marclafountain.com

Jul 05 2009 ∞

In Spain, The Dead Help Fight Climate Change : NPR

In the Barcelona suburb of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the deceased are fighting climate change. Last November, the town’s cemetery installed more than 450 solar panels on tops of the mausoleums, called niches.

Jul 04 2009 ∞

We got the thinnest to-go container the restaurant had, but it’s just not happening.

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Salsa spice levels at Otto’s Cantina in Aurora, CO.

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The fridge in our room at Aloft outside Denver gives new meaning to the term mini-bar. It’s about three inches deep.

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At the top of the gondala in Vail.

Jul 03 2009 ∞

Sarah Palin

The wrap on Sarah Palin when she ran for Vice President in 2008 was that she was inexperienced. (Granted, that was also the wrap on Obama when he ran for President.) So, I do not understand Palin giving up her governorship.

If she runs for President or Vice President in 2012, she will do so with only two and a half years of experience as a governor. Meanwhile, Obama and Biden will have a term as President and Vice President under their belts. So, the experience issue for Palin would be an even bigger deal in 2012 than it was in 2008. Added to that, she will not have an easy way to stay in the news for the next couple of years since she will be out of office.

If Palin is running in 2012, this was an idiotic move. I think there must be some personal or family issue motivating her resignation. Politically, this makes zero sense.

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Our room with a view.

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One of the infinity hot tubs overlooking the Colorado River at the Westin Riverfront in Avon, CO. It was amazing.

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“ A few years ago, Cialdini, a professor at Arizona State University, conducted a study in several Phoenix hotels comparing the effects of those ubiquitous hotel-bathroom placards that ask guests to reuse towels, testing four slightly different messages. The first sign had the traditional message, asking guests to “do it for the environment.” The second asked guests to “cooperate with the hotel” and “be our partner in this cause” (12 percent less effective than the first). The third stated that the majority of guests in the hotel reused towels at least once during their stay (18 percent more effective). The last message was even more specific: it said that the majority of guests “in this room” had reused their towels. It produced a 33 percent increase in response behavior over the traditional message.

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Greening With Envy - The Atlantic
(July/August 2009)

Jul 02 2009 ∞