Mark Turner Dot Net

Remember my post about the dangers of not recycling CFL bulbs? I just got word from the City of Raleigh’s recycling program that Home Depot will accept CFL bulbs for recycling. Says Linda Leighton, Raleigh’s Waste Reduction Specialist:

Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are lighting more homes than ever before, and Raleigh Recycling encourages our residents to use and recycle them safely. Carefully recycling CFLs prevents the release of mercury into the environment and allows for the reuse of glass, metals and other materials that make up fluorescent lights. Until now CFLs had to be taken to one of Wake County’s Household Hazardous Waste Facilities, the North Wake facility open the first Saturday of each month and the South Wake facility open the third Saturday of each month.
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Infamous bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks allegedly replied “because that’s where the money is.”

In a press release explaining his position supporting offshore drilling, N.C. Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory asked:

“If we’re not willing to drill off our own coasts, then where will you drill?” he asked. “Off Venezuela? Off Nigeria? Saudi Arabia? Russia?”

Um, maybe someplace where there’s actually oil, Pat? Have you noticed that Venezuela has four times the oil, Nigeria has almost twice the oil, Saudi Arabia has ten times the oil, and Russia has three times the oil we do? And it would be even more lopsided if Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay was excluded?

There is more oil in the Middle East than all other world regions combined. We don’t drill off North Carolina because that’s not where the oil is!

Please get a clue, Pat.

Anyone who wants to drill for oil off our beautiful North Carolina coast needs to check themselves into Dorothea Dix Hospital. Any oil there is too miniscule to make a difference in supply, it will take at least a decade to get anything from it, and one spill would absolutely devastate our coastal tourism industry: about the only thing Eastern North Carolina can depend on. Possibly for years to come.

McCrory and Dole need to get a clue. Bev Perdue wins on this issue.

“Pile on the dogs” is what we’ll be saying this winter as PSNC has increased natural gas rates 31% in the last two months. We may have to get some dogs just to keep warm at night. Its sneaky how PSNC ups their rates in the summertime.

Suddenly the geothermal heater system I’d checked into is looking a lot more cost-effective.

Ok, so although my goal in Chicago and Milwaukee was to not set foot in an automobile I came up short. There was light rain the last morning of our Chicago trip and though we only had 6 blocks to go (and I had an umbrella), my coworker wussed out and talked me into taking a cab.

That short trip cost us $10 and me the goal of a automobile-free trip. Bah.

While I was waiting for Kelly to pick me up at the airport, I decided to explore the public transit options from Raleigh-Durham International Airport into downtown Raleigh. I’m a bus-and-bike kind of guy now, so I figured someone would’ve made it simple to get from a major transportation point like the airport to another major transportation point, Raleigh’s Moore Square Station.

Conclusion? Not worth the trouble.
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Remember when I was wishing Google Maps did more than driving? Through a visit to Milwaukee’s transit page I discovered Google Maps now covers public transit. Now Google Maps can tell you how to get where you’re going - without driving! Pretty cool.

Raleigh’s CAT system (or Triangle Transit, for that matter) isn’t listed on the page. Adding it seems to be a matter of setting up a feed of schedules and routes that Google periodically fetches. I don’t know if anyone at CAT is working on it so I might get started on it myself.

Last week was the last day of school in the Wake County school system. As I pedaled to work I was once again astonished at how different the streets looked. Gone were all the school buses, idling at lights. Gone was the long line of cars waiting to drop kids off at school. Gone were the stream of pedestrians walking to and from the school.

It was eerily quiet, like Wednesday morning became Sunday morning. A remarkable difference.

I was wondering what kind of difference the area’s air quality sensors detected between Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s CO2 and CO levels. Then the Great Smokeout of 2008 occurred and dashed my hopes of an accurate measurement. Perhaps the county’s traffic counters registered a change?

Yes, the temperature was above 100 degrees today. That didn’t stop me from riding my bike to work, however. I’m actually in a position where the heat doesn’t affect me much.

The secret’s in the route. Our house is downhill from downtown. Thus, I do my climbing in the morning: while its still cool. When its quittin’ time its also very warm … but, my trip home is all downhill. So, I don’t put myself at much risk when the weather is hot.

Now, when it turns cold … that will test my resolve!

I had to smirk last weekend when I put five gallons of gasoline into my 5 gallon lawn mower gas can for the price that would once fill up my car.

Time to get that Segway. Or that scooter I’ve been meaning to buy. Biking to work in 100 degree weather isn’t that appealing.