wait a minute, is that...?

i was watching cbc today, specifically a program called "Make Some Noise", about the asian sex slavery trade, and a group of canadians who travelled over there to make an effort against it. then, as the show was heading to commercial, they announced something about snowsports and environmentally sound ski wax coming up next, which i thought might be interesting. and then there was a short montage of action shots, one of which i recognized for some reason.

down-flat-down box. shot with a fisheye. yeah, that's the whistler-blackcomb glacier park from a few years back. i rode that with willy p. oh, snap. skier? nice. gap-270-safety-grab-to-railslidewaitaminute, is that...?

indeed it was; me, that is.

fun times, i didn't think i'd end up on the cbc; thanks to erin thomson for that. i think they're rerunning it next weekend, so peep, on the real.

clickity-clack

if you're at all interested in the 'make poverty history' campaign, take a few seconds (literally) and send a pre-written e-mail to stephen harper and your local mp. it's so easy you might not believe it.

thanks,
jh..

ethanol blended fuel is sometimes hailed as a potentially great replacement for the emission-heavy fuels we use today: it burns far more cleanly while still yielding relatively high energy efficiency. but what are the drawbacks that we're not told about?

ethanol isn't created naturally on any scale that would be useful in creating a fuel industry. instead, it's proposed that we simply farm corn and other grains and then process them to create fuel-grade ethanol. what's being ignored here, though, is the environmental implication of growing that much corn and grain for the purposes of using it as fuel. the human race is already undergoing a population transition that is pushing the earth's ability to sustain it. arable land is being used up, and contrary to the belief of the over-educated and under-critical economists who have a voice in the news media, there simply isn't enough land left to use. in destroying natural habitat to create farming space, we're leaching the earth of its nutrients, irreversibly changing the ecosystems which we're invariably and inevitably a part of, and destroying a veritable wealth of scientific discovery before it has the chance to be made.

secondly, that much farming requires a massive amount of fresh water which, globally, is also quickly becoming a scarce resource. the united states is racing to deal with a water shortage in california, china has been flirting with a water-shortage disaster for decades, and in some middle eastern countries refining saltwater is already the primary source of fresh water. so even if there were enough land to support an ethanol-based fuel industry (which there certainly isn't, as any properly trained and aware biologist or ecologist will be able to tell you), there wouldn't be enough fresh water available to support it. at present, there's barely enough fresh water to sustain the global human population as is, and in some places, there simply isn't enough; over two-thirds of the world's population are living in areas of insufficient water supply, and the death rate due to this is climbing steadily.

at the same time, however, it's not terribly surprising that ethanol-"blended" fuels are being pushed on us as the next most reasonable, affordable, and sustainable type of fuel. most of us have heard it before, and it has the ring of conspiracy theorizing to it, but government and the automotive industry have a large part to play in the suppression of viable, sustainable, and efficient alternative fuel sources, as long as they still stand to gain from keeping such things out of the public mind. the simple fact the hybrid cars aren't built with plug-in capability is testament to the fact that automotive companies want us to continue to use petroleum-based fuels for as long as possible. (consider that after-market plug-in conversions are not only safe, but readily available for virtually all hybrid cars on the market today, and often offer better battery capability than the factory does; yet, none of the major car manufacturers offer plug-in hybrids at present.)

the bottom line is that even when car manufacturers and fuel companies seem to be offering something "better", "cleaner", or "more efficient", the chance is, unfortunately, that it's still nowhere near the best that they can do.

let's hope and pray that someone with both brains and a sense of charity discovers a truly efficient fuel and puts that knowledge in the public domain before the government and the auto manufacturers get their greedy hands on it.

sing-along

every once in a while i come across a band that slowly grows on me until they're more or less all i listen to, sometimes for months at a stretch. and to be honest, as you probably know already, i'm a nerd sometimes. the reason upon which i ever searched out this band's music is having read a review saying that they'd "teach me new words". this i found incredulous. with the droves of bad pop music and hack indie-pop that seem to abound these days, i'm slowly, but most assuredly losing my faith in music in general.

the decemberists, though, seem to be a bright (pun intended) and shining exception to this dismal trend. their lyrics are intelligent and rich, albeit strange at times, and the music is not only good, but also interesting and unique. the band isn't afraid to use accordions, strings, slide guitar, organ, and a host of other not-for-the-mainstream instruments in making their songs both memorable and fun to listen to. many of the songs tell a story, it seems, and those that don't instead seem to use literary devices in creating a plotless but equally impactful impression. they're the only bad who's not afraid to write "and we'll remember this when we are old and ancient, though the specifics might be vague / and i'll say your camisole was a sprightly light magenta when in fact it was a nappy bluish-grey" ("july, july" from castaways and cutouts). i love it. on the other hand, songs telling me that my mother is a maritime prostitute or that my "uncle was a crooked french-canadian and he was gut-shot running gin" perhaps aren't accurate in their claims with respect to reality, but they make for interesting lyrics, have no doubt.

and for the record, i've learned not just some, but many new words in listening to them. and that's more than i can say for any other music that i've heard in a long while. so if you like reading and you like music, give them a listen. if you're disappointed, i won't refund your money, but maybe yo'll be smarter for having listened; i know i am.


thanks, decemberists.
jh.

light 'em up

i bought light bulbs today. i spent a good half an hour in rona looking at them, i kid you not. the number of different light bulbs a person can get is really quite amazing. in the end, although i had to buy regular incandescent bulbs (the "regular" kind with the filaments and all) because i needed ones with the tiny end on them to fit my lamps, i was thoroughly educated on the still somewhat new energy efficient bulbs that the market now has to offer.

peep: you can get a compact fluorescent bulb that puts out 60W worth of incandescent bulb equivalent light, and it runs at 11W. you can get a 40W efficient bulb that puts out the equivalent of a 150W incandescent light. the only catch? they cost more. sometimes up to 6 times as much. but wait. the other catch? they last up to 12 times as long, and the amount of money you save on your electricity bill can be upwards of $75 over the lifetime of the bulb, depending on the size of bulb you're replacing.

but, snap. peep again: not only do you save mad money in the end on both bulbs and electricity bills, i've been told that using them will also reduce carbon emissions by potentially hundreds of pounds over the life of the bulb (google it, that ish is everywhere, money).

so get your save on, kids, for the sake of both your piggy bank and the environment.