By Mark | February 18, 2008
Clementine woke me up yelling at 4:00 AM this morning. “Daddyyyy!” “Daddyyyyy!” I made my way to her room in the dark, and found her laying down wide awake in her bed. I asked her what was wrong, and she replied, “I saw a bug in your office a few days ago.” When asked why it was that she felt compelled to share this with me now, she said that she’d just remembered.
She’s been coming up with great stuff these last few days. Yesterday, in the car, she told me that she’d just seen “a naked man, cleaning his porch.” I was tempted to turn the car around verify it, but she’s rarely wrong when she says she sees something, and, if she did see what she said she saw, I didn’t want for her to have to see it again. I wish I had a tape recorder with me. The way she said, “He didn’t even have any underwear on,” so matter-of-factly, was just beautiful… Thank you, Ypsilanti!
By Mark | February 18, 2008
I’m home sick with a cold. I should be on my way up to bed, but instead I’m sitting here, catching up on my hate mail. Here’s the latest:
mark you suck. you and your liberal friends need to go to Ann Arbor and enjoy you silly ideas there. I saw your comments about ypsi needing a gay bar and an indian restaurant and believe that’s totally stupid. Ypsi may not be great the way it is due to the dead beats, but your idea’s are not the answer.
I don’t know that I ever claimed to have “the answers.” I just like gay people and Indian food. And I think Ypsi would be better with more of both. That’s just my opinion, though. My sense is that you’re not open to compromise, but I’m willing to negotiate. How about one bi-curious man of ambiguous origin to sell samosas along Michigan Avenue to people in their cars the way that scantily clad Taiwanese women sell betel nuts?
Seriously, though, I wasn’t suggesting that either a gay bar or an Indian restaurant would somehow “fix” Ypsi. I just think that both are examples of things that would accentuate what it is that’s already good about this community. With small, independently-owned restaurants being priced out of the Ann Arbor market, I think there’s a huge opportunity for Ypsilanti. We’ve got great places like Pita Pita, Dos Hermanos, Dalat and La Fiesta — why not look to corner the market on decently-priced, authentic ethnic food? I’m sure there are other holes in the portfolio, but the most obvious one to me seems like Indian food. And, as for the gay bar idea, it’s just common sense. Gay people have traditionally been risk takers when it comes to buying residential real estate in communities on the cusp. They typically don’t worry about school systems, they generally appreciate historic homes, and it’s been my experience that they’re more willing to invest their money and their time than most. I already think that our City is gay and lesbian friendly. (Our citizens, as you’ll recall, voted down the Tom Monaghan-funded initiative to legalize sexual orientation-based discrimination twice.) I wasn’t saying that the City should invest its money in building a gay sex club. I was just suggesting that we should be receptive if someone comes to us looking to open something like Ann Arbor’s Aut Bar. So, there, for what it’s worth, is my reasoning on those two points.
Anyone else have a problem with something I’ve said? Feel free to leave an anonymous comment. Now’s your chance to gang up on me.
By Mark | February 17, 2008
Barack Obama went to visit Edwards in North Carolina today. Presumably, he’s asking for the former candidate’s endorsement, and the 20-some delegates that come along with it. In a race this tight, it’s not surprising that both Obama and Clinton are lobbying so hard for his endorsement.
Word last week was that Edwards was leaning toward Clinton. The rumor making its way around the internet at the time was that Obama didn’t offer him the Attorney General position that he wanted, and he went to see what Hillary had to offer. I don’t know how much stock you can put in that, but I suppose it’s plausible. I haven’t heard any rumors about Hillary offering cabinet positions, but all indications are that she’s wooing him pretty intensely. (She has also gone to North Carolina to visit Edwards.)
I’m not sure what to think. I’m inclined to say that if Edwards gives his endorsement to Clinton based only on what position he was able to secure for himself, I’ll lose all of the respect I have for the man. I’d like to think that he’d support the best person for the job, independent of what his role might be, but maybe that’s na
By Mark | February 17, 2008
The magazine “Scientific American” is suggesting that, if we follow their solar road map, we can be practically energy independent by 2100. Here’s a clip:
…Solar energy’s potential is off the chart. The energy in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year. The U.S. is lucky to be endowed with a vast resource; at least 250,000 square miles of land in the Southwest alone are suitable for constructing solar power plants, and that land receives more than 4,500 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of solar radiation a year. Converting only 2.5 percent of that radiation into electricity would match the nation’s total energy consumption in 2006.
To convert the country to solar power, huge tracts of land would have to be covered with photovoltaic panels and solar heating troughs. A direct-current (DC) transmission backbone would also have to be erected to send that energy efficiently across the nation.
The technology is ready. On the following pages we present a grand plan that could provide 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy (which includes transportation) with solar power by 2050. We project that this energy could be sold to consumers at rates equivalent to today’s rates for conventional power sources, about five cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). If wind, biomass and geothermal sources were also developed, renewable energy could provide 100 percent of the nation’s electricity and 90 percent of its energy by 2100…
It’s an ambitious plan that involves storing power for use during non-sunlight hours not in batteries, but in the form of compressed air, trapped in “underground caverns, abandoned mines, aquifers and depleted natural gas wells.” (A compressed air energy storage system has been in use in Huntorf, Germany since 1978.) As it can all be built-out using existing technology, the only issue, outside the oil and gas lobby, seems to be the price tag, which, according to their projections, would be $420 billion between 2011 to 2050… Coincidentally, it’s worth pointing out that, to date, our war in Iraq has cost us $495 billion. Kind of ironic, isn’t it? For the price of a war to secure what’s left of the earth’s dwindling oil supply, we could have made the transition to solar. What a hil-fucking-larious epitaph that would make.
[This post was brought to you by the Sunlight Foundation.]
By Mark | February 17, 2008
Eli Pariser, the leader of MoveOn, sent out an email a few days ago to members of the organization in Michigan, asking what we felt should be done concerning the results of our recently held, and much fucked-up Democratic primary. Here’s his note:
The Michigan Democratic Party broke the national Democratic Party’s election rules when they held their primary to select Michigan delegates ahead of most other states. As a result, Hillary Clinton was the only major candidate on the ballot, and Michigan was stripped of its delegates to the national convention.
Hillary Clinton won, and now her campaign is arguing that the results should count in the national primary contest. Can you answer our quick question below?
What do you think should happen? (All of these options are currently being discussed.)
