It’s that time of year again here on the coast, yes, it’s time for the annual Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival where 250,000 of our closest friends come across the hill and descend upon our little town like locusts. Well, it’s not all bad. The merchants here have had a tough year with the Highway 1 closure – I’m happy that our local economy will get a bit of a lift.

The Coastsider and Half Moon Bay Review have some great coverage of the event. If you haven’t experienced pumpkin madness, this can give you a feel for it. Or, you can brave the traffic and come experience it yourself. Hot tip: if you’re going to come over, take the time to use Highway 1 access from the north rather than Highway 92 from the east. It’s a heck of alot faster and prettier.

Photo of the winning pumpkin this year, 554.74 kg (1223 lbs)


Ohio State’s 2006 record: 6-0 Next up: @Michigan State 10/14
Tune: Cha Cha Cha by Tito Puente
Technorati Tags: Pumpkin Festival | Half Moon Bay | Art & Wine | Mike Harding Blog

In previous entries we’ve discussed how much electricity the US is producing and consuming, what the sources of generation are, and how much it costs from a monetary perspective. But there are other costs.

This entry will focus on the largest fuel source for electricity generation, coal. This is an ancient source that is well understood and drives a massive supply chain from real estate with mineral rights clear through mining and transportation and finally ending up in places like electricity generation. Without a doubt the technology for oxidizing (burning) coal to create heat which in turn is transferred to liquids which through phase change from liquid to gas pressurize and then drive turbines attached to generators, has improved dramatically. Back during the early days of the industrial revolution cities like Pittsburgh were covered in smog and soot.

The state of the art today is that approximately 1,000 kg (~2,200 lbs) of carbon dioxide and approximately 13kg of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted into the atmosphere for each MWh of power generated by burning coal. As is well known, carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming and the sulfur and nitrogen oxides are key ingredients to acid rain. This level of emissions is a vast improvement from the late 19th century, but still constitutes a problem. With 5% of the population of the earth, the US is responsible for 23% of carbon dioxide emissions on the planet (not just electricity generation, transportation has alot to do with that number as well.) (Source: US Environmental Protection Agency.)

One of the key challenges in limiting emissions is the increasing demand for electricity. Right now, the demand is outstripping the new cleaner generation technology’s installation rate which means that older, less efficient, more polluting coal generation plants are staying in production longer than is desirable. Each time a new technology (be it natural gas or photovoltaics) is deployed, it either meets new demand or displaces older, less cost effective generation technologies. Given the increasing cost of fossil fuels, there is an opportunity to focus our attention more completely on the installation of renewable electric generation at a scale that makes the economics attractive in addition to exceeding the growth in electricity demand. That could have the effect of displacing less effective generation technologies and as a side effect, limit harmful emissions.

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 6-0 Next up: @Michigan State 10/14
Tune: Use me by Bill Withers
Technorati Tags: Energy | Pollution | Emissions | Mike Harding Blog

Unsurprisingly, one of the governments responsible disputes the impact of their actions. I’m all for debate around this as it’s a huge number, but where’s the mortality rate the UK would state in its place? How was that rate calculated and what was the underlying data? Until and unless this is produced, it’s nothing more than a kid saying “it’s not true and it’s not our fault. Your study is flawed.” The 655k number may be wrong. Let’s assume it’s wrong by half or even wrong by an order of magnitude (as the UK asserts), does it change the fact that we invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses and a large number of people paid the ultimate price as a result? When is the number small enough to be acceptable? 5,000? 50,000? 100,000?

Every day I see at least one incident where X number of people are killed by violent cause Y in Iraq. Here’s a Yahoo news search on “car bomb” – count ’em up for a day of activity. One number it’s not is zero. Let’s get a plan together to select the least bad option to draw this to conclusion. There are no good options I can see. And current course and speed is likely the least good option. Let’s try something else.

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 6-0 Next up: @Michigan State 10/14
Tune: President by Wyclef Jean
Technorati Tags: Death Count | Iraq | War | Mike Harding Blog

According to Christopher Shays (House R – Conn) “at least no one was killed” referencing the Teddy Kennedy 1969 Chappaquiddick incident. I agree, that’s a scandal and tragedy, I have no idea how Kennedy survived it politically nor do I think he’s a particularly good or effective representative. However…

How about 655,000 deaths? Does that a scandal make Mr. Shays? Kill one and you are a murderer, kill 655,000 and it’s statecraft; is that how it works? I could care less who Foley tried to shag. I care alot about a our three branches of government who are doing absolutely nothing to draw the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to a conclusion, manage our finances in a responsible way, and get the heck out of citizen’s private lives. The scandal is, you and your colleagues are not doing your jobs. Shut up and get to work or get out of the way. Let’s vote these idiots out!

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 6-0 Next up: @Michigan State 10/14
Tune: The Thrill is Gone by Riley “Blues Boy” King aka B.B. King
Technorati Tags: Scandal | Politics | War | Mike Harding Blog

If ever a football team could be described by literature, it’s the Michigan State Spartans. When visiting Edinburgh, Scotland a few years ago I went to a place on the Royal Mile called Deacon Brodie’s Tavern. It turns out the Brodie, who really was a deacon as well as a cabinet maker, was also a thief. He would build furniture for the well heeled then make copies of their keys and come back later to rob them. He was caught and hung on a scaffold of his own construction. Allegedly, this served as the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

That’s MSU in a nut shell, you don’t know if Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde will show up and you don’t even know which team persona will finish the game. The most recent display (though there are countless examples) happened when Notre Dame traveled to East Lansing. Sparty took a large lead into the 4th quarter – depending on your position relative to Notre Dame – resulted in a stunning come from behind victory or an unthinkable collapse. A week later, the 4th quarter Notre Dame game personality played against Illinois, owner of a 10 game Big 10 losing streak, losing 23-20. Last week, they played Michigan in the annual rivalry game. While effort was apparent during the game from MSU, continuous penalties and mental errors helped an already dominant Wolverine team cruise to an easy 31-13 victory.

That being said, Sparty always wins a game they shouldn’t. So far, Pitt would have to be the victim least expected based on performance. But that’s where I start to worry about this game. It wouldn’t be the first time a mediocre MSU team beats #1 OSU. It happened twice before, in 1998 and in 1974. In 2005 and 2004, MSU played the Bucks close and arguably, outplayed them until 2nd half rallies. On paper, this shouldn’t even be close, particularly with leading rusher Javon Ringer out for the season, receiver Matt Trannon out for the game, and with Stanton’s sore ribs. But you just don’t know what team will show up or what the weather will bring.

So, to keep true to form, my prediction this week is a split. 90% probability MSU self-destructs at the first sign of adversity and the final score is 38-10 Buckeyes. 10% probability MSU picks itself up off the floor, rallies, and gives the Bucks a tough game, still resulting in a losing effort 24-21. Go Bucks!

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 6-0 Next up: @Michigan State 10/14
Tune: Swing Sweet Pussycat by Atomic Fireballs
Technorati Tags: Ohio State | Michigan State | Football | Mike Harding Blog