1/7/9

[fluffy]

Yesterday there was no thread. After work I went to a MacWorld party, which sucked, and then went to a friend's place to play some board games, which was less sucky. I left my bike at work.

Today I took my bike to the bike shop across the street so they could rebuild the rear hub (which should cost about $30) and then I should finally have a goddamn ridable bike.

qotd: When you watch the MacWorld keynote, how many times do you rub one out?

[Rabid Garfunkel]

... Why do I think it's going to be just you and me in this topic? The one with Jennifer Jason-Leigh was pretty hot. Though Jeff Goldblum was emceeing, so that leveled me out. Then Gregory Hines started tap-dancing, which made it *not* hot. So I hid behind Muhammad Ali until the bad man stopped tippety-tapping along. The VHS copy of Independence Day velcroed to the underside of the chair made me feel a little better.

I don't *think* I'm blurring MacWorld SFs together.

Tap dancers and barbershop quartets, man. Creepiest things ever.

[Ross]

Yay - iTunes DRM free.

[JonPorobil]

Applied for a couple more jobs, and got the wheels moving just that little bit more on the blog my wife and I are launching. I'll put up some actual content and link you all to it probably tomorrow.

QotD: Um.

[signboy]

Wow, what a crappy day. I got 3 songs started, and they all just fizzled out.
qotd: naw, I'm not even gonna go there. It's too easy.

[Billy's Little Trip]

QOTD: I think the whole Apple thing is SO fucking gay. I guess that's why I laughed so hard at Spuds vid he posted today. Don't get me wrong, I'm a total electronics gear guy. I love technology. I even like seeing the creator present his new inventions to the world, in fact, I LOVE that. But I just can't believe the hype for the personal Ishit. It's gone beyond ridiculous. I like my ipod, I like my cell phone, but that's it! I refuse to take part in this.

[JonPorobil]

Billy, you better be careful when you talk about people's religion like that.

[ujnhunter]

QotD: I don't watch it... but 3 times while trying to record "backround noise" for sampling purposes.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

QOTD: I think the whole Apple thing is SO fucking gay. I guess that's why I laughed so hard at Spuds vid he posted today. Don't get me wrong, I'm a total electronics gear guy. I love technology. I even like seeing the creator present his new inventions to the world, in fact, I LOVE that. But I just can't believe the hype for the personal Ishit. It's gone beyond ridiculous. I like my ipod, I like my cell phone, but that's it! I refuse to take part in this.

Seconded on the Spud Vid. "The Sudoku Killer" would make an excellent song title.

As for the rest, though... I reread my web entry (journal? this was pre-blogging days... thank you wayback machine for having this) from the presentation of the initial announcement of iDominate back in 2001, and the line "A Mac in every garage, and two stand-alone peripherals in every pot" strikes me as a pretty accurate description of the present direction of the apple.

It's kinda funny to me how the roles have reversed over the last 20 years [my experience with Apple's gear] (from Apple users griping about the ubiquity of the IBM computers, and later the Microsoft Windows platform--and their myriad of software options and affordable decks to run them on--all the way up to today, where 800 lb. guerrilla warfare has inserted a tiny little Apple logo into everybody's awareness, and their pockets as well).

Goddamn, this really was a pointless ramble, wasn't it? Stoke the fires of revolution, Chris, it's about that time again

[Billy's Little Trip]

Billy, you better be careful when you talk about people's religion like that.

Yeah, I know, that's why I said it. I've learned this technique from my boomerang buddy holdin' down the other side of the world, Caravan Ray.

By the way Jon, did you see Obama's speech this morning? Good news for you. Alternative energy. Start focusing your degree in that direction. Don't ask me how, but get on it. Ask Fluffy, he's like a genius or "something."

edit: By the way, those quotation marks were added with the best intentions. Fluf always helps me out when I'm stuck for answers or need advice.

[fluffy]

I am in favor of alternative energy, but I am even more in favor of reducing energy consumption, which is a much more important goal. All our energy eventually comes from the same place (the sun) and at a macro scale we haven't actually changed the amount of energy, carbon, etc. in the system - and every energy source has costs in terms of, say, water or carbon allocation.

Simply replacing [evil energy source] with [some other less-evil energy source] isn't a single long-term answer. (By "long-term" I'm thinking millions of years, mind you.) Every resource is eventually finite. Being able to reuse materials for energy production is similarly important.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Greener thinking is starting in home construction, which is great to see. Mind you, the homes I've seen are multimillion dollar homes. But it has to start somewhere so that we have working models to advance from. Green house building is nothing new, but now a builder can readily buy the products from a distributor. This will increase their use. A contractor is not going to bid a job using materials that he has no idea what the final cost is going to be or that he has to design, unless he has an unlimited budget. Everyone wants to do the right thing, but a contractor is in fear of losing his ass if he can't properly bid a job. Now it is possible and quickly being put to use. I just finished a pool/spa combo in Newport beach, CA. This house is over 3400 sq. ft. and the over all energy costs are 85-90% less than a home of equal size built non green.

This house is SO automated it's insane. For instance. Part of the cooling are temp sensors in and around the house that open and close vents and windows, etc. They're done in the most efficient way possible, with counterweights, etc. Fans that are powered by energy generated from little mini windmills that get their wind from ducts all around the house that open and close and direct any breeze it can find to shoot through ducts to the windmills in the attic.

It's great to see this, but the first down side I see. So much automation is very expensive to maintain, and second, the manufacturing of everything needed for this green home. But then again, we have to start somewhere to have something to advance from.

[roymond]

My sister work for Building Green where they consult and publish green building stuff. Neat place.

[Billy's Little Trip]

That is a cool place. We need a thousand more just like it. I sure wish Jon could get a job there. Can you ask your sister to put in a good word for him? I really want to get that boy a job and career that he feels good about.

[Caravan Ray]

I am in favor of alternative energy, but I am even more in favor of reducing energy consumption, which is a much more important goal. All our energy eventually comes from the same place (the sun) and at a macro scale we haven't actually changed the amount of energy, carbon, etc. in the system - and every energy source has costs in terms of, say, water or carbon allocation.

Simply replacing [evil energy source] with [some other less-evil energy source] isn't a single long-term answer. (By "long-term" I'm thinking millions of years, mind you.) Every resource is eventually finite. Being able to reuse materials for energy production is similarly important.

That answer is pretty much exactly correct.

[Caravan Ray]

My sister work for Building Green where they consult and publish green building stuff. Neat place.

The seem to provide a lot of useful information on materials - I only hope that information gets used correctly.

I get very, very annoyed when I see supposedly "eco-friendly" projects which consist of the token use of a bit of bamboo flooring or recycled timber incorporated into very "un-eco-friendly" design. Take a drive around any new housing development in humid sub-tropical southeast Queensland and you will see rows of houses with no verandahs, narrow eaves, inadequate ventilation, low ceilings, etc....in other words, houses which are almost completely uninhabitable without air-conditioning running 24/7. Chuck a 2000L water-tank in the backyard so that the owners can keep the water-hungry European plants in their garden alive, and suddenly these houses are "eco-friendly"!

I even once worked on a large infrastructure project that had as part of it's brief, the incorporation of sustainable water and energy use in it's design. One of the proposed initiatives, was importing all the way from Finland a decorative wind-turbine at a cost of some AUD$50k, that at peak performace in a suitable site (which our site was not), could produce enough energy to power a 100W bulb. Aaaaaargh!

(Disclaimer: Caravan Ray's rants against the architechtural profession are based on personal experience in the Queensland construction industry and are in no way meant to reflect on the architectural profession in general or any Songfighting architects in particular.)

EDIT:

Actually - there is a lot of information on that website. Thanks Roymond - that's getting bookmarked

[jb]

There's a minority of people who will do anything.

Do get the majority of people doing something, you have to make it on average worth their while. It's economic. People respond to incentives.

Hence SUV sales climbing and Hybrids declining as the price of gas goes down.

JB

[JonPorobil]

I still don't see how buying an SUV is worth anyone's while when there are hybrids available and gas isn't free.

But JB is right.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I still don't see how buying an SUV is worth anyone's while when there are hybrids available and gas isn't free.

But JB is right.

Hybrid SUVs have only become available in the past 6 months, that's why. Keep in mind, there is a world beyond yours. The majority of my friends, neighbors and customers are families. Can you imagine a mother having to stuff 4 kids, maybe a friend or two, then stop off for groceries and a cake for aunt Helga's 93rd birthday.....in a Prius? But, they are now making the move to hybrids because they are now available at completely ripoff prices. The change I'm seeing is the wife drives an SUV, the husband drives a Prius to work. This has become pretty common in the past year. I've already talked to my fleet sales man and as soon as hybrid pickup trucks are available, I'm trading all of mine in.
Bottom line, people want to do the right thing, but it's not available and in some cases, not feasible. I couldn't run a company out of Prieye...what's plural for Prius, lol. Prius's...Priuses?

[fluffy]

Prii?

[JonPorobil]

I still don't see how buying an SUV is worth anyone's while when there are hybrids available and gas isn't free.

But JB is right.

Hybrid SUVs have only become available in the past 6 months, that's why. Keep in mind, there is a world beyond yours.

That's fair enough, but I know way too many single people who drive SUVs or Hummers without those excuses.

And if you really need to cram that many people into a car, then the price of gas isn't going to influence your decision over what kind of vehicle to buy. JB is pointing out that SUV sales dropped when gas was expensive, and hybrid sales went up. Gas prices dropped again, and SUV sales increased, hybrid sales dropped again. Clearly, these aren't all for soccer practice.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Prii?

They should start putting Wiii in Prii. Make that funny, comic boy.