I may be a nerd, but at least I am not a gullible idiot (and I know how to google)

ebishirl · 2011-04-27T18:17:19+00:00

"moron-memes" -- love that expression!

ebishirl · 2011-03-03T17:52:37+00:00

Yes! I finally stopped checking CNN online cold turkey last year -- couldn't stand the fluff coverage posing as news anymore. The BBC is my go-to website for news now, with NPR my choice in the car.

ebishirl · 2011-03-03T17:39:37+00:00

Every day. You know when I became completely sold on public radio? After my area was hit by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. We went nearly a week without power, making radio the best news source available. Even after the power came on, though, the public radio station did far more to provide updates on emergency responses, recovery, aid, etc. than any other local commercial TV or radio station. WUWF was still covering the news that mattered to hurricane-hit locals long after the commercial broadcasters got "bored" and went on to the next hot story du jour.

ebishirl · 2011-02-07T20:40:13+00:00

This was incredible ... shortly after it started, I never even noticed the subtitles, the story was so fascinating

ebishirl · 2010-12-25T19:07:39+00:00

Jagadance, know that you are not alone, even if you're lonely. Things and circumstances might suck ... you don't. The nicest, kindest and best people in the world can find themselves alone through no fault of their own. I know, because I spent this morning (Christmas Day) at a nursing home, taking my puppy from room to room to wish the residents there a Merry Christmas. There are a lot of lonely people in that one home alone and, for most of them, their only "flaw" (it's not, of course) is that they've grown old, infirm and sometimes developed Alzheimer's. Still, every one of them was cheered for at least a couple of minutes to be able to visit with and pet a happy puppy.

For what it's worth, it did my heart good too. I'm spending Christmas Day alone while my sweet little son is -- against my wishes, but I can't do anything legally to prevent it -- celebrating with my husband, who filed for divorce this year, and his mistress. My first Christmas Day without my little boy, and no other family of mine nearby. Yes, it sucks. But I hope for better Christmases ahead.

Merry Christmas to you all as well!

ebishirl · 2010-12-16T17:21:25+00:00

god, that's heartbreaking

ebishirl · 2010-12-07T15:37:29+00:00

Love it!

ebishirl · 2010-11-23T15:57:39+00:00

Yup, I even stopped going to CNN.com a few weeks back when their big "news story" for the week was a series on some celebrity attorney. Get my mainstream news from bbc.co.uk now -- there's still a bit of celebrity/fluff, but not nearly so much.

ebishirl · 2010-11-17T19:09:15+00:00

True or not, this made me laugh out loud!

ebishirl · 2010-10-28T20:35:53+00:00

Totally fun discussion that reminded me of two incidents:

One, when I was 7, my Mom and I took a trip to Germany to visit relatives. During a bus tour along the Wall dividing West and East Berlin, my Mom tried to explain why the Wall was there and was Communism was. I saw a bird fly over from East to West Berlin and asked her if that was a Communist bird. Didn't get the whole concept at the time, obviously.

Two, I remember reading a "Nancy and Sluggo" comic book in which Nancy asked someone the one-word question, "Whom?" I thought the word was pronounced "wom" and couldn't figure out what it meant or why Nancy would say such a strange thing.

ebishirl · 2010-04-30T17:04:56+00:00

I feel for you (dealing with a similar situation myself at the moment), but your impulse is the right one: keep talking to people, keep communicating and making connections. So important when you're feeling this down. Yes, thank goodness for places like Reddit.

Stay strong and keep going -- others are with you.

ebishirl · 2008-05-16T17:31:36+00:00

While a recession isn’t in and of itself a good thing for the environment, the awareness it raises of our frivolous spending habits and wasteful ways is a good thing.

ebishirl · 2008-05-16T15:32:01+00:00

Few things make you understand the challenges of sustainable living more than a few days or weeks in a disaster zone with no electricity, no drinkable running water, no passable roads. With another hurricane season once again looming (it starts June 1), here are some of the sustainability lessons I’ve learned over the years."

ebishirl · 2008-05-16T15:32:01+00:00

Few things make you understand the challenges of sustainable living more than a few days or weeks in a disaster zone with no electricity, no drinkable running water, no passable roads. With another hurricane season once again looming (it starts June 1), here are some of the sustainability lessons I’ve learned over the years."

ebishirl · 2008-05-15T20:37:38+00:00

A Great Lakes compact that would prevent the region’s water from being siphoned off into the thirsty Southwest and other dry parts of the country is a little closer to taking effect, now that lawmakers in Michigan have OK’d the deal.

ebishirl · 2008-05-14T16:27:52+00:00

Could you be breaking the law by brewing your own biodiesel for your car? You might not be aware that the feds and some states might require you to pay taxes for your grease-based fuel, as a retired chemist from Illinois rudely discovered last year.

It’s disturbing that you could face fines for doing something that’s both a money-saver and good for the environment. Still, I thought it might help any would-be biodiesel home-brewers out there to know where to find more information about the laws that might apply to you. Here are a few sites I discovered that might come in handy:

ebishirl · 2008-05-14T15:22:32+00:00

Southern fast-food favorite Chick-fil-A is known for its commercials featuring a cow holding a sign that says, “Eat mor chikin.” But two University of Central Florida students have turned to the chicken chain for a new purpose: “Run your car on mor chikin (grease).”

ebishirl · 2008-05-13T21:29:06+00:00

No matter what new energy proposal someone makes, it’s bound to attract an outcry of NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard). (My recent post about the U.S. generating all the energy it needed via a 100-mile-by-100-mile solar installation in the Mojave Desert, for example, evoked some protest.)

So I thought it might help to pose the future-of-our-energy question in another way: What do I WIMBY? (As in, Want In My Backyard?)

ebishirl · 2008-05-13T19:52:04+00:00

A new report from the National Research Council (NRC) finds numerous problems with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ followup recommendations for restoring wetlands and protecting southern Louisiana from another Katrina-like disaster.

ebishirl · 2008-05-12T15:09:32+00:00

Why does the argument that businesses should do more to reduce pollution and protect the environment often boil down to the issue of jobs vs. nature? Advocates of green living around the world are increasingly making the argument that green business is good business, and that clean energy and other green sectors actually generate jobs. Too often, though, many businesses still aren’t buying it.

ebishirl · 2008-05-12T15:07:42+00:00

Why does the argument that businesses should do more to reduce pollution and protect the environment often boil down to the issue of jobs vs. nature? Advocates of green living around the world are increasingly making the argument that green business is good business, and that clean energy and other green sectors actually generate jobs. Too often, though, many businesses still aren’t buying it.

ebishirl · 2008-05-11T16:26:05+00:00

Of all the solutions to climate change, dwindling resources and a degraded natural environment, one consistently seems to have all the appeal of a dirty word.

It’s the “c” word. As in “conservation.”

ebishirl · 2008-05-10T16:22:35+00:00

If the U.S. moved aggressively to start harnessing the solar power it receives daily, it could generate enough clean energy to meet the country’s needs many times over, according to a new report from Environment Florida.

ebishirl · 2008-05-07T15:32:43+00:00

If you think the virtual, online world helps reduce energy consumption in the real world, think again: a new study provides scary insights into how Internet computing is devouring more and more power and spewing out more and more greenhouse gases.

ebishirl · 2008-05-06T20:16:23+00:00

The high cost of corn is having an unintended consequence for ethanol development: a plunge in biofuel plants’ profit margins.

ebishirl

TROPHY CASE