Sometimes the simple things can be the most confusing. I am currently in Citrus County Florida (third highest percentage of senior citizens within the general population within the country) with my father. It would seem that the sun shines down every day. It feels that way. The temperate is currently shooting up nearly twenty degrees warmer than it is back home. Although the gulf coast is several miles away, it would seem like there is a steady breeze coming in every day. Those are perceptions which I think I experience.
I had thought that the conventional wisdom was that as air moved from a large body of water, such as the Gulf of Mexico, and then passed over a land mass, such as the Florida peninsula, it generated wind. I had thought that there was a regular and predictable history of tides raising and lowering the depth of the coastal water on a daily basis. I thought that Florida was called the sunshine state because of its generous and warm sunshine.
That is all wrong and it says so in black and white right in this urgent notice from the power company.
From my experience with this part of the country, the local power supplier SECO has had a history of providing a steady connection to the grid while being responsive to its consumers and keeping prices reasonable. I have had every reason to be happy with SECO. I hold in my hand a mailing from their offices, however, which calls into question either my conceptions of how I can readily observe common elements of reality or my faith in SECO to tell the truth. It sounds almost like it was written by the staff of Democratic congressman Nick Rahill of West Virginia who long time readers will remember as the anti-Semitic coal industry mouthpiece who wants to outlaw wind energy because it is bad for the environment.
SECO is very angry is Florida Governor Charlie Crist who, in my humble opinion, is one of the best governors in the country. Governor Crist has become very proactive in pushing for limits to greenhouse gas emissions and would like to see a greater amount of the electricity generated from new sources to be renewable. Some readers have been confused by my stance in the past. While I have disproved that any global warming is the result of man-made carbon emissions (why is Mars experiencing a warming trend similar to Earth’s), that does not mean that I think it is a good idea to keep pumping such huge quantities of it into the atmosphere. Crist has the right idea. Unfortunately, the same status quo leaders of the Republican Party who denounced John McCain eight years ago have made Crist into an outcast.
SECO wants to build new coal burning plants to generate electricity. Crist questions the wisdom of generating electricity of lighting houses by burning things. SECO contends that Florida does not receive enough sunlight to generate electrical power. According to SECO, Florida is prone to overcast skies which would make solar power impossible to generate. Also, SECO has found that Florida, with its long coastline, is subject to stagnant air incapable of turning a wind turbine. SECO makes no mention of tidal turbines.
This is all very confusing. Especially since I have found that in upstate New York, where the sun comes in at a much more indirect angle than it does in Florida, I can power Drumlin Cove (when I build it) with solar panels and sell nearly half of the power to National Grid. Between the lower cost of the new micro thin panels being manufactured and incentives, the system can be installed at a minimal price. We also have wind farms being built in an area with no ocean to generate coastal air flow. Tidal turbines are being installed in New York City to power Staten Island.
What is the strong allure of building huge plants that we can truck coal in from a distance for burning that causes SECO to see this as the only alternative? Why are they latched onto a plan which is costly, dirty and inefficient and are unwilling to even admit that alternatives exist? And why are they so set on this that they would take on the governor and the regulators?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
080511 Riding the Rails
I am sorry Gentle Reader, but I seem to have screwed up this week’s blog. It was all written and ready for me to upload Saturday evening prior to my departure for Florida when my cab (and I was lucky that they had one driver who knew how to find his way out to Hoag’s Corners) arrived a half hour early. I suppose I could have asked the driver to wait while I went to blogspot and cut and pasted it all into the proper box, or got the bright idea to e-mail it to myself, but the truth is that I panicked when I saw something as unfamiliar as a cab so far out in the woods and pulling up my driveway.
So I am sitting here writing an apology as I speed past New Jersey marshes after my train popped up out of a tunnel under the Hudson River. A brand new and exciting blog sits trapped in my desktop back in my study. Fairly, you might not consider it all that new. As I am departing the great northeast for an undetermined length of time (I do have cruise ship reservations to sail from NYC on June tenth so I cannot stay overly long.), I thought it best to revisit all of the topics we have covered in the last few months and make an effort to solve all of the world’s problems. We could all use a couple of weeks to relax before we read over the news and say, “Wait, how many people still died in Burma after food, water and supplies were brought to the border?” There will time to be righteous and indignant later. (Well, not for the children in Burma who are getting dysentery today and the days to come.)
Right now, I am fascinated by the rail. While I have always said I wanted to take a train across Canada, I have never really thought it would be a good idea. When situations this weekend put me on a train instead of a plane, I was more than a little dubious. Flying would have been cheaper (okay, there fuel surcharges which are not immediately apparent when you shop for a ticket) and quicker. I would not have had to crash at a friend’s so I could get up at four in the morning and go the two blocks to the station without a shower.
It turns out that there is something to be said for rail travel. Rather than being packed into cramped quarters like cattle as I usually am on a plane, I have a more comfortable seat than from the airlines with more than enough room to stretch out my legs. I can ride along enjoying the passing country and cityscapes while sipping ice tea, writing this blog and watching Babylon 5. (If you have not been keeping score at home, I am a giant nerd or, more properly, nerdicus gigantium.) Plus, I am not making the carbon footprint I would on a plane.
While I have not been a regular rider of the rails, I have long been a defender of them. One of our country’s great failings is its ongoing reluctance to properly fund the rail system. It is a vital resource the value of which has not always apparent. It is hard to always see the worth of a resource that is not needed immediately. With gasoline rapidly approaching four dollars a gallon, the need for both commuter rail and freight lines is growing more obvious with each passing day.
Long time readers will remember that when I build Drumlin Cove, I have a room set aside exclusively to build a model railroad in. Nerdicus Gigantium.
So, it may be a week or two before I can connect online sufficiently to put in a new blog. Rest assured, my first act after returning to the Empire State will be to file a new edition.
Happy Mothers’ Day.
So I am sitting here writing an apology as I speed past New Jersey marshes after my train popped up out of a tunnel under the Hudson River. A brand new and exciting blog sits trapped in my desktop back in my study. Fairly, you might not consider it all that new. As I am departing the great northeast for an undetermined length of time (I do have cruise ship reservations to sail from NYC on June tenth so I cannot stay overly long.), I thought it best to revisit all of the topics we have covered in the last few months and make an effort to solve all of the world’s problems. We could all use a couple of weeks to relax before we read over the news and say, “Wait, how many people still died in Burma after food, water and supplies were brought to the border?” There will time to be righteous and indignant later. (Well, not for the children in Burma who are getting dysentery today and the days to come.)
Right now, I am fascinated by the rail. While I have always said I wanted to take a train across Canada, I have never really thought it would be a good idea. When situations this weekend put me on a train instead of a plane, I was more than a little dubious. Flying would have been cheaper (okay, there fuel surcharges which are not immediately apparent when you shop for a ticket) and quicker. I would not have had to crash at a friend’s so I could get up at four in the morning and go the two blocks to the station without a shower.
It turns out that there is something to be said for rail travel. Rather than being packed into cramped quarters like cattle as I usually am on a plane, I have a more comfortable seat than from the airlines with more than enough room to stretch out my legs. I can ride along enjoying the passing country and cityscapes while sipping ice tea, writing this blog and watching Babylon 5. (If you have not been keeping score at home, I am a giant nerd or, more properly, nerdicus gigantium.) Plus, I am not making the carbon footprint I would on a plane.
While I have not been a regular rider of the rails, I have long been a defender of them. One of our country’s great failings is its ongoing reluctance to properly fund the rail system. It is a vital resource the value of which has not always apparent. It is hard to always see the worth of a resource that is not needed immediately. With gasoline rapidly approaching four dollars a gallon, the need for both commuter rail and freight lines is growing more obvious with each passing day.
Long time readers will remember that when I build Drumlin Cove, I have a room set aside exclusively to build a model railroad in. Nerdicus Gigantium.
So, it may be a week or two before I can connect online sufficiently to put in a new blog. Rest assured, my first act after returning to the Empire State will be to file a new edition.
Happy Mothers’ Day.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
080504 The Nagging Issue Of Self
It has come to light recently that I am a hypocrite. As much as I like to think highly of myself as well as to think highly of all people, certain information has come to my attention which casts serious doubts regarding my beliefs. It was quite a surprise to me and in the interest of fairness and full disclosure I thought it best to share this with my readers..
It was a Saturday evening when my lady friend decided that what had started as a head cold was more serious and she needed to see a doctor so I drove her off to the emergency room. The prognosis was that she had tonsillitis and laryngitis. We had an older male licensed practicing nurse who seemed highly preoccupied with pregnancy tests. I considered telling him they would just be a waste of time as pregnancy was impossible but I held my tongue as it seemed any attempt at derailing his obsession might backfire and take us even longer.
After blood was drawn by another male nurse (I think it was men only night at the hospital.) who we nicknamed Stabby MaGee, tests were done and the LPN returned with a big smile. “I know you said you couldn’t be pregnant, but I’ve got some news; congratulations!” he gushed.
That was when I spoke up. “But… she had a tubal ligation.”
“Hmmm,” he answered thoughtfully. “That would be unusual, but not impossible. When was your last period?”
“Right now.”
“Hmmm, unusual, but not impossible. There’s no doubt about it. Congratulations.” And he left the room.
It was over sixty hours before we could have a qualified medical professional review two urine tests and one new blood test and say that no, she was not in fact pregnant. During those sixty hours, the dominant thought running through my head was “Well, we’ve got to get that thing out of there.”
I have been on the record as strongly stating my belief that once you have paired off your chromosomes, you have a human life with all the rights of any other human being. You have a human being who cannot defend themselves and that needs to be protected. I have always been solidly in the “right to life” camp.
I am also a man whose greatest joy comes from his son. Before he was born, I was not so hot on the idea of fatherhood, or even on maintaining a marriage that was in its final days, but the instant the nurse handed him to me, my life was transformed in ways that only exist in corny clichés.
“We’ve got to get that thing out of there.”
That is what kept running through my head.
I retired in my thirties to enjoy life. I set up my finances around my lifestyle and drew up specific monetary plans. I spend six weeks a year in Florida with my dad and travel five weeks a year for vacations. I have reservations in Atlantic City for the week that this baby would have been due.
My beliefs have not changed. I am apparently highly conflicted. I still think that even if it is smaller than my thumb and looks like a sea monkey, it is a human being. However, if it is inconvenient to me…
It was a Saturday evening when my lady friend decided that what had started as a head cold was more serious and she needed to see a doctor so I drove her off to the emergency room. The prognosis was that she had tonsillitis and laryngitis. We had an older male licensed practicing nurse who seemed highly preoccupied with pregnancy tests. I considered telling him they would just be a waste of time as pregnancy was impossible but I held my tongue as it seemed any attempt at derailing his obsession might backfire and take us even longer.
After blood was drawn by another male nurse (I think it was men only night at the hospital.) who we nicknamed Stabby MaGee, tests were done and the LPN returned with a big smile. “I know you said you couldn’t be pregnant, but I’ve got some news; congratulations!” he gushed.
That was when I spoke up. “But… she had a tubal ligation.”
“Hmmm,” he answered thoughtfully. “That would be unusual, but not impossible. When was your last period?”
“Right now.”
“Hmmm, unusual, but not impossible. There’s no doubt about it. Congratulations.” And he left the room.
It was over sixty hours before we could have a qualified medical professional review two urine tests and one new blood test and say that no, she was not in fact pregnant. During those sixty hours, the dominant thought running through my head was “Well, we’ve got to get that thing out of there.”
I have been on the record as strongly stating my belief that once you have paired off your chromosomes, you have a human life with all the rights of any other human being. You have a human being who cannot defend themselves and that needs to be protected. I have always been solidly in the “right to life” camp.
I am also a man whose greatest joy comes from his son. Before he was born, I was not so hot on the idea of fatherhood, or even on maintaining a marriage that was in its final days, but the instant the nurse handed him to me, my life was transformed in ways that only exist in corny clichés.
“We’ve got to get that thing out of there.”
That is what kept running through my head.
I retired in my thirties to enjoy life. I set up my finances around my lifestyle and drew up specific monetary plans. I spend six weeks a year in Florida with my dad and travel five weeks a year for vacations. I have reservations in Atlantic City for the week that this baby would have been due.
My beliefs have not changed. I am apparently highly conflicted. I still think that even if it is smaller than my thumb and looks like a sea monkey, it is a human being. However, if it is inconvenient to me…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
