It's Out: Wind Great for Community, Mining Great for Mining Companies!

We've been having some visits by the local wildlife...

Energy and Politics

Downstream Strategies just released a report that lays out some of the benefits of wind power over MTR mining at Coal River Mountain. Surprisingly, the report boldly states that private landholders and mining companies benefit from MTR mining, while local/county governments could actually receive nearly two (2) million dollars annually for property taxes on the wind farm. The mine would only send some 36,000 dollars to Raleigh County.

See the details at Coal River Wind. Also, Massey Energy coated over a bunch of fuss over Ohio State University Pres. Gordon Gee by pointing out his dedication to Massey. Gee, co-chair of the Energy Initiative Advisory Committee of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges is important in shaping the climate and clean energy debates within the realm of higher education institutions. Hence, many people called for his resignation from Massey, one of the worst environmental and social offenders in the US today.
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Talk about energy (and not politics), spend even a second at Scott's Rolling Thunder organic farm and you will undoubtedly feel more joy in your life. Fresh spinach and multiple types of lettuce, all organic and local, are seen below and soon to be enjoyed!




Meanwhile, on the homefront the irises are blooming wonderfully...

Transitions

Today in this time-warp state: Check out some civil disobedience going on in Dub V!

Coming Up: Les Claypool Live....but first:


College Grad Lands Small Job Just Before Graduation! (picture unrelated)

Soon after peeling outta Motown with a magna cum-laude in tow, unmild mannered Cory Chase (not of olfactory Floridian MySpace fame) began training to set sail on the high seas of steamed milk and fresh espresso with the often gritty (joke) Hypno Coffee Pirates.

"Gary has been blunt enough to tell me what I completely suck at doing when making a cappuccino; I need to hear the full truth in that moment....milk isn't sweet, its flat, its too hot...I had better do better!" the swindling jackal-in-training said while pouring a strange ooze onto the latest freshly roasted batch of beans.

"This goo makes people feel the urge to come back to the place where they first drank the coffee, ideally it is inside the roastery....but we've heard stories of it being in weird places like bathrooms and other pagan places."

Chase said he hopes to someday meet his alter-ego and have a duo photo shoot, on ice.

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Morgantown is a lot different than Davis. I think I can dig the change....no traffic lights, no freezing, stumbling sorority girls, no late night pizza....trade those Motown luxuries for mtn. bike rides, dancing to live music, and late night saunas!

What I don't miss:



Morgantown: Below the Walnut Street Bridge.

What I do miss: New Day Bakery, C. Bizzy jam sessions, trying to sneak up on Rob Riffe at the Sandcastle, climbing onto the Met for any reason...
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Saw Les Claypool and his masked amazing musicians this past weekend....always a bunch of fun guys! "Not stating anything new here.....just....the facts."


Normal Les


Les doin' his normal thing....check out the videos....turn your sound down, quality sucks...sorry.
Many may ask why I like Les....mainly because he phlipping rips up the bass and he's weird and witty. I put these on here because I love them...let me know if you feel the same way.




Fancy Fingers


Mr. Monkey Wrench

Feel weird? You should.

He will be at All Good soon....be sure to check out Floyd Fest as well, no Les but lots of fun!

A vein of [neutron] stars calling out my name....

Tickle my brain:

Space is heavy. Neutron star crust modeled at being a billion times stronger than steel....gotta get me summa dat stuff!

Phorid flies make ants into baby-feeding zombies. Glad nothing is going to eat my brain and hatch outta my head...that would be tough to handle....

While walking down 6th street, (across the street from the Must/Condon/Heathcock/Rank towerhouse) one of many weird streets in Morgantown, I passed some stairs that led past some pines to an old ladies' house which I had visited a few years ago. My neighbors knew this lady, who lived alone, and the time spent in her home was just plain awesome (I'll never forget the almost holographic picture of Jesus standing on the earth, specifically North America, and staring with arms outstretched.) If my memory works well her name was Edna, and she was in her nineties (90's) or late eighties (80's)? She captivated us with humorous stories and keen wit, likely enjoying our company even more than we enjoyed hers. Ah, nice memories***FFwd to a few weeks ago****I looked up to find that her house was gone....for how long, I don't know, but the stairs ended in dirt, where a house once stood, revealing the distant tan vinyl siding of a fairly new apartment complex...likely the fate of the property that Edna had lived on. Bet those trees don't live much longer.

Goodbye Edna, and goodbye to Morgantown; thanks for the plethora of experiences and lessons.

A final mini van loaded to the brim left Motown bound for less leafy trees and a cool basement to put a few years worth of houseware and "junk" down for a little nap.

Mo was quick and handy with turning kitchen contents into boxes, what a wizard, that boy! House plants and all made it home safe today.

Take a gander at an aprtment lived in and then.....

C Bizzy likes it here better without the clutter: "It's like Grandma's house, minus the perfectly hung pictures." And the candy bowl...

(A devil got into the kitchen shot quite by accident)

One of the last sunsets seen from the 2868 stairwell!

Nature-filler to keep you from contracting urbanitis....

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In other news, The White Room has been fleshing itself a bit more each micro-millenia, and if you are in Thomas, WV, then you ought to stop in and check out the local artistry and pin-mania. For real people, these kids (well, a few?) feed themselves on pin profits! Feed more artists! Reminds me of an event there soon:

SATURDAY MAY 23rd, 5-8PM at The White Room.....Wine and Cheese party with music..."Excessively fancy dress...."

Oh, how much for that whitebike in the window!

We're talking books, pottery, paintings, handmade jewerly, pinspinspins, knit pouches and hats, etc....

Snapped Max "Dubstyley" Dubansky shredding up Marilla Park after the Motown Farmers' Market, which he supplies some of the best much needed local produce at.

Be well now.

Soon to be free...

It's official: a computer spit out a number a few seconds after I submitted my final exam for trigonometry...seems I pulled outta the math dock (to ever return...?) with a 75%...so say the computer stats!

I've graduated, and on the way out of the building I passed a neat looking guy with a shirt that said "I've graduated...now what do I do!?" A smile and a chuckle I tossed his way.

This sums up one weird aspect of our current way of schooling: On the walk down University Ave. to the final test for this undergraduate, I passed a large spread of bright white index cards, maybe one hundred, strewn across the lawns and sidewalk. I looked down knowing they were temporarily of great value to some studious student that, like me, had to memorize information to brain dump onto a piece of paper...one card read something like "What do 68% of Americans....." and I walked on. The clincher is that each 3x5 card had maybe half a sentence on it and a word on the other side....this 'clinch' is my ego saying "WTF!!! Why people gotta be wasting so much shtuff?" I imagined the girl (by the handwriting, is that sexist?) driving down the road, having just finished that test she made all the cards for, and tossing them to the wind in a very liberating (and littering) gesture that was likely soon forgotten....along with most of the information "learned" for the test. I make no claim to have a good memory, o contraire...my point? Temporary value is....tricky? Anyhow, off to Towers for some prime-time dumpsta' divin'!!!

I tend to feel like these guys after being in Morgantown for so long...Concrete Jungle! "Life must be somehwere to be found!" - Mr. Marley

• Super clever clean coal ad by the Coen Bros....one more here too...
• SOLAR NEWS: way cool micro solar technology...maybe my shades can generate some power?
• More flatness in the news: power these speakers with them teeny tiny solar soakers!
• Ditching the ride and steering into the wind, why not change up the factory function?
• Sneaky Solar Array likely unproductive, is Bush a bit green?
• LEED-certified housing opens up in, you guessed it, Cali4nia.
• The new horizon for your Benz: B-class F-cell! The fifteen (15) pics are interesting...
• Dung builders make crappy homes...
• Babes from Uranus that like to reuse tofu! Argh! Stop the blasted hippies!

Three more exams tomorrow, then the key will click open the lock!My favorite weekly astrology column had this to say about the Twins and it has to do with final exams...how peculiar:

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I'm going to quote a few pieces of advice from a piece I found on the Internet, "15 Fun Things To Do During a Big, Important Test." I trust that this will stimulate your imagination in all the right ways as you get ready for your metaphorical version of a final exam. 1. Bring your own private cheerleaders in uniform. Have them cheer loudly whenever you answer a question. 2. Haul in a large, flamboyant idol. Set it next to you and pray to it often. 3. Bring a friend to give you a massage the entire time. Insist this person is needed because your thoughts flow properly only when your circulation is enhanced. 4. Every now and then, clap twice rapidly. If the teacher asks why, say, "The light bulb that goes on above my head when I get an idea is hooked up to a Clapper. DUH!"

I like #3 although I bet it would not fly...the others may just disturb my comrades (Dr. Hanham talk!) a bit much while taking the final test of knowledge and skill.

Morgantown has been getting major national news coverage for its ability to stay afloat in these weird economic times ("It is impossible for man to look straight at the present, because he is too terrified by it. We stand on the stern of the ship looking at the wake and saying, 'We're in very troubled waters.'" - Marshall McLuhan from Rob Brezney's site) Check out this video compilation: Morgantown's Economic Success.

After viewing that, I now have even more reason to head for the hills, which is what I have been planning to do anyhow. Thanks for extra boost, Ron. I love how he gives no clear reason for Motown's success...just that darn good University that has had to spruce up its image since the burning of couches and the handing out of eMBA's tainted the once humble image of our state's great land-grant institution.

And a photo for kicks...

Lily lying (was sleeping) in the leaves...hard to sneak up on that one.