Marin Maven » Rant or Rave

‘No one goes full retard’ edition

marinmaven — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:59:43 +0000

I dedicate this post to the fringe political movement against the movie, “Tropic Thunder,” who want to ban the movie not because it is lame but because it uses the word, “retard” too much. Organizers of the boycott say it is hate speech. I say it is the market force of 12 year old boys whether they are that way chronologically or behaviorally.

The odd thing is that this protest will bring out people in droves because Americans are ape-wild over this type of humor. Without this protest this movie may or may not have done well, now it will be huge.

“Going full retard” will enter our lexicon and maybe it should with the current presidential administration (although the mentally challenged are have far more sense than Cheney & Company).The mentally or developmentally challenged human beings deserve dignity, compassion, and respect. Retards are willfully, gleefully, and belligerently ignorant and incompetent.They deserve our scorn and a swift kick in the butt.

Going Full Retard: Drilling Off-shore

No one goes full retard? I disagree. Drilling off our shores will be truly “going full retard.” According to the Department of Energy, it will be about 10-20 years before oil can result. Industry experts say 12 or 15 years. Of course, the oil companies will tell us there are gazillions of oil in the ground and they can have cheaper gasoline in America’s gas pumps in a couple of years if not months. Anwar has about 1-2 years worth of oil and then we are back where we started from. Domestically, we only have 2 or 3% of the world’s reserves while we use 25% of the world’s reserves. The Federal Mineral Management Services estimates that unexplored areas offshore of the U.S. that contain roughly 18 billion barrels of crude oil. We can drill everywhere and we will soon be exactly where we are right now. The problem is that we haven’t drilled enough, the problem is we consume too much and are not willing to push for renewable energy technology now.

Gas prices are going down, because Americans are using less and that was accomplished without one additional hole in the ground.

The oil companies don’t bother to tell us that most if not all of what they will pump will go directly to our Chinese overlords who are hosting the most excellent of Olympic games (Why is it that it is always the most oppressive of totalitarian regimes put on the most spectacular games? Boggle. Yo, NBC. Next time layoff the beach volleyball. Okay?m).

The oil companies will also try to tell us that it will take forever to develop renewable energy. The point is they do not know how much oil they will find and they are lying to us. It is more likely that they will ruin our coasts for little gain for the American people. These people do not care about our coasts and they do not care about the average American. Drilling will not stop people from hurting from high gasoline prices and heating costs. It just won’t. As long as Americans cling to their addiction to fossil fuels, the oil companies will take every last cent they have and make them grateful to them for it.

The oil market is international and drilling domestically will do squat. Conservation and using renewable alternatives are the ONLY way to make energy less expensive for the American people. The ONLY way to true independence is renewable energy sources: wind, solar, biomass, wave power, algae fuel, hydrogen, and other methods of energy. We need to have the equivalent of the Apollo or Manhattan project towards these and other technologies.

We need distributed power instead of the old model of big oil rigs and power plants because they are too vulnerable to man made or natural disaster. Oil rigs off the coast are these big targets that can be taken out and disrupt our economy. If we conserve energy, we can generate enough power through renewable sources.

Americans consume so mindlessly and rather than change their bad behavior they want to ruin our coasts because they do not think long term effects of their actions. Americans demand larger and larger houses. 1,500 square feet to 2,266 square feet between 1970 and 2000 to 2495 in 2005

According to the Department of Energy, it would take 20 years to bring new leases into full production, and even then the impact on gas prices would be negligible.

Caught in an irrational panic loop, Americans are willing to ruin our coasts to benefit the Chinese and the Indians who are about to copy us in our mindlessly retarded consumption. That is going full retard.

There is Global Warming and the role of fossil fuels play in making it worse. Almost everyday we see effects of climate change on societies across the globe as 5000 year old weather and growing patterns have been disrupted. It is retarded, knowing that fossil fuels are making our planet less able to support us living here and insisting we expend any resources at all in looking for it. Given that we are in an era of extreme weather events, our coasts are vulnerable to hurricanes like Katrina, which caused damage to drilling platforms and pipes.

Drilling off the California coast is retarded. We and entire West Coast are a part of what is called “the ring of fire.” We have faults that can create very large and dangerous earthquakes which could wreck havoc on any pipelines or drilling platforms which would create an ecological disaster. Drilling off our coast has already resulted in ecological disasters.

Furthermore, oil companies already have 7,000 leases to drill offshore, but only about 20% of those leases are currently producing oil.

Coastal drilling also heightens environmental risks and jeopardizes tourism to the beaches of Florida – a $50 billion industry. Hurricane Katrina, for instance, destroyed 123 oil platforms, sending 9 million gallons of oil into the Gulf and covering parts of New Orleans in a mix of crude and mud.

Drilling advocates would have us believe that not drilling is un-American and we should thank our lucky stars these oil companies are willing to drill for oil. Allowing offshore drilling is simply give-away to bloated oil companies who have never given back to our country and at every chance have bilked Americans. Notice when the price of oil goes up a couple of cents, the price of gasoline zooms up immediately. When price of oil goes down, it takes relatively forever to see the price go down. Little by little they are conditioning us to accept $4.10 per gallon as cheap, and inching it ever higher so eventually we will say to ourselves how 5 bucks a gallon is a deal.

As it is the oil companies have been allowed drilling leases up the yin-yang and we have yet to see any real controlling of costs.

Allowing offshore drilling off our shores “goes full retard” no matter how you look at it. Tell our representatives to protect our shores and demand real energy independence or be voted out.

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Wifi Maven: Shaky Grounds Shook My World

marinmaven — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:00:29 +0000

As many of you know I have been on a quest for a place where I can have coffee and FREE wireless. It is not as easy as you would imagine. Places like Starbucks and Borders Bookstore, you must sign up with T-mobile for 10 bucks for a day pass.

Both Aroma Cafe and Royal Grounds Coffee on 4th Street in San Rafael charge for their wireless. Aroma will charge you $5/hr if you bring your own laptop (byol) and 7 bucks/hr to use their computers. Royal Grounds will charge you $5 for 24-hour access and $14.99 monthly if you have your own laptop. If you don’t have a laptop, you can use Royal Grounds’ computers for $7/hr, $5/40 minutes, and $3/20 minutes.

None of the Peet’s Coffee stores have wireless.

Shaky Grounds on the corner of 4th and H Street in downtown San Rafael offers free wireless access. This place doesn’t just have free wireless, but excellent access with a strong signal and plenty of plugs to allow you to sit just about anywhere in the cafe. I only had coffee and a croissant, so I cannot tell you about their food. Their coffee is just fine as I am pretty much a coffee snob.

In calling around to various cafes I found some that admit that while their access is free, their connection is intermittent like Caffe Divino in Sausalito, Della Fattoria Bakery & Cafe in Petaluma. I have mentioned that the connection at Noonan’s in Larkspur was very spotty at best.

North Point Coffee and Sausalito Cruising Club both have Free wireless. Cafe Acri in Tiburon has free wireless for customers. The Book Passage Cafe in Corte Madera has free access for its customers. Puentez Taqueria on 3rd Street in Downtown San Rafael is the only Mexican restaurant I have heard of that has free wireless. The Broken Drum Brewery has free access, but you have to ask for a security key first.

I personally feel that it is good etiquette to buy some coffee and a snack wherever you decide to use this Free wireless. I am also a big believer in putting a nice tip in the tip jar while you are there. More places will get free wireless if they know that they can get income from it to keep it up. Free wireless is a nice convenience. It allows you to get out of your office, home, or home office and be a part of the world. In return for that convenience, show them some love.

Check our Wifi Access page for a full list of places with Wireless. Please let me know if you would like to add or delete anything on that list.

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Maven’s Raves: Sausalito Cruising Club

The Maven — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:40:24 +0000

Last night I went to the Moving Ahead With Obama meeting at the Sausalito Cruising Club at 300 Napa Street in Sausalito. While I thought the evening among Obama supporters was very enlightening and inspiring, I think I found a really cool place to hang out. The Sausalito Cruising Club is a private club that is available for special events by the public. The windows are dressed with little lights and the whole place has a really comfortable and festive vibe. The place has hosted weddings, christenings, live births(!!!), dead heads, and Rock n’ Roll. Many local musicians from the 1960s and 70s sit in on jam sessions on the boat. Marinmaven.com will be listing events from this venue. I would love to thank Quito and Jimmy at the bar for being so incredibly cool. One of the cool things that I have to check out is their Wifi access. During the summer people sit at tables on the deck and take in the water views. I hope to be back soon.

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Election Day

The Maven — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:24:28 +0000

Today is Election Day. It may not be a presidential election, but it is still important to show up and show your local politicians what you think of the job they are doing. It really does matter who we put into these local offices as they will most directly effect our everyday life here.

Not voting in elections means you do not care what happens in your community, State, or Country as you are relinquishing one of the few means to register your wishes.

Voting alone isn’t enough though. You also have to hold politicians’ feet to fire once they get into office. That means visiting, calling, writing, emailing their offices when they are contemplating actions you care about. We get the government we advocate or fail to advocate for.

So there you have it, my annual plea to get out and vote.

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Marin Maven: The Golden Gate Edition

The Maven — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:07:12 +0000

The Branded Bridge
Huzzah. the Golden Gate Bridge District ultimately voted down proposals for corporate branding on the Golden Gate Bridge in an October 26th meeting.

Okay. So the Golden Gate Bridge District board wasn’t proposing the bridge itself be festooned with corporate logos, but only bridge brochures, benches, trash cans, and other bridge-related projects. I think residents like myself after hearing over and over that each toll increase would be the last, know that once you say yes once they will always come back for more.

Candlestick is Candlestick to me and AT&T/Pacbell Baseball Stadium should have been called Mays Park for perpetuity. I have found that putting up out public spaces for the highest bidding corporation just takes away something from our landmarks. One has to keep track of who is sponsoring a site just to know what to call it. As corporations have to cut back, merge, or go bankrupt, they are forced to pull or change their sponsorship.

There must be a better way to deal with their 80 million dollar deficit. Tolls will most likely go up from $5 to heavens knows what. In my mind, it is not inconceivable that eventually it will cost 10 bucks to cross. There is another idea to have the Bridge allow residents and visitors contribute money on its website and around the bridge.

What do you think?

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