About 10 years ago I overheard a conversation between the owners of two small ISPs. Basically they were discussing government backdoors, and how they'd been *required* to implement them. They didn't go into specifics, more just comparing extortion notes.
Tell Wyoming and North Dakota (and a few others, I know people in Nebraska with oil wells in their front yards) that oil doesn't come from landlocked states... have you looked at Williston ND lately?? Or across the border, Alberta??
Hard coal comes from back east, but bulk soft coal comes largely from Montana and Wyoming. I see coal shipped to China every day... the main rail line from Colstrip MT to Seattle goes right by me. I'd rather we had a coal-fired generator right here and exported electricity instead.
As to crop subsidies, a lot of 'em just go to pay back higher costs and lower prices imposed by gov't... remove the imposition and you don't need the subsidy so much.
And I doubt the average person can tell grass-fed beef from corn-fed. In fact I'd hazard most people would guess backwards, in a taste test. Grass-fed is cheaper to produce, so by all means market it as superior!
As to the 'necessity' of coastal ports -- er, no. We landlocked countries will let you coasters use our overland trade routes (aka "railways" and "highways") in return for you letting us use your seaports. Oh, and you might want some of our meat, grain, coal, and oil, too...
I've seen reports that China's housing bubble is about three times the size of what collapsed in the U.S. What that will do when (not if) it bursts remains to be seen.
My sister's company does business in China. While in China, one of their partners said to my sister's face: "All this new Chinese capitalism has one purpose -- to suck all the wealth out of the West. When that's done, it will end."
I figured it out when I was a kid. I had German measles; my sister had a rubella vaccination (new at the time). The merits of immunization were thus flamingly obvious, even to a kid.
The reason novocain hurts so much isn't the needles; it's because it's acidic, so until it numbs the tissue, it burns like hell. When it's neutralized prior to injection (with simple bicarb of soda solution), it doesn't hurt like that.
Most years that's so, but not always. A few years ago the most-common influenza DID cause major gastrointestinal distress, and it was indeed flu, one of the HxNx viruses.
Me, the moment I made the association between "shots" and "not getting sick". I was probably about 7 or 8 at the time, when some new vaccine against common childhood diseases came out. No fair, I already had the disease, next time I want the shot instead!
And I'm one of those weirdos who's fascinated by watching the needle disappear into my arm when the nurse is so good at the job that you can't feel it go in.
I've always wondered where that perception comes from -- I remember when I first saw a UK TV show -- how shocked I was by the direct, bloody violence, so much more in-your-face than anything I'd seen on American TV.
California instituted term limits (max 2 terms in a given office), and things got worse. Instead of entrenched interests, now CA has ladder-climbing interests, as the whole two allowed terms are spent in pursuit of the next higher office, rather than merely pursuing another term in the current office. (And then Jerry Brown did an end run around the law and is in the governor's office for a 3rd term.)
Term limits are meaningless unless it's N-many terms in ALL OFFICES COMBINED, and even then, I'm not sure it wouldn't result in more concentrated self-serving, just like term limits in CA did.
"You should not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harm it would cause if improperly administered."
--Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the U.S.
Moving parts. Desert. Blowing dust, which is *much* worse after these facilities are constructed. Those of us who've actually lived downwind from one aren't optimistic about the lifespan of such moving parts.
I hadn't realised the scale of the handprints (having not seen 'em in person) but -- looking at TFA's image, now those don't look to me like adult handprints at all, male or female. They look like *children's* handprints (look at the proportions, they're immature).
And I think an unfounded assumption is being made -- that a given piece was painted only by one person, when very likely daddy (or mommy) was doing, "Here, Junior, if I paint your hand outline, will you go away and let me work?" or "Here's some paint, go play over there and stop bothering me," or "Yes, you can help, sit on my shoulder, put your hand here, and watch what I do."
(And consider that outlining one's own hand is something spontaneously done by many children even today...)
That's why solar arrays should go on the roofs of existing urban buildings -- the ground is already in use (no new ground need be destroyed**) and the power is produced where it's to be used (rather than requiring new transmission lines).
** If you haven't actually seen a desert solar facility -- they produce a scorched-earth effect locally and a heat/dust shadow for several miles downwind. They're extremely destructive of the desert ecology and environment, which is not nearly so lifeless as most 'greenies' and city slickers believe. Would they be so cavalier about it if, say, solar facilities were built in forest or wetlands? Putting 'em in the desert, which has a far harder time recovering from abuse, is elitist NIMBYism.
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As someone once put it, "Justice is not within the purview of the law."
About 10 years ago I overheard a conversation between the owners of two small ISPs. Basically they were discussing government backdoors, and how they'd been *required* to implement them. They didn't go into specifics, more just comparing extortion notes.
The villain is always the hero of his own story.
Matter of transport and acreage. Grass-fed doesn't happen in Chicago.
Tell Wyoming and North Dakota (and a few others, I know people in Nebraska with oil wells in their front yards) that oil doesn't come from landlocked states... have you looked at Williston ND lately?? Or across the border, Alberta??
Hard coal comes from back east, but bulk soft coal comes largely from Montana and Wyoming. I see coal shipped to China every day... the main rail line from Colstrip MT to Seattle goes right by me. I'd rather we had a coal-fired generator right here and exported electricity instead.
As to crop subsidies, a lot of 'em just go to pay back higher costs and lower prices imposed by gov't... remove the imposition and you don't need the subsidy so much.
And I doubt the average person can tell grass-fed beef from corn-fed. In fact I'd hazard most people would guess backwards, in a taste test. Grass-fed is cheaper to produce, so by all means market it as superior!
As to the 'necessity' of coastal ports -- er, no. We landlocked countries will let you coasters use our overland trade routes (aka "railways" and "highways") in return for you letting us use your seaports. Oh, and you might want some of our meat, grain, coal, and oil, too...
I wonder if that is better translated as "The US should continue racking up debt, so the rest of us can keep making money on it."
I've seen reports that China's housing bubble is about three times the size of what collapsed in the U.S. What that will do when (not if) it bursts remains to be seen.
My sister's company does business in China. While in China, one of their partners said to my sister's face: "All this new Chinese capitalism has one purpose -- to suck all the wealth out of the West. When that's done, it will end."
I figured it out when I was a kid. I had German measles; my sister had a rubella vaccination (new at the time). The merits of immunization were thus flamingly obvious, even to a kid.
The reason novocain hurts so much isn't the needles; it's because it's acidic, so until it numbs the tissue, it burns like hell. When it's neutralized prior to injection (with simple bicarb of soda solution), it doesn't hurt like that.
Most years that's so, but not always. A few years ago the most-common influenza DID cause major gastrointestinal distress, and it was indeed flu, one of the HxNx viruses.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/symptoms.htm
lists vomiting and diarrhea as possible symptoms.
Me, the moment I made the association between "shots" and "not getting sick". I was probably about 7 or 8 at the time, when some new vaccine against common childhood diseases came out. No fair, I already had the disease, next time I want the shot instead!
And I'm one of those weirdos who's fascinated by watching the needle disappear into my arm when the nurse is so good at the job that you can't feel it go in.
I've always wondered where that perception comes from -- I remember when I first saw a UK TV show -- how shocked I was by the direct, bloody violence, so much more in-your-face than anything I'd seen on American TV.
Hmm. I guess some people still like to play doctor. ;)
Novels written by the Marquis de Sade might qualify.
California instituted term limits (max 2 terms in a given office), and things got worse. Instead of entrenched interests, now CA has ladder-climbing interests, as the whole two allowed terms are spent in pursuit of the next higher office, rather than merely pursuing another term in the current office. (And then Jerry Brown did an end run around the law and is in the governor's office for a 3rd term.)
Term limits are meaningless unless it's N-many terms in ALL OFFICES COMBINED, and even then, I'm not sure it wouldn't result in more concentrated self-serving, just like term limits in CA did.
I'd rather someone fucked up my life for their own gain than for my own good.
"You should not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harm it would cause if improperly administered."
--Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the U.S.
An AC says, "I think building these arrays in lush areas would be A LOT more destructive than the same activity in the desert."
So, it's only destruction of the environment if it destroys an environment that YOU find pleasing?
Why should we care if it succeeds or fails, when we'll get our money back from the DOE either way??
Moving parts. Desert. Blowing dust, which is *much* worse after these facilities are constructed. Those of us who've actually lived downwind from one aren't optimistic about the lifespan of such moving parts.
I hadn't realised the scale of the handprints (having not seen 'em in person) but -- looking at TFA's image, now those don't look to me like adult handprints at all, male or female. They look like *children's* handprints (look at the proportions, they're immature).
And I think an unfounded assumption is being made -- that a given piece was painted only by one person, when very likely daddy (or mommy) was doing, "Here, Junior, if I paint your hand outline, will you go away and let me work?" or "Here's some paint, go play over there and stop bothering me," or "Yes, you can help, sit on my shoulder, put your hand here, and watch what I do."
(And consider that outlining one's own hand is something spontaneously done by many children even today...)
That's why solar arrays should go on the roofs of existing urban buildings -- the ground is already in use (no new ground need be destroyed**) and the power is produced where it's to be used (rather than requiring new transmission lines).
** If you haven't actually seen a desert solar facility -- they produce a scorched-earth effect locally and a heat/dust shadow for several miles downwind. They're extremely destructive of the desert ecology and environment, which is not nearly so lifeless as most 'greenies' and city slickers believe. Would they be so cavalier about it if, say, solar facilities were built in forest or wetlands? Putting 'em in the desert, which has a far harder time recovering from abuse, is elitist NIMBYism.
Well then, they ought to run better than usual!