Diaries

The Weekly Watch

Happy Day Earth!

Like George Carlin, I find it ironic to hear pleas to save the planet. What they are really saying is save our species. St. George suggests the Earth may have created us because it wanted plastic. It sure succeeded if that's the case. But the microbes may have the last word. The idea of plastic eating microbes (well really it is a mutant bacterial enzyme, PETase) is appealing, but it seems every time we meddle it comes out bad. The story of rabbits in Australia comes to mind. George's dream of our final fate is also worth considering. None the less, I suspect we would be better off to minimize the manufacture, use, and dispersal of plastic. https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/

plastic.jpg
rubish islands.jpg

So, What Have You Been Doing With Your Life?

Well, I have the two sites thing happening. Olympics, March Madness. I've seen The Post, Black Panther, and The Greatest Showman. I've had family holidays, 3 busted cars (one twice), the great winter plague and SAD to deal with as well as a huge fight between my pharmacy, PCP, and insurance company.

Not to mention broken pipes, frozen toilets, and 3 or 4 Northeasters. How was your winter?

One thing I took the time to do was get down to D.C. and attend #MarchForOurLives. I have it on good authority that between 800,000 and 1 Million attended (the estimate for the Women's March has been raised to 2 Million btw). It was fun and I was happy to be a part of it. I stayed with my cousin and she brought her two kids. After the March we went to Comet Ping Pong.

The Neo Liberal Instinct

Charlie Pierce calls them "death funnels" and he's exactly right. He's referring to pipelines designed to transport Alberta Tar Sand, the dirtiest fuel on the planet, to refineries or ports to refineries that can turn it into technically more usable types of oil. It never gets very good, more the type you can lubricate heavy machinery with or burn in a particularly wasteful in the smoggy toxic sense power plant, barely better than coal.

It's basically asphalt, suitable for paving and not much else and it makes as much economic sense as tearing up roads or taking used tires to achieve the same effect, which is to say none at all in the current market where solar and wind are dirt cheap, batteries are getting less expensive by the hour, and fracked oil and natural gas are driving Saudi Arabia into bankruptcy. In fact the only way you don't operate at a loss simply from mining and refinery costs is if the price of crude is well over $70 a barrel. Which it isn't.

But Big Oil has all these sunk costs based on the notion of $100+ Oil and unlike a smart gambler it doesn't understand that the money you've put in the pot isn't yours anymore, it exists in a quantum state only determined at the reveal.

Comey Is No Hero

One of the most frustrating things this past week has been watching James Comey make the rounds of Stephanopoulos, Maddow, The View, along with other outlets and be lauded as some paragon of moral rectitude and virtue.

Jim Comey is a lifelong Republican who willingly and enthusiastically signed off on Torture (a War Crime in case you've forgotten) and who, immediately after his oh so so brave and principled stand at the bedside of John Ashcroft, personally approved a barely modified program of blanket electronic surveillance on United States Citizens THAT PERSISTS TO THIS DAY!

Thanks for nothing Barack.

Trust someone? On the Intertubz?!

Thank goodness I only tune in sporadically, fortunately I've had Curling to distract me but there's only so many times you can watch the World Championships (5 so far, in the Men's Sweden over Canada 7 - 3 in 8 Ends, in the Women's Canada over Sweden 7 - 6 in an extra End, Mixed Doubles starts today in Östersund, Sweden so you're lucky I have some down time).

Still, I detect some discontent and ill feeling.

Pages