2001-01-17 - Evening
So far tonight we�ve managed--apparently--to avoid blackouts in this part of my fine state. For the last three hours I kept the computer shut off out of media-induced guilt, but then I finally said, fuck it--if the power companies and politicians are so worried, let them shut off their blow-dryers and eat cold peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like the rest of us.
Mostly, though, they�ve been blaming--yes!--the Internet. If it wasn�t for all those durned newfangled computing machines out there, why, we�d have plenty of power! We should just go back to downloading our Web porn by candlelight like old Honest Abe used to.
Whenever there�s a drought in California, the politicos shout CONSERVATION! from all the rooftops and guilt everyone into taking 30-second showers and letting their lawns turn brown. Then some news report comes out showing that the real reason there�s a water shortage is that the state subsidizes the purchase of huge amounts of the wet stuff at absurdly low prices by agribusiness, which then buys more than it needs and dumps what it doesn�t use. Then it finally rains a little, the "shortage" ends, and we all take those bricks out of our toilets and go back to flushing twice every time we take a shit.
Me, cynical?
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