chuck kottke

Continue to Occupy Wall Street, occupy Main Street. Demand a system of checks and balances for real, end the rule by the plutocrats. Reform the system, amend the Constitution, end the corruption! Build a wall of separation between Wall Street and Washington, bring justice to the crimes committed. The streets are ours, call attention to what we must change in America. Occupy Together | Home

a big bump

Wisconsin is a Hand, Lower Michigan is a Mitten Rudy! ;) And D.C. is not so large because it's an area designated to be 10 miles square (there's a stone marking the corner of each mile), a little less than that from land returned to Virginia, but the metro area's population is on the order of 5.6 million or so. Basically a city designed to be a capitol, by French architect L'Enfant based on cities like Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, now there's one to look up!:stunned: There's so much to see! I would definitely recommend the Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian, John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and all the grand monuments. And you'll never see it all - there's a lot to see in DC! Georgetown is upscale, if you're into fancy stores and fancy places, some areas need a little fixing up and an economic boost though, it's like any big city - quite a mix!

> Good to replace rails, they do need it from time to time. And it's a pretty good idea in a slow economy to put people to work improving the infrastructure - makes sense to me at least. Understandable too - the size of shipping containers were once much smaller, so often bridges have to be raised or rail beds lowered - upgrades are essential, though a headache at times! I was doing some interesting calculations last night, thinking about the possibility that as blacktop gets incredibly expensive, we may be looking for answers in the past for green roads in the future - here granite pavers were locally produced, and with roads costing between $105,000 to $135,000 per mile (equivalent to roughly 42,270 Pounds to 54,340 Pounds per km), it's approaching the point where granite pavers and brick pavers become competitive again as a paving option. I think the durability alone makes them a better choice in the long run, provided a flexible binder can be used between the pavers.. But that's all tangential to the subject matter! :laugh3: :builder2: > One good sign, even in this remote corner of the planet, the local town in planning on putting in a walking/biking path along the road but not close to the pavement, quite an advancement for our area..

:laugh3: I see - you're a minimalist! Now just add matter to that, and some magic things to propel it, and you'll be set. :hat::elf:

As long as you wear a Raspberry Beret, you're OK in France. ;):beatnik: :P Really though, I think there are fewer stereotypes here about France, simply because there is more widespread knowledge about France. Liberia is beautiful in Summer:sunny:, but the winters are just to cool! I think it's only the ignorant and those who want to stereotype who do so, since most of the time the stereotypes are either simplistic, broadly brushed on everyone when only a small number of individuals fit the stereotype, or simply outdated by a century or more. The more modern and aware we become of one-another, the less different from one-another we realize that we are.

rails and trails Hm, sounds like a long overdue upgrade though - here, the tracks are pretty rough, many parts look like spaghetti noodles laid on crumbling wood beams, so maybe that's a good sign of better rail to come? Derailments can be interesting though - I recall scooping up a little sample of roofing granules from one such wreck here, as though it was good for anything!:laugh3: (hey, it was sparkly, thought it might look cool in the aquarium). Ran across some interesting sites related to electric bikes and hypermiling: E-Bike kit. Electric Bicycle Conversions. Boy Drives 1,980 Miles On 1 Gallon Of Gas | Pakalert Press Green Car News | Hypermiling :cyclist:

:rolleyes:Don't know what that was all about, but it must have been good! I was thinking how to convert two bicycles into a quadricycle, but use very light and earth-friendly materials for most of the construction..

Train, Plane, Automobile - on Foot or by Horseback - whatever moves ya! I found this pretty interesting: Venturi’s electro-solar hybrid Astrolab is an eco-friendly venture

Wish I could help & hopefully you will get a meaningful response, they must have a professional talent agency handling their bookings - someone has to know their Egyptian contact person - try Debs Wild perhaps? Best Wishes of Success to you!! :)

The premise is simple, to blend with nature, work in harmony with Gaia. To truly progress we must not be afraid to leave our old shell behind, and discover a new form, a better fit for our world. Many things still carry forward, many things will be completely new concepts.. But yes, what is possible is amazing - we haven't even begun to really approach the peak of efficiency, thus we can actually have the pizza and beer without the costly energy bills to get them made and delivered. First though, common sense can solve much of the challenges we face - the simple act of biking when possible to get around, walking places, making better use of trips, designing layouts to maximize efficiency - all simple things that help solve the energy puzzles. I commend all those who do - the answer is as simple as our own two legs. Though I find some odd responses when I walk places - everything from thoughtful passersby who stop with their vehicles asking if I need a ride, to police officers who stop me thinking I must be on the run!:laugh3: So if you get some strange responses, be not alarmed - it takes time for a good trend to catch on in places where it never existed before, and for our fellow time travelers to understand that we are merely taking a different path.

Welcome Artemis! :)

Yes, do something about it - that's the way. ;) Get organized, get busy, take it to the streets, be part of a revolution! :biker::cool2:

Welcome Silvy! I hope you get tickets!:)

Welcome Ana Julia from Brasil! :sunny:

Hello Tiashaa, welcome!

Not all is lost - the remnants of the fire resurrected as a flower wagon. :daisy:

zzzzzz..... mmmmm sllleeeeppp.. :sleeping::sleeping2::sleeping:

I finished my wagon!:laugh3:

I love you Lore with wagging tails and all :heart:. (and Ruby in the Sky with Diamonds, Ahhhh, Ahhh.:sunny:)

Welcome Jordan of Ireland to Coldplaying !! Glad you could join! :)

I think it has a meaning in that the wheel (the car) clobbers butterflies (monarchs and many rare species) - the more cars driving about, the fewer butterflies survive. It's an unfortunate matter that milkweed plants often grow along roadsides, and monarchs seem to like to float on the thermals rising off macadam roads here, so cars are taking their toll on the natural population. When I think about this, this song comes to mind:

:) I wasn't suggesting a race horse, unless you want to get to work in a hurry! And truth be known, horses and cows emit quite a bit of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas, but I think when you go slower you become immersed more in nature, more aware of one's surrounding, which changes minds, so I wouldn't discount the horse completely, for while it emits greenhouse gases, it may change our views of the world in ways that bring us full circle and back in tune with nature. Cycling - that's great!! You must be in great shape then?!!;) If everyone did that most days, half of our problems would be solved. I need to get a bike in running shape here, plus a trailer for groceries - always liked the idea of using a bike 4 out of 5 days a week. I'm thinking too I could make an electric wagon, just go slower so the air friction isn't a big deal - mount the batteries on a rack beneath the bed, drive it off a simple belt drive to one front wheel..:thinking:.. just an idea, maybe more charming than practical though!:laugh3: But for family cars, that's a territory most green cars aren't quite at yet - I like the bionic concept car's shape for that, maybe it will become production some day? Mercedes-Benz bionic car at the MoMA - Car Body Design The problems to solve involve more inclusiveness, I do think there is a need for family-sized vehicles to be included into the green vehicle lineup, something which aside from the Dymaxion and some rare concept cars seems to be almost totally lacking (help me out if I'm mistaken in my assumption here!) Will the future be electric, or will it be liquid fuels, or something else? I pondered this today, and it seems that as electrics fill more of the market, then earth-friendly liquid fuels will drop in price, so there will probably wind up being some balance and mix of both in the future - based on fuel costs and preferences. Hydrogen may vie as well, depending on Lithium availability, and a plethora of other possibilities. But the instant alternative would be to make most trips on bicycles, save the autos for times when the bike won't fill the bill, as you're doing - that makes good sense, and would save us all a lot on health problems as well. Probably the last thing that will happen here in the land of the Lincolns, but we're trying everything else first, so we're getting there!:laugh3:

> Hm, somehow I thought only here could roads be falling apart like that!:laugh3: Hm, yes, 30 years of underinvestment will pretty much allow roads to crumble away.. and the more one waits, the heftier the price tag, how true. At least you can enjoy some fine roads leading to / at work, a joy to have good roads that only truly gets appreciated when one has to deal with bad roads on a daily basis! Here the roads have been re-done to a large extent, except for the secondary roads, which have begun to revert to gravel. ? I wonder what will happen as oil becomes scarce - so will road oil!.. We may revert to granite pavers possibly, or some tarry goo made from biomass distillates as the binder. What are your thoughts on that?

>Then you will need a pair of oxen. They pull through anythings, will dine on cardboard in cities, are much shorter and hence easier to park in London, aand if you park them in the basement, they'll heat your home!:laugh3: I suppose I could get horses, that's a thought.. the tamer ones, no thoroughbred race horses!:stunned: Last horse we had here was named Pancho Vila - a little painted pony, renowned as an escape artist on the farm. I'm still working on the wagon - Studebaker made some fine vehicles, but every time I call the factory, they claim they're all out of stock parts I want.:P >And David, you know that's true - potholes can be bike benders! How are the potholes in the roads there? I know from stories about metal plates being put over monster pot holes in big cities like NYC... and the old highway dept. saying about road repair - we were instructed to let the baby potholes develop, as a measure of job security..;)