I was inspired (I also want to know why the hell the bird has a sausage, any ideas?) this afternoon to try and figure out the correct verb to describe a bird removing its own feathers/plumage... Here are some possibilities:
Deplumage, Exfeatherate, Displumate, Explumate
So I did some research, before running to those creepy folks (my word he is scary) at AU's English Language Institue and found the correct answers:
Displume, Deplume, Deplumate
Ahhhh, its all in good feather (which also, oddly, is an idiom for humor). This is all part of my JLB inspired project to learn to read.
Posted by mbare at February 06, 2003 01:29 PMAll day and still no comments so I guess I'll break the ice.
Even though this doesn't fit here, I have to get this off my chest because its been bugging me. Why is everyone so happy that Bush set aside 1.2 billion for hydrogen cars? It's spread over 16 years! Its a drop in the bucket, its pocket change. Its a slap in the face to anyone who cares about the environment. Sure its better than nothing, but barely.
Ok, thats enough rant for one week,
J
Political commentary is always welcome here at mbare.org.
The REALLY annoying part about the money set aside for hydrogen cars is the complete lack of requirements that go with the money. Usually, when a big lump of $ is given out, it has strings attached, "Here kid, $5,000 for your tuition, on us!" This particular 'gift' to the environment has NO strings attached, that I know of. The folks who get the money dont't have to prove that they did anything with the money. How infuriating. I'd also like to know when the GOP became the party of the hydrogen car? I'll tell you - since their poll numbers among women went down. Give money to AIDS and Environment - boom, women like you.
Posted by: mbare on February 7, 2003 12:01 AMHmmm, women like that kind of thing huh? I'll have to try that :)
Interestingly enough my school University of Minnesota Twin Cities is trying to grab a piece of that 1.2 billion dollar pie. They are planning to build a multimillion dollar alternative energy research lab just so they can claim some of that money.
Oh, and just to put that money into perspective, 1.2b over 16 years is 75m a year, slightly less than the cost of 3 F16 fighter jets per year. 1.2b is also about half a day of costs during the first Gulf War
Cheers,
J
Not to sound too realistic or anything, but we'll see hydrogen cars about the same time we see the flying car.
There's ZERO infrastructure for hydrogen. There's ZERO regulation. There's ZERO industry interest. We can't even buy NICE cars that get better than 25 MPG city, much less cars that run on alternate fuels.
As long as oil is plentiful (yeah, I know the problems) and big business (GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Toyota, VW, etc.) are pushing profits over the environment, this will never happen.
I'd like nothing better than to see alternate fuels in cars, but I'm not going to buy a boring car just to be an environmentalist. Get 100% of the gas-guzzlers (SUVs, un-needed pickups, all American cars) off the road, then I'll consider trading in my Passat for a H-powered car.
Posted by: jlb on February 7, 2003 11:48 PM