Soft energy path

Just ran across this idea during a Google search on the term "prosperity". Did you realize that prosperity has been redefined? It is like what Rush Limbaugh talked about on one of his shows many years ago. The left has taken over the language.

So, prosperity was once linked to economic growth, but not anymore.  Now, prosperity can be redefined without economic growth being a part of it.  A little more reading brings you to the soft energy path.  A little consideration here is in order.  Those who think they can bring prosperity in any sense of the word by a so called soft energy path have rocks in their head.   When you realize that 9 out of 10 calories we eat are directly related to fossil fuels- the idea that solar and wind power can replace that- should chill your bones down the very marrow.

Soft energy technologies won't work.  Even if you could get them to work, they won't work as it is being described here.  We have already seen that with biofuels.  It is literally taking food out of people's mouths and burning it in internal combustion engines.  It doesn't work.  It may lead to civil unrest.  Mass starvation.  Bad stuff folks.

I'm all for greater fuel efficiency, don't misunderstand.  I've written numerous posts on the subject.  But there is no substitute for energy production.  No matter how efficient you may well become, you do need some energy production, and these soft energy technologies are inadequate for that purpose.

Morning Summary, 7/2

A little bump in traffic. Yay! It has become something of a broken record here, this sort of commentary.

By the way, I wonder how many people out there, particularly young people, understand the figure of speech "broken record"? It is an archaic term, in reference to how us old timers used to listen to music. On a turntable with a vinyl record, which, in comparision to CD's, was pretty big. There was a scene in Austin Power's first movie that showed Austin trying to play a CD on an old record player. Doesn't work. Yeah, and even CD's are going to be obsolete before long.

Austin Powers movies are over 10 years old now. Yikes!

The world changes all the time, and it just might be ready to change big time any day now. This allows me to segue into what I ended with last night, these debt limit negotiations. This is a pretty big deal, and I get the impression that most people just aren't interested. They will be when the excrement hits the fan, which is what is going to happen here soon.

If you check the polls, the direction of the country polls have been bad for a long time now. But it is as if Washington isn't paying attention. And the folks down home aren't paying attention either. There are some people, who do pay attention, but that number isn't large enough. When they do pay attention, they probably listen to the conventional wisdom, which is just as bad as not listening at all. What we need is a change, but it needs to be an intelligent change. Not change just for the sake of change. That's what we got in 2008. The results have been disappointing, if the polls are any indication.

It may be helpful if people started paying attention, but to what? Who do you trust? I don't think you can trust the traditional information sources. Those have been captured by the political establishment, which, as mentioned in the polls, no longer have the confidence of the public.

There has to be a reliable source of information that people can trust. If that can be achieved, something good may come from it. As it stands now, we are stumbling in the dark.

Yes, I am trying to shine a light in the darkness, rather than merely curse it. But it has been a tough sell. Nobody is interested. I may have to just close shop and concede defeat. This blog is going nowhere. While it is here, though, let me affirm once again, that this blog is about truth. At least about truth as far as I can reach for it. I am not here to BS anyone, or to be BS'd by anyone. I have always called them like I see them.

If there's no market for that, then truth doesn't have a place in this world. Now, that is scary.

Evening Wrap, 7/1

Bad things are happening, I fear. It looks like the negotiations will go down to the wire and the outcome may not be a good one. That is, with respect to the debt negotiations.

How much deficit reduction is enough? It doesn't look like it will anywhere near enough. The most I've seen is 4 trillion over 10 years. If they got that, it would be a start, but it would still leave a deficit that is much too high.

Another option is to get what you can now and go back for more if you can. This will throw it into the hands of voters who might do anything. But it would be a way out for politicians who don't want to face up to the necessity of doing things that will not be popular.

So, none of the options look good. This is even with a best case scenario, where they get the 4 trillion and other stuff, like a balanced budget amendment and caps on spending. It would seem that even if that was obtained, more will be needed.

If you can get it, then go for that, I'd say. You must obtain this at the minimum. Otherwise, it is pointless.

As for the worst case, the Democrats may decide to say to hell with the debt limits and try the courts. That's assuming the Republicans take them to court. That outcome is also uncertain. It could be a total cluster f&&k no matter how you slice it. You could have this whole thing in court just in time for the elections and the elections could turn out in an unpredictable way, along with the courts.

Bad stuff indeed.

Two short interviews recorded after Defkalion's press conference.

by Giacomo Guidi



Two short interviews recorded after Defkalion's press conference. from Giacomo Guidi on Vimeo.

Morning Summary, 7/1

A double whammy recently.  Amazon notifies its associates that due to the attempts by California to tax its sales, it was shutting down its associates program.  It didn't affect me because, ahem, I have no sales.  But it does affect the Space Show.  Stuff like that will shut down the Space Show, if enough of it happens.

Then the business about the E-cat which reflects badly upon it.  Those two things are killers.  It like a dark cloud appearing on the horizon and its evil.  There was a write up linked from Instapundit on the Amazon thing that says California will lose money, not gain money, from this.  It reminds me of what Obama said about the capital gains tax.  He said he would be for raising the cap gains even if it didn't result in more money because of "fairness".  Talking about self destructive behavior.  Did California really do this expecting to raise money, or was some other agenda at work?

Yeah, take that and the E-cat and I wonder what's going on here.  Strange things happening.  It's like somebody doesn't want good things to happen and are deliberately trying to sabotage anything good that might happen.  It is deeply troubling.

Well, as I mentioned before, the blog isn't really going anywhere. With the E-cat news and this blog's dependence upon that for traffic, it would seem that there is at least an explanation for the drop off in traffic. People are losing heart because of this news. That is understandable. Keep in mind though, that not everything is what it seems, or is being presented as. Just because the E-cat has gotten some bad press doesn't mean all is lost.

I am going to keep posting, but on a reduced level.  I took off this week because I could and because I had another reason, which I won't mention here.  But it is back to a working schedule next week.  I guess that is the triple whammy, is it not?

Report #2 - Energy Catalyzer: Scientific Communication and Ethics Issues

This came to my attention via Al Fin's Energy Blog

Important Article on Rossi LENR Project

So, I checked it out and read it.  It looks bad, sure, but I am not convinced of anything.  Of course, this report has brought out the skeptics who started trashing the Rossi's idea with a relentless fury over at NextBigFuture.

I have said all along that I am neither a believer nor a skeptic.  I have stated, so far as my memory will not betray me, that I believe that there's a 90% chance that it will work.  As for the concept itself, I think there's a higher probability than that.  This does not mean, however, that I believe Rossi's device works.  I have no way of knowing that.

Rather, I have suggested an unambiguous demonstration.  Such as a device that is obviously not possibly powered by anything else but Rossi's device.  It should be so constructed as to permit no further doubt of its authenticity.  An analogous demonstration would be like the Wright Brothers demonstration of heavier than air flight, which was considered impossible in its time.  Seeing is believing.

Without such a demonstration, the critics will continue unabated and undeterred.

Morning Summary, 6/30

Looks like the numbers are taking a dump again.  Well, folks, I've given it my best.  For now on, I'm just going to stop worrying about it.   It sort of happened yesterday.  I got to thinking, why am I knocking myself out to get audience?  I put up nearly 20 posts.  Who the hell else does that?!  And I am struggling to get an audience?!  Are you freaking kidding me????

So, for now on, it is no more trying to please people who don't appreciate it.  I don't care if anybody gets huffy about this.  Screw it!  I am going to do what pleases me.  Yes, it did please me to a certain extent to put up stuff like the stuff I put up, but it doesn't do anything for me to keep running myself ragged over it.  There are other priorities, you know.

I see too much of this one way street kind of thinking.  People want something, but they don't want to give up anything in exchange.  It's gimme, gimme, gimme.  Hell, the whole problem that we have in Washington right now is that very thing.  You've got an entire country here that is thinking of only one thing, how do they get something out of somebody else.  At some point, the people paying are going to wake up and say, what the fuck am I doing this for?  Handle you own shit yourself, assholes.  My existence is not to further yours.

Gas Taxes by State

A little map to show you as I sign off for the evening. It would appear that Texas does not have the lowest gas taxes, but not the highest either.

Thanks for coming by, and have a great evening.

Established Physics Has Another New Fusion Problem

Brillouin Energy Corp In Berkeley California has another Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) method in the development and proving stage. The new method comes at fusion from a different path than the Rossi E-Cat.

"A very different take on getting past the Coulomb barrier."

I started reading this pdf, but it looked a little too technical for me, so I stopped.  If it turns out that they are correct, then all power to them.  I still think that it is possible to get hot fusion on the nano scale.

 

Morning Summary, 6/29

Technical difficulties this morning.  The other pic won't load for some reason. At any rate, yesterday was a good day.  Thanks for the support.

It seems that the E-cat news is what drives traffic here for the now at least.  There is a limit on the news though. Inasmuch as the adoption of the new technology will take time, it may be useful, or perhaps just entertaining to speculate on what is the best use for this device.

Perhaps it isn't the best use, but one that occurred to me is to use it for space propulsion.  Why?  It won't have any competitors.  If you try to compete with existing energy providers, you may just have a problem. They won't go down without a fight. It may be helpful, for the future of this new technology, not to take on the existing order directly.

This may not seem relevant to this post, but hang with me. Robert Zubrin was on the Space Show last night. It just so happens that I start to research him a little before the show and I came across something that he wrote about Mars. It was quite impressive, but I am still a bit doubtful that anyone should go there just now. But when someone does go, I would suggest the idea should be to stay for a long, long time. In other words, a one way trip.

In order to make a one way trip, you will have to take a sufficient number of people plus plenty of equipment to get started with a new colony.  Think of it like the New World settlements in the Pilgrim days of America. They aren't going to just to come back.  So, they will have to be ready for most anything.

More on that later.  I want to listen to the show because I missed it.

One more thing.  The reason to go to Mars is the same reason for not competing directly with the existing order.  Too much opposition.  You need to go where no one else is so that there won't be an army of opposition against you.  That place could be literally out of this world.