Electric cars and monster SUVs

28 Apr 2009

Chicago Unveils First Solar Plug-in Charging Station

The 100MPG Electric Hummer H3

Both articles appeared today on Inhabitat

Green Trains?

4 Mar 2009

I remember hearing The Long Emergency author James Howard Kunstler talk at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association Forum in 2006 about how important it was to start a programme of mass collective investment in green alternatives … to put into action the idea that we could do something about climate change, and that it was important and achievable: a model of nation-wide mobilization like what led to winning world war II, putting a man on the moon, or ending the Great Depression. He suggested that focusing in on the country’s rail systems would be the perfect way to do that – greening the transportation industry, reclaiming existing resources, and putting our money where our mouths were.

Three years later, it’s incredibly satisfying to see the sudden change in the political talk about climate change that’s been generated in the short time Obama’s been in office, and it makes me hopeful to see great initiatives like this one – $8 billion in investment for a high-speed train network. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a broader trend.

20 Feb 2009

Proof that not every politician — and not every Republican — in America has been swept up in the madness around making same-sex marriage even more illegal:

” … The Indiana Senate Republican caucus [has voted] not to consider Senate Joint Resolution 15 (SJR-15) – the Marriage Discrimination Amendment – during the 2009 session of the Indiana General Assembly. …”

Meanwhile:
The North Dakota House decided that every fertilized egg has all the rights of personhood, while the North Dakota Senate approved protecting gays against discrimination. Go figure.

100 Truths

11 Feb 2009

100 Truths (stolen from Buddha)

001. Real name → Mona
002. Nickname(s)→ Mo (blame Simon)
003. Zodiac sign → Libra
004. Male or female → Female
005. Elementary → Mona’s Own Special School (aka MOSS College Prep)
006. Middle School → see above
007. High School → ditto
008. Hair color → blondish
009. Long or short → shorter
010. Loud or Quiet → quiet (how is this a truth? It’s not even much of a question.)
011. Sweats or Jeans → Jeans
012. Phone or Camera → I’d rather have a camera (35mm film SLR), even though it’s a heck of a lot less useful.
013. Health freak → Healthy sometimes, freakish…not so much
014. Drink or Smoke? → More than I ought to in the case of last night, and no.
015. Do you have a crush on someone? → not exactly
016. Eat or Drink → yes, please.
017. Piercings → ears & nose
018. Tattoos → nope. Too indecisive, really.
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