House Blocks Funding For New Light Bulb Standards

Friday, December 16, 2011

by EYDER PERALTA

EnlargeDominique Faget /AFP/Getty Images

A pair of incandescent light bulbs.

Tucked inside the omnibus spending bill that the House of Representatives passed earlier, today, is a provision that prevents the Department of Energy from enforcing new, more energy efficient standards for light bulbs.

The new standards were signed into law in 2007 by then President Bush, but the standards have become a favorite cause for Rush Limbaugh and the Tea Party, who say the bill would ban incandescent light bulbs and give Americans less choice. They say it is a perfect example of government overreach.

Now, as NPR's Elizabeth Shogren reported for us a year ago, the legislation doesn't actually ban incandescent light bulbs, it just requires that they are 30 percent more efficient.

Elizabeth reported that Randy Moorehead, vice president at Phillips Electronics, "says in anticipation of the new standards, companies like his have started selling new incandescent bulbs that comply with the law. They're made with a slightly different technology than Thomas Edison's invention. They use halogen gas. Moorhead says consumers won't notice a difference in the way they look or work compared to old-fashioned incandescent bulbs."

But politics are politics and the bill passed today strips the Department of Energy from the money it needs to enforce the new rules through Sept. 30, 2012. The Los Angeles Timesreports on the tussle in Congress:

"This is an early Christmas present for all Americans," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas). "It restores the freedom, at least temporarily, for you to choose the light bulbs you want to illuminate your home."

...

"I can't believe it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who supports the new rules. She said the Republicans who pushed to block enforcement of the rules have "become deniers ... deniers of the fact that the climate is warming."

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), an outspoken critic of the new rules, recently declared that "since the federal government has taken the power to choose away from Americans," consumers have been "flocking to their local Wal-Marts to hoard the last of the incandescent bulbs."

source:  http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=127602567

Santa's Google Search Tips Rap

Search tips: http://goo.gl/o9fmF

To help St. Nick with his big flight this year, a few Googlers created this holiday search tips rap video. Song written and produced by, and video starring, all Google employees.

Lyrics:
Yo, I run a few searches before the big flight,
To save me more time on this magical night.
I type [sunrise and city] of my last stop,
I got plenty of time before my last drop.

If I don't know the time in a certain city,
I peep it on search before my chimney shimmy.
Tyle [time and town] before I come into town,
To see if Johnny's in bed before I hit ground.

Go Santa, Santa work it!
Go Santa, Santa search it!

But before I go flying through the frosty air,
I do a weather search to decide what to wear.
Mrs. Clause, should I bring my extra warm down jacket?
[Mrs. Clause]: Hmmm, yes. You should definitely pack it.
And please pack these cookies that I baked for you.
Shhhhh! I researched the recipe with recipe view,
And used the low cal filter, I must admit:
I wanna make sure that jacket still fits!

Go Santa, Santa work it!
Go Santa, Santa search it!

Check one, check two: yes I check twice.
Santa's Google Doc called 'Naughty and nice.'
With control+F, I find a name in the doc n',
I hope I don't have to put coal in a stockin'

When I'm cruising in my sleigh with my hands on the reigns,
Voice input is handy, 'cause typing is a pain.
If on a wish list I spot a gift I never heard: schlittschuhe,
I use the translate app to speak the foreign word.

Go Santa, Santa work it!
Go Santa, Santa search it!
Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho.

Go Santa, Santa work it!
Go Santa, Santa search it!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Yeah!
___________________

Lyrics by Matt Kane, Google Content and User Education Specialist and hip hop enthusiast
Music by Ranidu, Google Business Systems Integrator and musician:http://raniduonline.com/album/
Video produced with the help of our friends at Seedwell: http://seedwell.com

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Google Search
 
• Santa
 
• rap
 
• song
 
• hip-hop
 
• Christmas
 
• holiday

License:

Standard YouTube Licens

“Let It Snow” Google Search

“Let It Snow” Google Search Results in Snow

If the weather outside today is more “delightful” than “frightful” where you live and you’re wishing for some snow without all the hassles of shoveling, there’s one place you can definitely see some (virtual) snowflakes: Google’s search results.

Type in “let it snow” (without quotes) when you visit Google and you’ll be treated to a new Easter egg. Snowflakes will fall from the top of your screen and slowly cover Google’s search results (prominently featuring links to YouTube videos of the famous song “Let it Snow”) in a light coating of snow.

But don’t worry if you get caught in a complete virtual whiteout, because Google has provided a Defrost button, which replaces the usual blue magnifying glass search button (if you click the Defrost button, the flakes will continue to fall, but without any accumulation). You can also click and hold your mouse to manually brush off some of the white stuff.

While there’s a 100 percent chance of snow on Google’s results when you type in “let it snow”, many in the U.S. are hoping for a real white Christmas. The Weather Channel is keeping track of the regions most likely to see a blanket of snow on the ground for the holidays.

What is it?  If you said this was a DUCK PRESS, you were correct:

A duck press is an innocuous-enough sounding name for a kitchen tool that actually has a rather macabre use.

Pressed duck is a famous dish in French cuisine and it uses, what else — a duck press for its creation. The dish begins innocently enough, with a roasted duck, with the legs removed and grilled. Thin slices are cut from the duck breast and those slices and the legs are returned to a reduction of red wine on a hot plate or in a chafing dish. The entire remaining carcass is then placed into the duck press.

A duck press, incidentally, is usually made of brass or another heavy-weight metal. It stands about 20 inches (51 centimeters) tall and weighs somewhere around 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms). The press has a heavy disc attached to a turning screw, which ratchets the disc down into a container. The truly macabre ones stand on brass webbed duck feet.

After the duck carcass is placed inside the duck press, the waiter screws the metal disc down, down, down, pressing the carcass flat, in order to extract all the remaining juices and marrow. When this gruesome task has been accomplished, the waiter adds those juices to the wine reduction, along with a little brandy or cognac, and some butter. The resulting sauce and duck breast slices are then presented to the diner, along with the duck legs, with perhaps a shaving or two of truffle.

Protect Wild Lands

Act Now to Protect Wild Lands

Under President Bush, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had ceased inventory and protection work for wilderness quality lands. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has acted to resume that work by establishing a new "BLM Wild Lands Policy". The BLM manages the largest tracts of unprotected wilderness quality lands in the lower 48 states so this is an important policy for land conservation and habitat resiliency. Unfortunately, anti-conservation forces in Congress have gained ground by successfully attaching a rider to the recent federal budget Continuing Resolution which "defunds" the Wild Lands Policy. We need to make sure that provision does not carryover into the 2012 budget bill to be voted on in the coming months. The opponents of the BLM Wild Lands Policy are promoting oil and gas wells for America’s dwindling wild lands. Currently, much more BLM land is allocated to oil and gas development than to wilderness protection. And, the amount of public land that is pristine enough to qualify as having wilderness characteristics is ever shrinking. Please tell your elected officials to protect America's wild lands by making sure the BLM Wild Lands Policy de-funding rider is NOT carried over into the 2012 budget bill. CLICK HERE TO HELP! Please act to support the Bureau of Land Management "Wild Lands" Policy by opposing the carryover of the "de-funding rider" included in the recently passed Continuing Resolution. Forty-four members of the House recently wrote President Obama asking him to keep such a rider out of the 2012 federal budget and to retain the provisions of the BLM Wild Lands Policy. Much of America's natural heritage remains unprotected and most of that is on lands managed by the BLM. These are remarkably special places. From Utah's red rock canyonlands, to New Mexico's Otero Mesa grasslands, and Oregon's Owyhee desert these lands are vital to the natural world and provide an enduring wilderness resource for the nation  enduring only if protected. Please support revocation of the Simpson-Bishop de-funding the BLM Wild Lands Policy, encourage the Interior Department to reinstate Secretarial Order 3310, and work to keep any de-funding riders out of the 2012 budget.