Slashdot Mirror


User: riverat1

riverat1's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
7,854
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 7,854

  1. Re:Too course on Curiosity Finds Evidence of Ancient Surface Water · · Score: 0

    Are you assuming they're to stupid to know the difference between the Martian atmosphere and Earth's atmosphere?

  2. Re:Two questions on The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight · · Score: 1

    Fair enough. The way you wrote it made me think you thought the scientific certainty wasn't enough to take action.

    It would be nice if we could stop net CO2 emissions in 10 years but I think it will take more like 30 or 40 years to reach that point.

  3. Re:Two questions on The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight · · Score: 1

    By the time it becomes enough of a scientific certainty for you it will be too late to do much about it.

  4. Re:Doomsday clock Climatechange climatechange yadd on The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight · · Score: 2

    The difference between the depth of the Little Ice Age and the Mid-20th Century was about 1 degree C. If you add another 3 - 9 degrees on top of that in a couple of centuries where will you end up?

    We have no choice but to accept the climate change that is already built into the system which will take 10's to 100's of years to fully manifest itself. But we can reduce the rate of change (eventually to zero) by actions we take now and make the ultimate end point less extreme. I have no doubt that homo sapiens will survive as a species. We're very adaptable living in climes as diverse as the Kalahari Desert and the high Arctic. But whether our civilization will be able to support 7+ billion humans is an open question.

  5. Re:Doomsday clock on The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight · · Score: 1

    Maybe they're not wrong, just premature.

  6. Re:Doomsday clock on The World Remains Five Minutes From Midnight · · Score: 0

    Wasn't it some Republican who said "Keep your government hands off my medicare!"?

  7. Re:Blame Regulation on Getting Better Transparency From Oil Refineries · · Score: 1

    I wasn't saying that the Volt and Leaf were making a difference now. But their sales curve so far is similar to the Prius when it first came out. There will be enough sales in the future to make a difference. It takes time to build out the infrastructure but it will happen.

  8. Re:Yes, better transparency! on Getting Better Transparency From Oil Refineries · · Score: 1

    You pay sales tax on gasoline purchases in addition to the gas tax? I've never run into that in my travels around the western US. In Oregon where I live we don't have sales tax at all so it's not an issue.

  9. Re:Blame Regulation on Getting Better Transparency From Oil Refineries · · Score: 1, Informative

    Whatta ya mean! The US was a net exporter of gasoline last year. We have plenty of refineries but the oil companies don't want to carry a lot of extra capacity because it costs money to maintain it. The most cost effective way for them to process petroleum is with fewer bigger refineries with minimal extra capacity. So yes, if a significant disruption like a refinery fire occurs it echos through the system. But don't think anyone wants to build new refineries. Perhaps you could give some examples of refineries that have been turned down. Not only that but with increasing fuel efficiency standards and the advent of cars that use little or no gasoline like the Volt and the Leaf there probably isn't a need for new refineries anyway.

  10. Re:Yes, better transparency! on Getting Better Transparency From Oil Refineries · · Score: 1

    As far as I know fuel taxes are fixed and don't vary with the price of fuel. That's certainly true in my state and for federal gas taxes. Do you know of any state(s) where the fuel tax is a percentage of the price? So for your example if the per gallon tax is $0.50 that's what is collected whether you pay $1.50 or $3.00.

  11. Re:Entropy on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 1

    I agree with you. I doubt we could withdraw enough heat the affect the timing of the next eruption. But theoretically at least it's not impossible that cooling and hardening of magma could change the timing some.

  12. Re:Not the same as oil/gas fracking on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 1

    Well, they're not actually drilling into the magma chamber, just dry basalt that's heated by the magma.

  13. Re:Isn't this slightly evil to? on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 0

    It's not my problem if you are unable to perceive the difference between the two practices.

  14. Re:Entropy on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 2

    At the rate humans are currently using energy it would have no effect. This development is just tapping residual heat off the magma chamber below Newberry Volcano so it would have no effect other than perhaps slowing down the timing of the next eruption a bit.

  15. Re:Not the same as oil/gas fracking on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 3, Informative

    Where they're drilling here in on the slopes of Newberry Volcano which has erupted at least 6 times in the last 12,000 years, the last eruption being about 1,400 years ago. There's a magma chamber beneath it so they don't have to go so deep. Wikipedia says they're drilling down 2-3 km (6,500-10,000 feet).

  16. Re:Isn't this slightly evil to? on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 2

    There really is almost no risk this will contaminate anyone's drinking water. No one lives near the well and it's a sparsely populated area in general. The well they are drilling is over 6,000 feet deep in to dry rock. The water they inject will be used in a closed cycle so it's not released to contaminate surface waters.

  17. Re:This is NOT Fracking... on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 1

    The amount of energy we can suck of out the well is so miniscule compared to the amount of heat in the mantle I'd be surprised if it had any effect. At best we might be able to delay a volcanic eruption. The wells don't go anywhere near the mantle, just a bit closer to the magma chamber under Mount Newberry.

  18. Re:This is NOT Fracking... on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Geysers is an entirely different kind of geothermal development. It uses water already in the ground. This new development on Mount Newberry is into dry basalt and all the water they use will be from surface sources and it will be run in a closed loop cycle so none is released.

  19. Re:This is NOT Fracking... on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 2

    It's a dry well. There really is no ground water to contaminate in that area, certainly no wells or surface sources that humans depend on for drinking water. The closest human dwelling is probably at least 10 miles away.

  20. Re:This is NOT Fracking... on Geothermal Power Advances · · Score: 4, Informative

    That is a dry area not near anyone's drinking water aquifer. They drilled into solid basalt and used cold water to crack it. I'm not even sure there's any avenue for the plastic to escape. The water they use will come from the Deschutes River (which is miles away from the drill site) and will be recycled in a closed cycle. Nobody lives close to the drill site and not many people live within 30 miles of it. The nearest city of any size is Bend, OR, 40 or 50 miles northwest on the other side of Mt. Newberry. As an Oregonian whose spent time in that area I'm not that concerned about it and it's worth the experiment to see how it works.

  21. Re:Rupert Murdoch is Australian on Al Jazeera Gets a US Voice · · Score: 1

    Vice President of course. That has the same prerequisites as President.

  22. Re:Acccidents vs studs on Oregon Lawmakers Propose Mileage Tax On Fuel Efficient Vehicles · · Score: 1

    Or you could just drive in a manner that is appropriate for the conditions. It's never been a problem for me.

  23. Re:Or they could just increase gas tax on Oregon Lawmakers Propose Mileage Tax On Fuel Efficient Vehicles · · Score: 1

    Yup.

    The silly thing is that studded tires don't really help if you're driving in snow. They only help on ice. On dry pavement they actually lengthen your stopping distance. They might make some sense if you live east of the Cascades but in western Oregon they might be helpful 2 or 3 days out of the year if that. I've never had them and never missed them.

    To answer the AC who posted before you, they tried to put a tax of like $25/tire when you buy them on studded tires a few years ago but the outcry made them drop the idea. Whatever happened to the idea that you should pay the cost of your road damage rather and forcing it on to everyone?

  24. Re:A better plan on Oregon Lawmakers Propose Mileage Tax On Fuel Efficient Vehicles · · Score: 1

    The Portland metro area but not in Salem and I don't think Eugene or Bend either but they do have smog check in the Medford area.

  25. Re:How do they do it? on Oregon Lawmakers Propose Mileage Tax On Fuel Efficient Vehicles · · Score: 2

    We don't want your sort here anyway. (Hostile native Oregonian)