The Hobbit Hole XXXV - ...is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

[SuziQ]

Heh, I got real good juicy looking veins, but lab folks sometimes have problems because they’re pretty deep.

[RosieCotton]

Heh...except he thinks overpopulation is the problem here, too. If we didn’t have as many people, we wouldn’t have the same demand for fuel, hence the problem would go away.

I pointed out that the fuel we used has changed before (i.e. very few in the US heat with coal anymore), and he says no, it’s just moved to the power plants so we can use electricity. Pointing out that this depends on where said power plant exists and that even the power plants have adjusted to use new means...that got me nowhere ‘cause I don’t have statistics memorized.

I’m just not good at it. And when I *know* I’m right and can’t prove it, it ticks me off. ;-)

[JenB]

Well, he’s right that we do depend on coal-powered plants for a big percentage of our electricity. But that’s more efficient use of coal than sending it to individual houses.

You should agree that we have a power problem and say that means we need to build hundred of nuclear power plants. I bet his head would explode.

[TalonDJ]

Counter like this. Fuel use is all cost per watt and how usable it is. Coal is cheap but no good in cars so it went to power plants. It is the cheapest things around. Nuclear is nice and all but costs more. We don’t see much nuclear because the cost is high. There are perfectly good plans laying around for things like space based power arrays beaming energy to earth. Decades old technology. The only reason it has not been done yet is all cost. So far it is about twice as expensive as nuclear. If the cost of energy goes up there are technologies, like that one, just waiting to be used. Same with oil running out. There are other things that will do the job but they cost more. When the price goes up high enough those things will be brought out. Engineers are smart. Give them a problem and they will solve it. Most of the problems around power are already solved and solved and solved again and the fluctuations of the market dictate what solution we use. No fluctuation will make the problem explode. There are a zillion and 1 ways to make power. There are only so many ways to make it cheap right now. When one way fails us the industrial and intellectual might of the USA will fall on the next best way and that method will come into it’s own. Your hear lots about ‘this new discovery might be the wave of the future’ all the time and then, nothing. Those things get put in the shelf because we don’t NEED them yet. And until the oil goes sky high and or runs out we will not need them. The fact of the mater is that any one with a machineshop and some smarts can make power generating devices of all sorts. Google homemade wind and water turbines sometime. It is really easy. The tides for example are still a vast untaped power source. It is just that until current methods of generating power are no longer workable some things that require a lot of startup effort, like tide power, will never be used.

That or you can just point out that Korea and other places in the far east have WAY higher pop density and they are doing just fine. Or that first world countries have just about all started to level off or decline in their birth rates. Self correcting problem.

[TalonDJ]

The ONLY reason the US is mostly coal in it’s power is that it is cheap as heck. Ok, the enviro crud with nukes is there too, but if nukes were cheaper that would not have stopped anyone. The US just has gobs of coal, when we run out, we also have gobs of uranium.

[TalonDJ]

Mmmm pain pills....

Prayers!
Get some rest.

[darkangel82]

*snickers*

[Lil'freeper]

Which Lost Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

[RosieCotton]

Eek, Lil'! Not Benry!

I got the hobbit. Not sure how ta take that. ;-)

Which Lost Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

[Lil'freeper]

Mine’s pretty accurate so far as I grew up under a rock in the desert... which isn’t all that different than an island.

[RosieCotton]

Engineers are smart. Give them a problem and they will solve it.

That was my biggest point. ;-) But hey, if the argument comes up again, maybe I'll manage to remember some of this advice!

It started with biodiesel, which I think is a cool idea in concept, but if *everyone* was using it, we'd need a lot more crop land and such. It's cheap right now, and a good way of reusing old oil for some of the few who are doing it, but it'd be different if it was the main source of fuel.

And then the argument went downhill from there.

[RosieCotton]

I’ve never been hooked on heroin. Hones’.

[300winmag]

We have Ratatouille, too, so we might watch that tonight, before plunging back into "Babylon 5"

I watched "Babylon 5" when it came out on TV. It was so engrossing, I invested a lot of emotional energy in it. I'll pass on the DVDs. I just want to collect fun and fluff on DVD.

That's why I appreciate the ability to download current movies (despite questionable image quality and legality), because I can decide whether to spend my cash on the DVD when it comes out. I've already seen a screener for the new Stargate SG1 movie, and will buy the DVD. The same for "National Treasure". I don't like Nicolas Cage, but I enjoy the mix of American history and conspiracy theory in the series. Big fat hint at the end of this movie says there's a third one already in the planning stage.

[300winmag]

It started with biodiesel, which I think is a cool idea in concept, but if *everyone* was using it, we'd need a lot more crop land and such. It's cheap right now, and a good way of reusing old oil for some of the few who are doing it, but it'd be different if it was the main source of fuel.

The papers here had an article on a guy who made his biodiesel from free used grease from fastfood joints. The state of Michigan rewarded him by fining him for using untaxed motor vehicle fuel. While the feds may not care, the state demands that they get their tax on each gallon of "diesel" he made.

This is how the RATs reward people who "act green".

[darkangel82]

The RATs run gov’t like an extortion racket.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Next time he starts talking about overpopulation being a problem, ask him which people he wants to kill, or keep from breeding. Or, alternatively, ask him when he's going to volunteer to commit suicide.

Lurking inside everyone who complains about overpopulation is a eugenicist who only wants to control the breeding of "those people". IMHO.

[g'nad]

The RATs run gov’t like an extortion racket.

cuz tuh them, it is...

[g'nad]

Lurking inside everyone who complains about overpopulation is a eugenicist who only wants to control the breeding of "those people". IMHO.

profound statement... I've thought that fer a long time... just never phrased it suh pretty...

good fodder fer a tagline...

[darkangel82]

There’s a lot of very thinly-veiled racism in most of what they say.

[darkangel82]

1700