California banning big screen TV (Los Angeles, August: costs, shops, swimming pool)

[Clarks]

The non thinkers usually give themselves away, they are emotionally locked into ideas and opinions that do not stand up to the test of rationality.

We can avoid new powerplant building by emulating the Euros.

Worth reading

[Wayneb]

Originally Posted by Clarks

The non thinkers usually give themselves away, they are emotionally locked into ideas and opinions that do not stand up to the test of rationality.

We can avoid new powerplant building by emulating the Euros.

I agree we should emulate the French, is that Euro enough for you?
Nuclear power in France - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Facts from Cohen

The Truth About Energy

[Sanis]

I know this is a pretty heated discussion, but I wanted to chime in. I currently live in Germany, and I have been swayed towards the "save the planet" side of things.

Before hand I never thought so much about recycling, energy consumption, and walking rather than riding when possible. What drove me to change was the community always pushing me to leave less of a footprint. I thought it was dumb at first, but as time goes on you see that they really have their stuff together here. I hate government interference, but I am in total agreement that the government needs to step in when individuals are more concerned with themselves rather than the community as a whole.

For example, just about every house here has an automatic timer that shuts the heat off between 0200-0500. At first I thought it was BS they did that, because I paid for the damn heat. However, I learned to compensate by buying a warmer blanket and sleeping with a water bottle. Now, I have no issues with it, and in fact I like the idea. They have stuff like this all over. They have taxes on TV's, in case you have more than one. They have high taxes on gas, which helps cut down on driving. Taxes on sports cars, to help promote economical autos. This stuff isn't banned, but they sure are going to tax the hell out of you when you want to splurge on things.

Anyways, I will be moving to Cali (originally from New England), and you bet I will be preaching to people they need to be conserving rather than splurging.

Americans need to stop with the "Me me me" way of thinking. If one person at a time can start thinking as a community, we can start pushing this country in the right direction.

Just my 2cents.

[Fontucky]

misread

[Clarks]

Great post Sanis. In America we can avoid building new powerplants by conserving. Heck, just by painting every flat black industrial roof in America white, we can save more energy than we would get from the oil in ANWR.

If each home had supplemental solar hot water heating, there is more savings.

Each home in this country could provide its own power from photo voltaics for the cost of 12-15 years of grid power. If the dwellers in the home were very conservative it could be done for much less.

There is a lot we can do, but the "lone gunslinger, don't tell me what to do" just doesn't work anymore. Most of these "lone gunslinger" types live in a tract home next door to neighbors, among tens of thousands of people, and drive on crowded roads to cubicles among masses of workers. Their violent reaction to "being told what to do" by society is an understandable reaction to their rat in a maze lifestyle.

Freedom to an American means autonomy. Pretty tough to do these days in this vastly overcrowded nation. I use that term with a sense of irony, it isn't vastly overcrowded, it is just that most Americans want to live in the maze, so the cluster in urban/suburban/exurban cities, and cry, "don't fence me in". Yet they built the fence by their choices.

[coyoteskye]

James Balog: Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss | Video on TED.com

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by Clarks

Great post Sanis. In America we can avoid building new powerplants by conserving. Heck, just by painting every flat black industrial roof in America white, we can save more energy than we would get from the oil in ANWR.

If each home had supplemental solar hot water heating, there is more savings.

Each home in this country could provide its own power from photo voltaics for the cost of 12-15 years of grid power. If the dwellers in the home were very conservative it could be done for much less.

There is a lot we can do, but the "lone gunslinger, don't tell me what to do" just doesn't work anymore. Most of these "lone gunslinger" types live in a tract home next door to neighbors, among tens of thousands of people, and drive on crowded roads to cubicles among masses of workers. Their violent reaction to "being told what to do" by society is an understandable reaction to their rat in a maze lifestyle.

Freedom to an American means autonomy. Pretty tough to do these days in this vastly overcrowded nation. I use that term with a sense of irony, it isn't vastly overcrowded, it is just that most Americans want to live in the maze, so the cluster in urban/suburban/exurban cities, and cry, "don't fence me in". Yet they built the fence by their choices.

The "fence" is a figment of your arrogance and regressive (lack of) imagination. It is only the "non-thinkers" that recognize it and are willing to live behind it. That's what makes them so easy to spot.

Yes, in California, 30 years of pompously pontificated propaganda has millions of "non-thinkers" blindly and religiously following in your footsteps. A saga sadly repeated in world history time and time again. Doesn't mean for a moment that this war is over.

[Kele]

Originally Posted by Clarks

A true tragedy, we would be stuck sitting around in sidewalk cafes drinking good wine, watching beautiful women walk by, dressed in amazingly stylish outfits, fit from bicycling instead of sitting in cars eating donuts.

riding on trains meeting beautiful women dressed in amazingly stylish outfits, fit from bicycling instead of sitting in cars eating donuts.

How dreadful.

Don't forget the part about paying the equivalent of $8.00 U.S. for a grande Starbucks.

Forget your romanticized views of Europe. That Europe is gone. They all want to be America, with a Starbucks on every corner, and McDonald's and Krispy Kreme Donut shops fighting for space up and down Tottenham Road.

Italy and France aren't far behind.

[Clarks]

The "fence" is a figment of your arrogance and regressive (lack of) imagination. It is only the "non-thinkers" that recognize it and are willing to live behind it. That's what makes them so easy to spot.

Yes, in California, 30 years of pompously pontificated propaganda has millions of "non-thinkers" blindly and religiously following in your footsteps. A saga sadly repeated in world history time and time again. Doesn't mean for a moment that this war is over.

How far is your neighbor's house from yours?

Don't forget the part about paying the equivalent of $8.00 U.S. for a grande Starbucks.

Forget your romanticized views of Europe. That Europe is gone. They all want to be America, with a Starbucks on every corner, and McDonald's and Krispy Kreme Donut shops fighting for space up and down Tottenham Road.

Italy and France aren't far behind.

This is too funny, one does not go to Europe to drink Starbucks, Last year my wife and enjoyed a cappuccino at a little coffee shop at the Venice fish docks, just us and a bunch of Italian fishermen. That is what one goes to Europe for.

Forget your romanticized views of Europe. That Europe is gone. They all want to be America, with a Starbucks on every corner, and McDonald's and Krispy Kreme Donut shops fighting for space up and down Tottenham Road.

Is Britain part of Europe? You will get some quibble there, from the Britons.

Europe: We love to vacation there, if we can afford it. It's the cultural mecca many of us flock to, to awaken our senses and feed our souls. But Europe as a political entity? To Americans, it's just a creaky old set of governments presiding over a moribund economy marked by inflexible labor policies, bloated welfare bureaucracies and an aging, pampered populace. It's the state of Eurosclerosis, right?
Not anymore. Toss out that image of Europe as relic. On Friday, the heads of the 25 member nations of the European Union signed the European Constitution (to be ratified over the next two years by each state), effectively creating the first transnational political entity in history. These "United States of Europe" represent the rise of a new ideal that could eclipse the United States as the focus of the world's yearnings for well-being and prosperity. Yet our country is largely unaware of and unprepared for the vast changes that are quickly transforming the Old World and giving birth to what I call the new European Dream.



The old dream, the American Dream that made the individual the master of his fate and emphasized the personal accumulation of wealth, is faltering. A national survey taken in 2001 showed that one-third of all Americans no longer believe in the American Dream, either because it has failed them, or because they believe that in an increasingly interdependent world, it no longer works. Even the most self-reliant among us are vulnerable to phenomena beyond our control: a SARS epidemic, a terrorist attack, global warming. In this sort of world, the European Dream, with its emphasis on inclusivity, diversity, sustainable development and interconnectedness, is the world's first attempt at creating a global consciousness. And it deserves our close attention

Americans crack me up, inspite of the evidence to the contrary they still think everyone wants to come to America or take America to them.

America is seen by and large as an incompetent failure by "them foreigners". America used to be seen as competent, but, sending American industry to China, failing to conquer a ragtag bunch of Arabs, there is a whole litany of American failures noticeable by others.

[Sanis]

Originally Posted by Kele

Don't forget the part about paying the equivalent of $8.00 U.S. for a grande Starbucks.

Forget your romanticized views of Europe. That Europe is gone. They all want to be America, with a Starbucks on every corner, and McDonald's and Krispy Kreme Donut shops fighting for space up and down Tottenham Road.

Italy and France aren't far behind.

If I didn't know better, I would think you are trolling, because this post is just wrong in so many ways. But lets assume your not...

With that being said, you obviously have not explored Europe my friend. And believe me, England is NOT Europe. Have you ever called someone from the UK European? Try it, they will correct you.

In Europe, there are not starbucks around every corner, nor McDonald's and donut shops. Hell, I dont even think they have donut shops here in Europe: They have bakeries.

Europe has been here alot longer then the US, and they will probably be around longer then the US. They consider Americans to be wasteful and materialistic. Believe you and me, they do not want to be like America. Living here has opened my eyes in so many ways.

Oh ya, and your paying $8 a coffee because our economy is s**t and we've printed out way too much money. Gezz...