http://pulltheskydown.com rants, ideas, and photos Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:25:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So I'm in Boston right now , and yesterday evening I walked past an Abercrombie store. Wouldn't you know it - they have topless male models all around the place. Now I don't frequent these stores, so I can't say for sure that these models don't exist in ... http://pulltheskydown.com/images/333 So long Jeb Bush, and good riddance. New(ish) Florida governor Charlie Crist, another, better republican, has just invested a very un-republican amount of money into the Everglades. No, we're not talking the usual $100,000 or $1 million that public parks usually beg for. This is ... http://pulltheskydown.com/ideas/327 Alternative energy is booming. The solar industry in the US grew nearly 100% in 2007 (!), and the industry is expected to see a worldwide compounded growth of 40-50% for the next three years. No longer just the idle dream of environmentalists, solar power has become an immensely lucrative investment ... http://pulltheskydown.com/rants/332 Yeah the old bastard is dead. As you may have heard, George Carlin recently "passed away" effectively stripping me of one of my three living idols. It's hard explaining the significance of a man like Carlin in a culture so saturated with the fruits of his labours that it becomes ... http://pulltheskydown.com/news/331 It has become a bit of a cliché among our posts to point out the pervasive unsustainability of our society. Occasionally there are laudable developments worth mentioning, but even when we write about these, the discourse is too often tinged with cynicism. We know what's wrong now, and what can ... http://pulltheskydown.com/ideas/319 An astounding amount of astronomy is dependent on technological advancement, so it's pretty neat when enough of the little things come together to allow for big breakthroughs. A group of researchers at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland have recently used an intense Chilean telescope to survey the velocities of ... http://pulltheskydown.com/ideas/323 For people that enjoy the subtle quirks of the Interweb or society at large, take a peek over at Google Trends. It would take an aneurysm these days to be unaware of this superpowered search engine that has effectively eliminated the need for public libraries, like, ever. What's lesser known ... http://pulltheskydown.com/ideas/317 Geoengineering is the intentional analogue of anthropogenic climate change - global scale modification of our natural environment intended to improve its habitability. In the wake of growing awareness surrounding climate change, geoengineering has emerged as a highly controversial field with vocal advocates and detractors alike. While some see a macro-scale ... http://pulltheskydown.com/ideas/316 We are going to be upgrading to the newest Wordpress version for a little while.  If the site doesn't work, that's why.  We'll see you soon. http://pulltheskydown.com/news/315 Buying locally grown foods is environmentally responsible and a good "green" choice, yeah? Not always. A little while ago some researchers from New Zealand decided to look at "food miles" in a more inclusive way - by factoring in the externalities required to produce food in various locations. What did ... http://pulltheskydown.com/rants/314