tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post1364909179199464658..comments2024-03-28T15:48:48.514-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The War on Science... a War on Earth... and by Christmas?David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90757054577560000872014-12-03T02:15:56.605-08:002014-12-03T02:15:56.605-08:00Mr. Brin , I'm a long time lurker and sometime...Mr. Brin , I'm a long time lurker and sometimes poster here, so I'd join Mr. Weppe on the subjecy of Putin's liaisons with far-right parties in Europe. Here in Italy the Northern league, the party once advocating secession of the Northern Italy, now is turning into a clone of the French Front National, and yhey're going to get funds from Putin and acknowledge Putin's Uinter Russia party as a brother party (as in : birds of one feather flock together). They share the same core values: ethnic nationalism, xenophobia, hate for "decadent" Western memes like gay rights.<br />Now, being myself from Italian Communist background, and having a somewhat decent grasp of history of Communism and Marxism, ... well, if Putin is a Marxist in disguise I'm the queen of Siam. "Soviet Marxism" was an intellectually dead thing, something Putin & Co. probably memorized by rote at political education classes without ever bothering to try to understand it. If any, Russia could be similar to the Ante-Bellum South: internally oppressive society bolstered by export of a vital commodity to the world market, be it cotton or oil/gas. Marinonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19424984917325699402014-11-30T11:01:14.568-08:002014-11-30T11:01:14.568-08:00As we are in the midst of a topic change, I will b...<br /><br />As we are in the midst of a topic change, I will be brief:<br /><br />I cannot abide by the shameless self-promotion, the hyperbole, the ridiculous long-range projections & the boy-who-cried-wolf mentality of the climate change cultists even though I support the science of climate change and, as as a recent article in 'The Daily Beast' attests, I am not alone as 51% of US citizens (and at least 77% of evangelicals) now equate climate change with the biblical revelation 'End of Times' and, frankly speaking, the rambling of those scientific patriots who believe in the infallibility of our wasteful & environmentally destructive Smithian Economic culture (one that has allowed the human population to quadruple, exhausted the global fishery, dumped trillions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere & burned through 1000 years of resources in a 60 year period) only exacerbates the problem.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11157488682529899772014-11-30T10:55:08.138-08:002014-11-30T10:55:08.138-08:00Jerry E. I raised the issue of solar not being off...Jerry E. I raised the issue of solar not being off-grid personally with none other than Elon himself. It now costs 4 figures to battery up your home to use your own rooftop cells to be independent if power cuts off.<br /><br />At-minimum, during an outage your cells should still power one special outlet in your kitchen, allowing you to run your fridge and some rechargers during the day. Failure to do that much is unforgivable neglect of resilience.<br /><br />===<br /><br /><br />but...<br /><br />onward!David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69042174437480833192014-11-30T10:23:21.904-08:002014-11-30T10:23:21.904-08:00@Tony - thanks for the Wanderer link. Beautiful. ...@Tony - thanks for the <i>Wanderer</i> link. Beautiful. <br /><br />@Jerry, Paul Shen-Brown<br /><br />From the California Solar Initiative site FAQ:<br />-------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><b>When I get my California Solar Initiative-funded solar system installed, will I be "off-grid?"</b><br /><br />No. The California Solar Initiative Program only provides incentives to grid-connected solar systems, thus California Solar Initiative participants are not off-grid; rather, their systems produce energy that flows back onto the grid, which they conversely draw from whenever their systems are not generating energy. Grid-tied solar electric systems are not typically designed to provide back-up power when there is an electrical outage. <br />-------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />I wonder if the off-switch is dropped to ensure compliance?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.solarmango.com/faq/9" rel="nofollow">This commercial solar site</a> provides a quick overview of the issue Jerry is talking about. May be a bit more complicated than a simple switch being needed. The correct inverters and possibly a backup power source may be needed. Ironic if you need a generator for outages wven with a solar roof.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-5495514020151468172014-11-30T05:15:34.159-08:002014-11-30T05:15:34.159-08:00For all the talk about the fickleness of renewable...For all the talk about the fickleness of renewables, rooftop solar received a filup in Victoria last summer, when a fire in an open cut coal mine shut down a significant power station. We didn't endure blackouts because... distributed rooftop solar. Is that meant to happen?<br /><br />Got three minutes? Go check <a href="http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/" title="Trust me. You have three minutes." rel="nofollow">'Wanderers'</a>, a short film by Eric Wernquist that uses a reading by Carl Sagan as a backdrop to visuals of humans exploring the Solar System. It is phenomenal!Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-16412535030015802232014-11-30T05:11:17.515-08:002014-11-30T05:11:17.515-08:00Wind - onshore vs offshore costs
Offshore wind is...<a href="http://www.energyblueprint.info/1469.0.html" rel="nofollow">Wind - onshore vs offshore costs</a><br /><br />Offshore wind is about 2x the levelized costs of onshore wind power. Not good, but not "hideous". The advantage is that you are making use of a resource (offshore coastline) that doesn't have competing uses. The turbines can be scaled up for improved performance and there are no annoying side effects like noise and visual flickering for nearby residents. There is also scope for offshore wind structures to allow piggy backed infrastructure like fish farming pens.<br /><br />Nuclear: <i>Let the market decide, if it hasn't already.</i><br />In the US, nuclear needs government supplied insurance to be viable. I personally think that large nuclear power plants are pretty much dead in the the US for regulatory reasons, although there may be a future for the community size "mini-nukes". But as Paul451 says, solar + battery will eventually outcompete any power technology on price. Couple this with smart grids and I think that the naysayers ("solar doesn't work at night") will be proven wrong. Obviously one should use the most appropriate power technology for the climate and weather. Solar is great in the sunny states, especially the SW USA, although it also works in Germany with subsidies (so is expensive). Wind makes more sense in northern US states, and especially the great plains. Iceland makes use of geothermal energy. <br /><br />What I don't see is how we are going to effectively strand fossil fuel reserves. It is easy conceptually to make laws to do this, but fossil fuel companies are going to fight literally to the death to prevent this. Is there a way to sideline them so that renewables don't face this uphill battle, or will economics be sufficient to pave the way?<br /><br />Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30944385916032844712014-11-30T05:10:28.805-08:002014-11-30T05:10:28.805-08:00Alex, I think Jerry's point may have been that...Alex, I think Jerry's point may have been that the switch to disconnect anyone's personal system from the grid is an inexpensive component, so it may just be a matter of getting the word out so more customers can pressure these businesses to include them. Most people I talk to just assume that there will be power during an outage. You would think that these companies would want to offer this as a selling point, but they make their money from the electricity their customers supply to the grid. They probably don't want their customers to have the option.<br /><br />What worries me in this scenario is, what happens in an earthquake? The power grid will be down, likely for days or weeks, which causes huge food shortage problems. Not only do perishable food items go bad, but the stores where people normally buy food can't sell it when their electronic cash registers go down, and employees are unlikely to show up. Then there's the problem of medications that require refrigeration, like antibiotics. This may be just the kind of situation to write to your state government about (as some places are much more earthquake prone than others, so a federal response may not be necessary), if businesses are unwilling to provide these switches.<br /><br />Paul 451, though I will be back to work soon and won't have time, your long, well-thought posts are appreciated, in a world of epidemic sound-bite engineering, corporation shilling & campaign-slogan slinging. Paul Shen-Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21262980604919223042014-11-30T04:40:27.517-08:002014-11-30T04:40:27.517-08:00@Jerry - I agree in principle with your argument f...@Jerry - I agree in principle with your argument for offline solar power. However, consider for a moment a very low cost on-line only system that reduces your power bill. The logic for such a system, especially with no upfront capital cost (Solar City lease) is clear. Yes you lose power when the grid goes down, but overall you do have lower cost power. As Paul451 notes, battery storage technology is also experiencing cost declines and that is becoming the focus for solar power installations. I expect to see battery backup systems (even if it the household electric car) becoming more popular with time. While further behind in technology, fuel cells working of natural gas are also appearing. At some point these will provide off-line (or even "on-line") power from the piped gas supply (or delivered gas).<br /><br />@Paul451. Smart solar/LED roads would make the difficult problems for driverless cars almost trivial. They are perfect for the small scale, complex navigation in city centers and private zones. Cost is the main factor. At this point I'm not clear whether these systems will compete with other retrofit technologies for all the uses you cite. For example, smart LED strips powered by the grid (or separate solar panels on posts) might be a lot cheaper than complete solar/LED road panel and achieve most of the goals needed. I could see them being used instead of traffic cones too, although smart transponder cones would work for redirected traffic too.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18368085322941417452014-11-30T03:54:10.692-08:002014-11-30T03:54:10.692-08:00A very alarming new trend in the United States dur...A very alarming new trend in the United States during the past two years is solar installations with no off-grid capability. These systems do not work at all when the power grid is down. Some of these installations don't even have battery storage. <br /><br />Some installers have even tried to sell these systems to homeowners who want a solar power system primarily for its off-grid capabilities.<br /><br />Nearly all Community Solar Projects (also known as Solar Gardens) also have this flaw.<br /><br />A separate switch is needed to prevent back-flow into the power grid, which could endanger utilities workers. This switch can be automatic or manual, but neither type of switch is a large part of the cost of a solar power system. These switches should be standard with all solar power systems.<br /><br />Without off-grid capabilities, there will be a MASSIVE loss of solar power generation whenever the power grid goes down. In any long-term and large-scale power outage, this will also mean a massive loss of reputation for the solar power industry. The solar industry really needs to get their act together on this one. Otherwise, it could set solar power back many years, and many people will be hauling their solar panels off to the landfill.<br /><br />Even Community Solar Projects should have an associated building where power is available during a grid outage. That way, people in the neighborhood could come to the community solar building to cook food in microwave ovens, re-charge electronics, get news about the power outage, etc.<br /><br /><br />Jerry Emanuelsonhttp://www.futurescience.com/je.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18922901140542749232014-11-30T02:49:30.131-08:002014-11-30T02:49:30.131-08:00[last one, promise]
Jumper,
Re: Solar roads.
Whi...[last one, promise]<br /><br />Jumper,<br />Re: Solar roads.<br /><br />While the idea doesn't work yet, with the continuing decrease in panel and electronics prices, and improvements in materials and construction... <br /><br />... okay, yeah, it'll never work for hundreds of miles of blacktop, like US Interstates (at least not without some kind of SF nanobot replicator thing.)<br /><br />But it may become affordable for special uses. It will always be more expensive than bitumen and concrete, but it's the other things it saves on that may make a difference. Remember the point isn't just the solar panels, it's the combined battery storage and <i>LED display</i> in a single plug'n'play package. The solar panels aren't meant to power the grid, but to power the road-display and other distributed systems. As hardware prices drop, it should become affordable for walking/bike paths (eliminating costs of installing dedicated lighting), and then with brick-paved roads. Then general footpaths. Then CBD side-roads. Then perhaps intersections (path highlighting replacing overhead signals). Being able to re-mark parking spaces alongside roads to match time-of-day parking rules. Being able to widen or narrow lanes to expand or reduce parking/turning-lanes/etc. Being able to actively divert lanes around sensed or reported obstacles. Highlighting pedestrians, bikes, vehicles approaching from blind corners, etc, with subtle lighting changes.<br /><br />Eventually it might drop enough that it's cost effective to use strips in place of lane-markings even on major roads. (Some Nordic countries are installing electro-luminescent lane marking on major highways.)<br /><br />And a modular solar-pane/battery/LED-light in a single robust package is a hell of a handy thing for camping, disaster recovery, third world villages, etc.<br /><br />[Aside: The price of solar-plus-inverters-plus-batteries is currently at the level that solar panels alone were about five years ago. I'm expecting to see battery packs built into plug'n'play rooftop panels, and for companies like Solar City to add battery packs to their customer systems. There's a synergy with Tesla and Musk's battery "Superfactories". When Tesla owners trade in their battery packs for upgrades, swap out any failed cells then shift the packs to stationary power storage, like Solar City customers. Five years on, upgrade <i>those</i> packs and bring the cells back to be fully recycled into new battery packs for new Teslas.]<br /><br />[Turing: "Irelical George", and if it's, errr... I got nothing. Sorry George.]Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-5133371868432523612014-11-30T02:39:44.486-08:002014-11-30T02:39:44.486-08:00All,
Re: Off-shore wind-farms.
The costs are appa...All,<br />Re: Off-shore wind-farms.<br /><br />The costs are apparently hideous compared to onshore wind-farms, even with the stronger, more reliable winds.<br /><br />Daniel again,<br />Re. Fracking.<br /><i>"All the action takes place miles below ground water bearing strata and separated by layers of impermeable bedrock."</i><br /><br />In theory. Practice often says otherwise. When you are trying to change the permeability of the target stratum (the whole friggin' point of frackin'), it's pretty easy to affect the overlying layers. Impermeable rock has a bad habit of being less so once you start drilling holes through it and pumping out fluid from underneath.<br /><br />[Turing: "Suits tnuaryt", and if it suits Tnuaryt, that's good enough for me.]Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1342632411640428822014-11-30T02:28:41.960-08:002014-11-30T02:28:41.960-08:00Speaking of online attacks, here I pile on with th...Speaking of online attacks, here I pile on with those attacking Daniel...<br /><br />Daniel Duffy,<br /><br />For the record, I'm a fan of direct gas-turbine power plants. They are a great adjunct to alternative power because they can be cycled up and down quicker than coal and especially nuclear power. Additionally, their construction costs are generally lower than coal/nuclear; they can be efficient at small scales, and as you note they burn cleaner, so you can build smaller plants closer to the customers. (Plus anything that reduces coal use is a bonus.)<br /><br />But the fact is that battery technology is halving in price and doubling in energy-density every decade. And solar panels are halving in price per kW every decade (although that accelerated recently). Not only have those exponential improvement continued fairly steadily for many decades, but they both have full R&D chains suggesting that they won't hit a development wall for at least another 20 years. (Ie, there's new development at every point from single molecules in labs, to experimental cells, to early prototypes, to pre-production testing, to niche-market ramp up, to ongoing improvements in current production...)<br /><br />So at some point these technologies <i>will</i> cross any arbitrary price line you draw. And long before that, they'll be more affordable than <i>new</i> infrastructure (ie, cheaper to throw up a new solar farm in two years with a five year pay-back, than to bother with a nuclear power station with ten year development time and a twenty year pay-back, even if the theoretical per-MWHr price for the nuke is lower.)<br /><br />Meanwhile, most traditional power technologies are at the other end of their tech curves. They are mature technologies, they've plucked all the low-hanging fruit, they've got their efficiencies of scale. New materials and production will shave off a point here and there, but in general there's nowhere left to go. Solar/battery will win. It's just maths.<br /><br />Already, for domestic users, solar panel costs are reaching the point where they are a minor part of the <i>installed</i> costs, so effort is now turning to reducing the installation and other non-panel costs. For example, we're seeing power-conditioners, converters and associated electronics being built into the panels, making the panels 110/220VAC plug'n'play. Installation costs have halved in about 5 years, and, again, there's a bunch of new technologies in the R&D pipeline.<br /><br />[Turing: "Shorstal believes", and who am I to argue with Shorstel?]Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-16474275467538275712014-11-30T02:20:11.981-08:002014-11-30T02:20:11.981-08:00An amusing "looking back" answer to the ...An amusing "looking back" answer to the vicious online harassment of female game journalists: Use the same social media to <a href="https://twitter.com/Charalanahzard/status/538144080534847489/photo/1" rel="nofollow">tell their mothers.</a>Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59750144072230477752014-11-29T22:12:04.056-08:002014-11-29T22:12:04.056-08:00Since you are replacing a v. potent greenhouse gas...Since you are replacing a v. potent greenhouse gas with one that's only slightly potent, so burning methane is fine if it's going to be generated anyway (via rubbish decomposition, or clathrate evaporation)<br /><br />Ah, nuclear! Much vaunted saviour of the age. It certainly has the potential to be. What makes me hesitate in supporting it more is the disdain... nay, outright hostility, its supporters have for renewables. That, and the lack of any action other than the paper fantasies of Gen IV fans. It suggests an ulterior motive to me.<br /><br />But that's just my paranoid conspiracy fan side talking. Let nuclear take its place on the starting blocks alongside solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, quantum vacuum...<br />Let the market decide, if it hasn't already.<br /><br />Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13101756223361467722014-11-29T19:56:55.765-08:002014-11-29T19:56:55.765-08:00I'm afraid I must have missed something. Where...I'm afraid I must have missed something. Where's the reductio ad absurdum? The fallacy I see most clearly is the mother of all fallacies, far more common and intractable than ad absurdum - confirmation bias. It is far more intractable because it feels the most natural. We look for evidence that supports our beliefs and ignore or explain away evidence that rejects our beliefs. It is sloppy reasoning, but when you consider that our brains run off of less electricity than the light bulb in your refrigerator, it is easy to understand why people naturally take mental shortcuts like this.<br /><br />Before anyone assumes I am pointing fingers, let me be clear that this is something we all do. Scientists are supposed to be trained to watch out for this, in both themselves and in the broader community of scientists, but they don't always get it. It is so much easier to sink back into the sofa of ignorant bliss, pop open a cold beer and watch the game, letting your peers and/or your emotions tell you what to think. But it is not too hard to ask yourself this question about anything you believe: do I think it's true because I want it to be true? It's the followup questions that become the real drain.<br /><br />So thank you, Mr. Duffy, for the link to the Energy Information Administration. That shows real data on CO2 emissions per btu. Most of your conclusions are flawed, but the idea of replacing coal with natural gas is an improvement, though still only a temporary solution that cannot be allowed to distract us from the real work of finding sustainable energy solutions. You still haven't answered the cui bono...<br /><br />To reiterate: something is not true just because you want it to be, and an international community composed of hundreds of millions of highly educated, well trained workers and thinkers who come from a variety of different traditions, religions, ethnicities etc hardly make a conspiracy. The size of the group is enough to negate that little "theory" - to say nothing of the natural tendency for scientists to disagree with each other. The fact that such a huge majority of the exact scientists whose work is impacted by climate agree about its change is not miraculous, but it is remarkable.<br /><br />As an archaeologist I dealt with climatological data on a regular basis. I dug sites where the soil was rich and fertile beneath layers of human habitation, but turned dry, poor and sandy almost as soon as human inhabitants arrived on the scene. Pollen samples showed consistent patterns of shift from forest to brought-tolerant, desert vegetation. In the 12th Century the Anasazi were forced to abandon their famous cliff dwellings by drought. At that same time the populations of the Hohokam and Mogollon dwindled and the Great Plains were virtually abandoned, the survivors taking refuge in deep mountain valleys where orographic precipitation continued to provide enough water for small bands to survive. I could go on for pages here.<br /><br />Needless to say, climate change is not a hoax because lociranch, or Rush Limbaugh, doesn't like it. Paul Shen-Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91668334129023250862014-11-29T16:41:18.387-08:002014-11-29T16:41:18.387-08:00Mr. Weppe, I avow that the standard hypothesis is ...Mr. Weppe, I avow that the standard hypothesis is probably correct, that Putin & co are standard Russian boyar potentate feudal lords. That, too, is Marx-consistent. My imagined “what-if” hypothesis is “what if it is deliberate and they are sincere?” The accumulations of capital under the 120 oligarchs is - effectively - a re-collectivization of scattered enterprises. One piece of paper would turn them back into state companies/directorates. But yes, it seems more likely they are NOT sincere, but recreating Marx’s penultimate scenario our of standard human stupidity, instead.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78344745693260649732014-11-29T16:22:26.959-08:002014-11-29T16:22:26.959-08:00Jumper said "To simplify locumranch's log...Jumper said "To simplify locumranch's logic, "grandpa died so what's the point of living?""<br /><br />My own paraphrasing: "I get to live in greater freedom and knowledge and fun that all of my ancestors, combined. So naturally I will interpret all the things that got me these things as worthless and the results contemptible... though I am one of those results. And ain't it fun to be a grumpy adolescent forever?"<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76201694464371004712014-11-29T14:24:36.161-08:002014-11-29T14:24:36.161-08:00Either they were wiped out by climate change 3000 ...<i> Either they were wiped out by climate change 3000 years before the advent of climate change, or they were poisoned by a single bad oyster, or maybe they are just fine and living in Surrey, so tell us again how the climate almost never ever changes.</i><br /><br />So are the historic long droughts experienced, e.g. in California, climate change or weather change? Because clearly the overall temperature globally didn't change very much over this period, but it had a large impact on the peoples living here. There is a lot of difference between local climate change and global climate change, the latter which is of concern today.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9410267930556625282014-11-29T14:11:38.673-08:002014-11-29T14:11:38.673-08:00There were no "Assyrians." To say so is ...There were no "Assyrians." To say so is pure catechism; "received wisdom" true geniuses scorn.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83911449889365759952014-11-29T14:11:30.792-08:002014-11-29T14:11:30.792-08:00Fracking fluid chemicals
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...Fracking fluid chemicals<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing#Fracturing_fluids_in_the_United_States<br /><br />1. Acids—hydrochloric acid or acetic acid is used in the pre-fracturing stage for cleaning the perforations and initiating fissure in the near-wellbore rock.[52]<br />2. Sodium chloride (salt)—delays breakdown of gel polymer chains.[52]<br />3. Polyacrylamide and other friction reducers decrease turbulence in fluid flow and pipe friction, thus allowing the pumps to pump at a higher rate without having greater pressure on the surface.[52]<br />4. Ethylene glycol—prevents formation of scale deposits in the pipe.[52]<br />5. Borate salts—used for maintaining fluid viscosity during the temperature increase.[52]<br />6. Sodium and potassium carbonates—used for maintaining effectiveness of crosslinkers.[52]<br />7. Glutaraldehyde—used as disinfectant of the water (bacteria elimination).[52]<br />8. Guar gum and other water-soluble gelling agents—increases viscosity of the fracturing fluid to deliver proppant into the formation more efficiently.[49][52]<br />9. Citric acid—used for corrosion prevention.<br />10. Isopropanol—increases the viscosity of the fracture fluid.[52]<br /><br />Clearly several of these are not "safe" by any stretch of the imagination.<br /><br />Here is a report of exactly the opposite opinion:<br /><a href="http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Fracking-Fluids-More-Toxic-Than-Previously-Thought.html" rel="nofollow">Fracking Fluids More Toxic Than Previously Thought</a><br /><br />And just because anti-freeze can be found in the garage, doesn't mean that you want it entering the water supply.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83913575547759976262014-11-29T14:05:35.038-08:002014-11-29T14:05:35.038-08:00To simplify locumranch's logic, "grandpa ...To simplify locumranch's logic, "grandpa died so what's the point of living?"Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-26888778182005614752014-11-29T13:13:10.587-08:002014-11-29T13:13:10.587-08:00In honor of Thanksgiving, I avoided wearing my San...In honor of Thanksgiving, I avoided wearing my Santa hat until today. I'm not a fan of how we have commercialized Christmas, but as a set of expressions of caring for one another, I'm supportive of its expansion. Since Thanksgiving shares these traits, I think it best that the turkeys conditionally surrender and demand to be part of the winning side in exchange.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72564604015737967432014-11-29T12:19:51.377-08:002014-11-29T12:19:51.377-08:00Reductio ad absurbum.
The conflicts upon which Da...<br />Reductio ad absurbum.<br /><br />The conflicts upon which David expends his energies amount to little more than tribalism wherein a collection of clades, castes, deniers and cultists profess reflexive loyalty for their own worldview, thoughtlessly reject the worldviews of others and deny the partisan irrationality inherent in such tribalism.<br /><br />It is this type of tribal catechism (defined as 'a manual giving basic instruction in a subject, usually by rote or repetition, to be accepted uncritically') that allows some to brag about 10-day weather forecasts, equivocate scientific practice with a scientific hierarchy, confuse intellectual superiority for cultural dominance and sing praises to infallible Smithian economies, all while denying the horrifyingly cataclysmic environmental costs of such tribal partialities.<br /><br />The Catechism states (that) “methodical research in all branches of knowledge (can NEVER conflict with faith) provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and DOES NOT OVERRIDE MORAL LAWS", and it is this last part -- the part about faith & morality TRUMPING all aspects of scientific inquiry -- is enough to terrify. repel and repulse any true advocate of science.<br /><br />Yet, we see this type of 'catechismic' moral abomination on a daily basis, especially in the fields of TWODA and climate change, where scientific inquiry is either forced to serve the tribal faith-based perogative or is rejected outright.<br /><br />Those poor Assyrians: Either they were wiped out by climate change 3000 years before the advent of climate change, or they were poisoned by a single bad oyster, or maybe they are just fine and living in Surrey, so tell us again how the climate almost never ever changes.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29224796781230963832014-11-29T12:06:33.344-08:002014-11-29T12:06:33.344-08:00On the topic of the xinchub impact causing a globa...On the topic of the xinchub impact causing a global firestorm, there was <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/story/dinopocalypse/" rel="nofollow">an episode of Radio Lab</a> that spells out a fairly convincing scenario in which the impact vaporizes a mountain of material into plasma, which gets blown into orbit (visualize the after effects of a drop of water landing in a pool). The superheated plasma then rains down from orbit over the next day or so, releasing most of its heat into the atmosphere and raising the temperature by several hundred degrees for a while.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00418412726523908875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83758157418150510962014-11-29T11:21:19.284-08:002014-11-29T11:21:19.284-08:00DD: "P.S. "Offshore" is also a habi...DD: "P.S. "Offshore" is also a habitat that is ruined by extensive wind farm construction."<br /><br />Prove it. The piers offer natural habitats and shelters. In Earth I portray them ALSO stirring bottom mud to feed plankton/David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.com