Planet v. Human

It's something I ponder now and again, but this recent post by Greg over at his blog brought it into focus for me a bit. His family (soon to number four) is buying a Honda SUV to transport the kiddies in. Greg writes that one of the reasons is due to the harping of the liberal elite. I don't quite know what that means, since I doubt he's taking calls from Arianna Huffington or Laurie David, but those who know him would not be surprised to find his photo here some day - and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

But there's a lesson here, that many environmental groups do their movement disservice in the way they make their cases. Nobody, no matter where one is in the world, likes being told what to do and what to think. Environmental organizations that tell people what not to buy, or assume that the average world citizen is a moron, will always be fighting at least some backlash. I support most of their causes wholeheartedly, but can't help but cringe at the way they present their arguments to the public. There is real scientific basis for great concern over the temperature of the planet, more species disappearing every year, and the cleanliness of the air and water.

The challenge is making these arguments more personal, but less condescending. It's a fine line to walk sometimes, for certain. But these are not difficult concepts for the most part, no need to get snooty when explaining them! The planet warms, ice melts, water levels rise, not that tough to visualize. It's human nature for people to be wrapped up in their own worlds, and to be thinking about how best to care for and protect their kids; the last things they're going to consider are global environmental problems (hell, most people in my neighborhood don't even recycle). The goal needs to be to make the arguments more personal, and make them respectfully. Shouting that the sky is falling is a big turn-off - even if it happens to actually be falling - and telling someone that they're a bad human being for making a certain purchase is the first, and biggest, step towards alienating that person to your message.

Songwriter Extraordinaire

Anyone who digs great - and usually hilarious - music should check out Jonathan Coulton, a musician who's Thing a Week is currently my favorite podcast. He's got a little something for almost everyone! Here are some examples:

• for the Calscape: acoustic-guitar driven cover of Baby Got Back
• for Jarriel and anyone else who appreciates a good zombie film: Re: Your Brains
  
• for my parents and other old(er) people, and for 1990 TJHS Marching Band members: Beatles/Chicago mashup When I'm 25 or 64
• for Scott and anyone who was captivated by curling during the Olympics: Curl
  
• for Greg, the Wimble, other young dads, and Beach Boys fans: Stroller Town

I have most of his podcasts stored on my home PC, so let me know if you want me to hook you up with songs that might not be available via iTunes anymore. Plus he has a few albums on iTunes, which I've been meaning to purchase (honest!) but haven't gotten around to just yet.

I Hate Jeffrey Maier, The Movie

Talk about creative use of fan frustration. If this doees indeed come to the Senator this summer, I'll certainly go see it.

27 Points of Light, or 1 Blazing Inferno?

What can I say, a bit of Easter-weekend inspiration! Either that, or I was just really hungry for brownies, and who has time to place and light 27 individual candles when the brownies beckon? Regardless of the motivation, I have a feeling that a new family birthday-celebrating tradition has been born!

Happy Birthday Matt! Hope you win big this weekend, bro, like I always do (haha! I'm so funny!). Just remember the words of the King: All you need's a strong heart and a nerve of steel...

Upcoming Charm City (Odd) Events

I wrote about this awesome race last year, but unfortunately this year Jenny & I won't be in town to see it: the 2006 running of the Kinetic Sculpture Race!

And coming in October - BUT with an application deadline at the end of July, for all your flying (and crashing) enthusiasts - FLUGTAG!

Coming later today - birthday wishes to the bro (as soon as I get home and download a special birthday photo from my camera).

A Bad Week, plus This Week at the CCB

It was just one of those weeks. Sixty hours of work (and with my commute, it seemed like much longer), a $2900 plumbers' bill, and allergy season finally hit as well. Needless to say - evidently not - blogging wasn't a priority, it was barely an afterthought. This week has to be better though, and I've got a lot to catch up on. A preview of this week:

• new links! to two upcoming Baltimore events in creativity and engineering, and to the oddest and geekiest ipod accessory ever
• new sidebar! with links to the podcasts I listen to regularly
• music review! of songwriter extraordinaire & podcaster Jonathan Coulton
• peep jousting! photos, and possibly videos, of the newest Easter tradition in our family, started this past weekend by Amy & Jenny

An ambitious agenda, to be sure, but I think I can handle it - stay tuned!

Busy Times at the Office

So busy, in fact, that I'm this far behind on my rubber band ball:

Women's Basketball: Who Knew?

Yeah, I watched the entirety of the Terp Women's chamionship triumph last night. And yes, it was entertaining! Was it as compelling as some of the fantastic men's tourney games this year? Hell yeah! I have to admit, I'm surprised that it kept my attention - I've rarely allocated many of my sports viewing hours (and I probably devote hundreds of hours every year to sports viewing, as you might imagine) to women's sports, other than the odd tennis or soccer match, so I was pleasantly surprised. Then again, this game was played at a high level, so I might be disappointed to watch a more typical women's game, which would naturally have less at stake and therefore less intensity. It might in fact be the opposite of my recent NHL viewing experience; I may have been turned off by an atypically-poor level of play in that case, while in this case I'm drawn in by unusually-high level of play. Who knows.

What I do know, is that these Terps are champs, and considering who they beat makes it that much sweeter. Congrats to Brenda Freese and all of her Gurtles.

Baseball Is Back

Another season begins, and Peter Angelos is still an ass when it comes to player negotiations. What a shocker!

Bad Coffee Pacing, 10K Congestion

So I didn't pace myself too well with the coffee this morning, and by the time I got on the Metro after the train ride from Baltimore, I really had to pee. I figured I'd try to take my mind off it by leafing through a Washington Post Express. As fate had it, a very bad idea! What should I find in the Express, but a condensed version of this article. NOT COOL! But I did make it to the office without incident, so I can't bitch too much.

How did the Bridge Run go? Well, considering that I couldn't really get up to my pace until midway through the third mile, I was quite happy with my time of 54:05. Fifty thousand people really clog up a race course, I don't care how wide the course is. So I did the first two miles in about 9:15 each, started to pick up some speed by the third mile (8:53), tried to make up for lost time with a 7:46 fourth mile - fast for me - and then evened out with fifth and sixth miles of 8:34 and 8:31. It's amazing how big of a deal this run is down in Charleston. A local news station down there covers the whole run! Em & Dave Tivo-ed it, and we actually caught Dave and Barry on the coverage. Kinda neat. I think that all four of us were happy with our times, considering the slow going early on. Dave was his usual speedy self - I think I'm going to switch over to a new Diet Coke training regimen, since I suspect that's the secret of his success (it can't be the years of running, can it? Besides, who wants to work that hard?). And check this out: there were grilled Johnsonville Bratwurst available post-race, how sweet is that? From now on, I won't run a race that doesn't guarantee bratwurst at the finish line.