TEA Parties

[sugarpop]

My ex lived near Big Sur. I went up there a few times to visit him. And anyway, you know what a hippie I am. I would be perfectly happy living on a commune somewhere. Growing food. Drumming and dancing in drum circles. Having orgies.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

My ex lived near Big Sur. I went up there a few times to visit him. And anyway, you know what a hippie I am. I would be perfectly happy living on a commune somewhere. Growing food. Drumming and dancing in drum circles. Having orgies.

True dat! and I still love you.

[Bullitt]

Big Sur is definitely still a place populated by weirdos. That's where our big wildfire was last July and let me tell you my crew and I ran into some pretty strange folks over our two week stint in Big Sur. The Buddhist monks/volunteer firefighters haha, and the good old Esalen Institute (if you're interested in "non-violent wood turning", I can point you in the right direction), and another engine crew we befriended found a half-acre pot field. Very nice people for the most part, though that may have had something do with the fact that we were protecting their homes.., and beautiful part of the coastline.

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by Bullitt

Big Sur is definitely still a place populated by weirdos. That's where our big wildfire was last July and let me tell you my crew and I ran into some pretty strange folks over our two week stint in Big Sur. The Buddhist monks/volunteer firefighters haha, and the good old Esalen Institute (if you're interested in "non-violent wood turning", I can point you in the right direction), and another engine crew we befriended found a half-acre pot field. Very nice people for the most part, though that may have had something do with the fact that we were protecting their homes.., and beautiful part of the coastline.

My ex's dad taught massage at Esalen. He's been working there for years. We visited him once. I LOVED it up there. I would love to work somewhere like that. Such amazing beauty. And the energy was delicious.

My ex grew up on a commune. Lucky bastard.

[Aliantha]

Did you all go and stand downwind? lol

(yes I realize this wouldn't be a good idea in theory, but I suppose that's where firefighters usually have to be anyway right?)

[classicman]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

I have no idea what the cost of an electric car is right now. I haven't priced them because

Then how can you say they are a viable option for many? How viable is an option most people cannot afford?

[Bullitt]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Did you all go and stand downwind? lol

(yes I realize this wouldn't be a good idea in theory, but I suppose that's where firefighters usually have to be anyway right?)

Nah we weren't with them when they found it. Just as well though because they had to sit there for hours as the police department, which was already stretched thin due to that pesky over 100,000 acre wildfire going on, went through the proper procedures to deal with such a large amount of growing plants.

Actually we go by the "one foot in the black"rule. You want to stay mostly in or near the already burned area attacking the flanks of the blaze never the actual head of the fire, be upwind of the fire (if you are facing the fire, the wind would preferably be at your back), no fuel between you and the fire if possible, and never ever ever ever uphill from the fire, no matter what direction it is heading or how far down the canyon/drainage/whatever it appears to be. Unless of course you have the task of securing a dozerline/firebreak, part of which entails spending all day or night chasing after embers falling on the unburned side of the line (not as fun as it might sound).
*~*~*~*~*~The More You Know!~*~*~*~*~*

Originally Posted by sugarpop

My ex's dad taught massage at Esalen. He's been working there for years. We visited him once. I LOVED it up there. I would love to work somewhere like that. Such amazing beauty. And the energy was delicious.

My ex grew up on a commune. Lucky bastard.

We actually got an invitation from whoever was running/care-taking Esalen during those weeks to come use their hot springs baths and get some stress relief/meditation pointers for free. Sounded like an awesome deal until we picked up a catalogue of their courses at a gas station while stopping to pick up some chew and jerky. They offer some crazy ass sounding courses there. Some seemed perfectly legit, and I guess some universities have psychology class credit deals worked out with Esalen for particular courses. That said, there were others that left us speechless like a course on tapping into the combined knowledge from all time that everything in the universe shares with one another, etc., and the "non-violent wood turning" class. Kind of weirded us out. Very nice but interesting folks up there.

[sugarpop]

You really should have gone Bullitt. The spring baths are totally awesome! Just be expecting lots of nudity...

[sugarpop]

If you tend to travel a lot I can understand needing something else. If you can afford two cars, why not have an electric one for home use and another one for travel?

I am really looking forward to the high speed rail systems Obama wants to create. It would be extremely useful for the US to have the same kind of rail system that other countries enjoy.

There is this one commericial that was on TV not too long ago, and as much as I hate commercials, I loved this one. It was for a car company (I don't remember which one), and in the commercial it showed one person driving somewhere and then giving the keys to someone else, and they drove somewhere and then gave the keys to someone else, etc. I thought that was brilliant. I wish we could do something like that in society, where no one really had to own cars, they were just available for anyone to drive whenever they needed to go somewhere.

[sugarpop]

Bruce, you can get 50+ mpg out of a regular Toyota now if you practice certain driving techniques. My 91 Geo can get more than 40. I coast a lot. The reason I would like to get a newer car though is because the emmission standards are better now in newer cars. I can't afford a new car right now though.

oh, and as far as elecric cars go, you don't necessarily need plug in stations, some electrics can by plugged into a regular outlet with an adapter, I believe. I remember seeing something about that a while back.

[TheMercenary]

So if we significantly increase the demand for electricity by plugging into our houses where do you think that electricity is going to come from? Oh, that would be the coal fired or nuclear plant down the road.

[sugarpop]

It is a matter of choosing the things that do the least amount of harm. Electric cars, from what I learned on that show last night, are a lot more efficient, so they are actually a much better choice. Not to mention the fact that we get most of our oil from countries that are hostile to us. No technology is going to be perfect, at least not anytime soon. We can only continue trying to move in the right direction with regard to ALL our energy resources, and to me, that means creating a lot more solar and wind and geothermal, etc. If we could get the government to sponsor a program where people could solarize their homes (where there is a lot of sun), or have individual wind mills (where there is high wind) at a reasonable cost, and sell the excess back to the grid, that is one way to help solve the problem. Less people getting energy FROM the grid, more people supplying energy TO the grid. Less need for big electric companies. More sustainable power for individuals, more empoerment for people. Less costly power. See what I mean? It would feed on itself, and in a good way. Honestly, I don't know why they haven't peoposed that yet. Over time, we might end up with practically free power for everyone.

[TheMercenary]

Look up the contribution of coal fired plants to global warming and get back to me. It is a major source of pollution. China is build about 2 - 4 a month.

[sugarpop]

Did you even bother reading the rest of what I wrote? I do not like coal. look, just go here and read the transcripts or watch the show, OK?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/car/

[TheMercenary]

But the fact is, even if you don't like them, they are the primary souce of electric power in this country and around the world. So if you want to take a technology and apply it to the cars I am sure that the power companies of the world would be really happy to to have us do that. Because the alternatives are not being practially considered. Although there is evidence that the public outcry against coal is having an effect. The fact remains that there is not a huge incentive at this time to stop building them. And as long as countries like China and India do not have to apply the same standards of technology to newly built or existing coal fired plants it will not make a difference to global warming how many electric cars we build. It may make us feel better and make the coal companies and power companies rich, but it is not going to improve the environment.