Election!!!

We won!
We WON!

F Bush...

Oh, and BTW, here is the results from Philly:
83% Obama

Vespa Restore Part1

I bought a 1964 Vespa GS160 about two years ago. My best friend and I dismantled it a few months after that. A mere year and a half or so later, it is finally undergoing the transformation back to a road worthy scooter.

Here are the photos of the scooter being brought back to life:

Ireland

Just returned from a long trip to Ireland. 10 days, 1500 miles, ~1000 pictures. Tons of fun, very tiring, but still enjoyable.

First 500 pictures:


Second set of pictures:

Summer class

We are finally done our summer class, Green Design Build. Took all summer, starting before Memorial Day, and to be completed next week. Check out our class blog here:
Green Design Build

Car guy and environmentalist

I read AutoBlogGreen pretty much daily. I have always enjoyed cars. Yet I am an environmentalist. This article on AutoBlogGreen references an article on Edmunds by some idiot. Article
He takes the stance of many idiots, and that the world is ours for the taking. He writes the article proud he can't be labeled an environmentalist.

I of course, love cars, and also love being an environmentalist. No reason I can't be both.

Followers

So I am a true believer that people as a whole are quite sheepish, following someone for whatever reason they can. However, I find pleasure in the fact that the Obama campaign has turned the former thing into a way to attract idiots....I mean "moderates".
Anyway, here is something I consider pure genius. A way to attract those "moderates":
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/20/when-the-obama-logo-and-presidential-seal-morph/

Dr Suess made me who I am

I think we are all very familiar with Dr Suess. We have grown up with his fanciful tales of elephants and green eggs and grinches. But I just now realized the stories had a much greater impact on me. I bet others have noticed, but I just noticed that there are a few stories that helped shape who I am.
Perhaps the stories fit me, perhaps I fit the stories. However, out of my three favorites, the two that I just realized are a part of me are the Lorax and the Sneetches.
The Lorax taught me environmentalism. The Sneetches taught me anti-discrimination. wow...
So if you want, here is a video of the Lorax.

(And BTW, the third story "What Was I Scared Of" probably taught me something too...but not nearly as profound.)

This is a total WTF

So there are now developers making bombs that are safe for the environment. Huh? How about we don't use bombs. Maybe that will be safer for the environment.
Ugh...
Article

Random

Not much to say of recent. I've been busy, yet not too busy. Kinda just humming along, unable to take time to do things beyond what I have to.
This weekend was nice though. Spent a lot of time outdoors. Whether I was trimming my hedges at the house, or hiking through Wissahickon, I was outside. Really makes me hate doing the 8-5 M-F thing.
Anyway, Happy Memorial Day, even if it is a direct function of our pro-military country. (Still have to respect those that serve, regardless of reason.)

Walkability

So there is a way to calculate how good your address is to walk to conveniences. I will likely use this during home searches. My current place gets an 82.

http://www.walkscore.com/

Great news, and a bit of math help?

Here is an article about a new solar "plant" to be installed at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. The article also mentions one placed at the landfill near where I grew up, which is awesome as it is apparently the fourth largest in the country (and also sad when you think about that fact).
Anyway, apparently the new facility will produce ~1MW of power, supplying electricity to ~200 homes. Yet the facility in Fairless Hills will produce ~3MW of power, supplying electricity to ~2400 homes. So does that mean 200 * 3 = 2400, or are units of electricity non-linear?
Here is the article:
Solar Electricity

Ethanol and laziness

This Colbert clip summarizes exactly what is wrong with Ethanol in our culture. Do people not realize that it is a net negative energy, or that it produces more greenhouse gases, or that the world doesn't even have enough cropland to be able to support ethanol?
Anyway, without linking to all the facts and research, this summary will have to do:

From music to blogs

I listen and buy almost all CDs from a band called Ministry. They are a very anti-Bush group. They had great music with Bush Sr, and many great albums under Bush Jr. Their latest album, The Last Sucker, has a song on it called The End of Days, which contains portions of a speech so prevalent to today's situation. The scary aspect is that it was given by Eisenhower, in 1961. I love listening to that song...reminding me of the horrible government we have. Here is the full speech:
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_04_20_archive.html#450899786027895334

Dem Debate Blog

I can't watch the debate without banter of some form....so I will blog my comments (of course from my living room on a big screen):

8:35 - This has been a bunch of he said she said so far. Obama reiterates the same punch line, Clinton touts years of experience. I think George Stephanopoulos (wasn't he a big elephant on Sesame Street?) was a Clinton cabinet member or speech writer or something, and keeps softballing Hillary.
Then again, the moderators both seem to be on an attack mode of questions instead of asking questions about platform items.

8:40 - Oooo....a PA resident video asked Obama if he loves the American flag. Why do they do this. I don't care about a flag, it is just a flag. How about asking the candidates their stance on something important like the environment?!?!

8:45 - Another Clinton comment about her doing better vs. McCain...and Obama counters with the same....so thrilling...

8:50 - commercials...they sound relaxing compared to this crap. So far, Obama is rhetoric only. Clinton is mostly rhetoric, but seems more poignant in her comments. Still no decision on my part. I have a feeling that at the end of this, I will be even more sure I am too liberal for democrats. (Deer Park Eco-Shape water bottle???? WTF? How about not using plastic to bottle WATER!)

8:55 - Finally, an Iraq question...even if it too was phrased in a way to put Clinton on a defensive posture.
"Will you remove troops even though Patreaus said blah blah"....uh...yeah, since he is a Bush-tard.

9:00 - "If Iran attacked Israel, would that be ok?" I would love to see one candidate just blow off an obvious question like that. Answer humorously like "Eh, depends on what part of Israel." I mean really...is either person going to say we won't support Israel.

9:05 - Oh my...showing McCain saying that Dems will raise taxes. Is there a more tried and true Republican attack than that? Clinton says no new taxes. Obama says he will cut them. I guess McCain will have to say that we can tax him to beat them now.

9:10 - Capital gains tax question to Obama. First really good response I've seen from him tonight. Had data, made an argument, tied it into McCain and Bush policies.

9:12 - Nice...Clinton states she wants to invest into the green economy to aid growth in general economy. Didn't run with it, but at least she mentioned it.

9:18 - Finally a bit of heat...about taxes and social security. The back and forth, yet no clear winner. Clinton still sounds much more well defined in her arguments. Obama still seems minorly flustered.

9:25 - Gun control topic. Finally I can hear their takes on it.
Clinton's take - Cops program. Assault weapons ban. Give police access to federal tracking info. Balance, lawful use. And she used "bridge the divide" quote from Obama!
Obama's take - Asked slightly different question...about handguns. Then asked about DC handgun ban. He doesn't really have good basis.
Clinton asked about DC ban. She supports the ability to regulate on a local level. No firm answer from Obama.

9:35 - Affirmative action to Obama....ugh...ask something good already. Environment, gay rights/marriage, something!!!

9:40 - Energy independence....wait...almost glossing over...wait...
Obama says raise fuel efficiency on cars...good start...and?
$150B to new project to find alternative energy. Good...but still no hard facts.
aaaannnd we are already past it....

Damn...commercial than ending question, and I still have no good policy differences. WHY!?!?!?!?

9:45 - And the final question...pledged delegates...no...how they will approach the nomination if the delegate thing doesn't make a deciision. Greeaat. I just wasted 2 hours of my life on this.

And neither closing comment was powerful...so I spent 2 hours without being able to sway my decision...now what?

See...I'm not the only one that thought ABC sucked:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/17/the-reviews-are-in/
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/16/attention-abc-youre-hurting-america/

Taxes

Yay...done...
Why do I procrastinate when I get a return? Oh yeah, that is what I am good at doing.

Used Turbo Tax for the first time. I actually spent money to e-file so I didn't have to mail stuff and find a post office tomorrow. I'd rather spend money than time....wow, I have sold out.

Jeeps are fun

So I've been to this little out of the way place a few times now. Took Cathy there finally this time, scared her too.
Just a small little area smack dab between the airport and I-95...
Here is the place:
MAP

And what happened to my Jeep there:

No wonder SEPTA is never on time....

So my father takes the train into the city now to go to the hospital. Saves time gas and effort for him. One day, he stopped at the ticket counter to get a return fare, and grabbed a SEPTA Center City Philadelphia Street and Transit Map. He wanted to make sure he knew where to take the train or subway in case he felt like stopping at Reading Terminal Market.

Well, as you can see from the map scanned above, the Reading Terminal Market has apparently moved into the Independence Visitor Center on 6th and Market. Yes, it actually shows that...

Not only that, but apparently Penn's Landing, where like boats come into port, is on 5th and Lombard. A mere 6 blocks from the nearest RIVER!

Anyway, there are many amusing such mistakes on this map....enjoy SEPTA's wisdom by finding them all.

HDTV

Wow...
I am posting this, sitting in my living room, using a wireless keyboard as I have my eyes burned by the bright 42" LCD HDTV I am using as a monitor.
I got this computer to be the Bill Gates dream of a Media Center PC. Sadly, I am impressed with Microsoft's attempt at centralizing the home Media Center.

Then again, that could just be because I can now play games on a HUGE screen with surround sound.

Beer & Repulicans...must be Budweiser

CNN reports that beer drinkers go for McCain. I love beer...and there is no way in hell I'd ever vote for McCain.
They must be referring to all those wonderful Bud and Coors drinkers. Not the typical beer drinker I know. The ones that ponder political items over a good Imperial Stout, or a Belgian Tripel.
Ugh...
Anyway, here is the article.
Link

Wow...environmentalism and a video game....

Saw this on Autobloggreen....great car oriented environmental site. Anyway, as the post there said, for a game trailer, it is kinda freaky.

Timing of a head cold

I didn't get a cold at all this year, when everyone else around me had one. I end up getting my typical head cold the one week I am the most busy, and have a beer/food tasting event to go to. So now I get to drink lambics that have hints of this and notes of that, but I will only be able to say it is a liquid.
I hope this goes away before long...I hate head colds. They annoy me more than anything.

Jeep

So I've owned my new Jeep for about 2 months now. Still love it, except for the one fatal flaw, the gas mileage.
It is no worse than my previous Jeep, and this one has more power and is much larger. Problem is, I want to offset my impact to the environment. I would buy carbon offsets, if it actually was anything more than a way for people to exchange money.
So how do I make my statement of being an environmentalist and still drive my toy?

Primary

Ugh....looks more and more like I am gonna have to register for a party to vote in April. The one time I'd rather the choice be made before I got the chance to vote.
So for anyone else that needs to switch, or to even just register, here is the link:
http://www.dos.state.pa.us/voting/lib/voting/02_voter_registration_applications/onlinevoterregformblank.pdf
And if you just want some good non-partisan voting info, go to http://www.seventy.org/

Habitat for Humanity Green Conference

So I guess I will use my blog to promote my activities, since I already started it with the whole EGB event thing.
So that event is a part of a much larger conference being put on by Habitat for Humanity's Philadelphia chapter. They had one last year that sold out to like 200 people, so this year it became a larger 3 day event. I was asked to help out as a liaison to the DVGBC, so I have helped out with the planning along with a few others. So to shamelessly self promote something I helped with, here is the link:
http://www.habitatphiladelphia.org/news/workshops.php

Beer week? A whole week?

I really wish I had free time this week. Why is it I seem to always be busy the week of beer week? I mean a whole friggin week about beer, in my city, and I am too busy to even have one drop. Ugh.
Anyway, here is the info for those few that know I have a blog:
http://www.phillybeerweek.org/

EGB Kickoff meeting!

Fridays at work...

Why are Friday's always so hard to accomplish work stuff, but so easy to progress doing non-work items?
I have a decent number of non-work things to do, from class to DVGBC organizing. I find Fridays that I end up doing that instead of work.
Maybe it is those small brown bottles of elixir at lunchtime called Hop Devil...

To blog?

So I now have multiple friends having blogs.
I have no time to write blogs, yet feel compelled to do so.
Not sure what to write about on a blog, having so many varied interests. Do I write about beers? What about sustainability? Politics? Random monkey-related nonsense?
If only a monkey that drank beer was running for office for the Green Party, I'd be all set.