patrick.net

Humanity is overrated. Just wait until the cockroaches become the dominant species on Earth.

alien

I gently remind you that you opened this volley by scoffing at the notion of space conquest as a source of growth. What credentials do you have in that area, since you seem to think only direct participants in a field are qualified to participate in discussions.

What credentials do you have in that area, since you seem to think only direct participants in a field are qualified to participate in discussions.

I have no credentials whatsoever. :(

Buffett and his wife remained friends over the years even after Buffett’s current girlfriend Astrid moved in with him.

Wait a minute --astrid is Warren Buffett's GIRLFRIEND?? When did this happen? Moving up in the world, eh, astrid?

No point in worrying about nuclear power plants and water shortages and space travel, humanity will be destroyed by superbugs and rogue nuclear warheads and polygamy cooties long before we get to that point.

"Wait a minute –astrid is Warren Buffett’s GIRLFRIEND?? When did this happen? Moving up in the world, eh, astrid?"

Alas, no. This particular online handle comes by the way of a Scottish indie pop band named after the 5th Beatle's photographer girlfriend. I will agree that there's much worse things than being a long time girlfriend to an charming, philanthropic, and exceedingly wealthy older gentleman.

alien said:

I think this is unlikely due to EROEI issues.

then

Actually I have a Major in physics.

So I'd guess that someone with a masters in finance would be more qualified to determine EROEI, or did they teach that along with thermodynamics? Aside, I did complete the undergrad engineering physics series through quantum, but that was a long time ago. This is why credentials pissing matches are stupid.

I'm still befuddled as to why somewhere like Israel would knowingly invest their national security and economic future in a desalinization technology that apparently everyone knows is the "wrong technology". It is possible. But you know what they say about incredible claims.

"I will agree that there’s much worse things than being a long time girlfriend to an charming, philanthropic, and exceedingly wealthy older gentleman."

Like a complete loss of grammar function. (Where's the Google toolbar grammar check?)

Correction

I will agree that there ARE much worse things than being a long time girlfriend to A charming, philanthropic, and exceedingly wealthy older gentleman.

RE: Correction

I can guess that "charming, philanthropic, and " was inserted afterwards. Am I right? :)

"I can guess that “charming, philanthropic, and ” was inserted afterwards. Am I right? I can guess that “charming, philanthropic, and ” was inserted afterwards. Am I right? "

No, actually, charming and philanthropic came first. I always liked Warren Buffet's apparent lack of pretensions (including lack of pretension at not having pretensions) and his ability to get along with a large and disparate group of people. I also admire how he made his money and how he and his family are spending its money. The exceedingly wealthy part is kind of an afterthought...I'm not aiming to marry him or get some money off of him, so the exact extent of his wealth isn't important for me.

I'm just a very poor grammarian.

As it happens I tend to avoid commenting on subjects of which I have no knowledge.

I always comment on subjects of which I know nothing about. But again, I am for entertainment only. :)

Randy,

So were you talking about freshwater or tritium?

Its just very hot here and my air conditioning has decided to fail

In this situation I would just take a cool bath and meditate. Perhaps I would burn an incense to clear my mind?

Randy is a really nice person. So he will not hate you for too long. :)

I thought deuterium + tritium was considered the most promising combo for fusion power.

As for freshwater. I can't take the US seriously on this matter until they stop keeping lawns and golf courses and make some serious revisions to the American west's water rights apportionment.

Folks in the BA are lucky they get water from Hetch Hetchy. BA water tastes so much better than LA water.

BA water tastes so much better than LA water.

Have you been to San Jose?

off topic....

Okay, I've read several times about people referrring to prices moving sideways - what the hell does that mean, how can a price move sideways, not up or down? I guess I missed that explanation/definition - could anyone enlighten me?

"Have you been to San Jose?"

Not long enough to drink SJ tap water.

Though this graphic suggests that SJ is also part of the Hetch Hetchy water diversion system.

http://bawua.org/docs/hetch_map.pdf

http://www.pulteplus.com/landing.htm

Pulte offering incentives in Sunnyvale.

Tritium, because bone cancer can be painful...

Pulte offering incentives in Sunnyvale.

There are several new communities in that part of Sunnyvale: Pulte, Toll, and now Barry Swenson. We will see.

It's Just Money: Rich Toscano of Piggington Goes Head to Head with a Realtor

Interesting debate.

So at least for the Netherlands I can say we are carefully watching the US. And it doesn’t look good.

So you have your finger in the dike?

Nature will adapt. It isn’t likely to care whether it is ignored or not. The question of how Nature’s adaptation to human intervention will affect the human race’s survival prospects is unfortunately unanswerable in advance.

it's interesting that whenever there has been a significant shift in global climate, there has been a massive die-off of macro species, and others eventually rise up to take their place. i think man is one of the few species who will be able to persist, as man already lives in a diverse range of climates, can travel quickly over long distances, can change the environment and control technology, and is omnivorous and not dependent on a small subset of species as a food source. it appears nature has come up with the best adaptation so far in the form of bipedalism, a large brain AND opposable thumbs...

by a coincidence, I happened to be watching the head of the Australian Conservation Foundation on the National Press Club talk yesterday, who had a lot of interesting things to say. not happy about nuclear power generally vs 'alternative' energy production. he also made the point that the ACF is the voice for species that cannot speak for themselves when it comes to deforestation, climate change, etc.

a $2bn desal plant was proposed here, but it would have been supplied by coal-burning power stations, not nuclear, which would have meant the release of huge amounts of CO2. not popular, so they shelved it. was going to use some sort of membrane process rather than distillation or similar... and they let huge amounts of water run off the city to the sea as stormwater whenever it rains, which is mostly just on the coast these days - complete inability to recycle...

this guy recycles his sewage onsite in his tiny back yard in an inner-city terrace and catches rainwater, and doesn't use any water from the mains as a result... i've posted him in before...
http://www.abc.net.au/science/planet/house/special.htm

alien,

No offense taken. I should apologize first for taking an overly defensive stance. I owe the same apology to Zephyr from a couple threads ago.

I've had the in-laws in house for the past few weeks. I'm afraid my nerves are wearing thin.

I just wonder how other countries' markets can defy gravity if the US market crashes -- it doesn't make sense for one major market to have a correction given the nature of the fundamentals, to not have similar corrections in the netherlands, UK, oz, spain, eire, etc... leaving out flow-on effects from one economy to another for the moment... it's possible for some OECD countries to ride out recessions other countries are having if they are strong in commodities or similar, or have good prudential arrangements, but the boom pattern is very similar across these countries, and it seems like every unsustainable credit bubble should burst...

Information comes from the media. Those in the media (especially the higher income people) own property.

Close, but not quite on the nail... the media make huge revenues from real estate advertising -- huge revenues. they don't want to upset their cash cow source by running negative stories... altho some medial moguls have property interests as well, and don't want to see their own multi-million properties going down in value -- but they really make their income from advertising, that's the true life-blood of the mass media...