You’ve probably noticed that things are still changing around here almost every day.  Hell, I’m surprised myself almost every time I login.  Neat.

The little mail symbols in the upper right corner now make it super-easy to email stories here to friends.  That was Colin’s doing.  He also whipped up our Comment utility, which we’re still refining a bit.  There’s a good chance Comments will become a registered-user thing, as it is on most blogs of any size.  I’ve managed to cobble together the Blog Index and Previous Polls now available at left.  If those work, hurrah.

We’ll have a Photo Gallery up before long, plus I’m dying to get some video and audio material up — sillier bits from various TV appearances, clips from live shows, some radio commentaries, and even some of my music (something I’ve always been terribly shy to share with people for some reason, but seem to be almost capable of lately) one of these days. 

So thanks for your early interest in this work-in-forever-progress.  We’ll try to keep it worth your time.

The people have spoken…

What would you like to contribute most to Ralph Nader’s campaign?
Tranquilizer darts
280   39%
Twenty years in a locked vault with the GOP activists backing him
230   32%
A shiny new ’65 Chevy Corvair
141   19.6%
A seat belt, air bag, and fire hood equipped ice floe
67   9.3%

Tranq Dart voters are proclaiming victory, but Locked Vaulters are complaining about voter intimidation and unclear ballots.  This one might have to be decided by the courts, which unfortunately are packed with Tranq Dart loyalists…

The people have spoken…

What would you like to contribute most to Ralph Nader’s campaign?
Tranquilizer darts
280   39%
Twenty years in a locked vault with the GOP activists backing him
230   32%
A shiny new ’65 Chevy Corvair
141   19.6%
A seat belt, air bag, and fire hood equipped ice floe
67   9.3%

Tranq Dart voters are proclaiming victory, but Locked Vaulters are complaining about voter intimidation and unclear ballots.  This one might have to be decided by the courts, which unfortunately are packed with Tranq Dart loyalists…

And speaking of leaders with no respect for science or the environment…

Governor Schwarzengrabber made a big show here yesterday of driving… wait for it, this is rich… a hydrogen-powered Hummer.

Yes, let’s show the world our commitment to environmental responsibility by driving a spectacularly wasteful version of yet another fuel source.

Genius.

Incidentally, breaking an earlier promise, it wasn’t one of his own Hummers, but a ginned-up prototype presented especially for the photo op.  And the prototype was fake, too: it doesn’t actually run on hydrogen fuel cells.

Also, the nozzle he pushed into the tank wasn’t actually hooked up to anything.  And the station he was in isn’t open yet.

But, um, other than that…

Watching the lying, self-deluded buffoons who have seized power in this country is increasingly like playing one of those Highlights For Children games while killing times in the dentist’s office, the ones with baseball bats and catcher’s mitts half-hidden in the foliage of trees: How Many Lies Can You Spot In This Picture?

PS: a few years ago, I was one of the people touting hydrogen’s promise as a cleaner energy source.  I even lost a good deal of money investing in it.  Turns out, um, no, not so much.  The main source for the hydrogen fuel we’re likely to use in the next generation or two is… yep, good old fossil fuels.  As I’ve come to understand it, the main thing the technology does is merely shift the location of pollution, away from your exhaust pipe and into the hydrogen-production facility.  Which has a few benefits but in the long run doesn’t really accomplish as much as a lot of very sincere people (myself included) hope.

As to a better solution… that’s a whole other, longer post, and frankly less urgent than some other potentially crippling energy problems coming immediately down the pike.  There’s a good damn reason oil has quadrupled in price in the last few years, with no end in sight.  It ain’t coming back down, or even staying where it is, anytime soon.

Meanwhile, idiot governors playing with props for the cameras are just part of a mass delusion.  I’ll post much more about this when I have time, I promise…

And speaking of leaders with no respect for science or the environment…

Governor Schwarzengrabber made a big show here yesterday of driving… wait for it, this is rich… a hydrogen-powered Hummer.

Yes, let’s show the world our commitment to environmental responsibility by driving a spectacularly wasteful version of yet another fuel source.

Genius.

Incidentally, breaking an earlier promise, it wasn’t one of his own Hummers, but a ginned-up prototype presented especially for the photo op.  And the prototype was fake, too: it doesn’t actually run on hydrogen fuel cells.

Also, the nozzle he pushed into the tank wasn’t actually hooked up to anything.  And the station he was in isn’t open yet.

But, um, other than that…

Watching the lying, self-deluded buffoons who have seized power in this country is increasingly like playing one of those Highlights For Children games while killing times in the dentist’s office, the ones with baseball bats and catcher’s mitts half-hidden in the foliage of trees: How Many Lies Can You Spot In This Picture?

PS: a few years ago, I was one of the people touting hydrogen’s promise as a cleaner energy source.  I even lost a good deal of money investing in it.  Turns out, um, no, not so much.  The main source for the hydrogen fuel we’re likely to use in the next generation or two is… yep, good old fossil fuels.  As I’ve come to understand it, the main thing the technology does is merely shift the location of pollution, away from your exhaust pipe and into the hydrogen-production facility.  Which has a few benefits but in the long run doesn’t really accomplish as much as a lot of very sincere people (myself included) hope.

As to a better solution… that’s a whole other, longer post, and frankly less urgent than some other potentially crippling energy problems coming immediately down the pike.  There’s a good damn reason oil has quadrupled in price in the last few years, with no end in sight.  It ain’t coming back down, or even staying where it is, anytime soon.

Meanwhile, idiot governors playing with props for the cameras are just part of a mass delusion.  I’ll post much more about this when I have time, I promise…