Growing an Economy without spewing out CO2
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/?p=14021
Posted: May 23, 2013, 12:51 pm – Last updated: May 23, 2013, 12:51 pm
View 775 Thursday, May 23, 2013
Talk continues on carbon taxes, and there are political claims that Oklahoma deserved destruction since it produces oil and contributes to global warming and global warming causes extreme weather. Some of the rhetoric is frantic: we cannot continue spewing out CO2 into the atmosphere. We summed up what we know for sure a couple of days ago: CO2 levels in 1800 were about 280 ppm. In 1900 they were about 300 parts per million. Current levels are about 400. The error rates are in the order of 10% for the earliest estimates, and about 3% now…
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This is a pretty dramatic rise in CO2. Up to now there is little evidence that the higher levels have caused harm, and considerable evidence that they have aided plant growth. If the growth rate slowed to a stop time would erase much of the growth in atmospheric CO2 concentration from the last century. While there may be benefits to the higher CO2 levels, I think few would regret a halt in their growth.
The problem with that is energy: there can’t be any economic growth without increases in the availability of energy, and the cost of energy is a very large part of the cost of economic growth. For the most part, any increase in low cost energy availability means an increase in production of atmospheric CO2.
All of this should be obvious although many of the AGW True Believers seem to be ignoring it…
…Going Green? Then Go Nuclear
We’re environmentalists, but pretending that solar power is ready for prime time is delusional.
By TED NORDHAUS And MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER
Over the last several decades, the cost of electricity from solar panels has declined dramatically, while the cost of building new nuclear plants has risen steadily. This has reaffirmed the long-standing view of many environmentalists that it will be cheaper and easier to reduce global warming emissions through solar electricity than with new nuclear plants. But while continuing price declines might someday make solar cheaper than nuclear, it’s not true today. Yet the mythmaking persists.
. . .
The cost of building and operating the Finnish nuclear plant over the next 20 years will be $15 billion. Over that time period, the plant will generate 225 terawatt-hours (twh) of electricity at a cost of 7 cents per kilowatt hour.
Since 2000, Germany has heavily subsidized electricity production from solar panels—offering long-term contracts to producers to purchase electricity at prices substantially above wholesale rates. The resulting solar installations are expected to generate 400 twh electricity over the 20 years that the panels will receive the subsidy, at a total cost to German ratepayers of $130 billion, or 32 cents per kwh.
In short, solar electricity in Germany will cost almost five times more for every kilowatt hour of electricity it provides than Finland’s new nuclear plant.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323716304578482663491426312.html …
NASA’s Next 3D Printing Frontier Is… Pizza?
http://gizmodo.com/nasas-next-3d-printing-frontier-is-pizza-509023404?
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Forget guns, here’s a 3D printingdevelopment that can’t be overhypedand pretty much anyone with the munchies can get behind. NASA’s sinking a chunk of change into 3D printing food—starting with the humble pizza—in a new project aimed at evolving the future of food for both space and back here on Earth. It’s not quite a replicator, but it’s a start.
The idea is that you wouldn’t cook your food in the normal manner; you’d simply print it out from the basic ingredients such as oils, water and carbohydrate powders. The cartridges would have shelf lives of decades apparently, so it’ll be a bit like a new version of canning, I guess. Soundsdelicious.
Why is the project kicking off with pizza? Because of the multi-layered nature of the best fast food ever, whichshouldbe easier for the printer to produce as a first stab. Mind you, it should be able to spit out spaghetti pretty easily too, right?
I’m thinking this is likely to taste like stale cardboard, but hell, we’ve all had pizza that basically tasted like recycled paper at some point or other. Anyway, it’s the future of food apparently, until we get full-on replicators and can simply shout “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” that is. [QuartzviaSlashGear]
GOD VS. GOV’T: WHAT DOES THE CONSTITUTION REALLY SAY ABOUT THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?
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Dr. John Eastman, a distinguished law professor at Chapman University, told TheBlaze that he believes these non-believers have their story wrong.
“They think the phrase separation of church and state is the First Amendment,” he said, going on to note that these words don’t appear anywhere in the U.S. Constitution.
Just in case you need a refresher, the amendment reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. …
Quantum Computer Kicks PC A?? in First Ever Head-to-Head Test
http://gizmodo.com/quantum-computer-kicks-pc-ass-in-first-ever-head-to-hea-499681531
SEXPAND
Scientists often claim that quantum computers will blow the competition away in the coming years—and now the world’s first head-to-head test has shown they leave regular PCs reeling in their wake.
Quantum computer use the idea of quantum bits, called qubits, that can theoretically take the value of 0 and 1 at the same time—unlike normal digital computers that can only take one state. It’s that blurring of 0s and 1s that gives rise to the claims of speed.
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McGeoch gave each system roughly half a second to find the best solution to a version of the optimisation problem, and repeated the trial with 100 different versions. She then did the experiment for problems involving even more variables and a more complicated equation.
The D-Wave computer found the best solution every time within half a second. The three regular algorithms struggled to keep up for problems with more than 100 or so variables. The best of the three, CPLEX, had to run for half an hour to match D-Wave’s performance on the largest problems.
That’s 3,600 times longer—quite some difference.
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Image by D-Wave
THE FIREARMS STATISTICS THAT GUN CONTROL ADVOCATES DON’T WANT TO SEE
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/06/the-firearms-statistics-that-gun-control-advocates-dont-want-to-see/
May. 6, 2013 3:30pm Jason Howerton
To accompany TheBlaze’s coverage of the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston, we figured it could be helpful to share some gun statistics pointed out to us by some of the NRA Convention attendees. Forget the talking points used by both sides in the gun control debate; we’re going to be talking about verified statistics.
Gun control advocates be advised, these are not the statistics you are looking for.
According to data from the FBI’s uniform crime reports, California had the highest number of gun murders in 2011 with 1,220 — which makes up 68 percent of all murders in the state that year and equates to 3.25 murders per 100,000 people.
The irony of such a grisly distinction is evident when you look at which state was named the state with the strongest gun control laws in 2011 by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. You guessed it — it was California.
“What is very unusual is that California also has a program by which we can remove guns, recover guns from people who have a gun and then subsequently become prohibited or dangerous,” Brady Campaign spokeswoman Amanda Wilcox said at the time.
It should be noted, though, that California is also one of the biggest states in the country, with a population of about about 37 million. Therefore, it might make sense that it would have a high number of murders but its murder rate is still high as gun control has had a seemingly inconsequential impact. In comparison, Texas has a population of about 25.6 million and saw 699 total gun murders in 2011 — nearly half that of California — and a firearms murder rate of 2.91 per 100,000.
In 2011, Utah, the state that the Brady Campaign determined had the least gun control, experienced just 26 gun murders and a firearms murder rate of 0.97. Utah has a population 2.8 million.(Brady Campaign)
But if you look at the data another way — murders per 100,000 people — another gun control haven tops the list.
The FBI data also notes that Washington, D.C. had the highest murder rate per 100,000 people. The nation’s capital saw 12 gun murders per 100,000 in 2011. DC also finished first in gun-related robberies per 100,000 people – with 242.56.
In 1976, the District of Columbia required all guns be registered, banned new handguns and required guns at home to be stored and dissembled or locked up. Unfortunately, the draconian measures — which lasted more than three decades — didn’t had the desired effect.
Journalist and attorney Jeffrey Scott Shapiro explains the not-so-surprising result in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 15, 2013:
The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454.
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Since the gun ban was struck down, murders in the District have steadily gone down, from 186 in 2008 to 88 in 2012, the lowest number since the law was enacted in 1976.
Though it should be noted that the gun murders started decreasing in 1994.
Today, Washington, D.C. still has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. And yet again, the gun murder rate remains dramatically high, the highest in the United States in fact.
So, do the numbers indicate that gun control is the answer to gun violence? You decide.
Glenn Beck – It is the man, not the gun, that is capable of committing acts of evil.
…One story about a particular shotgun, wielded by a “naked hippie” shooting birds decades ago, seemed to have the most impact. Beck explained that after receiving a early morning call about the naked hippie shooting birds out of season, police in California arrested the said hippie and confiscated his WWII-era shotgun.
That man turned out to be the notoriously evil serial killer Charles Manson. After his gun was taken away, he then turned to a knife to commit at least nine grisly murders with his cult group.
“Charlie Manson had his gun taken away. Charlie Manson didn’t use a gun. He killed with a knife,” Beck told a crowd of thousands at the George R. Brown Convention Center Saturday. He explained that it is a person’s intent, not what tool he or she decides to use to commit evil. …
Exp God May 3rd – The Joy of Christ
…There ought to be in every Christian a deep, settled fullness of the joy of Christ that no circumstance of life can dispel…
CALIF. GOV. SIGNS BILL ALLOCATING FUNDS TO CONFISCATE GUNS FROM CRIMINALS, MENTALLY ILL
May. 2, 2013 10:42am
Billy Hallowell
Wednesday, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed controversial legislation aimed at stripping 20,000 of the state’s residents of the rights to own handguns and so-called assault rifles. The politician signed a bill that will ensure funding to ban individuals from ownership if they have a serious mental illness or a criminal conviction.What is, perhaps, most troubling to critics is the notion that these 20,000 individuals obtained their firearms legally, but later illness and legal infractions mean that they no longer have the right to possess them. Brown’s signature means that $24 million in surplus funds will be used to hire new special agents who will go out and locate 40,000 weapons that are currently owned by people who are not intended to have them, the Los Angeles Timesreports.Budget restraints, until now, had made it difficult for the state to fully utilize a system it has developed. Authorities can cross-reference a list of gun owners with other data to determine who is no longer allowed to own a firearm, based on criminal conviction and mental illness. With the list of those individuals falling into these categories growing, it has become difficult.TheBlaze’s Liz Klimas describes the system as follows: “A Prohibited Armed Persons File is created through the Office of the Attorney General. When a person is entered into the Automated Criminal History System, the Consolidated Firearms Information System is also checked to see if they might have possession of a gun. The same check is conducted for those involuntarily admitted into the hospital for mental illness as well.”Proponents of SB 140 claim that the bill will help bridge the financial divide. The Los Angeles Times explains:State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced SB 140, which takes the money from fees paid when people buy guns and allocates it to a three-year campaign to take guns from those ineligible to have them.“We know for the safety of our communities that these people should not possess guns, and our reinvestment in this tracking program gives us the opportunity to confiscate them,” Leno said in a statement.The measure was opposed by Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, who said it should be paid for by the state general fund.“Going after criminals is a good thing, but the way they are paying for it is grossly unfair,” Paredes said. “They are putting the entire burden on the back of law-abiding gun purchasers.”But it’s not only financials that have some debating SB 140. While it is certainly valid to argue that criminals should not have guns, the mental illness element gets a bit murky. And general questions obviously surround who will lose their firearms and what offenses and illnesses will lead to these designations.Take, for instance, a story that Klimas covered in March. As she reported, Lynette Phillips of Upland, California, told TheBlaze in a phone interview she had purchased a gun years ago for her husband, David, as a present. That gun, as well as two others registered to her law-abiding husband (who does not have a history of felonies or mental illness), were seized last Tuesday.Phillips had been in the hospital voluntarily for mental illness last year. The episode was apparently due to medication she was taking. Despite the voluntary nature of her hospitalization, it seems her ability (or her husband’s rather) to own a gun has been impeded. While David has no history of mental illness, it seems his access to a gun means that his wife, too, has a close proximity to it — a reality that is apparently unacceptable (read the full storyhere).So, it’s clear that the law will likely impact others beyond just those individuals with mental illness of criminal records; it will apparently also take aim at those living with them.
Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/archives2/archives2view/view476.html#Tarquin
The lesson for today is from Aristotle and Livy: Tarquin the Proud, telling his son how to establish a tyranny. Tarquin was king in Rome. His son pretended to defect, and went to a neighboring city where he became a general. He sent a messenger to his father to ask what he should do next.Tarquin took the messenger into the garden, and using his stick cut off the heads of all the tall poppies so that none stood out. Then he sent the messenger on his way without reply.His son got the message.The United States seems determined to plant Jacobin Democracy everywhere. Wherever Democracy is established, it always cuts off the heads of the tallest poppies. This is why Cicero and the other sages of classical times rejected Democracy as a form of government: it permitted no one to rise, so that the choices were mediocrity or a tyrant to overthrow the Democracy. The Founding Fathers of the United States understood this very well.When I was in school, every pupil in the United States learned the story of Tarquin and the tallest poppies before eighth grade. Today I don’t suppose anyone has. We sow the wind. The coming Democracy will reap the whirlwind. Perhaps we will achieve empire without going through that stage.