an afternoon's reading

Some deeply wonky energy-policy stuff (actually, something somewhat fringey: Armory Lovins' 1970s-era article on energy policy, and his fringier ideas (having more local energy production, more solar, more biofuels, and less centralized stuff because it's less efficient) is interesting. Also, in this day and age where some people are expressing concerns about the energy grid being hacked....well, maybe having a bunch of smaller, unlinked-up, different-fuel-using grids is not such a horrible idea - so if the hackers successfully hit, I don't know, Baton Rouge or somewhere, but Biloxi is still up - there could be a way of people evacuating while power is restored and staying with friends, or in hotels, or something, in areas where there still is power.

And he's big on what he calls "soft" fuels, which are more renewable/sustainable. And I admit: I do kind of have that old 1970s back-to-the-lander fantasy of having a bunch of solar panels up on the roof, and having that power, if not everything I need, at least some of it. (I don't think solar is yet good enough to handle all the AC needs of a house in southern Oklahoma in our hot summers, but....and I don't know that the overnight storage batteries are so very great, yet, but....I would like some day to have an entirely solar powered house.)

I'm doing this in my room, with a new pair of simple socks, and I needed a prop for the journal articles so they're at a comfortable reading angle (and the right distance from my eyes; I fear my near vision has decayed a bit more and I really do need to get in for a checkup this fall. I can still read comfortably with my glasses off but I can tell that with them on, it's harder to find the "right" distance for focus. And yes, I don't know why removing my glasses would help....unless my near vision has freakily IMPROVED and the progressives are too strong for me now).

Anyway, I found that Captain Silverscales (my giant isopod stuffie, and yes, that is his name) works well for this: