Well, find and hire a company that will charge you more to pick up all your trash, unsorted. Problem solved via free market!
(Oh, wait, that company doesn't exist?)
It existed in the county I lived in. In fact, there were a dozen of them, meaning we had 10-12 extra trucks a week driving past our house to get to the neighbors. Even then, people were still creating mountains of trash in their backyard to save money.
I think there was a Penn & Teller episode on municipal recycling programs being a waste, though I didn't go fact check their conclusions or anything. iirc, the conclusion was that it's largely a psychological exercise where everyone gets to feel like they're doing something productive, but that the programs deal with a problem that's mostly "bullshit".
Yeah, that was an appropriate name for their show.
Link
You figure out what to do with your own garbage - you created it after-all, it is your responsibility not the responsibility of the rest of us.
No thanks. Sanitation is one of the things that separates us from third world countries. The county where I lived previously went to mandatory trash pickup specifically because people were creating mountains of trash in their backyards so they wouldn't have to take it to the dump.
Let me fill you in on one of the real reasons recycling happens. Environmentally, recycling anything besides metal is not always all that green. For instance, recycling paper often involves a lot more power than making new paper, not to mention all of the nasty detergents and chemicals that can end up leaking into the water table.
A blog post written by a fifth grader is not a citation. Try this citation instead. And to your point about paper, even the juvenile essay you cited states that processing virgin wood pulp releases more toxic chemicals than recycled paper.
Penn and Teller did an episode of Bullshit! on recycling a few years ago. Their conclusion was that aluminum recycling (and some other scrap metals) was the only economical form of recycling (which was why you saw so many people dumpster-diving for cans). Every other form is just a money-pit. With most of this stuff, it costs more to recycle it than to make it new. It's just a feel-good thing for the most part. It's why no one will pay you for your used glass, plastic, and paper--but will for aluminum and some other metals.
I guess that's why their show is called "Bullshit."
Link
I'd love to see a "NoScript" equivalent for CAs. Let ME decide if I should approve a certificate signed by the Hong Kong Post Office. (Yes, they're in there.)
You mean Mr. Government-is-bad-unless-it's-mine Paul? Who thinks that government should get out of our lives, but who is strongly anti-abortion? Who wants to eliminate legal tender and let "the market decide" what currencies we're going to use? Who wants to eliminate basically all government agencies, under the premise that businesses will regulate themselves (like the banking industry did), and if some factory causes the Cuyahoga River to self-ignite again, we'll let the "market punish them?"
For some reason IT folks think that all us iPhone toting folks are demanding that they support my iPhone. I don't expect you to support it, and most others don't either.
And then, only two sentences later:
It'd be nice if you could spend a few minutes helping me to figure out how to make my email work on the thing, fixing any server related issues in the process. I don't expect you do this for every crazy piece of hardware out there, but it would nice if you could be *helpful* as I try to figure it out myself.
That's the very definition of "support", and that extra "few minutes" times 50 users adds up quickly. And, like was mentioned before, you don't expect IT to... ahem, "be helpful", for every crazy piece of hardware... just yours.
Lest we forget, the PC revolution in business was brought about by CONSUMER "Personal Computers" being brought into businesses to get around the walled garden of Corporate IT (Mainframes back in the day).
Whaddya mean you need more people? Four of you can support 300 mainframe users on terminals; why can't you also support the 300 PCs?
I didn't bitch about the price increase. I understood that one at least. With the big studios demanding more and more money for streaming their content, that was inevitable.
Most of us didn't bitch about the increase itself. In fact, we know that the movie studios want Netflix dead so they can go back to their 3-day "rental" for $3 plan (ahem, iTunes.)
It's the fact that Netflix tried to push this price increase as a great thing for consumers that pissed us off. Complain about how the movie studios are putting the screws to us (and maybe mention some places we can write to to complain), and you'd have us firmly on your side. Bullshit us by posting "our lowest prices ever" and "great value" on your blog, and we'll react.
Even when someone does occasionally luck onto to getting some small thing right, like a specific piece of technology, they usually screw up its context and use in some fundamental way, or they make some assumption that turns out to be untrue (Arthur Clarke assuming that NASA would continue on with Apollo-level funding for example).
Or Asimov predicting that robots/androids would be nearly human-like in their behavior and complexity at the same time that computers still filled whole buildings and would need specially trained people to translate instructions into code and readouts from ticker tape.
It's sad that Microsoft is now one of the more morally upstanding corporations (by comparison only) in the industry. At least they create things and with Zune, WP7, etc they do it their own unique way instead of just blindly copying like Google (copying the OS) and Samsung (copying the product).
Um, the Zune was designed by Toshiba based on their Gigabeat player.
Shame that we punish Netflix for a 6 dollar increase, and do nothing about the movie studios requiring significantly larger contracts that Netflix needs to find the cash for
Most of us didn't punish Netflix for a 6 dollar increase. In fact, we know that the movie studios want Netflix dead so they can go back to their 3-day "rental" for $3 plan (ahem, iTunes.)
It's the fact that Netflix tried to push this price increase as a great thing for consumers that pissed us off. Complain about how the movie studios are putting the screws to us (and maybe mention some places we can write to to complain), and you'd have us firmly on your side. Bullshit us by posting "our lowest prices ever" and "great value" on your blog, and we'll react.
Of course, they've been getting more expensive over the last couple of decades - but a huge chunk of that cost has been the addition of things that cars don't really need to run - safety, electronic gadgets, emissions controls.
The 2008 Civic has almost identical dimensions as the 1990 Accord, and is better equipped, faster, safer and gets better mileage. Adjusted for inflation, it's also $8,000 cheaper than the Accord.
The 1972 Chevy Nova (with the top-of-the-line 165 gross horsepower 350) cost $13,300 in today's dollars, or about $3,000 less than a Civic, so while there has been some inflation since the 70's, I think we've done all right, and certainly better than in the early 90's.
What's the probability that someone breaks into your car and steals computer tapes?
If they're sitting in plain view? Somebody busted my window to steal less than a dollar in change that was sitting in the center console. And that was in a car that was already missing the radio because of a previous break-in.
So, not only "not so much" in money, but "not so much" in the airport long term parking he was concerned about. (At least not per vehicle, though on a national level it could really add up.)
A full cycle on a Leaf (24kWh) is equivalent to about 2/3 gallon of gasoline (33.6kWh/gallon.) I wonder how much gasoline evaporates and escapes from even a modern sealed fuel system in 3 years.
A 20kW bi-directional charger has a maximum theoretical value of about $600-700/month in this market. Real world values will be slightly lower, and of course not all of that will be bestowed upon the end user, because aggregation, accounting, and others will take a cut, but there is still an order of magnitude more value on the table than required to balance amortized battery wearout.
A single Optima Yellow Top battery can put out 1000 amps @ 12V (12kW) for at least 20-30 seconds. Why can't they build something I can stick in my basement that does the job? If they pay for the hardware, I'll gladly accept a small discount on my electric bill for doing essentially no work.
All joking aside, when was the last time a plane crashed because of a design issue?
I've heard of plenty of crashes due to human error, poor maintenance or terrorism.
"Plane has minor design flaw which causes it to fall out of the sky for no apparent reason", however, doesn't happen.
deHavilland Comet fuselage design flaws, Douglas DC-6 heater intake design flaws, Douglas DC-10 rear door design flaws... and those were just flaws that caused immediate crashes.
The DC-6 put the intake for the cabin air heater right next to the fuel overflow vent. If the crew accidentally overfilled a tank while transferring fuel from one to another, the crew would suddenly find things getting warm and smoky.
Obviously you've never lived in a rural area where curbside delivery isn't offered and had to cram into a tiny post office parking lot, along with most of the population of your ZIP code, in the 2-hour window the post office is open on Saturday, since they close at an unreasonable 4:30pm Monday through Friday.
We still have people on 4-year-old Latitude laptops. Why? Because they're salespeople that take their machines home with them, and only use Word, Outlook and Salesforce. For that, they don't need a new machine every two years. At worst, we have to pony up for a new off-brand battery for $20 from eBay.
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Well, find and hire a company that will charge you more to pick up all your trash, unsorted. Problem solved via free market! (Oh, wait, that company doesn't exist?)
It existed in the county I lived in. In fact, there were a dozen of them, meaning we had 10-12 extra trucks a week driving past our house to get to the neighbors. Even then, people were still creating mountains of trash in their backyard to save money.
I think there was a Penn & Teller episode on municipal recycling programs being a waste, though I didn't go fact check their conclusions or anything. iirc, the conclusion was that it's largely a psychological exercise where everyone gets to feel like they're doing something productive, but that the programs deal with a problem that's mostly "bullshit".
Yeah, that was an appropriate name for their show. Link
You figure out what to do with your own garbage - you created it after-all, it is your responsibility not the responsibility of the rest of us.
No thanks. Sanitation is one of the things that separates us from third world countries. The county where I lived previously went to mandatory trash pickup specifically because people were creating mountains of trash in their backyards so they wouldn't have to take it to the dump.
Let me fill you in on one of the real reasons recycling happens. Environmentally, recycling anything besides metal is not always all that green. For instance, recycling paper often involves a lot more power than making new paper, not to mention all of the nasty detergents and chemicals that can end up leaking into the water table.
A blog post written by a fifth grader is not a citation. Try this citation instead. And to your point about paper, even the juvenile essay you cited states that processing virgin wood pulp releases more toxic chemicals than recycled paper.
Penn and Teller did an episode of Bullshit! on recycling a few years ago. Their conclusion was that aluminum recycling (and some other scrap metals) was the only economical form of recycling (which was why you saw so many people dumpster-diving for cans). Every other form is just a money-pit. With most of this stuff, it costs more to recycle it than to make it new. It's just a feel-good thing for the most part. It's why no one will pay you for your used glass, plastic, and paper--but will for aluminum and some other metals.
I guess that's why their show is called "Bullshit." Link
I'd love to see a "NoScript" equivalent for CAs. Let ME decide if I should approve a certificate signed by the Hong Kong Post Office. (Yes, they're in there.)
You mean Mr. Government-is-bad-unless-it's-mine Paul? Who thinks that government should get out of our lives, but who is strongly anti-abortion? Who wants to eliminate legal tender and let "the market decide" what currencies we're going to use? Who wants to eliminate basically all government agencies, under the premise that businesses will regulate themselves (like the banking industry did), and if some factory causes the Cuyahoga River to self-ignite again, we'll let the "market punish them?"
For some reason IT folks think that all us iPhone toting folks are demanding that they support my iPhone. I don't expect you to support it, and most others don't either.
And then, only two sentences later:
It'd be nice if you could spend a few minutes helping me to figure out how to make my email work on the thing, fixing any server related issues in the process. I don't expect you do this for every crazy piece of hardware out there, but it would nice if you could be *helpful* as I try to figure it out myself.
That's the very definition of "support", and that extra "few minutes" times 50 users adds up quickly. And, like was mentioned before, you don't expect IT to... ahem, "be helpful", for every crazy piece of hardware... just yours.
Lest we forget, the PC revolution in business was brought about by CONSUMER "Personal Computers" being brought into businesses to get around the walled garden of Corporate IT (Mainframes back in the day).
Whaddya mean you need more people? Four of you can support 300 mainframe users on terminals; why can't you also support the 300 PCs?
I didn't bitch about the price increase. I understood that one at least. With the big studios demanding more and more money for streaming their content, that was inevitable.
Most of us didn't bitch about the increase itself. In fact, we know that the movie studios want Netflix dead so they can go back to their 3-day "rental" for $3 plan (ahem, iTunes.)
It's the fact that Netflix tried to push this price increase as a great thing for consumers that pissed us off. Complain about how the movie studios are putting the screws to us (and maybe mention some places we can write to to complain), and you'd have us firmly on your side. Bullshit us by posting "our lowest prices ever" and "great value" on your blog, and we'll react.
I am now, damn you!
Even when someone does occasionally luck onto to getting some small thing right, like a specific piece of technology, they usually screw up its context and use in some fundamental way, or they make some assumption that turns out to be untrue (Arthur Clarke assuming that NASA would continue on with Apollo-level funding for example).
Or Asimov predicting that robots/androids would be nearly human-like in their behavior and complexity at the same time that computers still filled whole buildings and would need specially trained people to translate instructions into code and readouts from ticker tape.
It's sad that Microsoft is now one of the more morally upstanding corporations (by comparison only) in the industry. At least they create things and with Zune, WP7, etc they do it their own unique way instead of just blindly copying like Google (copying the OS) and Samsung (copying the product).
Um, the Zune was designed by Toshiba based on their Gigabeat player.
Shame that we punish Netflix for a 6 dollar increase, and do nothing about the movie studios requiring significantly larger contracts that Netflix needs to find the cash for
Most of us didn't punish Netflix for a 6 dollar increase. In fact, we know that the movie studios want Netflix dead so they can go back to their 3-day "rental" for $3 plan (ahem, iTunes.)
It's the fact that Netflix tried to push this price increase as a great thing for consumers that pissed us off. Complain about how the movie studios are putting the screws to us (and maybe mention some places we can write to to complain), and you'd have us firmly on your side. Bullshit us by posting "our lowest prices ever" and "great value" on your blog, and we'll react.
Of course, they've been getting more expensive over the last couple of decades - but a huge chunk of that cost has been the addition of things that cars don't really need to run - safety, electronic gadgets, emissions controls.
The 2008 Civic has almost identical dimensions as the 1990 Accord, and is better equipped, faster, safer and gets better mileage. Adjusted for inflation, it's also $8,000 cheaper than the Accord.
The 1972 Chevy Nova (with the top-of-the-line 165 gross horsepower 350) cost $13,300 in today's dollars, or about $3,000 less than a Civic, so while there has been some inflation since the 70's, I think we've done all right, and certainly better than in the early 90's.
What's the probability that someone breaks into your car and steals computer tapes?
If they're sitting in plain view? Somebody busted my window to steal less than a dollar in change that was sitting in the center console. And that was in a car that was already missing the radio because of a previous break-in.
I swear, we need a -1 (DNRTFA) tag.
So, not only "not so much" in money, but "not so much" in the airport long term parking he was concerned about. (At least not per vehicle, though on a national level it could really add up.)
A full cycle on a Leaf (24kWh) is equivalent to about 2/3 gallon of gasoline (33.6kWh/gallon.) I wonder how much gasoline evaporates and escapes from even a modern sealed fuel system in 3 years.
A 20kW bi-directional charger has a maximum theoretical value of about $600-700/month in this market. Real world values will be slightly lower, and of course not all of that will be bestowed upon the end user, because aggregation, accounting, and others will take a cut, but there is still an order of magnitude more value on the table than required to balance amortized battery wearout.
A single Optima Yellow Top battery can put out 1000 amps @ 12V (12kW) for at least 20-30 seconds. Why can't they build something I can stick in my basement that does the job? If they pay for the hardware, I'll gladly accept a small discount on my electric bill for doing essentially no work.
All joking aside, when was the last time a plane crashed because of a design issue? I've heard of plenty of crashes due to human error, poor maintenance or terrorism. "Plane has minor design flaw which causes it to fall out of the sky for no apparent reason", however, doesn't happen.
deHavilland Comet fuselage design flaws, Douglas DC-6 heater intake design flaws, Douglas DC-10 rear door design flaws... and those were just flaws that caused immediate crashes.
The DC-6 put the intake for the cabin air heater right next to the fuel overflow vent. If the crew accidentally overfilled a tank while transferring fuel from one to another, the crew would suddenly find things getting warm and smoky.
Obviously you've never lived in a rural area where curbside delivery isn't offered and had to cram into a tiny post office parking lot, along with most of the population of your ZIP code, in the 2-hour window the post office is open on Saturday, since they close at an unreasonable 4:30pm Monday through Friday.
Pre-funding 75 years' worth of pensions in 10 years is not reasonable. It's the direct cause of the current crunch.
I don't have numbers, but I have had FedEx Ground packages "Tendered to USPS for delivery" according to the tracking.
We still have people on 4-year-old Latitude laptops. Why? Because they're salespeople that take their machines home with them, and only use Word, Outlook and Salesforce. For that, they don't need a new machine every two years. At worst, we have to pony up for a new off-brand battery for $20 from eBay.