It’s currently taken as a truism that incandescent light bulbs–that old technology invented by Thomas Edison over a century ago–are incredibly inefficient and that everyone with an environmental conscience should switch to more energy efficient lighting such as compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Although I am very concerned about the state of our environment, the … Read more →
The Surprising Reason Why Americans Are So Lonely, and Why Future Prosperity Means Socializing with Your Neighbors Community may suffer from overuse more sorely than any word in the dictionary. Politicians left and right sprinkle it through their remarks the way a bad Chinese restaurant uses MSG, to mask the lack of wholesome ingredients. But … Read more →
Unfortunately, we’ve chosen wrong. The original version of this poster (HT Aza Raskin) was ruined by Comic Sans and a weakened message. The original included a third photo of bicyclists, which diluted the impact of comparing only two things. (Comparing car to bicycle would also be strong.) The original also failed to include a number … Read more →
The bagging lawnmower is an irrevocable sign of our impending doom. I am tempted to let you figure out the rest, but I would rather enjoy spelling it out. The first and most obvious reason is that your lawn clippings should stay on your lawn as plant material to keep the soil rich enough to … Read more →
I generally hold that Thomas Friedman is an idiot. His unwavering, utopian support of globalization and “free” markets causes me to wonder whether he is evil or just plain stupid. However, this op-ed had some good things to say: After appointments here in Copenhagen, I was riding in a car back to my hotel at … Read more →
I just came across an article titled Doubts Cast on Hybrid Efficiency (HT: Signal vs. Noise) that essentially says that Hybrids are less efficient than their conventional counterparts. Interesting. A research study was performed that calculated the total energy cost it would take to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a vehicle from initial … Read more →