We are gearing up for our first winter storm here in the pacific northwest today. I've become quite addicted to local area weather bloggers over the past couple of years, and while I don't think I want to blog daily about it, this storm might be interesting enough to give it a try.
The title link will take you to the NOAA's national weather site for the seattle area.
• A strong Pacific storm will move into Western Washington Friday bringing:
– Abrupt transition to much colder temperatures across the region
– Heavy mountain snow
– Threat of lowland snow Friday night through the weekend
– Outlook into next week is continued cold with some moderation around mid week
I'll be spending the storm in Kitsap County, where the snowfall is predicted to be between 2 and 8 inches. Most of the county enjoys protection by the olympic mountains from the buffeting ocean winds, and warmer temperatures along it's sound. From time to time however, that cupped feature can trap cold air allowing for rare but significant amounts of snowfall.
The morning started off windless, and dry. Over the past hour (930a-1030a) the wind has picked up in gusts, sending the tree limbs swaying. The gusts have slowed now (1045a), and the periods in between are calm. The rain began lightly falling about 930am, and is now quite steady. The thermometer (digital, suctioned to the exterior of my double pane kitchen window) says that it's 41 degrees out, while the MSN sidebar weather tool says it's 37.
I can see that the next door property owner has cut down several trees recently that overhung the yard and possibly parts of the home. Good thinking in this circumstance, however the trees were located on a quite steep embankment leading toward the residence. The root systems from those trees appear to be integral to the integrity of the embankment. I hope the higher than normal rain prediction for our area this winter doesn't cause problems over there. The home I am staying in is surrounded by quite large trees with long (very) branches extending out to catch the light. After seeing 1 inch thick ice on tree limbs this morning on the news (not around here) I am a little nervous for the freezing temperatures predicted for a couple days from now. Even now, simply the weight of the rain water is bending some of these branches. Add the weight of snow and then freeze it ....
That having been said, I'm going to throw on the rainboots, scarf and hat now to scurry off to the store for some last minute supplies. I don't need much, as I don't have a generator and refuse to burn wood in the fireplace. So, if the power goes out I will be heading to the nearest friends/hotel with power.
I will add a blog post again when the weather changes, and will possibly include pictures/video if it gets very interesting. So, if following local weather blogs is your thing, or you are just interested in south Kitsap county weather as it happens over the course of this storm, stay tuned!
I began this search as I was watching the automakers, GAO and UAW speaking to congress. Sen. Tom Carper made a comment, rather paid a compliment to, the automakers that set me back in my seat, furrowed my brow and finally elicited a rather loud vocal response directed at the TV screen. "We face the voters, and one of the questions that is sometimes on their minds is 'what have you done for me lately'. 'And I think you are all going through a little bit of that lately too in terms of what have you done for us lately in terms of productivity..., ...bringing down the labor costs, ...what have you done for us in terms of improving quality, ...and in terms of improving fuel efficiency?' I was about to applaud, I reached for my keyboard to look this senator up as I listened intently for reactions from the big three. What I in fact heard next caused my hopes to fall, and instead of reaching to look up the senator, I went in search of his donations. "You've actually, I think any fair minded person would say on every one of those fronts, you've done a lot! You've done a lot!"
Productivity - FAIL - Any gains in this area have happened outside the borders of the US. IE Mexico
Labor costs - FAIL - Each car is sold at a loss, the reason the UAW is at the table with you.
Quality - FAIL*FAIL - Double failing grade here. With the exception of a couple of models produced only for European markets, American made cars continue to trail those from nearly every other country. Not only didn't you pass, you didn't even show up for the test.
Efficiency - FAIL*FAIL*FAIL - All of you spend millions every year to lobby congress in an attempt to stave off increasing CAFE standards. You spend millions more advertising and sponsoring large, inefficient cars, trucks, SUV's, Hummers etc and little to nothing making 'small and efficient' cool.
So naturally, I thought "he must be in the bag for the big three" and went to check donations. Not as easy as it seems. In reviewing the 'automobile manufacturers' political contributions (click here), I've had to do some adding of figures to get to a total of how much any 'one' company has contributed. The list of donors includes the usual suspects - Ford, GM, Chrysler, Nissan, Lexus, Mitsubishi and Honda. But along with those obvious are the less obvious, and suspicious. The number 5 contributor is 'Alliance of Automobile Manufactures'. What? Well, that must be for those that didn't contribute in their own name right? Wrong. A quick check of the members list for this 'alliance' finds familiar names, BMW, Mercedes, Mazda, Porsche and Volkswagen. Fine. But in addition to those names, we find (again) Chrysler, Ford, GM, Mitsubishi and Toyota! The total contributions for the Alliance were $21,850. With 10 members, that's $2185 each. Not much. Next comes a contributor called 'General Parts International', hmmm.. That's CarQuest Autoparts.... anyway. Daimlerchrysler is listed twice, once as mentioned and once as daimler chrysler. $6500 and $5650 contributed for a total $12150. Another name not expected is Badenoch LLC. This is a research and development Co with an NAICS of industrial design services. Yeah, that fits in with automobile manufacturers. Can you say creative accounting boys and girls?
I didn't find a lot of direct contributions to this senator from the auto industry, just some. I went back to his bio and it hit me. Mr. Carper is a senator from Delaware. The corporation capital of the country. ( I was going to say world, but that's just not so anymore, is it?)
I don't know a lot about this senator, might he have been calming the waters before dive bombing? His remarks were next directed to Mark Zandi, thanking him for previously providing what he calls a 'bang for the buck' reports, and asks for his opinion on the biggest bang for the buck here. Zandi says the government should provide aid, there is no choice. The cost of ensuring that the automakers don't go into bankruptcy in the next 3-4 years is going to cost more than $34 billion. He gave a range of $75-125 billion. Per Zandi, this is the total number taxpayers will be on the hook for, that includes hart (he was hard to understand here, could be 'our' 'art' or some other acronym) money, sec136 money... Zandi goes on to say that if they (the automakers) stick to the script, they will come out very viable companies. The problem according to Zandi is that sticking to the script outside of bankruptcy is going to be very, very difficult. Mentioning stakeholders, creditors, the UAW, suppliers and dealers all to deal with. So plan on them not sticking to the script. Zandi says allocate $34 billion for them but not all at once. GM wants $10bil to get them through to March 31st. Chrysler needs $7bil. Ford doesn't need anything. Zandi would give them this much of the $34bil to avoid any bankruptcy through Mar31. He agrees with a board for oversight, and especially the idea of a single person in the short term to streamline and expedite the recovery plan. At the Mar31 deadline, benchmarks must have been met to receive the next round of funding. He also suggests the companies use the time between now and then to prepare for bankruptcy. He concludes by insisting everyone stick to the idea that 'this is it'.
Carper follows the comments by Zandi with a single question about how to ensure a reasonable return to the taxpayers in order to take on the risk, which is answered by one witness with no followup questions. Carper then goes on to say that he doesn't think the automakers are getting enough credit for what they have already done! He thinks these 3 companies 'have positioned themselves to make a go it' within a couple of years. ... Ford has been in operation since 1903, General motors since 1908 and Chrysler since 1925. And they've positioned themselves over the past couple of years to 'make a go of it'? Oh really! The GM balance sheet for the past 3 years stacks up like this: Net tangible assets (assets-liabilities including stock value) '05 $10,258,000 '06 ($6,559,000) '07 ($38,160,000) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=GM&annual Ford comes up like this '05 $7,497,000 '06 ($40,236,000) '07 $3,559,000 http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=f&annual and Chrysler (Daimler AG, DAI) like this '05 $37,162,919 '06 $41,862,752 and '07 $48,646,941 (keeping in mind a majority of this company's business is outside the US) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=dai&annual
It's fun to note that when I went to the chryslerllc.com website, the splash pages says this (and only this) "It's not a bailout to keep us from failing. It's a loan to help us succeed. We are investing in the creation of new technologies for more environmentally responsible vehicles, reduced emission vehicles and emission free electric vehicles. As early as 2010 our exciting lineup of vehicles will offer an electric drive system. With a link to read more about their plan for a successful future, to learn more about their ENVI vehicles and a link to watch a video so that you may "See why you should care about the US auto industry". But I digress.
Senator Carper, your remarks today weren't in keeping with reality. Not only have these 3 companies had the time and experience to 'make a go of it' without any help, they haven't held to the 'free market' diatribe and they haven't performed in their own shareholder's best interests, much less the best interests of their employees or their customers. They've asked for and been given - repeatedly - tax breaks, incentives, grants and loans all with the promise of 'new technology', 'more efficient vehicles' and 'world class quality and safety'. These three automakers together make up the number 2 position in the world for sales http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaker, while being last in the world for quality, efficiency and safety. What in the world were you thinking with this thinly veiled attempt at questioning that was, in fact, 7 minutes of undeserved compliments and praise?
Energy conservation. There are 3 schools of thought, generally.
1) Why should I give up the good life
2) My efforts won't contribute enough to matter
3) I'll do what it takes to conserve
Thanks to the 3rd group, for 30+ years of effort in designing, engineering and implementing the ideas and tools available to us today, groups 1 and 2 now have what it takes to join the effort with no reservations.
Facing energy shortages, the city of Austin purchased land at the edge of town to build a new power plant. It was necessarily close, posing health issues. It was going to be quite expensive and take longer to finish than they really had time to wait. So with research and experience from the treehuggers, nerds, geeks, enviros and offgridders the city came up with a plan. They would build a power plant that required no land clearing, no construction, no pollution. They set out to build a Conservation Power Plant. Their goal was simple in thought, logistically daunting and unprecedented. Conserve as much power through community effort as would be produced by building a new power plant. Click on the image below to see the results of their effort.
The above clip is part of a longer program, Kilowatt Ours; A Plan to Re-Energize America which aired on PBS stations over the last few months, and tonight here in the Seattle area. The documentary highlights what is hard for most Americans to grasp. There are 301 million Americans. If just one room in every home in America were lit by Energy Star lighting, it would be like removing 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. 31,500,000 kWh could be saved every year if every exit sign in America were upgraded to LED bulb. There are A LOT OF US, when each of us does a small thing it turns into huge thing, a never been done before thing. During the drought and subsequent energy shortage in California in 2001, there wasn't enough time to build new power plants to avoid the crisis. So much like other leaders before him in the face of such a crisis, the Governor asked his citizens to pitch in. Raise the thermostat to 78, unscrew 1 in 4 light bulbs... and they did. What they accomplished that summer broke world records, and set them on the path leading our country to energy independence. Below is a short clip from the program;
In the fall of 2000 over 300 million gallons of coal slurry were spilled into the Big Sandy River in Martin County, KY. Although this ecological disaster was 30 times greater than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, very few people outside of Kentucky hear about it.
Visibility in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has declined 60% over the last 60 years. (We need plants to breath, eat and drink. Plants need sunlight to grow) 83% of the visibility-reducing haze in Smoky Mountains National Park is from sulfate particulates from coal-burning power plants. The American Lung Association listed 10 southern cities in the Southeast among the top 25 most air-polluted cities in America. The EPA estimates that 33 million Americans in the Southeast alone live in bad-air areas.
40 of 50 states post statewide mercury advisories warning that fish are unsafe to eat.
The Centers for Disease Control say that 1 in 10 women of childbearing age carry unsafe levels of mercury in their tissues.
• Compact fluorescent light bulbs use 20% as much electricity as a 100-watt incandescent bulb and last years longer too.
• New energy-efficient refrigerators are 40% more efficient than they were just two years ago.
• If just one room in every home in America were lit by Energy Star lighting, it would be like removing 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
• A typical washing machine uses 1,000 kWh per year of electricity. An energy-efficient frontloading washer uses only 280 kWh.
• The city of Birmingham, Alabama, now saves $220,000 after upgrading all 700 street intersections with LED traffic signals.
• When the Sumner County School System in Tennessee found that geothermal heating and cooling in a new school helped them save $5,000 per month on energy, they decided to retrofit every school in the county with this cost-cutting technology.
• Smith Middle School in North Carolina uses a technique called “daylighting” to flood classrooms with natural light.
• The Sullivan County School System in Tennessee finances their $24 million energy upgrade with the $1 million they save on energy every year.
• 31,500,000 kWh could be saved every year if every exit sign in America were upgraded to LED bulb.
So please, visit http://www.kilowattours.org/ and see what our efforts can accomplish. Sign up with their program to do your small part in a world changing effort, and save money along the way. Purchase the DVD or find the program airing on a local station and take the time to watch it. Contact your representatives http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml and tell them you want to see these sorts of money saving, job providing, clean earth policies in YOUR town and be sure to tell them to watch Kilowatt Ours - A Plan to Re-Energize America. For your wallet, for your health and for our security and independence, demand a Conservation Power Plant in every town across America.
As part of James Kanter’s post last week on the efforts of one nuclear power company to solicit proposals from architectural firms on ways to improve the visual impact of nuclear power plants, we asked readers for their ideas.
Needless to say, there were lots of opinions — many of them taking issue with the very premise of the exercise. We also received a number of drawings, photographs and other artistic efforts reflecting a variety of viewpoints. Herewith, we offer a selection of those.
(Note: We’ll continue to feature your artwork and thoughts on the idea of a nuclear power renaissance as we receive them — though we reserve the right to excerpt and edit for clarity and brevity. Keep your thoughts short and your artwork of manageable size, folks. Send them here: greeninc nytimes com.)
Dylan Wolfe, an assistant professor of visual communication at Clemson University, offered the following entry — and a bit of social engineering — toward a safer nuclear energy program:
1. Construct power plants in the richest neighborhoods in the country.
2. Keep nuclear waste inside the homes of those same neighborhoods. Bill Gates, for example, would have the influence and capacity to assure that the plants were safe and well-maintained. Keeping the waste local solves the transport and disposal problem — plus, Mr. Gates will certainly monitor his share of the waste diligently. The only additional measure required would be to create mandatory residence restrictions, so that the residents don’t try to move out.
But hey, those neighborhoods already have conveniently located gates
Election results are in and they clearly indicate that Democrat Barack Obama has cost Peace and Freedom’s candidate, Ralph Nader, the presidency. Simple math proves that had Obama not run, and had all of his support gone to Nader, that Nader would have easily won the majority of Electoral College votes and, therefore, the presidency.
A similar electoral flaw occurred in the 2000 presidential election when Al Gore cost Ralph Nader the presidency." Courtesy of Peace and Freedom
Monday 03 November 2008 by: Cynthia Boaz, Ange-Marie Hancock, David McCuan, Mark Crispin Miller and Michael Nagler, t r u t h o u t Perspective
Calvin Thomas in West Virginia claims to have witnessed a touch-screen machine malfunction that assigned his vote to John McCain as opposed to Barack Obama - his intended choice.
Last Friday, a federal court judge in Cleveland, Ohio, ordered Michael Connell, an information-technology consultant to the McCain '08 campaign, to give a deposition in a court proceeding. Mr. Connell, whose firm, GovTech Solutions, built Ohio's 2004 election results computer network, was in a position to have knowledge about the alleged manipulation of electronic voting results in that presidential contest (a technique known as "flipping") in order to switch the winner in Ohio from Sen. John Kerry to President Bush. The deposition is scheduled to take place today, November 3, one day before the 2008 general election.
Connell is a former associate of Karl Rove, who is believed by those familiar with the events in question to have engaged in witness intimidation to prevent testimony about what happened in Ohio in 2004. They also believe that IT companies associated with the Republican Party have redeveloped the capacity to manipulate electronic voting results in Tuesday's election, both within Ohio and outside, including Pennsylvania and other key battleground states such as Colorado and New Mexico. One such firm, Triad GSI, is managing voter registration databases in 55 of Ohio's 88 counties and is hosting 25 of those databases.
All this has led to speculation that the McCain campaign's insistence that they can win Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other states, despite being (in some places, significantly) behind in most of the polls, could be prompted by having been informed about planned cyber interference with electronic voting results.
Video the Vote is a national network of citizen journalists, independent filmmakers, and media professionals working together to document voter suppression and disenfranchisement. LEARN MORECHECK OUT OUR 2008 PROMO
The 380,000-plus-word database presented here allows, for the first time, the Iraq-related public pronouncements of top Bush administration officials to be tracked on a day-by-day basis against their private assessments and the actual “ground truth” as it is now known.
Throughout the database, passages containing false statements by the top Bush administration officials are highlighted in yellow. The 935 false statements in the database may also be accessed by selecting the “False Statements” option from the “Subject” pull-down menu and may be displayed within selected date ranges using the selection tool below.
Searches may also be limited by person or subject, or both, by using the appropriate selections from the pull-down menus.
THIS SPACE USED TO CONTAIN A 'WAKEUPWALMART' BANNER, THE LINK NOW POINTS TO A UFCW UNION WEBSITE 'PROMISING TO MAKE THINGS BETTER AT WALMART. ALL SIGNS OF WAKEUPWALMART ARE GONE.
Posts
