April 2009 Archives

Ah, video games. Is there nothing that they cannot make us yearn for? Who doesn't want to be Link as he searches far and wide for his Princess, or Mario beating up turtles or trying to beat that damn, dirty ape to rescue his Princess, or... Say, lots of damsels in distress motifs, ain't there? But anyway, doncha often just wanna cut to the chase in these shoot 'em ups or action games and just spend all day killing? I mean, God of War is awesome all around, but come on, seeing him rip the head off a medusa is a visceral thrill like no other, right? Let's just cut to the crap and blow some heads up! So, I present Close Range
Hot New Video Game Consists Solely Of Shooting People Point-Blank In The Face You can also download the game here.

All right, ineffectual play on words there, but I think this video by the esteemed Jon Stewart and the wonderful Daily Show puts my feelings rather succinctly. There's so much hate and fear being whipped up by the Republicans to paint Obama as the worst thing ever to face America. Heck, a check over to the loonies at Rapture Ready and other Christian sites paints him as the Anti-Christ himself. Worst of all, it really does seem to be a "Hey, four years ago when you picketed and railed against the governemnt you were trying to sabotage it; four years later we're doing the same thing but we're trying to save it." And to think I had to live four months in this kind of environment when I was in Arizona... Shudder to think.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Hey Anthony, thanks for the reply as always, and sorry for the lateness of mine! Got in a huge batch of freelance work that's kept me occupied. Let's hope it's a trend, 'cause it sure was nice to be translating again! I agree with your comment. Things always look better on paper. But, industry and government are devoting XX number of dollars to projects all the time now, right? They look at the potential costs of outfitting, say, old coal plants with stack scrubbers and all the latest clean technology, they estimate a time frame (15 years), a dollar amount (hundreds of millions) and then greenlight it. So I think it's reasonable to take a serious look at the idea and figure out the feasibility. As for unintended consequences, oh yeah, they shall be a plenty. I think you'd have to essentially get all countries to agree to deflecting sunlight away -- whether it's for their own benefit or not, there are going ot be recalcitrant countries, cold countries that like getting warm, and so on. Heck, if current temperature increase models are accurate, the majority of the American Bread Belt is and other fertile agricultural areas are going to shift into Canada, so one could see why Canada may say ixnay to the creen-say. Plus, we wouldn't exactly be SOLVING any problems, but rather simply putting them off, like a drug addict turning to booze. But I would say that a serious study into the idea would help clear up any vagaries to the plan and give us a clear idea of what the pros and cons are. Anyway, the reason this is in a new entry (as opposed to a reply to the thread) is that I think I found the PDF that it came from. Just click on the picture to download the PDF for free (you'll need to enter your e-mail address and such probably), and look for the article within. It's pretty interesting stuff all around, although I will readily admit that a lot of it is pretty technical for me. Have a gander at it and then lemme know whatcha think!

There's an interesting article titled "Active Climate Stabilization: Practical Physics-Based Approaches to Preventing Climate Change" that can be found in "The Carbon Dioxide Dilemma: Promising Technologies and Policies" (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10798/html).

Now that I've lost your attention, ESOTERIC ZOMBIE WAXING SPONGES!

Now that I've got it back, lemme explain the article a bit.

First, there are a lot of global warming (at least anthropogenic global warming) naysayers out there. These people are what we call "high", but all right, let's say they're right. Whether you want to believe that global warming is happening or whether it's attributable to you or me (mostly me, sorry...), there's something we could do to solve the problem.

A screen! In space! ZOMBIE WAXING! Essentially, a screen some 10^6km large is placed between the Earth and the Sun to selectively scatter deleterious UV and the harshest of the Sun's rays to lower global temperatures.

The article goes into further detail, but we'd essentially enjoy cooler temperatures, bluer skies, prettier sunsets, and less deleterious UV rays, which translates into greatly reduced skin cancer risks and much higher plant productivity. The thing would be invisible to the naked eye, and would cost maybe USD $1 billion a year commencing half a century hence if we put it up now. This could be mitigated by created a sinking fund of USD $1.7 in a bank now so that the $1 billion would be self-generating. And if an Ice Age hits and things get too cool we simply move it.

Whaddya think? Check out the article and let me know what sort of counter-arguments you'd have against it? I think it's a brilliant idea! You can also check out more at http://www.llnl.gov/global-warm/

Been helping my bro-in-law chop and load kiawe wood recently and it's been eating up all my time. Kiawe is a Hawaiian mesquite, which makes it wonderful for barbeques but a bear to chainsaw through. (I know, I shouldn't complain about how hard it is to do something the lazy way.) Anyway, pain and backaches have ensued, but everything's loaded and shipped for now so hopefully I can get back to posting the occasional comment. Heavens forfend you all can't read the latest folderol.