But carbon offsets are a rather strange concept. Let me use a simple metaphor to explain it: Let's suppose that Al Gore goes to an Italian restaurant and eats a loaf of garlic bread, a plate of lasagna, a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, an extra-large pizza with seven toppings, a couple bottles of Chianti and a large assortment of pastries. As a result, he puts on 10 pounds. But he is deeply concerned that mankind is getting too fat. So he pays 10 peasants in Asia $10 each to eat nothing for a week. Although they are already thin, by starving themselves for a week, they each lose a pound. As a result, after a week, mankind is weight neutral. Al Gore weighs 10 pounds more, 10 Asians weigh 10 pounds less -- and Al Gore is given another Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in keeping mankind's waistline in check.Tony BlankleyOf course, this example is not quite fair to Gore because that imagined humanitarianism actually costs him cash money. In the real carbon offset business, he looks forward to being paid for directing other carbon consumers to invest in carbon neutral projects. Although when Gore personally is using carbon, as when he flies in a carbon-belching Gulfstream, one of his companies would pay some other fella not to fly or plant a tree or do something to offset Gore's carbon belching.
So what is the moral of this story? Never depend on your government to save your life. It is the public citizen who is our first line of defense –– the John Does –– not the federal government. Stay vigilant.Federal Air Marshall P. Jeffrey Black
Asirra (Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access) is a HIP that works by asking users to identify photographs of cats and dogs. This task difficult for computers, but our user studies have shown that people can accomplish it quickly and accurately. Many even think it's fun!The amusing bit is that Asirra was partially inspired by Hot Captcha, where you have to pick the attractive people to get by. (That one keeps telling me I am a bot. I guess my beauty sensors are perpetually impaired as a result of being constantly bathed in the intense light that is The Queen.)
So, my son grabbed us all a straw and poked one into each cup. We prayed for the meal and I moved my glass closer to me to take a first drink. As I did, I saw a dark object descend from the top of my straw down into the depths of my blended fruit goodness. My initial reaction was to think I was seeing things, but on second thought I decided to investigate further. I pulled the straw out quickly, aimed it over my plate and blew into the non-drinking end. Out came half a straw full of smoothie, accompanied by a dead housefly.
Since this was a brand new package, this fly had obviously been trapped inside the initial package at the factory. I was honored that he decided to make my straw his crypt. Ok, maybe not. Actually, I went and washed my plate, threw away the wretched straw, got a new one (checking first to make sure it was unoccupied) and we got back to the serious business of eating dinner. If we had only saved it, we could have sued for millions.| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
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