Tuesday, April 22, 2014

It's Earth Day 2014.

Today is National Jelly Bean, Cherry Cheesecake and Earth Day.

I'm not going to eat beans or cheesecake.

I applaud the 44th Earth Day and the awareness it invokes but I don't think it's near enough. Three hundred sixty five Earth Days per year, now that would be something to celebrate.

I used to consider myself fairly knowledgeable on matters of the environment, I'm not. I thought today was the day people around the globe turned off their lights at an appointed hour, it's not. The lights go out at 8:30 p.m. on Earth Hour which is not to be confused with Earth Day.

Earth Hour is observed the last Saturday of March. This year it was March 29th, and I missed it. I'm sure there were lots of notifications but I don't recall seeing anything about it. Next year it falls on March 28, I'll mark my calendar now.

It would make things easier to remember if all these global climate change initiatives could get together and agree on a day, week or month.

And Tom Bodette, do me a favor....turn off the light already.

My home uses low wattage and LED lights. It has low flow toilets and an energy efficient clothes and dish washer. When the weather is warm Wanda dries clothes outdoors. We have smart surge protectorswe compost, have a drip system for water and recycle. We keep our thermostat low in winter and high in summer. We really try to conserve. It's good for the environment and it saves us money.

And week end before last we went to a neighborhood yard sale and drove by a home with brand new sod. Their water had been on so long it was running down the street for over a block with the force of Niagara Falls.

I'm not the water police but I should have left them a note. It's frustrating to see situations that hinder positive change.

I suppose change and improvement can happen. After all 1,14,889 people have taken the pledge to stop crapping in the streets of India (see blog of 4/16/14). I'm not sure how many that is. I'll need to decode 1,14,889.

I sound cynical I know. But just take a look at all the lights when the blimp flies over any city on Sunday or Monday night during football season. Or is there something I don't know about commercial energy use? Maybe corporations and business entities don't waste energy? Maybe it's just the little guys?

I was going to list specific things you could do but the Earth Day site wants me to sign-in with my Facebook account or join up. I never use my Facebook account for other sites and I don't want to join. They'll put me on a list and bombard me with e-mail I don't want. I'll have to read and delete all the junk, the computer will be on longer and I'll use more electricity.

Look, do what you can. If nothing else being energy efficient will save you a few bucks. Anything and everything the uses less power helps the earth.

One more thing: Here is the very first tip on the Green is Universal web site.

Keep Heat or A/C in.

Opening doors or windows when the heat or air conditioner is on greatly increase the amount of energy it consumes to keep the people inside comfortable-and boosts the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.

We're screwed.

"Shhhhhh.....can't talk now I'm busy taking pictures of this guy's colon."

A colonoscopy patient (D.B. Cooper) has filed a lawsuit alleging that doctors defamed him and inflicted emotional distress by mocking him while he was unconscious.

The plaintiff allegedly captured the doctors joking about his Star Trek character tattoos and the Star Ship Enterprise shape of his chest hair. "On April 18, 2013, during a colonoscopy, plaintiff was verbally brutalized and defamed by the very doctors to whom he entrusted his life while under anesthesia," the complaint states.

D.B. had his phone recording so he wouldn't forget the doctors’ instructions for post-operation care.

The doctors also allegedly discussed whether the plaintiff was gay, because as you know, all gay people like Star Trek. He is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages for defamation.

That's a big FU.....or is it FY?

An 89-year-old Ohio grandmother has decided that she would rather give up her apartment than give up cigarettes.

Beulah Kopik was given the opportunity to quit smoking when her apartment building went smoke-free a little more than a year ago. She continued smoking in her unit and was labeled as “non-compliant.”

Management asked her to quit one more time -- Kopik declined. “I don’t think so,” she said. “This is my home, and I think you can do whatever you want to in your home.”

Residents are low-income seniors who pay discounted rent under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 202.

“My mom is getting older, and this is causing her so much stress,” said daughter Mary Ann Teddy. “She kept telling me that she was paying her rent. She was a little confused. She thought they might put her in a debtor's prison.”

Teddy attempted to enlist a senior-advocacy group to help her mother, but was told this was “the future” and that Kopik should quit smoking.

Kopik will be clearing out of the building in the next week or so. She is planning to move into a low-income subsidized apartment in Serbia.

Members of a church in Oregon are hoping to spread the Gospel to exotic dancers in Portland by bringing the ladies bushels of baked goods.

Dancers at the Sunset Strip Gentlemen’s Club will be visited by members of the Cedar Hills Baptist Church congregation on Saturday.

“We want to deliver a message of love, hope and transformation,” said Pastor Curtis Malldive. “It’s just a simple way of saying, ‘We care about you.’”

Sunset Strip manager Jim Harris appreciates the church’s gesture, but he’s not sure how much influence it will have. “They are trying to reach out to help out their community,” said Harris. “Not everyone wants to work at McDonald's or the DMV.”

Cedar Hills congregation members were well received at the Sunset Strip in the past.

“Two years ago, we did this and we had some of our older ladies deliver the goodies,” Malldive said. “They let them come in, let them into the dressing room. I will be going with the ladies this year. If we can't convince them to leave this way of life the calories may just do it."

In the "Is it Just Me" department comes this.

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So, having a big problem with Canadians crossing into Montana, are you?

Stop by tomorrow for more.

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