Who Killed the Electric Car? (Answer: GM, etc.)

"'Who Killed the Electric Car?' makes a compelling case that the current discussion of hydrogen cell technology, as the successor to the internal combustion engine, is a way of keeping America hooked on gasoline for at least 20 more years. The hydrogen cell is decades away, while the electric car is close to being practical."
-Mick LaSalle, SF Chronicle (7/7/06)

On Friday night I went to see the Chris Paine documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" It is a great companion film to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." I would say both are required viewing if you care about issues such as global warming or corporate greed. Of course we are all guilty (at least most of us) in the department of driving gas-powered cars and adding CO2 to the atmosphere. One statistic in the film is that every gallon of gasoline burned by a car engine adds 15 lbs. of CO2 into the air. The tragedy of the electric vehicle story is that we in the U.S. could be so much farther along now than we are. As it is, the Japanese hybrids are selling like mad and GM and the other American automakers who've been pushing things like the HUMMER (for god's sakes) are now looking like idiots (and losing money, which is apparently all they really care about). It is hard not to leave the theater pissed off, let's just put it that way!

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Joseph Goldstein and the Cat

Here's a nice little story about meditation (and so true) from one of my favorite meditation teachers, Joseph Goldstein, who I've still never seen in person although I've read a number of his books and listened to many of his talks on CD and tape. He is on a year-long sabbatical at the moment and teaches regularly at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA.

"In India, I was living in a little hut, about six feet by seven feet. It had a canvas flap instead of a door. I was sitting on my bed meditating, and a cat wandered in and plopped down on my lap. I took the cat and tossed it out the door. Ten seconds later it was back on my lap. We got into a sort of dance, this cat and I. I would toss it out, and it would come back. I tossed it out because I was trying to meditate, to get enlightened. But the cat kept returning. I was getting more and more irritated, more and more annoyed with the persistence of the cat. Finally, after about a half-hour of this coming in and tossing out, I had to surrender. There was nothing else to do. There was no way to block off the door. I sat there, the cat came back in, and it got on my lap. But I did not do anything. I just let go. Thirty seconds later the cat got up and walked out. So you see, our teachers come in many forms."

-Joseph Goldstein in "Transforming the Mind, Healing the World
from Everyday Mind" edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

P.S.- I did watch the second half and all of the OT action for the World Cup Finals at a "closed" French restaurant in downtown Portland with some of the staff there who were kind/cool enough to let me hang out with them at the bar. Craig Ferguson made two funny points on his late show last night about Zidane's infamous head-butt to the chest of the Italian player. Craig said (roughly), "There are two things wrong with that. First, only an Italian soccer player would fall down from a head-butt to the chest. And second, you don't head-butt anybody in the chest, you get them right here (pointing to the place at the bridge of the nose and right between the eyes)." He said that's how they did it in Scotland, anyway.

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France vs. Italy

I am excited to watch France play Italy this Sunday (click title above for link). Unfortunately, I'll be landing at the airport in Portland at 11 am that day, which is the start time of the Finals match here on the Pacific coast of the U.S. I guess I'll be watching the match at some airport sports bar. However, I can't wait to watch my new hero Zinedine Zidane (what a great name!!) of France, perhaps the greatest midfielder in recent history, as he tries to help his team find a way to overcome the very talented (although inconsistent, in my opinion) Italian side. It should be a great match. My prediction is 2-1, Italy wins. Having said that, I hope the 34-year-old Zidane shines and finds a way to help his team overcome the odds. I'm not overly partial to either team, in all truth, but if you're a true soccer (futbol) fan, you have to love Zidane!!

As one commentator (Roger Cohen in a video for the New York Times) put it, "Zidane has been absolutely magnificent. He simply sees things that others don't. When everyone else is rushed, he has time. When everybody else doesn't know what to do, he sees the opening. I think it's a gift, you know, you're born with it. You have it or you don't. Nobody can learn what Zidane has and what Zidane has given France."

Last note: I think that's what I want my epitaph to be: "He saw things that others didn't. And when everyone else was rushed, he had time." Not that I've really earned all of that, but it sure sounds good.

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