Unofficial Off Topic Thread

[sk47]

Somewhat neutral on loan debt, but not neutral on the crazy, corrupt pricing of universities. Whether they should be forgiven or not aside, that's the root cause for massive student debt.

Hello; Have to agree about the corrupt universities. Students can easily take out these loans and they are backed by the government. The universities are in effect milking the system for much more in tuition and fees than they otherwise could.
Not clear to me how the mindset of the students evolved to the point of getting degrees in subjects without viable career outlooks. Perhaps they looked no further than the term "College Degree" falsely thinking any degree would lead to good paying jobs. I have three family homes which have converted to student housing since i moved in 13 years ago. I talk to these students. They spend freely. One pair had two vacations in Mexico. New cars/truck bought. In my county household trash can be taken free (well landowners such as myself pay taxes to support it) to a close by drop off. So far, all the students in the houses choose to pay $25/month for garbage pickup. I haul my trash the three miles to the drop off.

I can see part of a college campus from my yard. In the last decades the campus has had a building and expansion boom. Extravagance galore.

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[sk47]

Is the dollar being dethroned? India just bought 1M barrels of oil from the UAE using rupees instead of USD for the first time ever — why this could spell doom for the greenback (msn.com)

 

[CrazyHippie]

First-Ever Two-Piece Connecting Rod Is Intriguing Piece of Tech (msn.com)

Saw this today. Referring to the old saying "you cannot push a chain", I wonder what keeps the two pivot points on the connecting rods from allowing moving around of the short rod sections. Maybe there are some sort of stops built in the pivots?


I get the advantage of no side loads on the piston skirts. Less friction maybe???

Bet some sort of noise is associated.

The article states:
"It effectively moves the pivot point of the piston down from the piston itself to a point on the connecting rod."
I think that the rod is fixed at the piston and only pivots at the lower joint.

 

[sk47]

The article states:
"It effectively moves the pivot point of the piston down from the piston itself to a point on the connecting rod."
I think that the rod is fixed at the piston and only pivots at the lower joint.

Hello; makes sense I guess. So there still only two pivot points just as before. The old style of a pivot at the wrist pin of the piston is gone with a new spot for the pivot in the middle of the connecting rod itself.
I would like to see this at some point if it proves viable.

 

[sk47]

Major 'Population Correction' Coming For Humanity, Scientist Predicts (msn.com)

Hello; (My comments) This takes me back to the 1970’s. Exponential population growth was being noted at the time and predictions of future populations were being made. Those predictions are todays reality of course.

‘A little over two centuries ago, in the year 1800, roughly a billion people called Earth home.

Just a century later, it had grown by another 600 million.

Today, there are around 8 billion people on the planet.

That sort of growth is unsustainable for our ecosphere, risking a 'population correction' that according to a new study could occur before the century is out.”

Hello; (My comments) Gotta love the euphemism of ‘population correction’. I have been using ‘die off’ for decades. A big surprise, for me, so far is that a major ‘population correction’ has not already happened. We are a couple of decades past the time I had estimated back in the 1970’s. I have come to understand it is hard to estimate/predict gloom and doom scenarios. The ecosystems seem to be much more elastic than I had figured. Takes longer.

“He argues that we're using up Earth's resources at an unsustainable rate, and that our natural tendencies as humans make it difficult for us to correct this "advanced ecological overshoot".”

Hello; (My comments) Learned a new, to me, term. Ecological overshoot. I will open that link to see what the equivalents might have been 5 plus decades ago.

“From our consumption of biomass to the disruption of planetary nutrient cycles, these interlinked problems are all propelling Earth's sixth mass extinction and risking a chaotic break-down of our planet's essential life-support systems.”

“What's more, our proposed solutions, such as switching to renewables don't actually address the problem of exponential population growth and in fact further contribute to the excess consumption that goes along with it.”

Hello; (My comments) I noted he included “climate change” in the study report a few times. Not sure why as decades ago we could get similar conclusions with nary a word about the climate. Guess to be published Climate change has to be mentioned. I do have to agree with the above conclusion however. Switching to renewables and other “green” energy things has little to no effect on what I called “overpopulation”.

“Another point that Rees makes – and he's not the first to do so – is that we need to be much more aware of the peril that we're in, and should be working out ways to get a better balance between our give-and-take relationship with the planet.”

Hello; (My comments) I along with many others tilted at this particular windmill long ago. I wish him luck but do not think he will convince many to limit the population. My personal experience with a few folks I have known over those decades has been negative. One relative I knew as a child who is now in early middle age is a good example. She heard my spiel many times and now has four children. Hope this author can stand to lose.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Major 'Population Correction' Coming For Humanity, Scientist Predicts (msn.com)

Hello; (My comments) This takes me back to the 1970’s. Exponential population growth was being noted at the time and predictions of future populations were being made. Those predictions are todays reality of course.

‘A little over two centuries ago, in the year 1800, roughly a billion people called Earth home.

Just a century later, it had grown by another 600 million.

Today, there are around 8 billion people on the planet.

That sort of growth is unsustainable for our ecosphere, risking a 'population correction' that according to a new study could occur before the century is out.”

Hello; (My comments) Gotta love the euphemism of ‘population correction’. I have been using ‘die off’ for decades. A big surprise, for me, so far is that a major ‘population correction’ has not already happened. We are a couple of decades past the time I had estimated back in the 1970’s. I have come to understand it is hard to estimate/predict gloom and doom scenarios. The ecosystems seem to be much more elastic than I had figured. Takes longer.

“He argues that we're using up Earth's resources at an unsustainable rate, and that our natural tendencies as humans make it difficult for us to correct this "advanced ecological overshoot".”

Hello; (My comments) Learned a new, to me, term. Ecological overshoot. I will open that link to see what the equivalents might have been 5 plus decades ago.

“From our consumption of biomass to the disruption of planetary nutrient cycles, these interlinked problems are all propelling Earth's sixth mass extinction and risking a chaotic break-down of our planet's essential life-support systems.”

“What's more, our proposed solutions, such as switching to renewables don't actually address the problem of exponential population growth and in fact further contribute to the excess consumption that goes along with it.”

Hello; (My comments) I noted he included “climate change” in the study report a few times. Not sure why as decades ago we could get similar conclusions with nary a word about the climate. Guess to be published Climate change has to be mentioned. I do have to agree with the above conclusion however. Switching to renewables and other “green” energy things has little to no effect on what I called “overpopulation”.

“Another point that Rees makes – and he's not the first to do so – is that we need to be much more aware of the peril that we're in, and should be working out ways to get a better balance between our give-and-take relationship with the planet.”

Hello; (My comments) I along with many others tilted at this particular windmill long ago. I wish him luck but do not think he will convince many to limit the population. My personal experience with a few folks I have known over those decades has been negative. One relative I knew as a child who is now in early middle age is a good example. She heard my spiel many times and now has four children. Hope this author can stand to lose.

It would help a lot if Vegans and vegetarians also stopped eating plants.

 

[sk47]

Facebook is slammed for censoring posts linking increase in whale deaths along east coast to offshore WIND FARMS (msn.com)

Hello; Not enough information yet to take a stance as to if the wind farms are involved in killing whales/ dolphins.
That Facebook is again censoring content, if true, is not actually a Suprise as it has happened before.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Facebook is slammed for censoring posts linking increase in whale deaths along east coast to offshore WIND FARMS (msn.com)

Hello; Not enough information yet to take a stance as to if the wind farms are involved in killing whales/ dolphins.
That Facebook is again censoring content, if true, is not actually a Suprise as it has happened before.

Didn't read but can't they just put the blades higher than the whales can breach?

 

[sk47]

Didn't read but can't they just put the blades higher than the whales can breach?

Hello; I guess you jest. I also have not looked into the details. The little i hear or see may have more to do with the noise associated with the wind turbines. For a time i figured the construction noise was what is suspected. Maybe blasting for footings??

I think the spinning blades are suspected of killing birds. I use to ride a bicycle a lot. Saw lots of dead songbirds along the road. Even have found a dead one in the Grill of a car. I speculate a form of selection might take place. The birds who fly at car height level might be selected against while those who fly a bit higher may do better.
I note that the crows and turkey vultures seem to have somewhat figured out cars.

 

[sk47]

Our pets are part of the climate problem. These tips can help you minimize their carbon pawprints | CNN

“Their meat-heavy diet is the biggest contributor to their carbon pawprints, which requires an abundance of energy, land and water to produce. And the production of pet food emits huge amounts of planet-warming gases. According to a 2017 study, feeding dogs and cats creates the equivalent of around 64 million tons of carbon dioxide in the US each year. That’s roughly the same impact as 13.6 million cars on the road. And, if our furry friends formed a separate country, it would rank 5th in global meat consumption behind China, the US, Brazil and Russia, according to UCLA professor and author of that study Gregory Okin.”

The truth about the environmental paw print of dogs (and cats) — and how to reduce it | (ted.com)

“We all know the numbers by now. Industrial meat production is the single biggest cause of global deforestation. It creates an estimated 14.5 percent of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions — more than the combined emissions from all forms of transport. In the face of these alarming numbers, there has been a groundswell of people attempting to eat zero, or less, meat.”

““But what about the little carnivores that share our homes, our beloved pets? US dogs and cats snarf down more than 200 petajoules (a unit that measures the energy content of food) worth of food per year — roughly the same as the human population of France, according to Gregory Okin, a researcher at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “We’re talking about animals whose consumption is on the order of nations,” he says.”

“The result: An additional 64 million tons of greenhouse gases are being pumped into the atmosphere each year. That’s equivalent to 13.6 million cars being driven for a year. Keep in mind, too that Okin’s numbers only reflect the environmental impacts of producing animals for meat. They don’t include the energy costs of transporting, slaughtering or processing those animals to become food. “And the processing with pet food is intense,” he says. Meat and meat by-products are typically heat-sterilized, extruded or rendered before being packaged, put on a truck and shipped around the country. All of which means that Okin’s numbers represent just a portion of the problem.”

“Then there’s the plastic waste. If you’re a responsible owner who dutifully picks up after your pooch, you may feel conflicted as you plow through hundreds of petroleum-based plastic baggies — at least 700 per year if your dog “does her business” twice per day. Even the “biodegradable” alternatives aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. That’s because they’re designed to break down under specific compost conditions, not in a landfill. But composting dog waste in your backyard is tricky and risky, and most municipal facilities do not accept pet waste. It’s a crappy predicament, all told.”

Hello; First for what it may be worth I did not post these two links because I do not want you to have a dog or cat. More to illustrate what is waiting in the wings of the climate change/global warming agendas. I understand why attacks on the climate impact from pets is not front page news. Too many people have dogs and cats they love. The champions may take away, without too much of a fight, your ICE vehicles, your gas stoves & water heaters, your fossil fueled power plants and maybe even the meat from humans, but I do not think many will give up their dogs and especially the cats. But the idea is on the table. Has been for a very long time. I knew of these sorts of ideas decades ago.

After reading thru both links, it became clear they refer to work by Gregory Okin out of UCLA. Both links try to ease their message eventually with suggestions of how to reduce the impact of your pets. Interesting after the dire early content.

I no longer have a dog nor a cat. Not because of carbon or climate. I live near a busy highway. My dog Benjamin got away and was killed on a busy highway. If I ever live in a suitable place, I might have another dog.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I need to find it again and post the article calling for NASA to develop methods to alter asteroid paths so they hit the Earth.

 

[sk47]

Hello; I may have discovered something, but do not know for sure. I still have a landline on which I get lots of calls from folks trying to sell me things. I also get the various scam calls. One it seems is the scam caller trying to get you to say the word "yes" . I have started answering with "I hear you, go ahead " in place of saying yes to any of their questions. Often, they will just hang up right away. Happened again just before I started writing this post.
Never occurred to me about such a scam, but I have seen such reported on TV.

 

[sk47]

Why should anyone care about Fauci's opinion on climate change? (msn.com)

Hello; This story is a hoot. It gets hot in Texas during the summer.

 

[sk47]

Everybody Knew the Invasive Grass of Maui Posed a Deadly Fire Threat, But Few Acted (msn.com)
Hello; I am sure "climate change" will continue to be blamed for the fires by some. Seems there were other more ordinary factors involved. I did not know specifically of the invasive grasses mentioned in the story. I have known of other invasive species the last few decades.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Everybody Knew the Invasive Grass of Maui Posed a Deadly Fire Threat, But Few Acted (msn.com)
Hello; I am sure "climate change" will continue to be blamed for the fires by some. Seems there were other more ordinary factors involved. I did not know specifically of the invasive grasses mentioned in the story. I have known of other invasive species the last few decades.

It's a shame Insurance companies can't/won't drive solutions by raising rates BEFORE the calamities. They can raise rates because a roof is getting old or showing signs in insurance drone flyovers. No reason they would be ignorant of the grass infestation and its risks.

You can bet something would have been done BEFORE if everyone's rates doubled or tripled.

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