Tag: Science

Parable of the Leaf Blower: No wonder we’re fucked.


The weak thinking that people apply to just about everything shows how little we’ve advanced, and why we won’t probably won’t get out of our current morass. I’d point out the inanities of the arguments, but, really,  it’s not worth anyone’s time.

From Facebook, a  “N. Neighbors” page, devoted to the residents’ concerns in a certain area.

Citizen 1:

OK, it’s the first really nice day in a long time, and I can’t sit outside because of the leaf blowers. There bad for noise pollution, bad for the environment, and the put allergens back into the air. Yes, I KNOW it’s easier than raking, but given how long I hear those things buzzing, they can’t be saving much time.

Citizen 2:  I was thinking the same thing this morning as I watched a few guys blowing dirt, leaves and debris off the sidewalk into the street and up into the air. To me – this does nothing but move the mess around unless you sweep it up and dispose off it properly.

Citizen 1:  The guys next door have been at it for an hour. No dust protection, no sound protection.

Citizen 2:  <dead link to MA state site on leaf blowers>

BLOG.MASS.GOV

Citizen 1:

Leaf Blower’s Emissions Dirtier than High-Performance Pick-Up Truck’s, Says Edmunds’ InsideLine.com

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — December 6, 2011 — A consumer-grade leaf blower emits more pollutants than a 6,200-pound 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, according to tests conducted by Edmunds’ InsideLine.com, the premier online resource for automotive enthusiasts.

Mr. Non Sequitur:  Gee, I’d be happy to be home by 4 o’clock listening to anything, on a work day!

Citizen 1:  Not if you worked from home.

Mr. Non Sequitur:  I would love to work from home. But since I do physical labor, I can’t!

Citizen FU Oh, get a life. Leaf blowers will be here forever, and they are FAR, FAR, FAR FASTER than raking leaves. I use one for 3-4 straight weekends in the fall, my neighbors do likewise, and more power to them. But, gee, I am just oh so sure that they are (goes on to blame “Odumbdumb” for “believing” in climate change,  says how he would have banned leaf blowers had he stayed in office. He follows up with the usual invective against “snowflakes.”)

Leaf_Blower_mouth-560x397

Citizen 1:  Oh, you’re a climatologist? Cool! Where did you get your degree?

Mr. Non Sequitur:  OMG Tony, everything isn’t Obama’s fault.
But snowflakes need to relax too.

Neighboress:  Glad, Tony, that you are a member of the entitled crowd. Are you sure you are old enough to operate a leaf blower or is it the toy version

Neighboress:  Definition of snowflake for those who feel the need to make this political.
snowflake, a supposedly derogatory term used by people who need to carry a gun to buy a sandwich

Mr. Non Sequitur:  Don’t carry a gun, but don’t want to dictate to others not to. Just trying to stay middle of the road and see both sides.

Neighboress:  Well said, Stephen. No wonder Washington cannot work together….we, the people, cannot even find a middle road.

Mr. Non Sequitur:  Without getting run over in it!

Neighboress:  😞

 

Neighboress:  For what it is worth, life is too short to not enjoy every day. Sounds are part of every season.

Yet another neighbor: The constant sound of leaf blowers drives me nuts!!!

Mr. Dismissive #firstworld problems.

Citizen 1:  Responses that are just name calling (and possibly baloney)? Don’t get me started.

Confused:  You got to be kidding me!

Citizen 3:  Happy Spring!

Mr. Non Sequitur:

< picture of fountain in Mr. NS’s yard>

Neighboress:  You turn that way up and have some fish jumping and you might drown out all other noise

 ‘Nother Neighboress: Leaf blowers aren’t faster unless you’ve got a giant one. They’re simply less labor. I spend less time raking than my neighbors do with their blowers. I agree the noise is irritating.

 

Mr. “I love my tool”:  I am a proud owner of a very large backpack blower and I can say they are unquestionably MUCH faster than raking or any other method. If anyone disagrees, feel free to come to my yard in the fall and try taking the entire thing with piles of leaves in less than 5 hours. As where I get the entire thing done in 45 min with the blower. I have woods behind my yard and blow them to the back.

Yes it’s loud and yes it’s a gas engine, but time is money and I’d much rather spend that time with my family or doing other things than raking leaves all fall.

Citizen 1:  You may use it for 45 min, but in a given neighborhood, it’s entirely possible that they are running for nearly the entire day.

Mr. “I love my tool”:  Haven’t experienced that yet. On any given house, a landscaping crew spends approx 15-20 Mon and moves on. This time of the yeah when you get spring cleanups and the fall where you get the same are the exceptions but otherwise during the summer they …See More

 ‘Nother Neighboress:   If your time were really that valuable you could pay someone else to blow them for you. 😃

Mr. “I love my tool”:  Saving 45 min to have someone else do it (and paying them) vs. Saving HOURS by using the machine… …slightly different.

‘Nother Neighboress:   I rake our yard in a couple of hours. Plus I enjoy it. I’m never going to strap a gas powered device to my back.

Mr. “I love my tool”:  That’s great. It’s your choice. My yard could not be raked and either dumped or bagged in a couple of hours when the leaves are down.

Ms. Reductio:  Do you people cut your grass with a pair of scissors too? Come on.

Citizen 1:  No, but a rake doesn’t move one leaf at a time, either.

Mr. “I love my tool”:  The argument that a rake isn’t that much slower than a quality leaf blower is never going to hold water with anyone who has a good amount of leaves in their yard.

 

 

Mr. “I love my tool”:  Everyone Crusades against leaf blowers but no one says everyone should use reel lawnmowers instead of gas powered ones.

Citizen 1:  OK, they are still noisy, polluting, and dust/allergen dispersing, which is the main argument.

‘Nother Neighboress:   I think there should be mufflers on them just like cars.

Mr. Non Sequitur:  Actually, they do have mufflers. It’s more of the sound of the fan that you hear.

‘Nother Neighboress:   Something that muffles the fan noise then. I meant a noise reduction device that makes them quieter.

Citizen 1:  Clearly, I’m not an outlier. There are plenty who think like I do. But I love the idea, “It’s my property. I’m gonna do whatever I want,” being posted on a site that uses the name “neighbors.” Why don’t they just change the name to “People who live in N.     but don’t really give a sh!t about what other people think.”

Mr. “I love my tool”:  Wow Citizen 1. Because people don’t agree with you, they don’t give a $it?

Unless you cut your grass with a reel mower, you drive an electric car, you walk or bike to work, recycle EVERY single piece of plastic, glass, cardboard, etc, only use items such as cups, plates, etc that are made from recycled material, use rain barrels to minimize water wastage, I’d hold out before dishing out the judgements.

Citizen 1:  Done with this. I was deluded to think to think that there might be a middle ground.

‘Nother Neighboress:   What middle ground are you looking for exactly? I’m not a fan of the noise either, but I feel like my neighbors get to do what they want as long as they’re not out there unreasonably early or late.

 

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Who reads this shit anyway? Oh? if that’s the case, then why bother to write it?


One of the saddest images in the world is that of the person who has thrown a party, yet no one has come. In fact, this fear is so great, so strong, so devastating, that even the #socalledpresident, the man commanding the world’s most powerful military,  a man who truly believes that he is the pinnacle of human evolution, lives in such dread of it and its implications that he’s willing to drop everything else and obsess about it in front of the entire world. I guess the only thing sadder would be if he tried to throw a party every day, and the same Groundhog Day Fiesta Flop kept recurring.

But that’s not why we’re here today.

The editorial staff of the Meta-Bug was in crisis the other day. We were looking at our numbers for March, and while some of us were rejoicing over our biggest month ever, others were saying, Hey, look, bozos, you had a total of 900 views. One month, 900 views, which means even fewer visitors. And half of those were probably family. So big deal. If someone’s kid had his whole high school look at one single post on one single day (suggested post: kitten videos combined with pictures of a young Sophia Loren), that would have beaten the entire number for March by a more than double. To look at it another way, there were just 29 views per day in our busiest month ever. More people in just Framingham look at their Kleenex each to see if they have a sinus infection, and probably found analyzing their nasal discharge more interesting than reading our constant complaints about the country going to hell in a handbasket, occasionally interspersed  with new and astounding revelations that divorce takes a toll.

We thought about this. We agonized about this. We pondered: Is all this writing and rewriting worth doing? Does the effort make any difference? Then, we all retired to the backyard to cry,  while pretending to rake the leaves that we were too distracted to deal with last fall.   Our answer: Of course it makes no difference!

But using logic here at the Meta-Bug is hardly our standing operating procedure. Nor, for that matter, is wise allocation of the limited amount of time we have on this earth.  It appears that we do what we will, and let the buffalo chips fall where they may.  (Generally, right next to the bowl of extra-picante bile salsa we are eating. Yum!)

Well, damn the torpedoes. We have decided to carry on. People practice their instruments for years and never get on stage. They have fun doing the practicing, and do not worry about people pointing to their accordion lessons and say, Aha! Evidence of a Crazed and Diseased Mind! And that’s the reason we wrote this post in the first place, right?

Happy Monday! We hope the weather, wherever you are,  is suitable for turning grapes into raisins!

 

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When Is It Time to Fight, and When Is It Time to Realize That You’ve Lost?


As a Jew taking the long view of history, I have come to the conclusion that it’s not wise to fight for something that can’t be saved. Fight where you can, but retreat and regroup when you’ve been outflanked.  If my great-grandparents had gotten the notion in their heads that it was only a matter of time and people fighting for doing the right thing, they would have stayed in Europe, and they would have been killed. They would have lost. Forever. There’s a dignity and nobility in a Last Stand, but making a last stand where you don’t need to is pointless suicide.

Screenshot 2017-03-21 08.50.33

I’m not saying that there is a danger of a Holocaust here. I’m not saying that the problems now single out Jews. However, the lesson of history is that sometimes things don’t get better. Sometimes they do, but it takes lifetimes and generations. But sometimes,  it never happens. Civilizations fall. Societies crumble, and nothing worth living in springs from the ashes. Things go to hell and never come back.

One ray of hope is that Drumpf’s demographic skews older. One old fart funeral at a time, our country is probably getting better. I look at my kids in our and see how much more tolerant and accepting they are than we were at that age. This change is slow and it’s incremental, but it is positive.

But there are plenty of signs that we’re sunk.

There is still the conversion and indoctrination of the young to the selfish and jingoistic mindset of tRump, especially those who are seduced by the idea of American Exceptionalism. (Who wouldn’t want to be exceptional, especially if to be exceptional requires merely the luck to have been born in the right place at the right time?) We are far too militaristic, especially in a country where so few people serve. The pious sanctimony surrounding our armed forces prevents any useful discussion of how they should be used. We are far too religious. Religion as a double-edged sword that too often gets sharpened on only one side. We have denigrated science and research to the point where other countries will equal us and surpass us in the ability to do cutting edge innovation and investigation. This is a race where you can’t make up for lost time. The changes to our environment–caused by those who still subscribe to the antiquated idea that the highest and best good is determined solely by ascertaingin that which brings in the most money–have launched us down a dangerous road, and we can only slow that movement, not turn it back. We have large parts of the population who believe that gun ownership, not debate, not reason, not commitment to each other, is  the most important foundation of a society. The USA is not the Last Best Hope of the World. We can be a leader in the way forward, but not without a commitment to see where we’ve gone off course. Currently, those in power do not have that commitment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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