldn't do the project if he couldn't, but I don't begrudge him doing well as we do good together. We could very well end up with solar, wind, biomass and technologies to be named later. The first step though will be boring old insulation and new windows. Conservation is one of the few personal virtues that pays in the short term.

Thanks shrieking. Sounds as if the heating system allow for some "tailoring" not found with most. That would be a plus. Must admit that my eyes glazed over a bit at "...when the temp goes under -12C/10F"..., being in SC.

One further question, how does the electric co. know when you switch to oil?

DLD

Here I am at work, and no one here to consult with.So to those of you who consult, if the other guy doesn't show, what the heck do you do? It's enough to drive me to knitting.

RD, the bath scenario is scary, but there was a time not all that long ago when people hauled water from the well and baths were once a week with a good daily wash. To top that off, though the daily wash water might be fresh for each, the bath water was usually, re-used as in littlest first, then up the ages, till Pop washed down at the end. In the slightly more advanced days of my youth, my mom and dad got clean water but we young ones shared.

The moral of this story is, that if you physically have to work for a thing, you conserve to save a different sort of energy as well as saving water heating resources.

Ran across this terrific Donald Hall poem in the collection of his work I'm reading, and just have to puit it out here:

The Impossible Marriage

The bride disappears. After twenty minutes of searching
we discover her in the cellar, vanishing against a pillar
in her white gown and her skin's original pallor.
When we guide her back to the altar, we find the groom
in his slouch hat, open shirt, and untended beard
withdrawn to the belltower with the healthy young sexton
from whose comradeship we detach him with difficulty.
Oh, never in all the cathedrals and academies
of compulsory Democracy and free-thinking Calvinism
will these poets marry! -- O pale, passionate
anchoret of Amherst! O reticent kosmos of Brooklyn!

sd-we have similar deals through our electric cooperative. Our rental property has a geothermal system with both in-floor heating and forced air heating and cooling. Because we can "pump and dump" ground water into the nearby river the system was cheaper than it could have been, but still not something our typical area homeowner can afford to retrofit. Chez Frostbitten North is very small (900sf) and we use an in floor hydronic system that allows us to use cheaper electricity overnight, separately metered, to heat the concrete slab. Passive solar features like orientation toward the sun with overhangs for summer shade mean that in 3 winters the electric heat has never run during the day. We do have to have a back up heat system in case of power outages but a high efficiency gas fireplace is pretty and relatively inexpensive to operate for a couple hours a week in the worst weather. I do dread having the tank filled but we only do that every other year. We did not put AC in Chez Frostbitten North and did fine until last year's record heat wave-it was the overnight high dew points that did us in and made me buy a small window unit for the bedroom. When nights are cool with windows open, the concrete slab (our ground floor is bare concrete the color of slate)stays cool and keeps the house under 80 even on quite hot days.

DLD, the outside electric meter is equipped with a thermometer connected to the furnace. When the temp goes below -12C/10F a light comes on both the outside meter and on the inside electrical panel and the furnace automatically switches to oil. And the meter starts recording the consumed power on the expensive wheel...

Morning all! Getting a late start again. Make sure you let me know in advance when I've got KP duties so I can get up early enough. Eggs scrambled with feta, with rye toast on the side OK for everyone?

Martooni... remember that all progeny, unfortunately, may not be capable of making it on their own. Every bit of early planning helps.

At age 62 and after teaching at least two classes a week for 25 years, Dr G just quit his second job (as an adjunct professor). That takes us down to only two incomes. A heck of a time to be giving up a few thousand dollars a year, but it's the first time in our marriage he's only had one job. He needs the rest.

I apologize for not offering Grover waves earlier... Kinda difficult when you're flat on your back. :-)

And the saga continues...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/science/27collider.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Vely inturesting, shrieking. Now you just need something cheap to burn. Can the furnace handle alternatives like well-filtered fryer grease?

DLD

Since it is Friday, my kids last day of school, a long weekend and well because I am so rarely on topic. I give you a quiz, thought I would have an opportunity to redeem myself for all my previous poor scores on Omni's quizzes but no - apparently I do as poorly at Canadian Pop culture as anywhere else - I got 65% all the incorrect answers referred to pop culture.

Scotty hope your back feels better soon.

http://www.tearsheet.ca/quiz/quiz.php

No, I will be burning $1.50/L ($5.60/usg) heating oil next year. I paid something like $1.15 for the last delivery.
I have a small gravity fed oil stove for emergencies, that thing burns no.1 better than no.2 oil, adding another 4-5 cents per liter. But I wouldn't live without it now, it's a must when the power goes out.

fb,
That system sounds fantastic. Open ground source heat pumps aren't allowed everywhere. Added heat is now being viewed as a pollutant.

There are designs that couple GSHPs with radiant floors. If you keep the floor well above the dew point, you can have good year round cooling and heating.

Never fear, dmd, I got 40%, appaling for a New Hampshire-ite who's watched more than his fair share of CBC...

Got the real money question right and the CT money question wrong, FWIW.

:-)

Come to think of it, Rarely on Topic is available as a boodle handle.

40% on the Canuckistan quiz with a LOT of guessing. The only one I knew for sure involved Tim Horton's.

And belated thanks for the well-wishes, all.

If I could claim fuzzy-headedness from good pharmaceuticals, I would. *SIGH*

19/20 on the Canada quiz. Canadian tuxedo my butt.

TGIF, boodle!

martooni: I bought a LeCar off the lot in 1980. I loved the rag top and it served me faithfully for about four years. The wiring harness decided to follow a short somewhere and nearly caused a fire one night after I returned home from my ski lift attendant's job. I sold it and bought a '66 Valiant two door for $175 that had three on the tree and about 175k on the odometer. That car wouldn't die. I would regularly push it to it's limits. Everything you've ever heard about the durability of the Mopar slant six is true. I sold it four or five years later after having put another 75k on it. One of my dream cars is a Valiant Signet convertible of the same vintage.

Yello-you are wise in the ways of GSHP. In another climate, or if more people were using this type of system in our area, we wouldn't be able to use the river and would need a pond on the property (something that can be relatively inexpensively done if the rules change for us). Neighbors who live outside the city limits dump into a very nice, if large, decorative pond just off their deck.

I chose not to install any form of central air in Chez Frostbitten North and it is my plan to train Mr. F in the ways of kb so we can be rid of the window ac. There is no reason he shouldn't be able to manage a few sweaty days, or nights, in MN.

70% but I want to make an appeal on the capital question.
The answer they give applies to the capital of the Dominium of Canada established in 1867, ignoring 260 years of history prior to that date.
And I don't do doughnuts, how could I have guessed?

Kerric I got that question wrong and I am NOT happy about it - I went to school with guys who pretty much wore a variation of the Tuxedo full time :-)

I got 20% correct. I guessed on every single one. I won't play the lottery today.

I paid two bucks a gallon for fuel oil back in 1989. I think they really mark it up in Florida. I still have no idea why my house had a furnace. I have even less an idea why the roofer demolished the flue. Fortunately I caught that while the rafters were only slightly charred.

fb, I assume you are burning propane instead of natural gas. Propane is might pricey. But I do love the warmth of gas heat. Since BGE is both gas and electric, they make sure they get you both ways.

I live in a fairly modern center unit townhouse, so cost-effective conservation measures are pretty limited. A high efficiency condensing unit would make the most sense, but I have to wait for the old one to kick the bucket.

If money were no object, I'd put in a vertical closed loop well for a ground source heat pump in my 1000 square foot back yard. It would be a tough fit for the drilling rig to get in.

Frosti, you know better than to give scallywags such as bc, 'Mudge, martooni and me a straight line like "a few sweaty nights"...

:-)

s'nuke-with Mr. F finally moving to MN there better be more than a few.

Embarrassed and abashed to report a score of 15% (3/20, and I have no idea which 3 they were). I know who the Countess of Alberta is, but they didn't ask. And I know Joni Mitchell's home town, the names of all the provinces and territories except that new one, Nukiheva, Nakatomi, Nabisco, or whatever the he11 it is, and who climbed the cliffs up to the Plains of Abraham to whip who's butt. But did they ask any of that? Nooooooooooooooo.

I am certified. In ground source heat pumps, that is. I still have fond memories of my speeing ticket outside Stillwater to remind me of that junket. I have gotten plenty of other suggestions as to what else I should be certified as.

And talk of sweaty nights reminds me that my summer home improvement project is to replace the ceiling fan in the master bedroom. That should stretch the shoulder no-heat-or-AC season by about a week in each direction.

And I also know Evangeline Lilly was born in Fort Saskatchewan, although she is not the Countess of Alberta, in spite of what you might think. Countess of my libido, perhaps; Countess of Alberta, no.

IMHO, the problem with propane is the smell. Yuck. But Mr. T loooves the gas fireplace at the mountain house and uses it to the exclusion of the heat pump. I understand, but I *do* perfer a little heat in the upstairs bedroom.

One of Mr. T's cousins put a geothermal system in when he built his house. He pumps water from the pond at the bottom of the hill, IIRC. They like it a lot.

We added insulation in 2003, replaced the gaspack with a new, highly efficient unit in 2004, and replaced the windows in 2006. Since we had storm windows, I'm not convinced new windows were necessary for energy efficiency, but they look good and work sooo much better. The roof ridge vent, installed in 1997, has been a real plus too.

As I said yesterday, I didn't alter the settings on the programmable thermostat when I retired. I get really, really uncomfortable with the heat set on 62 on cold days. The little space heater isn't up to the task of keeping me moving. We've thought about putting a gas fireplace in the den (we'd use natural gas here) but haven't done it. Maybe I should do that this fall.

TBG, congrats to Dr. G on having just one job. I hope it works well for him! Enough is enough.

Slyness, I am glad to hear you say that your roof ride vent has helped we are having our roof redone soon and have opted for the ridge venting. I am hoping it helps cool our upstairs in the summer as our current venting situation is very inadequate. New insulation is in the plans as well as is searching for a money tree - the tree will be required before we can invest in new windows.

"well-filtered fryer grease?"
Not my well, I'd get no suds at all. Not to mention the taste. :-p

"little heat in the upstairs bedroom," Slyness? Didn't you see my note to frosti???

*really needing the giggles today*

:-)

Mudge I bow to your superior knowledge of Evangeline Lilly. I knew she was from the area, but did not realize she was born in my local hospital.

My friend (whom I live with) installed a squirrel fan in the attic to sick the heat out from the attic and ceiling line on the hot days. It doesn't keep the house cool during the day (but we don't need it on during the day), but it sure helps keep the evenings reasonable.

See, first we sap your confidence by asking really hard questions about Canada, *then* we invade. You'll be too demoralized to resist! 18/20.

Yoki for PM!

Ouch dmd, 25%.

I only knew the time zones and best-selling album for sure. All the rest were guesses. Two out of 18 is pretty crappy I'd say, randomness alone should have given me more than two, right.

No lottery for me today either TBG.

Or maybe I should play.

40% on the quiz, and hanging head in shame. Rick Mercer obviously just doesn't cut it as a Canadian cultural guide. (When does the new season start?) I am proud to say I knew the Red Green Man's Prayer without looking at the answer options.

SCC: ...suck the heat out.

I'd kinda like to know the answers to some of those questions. Any way somebody could slap together an answer key, or just say what they are, say some time this afternoon after most boodlers have had a chance to publicly humiliate themselves?

Scotty, a little bit of HEAT, you know, the real kind, is necessary for any other kind of activity. At least it is in MY world. But I'm an eighth-generation Southerner. ;-)

Nope, not gonna try the quiz. Sometimes it's best to quit before you get started.

I don't know how there could be such little heat in the upstairs bedroom, those sweaty nights should be pumping heat in there, not sucking (or sicking) it out.

Especially if *Tim's mounting a telescope in there (boy, does he ever *love* his instrument).

Maturity is a state of mind, I think.
It's purely theoretical where I'm concerned, of course.

bc

TBG... I know firsthand that progeny aren't always able to fend for themselves. I've turned to me dear old Dad a time or three to bail me out of one situation or another. I just hope that Little Miss Bean ends up with the brains and the wherewithal (we're working on both) to survive when me and Mrs. M meet our inevitable end.

It would be nice to leave her a care package, of course, but if we both kick the bucket right now it wouldn't be much.

So back to work...

And peace out ('cause we need as much of that as possible these days)...

Scrolling down on the quiz's results page shows your replies and the correct answers...

Aaaaaaaargh! A new play, an homage to Groundhog Day

In an office somewhere on some generic military base.
Fb or Mr. F- "We have a grand piano."
Clerk- "Ok, we'll note that on the paperwork."

Later that month, a phone call.
Moving Company Scheduler calls-"Sir/Ma'am, do you have any large or unusual items."
Fb or Mr. F-"We have a grand piano."

Later the same month, the doorbell rings.
Moving company representative introduces himself and steps inside.

Rep-"I'm here to see how many boxes and what packing material the packers will need. Do you have any large or unusual items?"
Fb or Mr. F- (points to grand piano in full view) "We have a grand piano."

Still later the same month, a crew of movers arrive. Door bell rings. Mr. F opens door, the crew leader steps inside.
Crew Leader- "We didn't know you had a piano."

Repeat for every military move (4 since we bought it) I'd go have a lie down if the mattresses weren't already packed.

One more wonky post before I buckle down and get ready for vacation: Comfort is subjective and varies with temperature, humidity, air motion, window size and location, amount of clothing (figure out why the receptionist is always chillier than the CEO) and degree of individual control over all those parameters. People are a lot more tolerant when they can open windows, adjust thermostats, etc.

Comfortable conditions are defined as when 80% of the occupants don't complain. The attached article gives some very practical advice and has the infamous ASHRAE comfort zone chart on it. Recent versions say that there is no lower limit to acceptable relative humidity, but if you are prone to static electricity discharges you might disagree.

http://energy.opp.psu.edu/awareness-conservation/heating-cooling

I dare say that the more rigid declarations of temperature setpoints are by fiat, the less "comfortable" i.e. prone to complain people will be. You can demand that the temperature be set to a certain level in the office but there are repercussions on productivity and morale.

In your own home where you aren't dealing with a statistically significant sample size, HVAC settings are a matter of negotiation with your spouse, significant other, children, or pets.

Myself? I tend to defer to domestic harmony over my own comfort or frugality although I have been known to make minor tweaks until they get noticed.

55%. I am bereft. However, Merkins need only know "The Red Green Motto" and that Kingston was Canada's first capital to fit right in. It also helps to remember that Moslon beer sucks. They put all their profits into the advertising dept., I guess, 'cause they've got excellent ads.
Their beer, a horse wouldn't give a first run through (So, Yoda was Jewish, Who knew?).
Just the thought of a warm Molson's Golden has a near emetic effect on me.

Hellow 11.37 - Boko is that you, sure sounds like a Leaf fan :-).

Molson Golden was the beer of my youth - I think it was the commercials.

OK, I see the answers, now Scotty, thanks. My bad. I was in such shock by the time I saw my score I never scrolled down. So out of 20 questions I knew exactly one, and that one only because it was pretty obvious (the Tim Horton money question). Of course, I gotta say, there is no reason whatsoever a non-Canuckistani *should* know many of them. Toilet paper. Gimme a break here, people.

I am also skeptical over the advantages of ridge vents and attic fans (as opposed to whole-house fans) over just filling the attic up to the rafters with insulation, but I have no supporting life cycle cost analyses to support my hunch.

Canine (and to a lesser extent feline and leporine) bed companions can also affect night time comfort levels. There is even a band named after the unit of measurement based on the required number of supplemental canine units required.

No yello, don't stop with the wonky heating and cooling discussion!

I forgot to mention the urban loft is heated and cooled by "district energy."

From the nonprofit District Energy St. Paul web site-

"District energy systems produce hot water, steam or chilled water at a central plant and then distribute the energy through underground pipes to buildings connected to the system. Individual buildings do not need boilers, chillers or cooling towers. Customers use the hot and chilled water to meet their space heating, water heating, processing and air-conditioning needs. Once used in customer buildings, the water is returned to the central plant to be reheated and rechilled and then recirculated through the closed-loop piping system.

District Energy St. Paul uses wood chips (biomass), natural gas, oil or clean-burning coal to fuel its district heating and cooling systems. With the April 2003 startup of an adjacent wood-waste-fired combined heat and power facility, managed by an affiliate, the company reduced its reliance on coal and oil by 80 percent. This produces signficant environmental benefits and helps the community solve a local wood waste disposal problem. Our customers benefit from reduced costs, yet another fuel source, and the knowledge that they are using an environmentally sustainable source of "green energy" to heat and cool their buildings."
http://www.districtenergy.com/

HVAC settings? Is that one of those new-fangled things from the future? At Chez Martooni, we have windows. We open them and deal with what comes in. We have a fan or two to blow around what comes in, but that's about it, other than iced tea and cold beer.

btw... I'm bouncing back and forth between the shop and the TV, watching "Dark Angel" on SciFi. My Gawd. "Max" (Jessica Alba) just rawks... part cat, entirely beautiful, very resourceful and smart. Wouldn't want to tick her off, but boy oh boy... I'll just shut up now and get back to work.

Not Meatloaf, is it? No, didn't think so.

10cc's? No, that's not it either. Well, it is and it isn't.

Loving Spoonful? Ditto.

Hot Chili Peppers? No, no...

Steely Dan? No, same problem as Loving Spoonful and 10cc's.

Three-Evangeline-Lilly Night? Sorry, Freudian Slip.

dmd - I loved those Molson commercials! At least I assume we're talking about the same ones.

I hope everyone is doing well. Me, I'm trying to figure how every single thing that I would have done at work last week if I hadn't been on vacation was waiting for me when I returned from said vacation. Criminy! I have been drowning here and I am more than a little cranky at some of my co-workers who were supposed to be covering for me. Whew! Rant over, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

I guiltily admit to having a space heater in my office. BUT - I dress appropriately for a freezing office. I get amazed stares at the grocery store when I stop after work because I generally have sweater sets on in the dead of summer. All of my co-workers prefer to work in frigid temps so I just live with the guilt. I'm sorry about it, but I can't function with freezing hands and feet and a blue nose.

Haven't really had a chance to backboodle, so if I've missed any boodler triumphs or tragedies, I send the appropriate wishes their way.

Faxin' Scotty some of the percocet I have stashed away for my next back problem. It's so nice to know it's there, waiting for me if I need it. The hubby says he worries about me because I get a dreamy look on my face when I see my percocet stash, but I maintain that if I had a problem that stash would be long gone!

martooni,

Au contraire, you have a complete, if unsophisticated, HVAC system already. The controls consist of window open/closed and fan on/off. The AC portion usually implies some level of humidification control, but I think the cold beer fills that bill.

The complete lack of improved acting skills on the part of Ms. Alba between seasons one and two was a deal killer. Although the addition of Kira Neris as a villain made season two barely tolerable.

It's a running industry joke that the success of Jessica Alba movies is inversely proportional to the size of her costume (Fantastic Four movies being the exception).

30% on the quiz. I have a lot to learn about Canada.

bc: I recently mixed some two stroke fuel for the string trimmer. I hadn't noticed this before, but, until the motor comes up to running temperature, it emits more blue smoke than usual. The bottle of two stroke oil had no window on the side to let me know when I reached the proper amount of oil for the mixture, so I probably mixed it lean. Is it smoking because the rings of the valve is worn as a result of running lean?

Ha, Mudge! Even *I* got that one!

My cubicle is off in the far corner, which also happens to be the coolest space on this floor. It is currently 76° here.

I have a window AC at home that is set to 75°, with power save setting on. On cooler evenings in spring and fall I turn it off and open a few windows.

If we must say something nice about Moslon beer I'd say Moslon Ex keeps a guy "regular". Drunk in excess, Moslon Ex may even make a guy explosively "regular".
Moslon Ex, the beer that made an immense contribution to the fine art of anal reconstructive surgery.

When I was an editor about 10 years ago, slyness, I wangled myself a backstage pass to a Three Dog Night July 4th concert held here at Baysox Stadium--saw the whole show from the wings--really rocked. Chuck Negron was gone, of course, so it left Cory Wells (who'd just gotten out of rehab) and Danny Hutton carrying the vocals (Two Dog Night?), but all the backup were there: Greenspoon, Allsup, Kingery and Bautz. Terrific show, well worth seeing. Michael Allsup on guitar is a hoot. "Never Been to Spain" brought down the house.

I wouldn't be talking so loud about wangling yourself, Mudge.

That's not fair, TBG. I've just sprayed arugula, cucumber, and ranch/peppercorn dressing all over my keyboard.

65%. I would grouse about the obscurity of the questions, but apparently Kerric did very well. I beg to differ on the tuxedo question.

This is the quiz a colleague and I start every day with (on-line version courtesy of Frostiville's paper):

http://superquiz.king-online.com/client_temps/startribune.php

RD's 8:04 had me smiling. RD Jr. gets to live off the land?

LOL, Mudge, sounds like it was a great show.

Memo to self:

Add "wangle" to the official Achentionary. Let someone else work on the definition.

SCC: Kira Nerys

Memo to self:
Do NOT spend afternoon working on definitive order of Hottest Women On Terok Nor.

Mudge, getting wangled is what you get for thinking those thoughts about J. Alba and E. Lily.

I was reminded that my youngest daughter kinda looks like Ms. Alba, only much, much cuter. And that's not just Dad talking here.

My oldest was a hair model when she was in college. She would get her hair and makeup done by a salon, and then have the photo printed in their catalogues. When she would come home after a photo shoot, all the neightborhood boys would just melt as she strolled by. Then I'd have to go out and glare fiercely at them. Who knows, maybe a lady boodler has pointed to my daughters picture and said, "I want *that* hairdo."

SonofCarl I take no credit on half the answers. I was just flying by the seat of my pants on most of the obscure and pop culture ones.

;P took me five tries to get the period at the end of that last sentence. And three on that one.

I hasten to add that, as beautiful as both of my daughters are, I must offer public appologies, in advance, to any of their male offspring (should there ever be any) for the fact that said offspring will be as bald as buzzards by the time they are 30, the laws of genetics being what they are.

New kit.

sheesh, I apparently know nothing about Canada. "7. A common alliterative coffee order in Canada." is the only one I didn't know.

Did anyone happen to catch that saccharine stagecraft around noon in Unity, New Hampshire?

I can think of a variety of other locations in New Hampshire that could have served as a backdrop: Clinton Village, Blue Mountain, Mt. Patience, Mt. Deception, Wonalancet, Sugar Hill.

As CNN's Candy Crowley suggested in her blog at Anderson Cooper's homepage, why not Battle Creek, Michigan or Defiance, Ohio or Battle Ground, Washington?

Nordhaus and Shellenberger are not only wrong, they are dangerous. Dr. Pangloss got nuthin on them. Send them off to work for McCain while the rest of us work on solutions on the most important tools of all: decreasing demand through conservation. Supply-side environmentalism is about as potent as supply-side economics.

But they'll sell alot of books.