‘Change has come to America,’ first African-American leader tells country.

Barack Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, shattered more than 200 years of history Tuesday night by winning election as the first African-American president of the United States.

A crowd of 125,000 people jammed Grant Park in Chicago, where Obama addressed the nation for the first time as its president-elect at midnight ET. Hundreds of thousands more — Mayor Richard Daley said he would not be surprised if a million Chicagoans jammed the streets — watched on a large television screen outside the park.

“If there is anyone out there who doubts that America is a place where anything is possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” Obama declared.

“Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans have sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of red states and blue states,” he said. “We have been and always will be the United States of America.

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America,” he said to a long roar.

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Its 5:00 in the morning and I am sitting in my office writing this story using electrical lights powered by the grid. The grid as it is called is the network of land based electrical power that is supplied by hundreds if not thousands of generation units spread across the globe.

Here in the US we take the use of ready power as something for granted. A basic necessity of everyday life. And I am just as guilty as everyone else.

When I look around my office many of the electrical devices I use on a daily basis use batteries. My MBP uses a battery. The keyboard, the mouse, my iPods, and cell phones. My speaker system, my landline telephone system and headset all use batteries.

Many of my shop tools now use batteries like some of my drills, skill saws, and even my big lathe all run on DC power converted from the AC delivered from the convenient wall outlet in my home.

My spouses tooth brush and my electric razor all use batteries. When I look around my home there are over 50 devices that all run on battery power. From clocks to camera’s all run on portable power.

Now if you stop and think about it, what would happen if the utility company’s just stopped producing the electrical juice. Well in my case I would loose the furnace that heats my home.

Even though it uses natural gas as its fuel the furnace needs electrical power to operate the blower that sends the warm air to the rooms in my home. I could not even use the hot water heater or my natural gas fire place without electricity.

Every aspect is controlled by electricity. We use it to heat our homes. Clean our clothes, and bodies. Cook our food and power the many devices that entertain us and allow us to work at night.

Electric power probably is the single most important commodity we all use and abuse. Because without it commerce stops! The internet that delivers this magazine across the globe would just stop. Plunging the world back into the dark ages.

Now think about those people who live in places that are not afforded this abundance. Millions of people in the less developed nations around the globe live each month equal to the cost I pay each month for my electric bill. Think about that for a minute. Let it soak in!

I am almost ashamed to think about it. We take so much for granted and we treat it like a birth right.

I have a friend who moved to the mountains last year and is completely off the grid. All electrical power is supplied by photo electric cells that charge batteries. A generator is used several times a month to wash clothes.

The refrigerator and gas stove use propane to cook and cool the food. The home is heated using a wood burning stove. Being off the grid allows my friend to be energy independent to a degree.

Still my friend must purchase propane and gasoline several times a year along with cutting and storing a lot of wood to burn as it can get pretty cold there in the mountains, but my friend would feel very little if the world lost its electrical power.

Of course the majority of us can’t simply change our life style like my friend. Money would have to be spent in one form or another to change the basic infrastructure that supports our everyday lives. All homes would have to be fitted with photo electric panels for example to supply basic electrical needs.

Systems that control the other aspects of our home energy process would have to change. We still need to cook our food, heat our homes and wash our clothes. So it is not just a simple process of shutting off the power.

But my friend has proven at least a little that it can be done. Think about how much energy that the world produces would be reduced? Think about how much carbon dioxide would stop going in to our atmosphere? How much cleaner our air would be?

Well these are all thoughts to ponder. To see what some are doing to give basic lights to less developed nations take a jump to CNET and read “Let there be light off the grid”

I have been driving Ford cars and Trucks now for the better part of 25 years. A far cry from the Motel T. So today when I spotted this story on CNet I just had to pass it along.

"Whatever catches your fancy amid today's evolving automotive technology--the Chevy Volt, the Roadster or the sedan from Tesla, perhaps a hydrogen-equipped BMW, or something in the X Prize realm--you'd do well to pause and reflect on the legacy of the Model T. It was 100 years ago--on October 1, 1908, to be exact--that Ford Motor built the very first of the iconic gasoline-powered automobiles to be sold. By the time formal production halted in May 1927, more than 15 million had been built, and American lives and landscapes had been set on a very new road."

To read the rest of the article hit the jump!

One year after the devastating hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans I had the opportunity to visit the 9th ward. A section of New Orleans that was 90% destroyed. As my friend drove around and down the different streets to view the destruction I was taken a back by just how powerful mother nature can be. Unless it is made of concrete and is anchored deep into the ground does not insure that the forces of wind swept water is not going to up root it and just simply wash it away.

That was the case there. As we turned a corner and all that was left was row up on rows of empty foundations where complete neighborhoods once stood it was an awesome sight. I could not take enough photographs to adequately show in my view the ultimate power of the storm.

Hurricane Ike was by some estimates 10 times larger then Katrina and at one point completely covering the Gulf of Mexico. So it is understandable that a storm of this magnitude would have a even far reaching affect.

The Boston Globe has assembled a short but to the point story using some of the most dramatic photos that give us a much wider scope to Ike's destruction. You cannot imagine unless you are right there. So hit the jump and view these amazing photos and when done you might consider sending a couple dollars to one of the many funds established to give aid to the victims. Then count your blessing.

To view all the photos and get the big picture click here!