i L i n d . n e t

I’ve got to take our VW Jetta to the dealer this morning after getting a recall notice, something to do with a tail light switch that can melt down the electrical system or something. In the meantime, my brain seems devoid of complex thought and I’ll stick with the odds and ends that I’ve stumbled over this a.m.

Oh, no! Former Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris is at it again, peddling his sustainable city claims to people in faraway places who aren’t in a position to do a reality check. Last week he was keynote speaker at the third annual Smart Growth Lecture in Lafayette, Louisiana, according to a story The Daily Advertiser.

From Jeff Garland comes this link to a video of Microsoft’s new computer display interface which has just been shown publicly. Wow! Yes, I guess the evil empire can come up with cool stuff now and then.

Also from Seattle, news of the arrest of one of the kings of spam, the kind containing offers of enlarged body parts or no-study university degrees rather than the artery clogging kind. Prosecutors claim that even though he’s not the only major spammer, his arrest should result in a noticeable decline in global spam.

Reporters should save this link to Pet-Abuse.com, a database of cases involving criminal animal abuse. It’s searchable by type of animal and type of abuse, location, and several other variables (”Abuser is public servant” or “Also child or elder neglect”). Definitely not pretty reading, but a quick way to add depth and context to a story involving abuse.

Take a few minutes to browse Green West Magazine, apparently in its first month of publication.

Green West Magazine inspires individuals, businesses, and organizations in the western U.S. to live in ways that make ecological sense. With this end in mind, Green West offers green solutions, small and large, for everyday life and extraordinary occasions.

Recent entries here include slow food, green homes, even a Hawaii energy report from the Rocky Mountain Institute.

I ran into Green West via one of my cousins in California, Leslie Madsen Brooks, who describes herself as “a recovering academic” and is a contributor. Leslie also has an interesting discussion today in one of her own blogs about “what’s bloggable and what’s not?” Bloggability? Is that a word? As she notes, perhaps I might have gained from such a discussion back at the beginning of this site. In any case, her blog is well worth checking out.

Looking out towards the ocean, there are dark gray clouds everywhere and rain falling over the ocean in certain directions. Time to set the coffee timer, grab a camera, load up a morning’s ration of dog biscuits,  and head for the beach.

So it goes on a cloudy and somewhat threatening Thursday.