dirty hippies

PETA have released their top 10 list of vegetarian-friendly prison systems. Surprisingly, Tennessee makes the list with their offerings of TVP ala king, veggie burgers, veg sweet and sour, veg chili, veg stir fry, and (mmm..) TVP country gravy.

Clayton County, GA, started a wastewater reclamation project more than 20 years ago, which now includes thousands of acres of forest and man-made wetlands with 10 million gallons of wastewater flowing back into the system each day. While most of Atlanta has a few months of water remaining, Clayton County has the bulk of a year's worth, and their methods are being adapted in dry locations worldwide:

It started in the 1980s, when the county began digging ponds to store wastewater. Clayton purchased a 4,000-acre forest and laid 300 miles of pipeline. The county then installed 20,000 sprinklers throughout the forest. The sprinklers sprayed wastewater, soaking the soil and letting the water flow into two man-made reservoirs — Shamrock and Blalock.

At the time, Clayton was considered one of the nation's leading systems for water technology. But by 2000, that technology could not keep up with growth.

The forest, wedged between Jonesboro and Lovejoy, was running out of room to expand, and the sprinklers were not enough to soak the ground to restore water to the system.

The county replaced the maze of pipes with a 48-inch pipe that runs about 6.6 miles under Freeman Road. It purchased another 400 acres of hilly land and began digging small ponds and planting. Today, cattails, bulrush, water lilies and prickle weeds fill the area.

Apparently you don't have to be young and stupid to push a Prius over 100mph. Turns out even a graying wacky nerd can do it:

"I pleaded guilty, with an explanation," Wozniak said in one of several e-mails exchanged the past few days. "I said that I was really scientific, and in the last year had been in Athens, Moscow, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich (twice), Zurich, Canada (three times), Columbia, Singapore, Japan, London, etc., and had gotten used to kilometer speeds."

The judge smiled. But he didn't buy it. The fine was about $700.

(If the mercurynews link leads to a registration page, try the link once or twice more and the story should show up... weird.)

I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like
It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it

19th century solutions to 21st century problems

What a jackass (video link).

Honestly, how many times did you see this commercial as a kid?

I ran a few errands earlier today and decided out of laziness and hunger to drive rather than bike. (When I got out and realized how effin beautiful the weather was, I promised myself I would go for a couple hours-long ride this evening.) I needed to fill up my gas tank, and damn! gas is back up to ~$3/gal ($2.979 where I stopped). When did that happen, I wondered. I looked at my most recent receipt, and it had been five days short of two months (and $0.32/gal) since I last bought gas. That must be a new record for me. I spent $27 for a tank full, also a new record. Eh, no worries—still less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day, right?

Anyway, I started thinking about the price of gas and gas tax rates and the don't-blame-us-blame-the-dadgum-guvment gas pump stickers that show the state and federal tax rates. So for the last couple of hours I've gotten my geek on and researched the history of gas prices and tax rates over the past few decades.

(Lots of numbers and graphs below...)

Franklin sits quietly by the fireplace and reads a magazine about celebrities. He is fastidiously dressed and might be mistaken for a businessman or a professional. His demeanor is confident and normal. If you watch him closely, though, you will see him slowly slip his hand into the pocket of his sports jacket and furtively pull out a long, shiny carpenter's nail. With it, he carefully pokes out the eyes of the celebs in any photo. Then the nail is returned to his pocket, a faint smirk crossing his face as he turns the page to pursue his next photo victim.

Scenes from a psych ward? Not at all. Welcome to the Salt Lake City Public Library. Like every urban library in the nation, the City Library, as it is called, is a de facto daytime shelter for the city's "homeless."