Odds and ends number 129
Since I'm using the concept from monoblogue, I'm keeping the numbering system, too. Here are thinner slices of bloggy goodness.
As always I have the interesting stuff that stuck around in my inbox and bookmarks, or I just found somewhat randomly - like the first item.
Celebrating Human Achievement Hour
Many years ago, I laughed at those who want to keep us in the dark for Earth Hour, a time when you’re supposed to turn off the lights for Mother Gaia and is traditionally held the last Saturday in March. I didn’t know it was still a thing, but because it is I wanted to bring back a classic.
Tonight some people will sit in the dark and cold, thinking they're making a difference in global climate. Fools!
Instead, you should do what I've told you to do a few times in the past and celebrate Human Achievement Hour, a brainchild of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. This occurs at 8:30 tonight, which so happens to be the same time as that dark and cold hour some "celebrate" - I guess they call it Earth Hour, perhaps because it reminds them of the unlit mud huts they seem to prefer as our standard of living. But while the global climate change brigade talks a good game, the list of confirmed participants in Earth Hour seems to be dwindling in number each year.
And it proved my Monday Memory from this past week correct for at least one year since there was a Spring Luau in 2011 - as I feared, alas, the photos have disappeared. I still like my observation at the beginning, though.
It's really too bad that the 9th Annual Spring Luau didn't occur one week later because I think it would have been a swell way to celebrate Human Achievement Hour, which came and went earlier tonight. (So did that worthless cause of Earth Hour, which happens to be the same time.) Cranking out hundreds of watts of loud rock n' roll tends to be a pretty much 'in your face' response to those who would have us sit in the dark. (They were probably behind that horrible period when bands decided to go 'unplugged' as well. I definitely prefer 'plugged.')
Alas, CEI seems to have dropped the ball in the last few years, so just live your life in honor of progress, and not regressives who would leave you in the dark.
Massive impact
Said tongue-in-cheek. This came over the last few weeks from our friends at CRI:
Delaware joined other East Coast states to create the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), basically a tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants. Power plants must buy emission allowances at quarterly auctions and turn them in based on emission levels.
The allowances available at each auction are gradually reduced and allowance prices rise over time. The intent was for coal, oil, and natural gas-fired power plants to somehow reduce emissions or close over time. Other Delaware legislation encourages solar and wind powered generation construction, and energy efficiency to replace closing plants.
The highest emission year was 2005 when Delaware’s electric generators emitted 6.9 million metric tons. In 2024 emissions were down to 1.9 million metric tons, about how much China emits every 12 seconds. (Sounds like the tax worked well? In reality, the tax had no impact on lowering emissions, in fact 75% of the so called savings just shifted emissions to other states and the other 25% would have happened without RGGI.) (Italics in original.)
Basically, our “achievement” was getting out of the coal-fired energy business: as one example, all four of the functioning generators at the Indian River power plant closed in that time span. But even before Indian River closed, most of Delaware’s generation capacity was shifted over to natural gas.
If reliable carbon-free generation was really the goal, we would be embracing nuclear energy. But as I will say until I am blue in the face, wind and solar are capricious and unreliable sources of energy, and a boondoggle that costs ratepayers more than they are worth. I suspect if it weren’t for RGGI, there would be a much smaller wind and solar program in Delaware.
Doing more with less
I don’t know if other states do this, but a different CRI missive alerted me to their results in the Do More 24 Delaware 2025 statewide fundraiser for non-profits. Out of an ambitious goal of $25,000 they came in just short of $6,000.
What was interesting to me in seeing the Do More 24 leaderboard was the amount of money environmental groups received: for example, the Nanticoke River Watershed Conservancy received over twice as much as CRI, and they’re considered a “small” non-profit while CRI is considered “large.”
But the one raising the most money overall was the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, which operates the replica historical ship bearing that name in the Port of Wilmington. That “large” non-profit barely edged out the top “small” non-profit, the Shepherd’s Office in Georgetown, which serves their homeless population. (Georgetown is the county seat of Sussex County, where I live.)
Our mission is to provide homemade, healthy, hot meals to anyone in need in the Georgetown area. Another major goal that we have is for members of our local community to never have to throw away good healthy food!! Everyday, we accept food donations from local supermarkets, restaurants, businesses, farms, local events, any and all leftovers from Meals on Wheels. Our 3 large tables outside on our front porch are always available to receive deliveries of food items and is available to people in need 24/7/365. Our "no questions asked", outdoor food pantry on front porch acts as a direct link for those in need, providing immediate access to healthy nourishment without barriers 24 hours a day. (as our supplies last) You can drive by at any time day or night, and see food donations available to people in need.
Seeing that it makes me feel bad tossing out old leftovers.
Propaganda on film
There is a difference between Left and Right in this country, and part of that shows up in film.
In general, right-leaning films come from crowdsourcing of private donations and seldom win awards or acclaim. Yet they do decently at the box office thanks to word-of-mouth advertising and support from conservative outlets.
On the other hand, those films which present a leftist viewpoint win awards but don’t always break even. As Lorenzo Prieto of the Capital Research Center shows, though, the filmmakers don’t care because the financial backers aren’t doing it to make money - many of the financiers are nonprofits backed by a who’s who of leftist groups out to create propaganda.
Prieto talks about a movie called Porcelain War, which was highly awarded but only made about $25,000 in the box office. It was probably minimally released just to be eligible for the awards it received. Compare that to the 2012 documentary 2016: Obama’s America, which got no awards but made $33 million back when people actually went to theaters.
Of course, if some foundation is backing you, you’re getting paid and don’t care about product sales - in fact, a loss could be a good tax write off. It’s what happens when you don’t have to be appealing to an audience, just critics.
This is (almost) the end
I’ve dreamt of the day when someone would have the stones to do it, and indeed President Trump has set the ball in motion: last week he signed an executive order to begin taking the wrecking ball to the Brutalist edifice of the Department of Education. (Did you hear me yell “yes!” when I saw the news?)
It was announced in the inimitable Trump style:
We're going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it's right, and the Democrats know it's right, and I hope they're going to be voting for it, because ultimately it may come before them. But everybody knows it's right, that we have to get our children educated where we're not doing well with the with the world of education in this country, and we haven't for a long time.
And this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it's a common sense thing to do, and it's going to work. Absolutely it's going to work. And I can tell you from dealing with the governors and others in the state, they want it so badly they want to take their children back and really teach their children individually, probably the cost will be half, and the education will be maybe many, many times better. So we look forward to this.
Of course, the actual executioner’s axe is held by Congress and who knows when they will act. But there is a bill already in the hopper to do just that, and who knows what other ones may come along.
This would eliminate one of two of the biggest Jimmy Carter mistakes (and there were many) - a Department of Education that doesn’t educate and a Department of Energy that creates none.
King of steaks?
Things that hit me where I live: who has the best steak on a reasonable budget? A recent CNN article described the woes of Outback, particularly compared to competitors LongHorn and Texas Roadhouse. As reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn described it:
Americans don’t want Outback’s Aussie-themed steaks anymore. Instead, they’re craving Texas-style cuts from Texas Roadhouse and LongHorn’s tender filets.
Texas Roadhouse and LongHorn’s sales topped Outback’s last year, and the chains’ stocks are going in different directions. Texas Roadhouse’s stock has increased around 15% over the last year, while shares of LongHorn-owner Darden jumped around 25%. Meanwhile, Outback parent company Bloomin’ Brands’ stock has tumbled more than 70% to roughly $8 a share.
It turns out I have all three within easy driving distance from me: Outback and Longhorn are about a mile apart on the northern fringes of Salisbury, Maryland while Texas Roadhouse is about equidistant the other direction in Seaford, Delaware. Because of that, all three are in our family restaurant rotation: I would say for every two LongHorn visits we make, we go to Outback and Texas Roadhouse three times apiece. (We seem to get more of their gift cards from the family at birthdays and holidays, which makes a difference!)
Obviously it depends on the management and staff of the particular stores, but I’m actually the opposite of the trend Meyersohn describes: after a long period of being subpar I think Outback has returned to prominence, while LongHorn has declined over the last few visits - it seems like they’ve cut corners and opened up the salt spigot on their food, so much so that I’d almost rather go next door to their corporate mates Olive Garden. Texas Roadhouse still remains as a solid second choice for us because you can’t beat the rolls!
All three have decent enough steak, but I live close enough to the culinary wonder that is 1776 Steakhouse in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware that I know what’s really good. I just can’t drop $200 for the two of us and drive an hour each way for a casual dinner, but I can for our upcoming anniversary outing! My mouth is already watering.
That’s enough for now. We’ll see what I come up with next month.
Until my next edition of odds and ends, you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.
"Cranking out hundreds of watts of loud rock n' roll tends to be a pretty much 'in your face' response to those who would have us sit in the dark."👍👍