Gut check

From Ezra’s column:

The visceral reaction against anyone questioning our God-given right to bathe in bacon has been enough to scare many in the environmental movement away from this issue. The National Resources Defense Council has a long page of suggestions for how you, too, can “fight global warming.” As you’d expect, “Drive Less” is in bold letters. There’s also an endorsement for “high-mileage cars such as hybrids and plug-in hybrids.” They advise that you weatherize your home, upgrade to more efficient appliances and even buy carbon offsets. The word “meat” is nowhere to be found.

That’s not an oversight. Telling people to give up burgers doesn’t poll well. Ben Adler, an urban policy writer, explored that in a December 2008 article for the American Prospect. He called environmental groups and asked them for their policy on meat consumption. “The Sierra Club isn’t opposed to eating meat,” was the clipped reply from a Sierra Club spokesman. “So that’s sort of the long and short of it.” And without pressure to address the costs of meat, politicians predictably are whiffing on the issue. The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, for instance, does nothing to address the emissions from livestock.

The pity of it is that compared with cars or appliances or heating your house, eating pasta on a night when you’d otherwise have made fajitas is easy. It doesn’t require a long commute on the bus or the disposable income to trade up to a Prius. It doesn’t mean you have to scrounge for change to buy a carbon offset. In fact, it saves money. It’s healthful. And it can be done immediately. A Montanan who drives 40 miles to work might not have the option to take public transportation. But he or she can probably pull off a veggie stew. A cash-strapped family might not be able buy a new dishwasher. But it might be able to replace meatballs with mac-and-cheese. That is the whole point behind the cheery PB&J Campaign, which reminds that “you can fight global warming by having a PB&J for lunch.” Given that PB&J is delicious, it’s not the world’s most onerous commitment.

Recover from Monday

Peaceful. Awesome. Make sure you watch it fullscreen in HD.

The longest solar eclipse this century

Lasting up to 6 minutes in some places. Some awesome photos. My favorite.

Mash-up of the moment

(Danke: Just a Guy Thing)

Our moment in history

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown: we can use today’s interconnectedness to develop our shared global ethic — and work together to confront the challenges of poverty, security, climate change and the economy.

$1 Gasoline price increase = 9 million fewer fatties

"Daily Traffic" by Burning Image, "Big Belly" by gut_squeezer, and "Bicycle commuting" by Peter Blanchard

Just showing how interconnected so many issues are: not sure I’d have guessed transportation reform could get you health reform.

Just because

I dunno… but this just sat right tonight. Good night cap. Enjoy.

(Danke: Lillian P.)

Never-ending consolidation

William Saletan on the universe’s newest unstoppable force:

Some GPS makers, Wortham reports, are responding to this trend [of declining GPS sales due to smartphones] by selling GPS as software for smartphones instead of selling it as hardware. Others are adding phone service to their GPS devices. Good luck with that. But the bottom line is that no matter how this fight ends—smartphones with GPS, GPS with smartphones, or add-on GPS software for your smartphone—only one device will remain. Consolidation is inexorable.

What will the smartphone eat next? In no particular order, my money’s on credit cards, car keys, flashlights, flash drives, books, television sets, and laptops. Some of these functions are already being absorbed. And one of these days, somebody will figure out how to add a stun gun. Just try not to hit the wrong button.

We’re almost there… check out this stun gun disguised as cell phone:

"Naughty, naughty, naughty! A 950,000 volt stun gun cleverly disguised as a harmless cell phone. Gain the tactical advantage over a would-be attacker with the Pretender Stun Gun! come see it now at www.defendfirst.com/pretender-cellphone-stun-gun.htm" (Photo by Defend First)

Wine without the snobbery

Hosted by John Cleese. It’s a pretty fun look at wines for the novice:

Looking for anacondas or titanoboa?

Then this is your post. But feel free to stick around for a while: you might like what you see. I do some posts on humor, politics, culture, Monty Python, science, ReTweets, potentially embarrassing tidbits, and some sports… let me know what you’d like to see more of.

You can also learn more about me and the site (and it’s ramblings) by clicking the links in the upper right.

For those of you that are wondering about this post’s prominent presence on the front page: turns out a not insignificant portion of my traffic is due to the titanoboa post, and I’d like to keep them around to increase the amount of conversation around here.

Those of you showing up because of that post: I’d love for you to stick around and chat a while.

Whose neighbor?

This is really an excellent post by Ta-Nehisi. I have to say I have very little experience with race issues and their complexity, and he has opened up a new world for me with his blog. It’s been a pleasure to read and learn: especially after moving to the South (the NW doesn’t seem to have the same attitudes or concerns as exist elsewhere in the country… I don’t know the post off the top of my head but TNC himself said while on a trip out West that the feeling was so different: that he wasn’t constantly reminded and confronted by race). Anyway… give it a read.

A commenter on his site, JH, sums up my interaction with TNC’s blog quite well:

Every now and then I think you’re starting to fall off, and then you write something like this. Damn good post. Thanks.

And another:

JH: Agreed. TNC: I knew you were circling around something really good in the past couple of days with this train of thought, watching you get at the words is always a pleasure. Absolutely nailed it. Mental tastebuds are TINGLING.

That last one, by kekemen, really hits it, I think. That’s what the whole point of blogging versus other mediums is: that you get to play with the ideas, out loud, in public, until they coalesce into something substantial.

Presidential

The Big Picture has a photo-summary of Obama’s first 167 days. This one, Number 14, is the epitome of “Presidential”.

…this one, is not. Heh. (Of course, that’s not to say I don’t like it.)

A cool resource

So far, it’s only in Chicago, New York and (you guessed it!) Austin: Ride the City

A radical conjecture

So… it’s going to be a light posting weekend. But… before I disappear into a flash of fireworks: I have a guess:

The Sarah Palin resignation scandal-to-be? She killed MJ. Trying for some damage control.

Happy 4th!

Tips for Saturday

Firework photography help.