To Blog 24 Or Not...: My plan, of course, was to track the Jack Bauer "24" body count as each episode transpires, to quantify how much death, damage and mayhem the heroic CTU counter-terrorism agent is able to execute over the entire "24 hours" of this season. What I have come to recognize, however, after the first four hours of watching, is that I am not the same Bear I was back in late 2003 when I first blogged the 24 body count.
Remodeling Amory Lovins' RMI Home: Home of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Amory Lovins' Colorado retreat is set to be a showcase of renewable energy tech and carbon-neutral comfort when year-long renovation is completed. The Bear tracks the work of Lovins and the RMI primarily because of their intelligent research aimed at reinventing the automobile industry. [Yahoo! Green]
12:36:23 PM
Skype Thrives Amid Tough Economy: Why is the Internet telephony provider one of the only technology companies experiencing a boom as the economy tanks? The Bear believes the trend away from live travel-and-meeting and towards virtual online face-to-face is here to stay. It's why the airlines are on the ropes, why the price of gas has made an abrupt retreat, and why the Big Three American car companies are begging for their own Federal bailout. [CNET News.com]
11:38:41 AM
Plug In to the World's Quietest Inaugural Parade: The clean-car advocacy group Plug In America is planning an inaugural parade of 55 all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, to take place in Santa Monica, California. The parade is likely to include Tesla Roadsters, Vectrix motor scooters, Zero Motorcycles, Phoenix SUTs, and some prototypes from the more visionary car companies Mitsubishi and Porsche. [Wired Top Stories]
11:31:56 AM
Blogging 24 ("The Original Jack Bauer Blog") Goes LIVE Again with Season 7: Seems that blogging about this popular Fox TV show has become very popular since The Bear first live-blogged it way back in 2002-2003 during it's second season. Numerous other "24" blogs have popped up since then, and even syndicated columnist Dave Berry is getting in on the fun. After observing how lethal the fed's top counterterror agent was in Season 1, The Bear's focus in the original blog was on the body count: how many people would Jack Bauer kill in a 24-hour period? For the record, our official count in Season 2 was 32.
This time around, we will again be tracking the body count and little else. If you want plot summaries, a story arc synopsis, interviews with the stars etc. you can find it on all the TV listing sites, news sites, and even on NPR for gods dang. Here in the mortal magic notebook all we care about is the kills. [TameBear Weblog]
10:45:49 AM
Friday, August 29, 2008
To Our Leaders: Free Us: The We Campaign for 100% renewable electricity in 10 years has just come out with another TV ad, and this one has a feisty message and a truly elegant delivery. It demands change from our leaders. The Bear likes it! I'm voting this ad best in class of any category, this year, hands down.
Building Green Schools:This is SO inspiring -- the students of the Sidwell Friends K-12 Middleschool in Washington D.C. talk about their LEEDS Platinum-level green building, and how it is helping contribute to a healthier environment where they live and learn:
Are YOU inspired yet? Head on over to the U.S. Green Building Council's Build Green Schools web site to find out how you can make these kinds of schools a reality in your district and nationwide. [Rocky Mountain Instititute]
11:18:24 AM
We Can Solve It: The Challenge of Fossil-Free Electricity Within Ten Years: There will be a lot of pressure in the near future to open up protected areas for oil drilling. Oil companies and oil company lobbyists benefit the most from America's addiction to oil, but in the long run, what's truly best for America? My vote is for switching to 100% clean, renewable electricity within 10 years.
If you've been watching the Olympics this week, maybe you've already seen a new TV message from "The WE Campaign", illustrating this positive switch from fossil fuels to environmentally friendly renewables. Here it is again:
Within ten years many more of us will be generating our own electricity in our backyards, using it to power our electric cars, and burning much much less oil, coal, and natural gas than we do now. Within ten years, these changes will have a dramatic positive impact on the health of our planet. I believe this ambitious goal -- to have fossil-free electricity within ten years -- is doable, and we can all participate in making it happen, starting today. [wecansolveit.org]
10:24:06 AM
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Air Car Coming to U.S. by 2010: How would you like to be getting 868 miles on a single fill-up? A startup funded by Indian car company Tata Motors plans on bringing a car powered by compressed air to the U.S. automobile market sometime in 2009 or 2010. They company, named Zero Pollution Motors, has developed a car that runs entirely on compressed air for around-town driving, and uses minimal amounts of gasoline at highway speeds. [CNET News.com]
7:29:53 PM
Smart Car Sales Driven by Novelty Not Gas Milage: The two-seater Smart Car gets surprisingly poor gas milage, and initial sales appear to be based foremost on the novelty of owning such a cute little car. Looks like people are buying it for a 2nd (or 3rd? or 4th?) car for short hops around town or to pull behind their RV. Considering it's size, the Bear asks why oh why does it not get significantly better milage than other "normal" subcompacts? Reading the comments at end of the article confirms others are wondering exactly the same thing. [Wired]
5:50:49 PM
This compelling 7-minute video suggests our search for life elsewhere in the universe should focus on microbes instead of on civilizations. Modern technological civilization on our own planet is a brief moment in time, a mere millenium. Meanwhile life has existed here on Earth for most of the planet's existance (3 out of the 4 billion years since our planet first formed). [European Space Agency/NASA via The Speculist]
11:06:40 AM
Friday, September 21, 2007
Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks to Record Low: Scientists who know are saying there's 22 percent less ice covering the earth's surface than the last recorded low in September 2005. The Bear thinks that's gotta be a serious change in environment for all our friends and wild things out there at the poles. If we're not out to drown the polar bears, I hope everyone can do a little something more to reduce our impact on the planet. [Bloomberg News via TameBear Radio]
8:42:38 PM
