Tuesday, April 01, 2008

We all know electricity is made up of flowing electrons. Spin a rotor inside a magnetic field and electrons take off at light speed down a convenient wire. At the other end of the wire, they run the clock in your microwave oven, and then return home to roost. What you may not have known is that not all electrons are created equal.

Imagine an electron created in a French nuclear reactor. Besides being French (including the charming accent, wearing a beret (male electrons) or short skirts and fishnet stockings (female electrons) and favoring mayonnaise on freedom fries instead of catchup) ... they are radioactive. In fact, they glow in the dark which is what makes light bulbs so popular.

Or imagine electrons fired out of a giant pasta generator in Italy; where male and female electrons are sent down the same wire at the same time (you know, AC/DC). Knowing the fiery Italian culture as I do, it’s not surprising that when the male and female electrons arrive at the oven in the neighborhood pizza joint, they often create more heat than light. The confrontations are vastly entertaining which explains the popularity of pizza.

Well I could go on, but thankfully I won’t.

Last fall I toured Hoover Dam and got to see firsthand electricity being made. The first photo below was taken inside the dam and you can almost hear the electrons sizzling like electric arcs around Frankenstein’s monster. What you may not realize is that American electrons are an endangered species.

First, in America there is a move afoot to bring down the dams, which store the water, that flows through the turbines, which spin the rotors, which incite the electrons to take off at light speed (oh, wait, this is where I came in) ... And second, in many places the water level of the lakes behind the dams is dropping precipitously. Witness Lake Mead, backed up behind Hoover Dam, which some say will be dry within a few years. Photo two shows how much the water level has already dropped.

Click on either image above to expand ...

Now Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are quite near to Las Vegas, Nevada. If ever there were a city in dire need of free electrons (both male and female) in large numbers, it’s Las Vegas. Since the demise of mechanical slots, you can’t go anywhere without bumping into crowds of electrons. Day or night. You’d think they never slept! So I say, lets band together to save Las Vegas. Lets organize. Have mass rallies. Spin up alternate energy sources ... wind, solar, nuclear, what have you. I hope it’s not too late.

BTW: Both these photos were taken w/ my iPhone. Not bad for a 2 MP camera with a fixed lens, huh? TGFP: Thank God (or at least Adobe) for Photoshop!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Politics
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