mighty_darknut wrote:i think jesus is a pretty cool guy. eh abolished teh old testament and doesnt afraid of anything
MD, you're my an hero.
Warming Shmorming
I am enjoyed those comment by MD two.
Back to the subject.
Maybe if NASA just stuck with Space and Aeronautics we would actually discover something more than just pictures of what space looks like and actually get to places we've never been. There are plenty of stupid people who would just love to try to go to outerspace who don't care if they die. Place your wager, make a profit or loose.
Back off
Jesus rocks my socks and flips my flops
I don't think there's much we can do to stop global warming, so I don't see why people get into such a hubbub about whether it's real or not. Let's, for a moment, assume it is real, it is man-made, and it is likely to be harmful to us. What are we gonna do? Stop driving - we can't do that. Shut down coal plants - not likely. I think the best we can hope for is to do what humans do best - adapt and survive.
I think it's worth it to say - okay, look, the models predict global warming, we should make a contingency plan here. Now, if the models are wrong, no harm, no foul. Nothing has actually been enacted, so there's no huge waste of taxpayer money or anything. However, if the models are right, well then we are in a position to minimize the potential damage.
I understand that people exploit global warming, but I just think it's a bit much to accuse scientists of lying to stop those people from exploiting it. I mean, let's say you have some quack promoting some snake oil cancer cure - you don't lie and tell people that they don't have cancer, you point out that the "cure" doesn't actually do anything to stop the cancer.
We shouldn't stop driving, we should stop driving vehicles that produce greenhouse gas emissions. And we should shut down coal plants, but not until we've got a large-scale alternate power source in place. Coal is a non-renewable resource anyway. Merely choosing to "adapt and survive" is like driving out into a snowstorm with no tire chains and hoping that you'll survive if you get into an accident, when you could just put on some tire chains.
Even if you take global warming out of the equation, coal is fucking gross. It pollutes so much. The fact that this country is run on coal is an intellectual embarrassment. Nuclear is far superior and there is enough uranium to last us far into the future, by which time we will likely have developed fusion power of some kind.
i love seeing people drive SUVs with stickers that say "bring the troops home".
we could have fission powered cars already, but you can't trust the average person to use a straw properly let alone drive anything like that. then there's a little group called OPEC that's happy with the way things are, with enough money to make sure they don't change.
kind of in regards to the topic, i believe india is about to launch their first moon mission with the cooperation of NASA. people aren't interested in space anymore. in a post 9/11 world, firemen are more respected than astronauts.
The problem with coal is that if we attempt to get rid of coal, the coal industry throws a big hissy fit. Never mind the land that gets torn up in mining it, never mind the god-awful pollutants that it puts in the air... Bah - now there's socialism for you - politicians protect the coal industry, and in exchange, the coal unions all support the politicians that protect them.
Going to oil - I sometimes wonder about what would happen if we found an alternative to oil, in terms of OPEC's reaction. I know a lot of people worry about wars over oil, but I worry that there could be a war triggered by us saying "Look, we don't need your oil anymore."