News QOTD:
"Fukuda said Japan would use a broad range of strategies to reduce its emissions, including investment in new technologies, stiff construction standards to create energy efficient buildings, an array of tax incentives and a public awareness campaign."
- AP/Yahoo news item entitled: "Japan to cut CO2 by 60-80 percent"
Please follow along. It's a template, so I hope you're not getting bored by now.
  1. So boom... the title of the article proclaims that Japan is cutting CO2 by 80%. Wow. That's really something.
  2. This is followed by some government nabob saying how important everything is and he's saving the planet and some such.
  3. Then, you slip in "um, well, no, Japan isn't even meeting their crappy Kyoto targets at all"... right now. But that's all just temporary.
  4. Then, the obligatory... well, the bad, bad United States isn't signed up to this.
  5. Finally, the last paragraph, which is our QOTD. All Japan has to do is invent some new stuff, change the tax code and advertise. Well, shit. And here I thought that cutting emissions by 80% might actually be quite the ball-buster. My bad. Count me in.
Life is stranger than fiction. Speaking of which...

Book: "Traveler" by Ron McLarty
Bill-stars: 4 bill-stars

Summary: It's a very familiar plot about 4 buddies growing up (in New England). I really liked his writing style. Most of the text is dedicated to character development more than plot or scenery. The narrator is very self-deprecating and funny. He's a 40-something actor and bartender with a 40-something girlfriend, so that was funny (and familiar).

The book's title refers to a bullet lodged in someone, that can't be removed or is difficult to remove, and then travels into an artery or whatever. I don't know. He he.

The plot bounces back and forth from their youth to present day chapter by chapter. The ending was probably the weakest part, but I enjoyed the book and gobbled it in a weekend.

I think I read the author's other book "The Memory of Running". I guess McLarty is an actor by trade ( www.imdb.com/name/nm0572261 ) and IMDB lists that he's writing a movie script for "Memory of Running". McLarty's style reminds me of Richard (?) Russo. Nice. Oh just found it... here's McLarty's web site: www.ronmclarty.com.

I feel like I'm entering a nice, cool reading jag (he he again), and it is good.
peace... yow, bill

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