Don’t mess with Texas’s light bulbs, Y’all!
June 14, 2011 on 3:36 pm | In Energy Consumption, funny stuff, idiotic things some people say | No Comments Carl DonovanThey don't like them ol' squigly bulbs down in the Lone Star State and, dangit, they aim to keep making bulbs like Grandpappy used to have. And, in fact, his Grandpappy and, quite possibly, his Grandpappy before him. That's because the incandescent light bulb has has precious little evolution since it was made available by the efforts of Mr Thomas Alva Edison.
For the record, Edison did NOT invent the incandescent light bulb. He figured out how to make them last longer and how to mass produce them, by way of a coconut thread I believe.
By now, everyone but Texans knows that these little heaters that, by happy accident, throw off 10% of the energy they use as light, are an unbelievably dated and wasteful technology. But down where the stars at night are big and bright, they just don't give a rattlesnakes behind. By golly, Texas lawmakers have passed a bill, and sent it on to Governor Rick Perry for his signature, that allows Texans to skirt the federal law that phases out incandescent bulb technology.
Now, I don't suppose that Texans like wasting energy any more than the rest of us. And I don't reckon they want to keep paying higher bills to light their homes, businesses and by-ways. I reckon they're just giving Obama the finger. Because they're Texans Goldangit. And political grandstanding is a way of life in Texas.
But, I gotta tell ya, pardners, this one's just flat-out stupid. Yes, advancing technologies in lighting are not fully developed. Now listen good, varmint. The way you speed technological advancement is by ensuring that it's adopted on a grand scale, spurring research and development while driving down costs.
In Texas, they seem willing to live in the dark ages, all the while bitching that advancement isn't happening fast enough. Time to update the slogan to, "I'll keep my Bible, my guns, and my light bulbs, you can keep the change."
Palin calls Obama energy plan a threat to economy
July 14, 2009 on 2:00 pm | In idiotic things some people say | No Comments Carl DonovanEven Caribou Barbie has something to offer about Cap and Trade…
Associated Press Online
WASHINGTON, Jul. 14, 2009 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who says she’ll leave office at the end of the month, is already taking on one national issue, calling the Obama administration’s plan to reduce greenhouse gases a threat to the U.S. economy.
In an op-ed piece in Tuesday’s Washington Post, Palin attacks the administration’s so-called cap-and-trade plan that would allow industrial sources to buy and sell pollution permits.
The plan, Palin writes, is "an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage."
She adds: "In addition to immediately increasing unemployment in the energy sector, even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan."
Instead, the former Republican vice presidential nominee says: "We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil. Just as important, we have more desire and ability to protect the environment than any foreign nation from which we purchase energy today."
The climate bill passed by the House last month requires power plants, factories, refineries and electricity and natural gas distributors to reduce the emissions linked to global warming. It also calls for more power production from renewable sources such wind and solar energy, and raises energy-efficiency standards.
Palin surprised political observers when she announced July 3 that she would leave the governor’s office while in the middle of her first term. The governor chose not to seek re-election and suggested it was unfair to hold onto the office as a lame duck
She did take a shot at her critics in her Post essay.
"Unfortunately," Palin wrote, "many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges."
