Sunday, January 25, 2004



I am looking for web sites relating to wastewater and found this nugget, a blogger who is posting his Experiences as a water and sanitation engineer in Guatemala....

But I can't find anyone talking about what I think is a huge sleeping budget issue:  At some point, we as a society are going to have to fork over huge amounts of money to address water issues.  Two big areas are immediately apparent to me:  Projects that get water to people that have used theirs up and upgrades to our wastewater treatment infrastructure.  

Wastewater: 

It was more than 30 years ago that huge amounts of money were ploughed into building municipal wastewater plants.  I remember when one of these was built outside of Springfield Mass.  Bondi's Island.  It made some neighborhoods of Springfield unbearable for a while and we could smell it up on the hill in Longmeadow on summer nights.  We used to call a guy Bondi's because he let out a vicous fart one day at lunch.   

When the wind is right, I can smell the Pig's Eye treatment plant outside of the DNR.  Security guards refer to it as the shit factory.  One of the security guards at the DNR told me that she was stationed there for two days, but refused to go back because the smell made her sick.  Another guard told me it is where they station you if you make too many mistakes at another place.

I work to keep the daylight world of work and family and recreation completely seperate from the subject of "what happens after I flush the toilet, but stories like "Minnehaha creek hit with 300,000 gallons of spilled sewage" remind me of the existence of an infrastructure that wisks away my defamation.   

I am expecting this hidden world to inch its way into our attention.  The decay is real.  Pipes and pumps need replacing.  Spills due to broken equipment are real.  It will be interesting to see how communities, especially the ones who don't even want to pay for sidewalks, will deal with it.  And it will be interesting to watch politicians, especially the ones who have bullshitted their way into office by promising lower taxes and smaller government avoid the issue.   


6:57:10 PM    comment []
 
Cheddar X - January 23

1. Do you read more male or female bloggers? Why do you suppose that is?

I read more male bloggers.    Why is a good question. Best guesses are:  There are simply more male bloggers.  Many many female bloggers seem to be teenagers or people pretending to be teenagers.  Some of my interests slant towards male writers:  Fatherhood, geekdom, fishing, for example.  Leave me a link to some good female bloggers and I'll read 'em.


2. Does politicizing a blog send you packing if the blogger's beliefs are opposed to your own? Or, do you only read opinions that you agree with?

I like people who can write well and offer new insights, no matter what their political persuasion.  I am often embarassed by the pitiful efforts of those I agree with.  I love reading a blog that may be abhorent to me if that person is speaking his mind, deranged as it is, instead of engaging in group-think as so many bloggers do.  Perfect example is Little Geneva, who is a bugshit lunatic, but who I am compelled to read.  I love reading an opinion I don't agree with if it is organic, formed from that persons real experience.  I hate reading someone who starts with a belief and bends all that he reads in the paper to fit his belief, or regurgitates what he just saw on FOX news, all the while never straying too far from his comfort zone.


3. Do you read other Cheddar X answers before writing your own?

No.  Except sometimes Ryan Rhodes reminds me of Cheddar X.


4. What was the most utterly ridiculous thing someone said to you?

That you shouldn't eat snow because it's full of pollution as evidenced by its greater volume.  (one of many astounding scientific observations offered to me by College of St. Catherines graduates)


5. What world record would you most like to hold?

If I can't have the hairiest family, I guess I would like to hold the longest continuous giggling fit.


6. What types of blog posts make you want to comment more often than not?

If someone writes something that is not to me factually correct, I gotta post a comment.  Also, if I have an experience that relates to the post, I gotta comment   

 


7. Does your significant other have a beloved article of clothing that you hate? Have you contemplated "accidentally" destroying it?  

nope


3:58:58 PM    comment []
 


I looked back through the readings for my class and found some things that spoke to me out of the class I just finished:

Jesus said,

"Whoever does not accept God's imperil rule the way a child would, certainly won't set foot in God's domain"

In chapter 3, this teacher says,

" The reason that Jesus had a bias for children is not because they are innocent even though some of them are.  It is not because they are so kind.  Lord knows many are not kind at all.  It is not that they do good.  Even the best of them doesn't do much to improve the world.  But they see the world that is there, without delusion.  They experience it directly and not through some intermediary idea.

 


3:17:22 PM    comment []