Articles by David Roberts

He shoulda been MotY

Congrats, you guys, for being named Person of the Year.

Personally, I think it's ridiculous Time didn't give that particular encomium to Al Gore. Has any individual ever before so fundamentally changed public debate on so technical a subject in such a short period of time? Not to mention the personal drama of his redemption, etc. Guess the folks at Time didn't want to get political ... oh, wait.

On a related note, Mr. Gore would like you to send a postcard.

Turns out vegetarians are smart

Vegetarians are smarter than the average person.

But vegans are dumber.

[Ducks]

And me

The war just got a great deal more personal for me: my little brother left today for the Middle East, first to Kuwait and then to multiple locations in Iraq.

Not to shoot anybody -- to play piano.

He's in the Army Chorale band, and volunteers to go on these USO tours with Al Franken and a motley assortment of country music stars, WWF wrestlers, and professional cheerleaders. Yes, really. On the first one, shortly after the invasion, he got to stay in Saddam's palace. He's amused by it all and always brings back hilarious pictures and stories.

But the mess over there has only gotten messier, and now it looks like Bush might double down. Asshole.

Anyway, if you're the praying type -- I'm not, but days like today I wish I were -- throw the Big G-Man a shout-out for the USO tour staying safe.

And just to make this somewhat environmental, let's ponder yet again what kind of ...

• improvements to the nation's electricity grid,
• development and deployment of electric cars,
• development and deployment of high-speed rail,
• R&D for renewable energy

... we could have gotten for $2,000,000,000,000.

Critic turns up in book as kiddie rapist

When Michael Crichton released State of Fear, a book portraying global warming as a vast conspiracy of leftist nutsos, I wrote a highly critical review. But Grist is pretty small-time in the grand media scheme of things, so he probably never read it.

And it's a good thing too. I could have ended up a child rapist in his latest book!