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July 9th, 2009
10:56 am - I came here for an Argument!
About Energy options:
Carbon sequestration in the short term is a technological and economic impossibility. At-Plant sequestration (via coal gassification) may be possible in the long term... but even then, think about it!
You produce literally tons and tons of carbon dioxide, which would be compressed and liquefied, transported to some geologic formation that can hold it, and pumped into the ground.
What happens if it leaks? Anyone remember Lake Nyos?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos
(note: That lake was a natural CO2 source, not a man made one, but the principle is the same)
So, any substantial leak of sequestered CO2 can lead to wide spread death of people and animals. That means any sequestering site has to be monitored in perpetuity.
So... why aren't we shifting to Nuclear Power Plants again?
Everyone gets up in arms about the long half lives of the radioactive constituents of nuclear waste, and the long term commitment necessary for its care and storage. But what's the 'half life' of CO2... and by that I mean how quickly does it become less deadly? Answer: Never. So long as its stored at that density, its a threat to surrounding human and animal life. When could we "release" our sequestered CO2, to remove the danger and the expense of continuing storage? Only after such significant technological and social change has happened that new releases of CO2 no longer pose a climate threat, or some new technology arises allowing us to cheaply and quickly incorporate the CO2 into some other form more safe for long term storage.
There's a metaphor for this kind of 'planning'... "Do it... and then hope for a pony!"
My feeling is that the long term commitment and expense involved in caring and keeping the enormous amounts of CO2 involved in continuing to supply our energy needs (and note, Coal produces more pounds of CO2 per unit heat than either Oil or Natural Gas) is far in excess of the long term commitment and expense involved in storing and caring for nuclear waste. But Nuclear power has and has always had a PR problem. The effects of radiation poisoning strike the public mind as insidious and evil... but if someone was killed by a CO2 leak, are they any less dead? How many people died last year mining coal? Are they less dead? How much habitat is becoming unusable because of Coal strip mining and slurry impoundments? Note: all these climate and life costs are before we've even talked about climate change.
Why is our energy policy so unreasonable? Is it our primate brain playing tricks on us, allowing us to discount the risks of familiar tasks (burning someting) and overestimate the risks of seemingly arcane ones (magical glowing Nuclear piles!)? Or is it that we have some very large interests, very committed to using coal, and CO2 sequestration is a red herring, meant to obscure the ground and dampen the effects of climate critics so that Coal interests can continue to deepen our commitment to coal specific technologies?
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July 8th, 2009
04:44 pm - Favorite Poems.
Someone else on my F-list ( ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) andrewbrink ) posted a favorite poem of their's. Here's one of mine. Written by a soldier, Keith Douglas, who served in North Africa and France. He died 3 days after D-day, in Northern France, from mortar fire. This poem is set in amidst the remains of a battle in North Africa.
Vergissmeinnicht (Forget-me-not)
Three weeks gone and the combatants gone
returning over the nightmare ground
we found the place again, and found
the soldier sprawling in the sun.
The frowning barrel of his gun
overshadowing. As we came on
that day, he hit my tank with one
like the entry of a demon.
Look. Here in the gunpit spoil
the dishonoured picture of his girl
who has put: Steffi. Vergissmeinnicht.
in a copybook gothic script.
We see him almost with content,
abased, and seeming to have paid
and mocked at by his own equipment
that's hard and good when he's decayed.
But she would weep to see today
how on his skin the swart flies move;
the dust upon the paper eye
and the burst stomach like a cave.
For here the lover and killer are mingled
who had one body and one heart.
And death who had the soldier singled
has done the lover mortal hurt
-= Keith Douglas
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July 2nd, 2009
04:56 pm - Cloves and the Law, an update.
Those who have been paying attention ( http://chron-job.livejournal.com/175931.html) know that clove cigarettes will be illegal to sell in the U.S. soon.
Well, I sent an e-mail off to Djarum with my idea that since the specific part of the statute that bans flavorings only applies to cigarettes (not loose leaf roll-your-own, or pipe tobacco) they should consider selling a roll-your-own package based on their typical brand's recipe (and maybe some cool black papers to boot!)
Just got a reply back, with some interesting info (along with an offer for a free sample of the new Clove Cigars :)
====================
Dear Nat:
Thank you for your e-mail to the Djarum web site.
Below is some pertinent information for your group. Also FYI I did an interview with someone from the U of FL student newspaper on the subject of the FDA tobacco bill. We have already been your idea for Roll Your Own clove tobacco along with some other legal options.
I am leaving for Indonesia later this month on this and other projects.
See below - it's a standard letter we send out, but it should give you a more complete picture.
[...]
To our valued customers:
We are receiving questions from many adult consumers and retail store operators regarding the future of cloves and other flavored cigarettes.
As of now, clove cigarettes will be banned from retail sale after September 22, 2009. As an adult consumer, you may continue to possess and smoke cloves after that date. Bear in mind, however that purchasing clove cigarettes that are not approved for U. S. sale and/or importing
them without proper taxation is unlawful.
New federal legislation will give control over tobacco products to the Food and Drug Administration which will have the power to restrict sales of flavored cigarettes including cloves, and to regulate nicotine content, tobacco packaging and marketing content. The special rule for cigarettes Section 907(A) in the new FDA tobacco legislation applies only to flavored cigarettes including clove. This section in the FDA bill does not apply to cigars, pipe tobacco, roll-you-own tobacco, rolling papers or smokeless tobacco. These products carry different federal tax classifications than cigarettes.
Kretek International, Inc. launched Djarum clove cigars into test market late last year after more than 2 years of development. The new cigars will soon be available through Phillips & King(r) as well as other distributors. We hope that you and other adult clove smokers will enjoy them.
Thank you for your business and continuing support.
Kretek International, Inc.
Moorpark, CA 93021
==================
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June 25th, 2009
June 17th, 2009
10:43 am - Meh
The Funk.... I has it.
New LJ icon to commemorate.
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June 12th, 2009
05:21 pm - H.R. 1256
Well, it's been in the works for a while. But the Senate just passed it.
H.R. 1256, The 'Family' Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
One wonders why they have to throw the word family in there. I guess tomorrow we'll be hearing about the "Apple Pie Immigration Modernization Act" and "Mom's Nuclear Control Agreement."
The good: Tobacco will now come under the regulatory control of the FDA. This strikes me as 'OK'.. tobacco is a drug, and tobacco products should be treated as drugs and regulated as such. Ingredients, manufacture procedures, health study data, and chemical levels should be matters of public record.
The Bad: "Prohibits a cigarette or any of its components from containing as a constituent or additive any artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or any herb or spice (including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, and vanilla) that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke."
Personal Ramifications: Cloves will be illegal. Not sure if this will effect flavored pipe tobacco, since I am hazy on which rules cover "tobacco products" and which rules cover just "cigarettes". In any case, guess I'll start buying loose leaf, adding my own cloves, and rolling my own. Everyone knows that we only smoke to look cool, and rolling your own looks WAY cool.
Political ramifications: This is just too obviously a political bone thrown to Philip Morris. The #1 flavoring in the U.S. is menthol, and Philip Morris sells the hell out of menthols. Philip Morris either does not make, or is only a tiny part of the clove market, which is dominated by Indonesian manufacturers. Philip Morris is scrambling for customers. In an environment where tactics or advertisements which seek to induce new users to smoke are suspect, it is much more acceptable to poach other brand's customers. By making a law against flavorings, but then exempting the only flavoring of interest to Philip Morris, they hope that those customers who like flavored cigarettes will move to their brands. I suspect a quid pro quo. "Hey Congress! We'll stop lobbying against increased regulation, so long as you regulate a few customers this way."
Indonesia is bitching of course. If you made all flavorings illegal, that would be one thing, but exempting the flavorings used by an American company while criminalizing those predominant in other countries, it smacks of protectionism. Hey, lets face it...it IS protectionism. Indonesia intends to make a claim before the WTO. We'll see how that plays out.
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01:54 pm
Language biases thought.
I don't hold this as true in the strongest sense. I don't think language utterly circumscribes our thoughts. Thus I do think it is possible to have an inexpressible thought.
But, nonetheless, language biases thought.
That's why it's very important for us to be intentional about the language we use. Without careful intention and attention, we fall prey to the biases hidden in language.
Here is the semantic sequence that spawned this train of thought:
a) "She broke my heart."
b) "Being with her broke my heart."
c) "I broke my heart over her."
They are arranged in increasing order of truthfulness.
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May 21st, 2009
12:06 pm - Oddments found round and about...
Here's a youtube video of music performed by ArcAttack.
It's a roboticly controlled drum kit, a pipe organ where in the pipes work via microphone/speaker feedback resonance, and "tuned" Tesla Coils (the frequency of the spark generation becomes the frequency of the tone created.)
All instruments are midi-controlled.
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May 8th, 2009
09:25 am - Tat pic!
This is phase 1.
Phase 2 will be to fill in the empty panels at the sides and back (representing metal bands around the torque) with some pattern definitively Celtic. I was originally thinking of knot-work, because it's graphically simple but striking, but after some reading I find that Celtic knot-work art is all post-christian era. I've been looking through scroll-work from the La Tène and Hallstatt cultures for ideas that are more Ancient. We'll see.
Phase 3 will be to thicken the torque's wire lines, and shade the bear's heads.
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May 6th, 2009
04:29 pm - Sigh...
Back at work...
The mini-vacation was quite restorative.
I spent tuesday at Anthem getting my first Tattoo... need to borrow someone's digital camera so you can see the results. I'm already thinking of things to add to it.
:)
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May 3rd, 2009
11:58 pm - back!
Back in Gainesville!
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May 2nd, 2009
12:44 pm - yay!
The keys rock.
Current Location: islamorada, Florida Keys
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/content.gif) content
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April 30th, 2009
03:36 pm - Much Gadget Love!
Stolen from deathboy...
A 120 Gig, 6.5 ounce mp3 player? Nah! Dual channel playback, crossfaders sliders, touchpad based manual beatmatching... it's a bit more than an Mp3 player.
The 120 gig version goes for almost $600... but hey. It's not the purchase price... it's the Total Cost Of Ownership... do you know how much docgonzo costs per week in Patrón alone?
3rd party sales,site:
http://www.firebox.com/product/2309/Pacemaker?itc=164&src_t=nwt&src_id=245¤cy_conversion=1
Various videos of the features:
http://www.pacemaker.net/
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April 28th, 2009
12:26 pm - Intresting Political wrinkle
"sources" say that they expect Penn. Senator Arlen Specter to change his party affiliation to 'D'.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/specter.party.switch/index.html
This isn't real unexpected. Obama beat McCain in Penn. by a whopping 10%. Staying pure to the Republican party line will require more and more backwards bending for Specter. Too bad he already cheesed a significant segment of his constituency over the Employee Free Choice Act.
But he does see the writing on the Wall. "R" just isn't the place to be for moderates these days, since the core of that party is responding to recent electoral losses in a way I find distinctly 'evangelical'. I.E. by trying to regain 'purity' and excising those who suggest compromise.
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April 25th, 2009
11:09 pm - party!
I'm here... Where are YOU!
:)
FYI: the side door is closed this early... So just come into silver queue and ask where Nat's party is.
See you here, slackers!
-Nat
P.S. If the mood strikes you... Bring GLOWIES
Current Location: silver queue
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April 23rd, 2009
03:59 pm - Baby It's is ON!
Yea, verily... it is on... as unto.... DONKEY KONG!
I have a line on getting a private party in the room above Silver Queue (right next door to our fav. Goth Club) All I have to do is give the word.
Alas, it can't be BYOB... and I'll need my Alcoholic Friends out in force... to make it free the owner wants a bar tab around about $600.
My instinct is that this will be easy... since I can spend $80 myself on a somewhat heavy night.
If anyone here thinks I'm insane... speak now.
Yo! flankleft... The owner says that all we need as far as sound system is "The tops"...i.e. say a turntable or computer source. He has 1/4 inch and RCA to his speakers. If we wanna do a laptop I guess we need a 1/4 to 1/8 converter. Make sense?
So, See you there?
-= Nat
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12:26 am - My Fail... let me show it to you.
So... Plans A, B, and C for my 40 year's of life venue have all failed/fallen through.
I am open for suggestions.
Current Location: silver queue
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/stressed.gif) stressed
Current Music: oh gawd, I think its Willie Nelson.
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April 17th, 2009
10:48 am - Ah Colbert...
Opening is a great spoof of the Anti-gay marriage "Storm is coming" commercial.
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April 16th, 2009
02:17 pm - The Intersection of Linguistics and Religion
The ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) atheism community had a blurb for a book that looked interesting in a "Man Bites Dog" sort of sense...
Don't Sleep, there are Snakes
Life and language in the Amazon Jungle
By Daniel L. Everette
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090412-ENTERTAIN-904120305
A provocative detail of which is that a Missionary with a gift for language is tasked to go to the Amazon, to learn a difficult language so as to facilitate conversion of the people who speak it. In the end he instead finds himself converted away from Evangelism specifically, and Christianity and Theism in general, leading to estrangement from his family.
But another very interesting detail is how the language of the people in question, or at least the translator's interpretations of it, have caused a bit of a stir in the world of Linguistics, stepping as they do on long held ideas (from Chomskey) of the details of a hypothetical universal Grammar.
Another good interview is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/10/daniel-everett-amazon
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April 15th, 2009
12:26 pm - The Big... Four... Oh...
Yes, like taxes, Death is unavoidable and rapidly approaching. Men mark its steps with strange rituals, cultural enactments that are mere whistling-past-the-graveyard writ large. We call them, Birthdays.
This April 26th, Nat will turn 40. I will be celebrating in 2 conspicuous ways.
#1) I plan to have a huge Birthday Bash on the Saturday before that. This is April 25th. Essentially, if you read this, you are invited. My ideal is to have just about everyone I know and who can come to be there. I have no idea how many people this will entail. I refuse to weigh out and micro-caliper my social life in that fashion! But I think 50 folks is a good ballpark.
The venue is still a wee bit of a problem. My place is far far too small to house a decent party. My original plan was to rent the Stone Ridge club house (where we typically play Volleyball on Sundays) because it is A) near me. B) centrally located, and C) familiar to many friends. Alas, they are not renting it at present. If anyone has a good idea as to venue (Should be indoors, I was planning on an evening to late thing, and there will be drinking) let me know. I have 10 days to figure it out.
If you think it likely you can attend (and if you can, you SHOULD) leave a note here, so I can weigh out and micro-caliper my social life in exactly the way I just said I didn't want to.
#2) May 5th, in an attempt to embrace the paired ideas of permanence and commitment which I have so loathed and avoided, lo these many years, I will be getting my first Tattoo at Anthem... A largish neck piece.
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