Recently a release from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research scooped Al Gore on his giant Tennessee mansion that is basically made from the burning carcasses of dinosaurs. In 2k6 he ran up an average monthly electricity bill of 1,200$ and an average monthly gas bill of 1,080$ (so says the i-nets, ymmv).

The inventor of the internet’s big thing is carbon neutrality. So to offset his enormous carbon expenditures he participates in a Tennessee Valley Authority program called Green Power Switch. This program allows you to pay a couple extra bucks a month (really 4$ per 150-kilowatt-hour block) to subsidize the power company to collect electricity from renewable resources (solar, wind, and methane gas). The electricity then gets fed into the same grid everyone else uses:

TVA has the capacity to provide as much as 97 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Physical laws determine where electricity is ultimately used, so power from these sources will go into TVA’s electric system as part of the Valley’s total power mix, rather than to individual homes or businesses. When the green power resources aren’t operating — for instance, when wind speeds are too low to generate energy — TVA’s other resources will continue to supply reliable electricity.

While it is great to be carbon neutral, isn’t it better to be carbon neutral at a lower level of usage? Spending 500$/mo. on natural gas to heat your pool seems like a ridiculous and non-essential expenditure — both of dollars and carbon — to me. Wanton consumption is as much of a problem as anything.

It would be great to see Al make some changes in his personal life as a result of this latest brouhaha.

Also, does Virginia have an equivalent to Green Power Switch?

Haha! Just kidding!

From the Falmeister himself:

Now, I’m certainly not a scientist. But if one looks past the superficial reporting of the mainstream media and examines the many alternative scientific views on global warming, it is apparent that the earth frequently experiences warming and cooling trends. It appears to me — and I have been intently studying this subject — that we are now in a warming trend.

Oh Jerry.

WTF? Can anyone tell me what is happening here?

Technorati Tags: sports, Virginia, Virginia Tech, wtf

We all know that I love Lee-Jackson day. It is a holiday uniquely Virginian and maybe my second favorite holiday (next to Thanksgiving, duh). Obviously that makes me a raving racist right? RIGHT?

Anyway. For today’s Lee-Jackson day celebration the Sons of Confederate Veterans had a small gathering at Lee Circle with some speechifying and general Robert E. Lee fanboyism. There were a couple of re-enactors, a Robert E. Lee look-a-like, and kids decked out in the Battle Flag of the Confederacy (creepy).

Also joining the celebration was a group of protestors presumably from the Virginia Anti-War Network (watch out, the site’s hosted on tripod.com). Because, you know, Lee was known for his love of war and going to war and such. This woman also decided to come out:

Sooooo true. You know who else was a racist? GEORGE WASHINGTON. He is practically the father of all racists — literally. Like he spawned all future racists from his evil loins. Honestly, I read it on the internet once.

Me and roundball generally aren’t the best of friends. But any time VT scores a win over a top 5 team in any sport I get excited. I think Duke:Basketball::Miami:football for the Hokies. As in WE WILL OWNz YOU 4 LIFE. Or not.

But seriously Hokie basketball!. Also check out this sweet image:

If you love fun, Richmond, and beer you need drop whatever you are doing and head on over to RiverCityRapids to read Snoopy’s bit on Richmond’s War on Nightlife.

I’ll summarize via blockquotes:

For example, Section Sec. 6-159 (b) of the proposal (Scroll to Page 9) states that if a club expects to reach its occupancy limit, then it must “submit a plan for traffic and crowd control in and around the establishment to the police no later than seven days prior to the event. The department of police must approve the traffic and crowd control plan before the promotion or event may be held.”

And:

Also, Section 6-161 (page 13) states that any change of ownership will result in the invalidation of its license to operate, which includes transferring ownership within an established “corporation, partnership, association, or other entity….” So you have to run the club until you die, essentially. You can’t even hand it off to a legally recognized partner.

The way Richmond deals with nightlife is, as we say on the farm, bullshit. Add these new rules on top of the 40% required food sales (50% of that must be in entrees approved by the ABC!! WTF!?) for a liquor license and you have a place that is getting suckier and suckier after the sun goes down.

What we need here is a taskforce or a coalition of the willing or some shit — local business and creative leaders that are willing to stand up at city council meeitngs and say some things. Maybe run a couple billboards, flyers, websites, a myspace page, something.

If Richmond wants to continue to grow as the most awesome place ever we need to get over our fear of young kids hanging out at night drinking beers. Once we get that under control then we can move on to revamping the archaic and backward ABC laws. One thing at a time.

Technorati Tags: beer, law, Richmond, Virginia, wtf

I VOTED.

Did you? I’ll post my ballot in the comments after the election is over.

I thought this was cool — an 8600 sqft. addition to Henderson Hall on College Ave.

Technorati Tags: Virginia, Virginia Tech