J McKinley's Page

What do you think about all this talk of eschewing the ban on US offshore drilling? Senator McCain, President Bush and many other Republican talking heads are touting this as the be-all, end-all to the current state of high fuel prices. Unfortunately, and, might I add, as is completely expected from such… Continue

A few weeks back, I was returning from a wonderful trip to Yosemite National Park on the somewhat depressing 2 lane farm 'highways' that litter the Central Valley of CA. The strangest thing happened - some guy in a blue Prius came rocketing by us, passing (somewhat legally) in the oncoming lane at 80+ mph. As I watched up the road, the Prius driver continued to… Continue

I'm going to start a column on local goods and produce, focusing first on area farmers markets. Granted, this will be somewhat constrained to Bay area markets for now, but hopefully it will inspire everyone out there to… Continue

The next time someone complains to me about how high gas prices are this summer, they are taking one straight in the kisser. Trust me, I just dropped $4.79 a gallon a few days ago - I KNOW that it's expensive to drive these days. But you know what? Screw it. Things are not going to cha… Continue

A recent study has confirmed what you may not have thought about: that video game system or flat panel TV uses a lot of power, even in standby mode. A modern plasma TV consumes more than four times that of a traditional analog set. Leav… Continue