Category: Uncategorized

even in the PNW, you can harvest solar power?!

Pacific NW 09/23/2007 | Richard Thompson | The sun king of Tacoma has power to spare | Seattle Times Newspaper:

The city of Tacoma paid “Solar Richard” Thompson $273.24 for electricity he sent back to them last year. When it comes to generating power, he has been “totally self-sufficient since 2000.”

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Because he makes more energy than he uses, his electric meter actually runs backwards.

Q: What’s that big panel next to your home?

A: “It’s a 10-foot-by-11-foot solar panel, actually 18 panels, generating 2 million watt-hours per year — and it’s all made in America.”

No mention of what it cost. I’d love to do this. He says it even works by the light of the moon.

do we add “soldiering” to the list of jobs Americans won’t do?

Undocumented workers may become the newest recruitment pool for the war(s) in the Middle East. The irony of immigrants, especially the undocumented, being willing to fight in a war zone to gain access to American citizenship while those born into it decline, is hard to miss.

A military route to citizenship:

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented-immigrant youths could become eligible to join the military to offset shortages of qualified recruits under a bill pending in Congress.

Intense public opposition forced the Senate in June to abandon an immigration bill that included a path to citizenship for undocumented youths.

The proposal still has a strong chance of passing if backers in Congress are successful in attaching it to the annual defense-authorization bill this fall.

The rhetoric surrounding undocumented workers is that they are often willing to do jobs that Americans won’t, from construction jobs to hospitality and healthcare work. It pains me to think that fighting on the Global War on Terror has become a job akin to swabbing toilets or changing bed linens as far as America’s eligible youth are concerned.

The story notes further:

Using immigrants to boost the ranks of the military is not new.

With the demands in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States began offering legal immigrants a chance to expedite citizenship applications for themselves and relatives if they enlisted.

The Wall Street Journal states it even more plainly with it’s headline — Bill Offers U.S. Citizenship for Military Service. After all, that’s what the Romans did.

Backers of legislation that could help hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants become citizens are trying to overcome political opposition by emphasizing the bill’s potential to help the U.S. military meet war-time personnel needs.

The military has seemed receptive, but some Hispanic groups have expressed concern that the bill is a ploy to pull young Latin Americans into combat situations for which they wouldn’t otherwise have volunteered.

Some will argue that undocumented workers have no place in the American economy, but the free market says otherwise. If the jobs they currently do were not available, they would not risk their lives crossing the desert for them.

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Bury My Heart At Wounded Feelings

can’t add a thing:

Since 9/11, when MoveOn.org deeply offended the supporters of General David Petraeus, the following soldiers have died in Iraq:

Staff Sgt. Terry D. Wagoner, 28, of Piedmont, S.C.
Spc. Todd A. Motley, 23, of Clare, Mich.
Spc. Jonathan Rivadeneira, 22, of Jackson Heights, N.Y.
Pvt. Christopher M. McCloud, 24, of Malakoff, Texas
Sgt. John Mele, 25, of Bunnell, Fla.
Pfc. Brandon T. Thorsen, 22, of Trenton, Fla.
Cpl. Terrence P. Allen, 21, of Pennsauken, N.J.
Staff Sgt. Michael L. Townes, 29, of Las Vegas
Spc. Joseph N. Landry III, 23, of Pensacola, Fla.
Spc. Nicholas P. Olson, 22, of Novato, Calif.
Spc. Donald E. Valentine III, 21, of Orange Park, Fla.
Spc. Aaron J. Walker, 23, of Harker Heights, Texas
Sgt. Edmund J. Jeffers, 23, of Daleville, Ala.
Pfc. Christian M. Neff, 19, of Lima, Ohio
Cpl. Graham M. McMahon, 22, of Corvallis, Ore.
Pfc. Luigi Marciante Jr., 25, of Elizabeth, N.J.
Capt. (Dr.) Roselle M. Hoffmaster, 32, of Cleveland, Ohio
Spc. John J. Young, 24, of Savannah, Ga.
and A Task Force Lightning Soldier died in a vehicle accident in Diyala province on Saturday 9/22.

The oldest soldier, a woman and a doctor, was 32 years old.

He’s not General Betrayus. He’s General Outlivedus.

Continue reading “Bury My Heart At Wounded Feelings”

links for 2007-09-23

new, improved with digg

I added the ability to vote on stuff here with digg. Perhaps it will encourage me to write better stuff. Not really clear how the various plugins allow you to digg a piece, though it’s easy to vote for one, once someone else (like the proprietor) has done so. Ideally, the plugin would generate a “digg this” button if no one had done so and display the vote tally thereafter.

most interesting sentence of the day

The European Secession Problem – How Belgium Broke Brussels.:

If Flanders eventually secedes, The EU will be in the bizarre position of having its capital in a country that is potentially no longer part of the EU.

The piece quickly reminds us that Catalonia and Scotland are watching to see how this plays out.

Continue reading “most interesting sentence of the day”

what’s for dinner?

No one seemed all that excited by my suggestion of Indian food tonight, but I remembered I had the fixings for Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup):

Considered by many to be Portugal’s national dish, caldo verde is found everywhere — in the dining rooms of Lisbon’s most luxurious hotels to the humblest of country homes. It’s a versatile dish: Serve it as a one-course meal at lunch or as a light supper in the evening.

I had never made it before but I will definitely make it again. Simple as can be but very flavorful and comforting. Make it your own, since the ingredients are so basic. Vegetarian sausage seems to work fine, but if you’re more omnivorous than we are, put some good spicy chorizo in there. And a good hearty bread for sopping up the broth, too.

links for 2007-09-22