Posted on 4 Comments

Save electricity without spending a dime, right now!

Fall is upon us and the weather is beautiful! Are you stilling running your air conditioner? Why? For the past 2 weeks or more, we have kept our windows open most nights and through most of the day. Some afternoons get too warm and the air has to be run briefly. At night, the bedroom windows may be closed so the children don’t catch a chill but the rest of the windows are left open to enjoy the sound of nature, feel the breeze, and on those wet days listen to the pitter patter of rain drops.

We forget the sounds blocked by the windows. The melodious birds are relaxing. The crickets and cicadas are disturbing to some and calming white noise to others. The sound of the rain is a special treat. The open windows air out the house with fresh smells. Best of all, open windows mean less electricity which is good for the environment and pleasing to the pocketbook. Try keeping your air conditioner off for 3 weeks and see if your next utility bill is not surprisingly pleasing.

Posted on 1 Comment

Knoxville out of gas – Twitter for prices

Apparently Knoxville gasoline supplies have been out since Monday.

"Knoxville has been out of gas since Monday. We’ve been buying gas from Atlanta, North Carolina, Kentucky, anywhere we can get it," said Bill Weigel, head of the Weigel’s chain of convenience stores in Knox, Blount, Sevier, Loudon, Anderson and Monroe counties. [Source, Knoxnews, EPA boosts gas supply in Southeast; Knoxville running low]

When Cathy mentioned this to me yesterday, I was caught totally off guard. How could some significant news slip past the hyperconnected?! I polled Twitter:
djuggler: Hold the phone! Does anyone have a link or verification about a gas shortage in Knoxville?
I then saw that Michael Silence was causing the run on gas!
djuggler: Blog post causes run on gas in Knoxville http://twurl.nl/5lbr8z Yea, hurricane Ike might have a little something to do with it too.
Then Twitter kicked in!
@djuggler WIMZ reported a little while ago that gas prices were going up @ 6:00 pm. I don’t really believe things are that coordinated.
@djuggler My initial thought was that it was just a rumor that got out of control. I haven’t checked into any more so I could be wrong.
@djuggler goodness…it’s raining here and everyone thinks it’s ike. i’m like people! we’re in central kentucky – ike is still in the middle of the gulf of mexico! buy a couple or three clues. LOL
@djuggler I don’t know about shortages, but wholesale gas prices popped up today. http://tinyurl.com/4bb86p Coming soon to a pump near you
djuggler: @barner Didn’t they hear about OPEC? Prices are supposed to plummet! Rock beats scissors. Ike beats OPEC. http://twurl.nl/mxxsab
BrianGM: @djuggler that’s the first I heard about a gas shortage! Anybody got any connections with Pilot?
djuggler: KNOXVILLE: As you fill up, Twitter the prices please. Heading out to pickup a child. Should I participate in the gas shortage mania?
LissaKay: 3.63 – 3.65 in kodak
BrianGM: @djuggler ofcourse! Anybody that’s cool will be doing the ’08 K-Town Gas Shortage Tweetup!!
jenmcclurg: @djuggler I’m all for a good panic, so I filled up behind Kay’s Ice Cream on Chapman for $3.54
Digitarius: @djuggler This *would* break on a day that I coasted in to work on E, wouldn’t it?
djuggler: I am participating in the hysteria. Weigel’s rocky hill. 3.69 3.79 and 3.89 every pump full with cars waiting.
overtlytrite: @djuggler it was still 350ish on campbell station I tend to shut my eyes and just feed the machine my card I don’t want to see the total
Digitarius: @djuggler 3.699 at pel parkway & hardin valley
barner: @djuggler $3.69/gallon on Sutherland Ave a couple hours ago. Up $0.05 this afternoon.
LissaKay: Racetrac on Western is out of gas
LissaKay: Gas prices jumped 20 cents in 4 hours at exit 407! Still 3.63 at Food City though
vagredajr: about 2 hours ago I filled up the minivan w/$3.69 gas. It is now $3.99 EVERYWHERE in Fountain City.
bobmissy07 People, think! If you only drive to Kroger & church, there’s no need to fill up the Rambler. You’ll be fine. No evacuations here, remember?
pattib22: @bobmissy07 @wbir has reported cummins supply terminal has run out of gas and not expecting next delivery till 9/17
vagredajr: oh boy, here comes the gas run
lasthome: $4.09 at BP near Fort Sanders West and Kingston Pike
lasthome: Anyone wanna place bets whether it will come back down to $3.64 next week?

I heard one person forecasting $5 a gallon but I think they were being snarky. If the Saudis really left OPEC, then prices should come down.

Update: Knoxnews reports Knoxville gas prices push closer to $5 and Michael Silence has more.

Posted on Leave a comment

No more OPEC?!

Yesterday I was reading about OPEC wanting to cut production by 550 million550,00* barrels a day and wherever I was reading that commented that the cuts would amount to more oil than the US could produce if they drilled all US land and territories. Not sure if I believe that. But the point is that OPEC is powerful. Er, was.

Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday. It said it would not honor the cartel’s production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran.

As the world’s largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home.

OPEC has made no announcement to the effect that it is dissolving, but the process is already over.

[Source, MSN Money moneyBlog Top Stocks, The death of OPEC]

Of course, I’m not an economist so I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing.

Update: A friend explains that this is good for the United States in that gas prices will go down but bad for the world because greenhouse gases will go up.

Update: *Thanks to Brian Arner for the correction!

Posted on 1 Comment

Let Oak Ridge, er, Hollywood Clean Up the Mess!

Right now there is a huge ecological disaster happening in Tennessee. An 18 wheeler tanker has a spill of highly volatile material, titanium tetrachloride, and has caused an evacuation of everything within 10 miles of the accident as well as totally shutting down Interstate 40 near Crossville and having some people stuck in traffic 6-12 hours. This sounds similar to the train wreck that evacuated much of Farragut a couple of years ago.

So here is the scenario: Truck containing hazardous materials traveling on Interstate 40 has a problem and substance begins leaking. Nine people get sent to a hospital. Area is quarantined and evacuated for a radius of ten miles. A hazmat team is sent in, cannot contain the leak, and determines contents of truck to be producing heat (ie. explosion pending). To make matters worse, water mixed with this hazardous material produces hydrochloric acid. Winds are currently blowing strong. Storms are forecasted in less than twelve hours and the special cleanup team from New Jersey will take twelve or more hours to arrive. Sounds like an out of work script writer is trying to pitch Paramount.

My question: Why isn’t Oak Ridge responding to this? Certainly the labs are prepared for a worse ecological disaster than this. Between Becthel Jacobs, SAIC, Perma-Fix, and the dozens of other contractors that regularly do work at Y12 (in particular cleanup and handling of dangerous materials), you would think we could have a crew to Crossville in one hour instead of twelve. Are lives at stake for bureaucracy? Is this Katrina on a smaller scale?

How would Hollywood handle this? Simple! Tommy Lee Jones would come barking in to establish perimeters and control the choas while Will Smith beats some people into cooperating/doing actual cleanup and Chris Tucker smack talks the red tape out of the way. Of course we don’t get to learn the outcome because Hollywood is poised for a second strike (See Return of the Bad Television – Guild Strike Part Deux).

And would someone teach the AMPTP about permalinks?

Our final offer to SAG members includes more than $250 million in additional compensation, important new media rights and protection for pension and health benefits. The refusal of SAG’s Hollywood leadership to accept this offer is the latest in a series of actions by SAG leaders that, in our opinion, puts labor peace at risk. SAG’s Hollywood leaders have already pursued a time-consuming, divisive, costly, and unsuccessful anti-AFTRA campaign. Any further delay in reaching a reasonable and comprehensive agreement does a disservice to the thousands of working people of our industry who are already being seriously harmed by the ever worsening de facto strike. [Source, AMPTP, Breaking News, July 10, 2008, Statement of the AMPTP] (See also July 8, 2008, AFTRA Ratification Statement and June 30, 2008, Statement of the AMPTP)

Any increase for the benefits of health insurance, pension, or residual gains made by the WGA are also likely to be demanded by other entertainment industry labor unions when their contracts expire. This is a practice known as pattern bargaining — the first union to reach a contract with the AMPTP usually sets the template for the agreement with other unions. The contracts for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Directors Guild of America (DGA) expired on June 30, 2008. [Source, Wikipedia, Other 2008 industry-wide strike threats]

Posted on Leave a comment

TN/GA Border Dispute continues?

I thought Georgia wanting to move the Tennessee border was a publicity stunt. Is this really continuing or is Knoxnews hurting that badly for a story? "More details as they develop online and in Wednesday’s News Sentinel."

Georgia’s water problem will not be solved by tapping the Tennessee River. They have a water management problem. If someone has a spending problem, their spending habit does not get cured by throwing more money at them. Georgia must develop land management and water management plans. How much of their water is flushed out to the Gulf of Mexico in storm drains rather than recaptured for recharging the aquifers? Does Peachtree Street need another fountain?

I predict there will be bloodshed if that border ever actually moves!

Posted on 2 Comments

Get your free bus pass!

Multimedia messageI learned something today. Every time you buy only $10 worth of groceries at Kroger, they will give you a free bus pass for KAT! Simply go straight from the cash register to customer service with your receipt and get a one use bus pass that is valid for 7 days. So you never ride the bus. There is no bus stop convenient to you blah blah. Why would you do this? Many churches accept these bus passes to include in their food pantries. Naturally you have to act quick since the pass will expire a week from purchase. Of course, you could use it as an excuse to experience Knoxville’s public transportation. Go to the mall and take the bus for its full loop. You might learn that the bus is convenient for getting from West to downtown for special events. You could even tape the tickets to a bus stop sign. Someone will use them and be grateful. Kroger is encouraging green. Take advantage of it!

Posted on Leave a comment

My son needs your comments. Please help him!

My oldest son is doing a class project in ecology. He is writing two posts a week and soliciting comments which he will compile or aggregate into his report. He cannot complete his project without comments. Please take a moment and read his posts. If you are so compelled, please comment on as many as you can. Thank you!

His posts to date:

Please make the comments on Tommy’s blog.

Posted on 1 Comment

American Red Cross Tornado Blog

American Red CrossThe American Red Cross (ARC) has set up a website in response to the Tennessee tornadoes. I learned this because I follow @Redcross on Twitter as you should.

This site is for public information about the American Red Cross response to the Tennessee tornadoes of February 2008. [Source, Tennessee Tornadoes, American Red Cross] [more info]

They had a similar site for Northwest Flooding 2007. If you are looking for loved ones or have been displaced by a disaster, please use the Safe and Well List to help inform family and friends. Safe and Well is easily accessible through your phone using Twitter.

Posted on 5 Comments

Things you learn over coffee

I ran out of grounds again. Yes, pathetic. I indulged myself and stopped into the local convenient store for a cup of overpriced Joe only to learn that my neighbor, who wanted to go fight in Iraq, got denied by the National Reserves because 16 years ago, when he was 18, he purchased 5 ounces of marijuana from a police officer (which made his crime a double felony). The clerk chimed in that on her parent’s 60 acre farm, her brother used to grow pot by the barn and her mother never understood why no one mowed the grass by the barn. Her mother would pay her $10 to mow it; her brother would then pay her $20 to not mow it. So, indirectly, she was making a killing off of pot. She also had a good laugh when her child came home from school declaring she had learned that smoking pot will make you hallucinate (what are the schools teaching these kids! Oh right, Newspeak). I had to rant my belief that we will pay for an illegal war by 1) reducing government infrastructure costs (ie. release 800,000 prisoners), 2) increase gross national product via larger work force (ie. 800,000 new employees to the workforce), 3) increase income tax revenues (ie. 800,000 new employees with taxable income instead of using taxes to support them in prisons), and 4) sell a high demand product which is already in demand, all ready in a supply chain, all ready being manufactured and heavily tax it (ie. make marijuana legal). I’m not saying I support people running out and getting stoned off their butts; we are talking about a substance less harmful than beer. In my conspiracy mindedness, I’m documenting, that what you will see in the next 5 to 10 years, was predicted right here! My neighbor suggested I should run for congress. Somehow I don’t think I’d get far on the "Dude! Make it legal man." campaign.

In short, I bought a cup of coffee and learned that my neighbor and the store clerk toke it up.

Posted on 2 Comments

I predict a major social change because of the war

How do you pay for an expensive overseas war and bring value back to a falling dollar? Simple. You reduce your countries infrastructures costs, add workers to the populace to increase gross national product, create a livable wage for those same workers for taxable income, and create a high demand product to encourage the citizenry to purchase taxable goods. Personally I would add impeach a president to the list.

These things are coming! (well…maybe not the impeachment) And your politicians have already begun the game of wag the dog to get you to accept the reduced infrastructure costs, new workers, different tax structure, and focus on purchasing a highly taxable product. The spin war is on because it is going to be a vicious one and a very hard sell because the government has been selling you a different bill of goods for almost 50 years. See, the reduced infrastructures cost will come by releasing roughly 800,000 inmates from prison.

…would save taxpayers an estimated $20 billion per year…[Source, Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America’s Prison Population, page 7]

It is these same 800,000 inmates who will be the new workers adding to the GNP which means these 800,000 people would be producing taxable income.

What of the product? The product must be inexpensive to produce otherwise the savings from releasing the prisoners is negated. Ideally the product should already exist and be high demand with the general populace. The United States has just such a product. It is a product that no one uses yet you cannot swing a stick in a crowd without hitting someone who does use it. The product is marijuana. No one admits to using it yet it seems like everyone around you uses it socially or medicinally from time to time. Even our presidents use it! They just don’t inhale.

My prediction is that in the next decade we will see significant pressure by politicians to encourage legalization of marijuana for all the reasons stated above plus more. By encouraging the use of hemp for cloth, paper, ropes, and so many other uses, we will make better use of the land with higgher quality products (see 200 year old hemp nightgown looks like new). Watch the news. California will lead followed by Colorado and Nevada. Tennessee will follow closely since TN produces quite a lot of crops. Mark my word. As soon as the government can deprogram society from the believe that marijuana is bad (remember, marijuana was lobbied into illegality by the paper companies – apparently it is supposed to do less harm to the body than drinking alcohol), you will see marijuana sold either over the drug store counters or beside the cigarettes in the grocery stores.

See also: Decriminalizing Pot Will Reduce Prison Population, Have No Adverse Impact On Public Safety, Study Says