Large areas of the United States have been in drought conditions for over two decades now.
Some of that has to do with population growth and migration.
We're suffering from water issues here in North Texas because the people who issue permits to build new homes are not the same people who manage our water supply.
20 years ago, the government wanted to build a huge new reservoir north of DFW, but the NIMBY people up north stopped it.
So now we have 2 million more people than we did 20 years ago, and no new water supply. And the permit people keep issuing permits to build new homes.
First, saying that you live in Iowa (as one poster puts it), and don't know or will ever meet someone from the other side of the world is a) massively ignorant and downright nasty (where does some of your food come from? how 'bout your clothes, or cars, or computers or computer parts come from?), and b) did I mention "ignorant"?
That poster was me... and I was simply making a point that you reinforced..
Calling the Iowa person "ignorant" doesn't improve your chances of getting him to care about your cause, it makes it worse. Make he *IS* ignorant, but so what?
And, of course, all the climate-change deniers, who claim to be Free Markets Forever!!! can't seem to see any business opportunities in the changeover to producing renewables, and the equipment for creating renewable energy generation.
The problem is that people with your snotty attitude have turned off a whole lot of people, which is why you haven't gotten the changes that needed to be done, done.
I'm on board with CO2 being a problem, but having done the math, I can see the time to change was 30 years ago. We're past the point of no return when it comes to climate change. Oh sure, we'll slow our CO2 production over the next 50 years, but we will still pump way too much of it into the air. We'll see 2C come and go without a fuss, I don't think we'll stop it at 4C. 6C will be interesting to watch, at least if I was here for it, which I won't be.
The political and economic factors will not allow the changes that need to be made in the time they need to be made. We really needed to change course back in the 80s, and we didn't. It is too late now.
The humidity was horrendous last night, the grocery store was almost sold out of ice cream as people gorge themselves on cold treats to try and get by.
Air conditioning has been a thing for 100 years now.:)
If the weather has been nice where they are, they're not going to get very disturbed by the abstract ideas of some news report that says in 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now, things won't be pleasant, and similarly, they find it difficult to get too upset by the fact that people they don't know in some country they'd be hard-pressed to find on a map is experiencing what is for them bizarre and destructive weather patterns.
Quoted for truth...
The average person out in the world simply doesn't pay this nearly as much attention as people who post on message boards about it. Even my wife, who has to listen to me talk about this from time to time, doesn't really care all that much.
Oh sure, if you say "do you care about the Earth's environment for your children", she'll say "yes, of course, we should keep it clean". Then if you follow up and say, "So are you ok to give up your nice big truck and get a small car, and watch clothes by hand, and have no air conditioning?", she will say: "Are you nuts? No!"
If you were to push her on it, she'll probably say something like, "Even if I give all that up, nothing will change and other nations will keep polluting".
Let say we should all reduce our emissions to 4 tons/person/year.
That would still be much too high, we need to get it lower than that to really stop the CO2 rise.
That means the typical American must cut 80% of their emissions.
That is true, and that has zero chance of happening any time soon. You might *want* it to happen, but various forces are at work, largely political and economic, that will prevent it from happening within our lifetime.
But also, because the rest of the world could (and should, legitimately) tax trade with polluting countries, which could impact that selfish Iowa boy even more.
No decision happens in a vacuum...
First, a lot of the rest of the world is polluting as well, so everyone taxes everyone else and we're back to square one.
Second, from a practical point of view, you generally shouldn't pull the tiger's tail. The United States of America has the most powerful military on Earth and we control the world's reserve currency. We are more likely than not to come out on top of such a dispute. The Iowa country boy (or girl) may well tell our leadership to go kick someone's ass until they leave us alone.
Now you might think the above is rather... well, not what you would choose... and that's fine... but remember that most Americans don't even have a passport and even fewer have ever left the country. Most don't really think much about other nations, except when it comes to economics and their jobs.
You don't have to like the above, but disliking it doesn't make it go away or make it untrue.
At 18 cents, it would be marginal, but at least interesting...:)
My primary objection to solar on the rooftop is price. It won't solve all our energy or CO2 problems, but it will help and it takes some of the daytime surge out of the system.
Like I said, if the price were about half what I was quoted, I'd do it tomorrow. If it comes, wonderful, I'll be there.:)
Just curious... But why do you expect a country boy (or girl) from Iowa to care about someone on the other side of the planet?
Serious question... Because you're asking that person to change their lifestyle and pay more money, to help people they don't know and will never meet.
Well, yeah. You really think there's something wrong with that reasoning?
Nope, not at all...
So... the second murder has no moral consequence then? Are you sure about that?
Yes... once I've killed your first child, I'm no more evil for killing your second one.
No. Get real.
That implies that my point of view is somehow not real... it is quite real. You're welcome to disagree with it of course, but I'm not "less real" because I don't think like you do.
Trying to create an "Evil scale" completely misses the point...
That is like saying person A is worse than person B, because person A only killed 10 people while person B killed 100.
It could be 1, doesn't matter.
Likewise, torture is evil, putting it in the same place as murder. I consider rape to be the same thing, and I'm not even a woman, but I understand that to women, it can be just as bad as murder.
The irony is all the people calling for the execution of this guy. As if killing him is somehow "good", but his killing of others is "bad".
Killing is evil if you have any other option, and in this case, we do.
You're either civilized or you're not, there isn't much middle ground there.
I don't know where you live that there is net metering, 250K people, and you can't get panels installed for a reasonable amount.
I live in the Dallas, TX area, 7 million people... I live in the city of Plano to be specific...
Maybe you have really cheap power?
10 cents per KWh, all taxes and fees included
$35K for 10KW certainly seems high.
I thought so as well, the panels themselves are $10K, so it is $25K for roof mounts, wires, installation, inverter, etc. Strikes me as a lot.
Last quote was in Oct 2015, so not that long ago.
I happen to live in San Luis Obispo, CA. Lots fewer people (50K) and lots cheaper installs.
What do you pay for power?
As an example, my wife is from Australia, her brother lives in Brisbane and pays 26 cents per KWH. Every third house on his street has solar on it because of that.
If I paid 26 cents, I probably would have solar as well.
Oh - and for Net Metering - if/when it goes away, existing users USUALLY get grandfathered in. That's not always the case, but it usually is.
:) Unless it is in the contract, it doesn't exist. Several people have posted here (including one from Austin, TX) who installed solar with net-metering, then lost it shortly after totally screwing them.
You're right - folks aren't gonna install until it makes sense, and it sure doesn't sound like it does for you. Check back in 2018.
The problem is labor, not the panels. You could make the panels free, dropping my install cost to $25K wouldn't really change the numbers by enough to get me to do it.
At $15K, I'd do it tomorrow, but I'm not sure how that would ever happen. I'm open it to if someone wants to offer however...
I've been to said ford dealer, I have no wish to ever experience that again! You see a dealer network as a cool way a company can squeeze every last dollar from the customers, but I see a bunch of dicks wasting my time while they walk back and forth to their manager.
Good ones exist... I bought my last truck at my dining room table, the F&I guy brought all the paperwork to my home so we could review it and sign it, and so that my wife didn't have to go to the dealership...
I doubt it. The idea of slapping an EV kit into existing versions of those cars is ass backwards. Take a look at the design decisions of the model 3. We're talking major chassis changes to accommodate that battery pack, you end up with a whole different car.
While I agree with you in the long run, in the short run, adapting existing cars would be faster. It also would be easier to accept if the same models that customers already know came in both versions. F-150 EV anyone?
At that point you'll ask why bother buying Tesla.
For the same reason they came out with "EcoBoost", a brilliant marketing plan for selling turbochargers to normal people.
Having "Ford models with Tesla technology" I think would sell, and would sell better than Ford doing it themselves.
That's very true. But, Ford did it 100 years ago.
Yes they did, but 100 other companies tried and failed. The number of people in the early 20th century who tried to start a car company and failed is far larger than those who are still around.
I'd feel better if they were dead and we didn't have to worry about them anymore.
So would I, but after looking at the thousands of convictions overturned years later when new DNA tests show the person rotting in prison was in fact not guilty after all...
I no longer trust any government to execute people.
I would rather let 100 guilty people go free than to kill one innocent person.
The question I ask myself is... Am I truly better than the killers, or am I just like them but have more guns than they do?
No company in the right mind would leave servers on at a loss.
I don't agree... if Microsoft is smart, they will leave the 360 servers on until the XBox Two (or whatever it is called) comes out.
There is value in appearing to support your products for longer than when you just sell them. It gives assurance to people buying an XBox One today that it will get support until the XBox Three comes out.
If someone wrongs you and your response (after the threat has ended) is to the same to him in return, then you've just become him...
Sure, if it is an active situation and you're acting in self-defense, that is one thing. But to hurt someone after they can no longer hurt you is barbaric...
Hard to feel sympathy for someone that murdered over 70 children in cold blood
Having sympathy for such people is what makes us better than him...
By most people's sense of justice he should be hung up by his toes and beaten to death slowly by the parents of the victims.
We're not ISIS... if we want to be better than such people, we can't do that sort of thing...
Now I understand your response is going to be about applying the law equally and how we must uphold basic human rights for all, so you might as well not even bother.
Without such things as the rule of law, we might as well just be animals and kill each other for our stuff...
I hate how the article talks about how he has access to an xbox or whatever. Solitary confinement is very cruel and unusual. Removing all human interaction is one of the worst things you can do to a human, no matter their crimes. It should only be used when that inmate is in danger from the rest of the prison population.
Solitary confinement needs to be banned in the US, along with capital punishment. We're the only high income country that has capital punishment, and one of the few that has solitary confinement.
Quoted for truth... I agree, the guy is a crappy example of a human being... but he IS a human being, and if you are going to torture him by putting him into a 7 foot by 10 foot concrete box, then you're really no better than he is.
Slashdot Mirror
Large areas of the United States have been in drought conditions for over two decades now.
Some of that has to do with population growth and migration.
We're suffering from water issues here in North Texas because the people who issue permits to build new homes are not the same people who manage our water supply.
20 years ago, the government wanted to build a huge new reservoir north of DFW, but the NIMBY people up north stopped it.
So now we have 2 million more people than we did 20 years ago, and no new water supply. And the permit people keep issuing permits to build new homes.
First, saying that you live in Iowa (as one poster puts it), and don't know or will ever meet someone from the other side of the world is a) massively ignorant and downright nasty (where does some of your food come from? how 'bout your clothes, or cars, or computers or computer parts come from?), and b) did I mention "ignorant"?
That poster was me... and I was simply making a point that you reinforced..
Calling the Iowa person "ignorant" doesn't improve your chances of getting him to care about your cause, it makes it worse. Make he *IS* ignorant, but so what?
And, of course, all the climate-change deniers, who claim to be Free Markets Forever!!! can't seem to see any business opportunities in the changeover to producing renewables, and the equipment for creating renewable energy generation.
The problem is that people with your snotty attitude have turned off a whole lot of people, which is why you haven't gotten the changes that needed to be done, done.
I'm on board with CO2 being a problem, but having done the math, I can see the time to change was 30 years ago. We're past the point of no return when it comes to climate change. Oh sure, we'll slow our CO2 production over the next 50 years, but we will still pump way too much of it into the air. We'll see 2C come and go without a fuss, I don't think we'll stop it at 4C. 6C will be interesting to watch, at least if I was here for it, which I won't be.
The political and economic factors will not allow the changes that need to be made in the time they need to be made. We really needed to change course back in the 80s, and we didn't. It is too late now.
Given the current balance of power, the United States could also just buy (or conquer, I suppose) one of the Canadian provinces pretty easily.
Why do either? Canada has 10 provinces and territories...
State # 51-60, there you go...
The trick would be keeping Britain neutral (it has nukes)
Even if we invaded Canada by force, Britain is not going to nuke the US, that would be suicide. More likely, they can have 2 or 3 provinces.
The humidity was horrendous last night, the grocery store was almost sold out of ice cream as people gorge themselves on cold treats to try and get by.
Air conditioning has been a thing for 100 years now. :)
Don't forget Siberia.
Side note... Do you think the average American could find Siberia on a map?
Or tell you what country it is in?
If the weather has been nice where they are, they're not going to get very disturbed by the abstract ideas of some news report that says in 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now, things won't be pleasant, and similarly, they find it difficult to get too upset by the fact that people they don't know in some country they'd be hard-pressed to find on a map is experiencing what is for them bizarre and destructive weather patterns.
Quoted for truth...
The average person out in the world simply doesn't pay this nearly as much attention as people who post on message boards about it. Even my wife, who has to listen to me talk about this from time to time, doesn't really care all that much.
Oh sure, if you say "do you care about the Earth's environment for your children", she'll say "yes, of course, we should keep it clean". Then if you follow up and say, "So are you ok to give up your nice big truck and get a small car, and watch clothes by hand, and have no air conditioning?", she will say: "Are you nuts? No!"
If you were to push her on it, she'll probably say something like, "Even if I give all that up, nothing will change and other nations will keep polluting".
Well 85% of the population of the world is in the third world. Still, the other 15% must emit 35% of the greenhouse gases. And much more historically.
China is emitting about twice as much CO2 right now as the US is, they are now nearly 1/3 of the whole planet's CO2.
Even holding at current levels, it won't take long for them to emit more CO2 than all Western nations have done in our entire histories...
Let say we should all reduce our emissions to 4 tons/person/year.
That would still be much too high, we need to get it lower than that to really stop the CO2 rise.
That means the typical American must cut 80% of their emissions.
That is true, and that has zero chance of happening any time soon. You might *want* it to happen, but various forces are at work, largely political and economic, that will prevent it from happening within our lifetime.
But also, because the rest of the world could (and should, legitimately) tax trade with polluting countries, which could impact that selfish Iowa boy even more.
No decision happens in a vacuum...
First, a lot of the rest of the world is polluting as well, so everyone taxes everyone else and we're back to square one.
Second, from a practical point of view, you generally shouldn't pull the tiger's tail. The United States of America has the most powerful military on Earth and we control the world's reserve currency. We are more likely than not to come out on top of such a dispute. The Iowa country boy (or girl) may well tell our leadership to go kick someone's ass until they leave us alone.
Now you might think the above is rather... well, not what you would choose... and that's fine... but remember that most Americans don't even have a passport and even fewer have ever left the country. Most don't really think much about other nations, except when it comes to economics and their jobs.
You don't have to like the above, but disliking it doesn't make it go away or make it untrue.
It's called altruism.
Excellent concept, but a bit abstract for the average person.
Millions of Americans are just trying to pay the rent/mortgage, feed their families, keep their jobs, and retire with dignity.
Next to those concerns, the concerns of an Indian half way around the planet are rather far down the list.
You might not LIKE that, but it is reality and ignoring it doesn't make it go away.
At 18 cents, it would be marginal, but at least interesting... :)
My primary objection to solar on the rooftop is price. It won't solve all our energy or CO2 problems, but it will help and it takes some of the daytime surge out of the system.
Like I said, if the price were about half what I was quoted, I'd do it tomorrow. If it comes, wonderful, I'll be there. :)
Just curious... But why do you expect a country boy (or girl) from Iowa to care about someone on the other side of the planet?
Serious question... Because you're asking that person to change their lifestyle and pay more money, to help people they don't know and will never meet.
Well, yeah. You really think there's something wrong with that reasoning?
Nope, not at all...
So... the second murder has no moral consequence then? Are you sure about that?
Yes... once I've killed your first child, I'm no more evil for killing your second one.
No. Get real.
That implies that my point of view is somehow not real... it is quite real. You're welcome to disagree with it of course, but I'm not "less real" because I don't think like you do.
Evil is evil...
Trying to create an "Evil scale" completely misses the point...
That is like saying person A is worse than person B, because person A only killed 10 people while person B killed 100.
It could be 1, doesn't matter.
Likewise, torture is evil, putting it in the same place as murder. I consider rape to be the same thing, and I'm not even a woman, but I understand that to women, it can be just as bad as murder.
The irony is all the people calling for the execution of this guy. As if killing him is somehow "good", but his killing of others is "bad".
Killing is evil if you have any other option, and in this case, we do.
You're either civilized or you're not, there isn't much middle ground there.
I don't know where you live that there is net metering, 250K people, and you can't get panels installed for a reasonable amount.
I live in the Dallas, TX area, 7 million people... I live in the city of Plano to be specific...
Maybe you have really cheap power?
10 cents per KWh, all taxes and fees included
$35K for 10KW certainly seems high.
I thought so as well, the panels themselves are $10K, so it is $25K for roof mounts, wires, installation, inverter, etc. Strikes me as a lot.
Last quote was in Oct 2015, so not that long ago.
I happen to live in San Luis Obispo, CA. Lots fewer people (50K) and lots cheaper installs.
What do you pay for power?
As an example, my wife is from Australia, her brother lives in Brisbane and pays 26 cents per KWH. Every third house on his street has solar on it because of that.
If I paid 26 cents, I probably would have solar as well.
Oh - and for Net Metering - if/when it goes away, existing users USUALLY get grandfathered in. That's not always the case, but it usually is.
:) Unless it is in the contract, it doesn't exist. Several people have posted here (including one from Austin, TX) who installed solar with net-metering, then lost it shortly after totally screwing them.
You're right - folks aren't gonna install until it makes sense, and it sure doesn't sound like it does for you. Check back in 2018.
The problem is labor, not the panels. You could make the panels free, dropping my install cost to $25K wouldn't really change the numbers by enough to get me to do it.
At $15K, I'd do it tomorrow, but I'm not sure how that would ever happen. I'm open it to if someone wants to offer however...
Depriving a mass murderer of human contact is not even close to being the moral equivalent of murdering dozens of innocent people in a rampage.
You might not think so... but unless you've tried it, you really don't know that...
Torture is wrong, regardless of the reasons.
I've been to said ford dealer, I have no wish to ever experience that again! You see a dealer network as a cool way a company can squeeze every last dollar from the customers, but I see a bunch of dicks wasting my time while they walk back and forth to their manager.
Good ones exist... I bought my last truck at my dining room table, the F&I guy brought all the paperwork to my home so we could review it and sign it, and so that my wife didn't have to go to the dealership...
I doubt it. The idea of slapping an EV kit into existing versions of those cars is ass backwards. Take a look at the design decisions of the model 3. We're talking major chassis changes to accommodate that battery pack, you end up with a whole different car.
While I agree with you in the long run, in the short run, adapting existing cars would be faster. It also would be easier to accept if the same models that customers already know came in both versions. F-150 EV anyone?
At that point you'll ask why bother buying Tesla.
For the same reason they came out with "EcoBoost", a brilliant marketing plan for selling turbochargers to normal people.
Having "Ford models with Tesla technology" I think would sell, and would sell better than Ford doing it themselves.
That's very true. But, Ford did it 100 years ago.
Yes they did, but 100 other companies tried and failed. The number of people in the early 20th century who tried to start a car company and failed is far larger than those who are still around.
Will Tesla be the 1, or the 100?
I'd feel better if they were dead and we didn't have to worry about them anymore.
So would I, but after looking at the thousands of convictions overturned years later when new DNA tests show the person rotting in prison was in fact not guilty after all...
I no longer trust any government to execute people.
I would rather let 100 guilty people go free than to kill one innocent person.
The question I ask myself is... Am I truly better than the killers, or am I just like them but have more guns than they do?
No company in the right mind would leave servers on at a loss.
I don't agree... if Microsoft is smart, they will leave the 360 servers on until the XBox Two (or whatever it is called) comes out.
There is value in appearing to support your products for longer than when you just sell them. It gives assurance to people buying an XBox One today that it will get support until the XBox Three comes out.
Because it isn't... it is true...
If someone wrongs you and your response (after the threat has ended) is to the same to him in return, then you've just become him...
Sure, if it is an active situation and you're acting in self-defense, that is one thing. But to hurt someone after they can no longer hurt you is barbaric...
Ask the relatives of those whom he killed...
Vengeance is not how we should be running civilization...
Of course those people are unhappy with him, but they shouldn't be the ones to do something about it.
He should have been executed or worked to death in a stone mine. He is _NOT_ a human being. He deserves nothing.
That attitude is why we still have war and violence in the world.
I think you are underestimating the past decade's tremendous drop in cost of solar.
No, I've seen it, the panels are dirt cheap...
Problem, if you gave me the panels for free, it still isn't really worth installing...
The panels are not the problem, it is getting them installed that is the problem...
I've had my house quoted three times in the past few years, the lowest price I can find is $35,000 for a 10kw system, before tax credits.
Since net-metering isn't going to remain long term (some cities are already doing away with it), the payback period becomes infinity.
Making it cost $25K instead of $35K isn't going to change the numbers by enough to get lots of people to install them.
The city I live in has 250,000 people, about 100,000 homes, and there are fewer than 200 that have solar on them.
Punishments need to deter crimes.
Except all too often, they don't...
If the fucker killed 77 people, then anything up to and including death is fair game.
If true, then we're no better than he is.
You can continue to add to this list.
You are one sick fuck...
Hard to feel sympathy for someone that murdered over 70 children in cold blood
Having sympathy for such people is what makes us better than him...
By most people's sense of justice he should be hung up by his toes and beaten to death slowly by the parents of the victims.
We're not ISIS... if we want to be better than such people, we can't do that sort of thing...
Now I understand your response is going to be about applying the law equally and how we must uphold basic human rights for all, so you might as well not even bother.
Without such things as the rule of law, we might as well just be animals and kill each other for our stuff...
I hate how the article talks about how he has access to an xbox or whatever. Solitary confinement is very cruel and unusual. Removing all human interaction is one of the worst things you can do to a human, no matter their crimes. It should only be used when that inmate is in danger from the rest of the prison population.
Solitary confinement needs to be banned in the US, along with capital punishment. We're the only high income country that has capital punishment, and one of the few that has solitary confinement.
Quoted for truth... I agree, the guy is a crappy example of a human being... but he IS a human being, and if you are going to torture him by putting him into a 7 foot by 10 foot concrete box, then you're really no better than he is.