Comment Re:alpha test? (Score 1) 268
That being said, you do raise a good point that all of the other additional security measures like full-body scanners and shoe removal would be pointless against such an attack.
It was less that two years ago that they said that the reason warming is lower than forecasts is because of pollution in China
RTFA. Your point was directly addressed in the story:
"Diesel engines can spew mostly soot, but coal burning puts out both climate-warming soot and sulfur that goes on to cool the climate by reflecting solar energy back into space."
In other words, no reversal whatsoever. The researchers simply realized that the impact of soot is much larger than previously estimated, so much so that it outweighs the potential cooling impact of sulfur emissions.
The military wouldn't have a chance...unless they wanted to just kill everyone.
So, our best weapons against total oppression by the government is the threat of mass civilian casualties? How exactly does arming the populace improve that tactical advantage?
They not only look at upstream emissions but also the cost of drilling for oil, shipping it to you gas station, and also downstream pollution (shipping the junk car to China for recycling)
Most what you just stated is exactly what the upstream CO2 emissions are accounting for.:
"Tailpipe and Upstream Emissions
These estimates include CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide emitted from all steps in the use of a fuel, from production and refining to distribution and final use—vehicle manufacture is excluded. "
Vehicle manufacture and/or recycling are not included, but over a reasonable lifespan, the difference between any two vehicles in those areas will be minimal compared to their fuel/energy usage.
The TSA has nothing to do with terrorism.
Here's my problem with this philosophy: there is no fundamental difference between the TSA and the myriad of private companies that handled airport security for decades prior to 9/11.
Clearly, the TSA procedures are somewhat more inconvenient (taking off your shoes) or somewhat more humiliating (standing in a millimeter wave scanner in the proper pose for three seconds) than they used to be (empty pockets, walk through metal detector). Fundamentally, though, you are being asked to submit to searches of your person and property in exchange for the privilege of flying a plane.
My point is, if the TSA is simply security theater and is not meant to actually prevent terrorism, how can the old system not have been as well? And more importantly, why didn't people have security theater outrage in the past?
Yet this is what it takes to power ONE BUILDING. JUST ONE
Yes, one datacenter containing what are surely thousands of AC-cooled servers. By another comparison, this 20MW solar farm would provide enough electricity to meet the annual needs of nearly 15,000 homes (in California, using about 6000 kWh per household annually. The US average is higher).
http://www.physics.uci.edu/~silverma/actions/HouseholdEnergy.html
And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm' without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones