City Desk » California

California Bans Plasma TVs, Could It Happen to Us?

Christine MacDonald — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:09:16 +0000

At the DC Energy Expo a couple of weekends ago, my jaw dropped when I learned just how much energy it takes to run a plasma television set: A whopping three times as much electricity as a regular TV. Even when they aren't running, plasma TVs suck an enormous amount of "vampire energy" - the power an appliance draws when turned off but still plugged into the wall. One of these beauties can set you back an estimated 1,452 kilowatts a year, or nearly $160, just by leaving the thing plugged in when your not using it, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

So, it's little wonder that the California Energy Commission - which enjoys being the country's environmental advanced guard - voted yesterday to ban plasma TV sales. The ban came in the form of new regulations requiring new televisions sold in the state to consume 33 percent less electricity by 2011 and 49 percent less electricity by 2013.

California's crusading for tougher vehicle emission rules is often credited with raising the bar for a new national auto emissions standard. Will the same be true for TVs? Or will the ban just ruin some people's enjoyment of big-screen rituals such as Super Bowl Sunday?

Our Morning Roundup: Protest & Putt-Putt Edition

Ted Scheinman — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:20:10 +0000

*IT AIN'T ALL ABOUT SOTOMAYOR: The Post fronts the news from California: a 6-1 ruling by the State Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, citing widespread support among voters.

...the California court said voters spoke clearly, through last fall's ballot initiative known as Proposition 8, in wanting to limit marriage to a man and a woman. At the same time, the court said that the marriages of the approximately 18,000 couples who wed before the ban was passed remain valid and that same-sex partners can still enjoy equal legal benefits through recognized civil unions.

NBC Washington has stuff on the Dupont Circle protest. I found the Sexist's coverage less depressing.

*OH, YEAH, ABOUT SOTOMAYOR: Slate's Andy Bowers teaches you how to pronounce the SupCo nominee's surname. Spoiler: It's ""so-toe-my-YORE." (Bowers has the audio, though.)

*WJLA has coverage—and, naturally, video—of yesterday's flooding.

*Over at Young & Hungry, Tim Carman previews the H Street Country Club, admonishing, "you'll never get a tee time." He's referring to that 9-hole indoor putt putt course, of course, and he's got awesome photos to prove it. Prince of Petworth's take on the situation:

Upstairs is where it gets really interesting. Why? Because that is where you can find the indoor putt putt. Which is as insane in reality as it sounds. But it is awesome. It is a 9 hole course with names like U Street, K Street Lego Lawyers, The Awakening of Marion Barry etc. It will cost $7 dollars.

*District, Schmistrict hates "sorry for the lack of posts" posts as much as you do. But the Iowan couple really is sorry about the lack of posts, chalks it up to "serious lack of blog-motivation lately" spurred by "ever-more pleasant weather," and promises they'll be back, keyboards ablaze, in the near future. (The forecast, if nothing else, should help just a bit.)

The Golden Rule: California Parochial School Expels Lesbians

Hilary Crowe — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:37:45 +0000

To the students of California private parochial schools, a word of advice: be careful who you hug in the hall. Or at home, or in My Space photos.

Yesterday, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Bernardino, Calif. ruled that California Lutheran High School in Riverside County is allowed to expel students it believes to be lesbians. Why? According to the Los Angeles Times, the appeals court decided that "the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating." The district court cited a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed The Boy Scouts of America to keep gays and atheists away from their wholesome s'mores and bonfires.

The most horrifying detail involved in the Golden State's recent display of institutionalized bigotry is how the evidence against the students was gathered and deployed. As for the "outing," the L.A. Times reported:

"The dispute started when a student at the school told a teacher in 2005 that one of the girls had said she loved the other. The student advised the teacher to look at the girls' MySpace pages. One of the girls was identified as bisexual on her MySpace page, the other's page said she was "not sure" of her sexual orientation.

McKay said the website also contained a photograph of the girls hugging."

Gasp! Not only did the girls hug, but they reportedly admitted to loving each other. As friends. "Love thy neighbor," sure, but everything in moderation I s'pose.

And while it's certainly no news that one's carefully constructed e-identity can come back to bite one in the ass (and that private institutions enjoy more control over operations than public ones), one has to wonder what the teenager who outed the two girls was thinking - "I must save these sinners?" "I must get on Sister Catherine's good side?" Hopefully the former, because I refuse to believe the race for college admissions has gotten that tight.

If anything is certain, though, it's that the gap between public and private (meta)space is closing, and a teenager's room to negotiate her identity is shrinking along with it.