Stupidest corporation of the century so far

Robodialing the people on your "Do Not Call" list -- to tell them that you can't call them so they're missing great offers!

Truly, where are the Darwin Awards for corporations? Should we call them Schumpeter Awards?

(Hat tip to Oregon Media Insiders blog.)

A life and death reminder

Your support means so much!

Thanks to you and your generous blood donations, our community will be able to help our victims of tragedy and ill health.

You are someone who cares enough about our community to give life-giving blood. Our neighbors depend on us for life... and we depend on you for continued loyalty. Your continued support is greatly appreciated by us as well as the many people you help with your donations. Have a good day!

Visit our website or call 1-800-GIVE LIFE (448-3543) for more information.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The American Red Cross
Pacific Northwest Blood Services Region
3131 N. Vancouver Avenue
Portland, OR 97227
(503) 284-1234

Happens every year. Weather improves. Sun-starved Salemites seek sensuous, salubrious solar sensations. So they get outdoors. :^)

But accidents go up. While blood donations go down. :^(

It's important: if you are eligible to give blood -- and most people are -- do it. The life you save may be someone you know. And, even if not, it's someone important to someone.

Backyard hens gaining ground

Everywhere but here. Yet.

Starts Tomorrow! Be there, aloha!

click on image for link to Festival schedule, descriptions, etc.

Great short video on a great idea: The "Idaho Stop" law for bikes

Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

Brave man seeks to strike at the root of a problem

Former Salem City Councilor Bill Smaldone has an interesting op-ed in the SJ today. Reminds me of the old Thoreau saying: "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

I appreciate his willingness to tackle the issue, but differ greatly here:

For restoring services and preparing for the future, property taxes are inadequate and unfair. Flat and regressive, they hit all residential property owners at the same rate, regardless of income. New fees or targeted sales taxes also won't suffice. One must get to the root and change the system. Options include replacing the residential property tax with a graduated income tax for those who live and work in the city.

The idea of increasing our dependence on the income tax is really, really bad, no matter how well-intentioned. Salem is already the epicenter of destruction from Oregon's foolish over-reliance on income taxes now -- at the state level, just when the economic cycle turns down and we could use a stable source of funds to make counter-cyclical investments, our tax revenues plummet.

Moreover, the problem with income taxes is that they discourage exactly what we spend a lot of money and energy trying to encourage. Relying on income taxes is like driving a car with your foot jammed on the accelerator and brakes at the same time. You wind up working against yourself and damaging the vehicle at the same time.

Much better is the afterthought idea he tosses in: "Or one could consider other choices such as taxing underutilized land." Now, that is a good idea. Undeveloped land in the urban growth area should be taxed as if it were developed at the highest economic use value. Instead of rewarding speculators who hold land off the market with low taxes, we should tax the land as if they made the maximum investment that the zoning allows, so that they will either develop the land or sell it to someone who will. This has the effect of bringing a lot of idle land onto the market (reducing prices), promoting investment while reducing sprawl. Best of all, it puts the taxes in alignment with the economic development policies we're trying to promote, instead of making them work in opposition to each other.

It doesn't make sense, it's just how we are

Last year, Americans took more than 10 billion rides on public transportation, the highest level in more than 50 years. But despite the increases, public transit systems are being forced to cut back service, risking losing many of the riders they gained due to high gas prices and a bad economy. In New York, for example, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is moving forward with plans to drastically raise fares and totally eliminate some subway and bus lines. Our latest Transparency is a look at the 15 most popular public transit systems in America that have made or are planning to make cuts. You can see the full list of all cuts and potential cuts at Transportation for America.

(h/t Good magazine)

If you have ever gone to Portland or Eugene for a movie or show

Then make sure you turn out to support the amazing Salem Film Festival. Here. In Salem.

(image from "Blue Gold: World Water Wars," which is having its Oregon premiere at the Salem Film Festival 2009)

Land-sharing: A very LOVEing idea

Story about land-sharing -- people with front and back yards that they want gardened and the people who want to garden but don't have the yards. A great idea for living our values, environmentally speaking, and for responding to the shortage of community garden plots:

With too many gardeners filling up the waiting list for community gardens, it's taking as long as 5 years to finally get a plot of dirt to grow veggies. So gardeners and city officials started a registry to connect homeowners willing to have their yards turned into gardens with the people who are willing to do the gardening. An excellent land-sharing solution, and in sync with the urban homesteading movement.

A most important graphic

Click to enlarge. Note that, of the roughly 98 quads of energy we start with, we only use about 43, with 55 going to entropic and distribution losses. Also note the tiny, almost microscopic scale of renewables next to polluting/depleting sources like coal (which also form nearly all the energy loss, since entropic losses are caused by high-temp energy transformations).