Jun. 21st, 2011

neonvincent: Detroit where the weak are killed and eaten T-shirt design (Default)
June2011NaBloPoMoSmallBadge


As I wrote a week ago on Crazy Eddie's Motie News:
I'm all in favor of living closer together. I've had enough of car-culture suburban life and more than my fill of living out in the country. I'm also in favor of making cities more energy and resource efficient. I've already seen the light of how urban living can be a good thing, so I am one of those people who already lives close to a downtown and walks to the store. Six years ago, I drove 48,000 miles a year. Now I drive less than 10,000. I'm much happier driving much less.
This morning, which was technically yesterday, Yuki the Kia* passed another milestone, when her odometer flashed 209,000 miles, which means it's time for another driving update to see if I'm doing my part in driving less.

The last time I posted a mileage check was 1000 miles and three months and 10 days ago on March 10, 2011. At that time, it took me 3.25 months to drive 1000 miles, which mean I drove an average of 308 miles/month during that time. This time, it took me 3.33 months to drive that same distance, which means I drove exactly 300 miles a month. I'm still doing my part to keep the number of miles driven by Americans down, as shown on the following graph from Calculated Risk, which came out yesterday. Perfect timing!



So, what made me drive 8 miles less a month, even though I had nearly three weeks of not driving to work during late December and early January? Probably good weather. I've been walking to Friday meetings at the nearest worksite, which is a mile and a half away, as well as walking to the grocery store, which is half that distance. Since I there are three to four more months of good weather left, and only one meeting remaining this academic year that I'll have to make a special drive for, with none until mid September, I might just decrease my miles driven even more. After that I expect my miles driven to increase slightly again and remain elevated until next spring. Then I plan on buying a bike. I haven't had one of those since I got divorced in 1999 and moved out of Ann Arbor. I'm looking forward to having one.

*I still have to explain the geeky pun in her name. I'll save that for another fan post.

Above crossposted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
neonvincent: For posts about geekery and general fandom (Shadow Play Girl)

Solstices and Equinoxes


National Geographic: Summer Solstice 2011: Why It's the First Day of Summer
Why summer starts today, and why it's the longest day—but not the hottest.
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Updated June 21, 2011
The first day of summer—heralded today by a manic bunny and bear in a Google doodle by artist Takashi Murakami—officially kicks off today at 1:16 p.m. ET, the beginning of the summer solstice and of the longest day of the year, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
Just like my Rapture post, I felt I couldn't blog about the environment and not observe an environmentally significant event. The difference is that this one is real.

Crossposted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

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