keeping up with the joneses

affluenza.org has a rather good diagram presenting the rather large and complicated issues involved in sustainable development which have lately been giving me such a headache.

questiontime

why does my hair always look its best just as i am about to go to bed?

answers as always on a post(card).

'this is england'

yesterday was st. george's day, it largely went unnoticed, perhaps not unnoticed but a distinct lack of enthusiasm was shown. it seems that people are only patriot when there's an international football tournament. someone asked me whether portugal had a day similar to st. george's? does it matter? it's not like any significant celebrations took place.

so here's a little shout to the brits: there's quite a lot to be patriot about, but when you come to look at it football is not really one of them (the current english teams still in the champions league are all managed by non-english).

recommended:

biopower

A selection of articles outlining the dangers of biofuels.

The latest greenwash attempt by the motoring and fuel industry is perhaps not as clean as it suggests. it's time that we concentrate on developing new technologies rather than making the most out of old ones (diesel engines were originally developed to run on biologically derived fuels). I'll let Monbiot tell you all about the potential ethical dangers of an increase in the usage of biofuels. Yesterday's Guardian talks about the health dangers of ethanol.
I'd like to imagine a day where cars like the Tesla Roadster fill our roads. I'm the first to admit that they are not perfect, in addition to its enormous price-tag current methods of electricity production have also got some way to go in improving its environmental performance. what really excites me is the potential for improvement of the technology.

my car

my volvo is starting to show its age, yes it's true. partly due to its boxy shape, a design scheme no longer favoured by car manufacturers and consumers alike. the green boxy bodywork is marked by scracthes and dents like moles on an OAP. the retractable aerial no longer retracts. one of my favourite features though is how the 'econ' dial marks it presence on the dashboard. the needle moves to the right when i press my foot on the accelerator, with the section at the far right highlighted in red, suggesting that consumption of gasoline at that rate is dangerous. in the present global warming concerned world that we reside, it would perhaps be the right time for the dial to make a comeback in modern cars. in order to bring it up to date the 'econ' could simply be replaced by 'CO2'.

a final push

is what I keep telling myself. go on give it one last big push, it's almost over now. the cliches have acquired some real meaning. the three years are now coming to an abrupt ending, it really does seem like only yesterday. a lot has changed, but to be honest most things have stayed the same.
so here i am, back in the house 3 weeks before my holidays are due to end. who would have thought?
last night i made my first 'cod a la braz' and fed it to myself and my flatmate. went down an absolute treat.
yesterday i missed out on the surf due to the high tide at the nearby swanpool which only works about twice a year. i promised myself i'd wake up early this morning to make it on time. however at 9am the grey skies and shaking trees made going back to bed much more attractive.
so here i am, catching up on my bookmarks. ah the arcade fire gig.... anyway, i shall go and eat my cream cheese and smoke salmon bagel and then get on with that push.