I really want to be a teacher!

Actually, I do . . . and always have. I've done some. Guitar, drums, photography, and video production. All either privately, at a tech school, and at MPS. I've always enjoyed teaching. I've been hesitant to go after certification simply because of the state of our society today. But, who knows?

Anyway, between the bennies, pension, and summers off, there's now another possible reason to try and become a teacher:

Schools eye four-day week to cut fuel costs

The entire article is here.

I think it's interesting that one solution is just to eliminate busing all together. To me, it's one of those parental responsibilities. I understand every situation is different, but if one decides they have to live way out in the country then they'd better be able to cart their kids to school. Harsh? I know.

Also, there's no mention of better conservation in the buildings. Maybe it's been done to its extent, but is shutting down a full day a week the ONLY answer?

Interestingly, the end of the article reports better attendance and improved performance by the students. That's a plus, of course. But, are they on par with the rest of the districts?

Of course, for the teachers . . . THIS IS GOLDEN! No mention of pay or benefit cuts. Oh no. I'm sure everything is the same. Same pay for less work. Nice.

I wanna be a teacher!

Let's Deal in Reality

With renewed talks of drilling for our own (or at least partially) oil, the debate on our dependence on oil has heated up. The argument from many on the left is that not only would drilling hurt the environment, but we should invest our energies, time, and money on alternate fuel sources.

Well, news flash for ya . . . we'd still need the oil to produce fuel to power the plants that would eventually manufacture whatever alternate source of energy we come up with!!

You see all those funny things with wheels? They're cars. And there's a lot of them. A LOT of them. And they require petroleum to operate. And, no matter what happens, they're not going away any time soon. That goes for trucks, too. And ships. And planes. And the other enormous amount of things and industries that rely on fuel made from oil.

What's more, and in spite of what you might believe, we're not close to having an alternate fuel source. At least, not one that's efficient and affordable. We're easily a decade away from anything mass market-wise.

In the mean time, we need oil. We're oil dependent. That's the reality of it. You can harp about using the earth's resources, destroying the environment, evil oil companies all you want, but the cars, ships, and planes ain't going away anytime soon and there's nothing you can do about that. The easiest and fastest way for us to lower the price of gas, maintain a healthy economy, and continue our efforts for alternative fuel, is to drill for the oil. Here. In Alaska, in the Gulf, and off the shores of California. Anywhere, in fact. Don't want the drilling rigs nearby? What's so different about acres of solar panels or wind turbines? Kennedy (here's to his health!) liberal that he is, doesn't want acres of wind turbines n his back yard. Why should his opinion matter? Plus, what about the acres of land that's cleared for solar panels and wind turbines? Isn't that impacting the environment?

Whatever. As inefficient as solar and wind is, I'd just as soon have the acreage used for drilling. We'd be better off . . . if there was oil there, of course. But, the point is, let's deal with reality here. Oil rules . . . for the moment, anyway.

So, what's the answer?

Once again, hurricane predictions were way off for this year. What I like about global warming alarmists, is that they can use global warming to answer both sides of a question. More hurricanes? Global warming. Fewer hurricanes? El Niño apparently is to blame . . . which some say is fueled, in part, by global warming. Of course.

Meanwhile, Maine and North Dakota are already breaking records with snowfall. But that's just the climate issue. Our energy needs are another issue.

What's ironic, is that the environmentalists don't seem to want to do anything practical about a solution to our energy needs. The fact is, we are where we are. We like our cars, ipods, cable TV, high speed internet, and all of the other things that make each decade more advanced than the previous. And it all takes energy to produce and/or operate. In Texas, a wind farm . . . a massive wind farm . . . is being challenged by environmentalists.

The federal suit, filed in U.S. Western District Court in Austin, said the turbines could kill untold numbers of migratory birds and damage the bay.

Personally, for what you get from wind turbines, I think they're a waste of space. Ted Kennedy doesn't want them in his backyard. For all I know there's merit to the Texas challenge. But that's not the point. If coal is bad, nuclear is bad, wind turbines kill birds and thus are bad, what's left? In Texas, several coal plants have been cancelled due to challenges by the environmentalist groups. Now this. What about solar energy? Well, it likely less efficient than wind energy, and it takes a lot of resources to manufacture. A process that includes strip mining for the materials needed for the cells. Not to mention production factories . . . not to mention storage cells containing lead and sulfuric acid . . . lots of and big storage cells . . . not to mention the space needed for the solar panels. Lots of space. Space that I'm sure would displace many species of living things.

So, solar is bad.

Life sucks. Energy, that is. Meanwhile, people complain about the high costs of gas and electricity. Well, it has to come from somewhere. But where?