From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE
Good Morning, Sunshine…
Here’s a fun story to start your day. There’s a 186-year-old Quaker meeting house just up Route 201 in the picturesque hamlet of Vassalboro, Maine that---and I know they’re pacifists, so this is my term, not theirs---kicked a little fossil-fuel tail this month. They’ve gone solar in a conspicuous way, and they’d like the world to know about it. I’m happy to oblige, via The Portland Press Herald:
The solar panels will meet almost all the building’s energy needs, but just as importantly, it demonstrates the group’s dedication to social and environmental causes, said John Reuthe, the congregation’s assistant treasurer. …
Even though the roof siting isn’t ideal, the congregation was adamant the panels should be placed on the building prominently, not mounted to the ground behind the house. “It’s our way of saying there is climate change, and the way to do something about it is to reduce fossil fuels.”
The congregation has already made other energy-efficiency improvements---including foam insulation and new storm windows---that have reduced their oil use from hundreds of gallons per season to five. But the solar array is the pièce de résistance:
Making sure the retrofit is noticeable fulfills another of the Quakers’ goals.
They want to influence other churches and community organizations to consider investing in energy-efficiency improvements such as solar panels and building weatherization.
Humans have contributed to the environmental destruction of the planet, Reuthe said, and taking these kind of steps can make a difference. “We may not be able to change the environment in our lifetime, but we can stem the bleeding,” he said.
Great job, Vassalboro Quakers. With the renewables revolution underway, expect to see a lot more stories like this one.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Note: Yesterday's horoscope about being consumed by disease, famine and plague while sharing a cot with Sean Hannity was issued in error. It's actually today's horoscope. Yesterday's horoscope should have read: "Find a really good hiding place before tomorrow." We regret the error. ---Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Australia Day: 7
Days 'til the Fire and Ice Festival in Rochester, Michigan: 3
Percent chance that Microsoft has officially ended security updates, technical support and compatibility fixes for Internet Explorer 7 through 10: 100%
Average age at which American women are having their first baby, according to the CDC: 26.3
Drop in first births among women under 20 between 2000 and 2014: 42%
Miles from the sun that NASA's Juno spacecraft, launched in 2011, traveled on solar power to break the record set by the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe: 492 million
Estimated increase in restaurant sales last year, according to The Washington Post: 8%
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
Breitbart.com is always good for serious discussion of the issues. Let's check in and see how the Trump vs. Cruz rift is bubbling over in the comments:
“Liar--Trump is pro-life and against Planned Parenthood funding. Nobody is buying your lies or those of your lying candidate Cruz.”
“These Trumpbots scare the living sh** out of me. They just don't get it. They keep voting for RINO's and expect them to do conservative things because they said before the election they would be conservative. It NEVER happens. They are insane.”
“Stop projecting, lying Cruzbot. This site is inundated with fake accounts "made in Cruzlandia". It is you who are paid shills. Take a hike, troll.”
“If you think Ted Cruz isn't a huge supporter of the Constitution then you are either in a mental institution or a liberal posing as a conservative. To say otherwise is to lie. You Trumpbots are unreal & all liars.”
All together now: 1…2…3… Classy!
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Puppy Pic of the Day:
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CHEERS to catcalls from across the pond. I'm not entirely sure, but I don’t think Britain's parliament has ever debated whether or not to prevent a leading American presidential candidate from entering their country. But after receiving over half a million signatures on a petition calling for a travel ban on Donald Trump, the House of Commons was required to debate it. A couple of the highlights from the live-blogging by The Washington Post:
1:24 pm---British members of Parliament are exhausting a thesaurus using words to condemn Trump. They’ve called him “a buffoon,” “a demagogue,” “a joke.” One member called him “an idiot” about five times in three minutes.
1:45 p.m. — Through a thick brogue, [Anne] McLaughlin notes that Trump is “the son of a Scottish immigrant. And I apologize for that.”
By all indications, the MPs will still allow him to travel to Britain. And I believe I speak for everyone here with a functioning brain when I say: Donald, how soon can you pack?
CHEERS to takeaway lessons. While all the Republican presidential candidates can do is press their fear and smear buttons, the great and sexy Charles Pierce at Esquire parses Sunday's Democratic debate and finds that Team D's lessons are a bit more useful. His launching pad is Hillary Clinton's unprompted foot-stomp on the Republicans who caused the lead-poisoning disaster in Flint, Michigan:
It is an actual issue affecting actual people, an issue that nonetheless has tributaries bleeding into all the vague conceptual issues that only get talked about.
The crumbling infrastructure. The deplorable lack of a coherent national plan to revitalize our cities. The hundreds of environmental crises that sit like little Hiroshimas in the poor places all over the country. Deregulation in its many guises. Class. And, of course, race…
This was very much a debate over the value of government oversight and regulation---from the complicated financial instruments that nearly blew up the world economy to something as simple as tap water. Four years ago, nobody thought police violence would be a national issue. Six months ago, nobody thought the lead in Flint's water would be a national issue. Everybody, as is usually the case with these things, is wrong again.
Meanwhile Michigan’s Republican governor Snyder---who might as well grow a villain's mustache so he can twirl it---gives his State of the State speech today. Among his promises for 2016: closing the barn door after the horses have bolted.
CHEERS to good spelling. On this date in 1955, three years after Macy's made it a household name in America, Scrabble made its debut in Australia and the UK. The highest scoring word, if you've ever wondered, is "Sesquioxidizing," My highest-scoring word while sober: "Cow."
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Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
This is another edition of The One Word Answer Man. Alissa Walker at Gizmodo asks: Obama Still Hasn't Seen The Force Awakens, Can We Really Trust This Man to Run Our Country?
No.
Now back to Cheers and Jeers.
Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
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CHEERS to amazing discoveries. Using a new method of doing sciency stuff, astronomers over in Japan detected the second-largest black hole in our galaxy (I believe it's called the Snickers Galaxy). Pretty impressive stuff:
By tracking the emissions from a swirling gas cloud called “CO-0.40-0.22,” they found a “surprisingly wide velocity dispersion”---in other words, this cloud of gas is composed of material that is swirling at a wide range of speeds.
There appears to be no supernova activity or any other energetic event in the region that could be driving this bizarre phenomenon.
Using computer models, the researchers were able to deduce that an extremely compact object — in other words, a black hole — lives in the “eye” of this interstellar storm and it must be massive. And by “massive” they mean in the order of 100,000 solar masses-massive. If confirmed, this would make the invisible object at the core of CO-0.40-0.22 a so-called “intermediate-mass” black hole, second in mass only to mighty Sgr. A* itself. Sgr. A* “weighs in” at a staggering 4 million solar masses.
The largest black hole ever discovered in our galaxy remains, of course, Dick Cheney's chest cavity.
CHEERS to the original "spokes" men---Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! On January 19, 1903, it was announced with great fanfare that the starting gun for a new bicycle race called the "Tour de France" would be fired that July. The grand prize: 3,000 francs and a lifetime supply of butt pillows.
CHEERS to money, money everywhere. Oh, hey, here's something else we can do to disrupt the functionality of ISIS: bomb their treasury. Click on this Vine to see the aftermath---it looks like the wacky climax of a screwball botched-bank-heist comedy:
I wish the military would do something like that in my neighborhood. Except instead of a bomb just use a leaf blower. (And please call me first so I can get the butterfly net out of storage in time.)
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Ten years ago in C&J: January 19, 2006
JEERS to hints of coming attractions. Yesterday the Supreme Court rightly upheld an Oregon law that gives terminally ill patients the right to end their lives on their own terms. The three dissenters: Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. Hardly surprising. The defendants didn't have "Inc." or "LLC" after their names.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the most beautiful spread of land in the universe. Happy 87th Birthday---aka Acadia Name Day---to Maine's Acadia National Park! Miles and miles of unspoiled and federally protected nature that invites travelers to rest their weary bones and let the soul-replenishing eye candy revive their hopes for a better tomorrow:
Or, as modern-day conservatives say when they visit: "Can we frack now? Huh huh, can we, can we??!!!"
Have a scenic Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
“Bill in Portland Maine annoys me.”
---Bernie Sanders
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