Buzz-TV

How exactly did this guy get his nickname?

Cringely on IPTV

Great Cringely column on where the medium we currently know as television is heading...

Chauncey Billups

If you haven't noticed, with all the hype Cleveland and Lebron have been getting around here, the Denver Nuggets have been playing really good basketball. Carmelo Anthony, he of the Syracuse fame- where as a freshman he led the Orange through the NCAA championships -- hit a fairly controversial three-pointer the other night to give the Nuggets a 3-0 lead over the Mavericks in their Western Conf. semi-finals. Apparently, the Mavs had a foul to give and tried like heck to grab Anthony before he shot, but the refs would have none of it. Maverick (pun intended) owner Mark Cuban even stormed onto the court to argue after 'Melo's shot went down. The Nuggets are just one game away from the Western finals, while the Lakers are in a battle, tied 2-2 with the Rockets. The Rockets killed them last night even though Yao is now out for the playoffs with a broken foot - and Tracy McGrady, he's been out for months.

Anyhow, don't be surprised to see 'Melo duplicate his college feat and lead the Nuggets to a surprise NBA championship. I know Lebron is great and all, and Mo Williams has been a great pick-up for the Cavs, but the Chauncey Billups trade (for Alan Iverson) has been even bigger for the Nuggets. Check out this great story on Chauncy if you get a chance. It will give you some idea of what the Lakers and Cavs could be up against.

Cheers.
Ralph

ERE Tire Plant: Alternative viewpoint

It was nice to hear from someone aside from K.E.E.P. for a change regarding this tires-to-energy plant or whatever you want to call it. In today's ETN, Victor E. Gatto, owner and COO Erie Renewable Energy (ERE), the firm proposing to build this thing at the old Hammermill site, writes an editorial defending the safety of the plant - as it relates to pollution. In my view, these guys have been inept at public relations from the start, but at least this is a well-written, easy to read article that makes some good points. I'm not going to get into all of them, but it quantifies some of the pollution this thing will emit - and makes it sound like a pretty small amount. It also provides a reference of an energy plant near Bethlehem, which is apparently turning tires into energy. Of course, it doesn't get into too many details about how similar this plant is to the proposed Erie plant, or how many tires are being gassified per day vs. plans for Erie, etc...

And that's indicative of the shortcomings of this article (although I will say again, it is better than anything else I've seen come out of ER, so far.) It's written by the guy planning to build the plant, so it's very one-sided. That said, the stuff coming out of the Green Party people at K.E.E.P. has been fairly one-sided as well. So, I guess this is the ETN's version of fair and balanced reporting.

Anyhow, typical of the way ERE handles things, they've contracted some guy to do an air pollution study - obviously, there were paying him - and what do you know? He found no problems and minimal impact on the environment. Well, no duh. Granted, he may very well be a valid source, but when presented as such, by the owner of the company that wants to build the plant - well, it just doesn't appear to hold water.

The bottom line is that I would like more information on this whole thing, before it is decided if it's built or not. Honestly, everything coming out of the people against it seems like radical hippie, off the cuff, blathering, while that stuff in favor is all coming from the company that wants to build the plant. Can we get a truly independent researcher in here?