A few months back I started posting more images here as they make the blog look better and more readable.

Here’s where I get most of the images for Polizeros.

Commons.wikipedia.org has over 2 million “freely usable” media files. A huge and helpful resource.

The Library of Congress new project, The Commons on Flickr.

Clipart.com. $159 a year. Download as many as you want. “8,000,000 clipart images, photos, illustrations, animations, fonts and sounds.”

Stockxpert.com “Royalty free stock photography,” and lots of it, all pro quality. Unique pricing structure as you can pay per photo, and prices (for the size photo you’ll need on the web) are a mere $1 each.

Wikipedia (where else) lists dozens of public domain images resources. Lots of good stuff here too, haven’t had time to go through all of them.

You’ll probably need to edit or tweak the images.

GIMP. Open source, multi-platform, and free. Unless you are a true Photoshop wizard, GIMP will probably do all you’ll ever need, even if the interface is a bit quirky.

Sometimes though, you need to edit an image from a computer with no image editing program. Not a problem. You can do the basic stuff online with My Imager and Pixer.

Feel free to add resources in the comments.

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After big opening declines, the US markets have recovered much of the losses. This after Asia and Europe markets got clobbered Monday.

We are in a bear market now, but no screaming death ride down for now.

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Donald Rothchild, a professor at UC Davis and expert on ethnic violence was said to have a favorite saying: There are no spontaneous rallies. Behind all mass violence lies the machinations of a society’s elite. With the situation in Kenya not getting any better, Don’s words are food for thought.

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While all the geothermal power plants in the US produce less than 1% of total power, the southwest has the potential to produce over 20%. The Geysers in northern California is the largest geothermal plant in the world, producing more than 750 MW.

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Stock market across the globe got thumped yesterday. We could easily have a huge down day today when the markets open after the three -day weekend.

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Just a few years ago, peak oil and global warming were considered fringe ideas. Within the past year or so they both passed into the mainstream. When you think about, that’s not only quite startling, it’s also - dare I say it - quite hopeful.

Gosh, did I say hopeful. Environmentalists don’t use that word much, too often preferring instead to horrify those they wish to convince with scenarios of collapsing societies - when they’re not bemoaning how comatose the American public is.

These ideas, peak oil and global warming, are still quite new. But they are most definitely filtering into society at large. Wal-Mart now sells hundreds of millions of CFLs and probably, more than anyone, has mainstreamed their usage. A just-passed bill in the US bans the use of incandescent light bulbs after 2014. In 2006, no one thought CFLs would become so popular by 2008. But they have. And by 2014 we’ll be using the even more efficient LEDs rather than CFLs anyway.

Scientific American just did a lengthy proposal saying that solar in the American southwest could power much of the country. Others have figured out how to store solar power so it can be used at night. The CEO of GM says EVs will replace gas engines. Railroads are seriously studying using fuel cells to power locomotives. GE is putting $2 billion into renewables research.

And this is just the leading edge of what’s coming. In just a few years we’ll see huge strides forward in the creation of clean, renewable energy and transportation.

So, I think, there is real cause to be optimistic. Because increasingly, people do get it, and are working towards change.

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