Unofficial Off Topic Thread

[sk47]

You are missing nothing. Crypto is just another form of NFT.... the problem creates a unique result, a bit coin. The block chain ensures no duplication. If something is unique, somebody will pay for it with the expectation it will increase in value. The problem is that it only has value if somebody is willing to pay for it. It has no underlying value. The major attraction of crypto is transactions are extremely fast with no footprint and can't be traced. But, that is changing. Once transactions become tracked like your credit card or Paypal account it will lose value quickly.

Hello; Thanks. I still do not like that so much electric power is being wasted.

Sponsored

 

[Balr14]

Hello; Thanks. I still do not like that so much electric power is being wasted.

I agree 100%. Too many people trying to get rich quick. This is like the gold rush of 1849, only it's virtual.

 

[sk47]

Hawaii site that measures global CO2 shuts down after Mauna Loa volcano eruption (msn.com)

Hello; I understand that power lines were cut by the eruption recently. What i did not know before is that the place where global atmospheric CO2 has been measured was located on a volcano. This volcano has been active before in my lifetime so not exactly dormant.

The big island is the biggest because it is still on top of a "hot spot" and is still growing some. It is slowly about the move off the hot spot and n new island is likely to form. My guess is the older islands have eroded away some.

Guess my surprise is that a CO2 monitoring station was placed on a natural emission source of CO2 such as a volcano. Guess they can compensate some how????

 

[sk47]

Energy firms double down on investigating customers who cut back on electricity to afford bills (msn.com)

Hello; Two things struck me with this story. The first and most obvious is some people are truly hurting economically.
The second is how clueless the top power company officials appear to be about the situation.

 

[sk47]

Hello; Unhappy and bothered today. My father was a Marine during WWII. He served in the pacific. I get not much can be said here. Another Marine is in my thoughts tonight.

 

[sk47]

Greg Abbott Faces Texas Grid 'Emergency' as Power Plants Fail (msn.com)

“The department's emergency order allows Texas grid operators to pollute more than allowed in an effort to boost electricity generation amid threatening cold temperatures. This means Texas power plants can burn dirtier fuel oil instead of natural gas to generate power through Christmas morning, according to The Texas Tribune on Saturday.”

“Around 11,000 megawatts of coal and gas-fired power, 4,000 megawatts of wind and 1,700 megawatts of solar power generating units were "derated" or "outaged" due to severe weather conditions, according to the DOE.”

 

[sk47]

Warning about aquifer's decline sets up big fight in Kansas (msn.com)

Hello; I have posted about this a few times in other threads. Mostly as part of my contention there are much more serious issues looming than climate change or warming. This depletion of the aquifer has immediate and ongoing consequences.
I had been including aquifer depletion in my science class lessons back as far as the 1980's. We have known for a long time the water is being pumped out very much faster than it can be replaced. The aquifer built up over many thousands of years. We started doing big volume removal with center pivot irrigation pumps run on engines.
The issue is this has been a main water source for much of the "breadbasket" plains states which grow so much wheat. Natural forces built up a very thick layer of good soil over a very long time. Best i recall maybe over five feet in places. Was good wheat growing areas even before the center pivot irrigation started.
This is a two pronged issue with the water coming to a head a bit sooner. The other is the erosion of all that wonderful topsoil over the decades.
Either of these, water or topsoil loss, will be critical long before climate or warming. Lots of poor policies around farmland. In my area the folks moving in from California and other places are increasing demand for housing. Old farms are rarely sold intact anymore. Most become housing developments turning farm land into lawns.

 

[sk47]

‘Someone tell me wtf a bottle deposit fee is and why am I paying it?’: Target shopper says they had to pay bottle deposit fee when buying Red Bull (msn.com)
Hello; The link is about a bottle return deposit. Not something new. Such was around back in the 1950 &60's. We paid a 2 cents deposit on soda bottles back then. People would save bottles and/or go around collecting them to return for the deposit money.
Pretty much went away after one way/throwaway packaging became common. A deposit fee gives value to used items so they do not become just trash.

 

[sk47]

They paved paradise. And now it's flooding a lot. (msn.com)
Hello; In my area when older farmers pass away the farms a very often changed from farm land into housing developments. Usually starts at an auction. The farms are sectioned off into lots and auctioned one by one.
Then at the end of the individual lot auctions someone can bid for the entire farm. Thing is they add up the prices for each lot from the individual lot auctions just completed and that total is the starting bid for the whole property. Most often that starting bid is a lot higher than the farm might sell for as farmland.
Of course, the houses, driveways, connecting roads, swimming pools, tennis courts and all wind up covering what was open ground. Add to that is whatever food was produced on the land in the past is lost.

 

[Bobn57]

Hello; I need to read the article again. Not clear if there is a pivoting wrist pin at the piston or if the short rod section at the piston is somehow fixed.

looks like a wrist pin at piston. interesting concept. per article.....allows the piston to drop faster and farther, while increasing torque and boosting dynamic compression by 25 to 30 percent. And since there are no forces pushing the piston side to side, the rod also eliminates piston rock.

 

[sk47]

NASA - Japan Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days, Moved Axis

Hello; The "figure axis" was shifted a few feet it seems. Apparently affected the "wobble" of the axis. Best i can recall also called precession???

Ought to be of interest to climate investigations maybe??

 

[sk47]

There’s an Environmental Crisis Brewing Under Water. Its Culprit May Surprise You. (msn.com)

Hello; One comment and one prediction. Comment is about what I believe is called methane hydrate. This is methane in ocean beds in a stable state. May not be present in the mineral mining area mentioned in the article. My understanding is the methane is found in deep and cold areas.

Prediction is using the needs of the "green" agenda the mentioned actual environmental concerns may not get the due attention deserved. May even be dismissed for the common cause. That would be an ironic addition to the already ironic state of mining for EV battery minerals currently in progress. Gotta appreciate the rose colored glasses needed to largely ignore the environmental impact of mining for EV battery minerals and only see the impact of fossil fuels as important.

 

[sk47]

Mexico bans solar geoengineering tests after US startup's unsanctioned 'science project' (msn.com)
Hello; Not sure where to stand on this one. I am very suspect of large "cures" in the name of trying to control the heat from solar radiation. The idea of an upper atmosphere sun screen has been around for a long time. The questions of can it be practical and what the unintended consequences might be are also not new.
This small scale test is something that might yield information. Good information (data) is the basis of good science. At least that was the way it used to be before science got hijacked by special interests.

 

[sk47]

'Thats not fair!!! I already told her she can have them': Entitled mother insists on free products, then she really escalates her demands (msn.com)

Hello; This is funny. Thing is I have known people much like this. Had a neighbor for a short time in a nearby rental house. The guy did not work. His current girlfriend did work and was pregnant by him. He had a 4th grade four-year-old daughter living with him whose mother is the sister of the current girlfriend. (yes he got two sisters pregnant.)
Somehow, he got an old car. One day he saw me lug in a five gallon can of fuel for my lawnmower. He came over and asked to borrow some gas. I said he could have the five gallons I just bought less a quart i put into the mower for $20. He stammered around a bit and finally told me he did not have the money. I did not relent, and he went away.

He eventually had the car repoed as he never made any payments. He would park it behind the rental house, but they found it anyway.

He was never out of cigarettes or beer but the young 4th grade girl borrowed milk and such from the neighbors. I found out which school she attended. Went to the school and gave money her teacher for school supplies. Knew better than give to the man.

After ruining the septic system of the house and not paying rent that family left.

 

[sk47]

Mom Tells Teen Son She Sold Fallen Marine Dad's Car, But Secretly Gets It Restored For Him (msn.com)

Hello; This is a good story.

Sponsored