Wooden Bowl's Blog at VashonGreen.org

New color scheme & personalizing the site to your tastes

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:14:30 GMT

Thanks to Jeannie, we now have a spruced up color scheme that is more buoyant and snappy!

As has been true, but is likely unknown by many, you can choose your own color scheme from a small palette of available options. Simply click on the little colorful icon at the bottom right of every page ( ) and then (after a bit more scrolling), click on the name of a new scheme and see if you like it. As long as your cookies remain your selection for color scheme – and also your personal settings for page width ( ) and text size ( ) – should stick. (Note that we don’t use cookies for any nefarious tracking/advertising purposes.)

Doing this, you can select which scheme you like for the web site:

NOTE: You will generally have to do a full refresh (CTRL-F5 in Internet Explorer and Firefox) to let the browser know to re-obtain all the files to show/reflect these new settings.

Any graphic designers with ANY color sensibilities are welcome to suggest additional color schemes, as there are only a few truly pleasing schemes, like the new one…

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Local Wood Stove Smoke Presents Health Risks

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:24:22 GMT

Smoke from Tacoma area wood stoves poses health risks significantly higher than elsewhere in the state, according to a new study.

The study of airborne toxics in Tacoma and Seattle, released Wednesday by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, showed emissions from diesel and gasoline engines were far and away the biggest culprits.

But in Tacoma, the risks from wood smoke were as much as seven times higher than is typical in other urban areas. Potential health effects include cancer, lung damage, heart disease and nerve damage.

[…] But in Tacoma, the risks from wood smoke were as much as seven times higher than is typical in other urban areas. Potential health effects include cancer, lung damage, heart disease and nerve damage.

[…] Primarily because of wood smoke, Tacoma is the state’s only federal “nonattainment area,” the label given to locations that persistently exceed federal air standards.

[…] Under this year’s program, owners and renters with old wood stoves can get as much as $8,000 to replace their stove with an electric heat pump, natural gas furnace, or gas stove or fireplace insert.

--Read more at The News Tribune, 2 Mar 2011

To learn more about replacing old wood stoves and to apply for aid online, go to www.pscleanair.org/woodstove – but this is apparently not available for Vashon residents.

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Confirmed: False Justification Led US to Iraqi War

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:43:13 GMT

A 2008 ABC report has now been backed up by a more detailed Guardian interview with Curveball, who apparently started the whole “Weapons of Mass Destruction” story, used to justify our entry into Iraq – and the killing of some 100K civilians. One wonders what happened to the fact checkers in the US…

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Military 'mentors' quit rather than disclose ties to defense industry

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:24:37 GMT

“Seven retired admirals and generals hired by the military as consultants will end their advisory roles rather than comply with new regulations requiring them to divulge outside income to avoid a conflict of interest.

The former officers are among 158 Pentagon retirees known as "senior mentors" who have been identified in USA TODAY stories as getting as much as $440 an hour to offer advice on war plans and weapons systems.

A USA TODAY investigation found that 80% of the mentors had financial ties to defense contractors that they were not required to reveal to the public.”

- www.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-01-20-1Amentors20_ST_N.htm

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Seattle Area Happiness Initiative

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:23:21 GMT

Tired of measuring our ‘success’ based only on our Gross Domestic Product? Well, Bhutan and now Brazil and Canada measure the Gross National Happiness Index (GNH). GNH is measured with surveys and objective indicators.

Sustainable Seattle, in collaboration with Take Back Your Time is launching its fifth set of regional sustainability indicators. They follow this global model. You can take the survey – and smile at the results - at www.sustainableseattle.org/sahi.

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Preliminary Engineering and Economic Assessment of Energy Consumption and Renewable Energy Production Potential for Vashon-Maury Island

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:22:02 GMT

Although this is several years old now I thought it useful to make sure this report was linked to from this site:

www.iere.org/energy/Vashon-Summary.pdf

The report looked at various options but based on the engineering analysis from part I, focused on the economics of tidal power, wind energy, solar photovoltaics & biomass gasification. Their recommendations:

Conclusions and Recommendations

The above analysis screens four renewable energy technologies for Vashon Island. The reader is reminded that tidal power cost and performance are broadly estimated, wind energy is analyzed with the most detail, and solar pv and biomass gasification are in the middle. Screening on the basis of nominal levelized COE for plants with COE's under $0.1200/kWh, say, would select all wind cases (reflecting fast and slow wind speeds, taking or not the PTC or REPI); would exclude solar photovoltaics, would include that biomass where capital cost and fuel cost are low; and would exclude tidal power. Screening on the basis of constant dollar COE for those plants with COE's under $0.100/kWh, say, would yield similar results, including all wind cases, no solar pv cases, both biomass cases, and no tidal power cases.

These results suggest further investigation of wind and biomass might prove fruitful. Biomass gasification is a new technology that may be worth investigating if an inexpensive, reliable long-term supply of fuel can be found. Further, wind is a commercially available technology. Interestingly, analysis showed greatest improvement in COE from locating a strong wind resource vs. adjusting financing or tax assumptions (although the later may be useful, also). Analysis further demonstrated that wind is sufficiently capital intensive, that even if O&M and other expenses increase at the rate of inflation, that project revenues can escalate at a rate slower than inflation (e.g., at inflation less 1%), which is an attractive selling feature to power purchasers. Wind economics are sufficiently strong that the owner need not escalate revenues quickly and backload principal repayment of debt. Bankers, owners, and power purchasers may all relax with clean, comfortable cash flows, where the project makes good economic sense.

More on this topic can be found at IERE’s web site.

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The Koyaanisqatsi Files: Top Secret Washington

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:39:47 GMT

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

– http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/

It is sad to see that the number of national – and state – security organizations have ballooned since 9/11 – despite the effort to consolidate efforts under the Department of Homeland Security. With openness and transparency a hallmark of civilized society, it is a bleak commentary that we have been forced to spend so much public funds on what is essentially overhead, an unproductive economic activity.

3,202 organizations are needed to work on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence?
854,000 people need top-secret security clearances?!
The equivalent of 3 Pentagons of office space is needed for this?
Much of the voluminous data collected is ignored & unused?

This new security apparatus is so diffuse there is no accountability and control. Thankfully an ongoing report from the Washington Post is working to shed some light on the magnitude of the problem – both nationally and in each of our states.

Here's the data for Washington State:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/states/washington/

In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means "crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living". That seems to ring true for our current situation – yet again.

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Richest Countries Aren’t the Happiest – WHAT?!

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:11:29 GMT

The results of a new Gallup International survey used 64,000 people from 53 countries to draw up a Global Barometer of Hope and Despair. Not too surprisingly, the happiest people didn’t live in the richest countries. Exactly what I’ve observed while travelling…

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Vote Smart!

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:52:21 GMT

Melvin found this great site that lets you investigate politico’s voting records and contrast them with your own values. Check it out at:

www.votesmart.org

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Finding Your Way Through Our Blogs

webmaster@vashongreen.org — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:32:19 GMT

How our blog system works - by default:

- The home page displays the most recent 3 blogs from anyone.

- The Blogs page (http://vashongreen.orghttp://www.vashongreen.org/Blogs.aspx) displays the most recent 10 entries from anyone.

- An individual blog page (e.g., http://vashongreen.orghttp://www.vashongreen.org/Blogs/TomHerring.aspx) displays the most recent 10 blog entries from that person.

Viewing Older Entries

However, if you click on the "<" symbol at the top of the calendar, then it will display the 10 most recent entries dated that month – or older. The calendar highlights days for which there are blog entries.

Searching All Blog Entries

Alternatively, try the search functionality: go to the general blog page or an individual’s blog page - i.e., just not the home page. In the "Search Blogs" widget on the right column, enter something like "Obama" or "Norwegian" , then click the "Search" button. You'll see all entries that contain any of those “Keywords”, or that exact “Phrase” if you wish.

Displaying All Blog Entries

If you don’t enter anything (or something that starts with a space) then click the “Search” button you’ll see all the blogs from time immemorial.

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