Metaphors for Life (by PW herownself)

Life is just a bowl of cherries - and a chair of bowlies!

Good morning, everyone! We're taking a break from bikes this week to look at two things that caught my eye these past few days. 

First, the Sublime --  Using refurbished old wind turbines as an affordable way to get farms, schools and small businesses into wind power:

[Aeronautica Windpower] is betting that a large variety of new locations can be found for these 50-500 kilowatt recycled, green-power generators across the rest of the country as they get replaced with larger machines.

According to the company's industry research, over 10,000 machines that were installed during the mid ‘80s and ‘90s may soon be replaced by larger, more modern turbines. That's a lot of generation capacity that would otherwise be scrapped.

"While big machines make sense on a wind farm, these ‘mid-scale' machines are perfect for agriculture, schools, villages and other commercial and industrial applications," said Brian Kuhn, VP of Marketing for Aeronautica Windpower.

[...]

While shipping large turbines from California to Massachusetts is costly, the company said that even with transportation costs, the overall sales cost for a refurbished turbine — ranging from US $80,000 to 120,000 — is still quite low in comparison to the cost of a new turbine. And while all the work is currently being done in the East, the company does have plans to open plants in other locations, such as California.

[...]

"There's still a lot of life left in these machines," Kuhn said, "and it would be a shame to waste them. In fact, our prices for recycled machines create some of the best economics in the wind business. In many cases the investment in equipment can be recovered in as little as 4-5 years, with free electricity thereafter."

Wow.  This is just unspeakably cool.

For the price of a typical piece of farm machinery, a farm can have its power needs dealt with and have plenty to sell back to the grid if desired -- and have it pay for itself in a few years.  And can you imagine how cool it would be to have wind-powered electric tractors doing your chores?  Now, with grain farmers' bank accounts flush from corn cash, is the time to snap up these critters.   

That was the Sublime.  Now here's the Ridiculous: 

A BREAKTHROUGH Australian cervical cancer vaccine has become the target of a scare campaign by a conservative American lobby group which does not agree with young women having sex, the drug's manufacturer has claimed.

Who would be such despicably stupid jerks?  Why, our old Clinton-hating friends at Judicial Watch, that's who:

The documents released by Judicial Watch show that some of the deaths occurred within days of vaccination. But the reports also note the deaths of patients weeks and months after vaccination. One death noted did not occur until 115 days after receiving an initial dose of Gardasil, and three others occurred at least 50 days after vaccination.

"I would say none of the 18 to 20 deaths they are reporting have had anything to do with Gardasil at all, and in fact we have found that some of the people claimed to have died are alive and well," Dr David said. "They are not credible and it is all a way of pushing their abstinence ideals."

A spokeswoman for the FDA, Kelly Riley, said there was nothing in the reports to cause a review of the usefulness of the vaccine. "As far as the spontaneous abortions are concerned, Gardasil is not indicated for anyone who has been sexually active," Ms Riley said.

"These adverse reaction reports have not been analysed. If there's a death after someone received a vaccine, and long after if they had a car crash, a bee sting … these would be filled out. It does not mean Gardasil caused it."

Then again, what would you expect from a group whose founder, Larry Klayman, would sue his own mother? 

Is it too early for a drink yet?  Maybe I should pop over to John Cole's place and see if he's got any martinis ready.