Shameless Words from Shameless Geeks

Today, Google promised to cut or offset it’s greenhouse emissions by the end of the year.

OK… The idea of cutting your greenhouse emissions is just fine. Though the debate about the magnitude of the greenhouse effect is still raging, there is nothing wrong with cutting emissions. The concept of “offsetting” emissions by doing something environmentally friendly doesn’t cause me any heartburn either.

My problem is that you can get away with paying someone to remove the responsibility of your environmental damage by throwing money at them. The whole thing reminds me of all of the illegal dumping of toxic waste that happened years ago. Do you remember how that turned out?

If you say that illegal dumping and carbon offsets aren’t similar, let me remind you of a few things. The illegal dumping occurred primarily when a disreputable hauler would promise a “reputable” company to dispose of their toxic waste at a price lower than anyone else would. The price was so low that everyone knew that it wasn’t realistic, but the “reputable” company paying for the disposal didn’t question their good fortune. In the end, the waste got dumped in a local lake.

So… we now have a system where a major greenhouse gas emitter can pay someone to “offset” his greenhouse gases. Do you think he’ll go for the lowest price he can find? Do you think he’ll bother to do more than a cursory check on the company he deals with? Can I sell you some carbon offsets? I think that the only thing green about this scheme is the money that a few corporate jerks are going to use to line their pockets.

According to The Register, all six Russian computers on the ISS have crashed. As of now, the Space Station is being kept alive by using the computers on board the Atlantis as a sort of life support. No mention of which version of Windows they were running

Here’s a new one. There are reports of sore muscles and joints that are attributed to gamers playing with their Wii too much. Luckily, nobody has gone blind yet

Wiiitis is much less serious than a StarCraft attack, which has been known to be fatal in at least one South Korean case.

For those of you who are parents: How often do you let your kids go unsupervised on the internet? How many have computers in their room (and are they capable of going online?)

I know we let Shameless on unsupervised (A bad move, we know. We’re sorry.), but does the same hold true for parents with kids less than 6 ft. tall?

I’m asking because I’m very worried that parents today are viewing their child’s ability to go online as a right rather than a privilege. So I figuured I’d ask a slightly-more-informed group.

Thank you and back to your regularly scheduled “Geek-don’t-have-kids-they-don’t-have-***!” (fill in your own blank =P)