Sure sure... if you think of energy crisis in terms of a candle, you can certainly burn both ends by moving forward with expansion and cutting expense/burden with minor habit changes, better construction techniques, et cetera.
And as long as you think so, it never will get fixed... you are confusing what is with what could be if someone just plain did it. It was through fossil fuel industry pressure that the last great push made by the carter administration (that would have had 20% of today's grid on solar by 2000) was eviscerated just after Reagan took office... my whole point is... this is very much in the same vein of inappropriate pressures against viable alternatives.
The problem with your argument is that NEW power sources (of any sort) are needed right now... and you have more options than coal and oil for each new plant you build... but they are getting get-out-of-jail-free cards while solar and wind are swimming in a sea that consists of nothing BUT red tape, despite practically miraculous improvement in both industries.
And there are quite a few countries around the world that are poking some holes in your argument that solar and wind are not currently competitive.
I agree that it isn't a BAD thing... what bothers me, though, is how many in our government are pushing oil and coal as being uber critical to american energy needs... so much so that environment corners cut are worth the price... but when an alternative to their bias comes up, it's time to throw up the red flags... this isn't to say that oil/coal don't get enviro'd up the yin-yang, but the one sided bias is upsetting for a pro-solar guy like myself.
Very interesting, if a little skewed... for example, saying governments want to REMOVE CO2 from the air... no, stop artificially inflating, yes... but you wouldn't know that from the article. I'm also a little concerned.. this contradicts known behavior of most species of plants who simply cut back on pore count when CO2 is higher than they need. And then... no offense, writer, but do we know what KIND of plants are contributing to the changing chroma of earth's albedo? I put forward that GRASS isn't a good substitute for trees... there are holes in this that MIGHT be easily explained by the author, but should not be ignored before conclusions are made.
I have difficulty with this because one is forced to between two evils... or, one ever-present evil, and one potential and deadly evil... namely, crime vs. oppression. If you bind the bonds of law enforcement too tightly, then crime will be able to run circles around 'em... but with power comes temptation, and we've all seen a lot of abuses of power lately (not to mention, historically.) It should go without saying that with authority and power comes greater responsibility and accountability. Except, it doesn't seem to go without saying, does it?
I guess I would say, perhaps in accordance with the concept of FISA court, do what you have to do... but then submit yourself for judgement when all is said and done. Be the penalty upon you for abuse of power be greater than the penalty upon he who who you would use it to persue. It's an idea.
I completely agree with all that you just said... but I am confronted with a certain quandry here... for all that these baddies may be using this data as an excuse to rewire the system to their benefit... and could almost certainly be considered anti-trust behavior as, in general, I've never really lived anywhere where I had any real option about who I could sign up with... but if it is true that 5% of people are using up 50% of the bandwidth, it's still fair to find SOME WAY to distribute the burden of the cost accordingly... I mean... what if everyone in your town was paying the same electric bill... y'er gonna get the joker who encases his entirely property in christmas lights, and leaves 'em up all year while yer barely sipping at the electric leftovers... why should you and he pay the same amount?
While I most certainly don't wanna see these media giants exploit the scenario, I can see some fairness in a closely regulated bandwidth meter... not, perhaps, with limits, but some kind of pay-as-you-go, just like your electric meter... and if that were to happen, they would have to start charging the bit-sippers a lot less than they do now...
naturally... a well educated populace would know not only their rights but power... that and generally aspire to higher positions best left to the machinations of the rich
I'm not disagreeing with you in this reply, but I do have to proclaim: 'so what?'
It is our responsibility to 'do it anyways'... screw the EPA, ta'heck with Bush and, frankly, ta'heck with any Democrat, too... it doesn't matter as much as we matter... we don't have to sit around waiting for them to invest in solar panel roofing tiles for every house on the block... we don't have to wait for them to change our habits for us in regards to water consumption... we don't have to rely on the military or the government to spearhead research into the kind of nanotechnologies that promise to dramatically improve desalinization or reduce the cost of waste management or whatever... we don't have to wait for a money-hungry bureaucracy to get around to telling us it is unhealty to be driving 10mpg minitanks around town for hours on end just to impress our friends, buy ultra-cheap disposable clothing from walmart, or smear super-bacteria producing antibacterial chemicals all over everything in our house, or just plain get a little exercise walking to school or work (i know not everyone can, but even that is reflective of your life choices, really.) Grow a few tomatoes in those flower boxes outside your windows, telecommute, get to know your neighbors...
so, Do it anyways(TM)... stop buying high emission cars, find and use electrics for your daily commute or, hell, keep what you've got well maintained, well oiled, and your tires up to the right pressure... but, by all means, put the fear into automakers using the green-hued sword in your wallet. The only power the EPA has is the power we all agree that is has, and if we simply mute 'em out for better ideals, then that'll be that... and if comes down to people showing up at your house with guns demanding you drive an inefficient but high-profit-margin car, then at least we'll have laid bare the true direction the country is taking, hmm?
Wheeee
on the other hand, Clinton is frequently projected to be the democrat most likely to be defeated by the republican counterpart in the final race... so, should it was finally proven that the machines were hacked (as they were demonstrated so easily to be able to be), I wouldn't focus all my attention JUST on the clinton camp, but also in various GOP camps as well.
They can still hunt for the biggies... no one wants a 100 meter wide asteroid hitting their town... but that's just an 'owie' asteroid in the grand scheme of things... not remotely a world ender... not really even a nation-ender. World enders are not that common and much easier to find than 'owies' are. This complaint seems contrived to me.
haven't there been articles talking about two separate major steps forward in solar efficiency, cost reductions, and eletrical generation rates from both south africa and some company out in Nevada? If either made it to market, solar would become a very strong contender in the energy production market, and more economically accessible as well.
So sure, it takes energy to consume CO2 and produce O2 (and producing too much O2 would be just another sort of problem, besides), but even as we pour out CO2, we are also hacking away at our forests. But what if... what if we developed modules at the top of our buildings, possibly either onsite solar powered (not unlike plants) or grid powered, BREATHERS. I'm not saying I know exactly how we would do this, but if we could mimick the process and add modules onto the tops of our skyscrapers and houses and such, that effectively either scrub or breath CO2, it would, at least, be buying back some of the re-estate stolen from plantlife. Combine this with good city planning, or urban sprawl that is directed into less arable landscapes (such as desert, badlands, etc) where we aren't blotting out more vibrant landscapes, and the net regain might be notable!
I dunno; it just seems a simple answer... learn, adapt, mimick the lifeforms that are good at CO2 sequestration (plants) and incorporate that into the very fabric of our lives... if that fabric means sprawling metropoli, then make those sprawling metropoli a net positive influence rather than the current negative one. Give incentives to make the do the research (as this project tries to do), and further incentives to make the switch... so some jobs are at risk, but new jobs are created... but continuing as we are means more than just jobs being at risk... it means lives... and a lot of them.
What about von neumann self-replicating drones... exponential exploration?
What about selective exploration--increasingly discriminative explorations based on increased knowledge of galaxy?
What about remote spectroscopic exploration to isolate stars and planets with the most likely atmospheric make-ups for life? (we're already doing this slightly)
What about listening for life--consider the fact that we've bathed some 14000 star systems (within 100LY) with unnatural radio waves?
Does this guy allow for technological advancement at all?
But then again, the world is flat and man has never flown, has (s)he?
Grin
Think about it; our military has spent disgusting amounts of our tax money on a similar project that is now in serious trouble and a source of much scandal. Meanwhile, a private citizen of a neighboring country, with an out-of-pocket budget, succeeds (i'm mildly skeptical, but still, it looks good) at making something that would be a very good start towards our own projects.
I want my tax-money back!
Possibly, except it wasn't brief... it was full intensity from one end of sky to the other...
but it was also running somewhat perpendicular to the sun that had set maybe an hour before... so i could imagine that the angle of reflection was just right for a very looooooooong iridium flare.
ya know.. all other unlikely scenarios aside, if we assumed it WAS aliens, who says they're coming from all that way... mebbe they're hanging around the neighborhood for a while at a time?
btw, 7mil LY is like 3.5x further away than the andromeda galaxy... lets keep it within 100,000LY please!
Re:UFO vs. alien spacecraft
on
UFOs In the News
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Absolutely... heck, consider the fact that the f-117a was just RETIRED and b2 is public knowledge... that means that they have and probably have had better for a while now. Even the most seasoned military enthusiasts would be thrown for a loop seeing something not officially on the books yet.
Anyhow, I just saw me a UFO about 3.5hr ago... A bright white light made a clear and straight path across the sky and was brighter than the full moon which was in view at the time... we speculated that it was the ISS (can't imagine what else would be up there that could be as damn bright down here) but the ISS tracker said it was over the indian ocean at the time (maine here).
Satellite trackers showed that a satellite ORBCOMM 5 was headed over at that time and was going in same direction, but usually you have to straight just to barely notice the motion of a standard satellite... this thing was glaring. My guess was that it was catching sunlight just right... but while I have some theories, it certainly remains unidentified at this time =)
I'm sure there's quite a LOT of life out there in the galaxy (of over 200 billion stars)... and if you think about it, broadcast commercial radio just turned a 100 years old... I dunno what kind of strength it takes for these signals to get out beyond the heliosheath or terminal shock at the outer reaches of the solar system (but I suppose they must if Voyager 1 is still getting singals)... but assuming they do, anything passing within 100 lightyears of earth would hear us. That's 14,600 stars roughly, not including passersby. Its not completely unimaginable that we've attracted some attention. Whether or not they are here is beyond my ability to prove, but I cannot deny that it is a fun topic.
Actually, ignoring fictional places for a moment, you are right in that water levels have been on the rise for a long time... a very well supported theory suggests that much of the meditarranean was dry many ages ago until gibraltar could no longer hold the atlantic at bay... even ignoring that, there are lots of ancient settlements that are now under water not only there, but in the carribean as well.
But but but but but... that's no excuse to say 'oh well, screw that... lets keep making things worse!'
Has anyone considered what the ramifications of this are on the POSITIVE side?
If someone has said this already, I apologize, but I'm late to the forum;
point being... at least under american law, there can be no taxation without representation;
i can understand taxing REAL money made selling virtual items, but taxing in-game content requires certain things from the gov't in return. They would have to officially recognize norrath, krynn, the eve universe, and other realms as states or townships... and what to federal and state levels have to do for states and towns? fund maintenance and creation of infrastructure, they have to recieve representatives from these places who can in turn have influence on how these realms are governed...
so, as silly as it sounds, they cannot tax ingame content without suffering legal consequences in recognizing the powers and needs of these realms.
There is wisdom in this, and this covers the 'why haven't I' segment of the question. America is/was an excellent country, but it is heading down the tubes... and, honestly, it doesn't have to. Overpopulation due to unrealistic immigration levels, the recent suspension of habeas corpus, eery similarities now to pre-wwii germany, etc. You can't not be nervous AND be aware of what's going on around you (awareness not necessarily being equivalent to understanding, admittedly). But if the country is gonna be saved, the people have to save it. But then again, the people who fled germany before wwii, who fled vietnam (got an uncle of that persuasion who fled as a teen just before war), etc.. turned out they're probably still alive because of it. How do you know when to fight and when to flee?
I guess, if the decision had been made, I'd probably go to New Zealand... they speak something resembling the same langauge, very low population (barely over 4 mil), out of the way not but technologically backwards, etc.
Dunno what the right answer is, just that the question is important.
Slashdot Mirror
True, true... and wisely, too.
Sure sure... if you think of energy crisis in terms of a candle, you can certainly burn both ends by moving forward with expansion and cutting expense/burden with minor habit changes, better construction techniques, et cetera.
And as long as you think so, it never will get fixed... you are confusing what is with what could be if someone just plain did it. It was through fossil fuel industry pressure that the last great push made by the carter administration (that would have had 20% of today's grid on solar by 2000) was eviscerated just after Reagan took office... my whole point is... this is very much in the same vein of inappropriate pressures against viable alternatives.
The problem with your argument is that NEW power sources (of any sort) are needed right now... and you have more options than coal and oil for each new plant you build... but they are getting get-out-of-jail-free cards while solar and wind are swimming in a sea that consists of nothing BUT red tape, despite practically miraculous improvement in both industries.
And there are quite a few countries around the world that are poking some holes in your argument that solar and wind are not currently competitive.
The simple answer is that Coal is cheaper than wind and solar.
this won't be true for very long... see: http://www.celsias.com/article/nanosolars-breakthrough-technology-solar-now-cheap/
I agree that it isn't a BAD thing... what bothers me, though, is how many in our government are pushing oil and coal as being uber critical to american energy needs... so much so that environment corners cut are worth the price... but when an alternative to their bias comes up, it's time to throw up the red flags... this isn't to say that oil/coal don't get enviro'd up the yin-yang, but the one sided bias is upsetting for a pro-solar guy like myself.
Very interesting, if a little skewed... for example, saying governments want to REMOVE CO2 from the air... no, stop artificially inflating, yes... but you wouldn't know that from the article. I'm also a little concerned.. this contradicts known behavior of most species of plants who simply cut back on pore count when CO2 is higher than they need. And then... no offense, writer, but do we know what KIND of plants are contributing to the changing chroma of earth's albedo? I put forward that GRASS isn't a good substitute for trees... there are holes in this that MIGHT be easily explained by the author, but should not be ignored before conclusions are made.
They've been working on this for a while, actually: See - http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/improvingflight/supersonic_jousting.html That particular project was wrapped up.. but maybe the plan to expound upon it =)
I have difficulty with this because one is forced to between two evils... or, one ever-present evil, and one potential and deadly evil... namely, crime vs. oppression. If you bind the bonds of law enforcement too tightly, then crime will be able to run circles around 'em ... but with power comes temptation, and we've all seen a lot of abuses of power lately (not to mention, historically.) It should go without saying that with authority and power comes greater responsibility and accountability. Except, it doesn't seem to go without saying, does it?
I guess I would say, perhaps in accordance with the concept of FISA court, do what you have to do... but then submit yourself for judgement when all is said and done. Be the penalty upon you for abuse of power be greater than the penalty upon he who who you would use it to persue. It's an idea.
While I most certainly don't wanna see these media giants exploit the scenario, I can see some fairness in a closely regulated bandwidth meter... not, perhaps, with limits, but some kind of pay-as-you-go, just like your electric meter... and if that were to happen, they would have to start charging the bit-sippers a lot less than they do now...
anyhow, that's my gut reaction
naturally... a well educated populace would know not only their rights but power ... that and generally aspire to higher positions best left to the machinations of the rich
I'm not disagreeing with you in this reply, but I do have to proclaim: 'so what?' It is our responsibility to 'do it anyways' ... screw the EPA, ta'heck with Bush and, frankly, ta'heck with any Democrat, too... it doesn't matter as much as we matter... we don't have to sit around waiting for them to invest in solar panel roofing tiles for every house on the block... we don't have to wait for them to change our habits for us in regards to water consumption... we don't have to rely on the military or the government to spearhead research into the kind of nanotechnologies that promise to dramatically improve desalinization or reduce the cost of waste management or whatever... we don't have to wait for a money-hungry bureaucracy to get around to telling us it is unhealty to be driving 10mpg minitanks around town for hours on end just to impress our friends, buy ultra-cheap disposable clothing from walmart, or smear super-bacteria producing antibacterial chemicals all over everything in our house, or just plain get a little exercise walking to school or work (i know not everyone can, but even that is reflective of your life choices, really.) Grow a few tomatoes in those flower boxes outside your windows, telecommute, get to know your neighbors...
so, Do it anyways(TM) ... stop buying high emission cars, find and use electrics for your daily commute or, hell, keep what you've got well maintained, well oiled, and your tires up to the right pressure... but, by all means, put the fear into automakers using the green-hued sword in your wallet. The only power the EPA has is the power we all agree that is has, and if we simply mute 'em out for better ideals, then that'll be that... and if comes down to people showing up at your house with guns demanding you drive an inefficient but high-profit-margin car, then at least we'll have laid bare the true direction the country is taking, hmm?
Wheeee
on the other hand, Clinton is frequently projected to be the democrat most likely to be defeated by the republican counterpart in the final race... so, should it was finally proven that the machines were hacked (as they were demonstrated so easily to be able to be), I wouldn't focus all my attention JUST on the clinton camp, but also in various GOP camps as well.
Whee, huh?
They can still hunt for the biggies... no one wants a 100 meter wide asteroid hitting their town... but that's just an 'owie' asteroid in the grand scheme of things... not remotely a world ender... not really even a nation-ender. World enders are not that common and much easier to find than 'owies' are. This complaint seems contrived to me.
On the matter of solar...
haven't there been articles talking about two separate major steps forward in solar efficiency, cost reductions, and eletrical generation rates from both south africa and some company out in Nevada? If either made it to market, solar would become a very strong contender in the energy production market, and more economically accessible as well.
Here's to hoping!
So sure, it takes energy to consume CO2 and produce O2 (and producing too much O2 would be just another sort of problem, besides), but even as we pour out CO2, we are also hacking away at our forests. But what if... what if we developed modules at the top of our buildings, possibly either onsite solar powered (not unlike plants) or grid powered, BREATHERS. I'm not saying I know exactly how we would do this, but if we could mimick the process and add modules onto the tops of our skyscrapers and houses and such, that effectively either scrub or breath CO2, it would, at least, be buying back some of the re-estate stolen from plantlife. Combine this with good city planning, or urban sprawl that is directed into less arable landscapes (such as desert, badlands, etc) where we aren't blotting out more vibrant landscapes, and the net regain might be notable!
I dunno; it just seems a simple answer... learn, adapt, mimick the lifeforms that are good at CO2 sequestration (plants) and incorporate that into the very fabric of our lives... if that fabric means sprawling metropoli, then make those sprawling metropoli a net positive influence rather than the current negative one. Give incentives to make the do the research (as this project tries to do), and further incentives to make the switch... so some jobs are at risk, but new jobs are created... but continuing as we are means more than just jobs being at risk... it means lives... and a lot of them.
Well, this Mainer anyways. Verizon has been TERRIBLE... it is very hard to imagine anyone doing worse (though I suppose anything is possible)
Think about it; our military has spent disgusting amounts of our tax money on a similar project that is now in serious trouble and a source of much scandal. Meanwhile, a private citizen of a neighboring country, with an out-of-pocket budget, succeeds (i'm mildly skeptical, but still, it looks good) at making something that would be a very good start towards our own projects. I want my tax-money back!
Possibly, except it wasn't brief... it was full intensity from one end of sky to the other...
but it was also running somewhat perpendicular to the sun that had set maybe an hour before... so i could imagine that the angle of reflection was just right for a very looooooooong iridium flare.
ya know.. all other unlikely scenarios aside, if we assumed it WAS aliens, who says they're coming from all that way... mebbe they're hanging around the neighborhood for a while at a time?
btw, 7mil LY is like 3.5x further away than the andromeda galaxy... lets keep it within 100,000LY please!
Absolutely... heck, consider the fact that the f-117a was just RETIRED and b2 is public knowledge... that means that they have and probably have had better for a while now. Even the most seasoned military enthusiasts would be thrown for a loop seeing something not officially on the books yet.
Anyhow, I just saw me a UFO about 3.5hr ago... A bright white light made a clear and straight path across the sky and was brighter than the full moon which was in view at the time... we speculated that it was the ISS (can't imagine what else would be up there that could be as damn bright down here) but the ISS tracker said it was over the indian ocean at the time (maine here).
Satellite trackers showed that a satellite ORBCOMM 5 was headed over at that time and was going in same direction, but usually you have to straight just to barely notice the motion of a standard satellite... this thing was glaring. My guess was that it was catching sunlight just right... but while I have some theories, it certainly remains unidentified at this time =)
I'm sure there's quite a LOT of life out there in the galaxy (of over 200 billion stars)... and if you think about it, broadcast commercial radio just turned a 100 years old... I dunno what kind of strength it takes for these signals to get out beyond the heliosheath or terminal shock at the outer reaches of the solar system (but I suppose they must if Voyager 1 is still getting singals)... but assuming they do, anything passing within 100 lightyears of earth would hear us. That's 14,600 stars roughly, not including passersby. Its not completely unimaginable that we've attracted some attention. Whether or not they are here is beyond my ability to prove, but I cannot deny that it is a fun topic.
Actually, ignoring fictional places for a moment, you are right in that water levels have been on the rise for a long time... a very well supported theory suggests that much of the meditarranean was dry many ages ago until gibraltar could no longer hold the atlantic at bay... even ignoring that, there are lots of ancient settlements that are now under water not only there, but in the carribean as well.
But but but but but... that's no excuse to say 'oh well, screw that... lets keep making things worse!'
Has anyone considered what the ramifications of this are on the POSITIVE side?
If someone has said this already, I apologize, but I'm late to the forum;
point being... at least under american law, there can be no taxation without representation;
i can understand taxing REAL money made selling virtual items, but taxing in-game content requires certain things from the gov't in return. They would have to officially recognize norrath, krynn, the eve universe, and other realms as states or townships... and what to federal and state levels have to do for states and towns? fund maintenance and creation of infrastructure, they have to recieve representatives from these places who can in turn have influence on how these realms are governed... so, as silly as it sounds, they cannot tax ingame content without suffering legal consequences in recognizing the powers and needs of these realms.
There is wisdom in this, and this covers the 'why haven't I' segment of the question. America is/was an excellent country, but it is heading down the tubes... and, honestly, it doesn't have to. Overpopulation due to unrealistic immigration levels, the recent suspension of habeas corpus, eery similarities now to pre-wwii germany, etc. You can't not be nervous AND be aware of what's going on around you (awareness not necessarily being equivalent to understanding, admittedly). But if the country is gonna be saved, the people have to save it. But then again, the people who fled germany before wwii, who fled vietnam (got an uncle of that persuasion who fled as a teen just before war), etc.. turned out they're probably still alive because of it. How do you know when to fight and when to flee?
I guess, if the decision had been made, I'd probably go to New Zealand... they speak something resembling the same langauge, very low population (barely over 4 mil), out of the way not but technologically backwards, etc.
Dunno what the right answer is, just that the question is important.
Probably because they all left for similar reasons and likely have not only a langauge, but a frame of mind in common with you. =)