sacred bird » green

presenting.. your favorites

630 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:01:11 +0000

it’s been an awesome year at sb and before we jump into new year, we thought we’d take a look at your favorite stories from 2009. here are the top 5, in order by page count:

omg sharon, you’re … huge is the story of one man’s love … for his pumpkin.
not sure I want this to be true about rumors debates the age old question: daytime sacred bird (aka anderson cooper) or nighttime sacred bird? in my dream world, it would be both.
spring ’10 trends gives us some ideas on how can some of our favorite (anderson cooper and bill hemmer) and not so favorite (glenn beck and rush limbaugh) news men may stay on top of the men’s runway fashion trend. hint: there might be a little bling involved.
recycling is good gives us a peek into how some news anchors might be making (or saving) a few extra bucks.
more nascar coverage take us through a little adventure with some raccoons, glenn beck, sean hannity and bill hemmer.

photo courtsey of paul thurlby

the big ball dropping event

630 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:06:37 +0000

like everything else, the times square ball is going green this year with the replacement of some older halogen bulbs with new led lights. rain is in the forecast this new year’s eve so if you were planning on heading to see it in person, you might want to rethink it and choose one of the alternatives:

dick clark’s new year’s rockin’ eve with ryan seacrest 2010 (abc) – dick clark, ryan seacrest and melissa rycroft and fergie with performances by jennifer lopez, daughtry, the black eye peas, and selena gomez
billboard’s new year’s eve live (fox) – hosted by carmen electra with performances by kris allen, allison iraheta and sean kingston
new year’s eve with carson daly (nbc) – hosted by carson and natalie morales with musical guest jay-z, rihanna and green day
mtv news presents (mtv) – our new fav reality stars from the jersey shore join adrienne bailon
new year’s eve live with anderson cooper and kathy griffin (cnn) – andy and kathy will make it a threesome this year with the addition of lance bass
all american new year (fox news) – bill hemmer and back-from-maternity-leave megyn kelly will host with musical guest lee greenwood and matt gross

and for those who don’t have tvs, you can catch the action starting at 5:50pm at www.timessquarenyc.org

up up and away

630 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:21:39 +0000

yesterday was the maiden voyage of the new boeing 787 plane. the first commercial plane to be built from lightweight composite materials (they have been traditionally made from aluminum and titanium, the 787 will emit less carbon emission, use 20% less fuel, is able to carry more passengers and fly longer distances than the older model planes. the 787 was first announced in 2004 but has been delayed multiple times. even though boeing has over 840 planes for the plane, don’t expect to fly on one anytime soon. it will still need to go through a battery of test before it’s put into production which is expected to take another yet.

the first set of planes are going to all nippon airlines, i’d imagine they’d promote their e-flight program along with the new plane.

you can help save the environment

630 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:48:33 +0000

it’s cool to go green these days so it’s no surprise that all nippon airways (ana), an japanese airline, is testing a new “green” promotional program on its flights. what is a little odd is how ana is going about it. the strategy of the “e-flight” program is to lighten the load the plane carries thus lowering the amount of fuel and carbon dioxide emitted. this includes, but is not limited to, the use of recycled paper cups, plastic bottles instead of glass and most importantly, asking flyers to go to the bathroom before getting on the flight. ana estimates that it would reduce 4.2 tons of carbon dioxide if half of all flyers stop in the bathroom before getting on the plane.

i have no sense of how much 4.2 tons of carbon dioxide is but it sure does seem like a lot. i think some environment conservation group should start a campaign based on the e-flight program. much like we all changed out our light bulbs for those compact fluorescent light bulbs, we should all stop in the bathroom before we fly.

photo courtsey of howard33

spammers are kidding the environment

630 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:26:03 +0000

no, not the people who make the “meat” product, the emails. the antivirus/spam filtering service giant mcafee has released a new study, “carbon footprint of spam”, which finds that email spam is bad for the environment. the excess energy utilized due to the transmission of spam is equivalent to the electricity used in 2.4 million homes. the average ehg emission associated with one single spam is .3 grams of co2, the equivalent of driving 3 feet.

mcafee’s study, of course, pushes the use of spam filters, software which blocks email spam. according to macfee, most of the energy consumption is due to users deleting the spam and searching for the real emails caught in a filter. based on their claim, if everyone used a spam filter, it would reduce 75% of the spam energy consumption.
i’m not so sure i buy the argument but i’m for anything that would get the spammers to think twice.

photo courtsey of lumatic

earth hour 2009

630 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:08:50 +0000

what are you going to be doing tomorrow night at 8:30pm? hopefully, it’s not something that requires electricity. march 28th is the third annual earth hour where people all across the globe are asked to turn off their power for an hour starting at 8:30pm local time. the earth hour website goes so far as to say if you leave your lights on during earth hour, you’re voting for global warming.

first conceptualized by the world wildlife fund as a symbolic gesture against global warming, over 80 countries and 1,200 cities will participate this year. some cities have turned it into a celebration offering candlelit dinners and concerts in the dark. if you’re in the athens, make sure you check out the concert at the acropolis.

is it just me or is there some irony here?

630 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:43:06 +0000

everyone is going green these days, even hunters. there’s a small, but growing, movement to use “green” bullets rather than the traditional lead bullet which contains lead. scientists, environmentalists, public health officals as well as a small number of hunters say the lead bullets pose a public health risk. environmental cleanups in many military training grounds are underway due to lead contamination. california has banned lead bullets in an endangered bird habitat because the condors have been feeding off meat left behind from hunters causing them to get lead poisoning. in one instance, 50 of the 100 samples of venison shot by hunters tested positive for lead but blood test conducted by the north dakota department of health on those who regularly eat meat shot with lead bullets were not conclusive. although hunted meat eaters did have slightly higher levels of lead in their blood, those levels were within the normal range.

the national shooting sports foundation (nss) and the national riffle association (nra) are claiming that it’s just another from the anti-gun attempt movement. copper bullets, the leading alternative to lead bullets, are more expensive.

photo courtsey of trondelarius

stay home and curl up with the good green book

630 — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:01:56 +0000

if you are passing on crazy parties tonight consider staying in and cuddling up to the green bible. according to publisher the good book–cotton-bound and printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink–is “the definitive movement bible that shows that god is green and how we can care for and protect god’s creation.” features include:

verses and passages that speak to god’s care for creation highlighted in green*
foreword by archbishop desmond tutu
inspirational quotes from christian teachings throughout the ages
a green bible topical index

some folks aren’t thrilled about the book and fear that it will mislead christians searching for spiritual guidance. despite the fear, the book is growing in popularity–of the first printing of 37,000 books 25,000 of them were sold.

i say get some bio wine, some locally made bread and cheese, don your hemp pajamas and knock yourself out.

*now we know why the kid was a community organizer.

let there be light

630 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:32:18 +0000

this year’s new year’s eve at time square will not only welcome in the new year with over billion people (an estimate one million in times square itself and over a billion watching throughout the world), it will also introduce the “new” new year’s eve ball. the new ball is double the size of previous balls and weighs in at 11,875lbs. made with waterford crystals and philips luxeon rebel leds, the ball can create more than 16 million colors and billions of patterns along with being 20% more energy efficient. “let there be joy”, this year’s theme for the ball, will feature the design of an angle welcoming the new year with uplifted arms. raising up a rebuilt flag pole to accommodate the larger size and weight, the ball will remain up on the flag pole year round for the first time in its history.

the tradition of the ball dropping comes dates back to 1833. a ball would drop at 1 o’clock every afternoon at the England royal observatory in Greenwich to allow nearby ships to set their chronometers.

team obama – US cabinet nominees

630 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:39:53 +0000

now that obama’s picks for the “best basketball-playing Cabinet in American history” are in, it seemed like a good time to create yet another list. this time a list of the names of those who’ll be working with obama to bring about the “change”, assuming they are approved by the senate.

before we get to the list, here’s some interesting facts about the US cabinet:

like high school – there’s an inner circle. the “big four” hold the most important positions within the cabinet (the sec. of state, sec. of the treasury, sec. of defense and the attorney general). sec. of homeland security has started to muscle in the past few years and it might not be long before they’re known as the “big five”
unlike high school – you can’t sit with your friends. cabinet members are seated according to their order of precedence during meetings. this also deters note passing.
you probably didn’t know – all cabinet members are in the line of succession to become president. because of this, there’s always a “designated survivor” who is held at a undisclosed location while the rest of the cabinet, the president and the vp meet or attend ceremonies.

you might recognize some of these names as many are bush and clinton cronies:

secretary of state: hillary clinton

secretary of the treasury: timothy geithner

secretary of defense: currently sec of defense, robert gates

attorney general: eric holder

secretary of the interior: ken salazar

secretary of agriculture: tom vilsack

secretary of commerce: bill richardson

secretary of labor: hilda solis

secretary of health and human services: tom daschle

secretary of housing and urban development: shaun donovan

secretary of transportation: ray lahood

secretary of energy: steven chu

secretary of education: arne duncan

secretary of veteran affairs: eric shinseki

secretary of homeland security: janet napolitano

photo by derrickb