Just plain good news

"Good News on Energy," that is. Read it and congratulate yourself for all the little steps you've been taking.

Highlights?

... total energy use in the United States peaked in 2007 and has trended downward since. ...  economic growth decisively outpaced any increases in energy use over recent decades ...  Improvements in energy efficiency over the last 40 years have done more to meet growth in America’s energy needs than the combined contributions of oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power. ...  Since 2000, growth in electricity use has dropped well below growth in the population ...  Moreover, oil consumption by vehicles, homes and businesses is down more than 12 percent from its 2005 peak ...  More than one-eighth of our electricity supply is now in the “renewable” category, which is growing faster than any other.

Keep up the good work. We've got a ways to go yet.

Fortunately, it was early in the morning when I voted, so I just went with another coffee and cigarette

Fellow in-stater Thers pretty much nailed it last fortnight, though:

For governor I have Andy Cuomo running against some nondescript GOP meathead. "Slab Angioplasty," I think he's called. Or "Buck Fistorino." Something like that. Time was, and it was not so long ago, the NY GOP could have run a similar meathead to the populist left of Cuomo and made this a race, but these are simpler, shittier times. Nobody likes Andy Cuomo, probably even his immediate family; he has all the personal charm of someone who would rather hard-sell you a timeshare than just fucking pass you the salt. Talk of Andy Cuomo aspiring to higher office is absurd; he's not quite as much of a prissy ass as Giuliani was, but he's not really a different person, unless you squint hard. Fuck him. For the House I get to choose between Richard Hanna and nobody. I vote gin.

Line of the Day: 2014-11-13

The essay's other distinguishing feature is a higher-than-usual count of intentional jokes, most of which sound like P.J. O'Rourke failing a competency hearing.
    -- Roy Edroso

Yeah. Kinda mean. Until you realize it's about Jonah Goldberg.

You always knew the Republicans could be summed up in a cartoon, right?

An excerpt from Brian McFadden's latest.

Droll is always good

From a summary of yet another gambling operation that, shockingly, has failed to deliver on its sellers' hype, a brilliant bit of just-the-facts from Jesse McKinley and Charles Bagli, and props to whoever did the layout, too:

The reality has been far less rosy. Seven years after opening, the Mount Airy Casino Resort has fewer than half of the hotel rooms envisioned by developers, and a third of the slot machines promised in news releases. It has generated about half of the slot revenue forecast by Pennsylvania officials, and little economic spillover has occurred outside the resort. Expansion plans have long since been shelved. The much-heralded charitable foundation has raised a grand total of $1, federal filings show.

Those funds have not been distributed.

Not to worry, though! The next four casinos are sure to fix all the things!

P.S. Aside to Gov. Cuomo: Your father was once courageous enough to call legalized gambling -- lotteries, in his case -- a cowardly attempt by politicians to balance the budget on the backs of poor people.

Gotta love the Goog

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Try it here.