Lately I've become such a cynic, I think it means not so much investment in alternative technologies (we could have had electric cars a long time ago) just that only rich people will be able to afford to drive, and they will make sure none of their taxes go to public transportation or urban walkability/livability projects.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Then maybe the peasants will riot and something will get done after that.

Yes. Aliens will arrive to consume the corpses.

Ain't security theater grand?

The scanner caught a subject's cell phone and Swiss Army knife -- and the microphone he was wearing -- but missed all the components to make a bomb that he hid on his body. Admittedly, he only faced the scanner from the front and not from the side. But he also didn't hide anything in a body cavity other than his mouth -- I didn't think about that one -- he didn't use low density or thinly sliced PETN, and he didn't hide anything in his carry-on luggage.

Do you mean the long-term effects of failure to take action on climate change, or msbelle's dystopian workplace?

All of it! Although in that case, I means msbelle's job. My one coworker is now working from home at the end of her pregnancy, and she still hasn't been able to hire either of the two other positions in her department. And their big piece of work happens while she's on leave. Oops.

Lately I've become such a cynic, I think it means not so much investment in alternative technologies (we could have had electric cars a long time ago)

I'm curious to see how the Chevy Volt does. I think it's the most compelling electric car to come onto the market. (Yes, it has a gas engine onboard, but it's a generator, the powertrain is electric.) Around town, you can be almost all electric, but you can still take a trip in it.

I think the big problem with the Volt is it's very expensive. Isn't it around $40k?

That's right, but there's supposed to be a federal tax credit that will bring it down to about $33k. Not cheap, but a lot of cars sell in that range.

Oh, that'll help.

I wanted to buy a used Prius when I moved, but they will still be too expensive. Well, too expensive unless I take on more debt, which I am hoping to avoid.

1)Went to my first rugby game and drank with the team at our neighborhood bar.

one of us, one of us.

Oh absolutely one of you! It was cold and wet, but we did both games. Luckily there was a retired player sitting next to us who could explain what was happening because when we first showed up it just looked like chaos out there!

We were technically already drinking "with" the team. They come to our neighborhood bar, we had just never been to see them play.

I've been wanting to go for a while and couldn't get Jon interested in it until one day they were at the bar and a guy who was leaving the team got a signed ball and gave a speech. Jon started talking to the coach and decided he wanted to go (Shoulda done that 2 years ago, but whatever!)