YOU CAN'T TRIPLE-STAMP A DOUBLE STAMP!

My sister sent me this link, which is another of those calculate your environmental impact things. I normally don't bother with them but this one is a nice one; the maths is pretty bogus I would imagine but the good thing about it is that it measures quite a few factors in a few dimensions of environmental impact, and it shows you a running calculation of your total compared to your country's average. It's interesting to see how selecting different options changes your footprint; makes you think about choice and all that stuff.

My total thing was, if everyone lived my lifestyle, we'd need 1.64 Earths: where the global sustainable footprint level is about 15 ha, I'm at 25. Or something. Lower than the national average but could do better obviously. I just don't have the guts to go vegan!

Some good news about the environment for a change, even if the viability about the whole thing looks a little doubtful at the end. Pity we totally dropped the ball on that one ourselves.

lainy122, I thought you might find this amusing :-D

Gave up on the War of the Jewels. Love ya, Tolkein, but I'm not there yet. Am reading The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie atm (didn't even know he'd written it until I jumped into House fandom). It's a little over-explainey but otherwise great fun. The main character is a professional bullshitter and the way he copes with being thrown into a mess he knows absolutely noting about is hilarious. Plus he stubbornly refuses to look like anyone other than Laurie in my head.

I also read The Uncle's Story by Witi Ihimaera on Monday. thanatos666 recommended it to me and it was really good. There was something, I can't quite place it, about the prose style that turned me off a little, but the narrative was so compelling that it didn't really matter. It's about this guy Michael who comes from a very traditional Maori family. One day he comes out to his parents, with the expected explosive result. But at least half the book is actually devoted to his Uncle Sam, also gay, and who fought in Vietnam, whose story Michael slowly uncovers. This book was not only hugely interesting in the way it sheds light on Maori views on things like homosexuality and masculinity and identity and war, it packs a huge emotional punch *and* throws in for free a dollop of Message and Social Commentary about indigenous peoples at the same time. I preferred reading about Sam to reading about Michael, mostly because of the Vietnam stuff which was fascinating, but the Michael stuff was good too. Thanks, Chelle!