Random Musings
i received an interesting email this weekend from some acquaintances who want to work on changing the yellow pages distribution system. at the moment, most residences automatically get yellow pages and white pages delivered to their homes once a year – and may even get 2 or 3 versions of the books from competing publishers. the email contained some interesting facts about how wasteful the entire process is and a link to an organization that is working on an opt-out program called Yellow Pages Goes Green. some quick facts from their site:
Over 500 million of these directories are printed every year. That is nearly two books for every person in the country!
To produce 500 million books:
- 19 million trees need to be harvested
- 1.6 billion pounds of paper are wasted
- 7.2 million barrels of oil are misspent in their processing (not including the wasted gas used for their delivery to your doorstep)
- 268,000 cubic yards of landfill are taken up
- 3.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity are squandered
when you sign up for Yellow Pages Goes Green, they send a cease and desist to the yellow pages publishers. amazingly, they have less than 100,000 sign ups:/ its a great idea and i just signed up.
i know a lot of people do not have decent internet access in this country, but i assume that a significant % of the population (maybe even a majority) no longer use their yellow pages for anything. do we really need automatic delivery of yellow pages to every house in the US once or twice a year? its amazing that we allow this kind of waste to continue. and although the opt-out method is a good start, i think out-in would be even better.
The first ever video interview by soompi.com! check it out while we interview Asian pop sensation BoA as she makes her US debut!
its been a long day. after waking up several times in the middle of the night fearful that i had missed the inauguration, i finally got up before the sun rose. i started of the morning in my pjs in front of the TV switching between CNN and CSPAN when i couldnt handle the annoying chatter of the talking heads at CNN. then i sat in silence for the next few hours watching the historic day unfold.
i wont add too much to the litany of other accounts of today. but i will say that a major obstacle in this country’s history has been overcome. i never thought this day would happen in my lifetime – and i am so full of pride, joy and peace that i was able to witness this day. this was the first day in my life when i watched the news and had tears of joy fill my eyes and not tears of sadness. (yes, sometimes i cry when i see horrible things on the news, but it doesnt make me any less tough. i can probably still kick your ass;)
i hope there will be more days like this in my lifetime when CNN will make me cry with joy (first female president, peaceful reunification of north and south korea, equal rights for the gay community)
i hope this has awoken something in the country’s moral fabric.
i hope. i really do.
a little belated, but wanted to send out some kind of holiday greeting. and this pic sums up my holidays – lots of asian food and smiling faces! onward to 2009! i think this year i will actually be doing resolutions, so i will post some soon. 2009 is going to be great:D
p.s. my new found favorite dim sum restaurant in SF is hong kong seafood out on noreiga and 32nd/33rd st. they have hong kong style AND macau style dan-ta (egg tarts). your honor, i rest my case.