DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

There are some great lines in Steve Sande’s article on the high prices of geezer rock tours:

I mean, 20 bucks to see Todd Rundgren at Slim’s is one thing, but can anyone justify $194 to see Old Man Townsend windmill his way through “Baba O’Riley” on a Shoreline stage full of MGD ads? Hey, Daltrey, the nursing home called — the last person who thought you could still rock just died.

Upcoming geezer tours are listed, with ticket prices. Getting in to see what’s left of the Who will cost you between $44 and $194.

$44 might sound reasonable, but this show is at the Shoreline, a huge outdoor venue. Those cheap tickets are for general-admission lawn space in the next county: no seat, no view, and a constant stream of people picking their way around and across your space. As a bonus, the music fans on the blanket to your left haven’t bathed yet this week.

I saw the Who on tour in 1982 — billed, ironically, as their final tour. Entwistle was still alive. Townshend wasn’t deaf yet. The ticket cost me $15.

(Here’s the set list.)

According to Robert Redford,

Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger got the attention of the environmental community by campaigning on a promise to help solve the state’s energy problems by ensuring that 50% of all new homes are built with solar energy systems. Now that California’s budget has been resolved, the Governor is expected to make a major decision this week whether or not to move forward with a comprehensive, ambitious solar agenda.

Read more at the Vote Solar Initiative, and also in this LA Times article: State Seeking to Boost Use of Solar Energy; Incentives would be funded by surcharge on electricity users.

Hat tip: Solar E-Clips

There’s a great lesson in method acting in the ‘making of’ clip on the School of Rock DVD. Click the image to see Black in action (3ivx codec required for playback). (Note: the soundtrack is not really safe for work.)

Task: restock toilet paper in bathroom.

Problem: a few rolls of toilet paper remain from the last restocking.

Question: where do the new rolls go?

…

Answer: behind the old rolls, of course. If you put them in front, the two remaining from last time may never get used!

In January, I expressed wonder at PG&E’s “new math;” in spite of a bankruptcy that would leave ratepayers on the hook for a $7 billion bailout, the utility announced a 4.1% reduction in electricity rates. It made no sense then, but makes perfect sense now. I think my theory has turned out to be correct — it was a distraction. Now that a few months have gone by since anybody gave any thought to their electricity rates, PG&E has filed an application to raise them.

Two confusing and contradictory inserts accompanied my most recent statement. Multiple paragraphs of legalese can be summarized by this excerpt from one of the two pamphlets:

Does this mean electricity will cost me more?
Yes.

A table of revenue figures and percentages of change appears in each document. Curiously, the percentages are radically different. One shows a “Percent Change” for residential customers of 2.8%. The other shows 5.4%. I suspect one pamphlet was authored by PG&E, and the other by the PUC (Public Utilities Commission).

There’s one telling example:

The bill for a typical bundled customer using 542 kWh per month would increase $3.76 from $66.09 to $69.85. The average usage for customers using more than twice their baseline allowance is 876. The bill for this average bundled customer would increase by approximately $24 from $125.83 to $149.79 per month.

That’s 5.7% and 19%, respectively. Hmm, so much for that 4.1 reduction, eh?

The critical thing to remember is that since 1970, electricity rates have climbed an average of 6% per year. There is no reason to believe they’ll ever go down.

Ironically, the pending rate increase is good news for me; it means, in effect, that my photovoltaic system will pay for itself sooner.