That's right.  

LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German rigid passenger "Zeppelin" airship. Along with its sister-ship LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II, it was the largest rigid aircraft ever built. During its second year of service, it went up in flames and was destroyed while landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, U.S., on 6 May 1937. Thirty-six people died in the accident, which was widely reported by film, photography and radio media.

The Hindenburg was named after the late Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), President of Germany (1925–1934).

Perhaps in honor of last night's calendrical coincidence, and what it portends, we can switch all of Hillary's campaign music to Led Zeppelin now?  See, I realized a lot of Led Zeppelin titles are appropriate, metaphorically, to the state of the Clinton Campagin.  I take this, in addition to the origins of Led Zeppelin's name [John Entwistle, bassist for the Who said they'd go down like a lead zeppelin], to build my thesis that Hillary's campaign music oughta be Zep.  Below the flip, I've got the playlist.

Oh, Christmas Eve, the beautiful lights on the streets, glowing above the snow ... scratch that, lighting up the soggy ground, with inflatable reindeer merry-go-rounds, mangers, flashing light displays, and so on ...  As with much of American society, the excesses of last year are only targets to be topped this year.

From a Washington Post article on one light display

The heat ... melted all snow within two feet.

"The heat ... melted all snow ..."

Start with a solar LED flashlight/reading light.  Make sure the solar light doubles as a battery charger that uses standard size batteries.   Add a bit of muscle power, a solar swadeshi, and you have enough power for a cell phone and radio as well as a light, maybe even a computer.  That's battery electric power day or night as long as the solar chip generates current, the batteries hold a charge, and there's strength enough to turn a dynamo.

Today, for the solar, I'd go with a Bogolight.  $25 buys a solar LED light that charges AA batteries and sends a second solar light to someone in the developing world.    I recently sent two to a friend serving in Iraq.

Do you love those displays of Christmas (or Hannukah or Kwanza or ...) lights?  Are you awed by those so impassioned that they string up 1000s of lights in awesome displays worthy of a city center? I once did, pausing on cold winter nights, white clouds issuing from my mouth, enjoying being in the glow of beautiful displays.  And, in a way, I was inspired that they would spend $1000s (or $10,000s) on displays and the electricity to power them so that others could enjoy the sight on those cold winter nights.  

But ... no longer ... not for awhile. Far too often nowadays, my winter evenings I can wear short sleeve shirts rather than bulky coats and gloves. And, energy is no longer a question simply of money. I've reached the point of feeling like a Scrooge; feeling outrage over the tons of C02 going into the atmosphere via neighbors' 10,000 light displays rather than feeling 'joyous'.

But, a compromise does exist; a path to cut sharply those CO2 emissions while still putting out those lights:  LED lights.  But, far too many are unwilling to spend the money upfront to cut their electricial use, reduce their pollution, and -- actually -- save quite a lot of money.

It's Thursday. So why the hell not Environmental News to Use?

Pesticide spurs free speech flap. If the state and federal governments get their way, night-flying planes will soon resume dousing the Monterey Peninsula with a moth-targeting pesticide. Officials say trade rules prevent disclosure of what's in the spray. Los Angeles Times

Have public-health research funds been diverted in the US? Scientists charge that the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has cut traditional environmental and public-health programs in favor of research on treating disease. Environmental Science & Technology.

Science's worst enemy: corporate funding. The biggest threat to science has been quietly occurring under the radar. The threat is money—specifically, the decline of government support for science and the growing dominance of private spending over American research. Discover.

In the first two parts, I gave a description of light sources and power distribution.  Now I will give a little more of a description on the newest form of lighting, LEDs, and the technical hurdles that we'll need to mount to increase their market penetration and decrease their costs.

To recap
Part 1: http://www.dailykos.com/...
Part 2: http://www.dailykos.com/...

According to the Department of Energy, just about 22% of US electrical use goes to lighting. And, satellite images showing so much of America lit up like an overloaded Christmas tree are just one indicator that much of this lighting is wasted.

But, while much of the light itself is wasted, the way lighting is done is wasteful.  Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) are a poster child for energy efficiency and Global Warming mitigation efforts, as they cut electrical requirements for lighting by about 73%.  Wow...

But, the next step, Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lights that use just 5 percent of the electricity of an incandescent bulb.

Truly WOW!!!  

Applied to 25% of America's lighting, the US "could save $115 billion in utility costs, cumulatively, by 2025. That would alleviate the need to build 133 new coal-burning power stations [and] In turn, carbon emissions in the atmosphere would go down by 258 million metric tons."

WOW!!!!

Do you love those displays of Christmas (or Hannukah or Kwanza or ...) lights?  Are you awed by those so impassioned that they string up 1000s of lights in awesome displays worthy of a city center? I once did, pausing on cold winter nights, white clouds issuing from my mouth, enjoying being in the glow of beautiful displays.  And, in a way, I was inspired that they would spend $1000s (or $10,000s) on displays and the electricity to power them so that others could enjoy the sight on those cold winter nights.  

But ... no longer ... not for awhile. Far too often nowadays, my winter evenings I can wear short sleeve shirts rather than bulky coats and gloves. And, energy is no longer a question simply of money. I've reached the point of feeling like a Scrooge -- feeling outrage over the tons of C02 going into the atmosphere via neighbors' 10,000 light displays rather than feeling 'joyous'.

But, a compromise does exist ... there is a path for me to not be McScrooge ... that is to use LED lights.  But, far too many are unwilling to spend the money upfront to cut their electricial use, reduce their pollution, and -- actually -- save quite a lot of money.