Comments for a sibilant intake of breath

Comment on We usually count climate pollution badly by Maxine

Maxine — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:33:40 +0000

What a provocatively thoughtful article. It is the most clearly presented of arguments I have ever read! Thank you.

Comment on Non-alcoholic beer by Maxine

Maxine — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:21:17 +0000

From what I’m reading, (I very well may have been reading into comments), it seems that a good-tasting NA with alcohol is preferable to an NA without any alcohol. I’m from a family with severe alcoholism problems and consequently anything with alcohol makes me leery. However, now I am reading that even some fruit juices and sodas that I do consume contain alcohol, so I am wondering: can the alcohol be of a different content and therefore, not as possibly damaging to those of us who must be careful?

Comment on Sasha and Milan by alena

alena — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:19:34 +0000

Thank you.

Comment on Gravity without air resistance by anon

anon — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:35:23 +0000

Someone who just flew in a rocket to the moon already has some pretty good validation of universal gravitation.

Comment on Gravity without air resistance by Milan

Milan — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:26:09 +0000

It would be a little better if the astronaut declared his purpose as “testing” Galileo’s findings, rather than “confirming” them.

The whole point of empirical observation is to test our expectations against potentially unpredictable results.

Comment on “Don’t be evil” by Milan

Milan — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:23:59 +0000

Setting all my privacy worries aside, it cannot be denied that Google makes some amazing products. There’s just nothing like GMail or YouTube or Google Maps. There are other websites and programs that perform similar functions, but none that I have encountered that work as well.

Comment on Alternative to a carbon tax: carbon deposit by .

Sat, 19 May 2012 04:16:23 +0000

How can a gallon of gasoline produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide?

Comment on Alternative to a carbon tax: carbon deposit by Milan

Milan — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:10:19 +0000

According to Wolfram Alpha, burning 1L of petroleum produces about 4.5 kilograms of CO2. That means producing 1000 kg of CO2 would require burning a bit more than 220 litres of gasoline.

With a $600 / tonne carbon deposit on gasoline, the price would go up by about $2.73 per litre. Of course, that seems extremely high. What it reflects, however, is the cost of cleaning up the mess your car is creating. (Not even the whole mess, mind you! Not the NOx and SOx and pedestrian deaths and particulate matter and noise – just the climate change part of the mess)

Comment on Alternative to a carbon tax: carbon deposit by Milan

Milan — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:02:02 +0000

It would make sense to charge some sort of deposit on biofuels too, to reflect the fossil fuel inputs to their production (at least in places that do not yet have a carbon pricing system) as well as any unsustainable harvesting practices (like clearing carbon-laden rainforest for biofuel-producing palm plantations).

Comment on This is your adjustment time by Alternative to a carbon tax: carbon deposit

Alternative to a carbon tax: carbon deposit — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:59:35 +0000

[...] politically possible either. (Of course, it would be possible to start lower and scale up, giving people more time to adjust.) There may well be all sorts of other problems with it also, but I thought it was an idea worth [...]

Comment on Politics by spin in Canada by .

Sat, 19 May 2012 03:35:14 +0000

Everyone agrees with me
Jonathan McLeod

September 9, 2011 | 2 Comments

Well, maybe not everyone, but a few people.

The Tories and the NDP are tripping over themselves trying to make energy cheaper, thus hurting us economically and environmentally. I’ve already touched on this a couple of times, but it’s worth getting some other voices in on the fun.

Comment on Security in prisons by .

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:58:15 +0000

Governments Can Stop Prison Rape