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Comment living in China reminded me of 1960s science (Score 3, Interesting) 238

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s science culture was popular in the US. People looked forward to new discoveries and gadgets and careers in science. Big industry did need to be restrained by environmentalists and that did mostly work in the US. Then young people got seduced by higher paying jobs in finance, an industry that doesnt really create much else than money.

When I travel in China I see the pro-science and technology attitudes of my youth. It i s refreshing.

Comment 500 lumen barrier for a while (Score 1) 243

Thats about 40W incadescent bulb, the minimum many people require for evening reading. They just couldnt get a single white LED or small sets of them to work for long periods of time at this intensity. So they offered a "X Prize" and Philips won a few years ago. I've started to see some 1000 lumen LED bulbs around now.

Comment air travel is the big elephant (Score 1) 652

A passenger mile and automobile mile emit about the same amount carbon, i.e. about a pound of CO2 per mile. Its just a single trans-ocean flight will exceed the amount of driving most do in a year. I dont think many people who go on these international eco-trips pay much attention to this. I have seen some disclaimers in adventurer documentaries that the makers purchased carbon offsets to make trips carbon neutral. Wink wink. Offset try to pay others to cut their consumption so you can increase yours. Or plant a certain number of trees.

Although ground transportation made great strides in employing renewable energy, its hard to see how air travel can. Planes have run off of biofuels. Its hard to see how a plane can store enough electromotive energy to be practical. Requires two orders of magnitude beyond what struggling ground EVs can do. Dsytopian scfi novels have air travel as an extreme luxury when carbon fuels run out, whenever that is.

Comment air travel is the big elephant (Score -1, Offtopic) 69

A passenger mile and automobile mile emit about the same amount carbon, i.e. about a pound of CO2 per mile. Its just a single trans-ocean flight will exceed the amount of driving most do in a year. I dont think many people who go on these international eco-trips pay much attention to this. I have seen some disclaimers in adventurer documentaries that the makers purchased carbon offsets to make trips carbon neutral. Wink wink. Offset try to pay others to cut their consumption so you can increase yours. Or plant a certain number of trees.

Although ground transportation made great strides in employing renewable energy, its hard to see how air travel can. Planes have run off of biofuels. Its hard to see how a plane can store enough electromotive energy to be practical. Requires two orders of magnitude beyond what struggling ground EVs can do. Dsytopian scfi novels have air travel as an extreme luxury when carbon fuels run out, whenever that is.

Comment How could hospital miss the obvious? (Score 1) 258

Traveler from Liberia with high fever turned away for two days. Then that ridiculous hospital spokesman on TV trying to explain it away. The only lucky thing is the patient was probably too sick to walk anywhere and cut down on the number of contacts. I feel really safe with a health system as alert as this.

Comment "Interantional Moon Base 2030" (Score 1) 197

Rather than a bunch of silly independent races, designate an interesting single area of Luna to accumulate missions and habitable equipment from all countries. Kind of modeled after Antarctic bases. Remember Antartica was uninhabited for 34 years between the inital polar races (1904-1911) and its first long term bases (1945). World Wars didnt help the situation.

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