In France today they set the high-speed record for a train running on a track, topping 574 kph.
ON BOARD TGV V150, eastern France (AFP) - France's TGV train set a new world speed on rails Tuesday, hitting 574.8 kilometres (357.2 miles) per hour on a stretch of track in eastern France.
[...]
"Not only are you French people lucky to have the high speed train system, but it also impacts the environment in a positive way," said Fabian Nunez, speaker of the California state assembly, which is looking into a possible link between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
This is the part that gets my attention. A train like that in California would mean I could travel back and forth to San Francisco in less than two hours. A train like that would certainly help the enviornment and the economy, by acheiving more traveling between the two cities cleanlier than everyone in a car or an overbooked Southwest flight and thus increasing trade, productivity, and tourism, as well as improve the lives of Californians in intangible personal ways.
What have we done lately?
It's strange that in a country like the US, there is a high number of Los Angelenos or San Franciscans that have never visited their counterpart city in this state. Do we take any pride in our sophistication? Or do we just assume because we're American, we're more advanced than the rest of the world by default? Sad fact is, I think if you'd polled Americans, one of the least traveled citizenry in the Western world, we'd probably answer that we're more exposed, more experience than the rest of the world.
Whatever happened to good old American Pride and Envy?
We should get one of those trains too, dammit!
We can't let the French beat us. C'mon!
God didn't Bless America by giving us slow-ass Amtrak, did he?
Once again, if so, what kind of God is that?
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Some people say they try to write like a painting; vividly so you could picture it. Others say they try to write like a song; fluidly so you could hear it. And then there're others that say don't think; first thought best thought.
I think that was Ginsberg. Who wrote this:
I noticed the grass, I noticed the hills, I noticed the highways,
I noticed the dirt road, I noticed the car rows in the parking lot...
Needless to say he noticed a lot of things, and probably should have listened to his second thought every now and then. And while we're on the subject I hate being put in a position of having to say "needless to say", but I find myself often using that phrase to my own chagrin --it's a brute of a word, "needless" -- if I was writing a painting it certainly would be a smudge on the canvas. But writing is not a painting, I can diverge my topic and point out how much that word bothers me, therefore creating a whole new layer to the work.
But I can see how a poem could be like a painting.
Something quick. A Polaroid of sorts.
the gypsies danced behind the firelight as
the tamborines rang out over the hills where
tomorrow rose born of a fragile shape
and in the distance a coyote cried out and
my crew and I laughed spitefully in response.
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So... Tango won New York's heart.
Anyone else disappointed?
I preferred Chance. Tango is just a big-old whinner; always complaining about a splinter or his shoulder and getting bent of shape like a brat when confronted by the other guys.
Plus, Chance and New York could have made another reality show together. They could have honeymooned in Europe. Who wouldn't have turned in to see those two travel through the old country as American Ambassadors? The old fish and outta water thing, like Flav and Bridggette but with two people we actually enjoy watching on telly.
Tango and New York. Who da 'f' cares!
Forget love, maturity, being her "rock"... whateva New York was talking about at the end of that colossally depressing and boring finale, we want to see crazy.
It's about ratings, Tiffany.
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It's not always easy to see, but when your toenails get nice and long hold them up to the light, your toenails are translucent.
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News from the battle against time is that the early Daylight Savings Time date this year was a bust. It was all for nothing, it turns out.
That may come as no surprise to the Energy Department, which last year predicted only modest energy savings because the benefits of the later daylight hour would be offset.
For example, households may draw less electricity for lights at night, but will use more power in the early in the day as they wake to darker and chillier mornings.
Um, I could have told them that....
Did they really not plan on this? That people waking up in colder, darker houses would turn on more lights and heaters to compensate? Wouldn't it be easier to train people to be more energy conscious? To wage an educational campaign informing the public about certain types of lighting, installation, and weatherproofing that could save them energy?
And on the roads; we need to instruct the public that speeding up and stopping abruptly is morally repugnant and should be socially frowned upon. It wastes gas, it's more dangerous, and it's loud and pollutes more. James Dean in a hot rod racing across the American landscape is what's partially wrong with our frame of mind. Our national conscious.
America needs to slow down.
In a more cynical revelation, courtesy NPR, it seems the move up of Daylight Savings Time was lobbied for by the Golf, Candy, and Petroleum Industry; retail stores, it turns out, are the recipients of our extra time rambling about in the daylight. The Chamber of Commerce was the main force behind this move. Not environmentalists.
Oh, cynical me.
And if you're wondering why the candy industry was involved in all this? It's because they've been after Halloween for over 30 years and they finally got that covered by DST and thus an extra hour of trick-or-treat of the kiddies to gobble up that candy.
Oh, what a wacky world. All done under the guise of saving energy.
When in fact, with more sunlight we're more prone to driving around in our cars, thus gas in San Fernando is at a whopping $3.30 a gallon, and more carbon is released.
Thanks DST.
We're not going to solve this thing by moving the time up an hour and hoping that we won't have to change any of our dirty habits. What's so wrong with having a certain mpg limit set for cars. 30mpg? Why not? What's so unAmerican about that? Nothing. If the government can air commercials targeting drug use, domestic abuse, and even elderly abuse, why can't we air commercials for environmental abuse?
A 30-second spot informing the public about simple changes they could do to help: Shut the lights off behind you. Don't run water when you brush your teeth. Don't speed up hills or from red lights. If it's less than a mile, walk.
We're going to have to change the way we behave, not the time we say the sun rises and sets.
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Is it possible to not believe in God, but still believe in angels?
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Baseball season is starting up and there is nothing as nostalgic to a young man as the smell of cut grass tickling his nostrils. I haven't picked up a glove in ten years, and I don't like to watch or follow the sport anymore because I find it boring, but every time I drive by a ballfield I experience a pleasant memory from those little league days.
These days I think what I'm missing is a good excuse to eat sunflower seeds and wear cleats.
Back then I was a pretty good player on a really bad team. I thought I was the shit. How else is a 12-year old going to find himself important? Even if they're no good I think all kids should play sports of some sort. Why not? It's good for them. Parents should encourage it.
If not sports, do something then!
If computers are their thing send them to computer camp.
Just don't leave them with nothing to do.
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I took our bottles and cans to the recycling machine next to the local Raph's today and was pleasantly suprised to see they upped the redemption value to 5 cents from the previous 4.
It used to tick me off that the machine used to keep that penny on every can. Same deal with Coinstar and their 9.5 cents on every dollar. Crooked machines. Usurpers. Money-Changers!
A penny might not sound like a lot but it means I got $4 dollars for my recycling instead of $3.60. It meant I was able to splurge a little more on the bottle of vino - going for the $8 dollar bottle of Shiraz instead of $7 dollar Merlot. See, I'm dutiful and patriotically plugging that money back into the economy, except the wine was Australian.
Oh well, long live Queen Victoria.
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Some people collect their thoughts in a journal
I collect my online at ARTOFSTARVING.