(no subject)

Yesterday was a good day; rich and full.

We finally got our butts in gear and went to dim sum brunch with Chris, a guy I know through local geek stuff. It was really good- certainly the best chinese food I've had in town. And fast, too- we sort of felt we should give them their table back because of the lunch rush, but even if we'd lingered another 10 minutes, it would have barely been an hour-long lunch.

Parenthetically, I can't help but wonder, if we've lived here three years before trying this place for dim sum, what else could we have we been missing while we complain to each other about the town? (I could rattle off a laundry list of things we miss, but I won't because that would be deperessing.)

Well, OK, just one: it would be great if it didn't feel like the town rolled up its sidewalks at 9pm on weekends. OK, I feel better for sharing.

Also yesterday: we took care of a couple errands, which weren't so bad because the weather was so warm (20C / 68F). We started on a long walk with Rover, but the skies threatened to open up on us, so we aborted and instead d tried to take a nap while I did round 3 of raking. Which the trees happily made superfluous because it was windy. Oh well.

I also got to hang out with our friend leslie, who I think d and I have blogged about before, but is one of the neater people who live in our neighborhood. She's a talented writer and a "butch mamma" (in her own words). She threw her back out yesterday but still came downstairs to say hi and chat for ten minutes, even though I told her to go back to bed. Like I said, butch.

In the evening, d made a yummy comfort-food meal of roast duck breast, mashed root veggies, and wilted baby spinich.

I love d for lots of reasons, but one of them is that he'll whip up something really great just because he feels like good food. No muss, no fuss. Of course, that could be partly because I do most of the cleanup. Still, good deal I say.

Later on, we went to see "Team America" which was better and worse than I expected. The marionette oral sex scene was funny, as was Kim Jong Il's song about how lonely it is to be a brilliant dictator. On the other hand, a few jokes were repeated too many times (Film Actor's Guild, and references to too many testosterone action movies I haven't seen...)

I can't say I would recommend it to others, though if you liked the South Park movie, you'll probably like this one. Much like after seeing the SP movie, I feel like washing my brain out with soap, which isn't a terribly nice feeling.

Ah yes, and I remembered to change all the clocks... forward. Oops. But then this morning I felt like I'd gotten TWO extra hours of day when d pointed it out to me. Yay, loads of extra time! :) Gotta figure out how to do that more often. Or something.

How to stay sane in a world with evangelical environmentalists?

In the circles we both run in, we hear from a lot of people who consider themselves good environmentalists; and those people who don't agree with them are, de facto, bad environmentalists. Which is a problem on a number of levels. I don't like evangelical movements, and I don't like bi-polar black/white thinking on topics that I see as many shades of gray.

So, what to do if you're not hardline enviro enough to satisfy the strident ones?

I tend to think the answer includes listening to environmentalists who aren't ballistic. grist.org has some great content.

Among recent articles, one that caught my eye was this blurb, on public policy and tech development in the U.K.

Not only does it suggest environmental policy that isn't f*cked in the head, it's reasonably good news too. A quote:

I Come Back to You Now, at the Turn of the Tide
Brits look to public-service ads and tidal power to cut carbon emissions

On the heels of recent predictions that the U.K. will not meet its Kyoto targets, and a more recent report that the results of global warming will be "disastrous" for the country, Brits are casting about for new ways to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. The government is undertaking a big ad campaign in print, on billboards, and possibly on TV, warning of the dangers of climate change and urging citizens to reduce their energy use by taking such steps as buying greener cars and turning down their thermostats.

Also, with Denmark beating them in the race for wind power and Japan winning the race for solar, the U.K. hopes to become the global leader in developing technology to harness the power of ocean tides. The total tidal power available to Britain has been estimated at roughly double its energy consumption. Wave farms, unlike wind turbines, are not visible, residing beneath the waves, and thus don't mar views. [citations]


So, perhaps part of the solution is counterbalancing the stridency with news from reputable sources. And, even, counteracting strident people's arguments with ones that make more sense.