Tuesday 15 April 2008

Got the Blues... and the Greens...

The wonders of modern technology...

I turned on the news, but I was greeted with something like this:


The sound was okay, but no picture. I tried the laptop as well, but it was the same. No Emilia. Tragic. So I listened to the news for half an hour, then turned to Greek TV instead.

Unlike Cypriot telly which is (normally) very stable, the ERT stream is unreliable. In addition the picture's not as good, and the sound and images never match up. I watched 20 minutes or so of "Green Team", talking about Eco-friendly computers.

Did you know that computers are responsible for the same amount of emissions as aeroplanes? Yes, a staggering, wait for it...

two percent.

Now I know that that's probably tons of carbon, but with all the fuss they make about flying being really bad for the environment, I thought it would be a big contributor. So if we all stopped using our computers and stopped flying the world would still be pumping out 96% of the emissions it is today. Actually, more, because we'd travel by some other means and watch more TV.

It was the same with the shower swindle. The Green folk say that we should have showers instead of baths and trot out figures that show how much water we could "save". However, since I switched to having showers rather than baths (for convenience) I found that I am still using the same amount of water. I suspect that their figures compare someone having the quickest possible wash under a weak shower with someone filling one of those huge round baths Archimedes-style up to the brim.

As you can probably guess, I'm not exactly EcoMan. Perhaps I should be more concerned, but I suspect that the world will get warmer, colder or whatever it is they're predicting whatever I do.

I'll happily sit under the light of eco-friendly bulbs in front of an eco-friendly computer. As long as they fix that blue screen...

34 comments:

Bee said...

first!!

Bee said...

You used to take baths?? On a daily basis? I don’t know anybody here that takes baths. Except… Natalia.

Bee said...

I have a one hundred gallon jacuzzi tub I have never taken a bath in.
I'd get bored just sitting there and then all the little bacteria would eat me alive. ::blech::

Bee said...

I hope you can see your Emilia tomorrow.

Brian o vretanos said...

For many years I used to have a bath every morning.

I suppose more people must die in baths than in showers.

Though more people die in bed than anywhere else...

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

I just tried it again for the Tuesday night discussion programme that she does, and got a picture for about 3 minutes then back to blue...

Anonymous said...

Oh no! You're going to go thru Emilia withdrawl! :o(
What if you listen to it and just put a picture up? ;op

Anonymous said...

Hey! What the hell happened to my frown??
>:o[

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

I think I'll manage to cope ;-)

Dan said...

can you update your Emilia picture?
Did you use rubber duckies and did you have any boats in with you?

Brian o vretanos said...

Dan:

Just for you, I've updated the picture, and taken one from tonight's news bulletin.

No rubber ducks or boats.

Dan said...

not bad, I'd do her.

Brian o vretanos said...

Dan:

She certainly makes learning Greek seem like less of a chore ;-)

Anonymous said...

Uh oh.

Blue screen of death! I always thought it meant that your 'puter was going to die.

Now I know it also means death by Emilia withdrawals!

Brian o vretanos said...

Chris:

I hadn't thought of the BSOD. It wasn't Microsoft Blue, more like a Blue Screen of No Picture. When there was a picture, it went light, dark, flickered and then went blue, like a broken TV set.

In the latest version of Windows you get a Black Screen Of Death instead. Lovely...

They put the news bulletin on their website a few hours later, so it's not entirely hopeless ;-)

Jean Knee said...

somewhere Father Al is softly weeping into a lace edged, monogramed hanky because of your attitude Brian. way to go

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee!

There was me thinking about the environment and giving no consideration at all to Father Al. You've made me feel suitably ashamed...

Jean Knee said...

kay

Anonymous said...

Father Al was on 60 minutes the other night but I couldn't bring myself to hear his voice for even a half hour

Brian o vretanos said...

SWIJK:

Shocking...

Tracy Rambles On And On said...

I used to love a good soak in the bath. But then I married "Mr. Grim Reality" who is always talking about how gross baths are so I quit.
Besides, the last time I took a bath, I felt like I was on exhibit at the zoo. All three of my kids found reasons to come in and interupt my bath.
I gave up. I now only do showers.
And I'm sure you needed to know my bathing habits to sleep better at night.
You're welcome.

Brian o vretanos said...

Tracy:

Thankyou for that. Apparently being the victim in Psycho made Janet Leigh paranoid about having showers.

I don't really understand the argument that says baths are gross - why are we happy to wash dishes in a bowl? Surely that's grosser since we're going to eat off them?

Bee said...

Brian, you sound stressed. Maybe you should go take a bath...

Brian o vretanos said...

Stressed?

Me?

I don't think so!

I woke up this morning feeling twice as tired as when I went to bed. Strange. I must have had a restless night. Anyway, given that I've been in a zombified state all day I suspect that a bath would be a bad idea. I might fall asleep and drown...

Bee said...

I felt like that yeaterday. Andy made me go to work anyway. :o(

Bee said...

What do you mean when you say you wash dishes in a bowl? Is that what we call a kitchen sink?

Bee said...

Because I always scrub mine well. I do need a new sponge though.

Brian o vretanos said...

I wash mine in a bowl in the kitchen sink. And I'm very careful to scrub them well.

Bee said...

sorry but you're going to have to take picture and show me because I still don't understand.

Bee said...

I know you're thinking I'm a dumbass but I also know you're too polite to say it!

Tracy Rambles On And On said...

Brian- Do you people not have dishwashers over there?

Bee- Do you people not have dishwashers in Chicagoland?

There's no dish scrubbing in bowls in my house. We have dishwashers in West By God Virginia!

Jean Knee said...

he may be too polite to say it but he thought it for sure. didn't you Brian???


see, he just thought it again!

Anonymous said...

Tracy, I do have a dishwasher but it’s only Andy and I. If I were to load it weekly, there would be a total of 5 butter knives (Andy uses for his bagel) maybe to cereal bowls maybe 2 glasses maybe 2 spoons. I can’t justify using so much water for that few items.

In comes in handy when I host parties though! ;op

Anonymous said...

jean knee :op