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COLUMN OF POWER
The hour will soon be upon us:
Sparkly illustration by Sturt Krygsman. SMH darkenistas are hostile to our plans:
On the internet, a handful of commentators are attempting to stage spoiler events under banners such as “Anti Earth Hour” and “Hour of Power”. They encourage sceptics to leave their lights on and run all their appliances, while simultaneously revving their four-wheel-drives, between 8 and 9 tonight.
It sounds so wicked and wrong. A member of the Australian Defence Forces emails: “Further to your earlier post, as well as being sent the same text the serviceman received, we were encouraged to print out this flyer and stick it up around the workplace.
“Note the exhortation to act at home. Oh, I’ll be acting all right: all lights on deck for the Hour of Power!”
It’s not by accident that our armed forces are held in such high regard.
(Insty link via Corey H.)
UPDATE. This Sky News poll is running pro-Power. Via Doug Cox, who reports: “Sky is advertising live coverage of Earth Hour. Somehow I don’t think they get the idea.”
UPDATE II. They’ve pulled a Blanchett in Tel Aviv:
The Mediterranean city turned off its lights at 8 P.M. on Thursday night ... Because of Shabbat, Tel Aviv decided to bring Earth Hour forward.
Thus a clash of faiths is avoided.
UPDATE III. Earth Hour is dangerous:
“We know that candles that are not extinguished properly can actually catch fire to nearby objects such as curtains and clothing,’’ he said.
That’s some impressive knowledge. (Via Becky)
UPDATE IV. Google goes dark:
Google Uk turned its home page black today in an effort to raise awareness for “Earth Hour”.
Great move, Google:
Unfortunately, on LCD monitors sized 22 inches or less, Google’s new black actually consumes more energy than its usual white one.
UPDATE V. The EcoChic (“Learning How to Love Mother Earth”) writes:
I was on a plane from Savannah to Atlanta when I read an article reminding me about Earth Hour.
How ... beautiful. By the way, our anti-warming Prime Minister (whose government has instructed all departments and offices to observe Earth Hour) is marking the occasion by flying around the planet. He’s an Hour of Power champion!
UPDATE VI. Google knows that black backgrounds eat more energy:
Our own analysis as well as that of others shows that making the Google homepage black will not reduce energy consumption. To the contrary, on flat-panel monitors (already estimated to be 75% of the market), displaying black may actually increase energy usage. Detailed results from a new study confirm this.
(Via Doug)
UPDATE VII. This Earth Hour deal is bigger than we thought:
At the Lake Bolac Eel Festival, lights and amplifiers will be turned off for a special “acoustic showcase”.
UPDATE VIII. Fiji is on full Earth Hour alert:
The police force is committed to make its presence felt when Fiji observes Earth Hour from 8-9pm tonight.
Corporate Communications Officer Ema Mua says the force wants to ensure that no one takes advantage of the Earth Hour Initiative to break the law ... “A big number will be patrolling on foot and those who will be on motor vehicle.”
Similar concerns in Manila:
Chief Supt. Roberto Rosales ordered all station commanders to make sure all their men are in the field.
It’s Authority Hour. Anyone who gets beaten up or robbed should contact Earth Hour founder Andy Ridley to discuss compensation.
UPDATE IX. Earth Hour is underway. Ignite! Nigel W. emails:
I won’t be at work tonight at 8pm, so I won’t be surrounded by equipment that toasts more coal in a couple of hours than your average Al Gore house does in a year.
But the attached photo hopefully shows that I have been doing my bit to warm the heavens of late. There are two of these suckers in the area that I am working in at the moment, and this is what they look like with about 30% of the equipment installed.
And from Louis Hissink:
Herewith the 2000 watt bitumen-melting light that will be switched on tonight at 8pm WSDT for one hour. That is me under the hat in front of our diamond core shed.
UPDATE X. Thrill to the darkness.
UPDATE XI. Fun for the whole family!
UPDATE XII. The horror of Earth Hour is at an end, at least locally. Now we await this year’s propaganda images from Fairfax - and further acts of electrical dissent as Earth Hour crawls into new time zones.
Poweristas are running almost 3-1 ahead-Sky News poll.
Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2008 03 28 at 03:36 PM • permalinkJust voted “No”. I wanted to shout “HELL NO!” when I clicked, but the office has rules about that sort of behavior.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 03 28 at 03:51 PM • permalinkIf “Earth Hour” is a good thing, then “Earth Always” must be sensational! Progressive Alternatives to Carbon Overdose, Ltd., can help your country achieve maximum levels of Gaiaphiliac darkness with our special, patented North Korean power technology. This user-friendly system is as easy as standing blindfolded in front of a wall (smoking a last cigarette, if you wish)! In fact, it’s so simple, a brain trust could operate it!
Progressive Alternatives to Carbon Overdose, Ltd.: “Let’s all go bump in the night!”
LMAO!
Oh dear paco, slaughtering the competition again, are we?
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 28 at 04:32 PM • permalinkI have such a hard time keeping up. I know bottled water was good because it came from Europe but then became bad because the shipping consumed fuel. I know it used to be critical to save the baby seals, and then it became more important to save seal-eating polar bears. Then I see this -
we were encouraged to print out this flyer - has excessive paper use become good now? Are they supposed to used wind-powered printers only?More empty symbolism ahead:
Our Aunty reports (can’t find a link) that some (male?) ANU hackademic reckons that we should alternate the sex of the Governor General in the emancipation of wymmin - now that the Krudder’s in power, appears that Aunty’s looney left is even more unrestrained - discrimination! - how about some transgenders, too? (cop that, Germaine Greer)SMH’s Cubby reporter could have easily found an expert to discuss the effect of Earth Hour - the universities have networks in place to set journos up, and we might have learnt something.
An inquisitive reporter would surely have some questions, such as whether or not EH really does make any difference to the power grid or carbon emissions, and the comparative emissions from candles, for example.
Instead, Cubby’s entire body of research into contrarian viewpoints - indeed, any other viewpoints at all - appears to have been a visit to this website.
Comically, Cubby says within the article that there have been “some legitimate questions about an event that brings together thousands of businesses” but then fails to ask any of them himself.
Because journalists like the Cubster appear to have had their curiosity gland removed at an early age, environmental groups have learnt that they can say and do absolutely anything.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 03 28 at 05:31 PM • permalinkGreat column Tim. Bet tomorrow’s Sun-Herald will be claiming that every single person in Australia turned off their lights and will run a picture photo-shopped to almost black as evidence of it.
By the way, wonder if Sun-Herald staff were instucted to do wee-wees before Earth Hour as they were last year (no link)
Funny…... I would be one of the oldest members here, I guess, and can just remember back when I was a little lad after the war, in suburban Melbourne. Very different. Not enough cars to cause traffic jams, although
the baker’s, milko’s and the iceman* carts slowed things down. There were a few 4WDs (SUVs)....still painted khaki, and mostly black market….. the SP bookie down the street had one. “Environment” was a word the radio Quiz Kids tried to spell, and the ABC represented the views of ordinary folk, who remembered the Depression….... Anyway, enough maudlin stuff. Turning off unneeded power was taught at home. It became as natural as breathing. It certainly wasn’t a mark of spiritual superiority….you just did it.So it is going to be very hard for me tonight to turn on every light and heat source in this big empty house -chicks have flown, mum’s away with her sister in Canada.
But I’ll give it a go!!!
* As I recall, the iceman cameth every two days, three or four in winter
OK - I’m mathmatically challenged.
Anybody know what time Mirth Hour is in Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S.?
I’d like to put on all my lights, too. :-D
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2008 03 28 at 06:21 PM • permalinkJust tried to post this on the SMH website. Wonder if it will pass the censor - they have the usual leftist ‘ve vill check your vords for ze non-com[liance vis der national zocialist groupzink, Heil!
MarkL
CanberraTonight it is pot roast rabbits (specially shot for the occasion by MarkL Son #3 last weekend) in the electric oven, with roast (on a solid-fuel fired Weber) veggies imported from Tasmania and Malaysia via diesel-powered ship.
Dessert is a fruit salad composed exclusively of fruits imported by air from far away by JP4 powered aircraft. Hey, Tim Flannery was probably on that flight.
My wife has saved the ironing up just so she can do it during Urth hour. #5 son wants to whipper-snip the lawn edges. He’s really into this.
There will be 2 litres of Grants whisky (brought from the UK by diesel-powered ship).
And there will be many, many lights… yard lights, indoor lights, flood lights, gas lights, kerosene lamps… and candles. I reckon I’ll get up to 60+ electric lights, 4 flood lights and 20 other light sources this year.
Oh, CANDLES, yes, candles. Per lumen, they produce 150-200 times more emissions that electric lights, go go, greenies, GO! with the candles. BTW they are made from paraffin wax and stearic acid.
And inside my place there will be a wood fire with trees ripped from the green breast of Gaia herself as she screamed and then chortlingly sliced up with a petrol-powered chainsaw by yours truly.
But for 2000, well, for 2000 I have a special treat for Gaia, and I hope she likes it. A friend from Newcastle bought me 20kg of coal.
Yes, nice Wallarah seam steaming coal.
So from 2000 I will be burning actual coal in my fire place, ahhh, I love the smell of blazing coal!I can hardly wait.
MarkL
CanberraNow, I gotta go out. I have 13 incandescent light globes to bu to replace those poofily poisonous mercury-filled low wattage ones. At least I got the latter for free from the Canberra Communist Collective (AKA the ACT government)
My local LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) the world’s largest single buyer of booze, a government monopoly, has the same posters on its entrance doors. I complained voiciferously and told everyone that I would be burning energy as fast as I could during the Hour of Power.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 28 at 06:54 PM • permalink``Anybody know what time Mirth Hour is in Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S.?’‘
Barbara, EDT is fifteen hours behind Sydney, so 8 pm in Sydney is [pause to do a little mental arithmetic] 5 am in New York. If you’re an early riser it might be worth your while to get up, switch all the lights on and start making coffee. If not, maybe just read in bed awhile and then go back to sleep.
Posted by Sonetka's Mom on 2008 03 28 at 06:58 PM • permalinkNever mind calling these people luddites I think the term Stylites is much more accurate.
“..They believed that the mortification of their bodies would help ensure the salvation of their souls..”
There is nothing new under the sun, only a lack of long term commitment by our newly self-appointed saints.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 03 28 at 06:58 PM • permalink#6 TRJ, I’ve been at work poring over some simulation and listening to a talk radio show and “said to myself” F**K YOU! forgeting entirely that I was at work and what with the earphones ‘n’ all….
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 28 at 07:07 PM • permalink#16 Tonight? You’re ahead of me Ash_, it’s still 1916 the day before where I am.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 28 at 07:16 PM • permalink#20 Cubby isn’t being very enviromental - his lights are on but no one’s home… oh, wait.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 28 at 07:20 PM • permalink#27 Sonetka’s Mom
``Anybody know what time Mirth Hour is in Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S.?’’
Barbara, EDT is fifteen hours behind Sydney, so 8 pm in Sydney is [pause to do a little mental arithmetic] 5 am in New York. If you’re an early riser it might be worth your while to get up, switch all the lights on and start making coffee. If not, maybe just read in bed awhile and then go back to sleep.
That makes it 2:00 AM in US PDT zone. Cool! I can stay up that late. Hell, I might even switch on the 40 gallon air compressor. The damn thing will probably wake up my neighbor, but anything for the Hour of Power.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 28 at 07:25 PM • permalinkEarth hour is at 2000 hours local time.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 28 at 07:26 PM • permalinkI know one certain way to reduce my emissions in four words:
Well honed sphincter muscles.
Posted by ausdiplomad on 2008 03 28 at 07:28 PM • permalinkOh, so it’s like a “voluntary rolling blackout”?
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 28 at 07:29 PM • permalinkTim, Cate could use: Limelight which she craves.
Limelight is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls.
#5
Yes.
No 75%
Lets try for 90%. Start clicking.
#15 more clanging symbolism.Now not everyone agrees on the Bible and beliefs but it is interesting to read:
The First Book of Moses: Called Genesis
1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day.While SMH darkenistas want to go against God.
22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the
city.
22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.And Revelation of Saint John
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
How did he know about SMH?
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 28 at 07:51 PM • permalinkFolks, here is a handy world clock, listing the times for all major cities on the planet.
If you’re confused, just look for a place in your time zone to make sure your computer clock is right.
Or use this time zone converter.
Enjoy. And use more electricity!!!!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 03 28 at 07:54 PM • permalinkO/T A big news story here in Ottawa, which went above zero today, is the problem of illegal snow dumps. I kid you not, Fines are being issued.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 28 at 08:14 PM • permalinkHm. I guess I’ll have to stay up all night with the lights on to celebrate. *loads Civ4:BTS*
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2008 03 28 at 08:19 PM • permalink#35 Yes, Spiney, you’ve got it.
It’s like a perapatetic North korea.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 03 28 at 08:25 PM • permalinkUpdate Sky News poll.
Will you be taking part in Earth Hour?
No 76%Keep clicking.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 28 at 08:27 PM • permalinkI live in a condo complex with a line of sight to at least 10 other complexes. That’s roughly 800 windows facing me, and I’ve got the high ground.
I’m all set: “The AD-Light is the most technologically advanced searchlight in the industry. Plugs into a standard 110-volt outlet and can be seen for miles.”
Come Mirth-Hour (T-minus 23 hours, here), any inhabitant behind a darkened window shall be… enlightened.
Posted by William de Haan on 2008 03 28 at 08:29 PM • permalinkThanks, Sonetka’s Mom.
5 a.m. on a Saturday morning!? Yikes! I’m not that dedicated.
Howzabout I just leave some lights on all night instead?
I drove out to the West End (other side of Richmond; packed a lunch and a suitcase ;-p) today - can that count as a warm-up? :-D
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2008 03 28 at 08:35 PM • permalinkRevelation of Saint John:
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie,
How did he know about SMH?
I hear he had an “in” with the Big Guy, #37 stack. ;-p
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2008 03 28 at 08:38 PM • permalinkIn related news ‘top NASA climate scientist’ James Hansen has written to Kevin Rudd to tell him not to allow any more nasty coal-fired power plants. But lest you think this is an example of some overbearing Yank telling us what to do (and we know how the left objects to that), be assured that Hansen is writing ‘as a private citizen’.
Tim guess who is also on about binge-drinking? It is Tracee Hutchison
PM Dad’s one-man crusade to rid the country of an apparently rampant binge-drinking epidemic among teenagers has allowed him some spectacular aww-Dad moments.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 28 at 09:18 PM • permalinkHeck, I didn’t want to get all wrapped up trying to figure the day/date conversion stuff. I also tend to get a bit forgetful about event schedules. So, to make sure I made it to the party on time, I’ve had all my lights on since the 15th.
I’m a day sleeper by inclination, so light bright lights while sleeping don’t bother me at all. The light in the bedroom hasn’t even been turned off since.
I’m just checking to see whether I can hire one of those portable floodlighting behemoths powered by a V12 Merlin engine. If it comes with a decent mast I could light up half the suburb (not that it’ll need it; for we have a high percentage of Singaporean & Malaysian Chinese Aussies here in the West Oz electorate of Tangney - they’ve got far too much common sense to fall for all this Earth Hour claptrap, or to vote Socialist/Communist/Green for that matter).
Update Sky News poll.
Will you be taking part in Earth Hour?
No 77%
Keep clicking.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 28 at 10:35 PM • permalink#50 Hate to say it but the daft bint’s almost right this time- a closer anology would be Hey Dad though, even down to the supporting players.
And I note she didn’t mention her and her chums being beaten like a slapheaded front-bencher in the Federal Court over their dredgy dread.
Then the greenies will shit kittens if they knew about this sucker.
100 years and still going strong.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 03 28 at 11:21 PM • permalinkFellow Hour of Power participants - I need your help.
My dilemma is as follows:
In order to offset the selfish behaviour of nut-munching, Edison-hating hippies I obviously intend to do my part and consume as much electricity as possible this evening.
Fortunately I have both central heating AND central airconditioning operating on separate systems so they can both run simultaeousy. All lightbulbs are of the traditional type as I try to avoid having my house lit like a 7-11 at 3:00am.
I also have a wide screen plasma TV upstairs AND home theatre system with projector downstairs - both of which will be powering along!
And there is the problem.
My home theatre system can only be watched effectively if the *(gasp)* lights are turned off.
I have always turned the lights off in the past as it provides a better picture but I’m concerned that my selfishness might lead to me not ‘making a difference’ this evening.
I would greatly appreciate any advice on how I can offset my failure to have 3 100 Watt bulbs illuminated for the 60 minute period.
Regards,
VG.
PS - I will be using the washing machine, dryer and dishwasher even if empty as it was cold last night meaning that we are about to usher in a new ice age. Therefore I support globl waming!
Posted by Vincent Gerome on 2008 03 28 at 11:47 PM • permalinkDear Vince,
The answer is simple. Watch the plasma screen, but keep the lights on, and wear sunglasses.
Yours,
Thomas Alva Edison.
Posted by Apparatchik on 2008 03 28 at 11:52 PM • permalinkSaw the google thing. Am speechless. Making pointlessness an artform, google. Classy.
Posted by skepticlawyer on 2008 03 28 at 11:56 PM • permalink#35 Herr Spiney, zer ist nussing volluntary about Earth Hur! Yu vill cumply!
Posted by Deborah Leigh on 2008 03 29 at 12:35 AM • permalink#23. Rod C says that I would be oldest member here and can remember when the baker, milkman, and iceman cometh”.
I remember when we had no baker, milkman or iceman cometh. We baked our bread on a wood stove, milked ole Bossy and cut the ice off the river and packed it in sawdust in the icehouse. After 4 years in the Service during WWII I came home and the power line had come up through the valley. Then came TV and the valley and the people have not been the same since.
Posted by John Waggy on 2008 03 29 at 12:47 AM • permalinkOne important promotinal event is taking place for stylite hour.
Pub offers free beer for Earth Hour
And ladies in PJ’s.
Bet the beer wont be served warm though.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 03 29 at 12:47 AM • permalinkThe Day Before Earth Hour
by Clement Clarke GriswoldTwas the day before Earth Hour and all through the land,
The death beasts like me were out ‘making a stand’,Each Christmas light string had been hung up with care,
In hopes that the ‘Green Police’ soon would be there;“The children can stay up”, their father had said,
“Play games, and make noise, lights on, and no bed!”Mamma looked over her Breville bread baker,
Her juicer, her blender and new milkshake maker,All plugged in and ready to wait for the sign,
That now it was 8 - electricity time.The lava lamps bobbled in circular patterns,
The 100-watt bulbs dazzled out through the battens;The moon on the breast of the new-fallen leaves,
Looked down on the waste; while dear Gaia, she grieves,To see that the stereo blared out with funk,
While the TV showed Eastwood: “Do you feel lucky, punk?”Then a miniature Prius, arrived at my gate,
Who could this be, arriving so late?“You must save the Earth”, he intoned like a bore,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Gore.More rapid than Laxettes on immobile stools,
He whistled, and shouted, and called up his fools;“Now, Flannery! Hutchinson! Deveney and Marr!
Out, Adams! Out, Blanchette, get out of the car!”“Race into the house, extinguish the light!”
But Al had forgotten, that all free men fight.They stood there confused, and some filled with rage,
But “no pasaran” said my Beretta 12-gauge.“Turn off your lights, ‘fore this hour is through,
Your TV, your music and computers too”,“You cannot have fun, you must sit there and be,
Like hermits, or beggars, or most Zimbabwe”.As I drew my gun closer, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Saint Flannery came with a bound.He was dressed all in Green, from his head to his toe,
With a sackful of money - research grants, you know;He stated quite loudly, in manner most bold,
“We have Climate Change, that is why it’s so cold.”“When hot, Global Warming is what we must fear”,
As his head headed southwards and lodged in his rear,“When it’s dry Global Warming is cause of it all,
But fear then the Climate Change, when great rains fall”.The logic perplexed me, I’m not all that bright,
So I went to the wall switch and turned out a light;But my daughter exclaimed, “Dad, what did you do?
Forgotten the path that our ancestors hew?”“We came from the caves and built castles and towns,
Moved from woad, to skins, to pink taffeta gowns”,“We built up great cites, flew to far distant moons,
Must we give this all up for some nondescript goons?”I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,
Expelling each misfit, removing their smirks,As I switched on the spotlight, at that very hour,
They were fried beneath 6 million candlewatt power.Now each year brings out new, enviro-nut waves,
And we’re told we must live like Bin Laden, in caves,But you’ll hear me exclaim, in defence of my rights,
“Rack off Lefty scum, you ain’t takin’ my lights”.Happy Hour of Power to all, and to all a good-night!
Posted by Apparatchik on 2008 03 29 at 01:25 AM • permalinkAndrew Bolt reports: Ice cubes melt on volcanoes
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 29 at 01:30 AM • permalinkCall for pokie blackout in Earth Hour
So the players will go outside for a smoke then decide to stagger home in the dark.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 29 at 01:49 AM • permalinkThis ought to cause apoplexy with the Greenie Gaia-worshippers:
Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x
America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel oil field that could potentially make America energy independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology, the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western
economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.200 billion barrels. By comparison, the Saudis have an estimated 260 billion barrels.
Gawd I hope this is true…
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 03 29 at 01:53 AM • permalink#23 Rod C & #68 Kae.
I’m putting in a bid for oldest with a birth year of 1934 (just a few months older than Elvis Presley). Is there anyone here that can beat that?
And before Habib accuses me of coffin dodging, he should know that I am yet to make my first visit Centrelink.
I am spending today setting up for myEarthPower Hour and having some difficulty in getting all my Gaia-raping stuff into one shot.
Where do we send the pics?#71
Set to the theme of The day the Earth Stood StillIs it just me, or does anyone else reckon the Taliban might be taking Earth Hour a little too seriously?
Posted by spot_the_dog on 2008 03 29 at 02:24 AM • permalink#73 Spiny, if big oil aren’t sitting on squillions of barrels I’ll eat my wife’s sex aid; still let’s hope they start releasing some of it now it’s $300 a litre.
#48 Cuckoo; hansen would have to be one of the least credible ‘scientists around; his conclusion ahve been corrected so many times I like to think of him as a science-fiction writer.
As for andy ridley, may he spend the rest of his life in the darkest place on earth.If Rudd is a true beleiver, at 8pm on Saturday in the US he should be sitting in the dark in a hotel room, as should all his loyal staff.
What are the odds he will be somewhere with a significant carbon footprint - a posh restaurant stuffing himself and Therese with taxpayer funded food (when people talk about growing fat on the public purse it usually isn’t literally) or telling a group of Americans in a brightly lit conference room about the challenge ahead that lies beyond the fork in the road at a bridge too far or on his jet or whizzing through a city is a motorcade of 10 vehicles looking for some action.
#74
Not bad, skeets.
The ole ‘29 model Theremin used in the ‘51 film above (#77), and many Hitchcock films, is still going strong, too ... here playing Edith Piaf’s LA VIE EN ROSE ... entirely on eevil electricity from way back in ‘29.#69 Apparatchik
Thanks!!! Wonderful
I’ve just read it out to the live in lefty lawyer who’s here gearing up for Earth Hour
He muttered something about “Not bad for troglodyte humour” however I did see him try to hide a smile
Thanks again! Just love it
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2008 03 29 at 02:52 AM • permalinkHey I’m doing my duty. I’m not sticking to the rigid scheduled time, it’s flexible, right? But I’m about to observe Earth Hour for a good 7 or 8 hours, and in fact I’ll be lying in bed with my hand on my scrotum and drooling on my pillow the whole time just to make sure I don’t accidentally use any electricity.
Posted by Shaky Barnes on 2008 03 29 at 02:53 AM • permalinkThunderstorm moving across southern Sydney suburbs now. There maybe a premature Earth Hour, if the lights go out.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 29 at 03:03 AM • permalinkAll ready to go here with 4 x 500 watt garden lights (we have a 2.5 acre garden) all the house lit up, machinery shed with 5 x 500 watt lights, silo complex with 4 x 500 watts. And I’ll be crankin’ up a couple of 250kw tractors, a 200kw grain harvester and our lil’ ol’ 350 kw grain truck! There, I feel better now, and I’ll feel “powerful” then!
#65 John Waggy stated he served 4 years in WWII which suggests he can’t have been born much later than 1923… I think he might have the honour( beats me by 19 years or thereabouts) -how many other WWII veterans do we have? How many other veterans of any war do we have?
What service, John? My late father did 39-45 .....all six years…. in our (Australia’s) Navy. Saw enough hard shit to make him a lifelong boozer. Didn’t quite make 90.
Nora and I will be dining with friends this evening and if they insist on lighting candles at 8pm, I’ll idle our 4WD in their driveway. I can’t imagine they’ll be much into Earth Hour though - their brand new home features 50 per cent government mandated compact fluoros and they hate not only their dimness but also the fact that they’re blowing faster than incandescents.
Here is what else we intend to do. Cheers!
—Nick
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2008 03 29 at 03:36 AM • permalink#73 Please please please let that be true. It would strike a massive blow for the civilised world.
Anyway, this Earth Hour is such a ridiculous neo-luddite scam I can scarcely believe it. The hypocrisy is craven. I just drove past Kangaroo Point cliffs in Brisbane (which have a nice vantage point of the city) and there are tv cameras, marquees, etc etc presumably set up to give onlookers a collective “Oooooo” when the lights (they hope) go out in the city. What is the carbon footprint of that set up? And what is the carbon footprint of the hundreds of vinyl banners hanging off street lamps all over the country? The whole thing is f***ing insane, and almost exclusively promoted by and for guilty middle-class white idiots of the type who wear rubber charity wrist bands and actually SMS their name at U2 concerts.
I’m driving into the city tonight and having the biggest steak I can find. With the f***ing lights on.
We’ll prolly do our usual Saturday night in in the home theatre room, prolly chewing through a 1kWh in that room alone for the Earth Hour (keeps us hillbillies warm) ... the glow just over the border on our northern horizon will prolly be kae, skeets, habib ‘n all ...
#95
RodC - so I’m not alone in souveniering the Qantas 1st Class overnight bag (or two)?Regarding the link about President Bush meeting with Rudd. I think George Bush has proven over and over again that’s he head and shoulders above most of his critcis in class. He just doesn’t sink to their level no matter how classless, tacky, foul-mouthed or juvenile they act and no matter what baseless, ridiculous and libelous charges they hurl at him. He actually acts like a statesman.
P.S. I just opened my web browser and got that annoying, dark Google page and immediately reset my home page to something else. When I saw this line beneath the search box, “We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn.” my honest reaction, pardon the obscenity, was to say “Fuck off” out loud. They didn’t turn anything off except the usefulness of their site and acted like dickheads in the process.
Maybe I should put this note on my website for any Google visitors: “I’ll refrain from acting like an obnoxious prick. Now it’s your turn.”
To watch Sydney glow in the “dark”.
Sydney Harbour webcam
Live traffic cameras - Inner Sydney
Live traffic camera - Anzac BridgePosted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 29 at 04:18 AM • permalink#97
The comment GWB referred to Rudd as a ‘straight shooter’ on the channel 7 news in Melbourne.
That would have to be one of the greatest pieces of ironic, backhanded black comedy heard in years. Bloody Brilliant!
In private of course, Bush would have been saying to his staff…“I meant vacuous little wanker” but it sounds so much better to the idiots in the MSM who of course don’t mind at all our PM meets with the GWB given it is now Krudd
60 minutes to go until the big hour and my street appears to be the same as most nights. I’ll reserve judgement on my neighbours until 8pm.
My home is on the side of a steep hill and allows me a fair view of large chunk of the Gold Coast looking S/SW. So I’ll have a good idea of how that sector is treating the earth hour farce.
I don’t know if this has been mentioned already, but daylight saving in WA ends officially at 3am tomorrow.
Unofficially, here at stately Swinish Manor, it ends in about 30 seconds. 6pm Saturday becomes 5pm Saturday and voila, another 60 minutes of flagrant energy consumption!Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 03 29 at 05:01 AM • permalinkIts 8pm and all the lights are on here at Mr & Mrs surfmaster’s home. (And the big plasma TV too).
Posted by surfmaster on 2008 03 29 at 05:05 AM • permalinkAll internal lights - ON
All external floodlights - ON
All Christmas lights - ON
In slab heating - ON, ALL ROOMS
TV, iron, kitchen appliances, VCR, DVD, stereo, 3 x computers, exhaust fans, 4 x electric toothbrushes, kettle, cappuccino maker, bread maker, 2 x lava lamps, 3 x bedside lamps, 5 x garden lights, 3 x bedside radios - ALL ON
Still camera, DVD camera, 2 x mobile phones - ALL CHARGING
Meatloaf’s ‘Bat Out of Hell’ - ON, VERY LOUD
Cars idling in the driveway - YES
Kids - GOING MENTAL, SHOUTING “HOUR OF POWER” UP AND DOWN THE STREET
Mr and Mrs Apparatchik, reporting for duty, Sah!
Posted by Apparatchik on 2008 03 29 at 05:22 AM • permalink#107
“You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)”
“Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad”Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 29 at 05:28 AM • permalinkI made it back in time. Have I missed anything. It appears to be business as usual in our street with all but one house with its lights on. My Christmas lights are running flat out, appliances are running at full tilt, AND I’ve just done an 720klm round trip to Narooma in my car.
Channel 7 just showed an aerial shot of Sydney. All the lights look so pretty. Score 1 - 0 to Hour of Power.
In Denmark there’s an excenric millionaire who will celebrate Earth Hour by parachuting over the North Pole. He will be flown to the arctic in a carbon-spewing Russian transport plane to a base camp and from there he will fly in a Russian helicopter to the Pole. After the jump, he’ll be transported back in the same manner.
Yep, that’s taking one for Gaia right there. The eco’s will have to turn off quite a few lights to compensate for that stunt.
After switching on all out lights I took the dogs for a stroll up and down our street at 8:15pm. 37 of 41 occupied dwellings have lights or TV on: 90%. I’d say there were people home at the remainder of the homes as there were cars in the drive. So it’s a big fizzer in this older, Liberal Party-returning neighbourhood in Melbourne’s NE suburbs.
My wife said a a news item on Sydney at 8pm showed about 3 lights going off, but otherwise it’s lit up as per usual.
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 03 29 at 05:39 AM • permalinkUpdate Sky News poll.
Will you be taking part in Earth Hour?
No 74%
Keep clicking.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 29 at 05:41 AM • permalink63 light globes
5 Kerosene lights
1 6 cyl idling (V8 is in the shop)
wife ironing
1 BBQ going
1 Weber going
1 coal fire going
4 computers going
1 son made a 1200km jet flight today
2 gas tops going
1 electric oven going
3 TV’s goingHope you ALL beat that
markL
CanberraNow where’s the bloody camera download cable??
9pm here, back to normal - plasma and surround sound running at max of course.
Posted by surfmaster on 2008 03 29 at 06:01 AM • permalinkThis picture just in from an Hour of Power fan.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 03 29 at 06:10 AM • permalinkI can report that 2.5 kilowatts of power were consumed in ‘Fortress Apparatchik’ for the hour in question, according to those Country Energy spinning things [technical term] on the side of the house.
Posted by Apparatchik on 2008 03 29 at 06:13 AM • permalinkSome Russian doomsday cultists have emerged from their cave where they had been waiting the End Of The World. Geez, imagine if they de-caved during Earth Hour - they’d think all their dreams have come true…
Presently in Queensland and happy to report huge floodlights full bore, plus anything else with an on switch. Anyone know whether
Earth Hour just ended in Queensland or just began?Posted by Dame Penelope on 2008 03 29 at 06:20 AM • permalink#115 Cohenite. I wasn’t down the beach today.
I went to Brisbane to watch my youngest play in the first game of the Rugby season. He was only on for a few minutes when two of the opposition coat hangered him and he broke his clavicle clean through.
One of the mungoes got 10 minutes but the offspring won’t play again for three months.
I can’t quite see Greenmount from Ashmore so I can’t comment, but my sons tell me that if you google surfwatch you can go live to each beach on the coast and see the surf conditions before you leave home.
The night surf must have been a blast. We used to go night diving up north many years ago and it was another world.
Earth hour update. We’re 16 minutes into it and all is good. Hardly a house with no lights on. Kinda compensates for the bile I just heard Garrett crapping on Fox News. What a git. What a total embarrassment.
#124
Garrett crap from too much midnight oil?Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 03 29 at 06:35 AM • permalinkOK. 40 minutes into Hour of Power with everything in the house switched on. No CBs tripped. All three phases showing healthy indicators.
Outside: 31 pistons pumping carbon. 35 HP woodchipper was supposed to blow on illuminated flag but wind-power fails again.Early propaganda pics here.
There has been a distinct lack of Earth Hour hype in the UK, so few have heard of it apart from Blair minions. We should win easily. It’s broad daylight here, but along with all the other gadgets I’ve kept a light on from 0900 local time to coincide with Sydney. What the heck, it’s a bit cloudy. Full illumination this evening of course.
Ultimate irony, SBS, which has been busy promoting special greenie shows that will start as soon as Earth Hour Ends, just showed a Top Gear episode which ran from 7.30 till 8.35 pm (ie the first half of earth hour), thoroughly bagging out ‘green’ cars, rating the prius the most seriously uncool car on earth, and discussed ways of having a supercar and still coming under pommie emissions/rego taxes (a lotus elise would you believe).
The irony was even further capped off by running an promo for the post earth hour show at 8.35 pm.
The fine folk of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea have yet again taken on Earth Hour with extreme enthusiasm, proving yet again their sincere appreciation of the natural world.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 03 29 at 06:57 AM • permalinkJut completed an online survey from AMR Interactive about my reactions to Earth Hour. Gave it the big thumbs-down and concluded that WWF is a stupid organisation and fortunately few take it seriously.
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 03 29 at 07:01 AM • permalinkFor similar petrol heads - free GT & GP racing game download - egg’s currently demolishing Melbourne’s Albert Park F1 GP circuit (the circuit, not the lap times :)
Light goes on. Light goes off.
Mind you, it’s an unscientific Friday versus Saturday, but whilst I was drinking frosty cold Amstel some were slurping down the bath water flavoured kool-aid.Sydney before lights out and after.
Photos courtesy of Reuters
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 03 29 at 07:21 AM • permalink20 lights, plasma TV (Top Gear special environmental episode), another large screen TV, gas heater (it’s cold), two fridges, two computers and at least 25 other devices on standby or small power users such as digital clocks/phones. Did better than last year because we have more lights this year.
Actually, it is a normal night except for the extra TV and the lights (normally about 5-6)
Second link at 139 isn’t working, dang it.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 03 29 at 07:32 AM • permalinkre 128
The BBC has edited its page, having realised London isn’t ‘officially’ taking part. The new version acknowledges critics of the event, but leaves out this amusing quote from organiser Andy Ridley:
“What’s amazing is that it’s transcending political boundaries and happening in places like China, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea. It really seems to have resonated with anybody and everybody.”
8:40pm WST Back from a miserable night at Subiaco (Hawks 16.16 d Dockers 14.13)where at least the gagillion watt flood lights were on for the night game. Remember to leave car idling in driveway with high beam on.
At home, also on:
Three TVs (two are the old juice using CRTs).
Every external light (5) including the flood light trampoline (encourage kids to go outside for night time fun. Soak up that carbon fuelled civilisation young defenders of the light.)
All internal lights (12 it is a small house.)
Air conditioning.
Two fridges and a freezer.Stand in yard to gloat and find neighbours enjoying evening with party lights, stereos and wondering what I’m doing. Share beer with neighbour who says: “Earth what?” I love Western Australia.
Posted by Dean McAskil on 2008 03 29 at 07:44 AM • permalink#134 - walterplinge, me done the same survey. Gave it a good bucketing.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 03 29 at 07:44 AM • permalinkMy wife was reluctant to leave all the lights on. Thank Gaia the heating serendipitously failed today, we were forced to keep dozens of downlights on throughout the house for warmth.
No-one’s really commenting on the photos on Fairfax. They are so rubbish I’m surprised they weren’t quietly left off. I mean each of them has maybe one landmark that was switched off and every other light is happily burning away. If the population can’t even do a token measure like this the chance of cutting greenhouse emissions by 90% must be pretty pretty small.
My Earth Hour/Hour of Power story-
Missus and I had a disagreement (faith vs reason). I went around and turned on all the lights, she then started turning them off. After half an hour of chasing each other around the house toggling switches, I decided to tell her that lights use a lot more power being turned on than during continuing use, so she was actually helping me- bweediful expression on her face.
Then she drove off in a huff- My parting call: ‘Don’t forget to turn your lights on!’. To cap it off, a second later the baby toy decided to turn itself off, with a plaintant ‘bye bye’- true!
The last item on the HK news was the Sydney Gaiafest. Interestingly there was a shot from a helicopter of the Opera House’s main light going off (lets go oooh at the symbolism)though little else being turned off at all either side of the bridge, including Balmain.
There was no suggestion that HK would even consider being involved. Chee Seen.
At work still so the best I could manage was to book tickets (online) from Kal to Perth, Perth to Sydney then turn around in 2 days and come back.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 03 29 at 08:06 AM • permalinkLike Dean at #143, attended Hawks - Dockers match at Subiaco. The floodlights were enough to cancel out any tokenistic candle-clutching from one end of Western Australia to another.
Dockers were pathetic; how can any team with “The Dockers” as its moniker ever be expected to develop a work ethic?
Mum-in-law had already done a good job turning on all the lights in the house by the time I got home. I capped it off by cranking up all seven floodlights in the garden and around the pool. Soon had most of the appliances in the house going flat-chat and settled down to watch Gaia-eating monster rear-projection TV.
Top effort tonight fellow carbonistas!
Sorry I’m too drunk to post a photo, but we came up with a new concept of ultimate air guitar- a friend of mine was champing away on the best chops of Phil “Filthy Animal” Taylor, with one of these running full tit.
The neigbours were impressed. Or outraged, I’m fucked if i can tell the difference with the cunts.
I wasn’t really paying attention at all to this whole thing, was too busy playing loud music and soldering up my new preamp board. Unfortunately it’s designed to be very power efficient (only so that I can use a small transformer). Still, couldn’t have soldered anything without electricity for the iron and the work lights.
I just came back from a birthday dinner with family. A young niece asked me if I turned off all the lights for Earth Hour and I said ‘No it’s all crap’. Her mother quickly covered her ears and said ‘Don’t, she will get disillusioned’. She said that the teacher sent notes home to remind the parents to make sure they are all fully involved with Earth Hour.
I didn’t tell them of the extra effort I made to make sure that I would nullify any effort made by the whole block where I live.My 12 yr old daughter’s eye’s lit up when she heard about “power hour” after having earth hour training pounded into her at school… she spent the next couple of hours getting every reading lamp in the house out onto the verandah, checking the spotlights, insisted we hang out the fairy lights & drew a variation of the poster at the head of this story to stick in the window for passers by. She then sat back with a satisfied grin imagining all the outrage she could look forward to that night. So with every light burning (I also commissioned the new shed wiring between 8-9pm.), the only slight disappointment to dampen our satisfaction was the lack of completely darkened houses in the street &/or baying lynch mobs with pitchforks & organic firebrands beneath our windows demanding we cease using electrickery.
Posted by stahlblume on 2008 03 29 at 09:16 AM • permalinkMeanwhile in North Korea, People’s Dictator Kim Jung-Il announces the successful completion of Earth-50-years with lots more great electricity and Gaia-saving ideas to come.
http://www.dailyaviator.com/images/2006-10/korea.jpg
“North Korean eyeball astronomers have never had it so good” said the President. “If Al Gore and Tim Flannery comes here we can show them how to truly save the planet from the perils of global warming, control population grwoth and protect the environment as only we know how”
Here’s what I did in honor of “Earth Hour.” In my own little way I’m glad to help.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2008 03 29 at 10:06 AM • permalinkRemember way back when ppl thought web pages with dark backgrounds were like way cool, and then, like, they realized it really sucked, and they were like, “Man, that sucks.”?
Posted by Dave in Chicago on 2008 03 29 at 01:22 PM • permalink#89 and 65. I was born in 1922. I was lucky to be assigned to the Army Air Corp. I also was extremely lucky - my WHOLE FIRST YEAR - I was stationed in North Ireland. What duty!! It makes me almost ashamed to say that I was in the Army during war time. The rest of my time was spendt in England, France and Germany.
Re #65. I remember well living without electcity. I am not turning it off even for ONE HOUR.
Posted by John Waggy on 2008 03 29 at 02:45 PM • permalink#107 “bread maker”
Hey, there’s an idea. You could have a lucrative business selling Earth Hour Bread. Just like they sell those flags they run up the flagpole at the White House for a few seconds so they can say they “flew over the White House”. You could crank out the bread during Earth Hour and sell it as an exclusive product. The same people who love Earth Hour are the same type of people who love paying three times as much for a product as is necessary, as long as it’s “exclusive”.
#148 “Then she drove off in a huff- My parting call: ‘Don’t forget to turn your lights on!’. To cap it off, a second later the baby toy decided to turn itself off, with a plaintant ‘bye bye’- true!”
Now that’s Hour of Power dedication. Pissing off the significant other is really taking one for the team. Presumably she will return. ;)
#162
John Waggy
As a Senior Member here, how about you write up stuff like, oh, how it was without electricity (mum getting up at the crack of dawn to fire up the copper to wash; mum cooking in the Kooka - a wood stove; and so on), I missed hearing so much of what my Grandmother, b 1909, had seen change, for the better, in her lifetime!#162 Hat tip from me also, John Waggy.
During my early teens I lived in a fishing village called Wooli. The phone connection for the whole community was a single copper line (earth return) strung on trees to Grafton. Town water supply consisted of a hand-operated pump in front of the one-room one-teacher school.
No electricity, of course, so we had a wood-fired cooking stove backed up by a Primus for a quick cuppa while the fire was stoked in the mornings. No refrigeration but there was a Diesel-powered ice works at the fishermen’s co-op.
The clothes iron had a white spirit (petrol) fire burning in it and periodically spat fire and soot onto the clothes. I learned most of my swear words while that was being used.
Kerosene lamps were carried from room to room in the dark so there was nothing to switch off.
A great life and one to which we will all soon return when we get our CO2 levels down to where the climate controllers want them.#165 166 & 167. I have written a book which I would be happy to send to you free. I did not have it published because I did not want it edited and also I wanted to give it as a gift. I have not advertised it but by word of mouth, I have given away over 500 and if requests keep coming, I will have another 100 printed. I live in San Mateo, CA 94403 so write me or give me a call if you desire one. I will be happy to send one to you.
Posted by John Waggy on 2008 03 29 at 07:41 PM • permalink#169 OK will be looking for it. I do have a calendar from “Down Younder” so don’t sent it. Thanks anyway.
Posted by John Waggy on 2008 03 29 at 09:11 PM • permalink
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I never did figure out the time difference between Jersey and OZ so I’m leaving my lights on all night tonight and maybe part of tomorrow. I also just finished a round trip to Philadelphia (23 mpg) by myself so that should help my carbon contribution, if only a couple days early.