• Beyond paper or plastic

    Those wily Brits are up to something again…

    Bags of Change: Carrot Better Than Stick – TreeHugger:

    Bags of Change encourages responsible shopping bag use by dangling a tasty carrot. In short you get a discount at any participating store into which you to take their funky organic hemp-cotton or Amazonian latex bags. So far over 50 stores are involved.

    I kid because I care. Actually, I think it’s a pretty cool idea. My problem is my terrible memory. At least half the time I remember my cloth bags when I’ve got a cart full of groceries (and the bags are safe and sound at home). My memory might be a little better if I had a financial stake in the matter. That or I’d just have more reason to hate myself when I forgot.

  • Getting my goat

    It’s been a couple days since the Florida primary. Although I’ve spent most of them trying to cough up a lung, I’ve had a little time to read some news. Lucky for you I’m taking a sick day today, and a fever has a way of loosening my tongue a little ;-) After my little talk with lonely poll workers I’ve learned that turnout was actually up since our last Presidential primary (in ’04). It turns out we had something like 30 percent show this year, as opposed to 20 percent in ’04.

    Woo HOO! A fifty percent increase!

    It kind of reminds me of what they say about zero… you can multiply it by any big number… you still have zero.

    Let’s review. In 2004 there was essentially no Republican primary. Dubya was running unopposed for his party’s nomination (as the still somewhat popular incumbent – among the GOP faithful anyway). By the time Florida’s turn came, like every other time in my life, the nomination was essentially decided. Because of the later date, there were some local elections on the ballot in Pinellas County, but we all know that local elections are a terrible draw (which is a shame because they may have more direct effect on our lives than national elections).

    So this year BOTH parties’ nominations for President were up in the air, there was a high profile amendment to the Florida Constitution on the ballot (on TAXES no less), and still only 30 percent of us turned out.

    Excuse me if I’m not overly impressed.

  • The Liar’s Diary

    liar.jpg

    The Liar’s Diary is a book by Patry Francis, a New England author with cancer. In her case the disease has been particularly cruel; it threw her a curve at a time when most authors are out promoting their book – right now.

    Since she can’t get out to promote the book on her own, one of her friends organized a group of bloggers to do it for her.

    And so far it’s apparently worked.

    Head over to amazon and take a look.

    I plan to right after I finish this post.