Apr
Swine Flu Outbreak Resources
Posted by jerry as World
The recent discovery of the swine flu and the number of people that have apparently become infected and died is becoming quite concerning to many. We can see that there are many people taking quite seriously. The price of oil has dropped $3 per barrel on this news.
The good news is that it the deaths seems to be few and contained to Mexico.
Below are some resources that I have found useful for tracking the swine flu.
- Pink markers are suspect
- Purple markers are confirmed
- Deaths lack a dot in marker
- Yellow markers are negative
CDC Page on Swine Flu - Includes a current table of confirmed cases and their locations.
Friends, please be safe and well.
Oct
Nukes…
Posted by jerry as World, politics
Just read this article on reddit, and my head is about to explode. The author clearly writes with an authoritative air about military operations, and seems to have his shit straight with a believable story. Trouble is, it’s got holes.
The author makes a reference to “central command” several times. Anyone at all intimate with US military strategy understands that central command is located in Doha, Quatar, not in the Pentagon, and would not be governing the movement of nuclear weapons in the US. That job would either fall to United States Transportation Command or to United States Strategic Command. I really am not sure which in this particular case.
What concerns me is that this is a really good story written with a seemingly good handle on military protocol. Yet, a basic fact like that is wrong, so what does that say about the rest of the article? Probably not much if you really really hate Dick Cheney. Speaking of which, I have yet to understand how good ole Dick has obtained so much control over the military as to be able to single handedly oder the shipment of nuclear weapons to a war front. Maybe he does, but call me skeptical.
When I heard the story originally, my first thought was that of propoganda – not a mistake or any kind of internal struggle. This administration is extrodinarily effective at managing the media, if you can say nothing else for them. I have to believe that whatever the “real” plan is, it involved letting Iran/Syria/whoever else know that we had nuclear weapons en-route to their back door at one point, and that was just on accident. “Just wait and see what happens when we get mad!”. I still think that’s a pretty likely scenario.
Oct
Thinking about carbon footprints…
Posted by jerry as Environment, World, politics
While in the gym yesterday, I got to thinking about all of the talk recently about reducing one’s carbon footprint. At first, I pondered about how my decision to work out would impact my carbon footprint – it clearly doesn’t help. I eat a LOT more, I create more waste, I convert more O2 to CO2, I waste water in showers, etc, etc. In a way, my decision to be healthy has negative environmental consequences.
I’ve really not been one to be overly concerned about that, though - I drive gas guzzlers, live in a really big house, that’s a really long way from my office – the American dream if you will.
I got over my guilt quickly and started to think about people who really do care about the environment and really are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. I started to wonder – do they really – and I mean really – understand the impacts of their decisions? For instance – riding your bike to work might save 1 gallon of gas, but causes you to need an extra 500 calories of food. We know that the impact of burning a gallon of gas releases 20 lbs of CO2 into the air. But, what did it take to make that 500 calories? It might not be 20lbs of CO2, but it’s not 0, either.
My point is not to throw eggs at people who have decided to try to live more environmentally responsible, just to make sure it’s being done in a sensible way. I do believe that our society as it is today is wholly unsustainable. My issues is that on one side, we have people saying “free market enterprise will solve the problem”, and on the other you have people saying “stop driving, move closer to your work, live in denser communities, etc”. Both groups are so out of touch with reality that the last 2 people on Earth will be arguing with each other as they succomb to some manmade environmental disaster.
Free markets will continue doing whatever is most profitable until it is no longer profitable. If I come up with a way to make electricity that is environmentally nuetral, but it costs 15 times normally sourced energy, I will be out of business in no time. Even if all the ice at the poles melts and we have lots of lucky new beach front owners, there won’t be a “free market” force that makes something that’s 10x more expensive more attractive.
On the other hand, people want their cars. They want their houses. They want a yard, privacy, kids, a dog, the minivan, and so on. That’s not going to change. I know we live as in a society of sheeple, giving up our liberties for security – so long as it doesn’t interfere with “Dancing with the Stars”, but I believe there would be hell to pay if we start taking away people’s house in the country and making them live in a small highrise condo so they don’t have to have a car. And furthermore, the beloved government this group tends to align itself with is so blatently inept at civil engineering projects, that the infrastructure to support the commuter-less utopian city-state is out of reach.
What we need are practical solutions. One I saw that made lots of sense was the algae oil concept. It uses algae to remove CO2 from powerplant exhaust, then the algae can be processed into bio deisel. But, I’m skeptical that even this has the ability to rise to a level of profitibality.
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