Live Earth Irony

[Jammrock]

Okay, so there's nothing on TV, so while the wife and I read (A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge...highly recommended) we are listening to the US Live Earth broadcast. Put on by someone obviously trying to run for president after the early runners run themselves into the ground, but beyond that, a nice, fun loving concert to help promote world wide awareness of good old Mother Earth. Educating us how to save on fuel, and the environment. Teaching us how to reduce greenhouses gases...etc.

And the Pink Floyd comes on and sings ... "We don't need no, education!" duh duh duh, duh, duh.. "We don't need no, though control."

I was on the ground laughing

[Dr Mordrid]

So a bunch of over paid, mostly drugged up rockers fly 222,623 total miles in dozens of private jets to play at an "environmental concert", creating enough CO for a medium sized army on month long maneuvers and using enough electricity for a small city.

We are supposed to learn exactly what lesson from this other than that they and their political buddies, primarily Al Gore and his minions, are massive hypocrites?

What's worse is that you can't get away from the SOB's: they're on the NBC Network affiliates, BRAVO and Sundance

[Sasq]

Actually went to live earth tokyo yesterday.
Not a bad show, but realistically, 95% of the people at the tokyo show, were there to see Linkin Park, not save the environment

**The above is why the XX dragged my butt there btw

[Brian Ellis]

I agree that this is cutting water with a sword, causing more harm than good.

The BBC showed the aftermath of the fiascos in Oz and Japan after the audience had left. In Australia, the floor was ankle-deep in trash of all types thrown down by the spectators. In Japan, it was mostly clear with just a few items on the ground. A girl picked up a discarded drinks bottle, stripped off the paper label, put the PET in one container and the label in another. What a contrast!

Sasq, what did you do with your bottle?

[Sasq]

bottles... actually they were disposed of at the train station. in the pet bottle bin.
*train station actualy sorts all the rubish later and strips the labels off.

at home I strip the labels, worth noting however, all the bins at the Japan event were 'manned' by volunteers, that made sure you sorted the trash correctly.
That said, I have 4 trash days a week, 2 burnable, 1 non burnable, and 1 recyclable day.
we have to strip labels and take the tops off the pet bottles for that.

[Brian Ellis]

Sounds well-organised! Bravo, Japan!

[Sasq]

though they have been known to take it to extremes here, there are some 'states' that have 23 trash types, down to if you are throwing out socks, if its a pair, with no holes, then one bag, and if its one sock, or one of the socks have a hole, then another bag.

[Brian Ellis]

Sounds similar to:



We have a long way to go, here:



although it is slowly improving!!!

[TransformX]

Hey, that's a saab!

[Brian Ellis]

That was a Saab. It lay there, trashed, for about 5 or 6 years, by the side of the main road leading to our village. I asked the Mukhtar (village council chairman) to have it removed about every 6 months. They eventually traced the owner of the car and forced him to have it removed.

[FatBastard]

Okay, so there's nothing on TV, so while the wife and I read (A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge...highly recommended) we are listening to the US Live Earth broadcast. Put on by someone obviously trying to run for president after the early runners run themselves into the ground, but beyond that, a nice, fun loving concert to help promote world wide awareness of good old Mother Earth. Educating us how to save on fuel, and the environment. Teaching us how to reduce greenhouses gases...etc.

And the Pink Floyd comes on and sings ... "We don't need no, education!" duh duh duh, duh, duh.. "We don't need no, though control."

I was on the ground laughing

One might argue that the real thought control is having millions of people buying those vulgar Hammer and Esclade monstrosities. I mean all those bling bling / special forces wannabees don't really need those polluting death traps now do they?

but realistically, 95% of the people at the tokyo show, were there to see Linkin Park

What on earth for? or maybe you just tried to redefine bad taste? in which case

[Jon P. Inghram]

I thought trash was supposed to go into a river?

[TransformX]

That was a Saab. It lay there, trashed, for about 5 or 6 years, by the side of the main road leading to our village. I asked the Mukhtar (village council chairman) to have it removed about every 6 months. They eventually traced the owner of the car and forced him to have it removed.

I bet that restoring this wreck into a good working condition and driving it for 6-8 more years would prove far more eco-friendly than buying a new prius.

[Brian Ellis]

I doubt it. I don't think it would be restorable and it certainly would not be economy-friendly for the restorer, even if you could find the parts. As I say, it was totally trashed. For some reason, the vandals hadn't smashed the windscreen but there was no other glass intact. Not apparent in the photo but its right rear side was bashed in where a 18 tonne truck had taken a dislike to it, distorting the whole chassis.

[Dr Mordrid]

On the other hand here you have over-aggressive Ordinance Officers (police that issue infractions for grass that's too long, unkempt premises etc.) responsible for atrocities like the one below.

Mind you this area is in a drought and usually lawn watering is highly restricted; cause for a ticket by itself.

Link....

Woman Arrested for Not Watering Lawn

A widow and grandma spent the morning in jail, arrested for refusing to give a policeman her name when he tried writing her a ticket for failing to water her yard. The woman hasn't watered her lawn in more than a year, and the condition of her yard violates an Orem zoning ordinance.

Tonight, the woman says she is traumatized and shocked that she was hauled to jail, just because she says she can't afford to water her lawn.

Betty Perry says, "I never thought they would ever do anything like that to a person that is 70 years old. I've never bothered anybody, I've never hurt anybody."

She says the policeman who brought her home tonight was very courteous, even held open the door for her. But there were no gentlemen there when she was taken from her home this morning and booked into jail.

When Betty Perry heard a knock at her door and saw a police officer standing outside, she never imagined she would end up in jail. That's what happened, though, when the officer tried enforcing Orem's nuisance ordinance against neglected yards.

"I didn't want to tell him anything until I talked to a lawyer or my son. I wanted to see what he'd tell me to do. I've never had any experience before with the law, ever in my life," she said.

As the enforcement officer started writing her a ticket, she tried going back in her house. That's when the officer tried to handcuff her for refusing to give her name and resisting the ticket. She tripped on the steps, scraping up her nose and elbows, leaving blood on her door, her porch and her clothes. Perry was handcuffed, fingerprinted and put in a jail cell, where she sat for more than an hour.

"I laid down in there. I never seen the inside of a jail before. I didn't know how it looked, I was really scared," she says.

When police brass learned what happened, she was immediately released.

Orem police spokesman Lt. Doug Edwards said, "Every officer in his career has situations they find themselves getting into, at the end of it they scratch their head and say, ‘gosh, how did this happen?' Today, I think, was one of those days. Clearly there were some other options available."

After being arrested, Perry is now scared of the police. She says, "Don't ever say no when the police tell you do to something. You better do what they tell you no matter what, even if you don't have anybody to help you. You've got to do what they tell you or they will hurt you."

The officer was sent home for the day and placed on paid administrative leave. Police are not pressing any charges against Betty Perry for either neglecting her yard or resisting the ticket.

Can you say "lawsuit"?