tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793397038214118285.post8908247986519676203..comments2024-03-19T00:06:09.224-05:00Comments on LifeItself: The Earth's plants produce exactly what others eatTadeusz (Tad) Patzekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17701598417132574218noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793397038214118285.post-74462583625138327152013-07-01T14:07:25.756-05:002013-07-01T14:07:25.756-05:00Regarding declining power, seems to me that the si...Regarding declining power, seems to me that the situation is so peculiar (declining industrial civilization for banal reasons more than lack of willpower would perhaps be more appropriate), that any comparison is really tough to make, and the U.S.(or oecd) is still the first military power by far.<br /><br />As to biofuels, which indeed might be the top stupidity around (and a European directive also set targets on them 10% or 15% something like that), maybe a key aspects is that politicians prefer "subsidizing something new" which appear more "moving forward" than taxing what we should be getting "out of" or decreasing consumption.<br /><br />And this is a bit of a pity as we tend to forget that :<br />1) To subsidize something you first need to decide that "it is a good thing"<br />2) And it is very easy to make mistakes in these decisions, especially around energy. Plus usually it is more about alternative production "solutions" than conservation investment (or scaling down existing solutions).<br />3) subsidies must come from some budget.<br /><br />Whereas with taxes on fossiles :<br />- You dont have to define the "solutions" but you favor any of them, be it on conservation or alternative production side.And you leave the job of determining whether they make sense or not to the market.<br />- And one might say "but this is regressive, impact the poor more than the rich", but for sure it is not a family in some housing project that will put PV on its roof or buy a new EV...<br /><br />To me taxes on fossile should be the main policy to manage the turn if at all possible. With in parallel decreasing taxes on work, or some form of direct redistribution as proposed by Hansen in (2) below for instance :<br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/01/letter-to-barack-obamayvesThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00225964326142677776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793397038214118285.post-75370331412305611092013-06-30T16:31:02.198-05:002013-06-30T16:31:02.198-05:00My friend from California, who wishes to remain an...My friend from California, who wishes to remain anonymous to all but the N.S.A., said this:<br /><br />I wonder if the fixation on environmental/ energy problems is because of the lack of a military challenger to justify the defense/ intelligence budget. More likely it is a result of our role as a declining power. I was looking through a book my mother had on the history of the Roman Empire and I was fascinated by the written record of military deployments. In the early history of the empire, the legions were stationed almost entirely at the periphery. By the later stages, 40% of the military manpower was in Rome itself. The army protected the empire early in its history, but eventually came to protect the elites from the general population. Those closest to the task of protecting the elites (the praetorian guard) managed to usurp much of the power and wealth for themselves. Maybe history wouldn't repeat itself so much if we did a better job of teaching it.<br /><br />I would only add this. Thinking hard why we have so much push for global biofuels, I find two reasons: <br /><br />(1) Our science-free leaders want to maintain the status quo, but do not see other alternatives, and<br /> <br />(2) Biofuels serve as a perfect distraction for the well-meaning, but clueless masses of politically active people, who hate oil and natural gas sufficiently to believe in any fairy-tale that involves the words "green," "clean," and "new technology." Tadeusz (Tad) Patzekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17701598417132574218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793397038214118285.post-6950528702545305752013-06-30T07:03:57.004-05:002013-06-30T07:03:57.004-05:00Nice piece, thanks, and waiting for the follow up....Nice piece, thanks, and waiting for the follow up.<br /><br />Also about democracy :<br /><br />"Democracy (Démocratie)<br />by Arthur Rimbaud (1872-75); translated by Helen Rootham (1938).<br /><br />THE flag is in keeping with the unclean landscape, and our jargon drowns the sound of the drum.<br /><br />At certain centres we will encourage the most cynical prostitution. We will crush logical rebellion.<br /><br />'Let us go to dusty and exhausted countries—put ourselves at the service of monstrous industrial or military exploitations.<br /><br />'To our next meeting—here—no matter where!'<br /><br />Conscripts of good intentions we shall have a ferocious philosophy. Dunces shall be devotees of knowledge, sybarites enthusiasts for comfort; and for this busy world there shall be dissolution.<br /><br />This is real progress! Forward! March!"yvesThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00225964326142677776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4793397038214118285.post-37949779481099088862013-06-29T23:25:36.887-05:002013-06-29T23:25:36.887-05:00Thanks for the links!
" According to Booz Al...Thanks for the links!<br /><br />" According to Booz Allen's 2011 Annual Report, the corporation has overseen Unified Quest "for more than a decade" to help "military and civilian leaders envision the future."<br /><br />The latest war games, the report reveals, focused on "detailed, realistic scenarios with hypothetical 'roads to crisis'", including "homeland operations" resulting from "a high-magnitude natural disaster" among other scenarios, in the context of:<br /><br />"... converging global trends [which] may change the current security landscape and future operating environment... "<br /><br />Very interesting. By the way, if anyone is interested, this was all foretold to happen in the Bible! Read the book of Daniel. :o) Remember, ignorance ain't an excuse.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05772716965710252069noreply@blogger.com