Readers may recall that I love a good April Fools story, such as the one I did about Low Flow Fire Hydrants in my town in the name of “sustainability”. It worked so well that I had even suckered in a city council member with the story.
I had planned an elaborate April Fool’s posting this year. The object of such was California’s overzealous edicts on environmentalism foisted on the public by agencies such as CARB. My subject was the twisty bulb, and the movement to replace filament bulbs. My target was the most famous filament bulb ever, the one in the firehouse in Livermore, CA which has been burning for over a century, dubbed “The Centennial Bulb”
Here’s what my April Fools prank was going to be.
I had planned to write a column about how an NGO had sprung up called “No Light Bulb Left Behind” whose mission was total replacement of all incandescent bulbs in California with the slogan “Helping California make the switch to energy efficiency”. I even registered a domain name to give legitimacy to the prank: nolightbulbleftbehind.org
The plan was to make up this website with convincing environmental slogans and twisty bulb imagery in the style of “feel good environmentalism” that we’ve seen time and again.
The other part was to make up a funny press release and post it on that website where they supposedly convinced the City of Livermore to retire the “centennial bulb” and replace it with a twisty bulb to show that it was “time to retire the old ways”, then write about it here at WUWT in the style of “can you believe this?”. I figured a number of people would believe this and actually applaud the idea, because even crazier things are being done in California today in the name of sustainability and environmentalism; CARB’s carbon trading program for example.
But after Gleick’s dastardly deception in the name of environmentalism followed by his self immolation for “the cause” I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to make up even this small prank for the purpose of entertaining everyone. All my well laid April Fools plans went into the bit-bucket.
So that’s why I have no April Fools story. I’m sorry. (Apparently though Stefan Rahmstorf at RealClimate has no such compunctions about making up some science though.)
I’m back traveling again today, and moderation will be sporadic. I’m treating a number of my moderation staff and contributors to a nice dinner tonight. For those of you moderating in far away lands, and on the other side of the USA, you have my sincerest thanks and best wishes. Your presence will be sorely missed, and I hope to be able to make it up to you someday.
CodeTech says:
April 1, 2012 at 1:31 pm
My favorite of all time is still the Sofa King ad. It sounded completely legit, too… Sofa King Warehouse! Our prices are Sofa King good!
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There is a Sofa King here in Northampton
It does indeed have a large poster on the front of the building that says exactly that. I hoped Google maps would show it — it is on St Leonards Road; Northampton (put this into google maps; –St Leonards Rd, Northampton, Northamptonshire NN4, United Kingdom –) Sofa King is the Yellow fronted building at the West end of the Road – where it meets Main Road. Unfortunately neither the Sofa King banner nor the ad are visible.
how many amateurs (hams) saw this one
https://mail.google.com/mail/help/promos/tap/index.html
and thought – mm pity they think its an April Fool ??
More about whale blubber:
Stossel: Rockefeller saved the whales at 12:00
And even wikipedia acknowledges that (you have to subtract the NPOV bias, of course, but I think we all know how to read the wikipedia these days, like a good Soviet citizen read the Pravda):
“Despite improving the quality and availability of kerosene products while greatly reducing their cost to the public (the price of kerosene dropped by nearly 80% over the life of the company), Standard Oil’s business practices created intense controversy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller#Monopoly
Too bad it didn’t happen! It would have been an April Fools Day prank for the ages. 🙂
I grew up in Los Angeles, born in the San Fernando Valley in 1953, and left in 1973. I remember my lungs burning from the pollution frequently. The whole sky was tinted red many days from the nitrogen oxides. Breathing was difficult during those periods. In my teenage years, I did lots of bicycling and did around 4800 miles in 1972. Smog made it very difficult to breath, but I managed to go from Van Nuys, where I lived out to Thousand Oaks on the west, Palmdale in the NE, and the city of Ontario in the east (was trying to visit cute girl at the time) in spite of it.
It really was that bad. Made for great sunsets though. It was a major health issue. But remember that improvements were due to regulation of a real hazard, which CO2 is not. The regulations really helped out there. Unfortunately, I was long gone by the time the air was that clean.
adolfogiurfa says:
April 1, 2012 at 11:14 am
@DirkH says : I hear whale blubber is a renewable resource….
Wouldn´t it be better if they use excess fat extracted from environmentalists? It would fight obesity too (which is on the same liberal list of goals to be attained). 🙂
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If Gore were liposuctioned he could provide heat and light to a village of 100 in Alaska for a year…and still need to lose weight.
BTW, I think the classic April Fool’s joke was the BBC’s (I think) mockumentary on the annual harvesting of the spaghetti trees in Italy, followed up later with an apology for the joke, and a video of how spaghettis is mined….
WSJ’s Saefong has been quoting Gleick from at least 2006, and certainly hasn’t stopped!
30 March: WSJ: Myra P. Saefong: Water: vital to life and an investment essential
“Water is vitally important to consumers of all kinds, from residential users to commercial and industrial users,” said Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute, an independent think-tank in Oakland, Calif. “This makes it much like a commodity, but we must never forget that water is far more than a commodity. It is also a fundamental human right and must not be treated as just another product to be bought and sold.”
“It is often ‘cheap,’ because we do not properly price what it costs to provide safe and reliable water to us, but it is not ‘cheap’ in the sense that it is precious and vital,” he said…
Still, compared with other commodities markets, water has done well so far this year…
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-03-30/markets/31253495_1_water-bills-clean-water-safe-water
I was the moderator for a Knowledge Bowl tournament among seniors from various high schools today, and since it was April 1, I inserted the question: “What day of the year is widely recognized as a day when people play practical jokes on each other?” Of course a quick respondent buzzed in with the correct answer of “April Fools Day,” to which I replied, “I’m sorry but that is not the answer I have here..” to which he greatly remonstrated, much to the delight and hilarity of the audience who caught on more quickly than he did!
In you earlier spoof, you joked about Chico being a nuclear-free zone, but that actually happened in Sheffield, England, under a rampant leftist local government. It worked, though – no nuclear attacks were sustained then or since.
It’s just as well. I’d probably have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
Speaking of light bulbs, this evening and it is now evening in OZ, I was cooking the evening meal and turned on the lights in the dining kitchen area. One went pphtt and a few seconds later rather loudly exploded, I then spent one half of an hour trying to locate all the shards.
As the stove is sheltered some what by the fridge against shrapnel I ate my meal and found no crunchy bits. The bulb was not a mercury curly but a high tech quarts imitation real globe, luckily.
After a life of adventure and some painful episodes I have found that I am immune to shock but it frightened the bejesus out of the cat.
Note to self: Remember to check the day close to April Fools Day. 😉
“No light bulb left behind”? It’s enough to make you curly with rage.