My Kindle died a toddler. "May he/she/it rest in peace," blogs the Con Man. "This was not the first fatality in my Kindle family. My original Kindle suffered an even more tragic fate when it hit the bathroom tile and splintered into words gone wild. The warranty from Amazon saved the day but once: my first Kindle was replaced by a spanky new Kindle 2. All was well with the world when my Kindle 2 was among the living. I could download it with magazines, newspapers, and books—and the all-important free samples of books without limitation—throw it in my backpack, and I was good to go. The wireless connectivity left me speechless: any papyrus scroll I wanted seemed to be within reach at any time of day or night. All you could do was read it in plain old black-and-white. No Pharoah ever had it so good. But then my Kindle 2 went kaputski."
"Steve Humble is already a wine legend in Aspen, where he runs the award-winning wine program at the Roaring Fork Club. In 2006 he launched 32 Winds Wines with award-winning winemaker Ehren Jordan. "
Post blogger Ed Troy, the Liberal Gladiator, does what he does best: puncture the vested interests like they're toy balloons.
Posts filed under 'Basalt'
Last year, as one part of the mission of Common Sense Alliance, I prepared a report to the Colorado Transportation Legislation Review Committee, a group made up of state legislators charged with overseeing state transportation projects. The general perspective of the report was that the state needed to take action to protect its citizens from the complete collapse of federal oversight of transportation funding. Despite that rather gloomy assessment the report also noted that "efforts to secure remediation of this problem at the federal level will continue", and we are now back to work on that approach.
Problems with the way the Department of Transportation (DOT) is doing its job can be reported to their Office of Inspector General (OIG). Beyond that, the federal government has now set up an Integrity Committee, to whom complaints can be addressed regarding problems with the way the OIG is doing its job.
Last week, I sent the letter below to the Integrity Committee, along with a complaint* regarding both the DOT and the OIG.
Any federal elected official or candidate might find the link below to be especially interesting, as it recounts the practical and real world methods used by federal employees to avoid taking responsibility to fix problems brought to their attention. I have not attempted to contact any elected officials or candidates, as I do not have any particular connection to any of them that might cause them to take notice. If you do have the ear of a federal elected official or candidate, please feel free to pass this email along.
* http://www.entrancesolution.com/Integrity%20Complaint.htm
Dear Integrity Committee,
The enclosed complaint is being sent to you at the suggestion of Valerie T. Blyther, Investigative Research Analyst for FraudNET at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
A central aspect of the problem being reported is the manner in which it was handled by staff of the Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, and that appears to be your specific area of responsibility.
However, the full authority of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity & Efficiency would be better suited to respond to the broad scope of deficiencies in the oversight of federal transportation funding which is detailed in this complaint. The mission and purpose of the Council to “address integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues that transcend individual Government agencies”, and “continually identify, review, and discuss areas of weakness and vulnerability in Federal programs and operations with respect to fraud, waste, and abuse” could have been written in reaction to the situation I am reporting.
The inevitable buck passing that occurs as a result of the bureaucratic compartmentalization of responsibility and authority has been a major problem that formation of the Council is clearly intended to overcome. The more pernicious failure of accountability that I encountered has been the consistent practice by nearly every federal official contacted to avoid acknowledging or discussing any of the information with which they are presented – apparently in order to evade any responsibility to act on that information.
If the intent of the architects of your agency was to make the Integrity Committee the enforcer of personal accountability by federal employees, the power to do so will need to be extended far beyond the various IG offices.
It is somewhat surprising that your intake method does not start with the Council, who then makes a determination regarding whether to pass the information on to the Integrity Committee. Regardless, I trust the Integrity Committee is perfectly capable of forwarding this request to the full Council for action that will “transcend individual Government agencies”.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Jeffrey Evans
June 29th, 2010
Thank you so much for showing up last Saturday, up and down the
Valley, to buy Food from us! It was great to see the support and feel
the Love! We know you wanted the Grub because it was a typical spring
day in the Rockies, the Wind came, the Hail came, the Rain Came, the
Cops Came (gotcha! only to shop this time) and You Came! So......Big
Thanks!
Continue Reading April 21st, 2010
The arrival of Grace Church at 1776 Emma Road in Basalt--1776 is not a misprint--roiled the community in Emma as they contemplate a megachurch, albeit a teensy one, in their midst. Dead center in the Roaring Fork Valley, the more liberal members of the town were universally concerned at the prospect of hundreds of Evangelicals worshipping in their midst.
The founders of Grace Church were nothing if not resilient, and managed to beat back all challenges. The church, now visible from Highway 82, has seemed on the verge of completion for months, even though building that has yet to sport the telltale sign of the Cross. Given the inevitability of yet another Christian Church in the valley, concerned locals simply ran out of protests. A church, after all, is far more benign than a McDonald's, or so the story goes.
And that was that, from my perspective, was that--until the wife espied the cheerful green banner in front of the Eagle County municipal building Sunday afternoon, with the words: "Grace Church Gathers Here," with the times for Sunday worship.
Continue Reading February 21st, 2010
It seems as though we as Americans have forgotten or never knew what wealth is. So a simple question; Is wealth trillions of dollars stacked to the moon and back or is it factories, bridges, schools, an educated populace, houses, cars, roads, buildings, fields of wheat, sewers, rails, docks, shipyards, airports and power grids? I realize there is a convertability, but what is wealth?
One the groups above is essentially paper or digital accounting and the other represents economy or the products of an economy. If any one out there disagrees with this, I surely would like to understand why and what you consider wealth to be. I just want to understand.
Paper that is convertable by agreement, into wealth has been handed to people whom appear to have created very little of what I call wealth, through the bailout. For a few decades these individuals have been allowed and even cheered on when they have been given the skimmings of the economy. The justification of giving these individuals over many years tens of millions of dollars per year escapes me. Dead weight skimming paper convertable into wealth appears to me to be a fundamental problem in our country at least. For instance, I am not aware of a single insurance executive providing health care. Why do these execs get ten times the pay of an M.D. without having to pay malpractice insurance?
Why does the working man of the Tea Party support this, or just beginning to complain? Where were they when they were being left with the tax burden, because of tax cuts to the rich and famous? Where were these people 2 years ago, 4 years ago, 6 years ago, 8 years ago?
The Tea Party is justifiably angry with government, but dependant on mythological pathos for a foundation. I see them as potential liberals, because if they get informed the fact that they have principles will guide them into the liberal camp. On the other hand, I think they will become very frustrated by the unprincipled Republican stance. I have in my life, never seen a more unprincipled group claiming to be a party, supposedly representing something -- what I have no idea.
�
February 19th, 2010
Edward Troy
If you are Republican;
1) Who proposed it -- not what was proposed. "What" is utterly irrelevant.
2) Make sure you say "no," whether you know or not, what you are saying "no" too.
3) Know the difference between; know no and no know, in the presence of Democrats.
If you are Tea Party;
wun) doo you speak american?
tew) yur a leeder and a leecher (oui) wee hate you. (if you don't get it, this is your party and you can cry if you want to)
If you are Democrat;
1) First find common ground with other parties --
(a) Does the sun rise in the East and set in the West?
(b) If I drop your bowling ball from five feet high on your big toe, will it hurt?
2) Offer spell check to the other parties.
3) Argue with other Dems about including other parties in discussions.
4) Make sure you become reviled, because decisions require consensus and acclamation.
Well there you have it. A brief check list for all who are political!
February 11th, 2010
If you are Republican;
1) Who proposed it -- not what was proposed. "What" is utterly irrelevant.
2) Make sure you say "no," whether you know or not, what you are saying "no" too.
3) Know the difference between; know no and no know, in the presence of Democrats.
If you are Tea Party;
wun) doo you speak american?
tew) yur a leeder and a leecher (oui) wee hate you. (if you don't get it, this is your party and you can cry if you want to)
If you are Democrat;
1) First find common ground with other parties --
(a) Does the sun rise in the East and set in the West?
(b) If I drop your bowling ball from five feet high on your big toe, will it hurt?
2) Offer spell check to the other parties.
3) Argue with other Dems about including other parties in discussions.
4) Make sure you become reviled, because decisions require consensus and acclamation.
Well there you have it. A brief check list for all who are political!
February 9th, 2010
Medical consultaion with your M.D. is recommended with any exercise program.
After your 10 minute warm up, seek a peak effort within the next ten minutes. Do this once a week. If you are engaged in multiple exercises, anerobic components of cross training or weight lifting for example, seek those peaks in only one or two exercises a week. Tri-athletes should look for a peak in only one of their disciplines per week, as an example.
Enjoy your active lifestyle!
Your Personal Trainer,
Edward Troy
January 28th, 2010
A few years ago, I enthusiastically entered the Virgin Earth contest to remove a billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year for ten years as part of a profitable enterprise. For comparison purposes, planetary production of steel is about 1.3 billion tons/yr. Surely there must be a way to solve this, I thought. I am reasonably familiar with the sciences necessary to tackle this problem. The scale is of course enourmous.
The sheer size of the requirements eliminated many small possibilities. Only those affecting the entire planet could be considered. I am as close to absolute certitude that no single sovereign nation can solve this by itself.
In short, CO2 is a very stable compound; An atom of carbon covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. Replacing the oxygen would require the use of Fluorine which is the only element with a higher electronegative number (electron affinity). However, fluorine is never found in a pure form outside of chemistry labs, the etching of glass is done with fluorine or fluorinated compounds. It would cost more energy to free up fluorine in compounds to replace the oxygen. No hope there.
Replacing the carbon could also be done using various metallic elements, which easily donate electrons. However these metals are also in compounds. For the same energy cost reasons as is the case with Fluorine, there is no hope here either. Thus no industrial/chemical process will work.
Next I considered the use of solar power, however the energy lost in the conversion of CO2 into C + O2 would be better spent on direct use to replace fossil fuels. That does not win the prize.
That left biology. I considered molluscs and finally oxygen producing coccolithophores. While huge amounts of CO2 can be removed the oceans are left very acidic which breaks down the carbonates formed. The limit is the amount of Ca++ in oceanic solution.
I do not believe there is a way to solve this without a terrestrial solution (non-marine). Humanity and its organizational constructs are in the way; Sovereignty, race(es), ethnicities, religions.
I do believe a genetically modified organism could do it, but there are certainly ethical issues arising from that situation since the cultivation of this organism would have to be done on a truly massive scale. But, I hope I am wrong.
I will not be blogging for a while. I wish all of you the best and a happy new year and decade. �
January 4th, 2010
The announcement!
My wife, Judy Kohl, is now a published author. She has written and illustrated a children’s book. She will be having her first book signing event at the Barnes & Noble in Grand Junction this Saturday. She has another fun event on December 13th at Explore Booksellers in Aspen at 4:00. She will be presenting her book to children (and adults) with a fun filled story time. It will be a really entertaining event. She has created illustrated characters from her book to animate her stories. It will also be amusing because I will be doing the puppeteering and wearing a bee hat too. Yes, that is correct, a bee hat. I just can't imagine wearing this hat for anyone else. The things you do for one another.
Her book is called “Little Heavenly Poems” (Oh, what a wonderful day).
Little Heavenly Poems is an extraordinary enchanting book that captivates a "little one's" imagination and touches the heart of grown-ups. A simple collection of endearing poems that are warm-feeling that captures the essence of angels in our daily lives.
The illustrations are adorable and colorful, arousing the curiosity of young children. Each smiling angel is a sweet round faced child with the beauty of the world's diversity, bringing value and joy to each poem. This lovable and charming book celebrates a wonderful day for every child. It is a unique happy heartfelt book to be shared by children and their loved ones. Snuggles, giggles, hugs and butterfly kisses will surely abound when reading this perfect favorite "Story Book."
Although, her book is now available on www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com we hope you can join us and support our local bookstore.
Thank you Explore Booksellers! We are looking forward to the event.
Bring your family! It is going to be a memorable event!
December 3rd, 2009
Many of you don't know that I am a personal trainer. I am also teaching Power Fitness (boot camp type) classes I designed, at the WIN Institute 10:30 -11:30 AM Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Saturdays at 9:30 AM. I am generally very fit and healthy. I just got over the flu, I am not sure which one it was. The influenza viruses attack muscular tissue. My resting pulse rate went from 40-41 to 49-50. I lost 8-9 lbs, considerable aerobic fitness capacity and anaerobic glycolysis capacity, I can't tolerate as much "burn" as before. Near maximal strength appears to be relatively intact.
I mention this because the flu is nothing to dismiss. Your health, wellness and fitness going into the flu, if you are unlucky enough to get it, are very important. I can see how ones health could be very seriously compromised. For the first time, I wish I had taken a flu shot.
November 18th, 2009
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