flynn23 wrote:
] Firstly, manufacturing hydrogen cleanly and at low cost is
] ridiculous. Today's technology is already cleaner and at lower
] cost than the current fossil fuel system. I'm producing it
] today and my total investment (minus time) is about $200.
] There's no way in hell that I could've produced and refined
] fossil fuels on my own for an equivalent price. The only thing
] that has not been attempted is to manufacture hydrogen at
] scale. So until someone is willing to pony up the investment
] to do that, shut the hell up, because the numbers prove that
] it is superior in comparison to current and most importantly
] previous fossil fuel acquisition systems.

[ You have a hydrogen production apparatus? How's yours work?

I'm interested in your results... what kind of efficiency are you finding?

As for the article, it wimps out at the end, mostly. I think it's obvious that a hydrogen economy is pointless, at best, until we're getting our hydrogen from a root fuel which is not a hydrocarbon. Which means nuclear, really. Given the resistance people have to the word nuclear, I'm concerned.

I wonder how those PBR's are coming along... -k]

RE: Hydrogen Production Method Could Bolster Fuel Supplies

* People seem to grasp onto oversimplified solutions.

* I have always felt that these problems were systemic and structural rather then limited and specific

* Part of the problem is that we see teenage suicides and mass murders as the problem, rather then as symptoms of larger problems.

[ I will read the article later but wanted to highlight these specific points made by Decius beforehand, because I found them partiularly critical.

That last is one of the most important, I think. We do the same thing in medecine. Treatment vs. prevention. Arguably we do the same thing in criminal justice, to a large extent... trying to rehabilitate criminals rather than eliminate societal ills.

Setting our sights on the video games, access to assault rifles, the rejection of church/religious values is like a doctor claiming the root cause of someone's death was going out in the cold without a jacket. It may have contributed, or worsened the outcome, but the disease is certainly deeper than that. Likewise, arguing that the kid who snaps is "evil" or "crazy" is no better than blaming illness on spirits or god's wrath.

Americans, in general, need to shift their focus from treatment to prevention. Dialogue will be mostly pointless until that happens, i think. -k]

Why Nerds are Unpopular (Long, and worth it.)

Here is an idea. Everyone grab a hold of all the basic religious scripture and celebrated philosophical writings that they can, spend some time studying them, cast aside all cultural predispositions, and use the light of reason to cast a critical gaze upon the collected wisdom of the ages in an honest search for a path towards an ethically sound and spiritually fulfilled life.

Guess what, that is called 'liberalism'. That is what the definition of a religious liberal is. Apply the same line of thought to politics, and you have what is called a political liberal.

Unfortunately, we in the modern world have gotten into a fairly interesting political debate after the early success of free market capitalism transformed into industrialized oppression of a newly formed 'working class' at the turn of the last century. The reaction to this rather nebulous and yet obvious system of serfdom and resultant economic theory, communism, would unfortunately morph into a horrific system of bureaucratic oppression. Even though both of these inherently flawed ideas are now over a century old, it is still the fact that communism is newer than capitalism, and so it is widely viewed that the 'conservative' is one who supports the free market, and the 'liberal' is one that supports government intervention in an economic market. The answer to the question of government intervention in economics seems to involve a concept that has somehow become a four letter word in recent debate, that is 'nuance'. In reality, both major political parties in the United States support a wide variety of programs of government intervention ranging from corporate welfare and farm subsidies to social security and nationalized health insurance plans.

The honest truth of the matter is that if you subject our current political and social institutions to rational scrutiny and speak your mind concerning the fruits of your research independent without fear of the majority viewpoint then you are a liberal. Even if you don't have any sushi on the dinner table and hate government economic intervention you are a liberal. Thought you were a conservative? Well too bad.

I have a feeling that right now quite a few small-government liberals have been hoodwinked by political conservatives. They have been told that liberalism is socialism, when in fact it is an appeal to reason over what one is told. The political concept of 'conservatism' has been all dressed up with a bizarre infusion of the financial concept of 'fiscal conservatism', which ought to be relabeled 'fiscal sanity'. Holding onto ones money bears little resemblance to holding onto antiquated ideals and corrupt institutions.

Quite a few hawkish liberals have been hoodwinked by social conservatives. After the success of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. it has been easy to play semantic games and try to say that liberalism means nonviolence. Well, I will note that Bertrand Russell, one of the fathers of mod... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

On Liberalism

Do I put this under terrorism?

[ I wouldn't phrase it that way, but I do consider this to be a pretty serious issue, and I'm of mixed minds on it. I disagree with the assessment of birth control as a form of abortion and, thus, of murder, but knowing that that's the connection being made, I understand their unwillingness to dispense the drugs. To me, however, that is an argument for them to choose a different job, not turn vigilante. Analogous to the manner in which a lawyer is beholden to the strictures of the law, even when they produce unwelcome results, the pharmacist must be able to perform their duties, as directed by a physician, and if they cannot, then I think they're in the wrong line of work.
At any rate, I'm more interested in the results of the action. The danger being that in a small community, the free market solution of taking your prescription somewhere else may not be possible or may require driving hours out of your way. To the extent that the drugs are still available *somewhere* close by, the effect of this is probably small, but I fear that that is not the general case. I expect this to be a major theme in the next weeks and years. -k]

Women denied access to birth control

] His final wager had Alex Trebek scratching his head, but
] Kermin was clearly sending a message to fellow computer
] nerds. His wager:
]
] $1337

[ Ha! Sweet. -k]

Thousand Robots: Jeopardy College Tournament Game Won by

] Tuesday's election will probably be decided in 11 states
] where polls currently show the race too tight to predict
] a winner. And, assuming the other states go as predicted,
] a computer analysis finds no fewer than 33 combinations
] in which those 11 states could divide to produce a 269 to
] 269 electoral tie.

OMG

[ All rather unlikely as the article notes, but also, make no mistake (also noted within), a Tie is a win for Bush, as the House is (R) right now. -k]

Electoral College Calculus (washingtonpost.com)

The alternative to blind belief is not simply unbelief but a different kind of belief -- one that embraces uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand. In a complex world, wisdom is knowing what we don't know so that we can keep the future open.

What Derrida Really Meant

] Rackspace Managed Hosting, the San Antonio-based company
] that manages two Indymedia servers seized by the US
] government last Thursday, said yesterday that the servers
] have been returned and are now available to go back
] online. Immediate access to the servers, which host
] Indymedia's Internet radio station and more than 20
] Indymedia websites, will be delayed so that the
] Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) can ensure that the
] servers are secure and take steps to preserve evidence
] for future legal action.

[ Sketchy. -k]

And just like that, the servers were back...

] Female Fox coworker details lewd behavior of cable TV
] star
]
]
] OCTOBER 13--Hours after Bill O'Reilly accused her of a
] multimillion dollar shakedown attempt, a female Fox News
] producer fired back at the TV star today, filing a
] lawsuit claiming that he subjected her to repeated
] instances of sexual harassment and spoke often, and
] explicitly, to her about phone sex, vibrators,
] threesomes, masturbation, the loss of his virginity, and
] sexual fantasies.

Breaking News! Bill O'Reilly is a misogynist.

O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004

] "The technologies don't infringe, people do," Greenberg
] said.

Yeah!

Wired News: Senate Shelves Induce Review