coal?

i think this was in west virginia.

made me chuckle; i'm pretty sure that the new language miranda and i are learning in central Asia doesn't have any words, or phrases, resembling the term 'carbon neutral.'

and even if there were some similar words, it would probably take a pretty substantial backstory to get the meaning across. (because pretty much, where we live, people are more concerned about having some sort of means to avoid freezing to death than being too concerned about the size of their carbon footprint. which, arguably, is absolutely fine.)

i gotta say that was pretty cool to see piles of the black rocks over on this side of the world though.

and everything you heard in the news about the weather in chicago is true... yesterday it was sunny in the afternoon, beautiful really, then a quick flurry blew in and dusted the place down. as i sit here now, it's about 14 outside (which earlier made for a QUICK, hurried walk through the target(s) parking lot to get in that door...)