Saturday 8 (but on time this week!)

1. how did you spend your July 4 holiday?

Not a mystery if you read the blog, but...watched cartoons with the HB in the morning, then he and I rode on the fire truck in our local 4th of July parade. The three of us went out for lunch and did shitsky around the house in the afternoon. We went to my s-i-l's for bbq and lighting of fireworks.

2. what was your most memorable July 4 holiday?

As a kid, I remember watching Wimbledon in the morning, going to a party in the afternoon and lighting fireworks that night. Oh, I ended up drinking a case of beer that day and getting laid. Does that count? This year's was memorable because the HB got to light fireworks and he was VERY excited.

3. which July 4 holiday would you seriously like to forget?

Y'know, I can't think of one (maybe I did a really good job of forgetting it).

4. aside from wednesday, which i hope you took off, did you take any other day off this week?

Nope, in fact, just the opposite. Our original plan was for the HB to be out of camp and we'd have a family week. But, with all of my travels and the wife's workload, it just didn't work out that way.

5. today in london, bands are performing 18 hours for Live Earth. some of the lineup includes madonna, the beastie boys, spinal tap, metallica, james blunt, with a final 'stop' - a performance in new jersey with the police (wh00t!), alicia keys, smashing pumpkins, and bon jovi. nbc will air a 3-hour primetime special tonight, bravo will air 18 hours of live coverage, seven hours on CNBC, and other coverage on sundance, telemundo, and universal HD. do you plan on watching any of the Live Earth coverage on TV? why or why not?

Nope, don't plan on watching it (which doesn't mean I won't) because:

a) except for metallica, I'm not really into the bands listed.
b) it seems kinda goofy to watch TV and burn carbon in an effort to save the earth. If they really wanted to prevent global warming, all of those artists should run their concert gear from solar/wind power for a year and travel in low emission cars/buses. None of this "Oh, we bought carbon credits crap" because there's no evidence that buying those credits actually reduces the green house gases released.

6. speaking of the police, i will be seeing them this week in concert. for me, this is the mothership of concerts as i've seen every single one of sting's concerts since 1985. if you had a chance to see ANY band, dead or alive, broken up or still together, who would it be ... and why?

Led Zeppelin, because they are the greatest rock-and-roll band I didn't see.

7. is there any food that you are ashamed to admit you eat, and why?
Nope, though I do have some guilty pleasures;-)

8. some people are divided over global warming. obviously, people are making an impact due to population and emissions, but how much of it is cyclical? this week researchers have found that greenland was really green, whereas last year people were concerned because it was becoming greener by the day. are you very concerned about global warming, or do you feel it's more hype than anything? why or why not?

I believe that the earth's climate is always changing and did before we evolved. I don't know what the perfect climate is for the earth, but it's a pretty safe bet that every change (such as ice ages) has led to winners (hey, there's more area on the earth that supports my species!) and losers (hey, it's colder than it used to be...where's all the food?).

I find it hard to believe that human activity has not had an impact on our climate, as would the explosion of any species that has the capability of changing its environment. Whether it's cutting down forests, increasing the number of domesticated animals that fart, or putting pollutants in the air, these things must have some effect. Whether it's large or small, I'm unsure.

I think what's missing from the global warming argument is that even if human activity has NO affect on climate, don't you think it's a good idea to pollute less? Don't you think that cleaner air is better for us and makes it easier to grow food? Don't you think that less pollutants in our water is beneficial? Don't you think burning less oil means less dependence on countries who are not our friends and will lead to fewer wars?