Interesting subject but your post ends up a bit obvious and redundant given all the other posts (no offense, constructive criticism!) while ignoring the truly surprising part of this plan. The entire coal industry can be bought for ONLY $50B?! There are individuals walking around with more money than that. Exxon's profits for 2013 alone were over $30B. How is an entire 100+ year old industry that supplies 40% of our power and holds political sway over a bunch of states only worth $50 billion?
You need to be able to provide service and product that the larger competitors can't or won't - so far, Radio Shack doesn't seem to be able or willing to do it.
Not true! The in-person sneering and overt superiority complex you get from radio shack employees is far more effective at discouraging budding hobbyists than any "use search" dismissal in a newby electronics forum. Oh wait...that sounds counter productive to their business....
And yet EVERYTHING is now caused by AGW. Heat Waves. Cold Spells, Floods. Droughts....
Ok fair enough, AGW is a big topic these days so you can always find a fringe connection attempting to get more publicity. But the extreme weather-related events you mentioned are all a predicted side effect of an overall warmer climate. Atlanta got an ice storm and the east coast is frozen. Meanwhile, Alaska has had it's 3rd warmest January on record (8C above average). There is more energy in the atmosphere so crazy regional weather stuff, hot or cold, is more likely to happen. And it is!
Or the fact that we are still coming off of an Ice Age that lasted for more than 100,000 years, and ended less than 10,000 years ago (Or the little Ice Age that ended in 1850). Several models predict that the average temperature at the END of the last Ice Age was 15-20C lower than today.
Is global warming happening? Yes. Is the human race a contributing factor? Probably to some degree. Is the human race the only cause? No.
I like this game.
Do humans have the capability to mitigate their contribution to warming? Yes. Does any other warming phenomenon? No
Do humans care if these warming effects drastically disrupt the climate that our current society has adapted to so well? Yes. Does anything else? No.
Also a quick note, 20C over 10000 years is.002C/year..7C over 30 years is.023C/year
I don't like lead in gasoline or CFC's in aerosol cans. Nothing against their intended use but the side effects of their use on a global scale are highly undesirable. And it seems your post is worded wrong. Who said they don't "like" incandescent? They've simply become obsolete in about 99% of common applications and there is some tangible benefit to overcoming market inertia and showing them the door as soon as possible.
What decade are you getting your lightbulb pricing from? None of the relevant light technologies retail anywhere close to $30 in the applications you suggest. The CFL's you're railing against can be found for under $1 each at home depot. Even LED bulbs that will work in your dimmer are under $10. That might seem steep until you consider how long they last and how much energy you'll save. In a closet sure, go with incandescent. But even in the attic, where there is likely no external light I'd prefer the LED because even if a regular bulb burns out in 2-3 years thats a hassle that can easily be avoided. Your argument falls apart when considering a $6 bulb that can practically last forever.
And as usual it appears congress has blocked this efficiency mandate for all the right reasons. Its just like you said, this is a bad idea because Obama...wait, what?
Perhaps, but topics such as these routinely get hundreds of replies with in-depth debates. Most articles about the latest NASA mission or open source software generally only get a couple dozen comments with half of them being wise cracks or some variation of the "in soviet overlord" meme. And with your email and sig you seem like a prime candidate to fan the flames. Carry on sir!
Perhaps, over the several year development cycle, ford engineers will also realize the issues you've brought up in your 30 second analysis and potentially even address some of them before/if they bring it to market.
One rule of engineering success is less complexity, fewer moving parts.
Curiosity's sky crane showed that's more of a guideline than a rule. I think these crazy contraptions are great. I bet NASA will figure it out if congress lets them...
As long as its bolted to a steel frame it can still corrode (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion). But I'm sure they thought of that before they bet the farm. Perhaps they could just paint the surfaces in contact.
$50K _is_ priced like a ford. Have you looked at new truck prices lately? You might be able to squeak in under $25k if you special order a bare bones, V6 base model F150 (no dealer would be crazy enough to stock them) but its shockingly easy to break $50k on a pickup nowadays. How else would pickups account for 90% of ford's profits? http://www.cnbc.com/id/100900410
Obviously it's the DVR thats causing the power draw since we all know they draw 40W when turned off. Gotta keep those hard drives spinning through the night! Seriously Motorola/Comcast/Verizon, if you find it in your heart to shut them down 8 hours a day _for reals_ America would save like 10GWh a day! (40W x 8H x ~30M homes)
"top-gun" dick moves belong on the race track, not public highways.
Actually they don't belong on the racetrack* either. From public driving events up through LeMans and F1, if you drive recklessly there are repercussions. Either a penalty or a wall. You still get to drive as fast as you want, just as long as you're in control.
Perhaps. If current trends continue, that may be a real problem for utility monopolies in 50 years or so. In the mean time the load shed of residential solar is doing a small part to help utilities avoid shelling out $billions for new power plants.
The problem here is "APS recently admitted that it had _lied for months_ about paying the 60 Plus Association". Things may have been different if they'd just come out with their side of the story on why solar is bad. The way they went about it is indeed an outrage.
If the gov decided not to pay the cost of lawsuits brought by the contractors claiming its not their fault may well dwarf the original contract price.
The sad fact is the government ALWAYS pays no matter how big of a disaster a program becomes (or even negligence!). The only tangible repercussions are cheesy corporate produced lessons learned videos that all employees have to watch once a year.
I'm not gonna suggest Kutcher is a visionary engineer but he is certainly not as stupid as the roles he plays. This is going to sound completely ridiculous.... but look up his speech from the 2013 teen choice awards. When you get over the screaming teeny boppers he is actually using his pulpit to give useful advice. You can hear the mood shift in the crowd. A good quote from the speech: "Opportunity looks a lot like hard work".
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Interesting subject but your post ends up a bit obvious and redundant given all the other posts (no offense, constructive criticism!) while ignoring the truly surprising part of this plan. The entire coal industry can be bought for ONLY $50B?! There are individuals walking around with more money than that. Exxon's profits for 2013 alone were over $30B. How is an entire 100+ year old industry that supplies 40% of our power and holds political sway over a bunch of states only worth $50 billion?
You need to be able to provide service and product that the larger competitors can't or won't - so far, Radio Shack doesn't seem to be able or willing to do it.
Not true! The in-person sneering and overt superiority complex you get from radio shack employees is far more effective at discouraging budding hobbyists than any "use search" dismissal in a newby electronics forum. Oh wait...that sounds counter productive to their business....
And yet EVERYTHING is now caused by AGW. Heat Waves. Cold Spells, Floods. Droughts....
Ok fair enough, AGW is a big topic these days so you can always find a fringe connection attempting to get more publicity. But the extreme weather-related events you mentioned are all a predicted side effect of an overall warmer climate. Atlanta got an ice storm and the east coast is frozen. Meanwhile, Alaska has had it's 3rd warmest January on record (8C above average). There is more energy in the atmosphere so crazy regional weather stuff, hot or cold, is more likely to happen. And it is!
Or the fact that we are still coming off of an Ice Age that lasted for more than 100,000 years, and ended less than 10,000 years ago (Or the little Ice Age that ended in 1850). Several models predict that the average temperature at the END of the last Ice Age was 15-20C lower than today.
Is global warming happening? Yes. Is the human race a contributing factor? Probably to some degree. Is the human race the only cause? No.
I like this game.
.002C/year. .7C over 30 years is .023C/year
Do humans have the capability to mitigate their contribution to warming? Yes. Does any other warming phenomenon? No
Do humans care if these warming effects drastically disrupt the climate that our current society has adapted to so well? Yes. Does anything else? No.
Also a quick note, 20C over 10000 years is
I don't like lead in gasoline or CFC's in aerosol cans. Nothing against their intended use but the side effects of their use on a global scale are highly undesirable. And it seems your post is worded wrong. Who said they don't "like" incandescent? They've simply become obsolete in about 99% of common applications and there is some tangible benefit to overcoming market inertia and showing them the door as soon as possible.
What decade are you getting your lightbulb pricing from? None of the relevant light technologies retail anywhere close to $30 in the applications you suggest. The CFL's you're railing against can be found for under $1 each at home depot. Even LED bulbs that will work in your dimmer are under $10. That might seem steep until you consider how long they last and how much energy you'll save. In a closet sure, go with incandescent. But even in the attic, where there is likely no external light I'd prefer the LED because even if a regular bulb burns out in 2-3 years thats a hassle that can easily be avoided. Your argument falls apart when considering a $6 bulb that can practically last forever.
And as usual it appears congress has blocked this efficiency mandate for all the right reasons. Its just like you said, this is a bad idea because Obama...wait, what?
Perhaps, but topics such as these routinely get hundreds of replies with in-depth debates. Most articles about the latest NASA mission or open source software generally only get a couple dozen comments with half of them being wise cracks or some variation of the "in soviet overlord" meme. And with your email and sig you seem like a prime candidate to fan the flames. Carry on sir!
*One* country has a problem with overpopulation.
India? That's still only two, but when only two countries contain 35% of the world's population its something to note.
Perhaps, over the several year development cycle, ford engineers will also realize the issues you've brought up in your 30 second analysis and potentially even address some of them before/if they bring it to market.
One rule of engineering success is less complexity, fewer moving parts.
Curiosity's sky crane showed that's more of a guideline than a rule. I think these crazy contraptions are great. I bet NASA will figure it out if congress lets them...
As long as its bolted to a steel frame it can still corrode (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion). But I'm sure they thought of that before they bet the farm. Perhaps they could just paint the surfaces in contact.
$50K _is_ priced like a ford. Have you looked at new truck prices lately? You might be able to squeak in under $25k if you special order a bare bones, V6 base model F150 (no dealer would be crazy enough to stock them) but its shockingly easy to break $50k on a pickup nowadays. How else would pickups account for 90% of ford's profits? http://www.cnbc.com/id/100900410
I'll give you modern art but in the case of physics (and really, science in general) there is little evidence that the public ever hears the "jokes".
Obviously it's the DVR thats causing the power draw since we all know they draw 40W when turned off. Gotta keep those hard drives spinning through the night! Seriously Motorola/Comcast/Verizon, if you find it in your heart to shut them down 8 hours a day _for reals_ America would save like 10GWh a day! (40W x 8H x ~30M homes)
You can get charged with this for throwing trash in a dumpster that doesn't belong to you
Its true! Just ask Arlo Guthrie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Restaurant)
Indeed, these are all things the driver (Roger Rodas) should have known since he had raced professionally and owned a race shop.
"top-gun" dick moves belong on the race track, not public highways.
Actually they don't belong on the racetrack* either. From public driving events up through LeMans and F1, if you drive recklessly there are repercussions. Either a penalty or a wall. You still get to drive as fast as you want, just as long as you're in control.
*excluding oval tracks so NASCAR is an exception.
Perhaps. If current trends continue, that may be a real problem for utility monopolies in 50 years or so. In the mean time the load shed of residential solar is doing a small part to help utilities avoid shelling out $billions for new power plants.
The problem here is "APS recently admitted that it had _lied for months_ about paying the 60 Plus Association". Things may have been different if they'd just come out with their side of the story on why solar is bad. The way they went about it is indeed an outrage.
If the gov decided not to pay the cost of lawsuits brought by the contractors claiming its not their fault may well dwarf the original contract price.
The sad fact is the government ALWAYS pays no matter how big of a disaster a program becomes (or even negligence!). The only tangible repercussions are cheesy corporate produced lessons learned videos that all employees have to watch once a year.
I'm not gonna suggest Kutcher is a visionary engineer but he is certainly not as stupid as the roles he plays. This is going to sound completely ridiculous.... but look up his speech from the 2013 teen choice awards. When you get over the screaming teeny boppers he is actually using his pulpit to give useful advice. You can hear the mood shift in the crowd. A good quote from the speech: "Opportunity looks a lot like hard work".
In short, he seems to have convinced people to use what was already available rather than sticking with old school methods.
That sounds like the most impressive accomplishment of all!
Not to mention, how many "storms of the century" have there been in the past 5 years?
Aren't astronauts government employees and already have health insurance? They won't be needing healthcare.gov.