We should all go to Kernie’s Family Park in Germany, mostly because it’s built on the site of an abandoned (never used) nuclear power station. Where else can you free-climb a cooling tower? The site is in German and Dutch only. Sorry.
An actual quote: Hey Kids, eine echt unglaubliche Geschichte!
Well, it’s Friday, April 22nd that is the official Earth Day, but I figure it’s good to celebrate the whole week. So here are some friendly tips on better environmental living.
I still have trouble with #22, though. I suck at getting it right the first time . . .
The blogosphere is (justifiably) all a-twitter because Ross Mayfield was told that “air passengers are only allowed a maximum of two books on flights”:http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2005/04/books_banned_on.html starting April 14.
The problem isn’t a matter of 2 (or 4) books, of course. That’s just one silly example. The real issue is this note on the “Transportation Security Administration”:http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_1012.xml site:
_To ensure everyone’s security the screener may determine that an item not on this chart is prohibited._
Note that there’s no mention of how to challenge (or even report) a mistaken declaration, either at the time or after the fact. So, if the _ahem_ well-trained and capable TSA staff decide that your knitting needles or eyeglass screwdriver are _verboten_ (which they “aren’t”:http://www.tsa.gov/public/interweb/assetlibrary/Prohibited_English_4-1-2005_v2.pdf), then you have no recourse but to give them up. (Chant with me, everyone: “unreasonable… searches… and seizures…”:http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/)
On April 1st, Scientific American published an apology for their one-sidedness in the presentation of so-called ‘scientific’ ideas. I finally found the text. Go, you snarky scientists!
WorldChanging has a good overview of the “arguments for and against nuclear power”:http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002147.html as a solution to the current (and near future) oil/global warming/environment crisis. My personal view is that nuclear power can be useful in a few isolated cases, but improving efficiency and developing distributed alternative energy (solar, wind, geothermal) is a better use of our time and effort.
Oh, if only we could harness the mighty power of Internet debate!