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December 29, 2005
Three Months, Three Weeks, and Three Days
It is hard to believe that THE BIG DAY is coming up so quickly: three months, three weeks, and three days to be exact. "They will be hitched in three and three," as Chuck Woolery would have said, had he been our personal Love Connection host. Five hundred and seventy-nine days after that half-joking IM conversation that Jesse and I had about our fantasy marriage, we will be newlyweds. How many people have been united by blogging do you think? Nobody could have ever convinced us of the love we would find together. If we had known, we probably would have run the other way. I am glad we didn't.
I never thought I would be so lucky. I LOVE YOU JESSE!
Posted by capecodcyclist at 06:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 26, 2005
Countering Irrational Opposition to Wind Technologies
NEWS FLASH -- A recent report* urged officials to take a more active role in weighing the impact of power transmission lines, radio towers, TV towers, lighthouses, cooling towers, windows, buildings, airport ceilometers, and domestic cats on bird and bat deaths, saying wind farm opponents are far too caught up in fighting wind power to focus on real, present dangers.
AGAINST THE WIND: “Wind turbines are awfully attractive since they are prominent 'symbols' of an attempt to do just that [push toward renewable energy], are paid for mostly by private enterprise and subsidized by the consumers.”
Where are those who would make such statements about modern wind technology coming from? If your answer to that question was that I don't get it, then you are right... I don't get it. To reduce wind turbines to the status of “prominent symbols” of renewable energy efforts is just thick skulled ignorance. Although there obviously are and will be arguments about the exact siting of such projects, it is impossible, by any stretch of the imagination, to deny wind power's critical importance to current renewable energy efforts.
First, wind turbines are the single most viable, renewable energy technology available. The U.S. Department of Energy, many scientists, most environmental advocates, many countries, and uncountable numbers of concerned citizens have come to terms with the importance of lessening our reliance on carbon-based fuels, and reducing our production of greenhouse gas emissions. There is nothing “symbolic” about wind technology's ability to reduce both of these. Every kilowatt produced by a wind turbine, is a kilowatt that was not produced by a dirty, fuel burning, power plant.
Second, the claim that wind farms are “subsidized by the consumers” is bogus. A subsidy is government financial assistance given to people or a group that is considered to be in the public interest. Tax credits or incentives are not subsidies. If I receive a tax credit for purchasing a Toyota Prius (a hybrid vehicle), are you subsidizing my purchase? No, you are not. If I receive a tax credit, I am simply keeping money that was mine to begin with. Would you deny that by giving people tax credits, the government is encouraging them to invest, save or spend it? By offering a 1.9-cent per kilowatt hour tax credit for eligible technologies during their first 10 years of production, the government is creating an incentive to invest in clean power technologies that would otherwise be rejected for more cost effective carbon based fuels. We are not paying for it as consumers. The investments are being made through private enterprise, and the wind farms will be constructed by private companies, as they very well should be.
Wind technologies have come a long way in the last twenty-something years. Previously justifiable fears brought on by earlier, 80's vintage wind farms should be confronted. The only way to fight such lingering fear is to learn the facts, escape the past, and embrace positive change. In debates about wind power and other current issues, it has become apparent that many of us are slowly becoming the victims of lazy, modern, American habits. We are fast becoming shallow, one-dimensional human beings. It seems we are so caught up in the whirlwind of our daily lives, that we have become too exhausted to think for ourselves. Our leisure time is increasingly filled with television, disconnected, meaningless chatter, and the mindless parroting of borrowed opinions. Even our fears can no longer be claimed as our own.
A recent post in Against the Wind said, “It makes no sense to destroy the planet while attempting to save it.” I wholeheartedly agree, as most rational, concerned citizens would. To suggest that viable technologies, produced, studied and created for the sole purpose of protecting the environment, will somehow “destroy the planet” is scaremongering at best. Proposing that technologies which could potentially help save the planet would be doing the opposite is interesting logic indeed. We should carefully consider why such technologies are necessary in the first place. Clearly, we should acknowledge that clean power technologies are intended for the purpose of reducing our reliance on carbon-based fuels and reducing dirty power plant emissions. Without these technologies, wind power being the most viable of these, our environmental problems will undoubtedly increase and cause more harm.
*report does not exist (but it should)
Posted by capecodcyclist at 12:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 21, 2005
Happy Holiday Birthday to Me!
2005: the year political correctness snuck in and took a bite out of my birthday.
People have always taken pity on December babies such as myself. One would think that sympathy, so freely given, might find its way to other victims of the season. Do you think we might also consider pitying those who are being denied their rights to publicly celebrate Christmas this time of year? Yet, we can find it within ourselves to openly pity the "gift-giving-shaft" those of us born this time of year are assumed to receive. How respectful and concerned are we about all people's celebrations: personal, spiritual, religious and secular?
This year, I received my first "Happy Holiday Birthday" card. It was cute, because of its novelty. Novelty, to a Christmas time baby, is receiving birthday wrapping paper instead of "holiday" paper. Obviously, the love and caring that accompanied the card was unchanged by its secular message. However, its message, by its very uniqueness, reminded me of how considerate we can be of some, yet how ignorant we can be of others.
Christmas time babies are worthy of their very own "Happy Holiday" birthday cards, yet we do not value the same people enough to allow and celebrate their personal beliefs with them? If we did, there would be "Merry Christmas" birthday cards on the store shelves. I challenge you to find one.
Posted by capecodcyclist at 06:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 12, 2005
What Did the Web Log Survey Find, and When Will We Get the Results?
I am sure that I am not the only one who participated in the MIT Weblog Survey this summer. Not that I was anxiously awaiting the results, but they were supposed to be released at the beginning of September, and still nothing...
Does anyone have any insider knowledge about the survey?
Posted by capecodcyclist at 06:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 11, 2005
Disaster Preparedness
Place: Falmouth, MA (in the arm pit of Cape Cod)
Subject: Disaster Preparedeness
Verdict: We ain't got no stinkin' preparedness
If the December Niner storm was any predictor, we have some real planning to do if we ever expect to be prepared for any sort of evacuation or disaster reponse on Cape Cod. I can only speak for our experience in Falmouth, and the experience was horrible: detours everywhere, exploding transformers, trees dangling out into streets supported by live electrical wires for two days, power outages, untreated roadways, etc. If there were ever a real disaster, we would all be gridlocked on sidestreets trying to get to impassible main roads.
This is how our street remained two days later.
Did anyone venture down to the lower Cape? It looked like tornadoes touched down. I saw similar damage after hurricane Bob. Friday's storm was the first thunder-snow storm I have ever experienced, anyone else? What a crazy storm. First, the wind was blasting from the south. Then, we were in dazzling, clear, daylight. The winds shifted, and started picking back up from the north. It got darker, and then this wall of snow was blowing toward us. Everything facing north was covered with wind driven snow, and the gusts were up to 70-80 mph. Power outages hit most of the Cape. Wild, wild stuff...
Posted by capecodcyclist at 07:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack