numerology: from 12.2 to 9.2 (with a stop at 14.5 en route)

Ah, the joy of electricity deregulation. My provider waited until 1 picosecond after my contract expired to raise my electric rate from 12.2¢ to 14.5¢ (per kwh). So, I logged onto Power To Choose and switched providers - again. I think this is about the 5th time I've changed since deregulation happened here. Now, I have a rate of 9.2¢ per kwh but that's expected to fluctuate, and since there was no contract I can switch without penalty if they get out of line.

The fact that my new provider uses about 50% coal is irrelevant. If it was important that we conserve resources and use renewable sources of energy, the Texas legislature would mandate it, right?

cascading ...

Last Friday, Trish-Bob sent me to Benbrook to deliver Rambo to a foster family (long story, don't ask). Naturally, I couldn't leave until 4pm because Justin-Bob -- Tim-Bob's son -- had to go back to Lowe's for more stain (he was supposed to be there 10 days earlier but it turns out solid-core 1-3/8" doors are a special order item).

If I haven't lost you yet, I will ...

While I was waiting for Justin-Bob, I noticed the pop-up message on my PDA saying that it was Daniel-Bob's 50th birthday. Hmmm. I phoned Judy-Bob to inform her of the fact and she suggested we all meet at Ed's Deli on Sunday for a Breakfast Birthday Event [BBE]. Since I'd never been to a BBE before, I agreed (5 of us would eventually be there, including Mark and Joe-Bob).

The nicely-wrapped gift of Faux Spam wasn't the highlight; that honor goes to the plain-white-cover on the Sexaholics Anonymous book (lest I digress)

As I was leaving (did I mention it was Cold & Rainy?) I spotted a pour soul with an EVENT jacket standing in the intersection at Preston/LBJ-635 with a "sandwich sign" saying that Petco was having a G.O.O.B. sale -- not to be confused with a GOOB(er). "Whaaat?" (I shouted to myself as I clamped on the brakes). "Petco's going out of business?" (turns out it's limited to the location at Preston Royal, where the Mean Old Landlord has raised the rent to the point it was unprofitable to remain open .. now Tom Thumb -- owned by Safeway -- will expand into their space starting in January).

I can no longer pass up a CLEARANCE sale (thank you, Judy-Bob), so JACK (Just Another Car) ferried me there post haste. I was checking out the "ALL SALES ARE FINAL" merchandise (did I mention this is where Jill Wazabob found Marvin?) -- I've learned that while the (currently 20%) discounts certainly will increase, the only thing left at The End of the Going Out Of Business sale will be those poor orphan items that Only A Mother Could Love -- I ran into an Australian with dreadlocks, shopping (with his Dallas-originated girlfriend) for one of those multi-level cat houses. I noticed his Aussie accent and asked if he was from Melbourne. "No," he said, "The Great Barrier Reef". Since I didn't know that any humans actually lived in The Reef (I strongly suspect he lived nearby) I asked him if a news report I'd read about the coral being bleached due to Global Warming was true. He said "yes, it's true .. it's still not widespread but the early effects are obvious and it may all be gone in our lifetime - the next 50 years or so".

So there you have it. If Trish-Bob hadn't done The Intervention (again, don't ask) I wouldn't have confirmation from an Aussie-with-dreadlocks that our American excesses WRT power are bleaching/killing the coral halfway across the globe. I silently wondered if Jill - who dived there years ago and met Paul The Divemaster - knew about that Catastrophe In The Making, and the cascade effect it will have.

Now can I go back to reading the prose on my breakfast cereal box?

Back Yard Burgers

I think I found a fast food burger that Jill Wazabob would enjoy: Back Yard Burgers. There's only one of these QSRs in Dallas, but it's not that far from me, so I moseyed down to fetch one from their drive-thru window. In a word: yummm. Rumor has it they're about to go private (like Burger King did). No clue how that will impact their expansion.

Trivia: an old-timer told me that there was once a White Castle location (maybe more than one) in Dallas. But, it didn't do well and has been Long Gone. I suspect that's why the White Castle Wannabe (Krystal) hasn't expanded beyound its outpost in Carrollton, Texas. "Dainty burgers" just don't sell well here, except in the frozen food section of the grocery stores (microwaved Sliders just ain't the same).

Unrelated: The Political and Selective Use of Data: Cherry-Picking Climate Information in the White House is an interesting read. Naturally, it Cannot Possibly Be True because Everybody Knows™ that no one in The Bush Regime would ever Distort Information, especially about Global Warming (or what the Radical Right Republic Party prefers to call "Climate Change").

POTUS 2008

Yet another Texas Idiot has surfaced: US Congressman Joe Barton (Republican from Ennis, TX). This putz (whose pockets are surely lined with bribes from the oil & energy companies) claims that Global Warming is a fraud. He's probably an IDiot (Intelligent Design) too.

I guess that means he'll soon be the Next Precedent of the United Staits! Rudy and John and Mitt had better watch their backs.

the end of an era

Just about now, Jill-Bob is losing her -Bob status, crossing from Texas into The Great Abyss. Part of this is due to global warming, you see, as the Texas summers just got to be Too Much To Bear. You see, she discovered that it's far more pleasant to run in 40F weather, than 80F. So, she packed up her duds and critters and moved north, perhaps a few miles closer to Medicine Hat.

I've known Jill since, uh .. 1993, when I moved here from Los Angeles. It'll be weird knowing that she ain't within (easy) driving distance. Will The Saucer Crowd fade into extinction without her Maternal Guidance? Time will tell.

I suspect Jill's a pioneer of sorts, as past mass-migrations from the cold northern climes to the sunny beaches begin to reverse. Within our lifetime, we may see the extinction of the polar bear from the wild parts of the world, relegated only to zoos where they may be supplied an uninterrupted food supply. I also heard that the European ski resorts are having a tough time, given both a shorter season and less of their product (snow) to go around.

Politically, I have to wonder if the red-blue divide will turn into a north-south pattern, versus the current coastline-interior split. Those who remain in denial about global warming will stay in the south, sprinting from air-conditioned vehicles to air-conditioned buildings, while scarce energy continues to influence an upward price spiral. Eventually they may realize that there's a price to pay for those lofted ceilings and entryways, in the form of the BTUs needed to keep the human occupants comfortable. Eventually, but not yet. For now, the typically red-voting southerner will be happy to buy another Hummer (or F250 clone) to haul around whatever it is they haul around. Naturally, the elevation of those vehicles provides them ample opportunity to (literally) look down upon The Little People.

And the divide widens.

Back to present day reality: I suspect Jill will be rolling into her new digs around midnight* with Marvin, Simone and the others seeking a warm place to whiz. Good luck with The Grand Adventure, Jill-Bob.

* not being a classic Morning Person, it didn't surprise me that her 7am start time came and went.

Today, it's already 71F and aiming for a high of 81F. In mid-December. Go figure. Meanwhile, I programmed my TiVo to record the 8pm (24 Dec) [Spotlight] on LinkTV (DirecTV 375), titled "Global Warming: Bush's Climate of Fear". Sounds like a cheery way to celebrate The Holidays, eh?

The Soylent Greenhouse Effect

Last night, Michelle & I watched Soylent Green (1973) (the documentary starring Charlton Heston and other notables) and were amused (?) to see them talking about global warming, as one of the premises of the film. Of course, they referred to it as The Greenhouse Effect, but the inference was there, nonetheless.

Related: several years ago, I bought a splendid T-shirt from the Soylent Green Biscuit Company; people who see it either get the joke, or don't. Hmm .. even thinking about it makes me hungry for one of those Soylent Green Crackers .. mmm, mmm, good.

Inconvenient Truth / Electric Car

I finally got around to seeing a double feature*: Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) and An Inconvenient Truth (2006). Both are playing at The Magnolia.

As far as conspiracy movies (!) go, I'd give them both a solid A, since both try hard to stick to the facts (unlike most anything by Michael Moore, who is comedic rather than dramatic).

I moved to Dallas in 1993, so I wasn't in California when the EV-1 hit the streets (they weren't available in Texas). One tidbit they dropped in the movie is that GM only leased these vehicles; none were sold. At the end of the lease, GM took them to crushing yard and simply destroyed them, rather than sell them (residual lease value) to willing buyers. You'd have to see it yourself, but I came away with the sneaky suspicion that GM made certain this vehicle failed, despite the spindoctoring on their website: ("Who Ignored the Facts About the Electric Car?").

Amusing: Mel Gibson is featured a few times, talking about his EV-1. Given his .. er .. problems in California last weekend, I'm wondering if version 2 of the movie will leave him on the cutting room floor.

As to An Inconvenient Truth -- basically a movie where Al Gore gives a presentation (from his PowerBook) about Global Warming -- I didn't see the same kind of naming names that Electric Car did so openly. There were some interesting audio flaws in the film, so you get the impression that some of the late editing was a bit sloppy. Yet, the message is clear. Basically: here are the facts about global warming .. they appear indisputable .. now, do something about it. Yes, the movie ends by pointing us to climatecrisis.net so I just did likewise.

Too bad these aren't in wide release, but I suspect there's political pressure on the mainstream theatres (MST?) not to show them. No surprise.

* okay, so it's not a "double feature" where you see two movies, back-to-back, for one price. I don't know any theatre which does that anymore

Is it hot in here, or is is just me?

I'm still trying to decide what I thought about a lecture tonight: "What are the Health Impacts of Global Warming?" (subtitled "How could the 17 proposed coal fired plants affect our health?")

The primary speaker was Dr Catherine Thomasson, incoming director of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). Oftentimes when I listen to emotional presentations - on either end of the political spectrum - I secretly wish for "the other side" to be speaking to me through an earbud, ala the commentator at a golf tournament.

"The quote she just made was taken out of context, from a 1983 report on the impact of strontium-90 on three ferret-eating albinos in Alabama."

or

"What she says is true, but it would require raising taxes, and there's not a politician alive who has the cajones to do that, because they'd be diselectrified in the next election"

Don't get me wrong: there were lots of seemingly valid data points in her preso (to be posted to the Oregon PSR website later this week (look for "Energy Independence Texas")

Examples:

• Much of the bad air we breathe here in Dallas comes from coal-fired power plants in west Texas ("The Dallas-Fort Worth area had the biggest health impacts of Texas metro areas, with 290 early deaths, 476 nonfatal heart attacks and 10,263 asthma attacks annually")
• Texas is the 7th largest CO2 producer in the world, if it were counted as a separate country (in comparison, the USA produces 25% of global CO2)
• 16 of the world's 23 largest cities are on coasts, thus susceptible to rising sea levels caused by global warming
• Texas' 17 coal power plants contribute 10% of USA's particulates
• watch for a press release Real Soon Now from the "Texas Mayors for Climate Action" (yeah, right .. I'll hold my breath for that one)

Related website pointers:

• Oregon's Department of Energy
• Architecture 2030 standard
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IGCC)
• Carbonfund.org
• Public Citizen's Climate Action Committee will meet later this month at the Dallas Central Library
• The Sierra Club's Cool Cities campaign
• LEED standards

As I was leaving, I noticed 3 Toyota Prius parked in the lot. One sported an Expose Exxon bumper sticker. I wonder what that's all about?

---

Unrelated #43.6: MoveOn reports that Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (quote) "was the deciding vote against Internet freedom voting to give corporations like AT&T more control of what you see and do online. Your senator voted to let companies like AT&T put tollbooths on the Internet and gain more control over what you see and do online. The fight to preserve the free and open Internet now moves to the full Senate."

Gee, what a surprise that my Radical Rightwing Senatress (who gave women the right to vote, anyway?) is out of touch with Her constituents! She, along with our other Senator - John Corningware (or something like that) - would be better served as workers at the Whataburger drive-thru window.

Dick's Last Legacy

One week from now, I'll be trying to stay awake listening to an hour-long concall. Yes, I'm going back to work, after several months eating bon-bons and watching Oprah.*

* okay, so I never did either of these during my "time off". No, not once. But it does make for a good story.

Unrelated: kudos to Geoff for the pointer to Rachel's blog, including this gem:

What good is it being a superpower with no enemies to fight, no spectres to scare a population with, no justification for liberty-curtailing laws that make it easier to manage people?

Me think's Rachel's spot-on with this analysis. As much as I loathe being a conspiracy theorist, I'm seeing far too many signs to think otherwise. Sure, President Quagmire doesn't have the brains to make ice (see Southpaw's blog for yet another example), but that doesn't mean that RoveCheney aren't pulling His strings, sufficient to manipulate both He and the growing majority of Americans who are undereducated simpletons. Another example of the intentional dumbing down of the populace: Intelligent Design.

Years ago, I held out hope for a bright future for this country. In the past 10 years or so, I've spotted too many indications that we'll not live up to that lofty goal, in part because Those In Power will do whatever it takes to Remain In Power. Like Cheney said with regard to Global Warming: "What do I care? I won't be alive then anyway." Such a legacy.

* Okay, so both the Slate report, and Will Ferrell's piece are fake. You honestly think Cheney would be stoopid enough to document any of this stuff? Time to play the Ominous Conspiracy Music again ...

WMF patch makes mouse wheel disappear

I installed Microsoft's WMF patch and soon thereafter, the scroll wheel on my mouse stopped working. In either the Internet Explorer or Firefox browser. Hmmm. The mouse behavior became so erratic that I had to IPL (reboot) the machine, and the scroll wheel reappeared.

As Tonto would say: "Heap strange, Kemo-Sabe."

Alas, it's supposed to be almost 80F here today. I'm starting to suspect this Global Warming Myth ain't a myth.

---

Unrelated: Texas Governor PrettyHair thinks Texas public school science students should be taught Intelligent Design along with Evolutionary Theory; I guess that makes him an IDiot. Nothing new there, but he'll probably win lots of votes. Remember that Texas is DEAD LAST in education in America, and this should propel us to #51 (of 50) behind Kansas, traditional cellar-dweller Mississippi, and a future state to be named later.

Overheard: "Science Class? What do you need Science fer. Ain't you wanna be a Cheerleader or a Hairdresser no more, and git yew a good huzbun?"

NEEDS NO CHILL

I'm not a rabid coffee drinker, but some days it's what I want for dinner. This morning, Beta asked me to fetch some breakfast tots at a local QSR (fast food) so I complied, given her sadness after Rambo went home.

While there, I ordered a cup of Joe and was given a sackful of sugar packets and three (3) containers of Half and Half. Normally, I'd just pitch the condiments since I like my coffee "black," but this morning I noticed (in red letters) this phrase on the Half-and-Half: NEEDS NO CHILL. I suppose, given the limited real estate on this container, that this phrase required less space than REFRIGERATION NOT REQUIRED .. but maybe there's a hidden meaning - a secret message they're trying to relay? I ran it through the Internet Anagram Server and found some promising interpretations:

CEO NELL HINDS (Nell Hinds will become a chief exec?)
CHILLS END EON (global warming is a hoax?)
ELLEN DO CHINS (Ellen is a plastic surgeon, for chins only?)

COIN SEND HELL ("money is the root of all evil"?)
DELL ICON HENS (Dell's icon causes avian flu?)
HDL CONES LIEN (good cholesterol? snow cones? lien against what?)

HOLES LEND INC (a hot stock tip?)
INCH NOEL SLED (a Christmas greeting?)
LEND COILS HEN (loan spiral objects to a female chicken?)

LINCOLN HEEDS (Abraham? Nebraska city? a Ford division?)
NEE LOCH LINDS (before a Scottish lake?)
SONIC END HELL (a drive-in QSR ceases pain?)

I suppose, without more information, the interpretation of this secret phrase may never be known. I wonder what the other secret messages are on this container:

UHT / Grade A / Homogenized. Includes Sodium Citrate, Datem, Tetra Sodium Pyrophosphate and Carrageenan.

Hmmm .. sounds like gasoline additives to me.