quietnorth

Taking down Billboards

2011-12-31T09:11:00.000-08:00

5 years ago, Sao Paulo, Brazil removed all billboards from the city. Apparently, people like the law.

December Quiet Hunting

2011-12-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

This is the quiet hunting season in the Northwoods-just enough snow to ski, and the Snowmobile trails aren't yet open. You don't have to go out far to away from human sound.

I couldn't find my waxless skis, so I took out the old Asnes and headed out to the Lumberjack trail, hoping that whatever I had on the bottoms would work on a day that seemed warm and cold at the same time. The description of the trail as "ungroomed" is not accurate-it is often groomed by some guy with big boots and several large dogs (Or, some guy being stalked by several large wolves maybe) and by the random skier or snowshoer. You takes your chances.

Chances went my way today-the Sun was shining, the glide wasn't great, but I wasn't sticking or slipping, and it was absolutely still and peaceful.

The Wisconsin Hunter Heritage Bill is Government Social Engineering

2011-12-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

The purpose of the bill is to "recruit" hunters, anglers, and trappers, since interest in these pastimes is declining among young people.

But one might ask: "why is it the government's job to nudge people into doing something they don't want to do? Maybe young people just want to play World of Warcraft instead." And the answer is: to meet important social goals. We need hunters and trappers to manage animal populations, and we need people outdoors in order to build an ethic of caring for the land.

In other words: Government Social Engineering. Nothing wrong with that, but the same logic applies when we nudge people to use public transportation and more efficient vehicles. There are things the government can do to "get" people to do what they wouldn't do otherwise.

The Sports Heritage Bill and Laws that encourage energy efficiency may be well designed or poorly designed, but you can't be in favor of one and criticize the other merely because it is "social engineering"

Crapping up Wisconsin, continued

2011-12-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

This looks very bad, but its about what we could expect:

-The DNR would have to approve or deny an iron mine application within 360 days of deeming the application complete. Current state law doesn't lay out a deadline.
--Contested case hearings on DNR permitting decisions would be eliminated. The hearings allow testimony and cross-examination in a quasi-judicial setting; they've been a crucial recourse for conservationists in the past.
--No one who isn't directly injured by a mining operation could bring a lawsuit challenging DNR permit enforcement or alleging violations of mining laws.
--The DNR would have to issue a mining water withdrawal permit even if the applicant can't show the withdrawals won't hurt the public welfare or the quantity or quality of state waters if the agency decides the mine's public benefits exceed the harm.
--Half of the revenue from a state tax on ore sales would go back to the state's general fund. Currently all the money from the tax is distributed to local governments where the ore is mined.
--The bill acknowledges mining will probably result in "adverse impacts" to wetlands but presumes it's necessary.

Its hard to imagine any case under rules like these in which a permit wouldn't have to be granted. Fortunately, mining companies generally act as good environmental stewards of the land, even without strong oversight, right?

The Republican Franchise means you make the burgers the Koch way

2011-12-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Via, Joe Romm, a great article in the National Journal on why so many Republican politicians-including Presidential candidates- have changed their minds on global warming and became deniers at the same time the evidence for climate change became even more certain.

The answer: The Koch-financed Americans for Prosperity:

"What it means for candidates on the Republican side is, if you … buy into green energy or you play footsie on this issue, you do so at your political peril. The vast majority of people who are involved in the [Republican] nominating process—the conventions and the primaries—are suspect of the science. And that’s our influence. Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it.”

As I said, in order to be a Republican candidate, you are told exactly what positions you will take. While on some level those positions are "ideological", that isn't the case with global warming. This is purely about supporting the interests of the Koch brothers and others like them over the interests of the market and the people of the United States. Simply put, there is no free market right to pollute.

The clearest and most "free market" way to deal with Global Warming pollution would be through a carbon tax in order to create incentives for developing the most efficient market alternatives. Money from the tax would could be funneled back to those, like long distance truckers, most effected by the tax.

The second most "free market" way would be through a cap and trade system. Paradoxically, the Reagan administration proposed the second idea, and Al Gore something like the first.

But Republicans today oppose both. The reason they oppose both is that they know the kind of blizzard that would come down on them if they did.

Walker Strategy number two: Blame the poor

2011-12-02T08:12:00.000-08:00

You are spending tons of money from your corporate handlers on television commercials, but the commoners are still signing recall petitions. Even in the hinterlands! Pretty soon, those friends of yours are going to wonder whether you are up to running their Wisconsin franchise.

So what do you do? Shout "Look! Over there! Poor people!"

Poor people do scam the system. So do rich people. Here is the difference: The scams performed by the wealthy put the country in a recession, nearly brought down the wold economy, required secret bailouts, and still netted the scammers obscene profits and bonuses

Another difference between poor people scams and rich people scams is that when the wealthy get caught, they know their army of lawyers will force the government to settle without even admitting wrongdoing .

Another reason why our cars should drive themselves

2011-10-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

When it comes to car-pedestrian collisions in residential zones, the difference between 20 and 30 miles an hour is a big deal. Eric de Place advocates making it easier for communities to reduce speed limits, but then wonders if drivers will comply anyway.

But why leave it up to the drivers? We have the technology now to make cars stay within the speed limits. This is another example of how our weird idea about cars and transportation gets in the way of safe roads.

The Muller-Best study is Koch's future "Get out of jail free" card

2011-10-31T08:07:00.000-07:00

"Skeptical" Berkeley Professor Richard Muller's BEST study confirmed what climate scientists have been saying for years: The planet is in fact heating up rapidly, just as the models of man-made climate change would predict, and the record, carefully developed by separate climate scientists in a number of previous studies, had predicted.

But in an abundance of caution or scrupulosity, Muller and the BEST group undertook a review of all previous work on assessing whether the climate is indeed warming.

Lots of writers note the supposed irony that a study funded in large part by the Koch brothers confirmed that the climate is heating up in ways predicted by climate scientists. But I think that looks at the Koch brothers' motives in the wrong way.

For years, they have promoted confusion and denial about climate change, in spite of the fact that a vast majority of climate scientists believe the issue is settled.

But even now, the "facts on the planet" are starting to show up in ways that can no longer be disguised. When things go all to hell, people will be looking for heads to roll. The Fossil Fuel industry will need to show that even as 2011, the science was still "unsettled". And so, the real purpose of the study.

The results will do little in terms of science because actual climate scientists had already repeatedly tested and demonstrated that the planet was heating up the way theories of the greenhouse effect predicted all along. Muller merely was the outlier who came in from the cold. (All good scientists are "skeptics" by the way-its the way science works).

The study will do little in terms of public policy, because the media still doesn't cover global warming seriously, and the politicians either ignore reality or actively run against it.

But the study does have a function, because in the future Koch's defense attorneys will be able to point to headlines like "New Study Settles the Debate on the existence of Climate Change" as "proof" that there was an actual scientific debate as late as 2011.

Lets hope that in our newly ravaged world people will still care about nuances like trials and jails.

Koch brothers and environmental regulations

2011-10-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

The Koch brothers masquerade as advocates of private property and free markets against intrusive environmental regulations. But there is no "free market" property right to pollute.

If I fling my dog's poop into your yard, I am violating your property rights. If I am fined or arrested, it is not a sign of too much government, but just the right amount of government to protect those rights.

By buying off politicians, the Koch brothers are not protecting property rights against big government, they are using government to protect their own financial interest in messing up your property rights and health.

This clip from the film Exposed shows the consequences. People in Wisconsin should note that reduced environmental regulations are one of the goals of the Koch supported Walker administration.

Arab spring continues...

2011-08-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

The uprising in Libya got more of a nudge from Western powers, but it was still started by the same revolt against tyranny that led to regime change in Egypt. We don't know yet what the outcome will be, but we can be hopeful that Libyans will be able to enjoy a stable, representative government.

Knowledge not required

2011-08-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

This is a fun quote-during a debate, Kim Simac can't name one piece of legislation she is looking forward to challenging or advancing.

This makes Simac an ideal candidate for a world in which industry funded think tanks like ALEC write the legislation for politicians. If Simac is elected, they will tell her what to vote for or against.

Worse than predicted by the scientists...

2011-08-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Whose predictions about the climate have been correct: Climate scientists or television and radio pundits?

Keep your lamp trimmed and burning...

2011-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

The advice from the Reverend seems appropriate for Dems right now...

What's next?

2011-08-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

The recall election results are depressing. The Republicans hold on to their majority in the Senate, and the momentum for a Walker recall falters a bit.

The good news is that the elections in Republican districts were close. It won't take a lot of swing voters to recall Walker.

Now that the first wave of recalls is over, look to see Walker and the Republicans go to work on the ALEC agenda-with a special focus on repealing State environmental protections and fast-tracking mining operations.

To paraphrase Mencken, the state is about to get what it voted for "good and hard".

Republican candidacy as a franchise

2011-07-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

Someone else has probably thought of this analogy already but I can't think of anyone in particular, so here goes:

Republicans at the local, state, and national level are all voting alike. We can contrast them with the Democrats, who couldn't even get their own party organized when they had the Presidency and both houses of Congress. Or, contrast it with the past, when there was such a thing as a "moderate Republican".

Most commentators blame this fact on the need to placate the Tea Party, and that has got to be partly right-Tea Partiers may not represent the base of Republicans, and certainly not the brains, but they have the energy and committment.

But politicians have to be aware that there are only so many Tea Partiers, and even many of them aren't going to be happy when they hear about the policy positions really impact their lives.

To be a Republican candidate, you have to run as a franchise operation. If you want to start a fast food business, you need lots of capital and resources. Many people decide its easier to buy in to a franchise. But once you have a franchise business, you lose the ability to call the shots. You make the burgers the franchise way.

The owners of the Republican franchise write the bills for the Republican politicians to submit and advance, and give the politicians their marching orders on policy. If you go against the franchise guidelines, you will be replaced by the owners.

So even if you know, as a franchise politician, that a particular piece of legislation is unpopular with your constituents and bad for your State or Nation, you won't vote against it if it comes down from Corporate Headquarters. In this case, "Corporate" being Corporate funded think tanks like ALEC.

Australia gets it: A carbon tax IS the correct conservative response to Climate Change

2011-07-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

While America falls behind the race to develop a renewable energy economy, the Australian Prime Minister actually proposes a price on carbon pollution.

Since there is no free market right to pollute, (see Hayek quote here) we need policies that move us away from the long standing statist practice of allowing harm to the property if individuals through pollution.

Conservatives complain about the government mandating gas milage standards and the kinds of light bulbs we have to buy, but they have already rejected the most free market solution to Greenhouse Emissions pollution-a carbon tax.

How a Franchise operates...

2011-07-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

I would be surprised if anything in the way of concrete evidence turns up in this:

A prominent business leader from state Sen. Rob Cowles' district was stunned when the veteran lawmaker explained why he voted in favor of Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget-repair plan.
Cowles had contacted the business leader earlier this year to ask for the person's support in his upcoming recall election.
"He said, 'I didn't like this (bill) either. I didn't like being put in this position. I didn't like anything about the way it was done,' " the business leader quoted Cowles as saying. " 'But the governor's office told us if we didn't give them our support, they would run a tea party candidate against us.' "

But seriously, does any Republican politician doubt that he or she would be challenged by corporate-sponsored Tea-Party members if they voted against the party line? Does any Republican doubt for a moment that his or her lucrative post-political career as a lobbyist or corporate board member will depend on their voting the party line?

No wonder Cowles is denying the story-if it were true, it would mean he lacked the courage to act on his convictions, and that his Republican handlers thought he was so dim that he had to be told what should have been obvious.

Sea level rise may be worse than predicted...

2011-05-04T13:33:00.001-07:00

Bill McKibben Speaking at Power Shift 2011

2011-04-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

Crystal Stilts - Departure

2011-04-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Some music feels to me like the memory of music-as if you had left a performance with the music still playing in your head.

First blizzard of summer

2011-04-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

I am out of sunflower seeds, and the birds and deer are not happy. The deer are out kicking the heck out of an old leaf pile looking for acorns. On a happy note, the ice went out yesterday.

Matt Yglesias on the true price of coal

2011-04-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Matt Yglesias explains why coal is cheap:

"Coal-fired electricity is cheap for roughly the same reason that pulling a dine and dash at a fancy restaurant is a cheap way to get a nice dinner."

Energy Policy in the United States is not an example of the free market at work. Government allows coal companies the right to hand off the costs of pollution to society. That is a government program, just as putting money into renewables or enacting a tax on carbon would be a government program.

The question is: Which government energy program will lower health care costs, protect the planet, and move our economy forward in a sustainable direction?

New York Times: State level G.O.P. after our natural heritage

2011-04-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

Although the article doesn't mention Wisconsin, the template among these Republican governors is the same-and will certainly be part of the playbook of a Governor who sees Wisconsin and its natural resources as "open for business".

James Fallows on Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan's "serious" proposal

2011-04-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Read the whole article for a great take-down.

Paul Ryan is a follower of Ayn Rand, and requires his staffers to read The Fountainhead. Ayn Rand believed public education was a form of theft, so he must be happy that his Janesville, WI school board is eliminating 130 positions, most of them teachers, as a result of Governor Walker's budget "reform".

How People Get Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act - Kaiser Health Reform

2011-03-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

How People Get Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act - Kaiser Health Reform

Bizarro world John McCain on climate change.

2011-03-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

(Via Ezra Klein) I don't know who this man is, but he bears a remarkable resemblance to John McCain, who currently votes against everything this man here says on climate change...

Rachel Maddow on Republican powergrab in Michigan

2011-03-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Maddow on Michigan

2011-03-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

Maddow on Michigan

Wisconsin for Sale: Strip mine in Northern Wisconsin

2011-02-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

Lets start tracing where this is going. Scott Walker accepted campaign contributions from Gogebic Taconite. Walker seems to see the DNR's primary function as "job creation", so we should expect lots of environmental safeguards will be tossed.

What is next on Walker's list?

2011-02-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

Opening up northern Wisconsin to strip-mining?

Rachel Maddow on Scott Walker

2011-02-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

Shep Smith and Rachel Maddow both agree that Scott Walker is using budget issues as a pretext for destroying unions.

Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald says that public employees don't need unions because they have civil service protections, but Fitzgerald and Walker don't plan on having many public employees around to be covered. The plan, as diagrammed out by the Koch brothers for Walker and Fitzgerald to run, will look like this:

-Use the budget crisis to declare that the state must reduce funding to local governments.

-Pass laws that make it easier for local governments to privatize their work force.

-Create a financial incentive program for local governments to do so.

The best Civil Service benefits will do no good if there is no civil servants to benefit from them. But as Shep Smith and Rachel Maddow point out, the real dividend will be the removal of the last organized group to oppose the creation of a free-market Koch-istan.

Shep Smith on Scott Walker

2011-02-25T09:34:00.000-08:00

What's Next?

2011-02-25T06:29:00.000-08:00

We are still fighting the fight on Governor Walker's plan to strip unions of their bargaining rights. And people are starting to look at the rest of the budget reconciliation bill.

But we also need to make some assumptions about what Walker might do in the future, based on what we see of his approach towards public unions.

The Truth about Walker's Bill....

2011-02-24T18:54:00.000-08:00

I haven't had time to work through the environmental implications of Scott Walker's blitzkrieg bill. As soon as I do, I will let you know.

I will also post a bit about my experience in this whole thing-as someone who was actually on our union's negotiating team as this whole thing came down on us.

But lets start with a few of the facts:

-Scott Walker did not run for office on the idea of destroying public unions. He didn't because he knew (or his handlers knew) that he would have lost the election. Walker attempted to pass this bill with no public discussion-in one week. So any statements made by the Walker side about "democracy" needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

-Unions have agreed to the concessions on benefits that Walker wanted. Walker wants to take away the basic right to organize-a right that Wisconsin has had for 50 years. Few of us would be demonstrating at the Capitol or around the state if it weren't for that.

-The protests in Madison and all over Wisconsin are peaceful, mellow, energetic. Most of the people-by far-are Wisconsinites. But it is inspiring to see demonstrators from other States.

-I will be posting more as I get time.

Republicans against the environment-and the free market

2011-02-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

Imagine that Republicans abolished your local police department, saying that protecting people from theft and bodily danger gets in the way of economic growth.

The Environmental Protection Agency protects people's property and health. There is no more "Free Market" right to pollute than there is a free market right to beat up your neighbor or pour acid in his swimming pool.

Pollution itself is a government program. Politicians grant the right to pollute to their political supporters at the expense of the rest of us.

The attack on the EPA is an attack on the environment, your health, and any real notion of a free market.

Taking the "Conserve" out of Conservativism, part one

2011-02-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin depends on its water resources. Those resources are strained by unrestricted development. Wetlands legislation helps protect the resources upon which Wisconsin depends. Wetlands legislation is, in effect, "conservative".

One of the things other countries admire about the United States is the idea of Rule of Law: That is, laws are supposed to apply to everyone-there aren't specific goodies you get because you are a major campaign contributor. This seems like a pretty good idea to conserve.

In one move, Governor Walker showed he is not interested in conserving the environment or the rule of law.

House Plans to Overturn EPA's finding on Climate Change

2011-02-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

There is no "free market" right to pollute. If the House votes to overturn the EPA restrictions on greenhouse gases, it is voting for a government intervention into the free market.

The EPA is trying, in a moderate way, to mimic the market ideal that one person's activity should not intrude on another person's property or health.

Do we really need to drive anymore?

2011-02-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

Via Wired magazine, Audi passes another milestone on the road to driverless cars. All of the objections seem to be falling by the wayside. Soon, a driverless system will be safer than conventional cars, and at that point we will have to ask whether we want to continue to kill and maim people for the illusion of control that driving gives us. Lots of folks would rather text or put on make-up, anyway.

And you watch em disappear...to California or New York

2010-12-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Governor-Elect Walker.

"Ice is not burdened by ideology"

2010-12-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

Via ClimateProgress, watch this video from Peter Sinclair on the disappearance of Arctic sea ice:

If we had a media that reported the news (and not just what political parties say) the country would be convinced of the problem, and anxious to do something about it.

Tom Friedman: Wikileaks in China

2010-12-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, Thomas Friedman gets it exactly right. Here, he imagines a Chinese diplomat in America writing back home:

"Most of the Republicans just elected to Congress do not believe what their scientists tell them about man-made climate change. America’s politicians are mostly lawyers — not engineers or scientists like ours — so they’ll just say crazy things about science and nobody calls them on it. It’s good. It means they will not support any bill to spur clean energy innovation, which is central to our next five-year plan. And this ensures that our efforts to dominate the wind, solar, nuclear and electric car industries will not be challenged by America."

Friedman's best line:

"The Americans have replaced working to be exceptional with talking about how exceptional they still are. "

Andrew Bird's one-man orchestra of the imagination

2010-12-03T06:35:00.000-08:00

This is funny...

2010-11-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

Motor Trend schools Rush Limbaugh on the Chevy Volt.

Wormwood hasn't yet been tossed down a long flight of stone steps, (metaphorically speaking) but its coming.

5 years from now, no one will remember that they ever listened to this clown.

Northern Wisconsin needs an Open Pit mine

2010-11-22T06:24:00.000-08:00

I am sure this would be a good idea: An open pit mine in Northern Wisconsin. I am sure that the company running this operation will do a better job protecting the environment, than, say, those dirty coal companies in Appalachia:

" The company is a subsidiary of the Cline Group, which controls large coal reserves in Illinois and parts of the Appalachian region."

Oh, well. Fortunately, there aren't any sensitive rivers in the area.

"The Penokee Range is the headwaters for the Bad River, including Copper Falls State Park, and Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay, said Matt Dallman, director of conservation in northern Wisconsin for the Nature Conservancy."

I am sure that everything a coal company tells us about the environment will be on the up and up, so I don't foresee any environmental problems with the project.

Why we don't have to worry about global warming...

2010-11-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

John Shimkus (R-Illinois)-the guy who might be in charge of the Energy and Commerce committee-just told us Man-Made Climate Change can't be happening because God told Shimkus He wouldn't let such a thing happen. So any hearings to prevent, mitigate, or prepare for any hypothetical devastation are unnecessary- though hearings investigating any Baal worshipers otherwise known as Scientists that do not accept the Representative's infallible theological interpretation might be valuable use of his committee's time.

Waiting to Derail...

2010-11-11T07:51:00.000-08:00

The Mayor of Watertown: Walker's turning down High Speed Rail would make Wisconsin the "Laughing-stock of the Nation."

I hope the next election features ads with the governors of New York and Illinois getting on high speed trains saying "Thanks, Wisconsin!"

What is a laughing-stock, anyway? Did laughing-stocks fare better than my retirement funds over the last few years?

2010-11-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

David Roberts had a similar reaction to the James Fallows article on Clean Coal technology: Why does Fallows write as if environmentalists' hatred of coal were the problem? The whole thing is worth reading, but here is a taste:

If "clean coal" development isn't happening in the U.S., it's not because DFHs (Dirty F*#king Hippies) are against it, it's because nothing is happening in the U.S. A piece focused on that corrupt, criminal inaction might rattle a few cages. A piece reassuring Big Coal and its many backers that they'll always be in the driver's seat won't.

Dylan Matthews concurs:

But, as Roberts notes, climate hawks aren't in charge. Because of the filibuster, and now GOP control of the House, the balance of power rests with people who deny the need to take just about any action to stop climate change. So why is Fallows concerned with rebutting them, (Quietnorth note: "them" refers to climate hawks or "Dirty F*&king Hippies" as the case may be) rather than trying to win over people to his right, who are actually in a position to change things?

Oil addiction creates half of our trade deficit

2010-11-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

Via Matt Yglesias: The need for oil makes up half of the United States trade deficit.

Another way that turning down high speed rail is economically foolish.

Fallows Gets Played

2010-11-10T09:21:00.001-08:00

I like James Fallows, but his article on Coal in the Atlantic is a very frustrating unforced error. (It seems the article is no longer available online-don't know if its temporary)

He could have written an article whose main point would be: "We really need strict Carbon Limits because that is the only way we are going to get cleaner technology, including maybe even a kind of coal extraction that doesn't screw up the land, destroy rivers and ruin the climate." He says as much in the article. It is a key point, and a point he probably thinks is a key point, but he chooses not to emphasize it.

Instead, we get an article that screams "WE NEED CLEAN COAL!" which will be further reduced in people's minds to "CLEAN COAL!". He throws in some very long shot ideas on a clean extraction process, and essentially, it becomes another unpaid-for Clean Coal ad whose purpose is to muddy the waters with a product that doesn't exist.

This may seem a bit cranky on my part. But I live in a state that is going to lose high speed rail because polluting industries helped elect an idiot for a governor who doesn't believe in addressing the climate as a problem. So for Fallows to criticize clean energy advocates by saying "We need all climate solutions, including clean coal", I wonder why he isn't directing that back at all the folks from Coal and Oil industries fighting climate legislation and clean energy transportation?

And why does he consider it "theological" to believe in wind and solar as tas answers, but not "theological" to think we are going to be saved by another version of the "clean coal" scam?

Set a strong cap on carbon emissions, and if that leads to a totally clean coal that doesn't screw up the land, no one will be happier than me. But Fallows' article just gives cover to more of the same.

Deep Thought

2010-11-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

Bjorn Lomborg being repeatedly and thoroughly discredited is not enough for Andrew Sullivan to say his latest flip-flop is an "antidote to the fear behind climate change".

Personally, I am not interested in an antidote to fear about climate change, I would prefer an antidote to the actual climate change!

Bill Gates believes in Climate Change

2010-11-07T10:09:00.001-08:00

Jeff Goodell interviews Bill Gates on his hope to find a technological solution to removing carbon from the energy equation.

I like this quote:

Energy innovation is not a nationalistic game. If tomorrow some other country invented cheap energy with no CO₂ output, would that be a bad day or a good day? For anybody who's reasonable, that would be, like, the best day ever. If all you care about is America's relative position, every day since the end of World War II has really been bad for you. So when somebody says to me, "Oh, the Chinese are helping to lower the cost of it, or creating something that emits less CO2," I say, "Great." The Chinese are also working on new drugs. When your children get sick, they might be able to take those drugs.

Another required reading article by Jeff Goodell here. Rolling Stone: One of the last bastions of actual long form journalism.

Financial shortsightedness begins

2010-11-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

In a bid to demonstrate his commitment to financial austerity , Wisconsin's Governor elect Scott Walker has said he will maintain his campaign promise to kill all highway and high speed rail projects and return the money to the federal government.

Oh. He isn't killing the expensive highway projects? Just the rail projects?

Walker knows what climate scientists and military experts don't know- we will always have an unlimited amount of cheap oil, and climate change doesn't exist. So, it won't cost us anything to continue ignoring these made up problems.

But having a high speed rail line foster an economic corridor between Chicago and Minneapolis built with federal dollars will impose an awful burden on Wisconsin.

I am sure the voters will thank him for it in the next election. I know that the States that take those federal dollars will thank him!

F.A. Hayek: There is no free market right to pollute the air

2010-11-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

As Matt Yglesias notes, the current intellectual father of the modern Free Market, anti-government movement had no problem with government controlling air pollution. There is no inherent "right" under a free market to pollute the air.

People who opposed a carbon tax or cap and trade were actually opposing the most free market ways of dealing with air pollution. All that is left is something that looks much more like government regulation of the kind free market people don't like-mandating emission standards. But they only have themselves to blame. John McCain at one time actually understood this, but turned his back on it.

A Carbon tax IS the correct conservative response to Climate Change

2010-10-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Because Congress isn't in the mood to even discuss climate change, the only climate change legislation will come in the form of Clean Energy Jobs bills. But as free market folks point out (at least in those rare instances when they are being truly free market) money will go to the groups that have the most lobbying clout, not the groups that are creating the most truly green technology.

Hence the ethanol boondoggle.

A truly courageous free market approach would tax carbon in order to allow the market to settle on best alternatives. Make the tax revenue neutral by using the proceeds to reform the tax system.

As it stands, we can only count on climate change responses coming from three directions:

Courageous states like California (If Big Business doesn't sink their plans)
Defense Research(The military can't afford to pretend that there isn't a problem with fossil fuels)
The Obama administration using regulatory methods to mandate cleaner technology through the Clean Air Act.

Otherwise, we can only hope that price trends for fossil fuels go high enough quickly enough to force the market into alternatives. This is happening, but unless we are very lucky, it will happen too slowly.

The Wheel of Change

2010-10-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Climate change is happening faster than we are responding. Right now, it seems politically impossible to make the changes we need to make-but in this Dominique Browning interview, Peter Goldmark of the Environmental Defense Fund hopes for a movement of young people in the next generation.

I'm with James Fallows...

2010-09-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

The Duffer's Paradox

2010-08-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

One advantage of becoming a runner in midlife is that I delayed the inevitable connection between age and performance. If a person runs at their peak performance in their 20's and 30's and 40's, they probably have hit their Personal Record somewhere in there.

But since I didn't start running till my late 40's, I had never felt that I had run as fast as I was going to. At my level of fitness, the degree of training was a much more important variable than age.

I call this the Duffer's Paradox.

This last spring, I changed my stride a bit and hit a 2:04 half marathon, and had hopes of even doing a sub four marathon. Not a lofty goal for runners, but to steal an idea from Blake, one goal for the Lion and one for the Ox is tyranny.

But now I find that I may have hit my personal best, and 2:04 in the half will be as good as it gets. I had quite a bit of pain early in the summer, which flared back later on, and it appears that I have stress fractures in my upper legs.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up running. But I know the day will come when I have to start thinking of other motivations for running than hitting new personal records.

Libertarianism and the floods in Pakistan and Bangladesh

2010-08-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

Matt Yglesias captures an essential point about libertarianism in ideal vs practical form:

The orthodox view among American conservatives and libertarians and “free market” advocates more generally is that if I want to walk up to the edge of my lawn and then turn my garden hose on and start messing up your lawn, than the correct capitalist response is to say that I’m doing something wrong. If I totally wreck your garden, that’s worse. If I spray water into your house and wreck your stuff, that’s worse too. Even if your house is kind of dumpy and poor and not worth very much money, it’s still wrong for me to just randomly spray water into it. Even if I really really enjoy spraying your house, it’s still wrong. I either need to stop spraying your house or else I need to reach an agreement with you about how I’m going to compensate you for the right to spray. If I insist on continuing to spray your house with water without mutual acceptable compensation, then shutting my operation down should be a matter of some social priority.

If that were the case, then libertarians would be out front in wanting to stop pollution, especially greenhouse gases like C02. No matter how useful or practical the action was, if it violated other people's property (even poor people!) it would have to be shut down. But as Yglesias notes, in practice free market conservatives and libertarians generally support policies that reflect the interests of their wealthy patrons.

Bear etiquette

2010-07-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

I was biking on "Old K" when a mother bear and three (yes, three!) cubs lumbered out onto the road in front of me and just sat there! At one in the afternoon! I went a good ways in the other direction...and tried to get my fingers steady enough to work the cell phone camera's buttons, to no avail. I was a bit shaky. The mother bear and three just sat there for a bit. My bike derailleur and shifters are thirty years old. If the bear decided to go after me, I had enough space that I could have outpedalled it, IF everything worked right. But they soon moved in into the woods, the cubs first. I sat a while, wondering what the official polite time was to wait for the bears to disappear. Was there some sort of human-bear contract about this? It was the kind of etiquette question I really wanted to get right. Or should I just go back and take the long way, on Highway K? I was about to go forward again when another cub, this one scrawny and bedraggled, crossed the road. Geez, this was Day Care for Bears! Sorry, no pictures.

Fireworks are for the fourth, and the fourth is over, cont...

2010-07-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

People launch fireworks in the northwoods for one of two reasons:

1) they think the northwoods is a wilderness: they can do what they want because no one else is around. The truth is,it isn't a wilderness, its a neighborhood, there are lots of folks around who come to the northwoods for quiet recreation. It is what the northwoods has to offer, that no other place has. If a person launch fireworks here as opposed to wherever they are from, its because they think it doesn't matter to most people who vacation or live here. But it does.

2) Some people know, but really just don't care, that other people are around who want to enjoy the northwoods in peace. Like people with loud mufflers, part of the enjoyment is screwing with someone else's private space. As we rank what values we should try to have in the northwoods, violation as a form of pleasure shouldn't rank very high.

Stop using fireworks in the northwoods.

Fireworks are for the Fourth, and the fourth is over.

2010-07-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

Time to let the Northwoods do what the Northwoods does best. Loons, wood thrush, owls, peepers, coyotes-Lots of critters sound great all by themselves!

Wisconsin's Sensenbrenner and stock in BP

2010-06-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

Nothing to see here. A Representative who will investigate BP owns a bunch of stock-and stands to lose a bundle. Will he recuse himself? Probably not. Probably difficult to find many not tied to BP. Which shows why it is impossible to get a climate bill through Congress.

Worldwide, Scientists defend Climate Science research

2010-05-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

Many people just aren't interested in the science, anyway-the supposed East Anglia "scandal" was just cover to continue pretending there is some kind of scientific debate about climate change.

But for those who still might have respect for science, but think there is some kind of debate about human made climate change, read this.

A note on Government Regulation

2010-04-22T11:38:00.001-07:00

Since it is earth day, it is a good time to note a particular point about how environmental issues are misrepresented in the news. In this Wisconsin Public Radio news program "DNR Butts heads over phosphate controls", we are informed that controls on Phosphates are wrong because they represent intrusive government regulation.

In a free market society, you are allowed to make and sell stuff to me as long as, in the process, we don't screw with other people's stuff.

The purpose of Government, on a truly "Free Market" view, is to stop us if in fact we are screwing up other people's stuff. In the real world, however, we have never lived in a free market society so the government decides, through intrusive government regulation, how much we can mess up other people's stuff.

If a person liked to swim or fish in a lake that is now turning into a fetid, stinking green algae swamp because of phosphates, it was "Intrusive Government Regulation" that allowed it to happen, by choosing to allow users of phosphates to dump them into other people's (in this case, our) property.

If we are the folks who make a profit by turning lakes into fetid, stinking algae swamps, it is also "Intrusive government regulation" that will stop us.

In other words, as long as we don't adopt a strictly Libertarian Free market society (which would prevent all pollution, but at a cost no society will ever choose to bear), then the give or take of "intrusive government regulation" is what all of us are going to live with. It shouldn't be raised as some sort of evil on only one side of the equation.

Krazy talk from Ken Krall

2010-03-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

I missed this column in Newsnorth.net-a great local online newspaper. Ken Krall seems to feel that, in addition to producing deer for hunters, the northwoods may have some other purposes as well, and that we should consider those purposes in our overall deer management. I don't really know what to make of it.

From newsofthenorth: Oneida County offers Trail maps

2010-03-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

quiet recreation is good for business and good for health!

Water resources and the environment

2010-03-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

Give credit where its due: Lakeland Time's Richard Moore writes an article that inches (comparatively) towards balance: Instead of simply aligning business interests against regulation, he quotes a number of sources that point out that water resources are important to property values, business, and health.

What would really be helpful would be to show a map of Wisconsin that highlighted:
:
-Past water problems and how much they cost taxpayers and businesses to clean up or fix.
-Potential future water problems and how much they will cost the taxpayers and businesses if they occur.

Too often, costs to business are only put on one side of the regulatory question. Regulation certainly has its costs, but sometimes, lack of regulation costs even more.

Since I don't have to be fair and balanced, It must be said that Representative Scott Gunderson seems like the kind of knob that believes there is no problem an unregulated free market economy can't fix, therefore, water resources and global warming can't be real problems.

Do we really want to drive anymore? (cont) Green Road

2010-03-08T18:20:00.001-08:00

This company is already on the case.

Do we really want to drive anymore? (cont.) "You've been speeding..."

2010-03-08T18:13:00.001-08:00

Another slate article explores installing driver feedback monitors. What if insurance companies used feedback monitors to determine car insurance prices?

Do we really want to drive anymore? (cont.) Car's computers

2010-03-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Slate's Farhood Manjoo is right: the most dangerous part of a car is behind the wheel. Computers have made cars safer. But he is still unserious as he won't mention the most obvious and inexpensive way to make cars safer: Lower the top speeds cars can go to 70 mph. You can listen to a radio interview here

Quote of the day

2010-02-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

Alexander McCall Smith channels Plato, perhaps....

"The problem, of course, was that people did not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They needed to be reminded about this, because if you left it to them to work out for themselves, they would never bother. They would just find out what was best for them, and they would call that the right thing. That's how most people thought."

Alexander McCall Smith, The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

This last January was the hottest on record.

Definitions

2010-02-28T10:12:00.001-08:00

If you are running for a political office, you are a politician. If that is too circular for you, try this: If you considered how to frame an issue in order to increase the likelihood of getting elected, you are a politician.

If your method of framing an issue in order to get elected is to say you aren't a politician, then you are a politician...and a huckster.

Spreading disinformation update...

2010-01-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

Don't be fooled by this astroturf debate.

Experts believe global climate change is real, that human production of greenhouse gases is likely to be disastrous, and that we need to drastically reduce emissions-something that will require courage and creativity.

Some corporations will be winners, and some-like Exxon- will be losers.

Fortunately for Exxon and unfortunately for us, they don't need to prove that global warming isn't a problem, they only need to spread the idea that there is some sort of "debate". Then, any real solution to the problem like Cap and Trade or a carbon tax will seem extreme. (Same tactics used by Tobacco companies at the expense of thousands of lives-but this time many more people will die and the price tag will be beyond calculation)

A quick web search will help you connect the dots from the Marshall Institute to Exxon.

Again: As close as consensus gets; scientist believe man made climate change is happening, and it will be a disaster if we don't act.

What Exxon and the Marshall Institute are up to is not "conservatism" or the defense of the free market, it is pure self interest at the terrible expense of humanity. Consider: If there was a 20 percent chance of a terrorist attack causing a fraction of the damage that experts tell us will happen due to climate change, shouldn't we act to stop it? The thing is, we should be much more sure of global climate change than a 20 percent possibility

Rising Sun Grange

2010-01-17T07:09:00.001-08:00

An itch I haven't scratched: The Rising Sun Grange. I drive by this building every week, and I have always wondered at its history. It isn't a Wisconsin-like name. (On the other hand, hwy 26 also directs us to El dorado. Must be an interesting story there as well.) But the contrast between the sign and the signed grows every year. With all of us, maybe?

Wisconsin State Journal editorial on Harley Noise

2010-01-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

The Wisconsin State Journal has an editorial about motorcycle noise that doesn't actually address any of the complaints about motorcycle noise. Instead, they take umbrage at a group called "Noise Free America", calling them shrill for, well, taking umbrage at motorcycle noise.

I don't know anything about the group "Noise Free America". Perhaps they are shrill and use a shotgun approach to advocacy. But, from their press release, the group seems to make four points that the editorial staff could have attempted to refute with evidence and argument. To summarize:

-Harleys are loud, as motorcycles go.
-Many Harley owners make a virtue of making their bikes even louder with after-market tinkering.
-Noise is unhealthy for us.
-Noise screws with a lot of other people's interests and activities.

Instead, the only point that the Wisconsin State Journal manages to address is the final one, and only the way that all such complaints are addressed: By name calling. Or, to be more generous, with the following argument: "Complaining that noise screws with your interests and activities isn't a valid point because we don't recognize your interests and activities."

A recent television commercial showed the joy of Harley riders cruising along winding rural Wisconsin roads. Rural roads often wind because they follow river valleys. Canoeists and Anglers also like river valleys-partly because they are ways of getting away from human noise. This does not have to be a conflict because motorcycles don't have to make so much noise.

Albino Deer Blogging

2010-01-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

I was grading assignments at home in December when I looked up to see him. This one really seems to like sunflower seeds this time of year-I think we took a picture of him last Christmas. I only had my cell phone camera, and the picture was taken through the kitchen window. Bruce Card helped improve the image. (Photoshopped the antlers and colored it white. In spite of what you hear, there are no albino deer in Wisconsin. )

Making quiet cars loud...

2009-10-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

so we are talking about making electric cars louder

I have said this before: Instead of making quiet cars louder, wouldn't we have just as much safety by making loud vehicles quieter? A car with loud pipes makes every ordinary car too quiet for pedestrians to hear. So, I would be willing to make a quiet car a little louder when we finally do something about loud cars.

Carbon offsets, Guilt, and Karma

2009-09-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Apparently, you can purchase a carbon offsets from airport kiosks to counteract the carbon impact of your flight. NPR correctly asks how someone would know if what you buy is really offsetting your flight. But are they right to suggest that a person who does this is trying to "offset guilt"? Isn't that begging the question?

It seems the media can only discuss environmental motivation in terms of guilt absolution-

What about simply trying to minimize our carbon footprint because it will help reduce global warming? Or because we feel it is a duty to future generations? Or out of a sense of virtuous self-reliance? (we clean up our own messes?)

Perhaps, unconsciously, a part of us is hoping the earth will recognize that we are good people who "feel bad", so the earth will forgive us. But in the long run, it is the earth's facts, and not the earth's emotions, that will "knock us right on the head", as John Lennon said of Instant Karma. It would be good if the media focused more on that, and less on concepts like guilt.

Banning Road Bikes on Roads in Iowa

2009-07-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Via Joel Patenaude: A "safety" group wants to ban bikes from Iowa's rural roads.

You can see how this went down: More people are enjoying the sport of biking, which leads to more frustrated drivers of gasoline powered entitlement machines. They can't merely say "we don't like to have to slow down for bicycles", so they raise it as a safety concern and throw in a bogus conflict with agricultural interests for good measure.

Here is a way to deal with safety concerns: Put governors on all cars that keep them at 65 mph. Better yet, connect the governors to an electronic system that keeps them at 55 on rural roads, and automatically slows them to 45 when they approach farm machinery, bikes, or road construction.

"Hands Off Driving"

2009-07-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

Third Eye used this phrase in the comments section of a Wired article on technology that enables the blind to drive. I like the phrase "Hands Off Driving, but the technology that enables the blind to drive will also mean no one ever has to-it will be the cars that do the driving.

Climate science arguments.

2009-07-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

I hope people who don't believe in what the climate scientists are saying will be laughing at us 20 years down the road. Until then, here are all your climate science rebuttals in one place:

Do we really want to Drive anymore? (continued)

2009-07-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Matthew Yglesias on Cell Phones and Driving.. Matt mentions the strange disregard for the dangers of automobiles.

Soon, two facts are soon going to dawn on our consciousness:

Driving is usually so boring that we would rather be doing something else.
Cars are soon going to drive themselves more safely and efficiently than we can drive them.

With self driving cars, we will be able to eat, text, watch a movie and even try out that new Belgian ale while watching the scenery go by. And no, you shouldn't be doing that now.

So, how will people get their need for speed? On the racetrack. Just as amateur golfers have fueled the growth of golf courses in this country, you will see more race tracks developed for folks who like to drive fast. And those folks won't be sharing the race track with families in minivans heading to WalMart.

Solving the energy crisis and the lack of public restrooms on the road...

2009-07-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Peemobiles

Do we really want to drive anymore?

2009-07-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

We would rather eat instead, apparently.

What I need to know and what I want to know

2009-07-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

What I need to know: How am I responsible for the problems in the world? What must I do to solve them?

What I want to know: How are other people to blame for the problems in the world? How can I demonize them to justify myself?

Walter Cronkite, RIP

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall..

2009-07-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

A few thoughts on global warming and northern Wisconsin's drought.

Dylan's song seems totally appropriate. The hard rain in northern Wisconsin is no rain at all. Everyone laughs when they read a forecast that predicts "a chance" of rain.

Some are still talking about drought cycles, but more and more I suspect we are whistling past the graveyard. Scientists are using the words "historic" and "unprecedented".

I hope I am wrong, and I am of course no expert, but I think Northern Wisconsin is i the first stages of a calamity caused by a climate shift. Our lakes will never be the same. There is little that can be done. This calamity won't happen over centuries, but decades. We will watch it happen.

Cap and Trade and Palin

2009-07-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

Conor Clarke puts it simply;

The point of cap and trade is to solve a problem of social cost: As an energy consumer, I am imposing a cost on society (pollution) that I do not take into account when I make the original decision to consume.
This happens all the time. My decision to drive creates traffic that imposes a cost on society. A company's decision to fish in the ocean imposes a cost on the world's common stock of fisheries. A banker's decision to take on a huge amount of risk creates danger for the economy as a whole. The problem is that none of these private actors adequately bears the cost of their decisions. So, the usual solution is to increase the price of these decisions -- with congestion charges, or private property rights, or taxes -- so that private consumers take into account social costs.

Paying for costs seems to me to be an essential part of capitalism, no?

By the way, why are we looking for hidden reasons for Sarah Palin quitting, as she says, the "Title" of Governor? She quits, and gets a cover story in Time and space to write an ignorant op-ed for the Washington Post. Do we need any other reason?

Augmented reality

2009-07-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

In today's New York Times (registration required), I read an interesting article on how information technology devices can seamlessly add to our ordinary experience. Think of the first down lines that are magically added to televised football games, or an app that shows locations of restaurants on your car.

But augmented reality can be more than an information source. It could create worlds of magical creatures or transform any environment into a virtual video game. I just thought of one: You know how people create avatars for discussion boards and environments like Second Life? What if you could create a pair of glasses that allowed you to see people as their avatars? The world would be populate by all kinds of magical creatures.

The money quote:

“The real world is way too boring for many people,” Mr. Sánchez-Crespo said with a laugh. “By making the real world a playground for the virtual world, we can make the real world much more interesting.”

A few disconnected thoughts:

-The real world as we experience it is always augmented by our brains.
-Quiet solitude in the natural world is boring at first, and our impulse is to augment it with trappings like fireworks, competition, internet access, and thoughts and plans.
-Many people will want the experience of disconnecting from augmentation. That is the function of natural places.

My waterfront property is still there...

2009-07-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

I double checked once again, and my lake property is still there, Richard Moore's screed notwithstanding. The DNR won't let me grow lawn down to the water's edge like I was a baron on an English country manor, because that would screw up the environment. The DNR won't let me built a party platform for a dock, because it would ultimately destroy the character of the lake I live on. The DNR will set some limits on how I build or remodel, because its job is to protect an incredible resource.

One can agree or disagree about particulars, but it is goofy to say we have a property right that prevents restrictions on what we do on northern lakes. In our Madison house, I can't put cars on blocks and leave them on my front lawn. I have to put in sidewalks if the village requires it.

IF we were enforcing absolute property rights, I would ban all human sounds coming in from outside my property. I didn't ask for them. I own a perfectly fine set of sound wave patterns created by the wind through the trees, woodpeckers, loons, and a perpetually offended red squirrel. No car noises, no dogs barking, no leaf blowers or chains saws. Keep your sound waves to yourself.

But it isn't this myopic version of libertarianism that bothers me-its the fact that the Lakeland Times editorial page has for years abandoned its role as an educator for people moving up to the Northwoods.

Lets say its not up to the DNR to regulate aesthetics-doesn't that mean newspapers have an even greater role in protecting the character of northwoods lakes? Shouldn't the Lakeland Times be spending at least as much time encouraging voluntary restraint in building near the water? Or Showing people how it is in their interest to do so in a way that preserves ?

Deep Thought

2009-07-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

Red Squirrels have quite a sense of entitlement.

Who knew?

2009-07-07T06:49:00.001-07:00

The ancient Kickapoo River bluffs are greatly improved by a thumping stereo system, firecrackers, and loud whoops (offered in sort of a backwards drunken stagger). The bluffs reverberate the sound for about a half a mile up and down the river, so (democratically) everyone gets a chance to hear.

When we canoed the river, we just floated along the cool bluffs in silence, so amazed by their ancient presence that we often bumped into the walls because we didn't want to hear our paddles. But we were newcomers, and we didn't have the proper examples offered by two groups on the river.

Fireworks are for the 4th, and the 4th is done

2009-07-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

Lets hope quiet season has begun.

But if you need any other reason, how about injuries, fires, screwing up lakes, and disrespecting your neighbors?

Cars too quiet and too loud.

2009-07-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

Apparently there is a move afoot to make the Prius noisier, out of a concern for pedestrians and bikers. As a Prius owner, I am not opposed to some increase in the sound of a Prius in the interest of general safety. But why just focus on quiet vehicles as a danger to pedestrians and bikers? Loud exhaust systems must make regular exhaust systems at least as hard for pedestrians and bikers to hear as a Prius is. When laws against loud pipes are actually enforced, I will gladly tie the proverbial bell on my car.

All fireworks pretty much suck, actually

2009-07-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

When I started to read this Slate article, I thought Troy Patterson was a kindred spirit.

Even if you manage to avoid actually looking at their meaningless nonsense—which is essentially the same nonsense, show after show, year after year—their noise will disturb what should have been a pleasant lack of consciousness. Do we not have an unalienable right to be left alone?

But then, I learn Troy is only bothered when people are disturbed by professional fireworks.

Let me be clear: I have no truck with firecrackers or bottle rockets or Roman candles or anything else that one might set off in one's cousins' backyard. Those are pretty fun, especially if you happen to be in any of the magnificent 50 states where that particular type is banned by law at that particular moment. Doing dangerous stuff in your cousin's backyard is an important element of American folk culture. Those firecrackers are handsomely humble.

Troy wants to show himself to be a true man of the people, I guess. But I would rather be bothered once a year by boring professional fireworks than every weekend by people who see rural areas as their own private noise dump.

What the media doesn't discuss regarding snowmobile deaths...

2009-01-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

The connection between this and this

We will see exposes on bars that overserve snowmobilers- a good public service, no doubt-but wouldn't it show even more courage to take on manufacturers who sell overpowered machines-("the world's fastest production machine") that achieve speeds that can't possibly be safe?

Snowmobile manufacturers seem to pay no penalty for profiting from selling unrealistic speed.

Wil Losch on why we shouldn't celebrate low gas prices...

2009-01-27T14:28:00.000-08:00

From last November, but timely now.

I'd call that a bargain

2008-10-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

I am looking at an ad for A Lakeland TImes type Anti-DNR screed. The ad's main "shocking" selling point is that "Every Man, Woman, and Child" pays 109 dollars to support the DNR.

Wouldn't that be a great headliner for someone writing a pro-DNR book? I had no idea that was all it cost to safeguard the incredible Natural Resources we have in Wisconsin.

Hurray for Boulder Junction!

2008-10-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

Boulder Junction keeps the bike trail growing! This extension will tie resorts, residential areas, and businesses north and west of the town to the "Heart of the North" trail. And eventually, they will be the connecting links to Manitowish Waters, Land O Lakes, and Presque Isle.

"Is it near that Bike Trail?" is going to be heard by every resort and motel owner in Vilas and Oneida County.

Ford MyKey helps control speed, noise

2008-10-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

So a key can help parents slow their kids down and keep the volume lower.

Why don't insurance companies offer a discount for ANYONE agreeing to use a key like this?

Better yet: If we want to immediately cut down on the use of foreign oil, save lives, and reduce green house gases, why not a federal mandate for a key that keeps speeds down to 65?

No Need for Speed

2008-09-08T05:52:00.000-07:00

Kent Sepkowitz advocates making cars that can't speed. As I've argued in the past, a very simple way to cut traffic deaths, carbon emissions, energy use, and road noise. My only complaint: Sepkowitz advocates installing cruise controls that keep cars at 75. Why not 65?