March 31st, 2008
I Sing the Body Electric
Kristoff op-eds us “‘With a Few More Brains …’. Too bad he couldn’t give us some. A good read, really.
Then there’s this embarrassing fact about the United States in the 21st century: Americans are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution.
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Only one American in 10 understands radiation, and only one in three has an idea of what DNA does. One in five does know that the Sun orbits the Earth …oh, oops.
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“America is now ill with a powerful mutant strain of intertwined ignorance, anti-rationalism, and anti-intellectualism,” Susan Jacoby argues in a new book, “The Age of American Unreason.” She blames a culture of “infotainment,” sound bites, fundamentalist religion and ideological rigidity for impairing thoughtful debate about national policies.
Yea, that and fear of being called a liberal intilickedchewel
Speaking of brains….
Maryland’s electric bills are atrocious.
Maryland is the wealthiest state in the union, according to the U.S. Census bureau, and partially deregulated. Electricity however is limited, according to The Maryland Public Policy Institute, to availability - which means limited by the lines which carry it. The wealthier the state the less likely the population wants nasty old electric lines around their living space, underground or not. Wealthier folks don’t want new plants surrounding them either, for both environmental and aesthetic concerns. Due to fights over the plant placement. All this will certainly delay any new plants, as the population grows, so will my bill.
Skipping the talk on macroeconomics and control of commodities prices, because I’m not an economist, I am going to admit I’m rather stunned to know, because I didn’t know this, that my electricity is high and will go higher partially because of the wealth of the state.
Another fact which stunned me was that although I have control over when I use electricity, and the price of it fluctuates by season, day, and time thereof, I am still charged a flat rate.
I’m not sure why I thought I was actually charged less if I did my wash - in my new to this apartment energy saving go green front loading washer and dryer – at the time of day when less electricity was used. I assumed, with the electric company always calling for less use during peak times, because it was cheaper, that they meant cheaper for me.
Call me stupid.
I Sing The Body Electric:
1. A Walt Whitman poem contained in his 1855 compilation Leaves of Grass
2.A 1969 collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, including a story of the same name.
3. A song from the 1980 film Fame.
4. The Title of Jazz Fusion band Weather Report’s tenth album.
- um huh. She says she wants me to read it, so we can sit around and discuss it while drinking wine. This after I saw her on Easter and she mentioned how she was reading it and participating in an 
