It Ain't Easy Being Green

In the “For What It’s Worth” Dept… London’s Daily Mail has an analysis of how green (or not) the Live Earth concerts are. I learned something by reading this… (a) Live Earth ain’t green at all (the promoters are purchasing one million Pounds Sterling worth of carbon off-sets to compensate for LE excesses) and (b) Madonna owns a Maybach, two Range Rovers (models unspecified), an Audi A8, and a Mini Cooper S. OK, she ain’t Jay Leno. But those are still some serious gas hogs. And she’s gonna tell me how to reduce my carbon footprint or otherwise Save The Planet? YaGottaBeKiddingMe.

Mark Steyn, at The Corner:

I want to bequeath the wonders of this earth to the next generation, but I worry that my grandchildren will never know the feeling that you've totally demonstrated your tremendous concern and commitment to taking action just by going to a concert and staying until halfway through the George Michael set when he started doing stuff from the new album. I worry that my grandchildren will never know the thrill of being hectored by Bono and Bob Geldof, and that many already rare species will simply vanish from the earth - Seventies supergroups who've not yet had a long-awaited charity-gala reunion, hot young acts who haven't had the chance to cover "Imagine" with the lights down and everybody in the stadium holding disposable lighters, Eighties girl groups who've not yet reunited for a Playboy shoot, the last three celebrities who haven't duetted with Elton John, bald-headed Eagles doing the 50th anniversary performance of "Hotel California"...

Oh. One more thing. Will I be watching? I’m undecided at this point. Probably not.

And now for something REALLY stupid… Will Her Face Determine His Fortune? Is this the New York Times or The National Enquirer? OK, the prose gives it away, I suppose. But, still. A newspaper with pretensions of being “serious” actually asks the question “Is America ready for a president with a trophy wife?” Must be a slow news day.

But, Hey! Mrs. Fred is a stunner. That’s about as far as I’d go, other than having an occasional private fit of jealousy. I mean...the man is two years older than me. Why am I not with a woman like that? (The question is rhetorical: snarky answers in comments will be deleted.) (OK, not really. The "delete" bit.) (Snark away, if'n it serves ya.)

Here’s some good news on the technology front… “New battery packs powerful punch.”

A new type of a room-size battery, however, may be poised to store energy for the nation's vast electric grid almost as easily as a reservoir stockpiles water, transforming the way power is delivered to homes and businesses. Compared with other utility-scale batteries plagued by limited life spans or unwieldy bulk, the sodium-sulfur battery is compact, long-lasting and efficient.

Using so-called NaS batteries, utilities could defer for years, and possibly even avoid, construction of new transmission lines, substations and power plants, says analyst Stow Walker of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. They make wind power — wildly popular but frustratingly intermittent — a more reliable resource. And they provide backup power in case of outages, such as the one that hit New York City last week.

We’re talking about megawatt-plus batteries here. And they ain’t cheap, yet. Mass-production is expected to bring costs down, and that’s a good thing.

Venus Williams wins Wimbeldon…the men’s final is tomorrow. Ms. Williams was the 23^rd seed; this is her fourth Wimbeldon title. Good on her!

Today’s Pic: Scraping the bottom of the archives…again. Here’s an old photo I e-mailed to SN3 back in 2004, that being YrHmblScrb and one of his best buddies, at the time. The Best Bud is Dandy, the ex-GF’s cocker spaniel. Someday I might post a video of him running around the house destroying things.

Clovis, NM. February, 2004.