Dave, either you were asleep at the wheel as was joe or you forgot like joe! On day one he shut down the oil pipeline and countless lost their jobs and stopped our flow of oil from Alaska. One day one he stopped all oil drilling using the fracing method of mining and countless people lost their jobs. Finally Joe decided that coach was dirty and severely cut the mining of m most strains of coal and again countess people lost their jobs. Under the past administration the USA was selling oil to the world, now we are begging other countries to sell us oil. Joe must have had a dream during one of his many naps during the day or he's just stupid. Where dear readers does this make sense. And then he comes up with the saving the world plan and that is people should all be buying electric cars, at at least 30,000. This will severely cut emissions and loose our dependence on oil. Brilliant!!! Almost as brilliant s the car stimulus policy where you traded in your car that was paid and No monthly payment to buying a brand new car and you can save money by participating in awesome program. The next thing didn't think of was, where do I charge my car? You must find a charging station! You can not do it at home unless you hire an electrician to wire you up and don't mind parking your car outside. Charging a battery produces a major amount of heat which is a giant fire hazard. If you have ever been to a golf course and saw where they are charged fans are always blowing and plenty of cool air circulates through the "cart barn". And lastly how are you going to generate the extra electricity that will be required to charge all of these cars. And to recharge your battery will take quit a bit more time than filling ups at your local 7//11 ! And what do you do for the hour or so that is needed to charge it on up !!
Frank. I'm emerging from my retirement from debate club just long enough to encourage you to look at this a bit differently..
Progress is progress. We can't live on steam engines and internal combustion indefinitely. Even from a practical point of view - leaving politics, philosopies, and ecological realities out of this - the geographical substrate that provides us with fossil fuels is not an infinite supply. The estimates are that if we continue on our current pace of mining, the fossil fuels the earth provides will run out in 50 years. Period. We will have used up all the dinosaurs, etc. If you don't believe me do some geological reading and/or look at how corporations and investors are behaving. You will see that they are aware of that and motivated by both the philosophical sea change and the supply-and-demand realities and are adapting to more progressive and sustainable energy-producing strategies. Trump's affability to coal and his idiotic criticism of alternative energy sources such as wind turbines was, like much of his pandering policy-making, both self-serving and incredibly damaging to long-term survival of our own species and the natural systems we have endangered.
What I am saying is: even apart from the damage we are continuing to do to the ecosystem, there's absolutely no long term alternative here on earth but to radically change energy production and consumption.
Again, leaving personal attacks and short-term arguments and contemporary issues out of it, that's an undeniable reality. Hell yes it sucks to pay more for gas and hell yes there are sacrifices to be made individually and nationally. But sooner or later a change needs to be made and the sooner the better, assuming you look at this long-term, and by that I mean long after we're gone. The earth has been generous, too generous, to the apex predator it's been hosting all these years. We should have the sense to refrain from being such bratty, ungrateful children, stop raiding the fridge, and move on to become independent -- as in energy independent.
Mike, I agree with you in many of your points but quitting cold Turkey on pool and coal is irresponsible , no fossil fuels are nothing limitless! Neither was whale oil and slowly we cut back on it as soon as oil was discovered in Pennsylvania save the whale but that's another point to argue in the future! With all the advances we are making in alternative fuel it will be long before the oil runs out. Once it is affordable and the supply of then increased. One important fact though is if we stop the burning of all fossil fuels and the world stops polluting the atmosphere one eruption from a volcano is the answer to all the atta boys we received for doing our part. There will be a day in the boy to distant future where we will not have a demand on oil. But to do it immediately like Joe did does not help us out now. Our climate may get warmer but then the cycle will return to cooler it's cyclical and has worked for billions of years
Neither was whale oil and slowly we cut back on it as soon as oil was discovered in Pennsylvania save the whale but that's another point to argue in the future!
On the other hand, though it does sound comfy to say that there is a system in place that has worked for the earth for billions of years, sustaining life is not on the to-do list of a chunk of basalt, granite and molten matter that will be fine until a meteor big enough to blow it apart hits a sweet spot or the star it revolves around goes supernova.
I'm afraid that, like it or not, that's our responsibility now.
I think a lot of us are not recognizing what our president is trying to do. Here is Biden's Build Back Better Legislation simplified.
Shift to clean energy through turbine blades to solar power. Build electric cars in the U.S. with U.S. steel and U.S. labor while inhibiting climate change.
Reduce prescrition drug costs. Expand Medicare to cover hearing aids and provide home health care for Alzheimer patients and old folks that need it..
Earned income tax credit (EITC) for low wage workers. Expand affordable education beyond high school. Promote nutrition security to support children's health. Universal and free preschool for three and four year olds. Invest in child care so parents can earn wages.
Repair and build roads, bridges, airports, and internal improvements while providing high paying jobs for union labor.
End tax breaks for rich corporations and make the highest income earners pay their fair share.
Mike sorry about the lack of commas is caused by voice to text. I certainly don't write here for an English grade of which I never got lower than an A!!! My pout that I was trying to make was crude oil was not discovered until 1859 drilling for water but up from the ground came a bubblin crude, oil that is. Until this time animal fat was render to make oil for everything but mostly to make candles and lamp oil. The discovery put the whale hunter almost completely out of business except for the Japanese for sushi. The same is happening with better batteries and hydrogen to replace crude oil being refined for its many uses, making gasoline and fuel oil. Yes we must take responsibility in the use of our natural resources but time and science will work but the other question , how to make the electricity
Frank: I wasn't being sarcastic. I honestly liked the rhythm of that sentence. As a teacher it's my job to keep the students in line gramatically, with sentences marching along like good little soldiers. As a practitioner myself I know that breaking the rules can feel more authentic and conversational, making the reader feel like you are in the room talking to them one on one. Which that sentence did, thanks to your voice to text delivery system.
On the other hand I'm not advising you to pick up a late-life second career and write the great american novel.
In regard to your post #10307, I would like to add a little something about the formation of oil. By the way, this is an ongoing process. And it has nothing to do with dinosaurs, not even that cute symbol of the Sinclair Dino!
What is interesting also is the alternative hypothesis that the author mentions.
Anyway, I think oil and natural gas (and coal) are still available for a long time but other forms of energy are also important including geothermal, hydroelectric and (my favorite) nuclear. Wind and solar are nice for small areas and towns but will not power larger cities. Also, never doubt human ingenuity to someday discover ways to make oil or an oil substitute.
Thanks Jim. I was vaguely aware of that, which is why I wrote "dinosaurs, etc."
Here's another issue that came up in relation to the recent, unusually lengthy and severe hurricane.
It's also, yes, more complicated than we often think. This was in the Wapo
Is this a result of climate change? The long answer is it’s "complicated" — scientists tend to be extremely reticent to attribute any particular disaster to climate change — particularly ones as infrequent and short-lived as tornadoes, which make for data sets too patchy to draw broad conclusions, The Washington Post reported.
But it likely plays a role. Scientists emphasized that the phenomena that cause tornadoes are growing more common.
And though the number of severe tornadoes hasn’t changed much since the 1950s, the patterns of tornado activity have changed dramatically, with tornadoes showing up far more often in clusters. Tornado activity moving further into the colder months; and “tornado alley” shifting east from the sparsely populated Great Plains to the denser towns and cities of the Ohio Valley and Mississippi Valley, the Times reported.
Last words: Calling the magnitude of the tornadoes “historic,” FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said that such disasters are “going to be our new normal, and the effects that we’re seeing from climate change are the crisis of our generation,” according to The Guardian.
Jim, people on my side of the fence are often skeptical of nuclear. But I’m going to take this rare opportunity to agree with you and say that I think our need to move away from fossil fuels is so critical that the risks of nuclear are small in comparison. As other alternative energies like wind and solar advance, our need for nuclear will probably only be temporary but in the interim (30-50 years?) we should be doing much more with nuclear.
In a previous post I mentioned that the U.S. is now the world’s largest oil producer and a net exporter of oil and oil products. I used as my source this Wikipedia article:
In May 2011, the country became a net exporter of refined petroleum products.[2] By 2014, the United States was world's third largest producer of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia and Russia,[3] and second-largest exporter of refined products, after Russia.[4] In November 2019, the United States became a net exporter of all oil products, including both refined petroleum products and crude oil.[5] By 2021 the US was the world's largest producer.[6]
Here's a little nod to Christmas past. I wrote this song as a Christmas present for my Mom way back when I was (as it says in the song) thirty-nine. In those days I had no musical ability whatsoever, so I had to just sing it for her a cappella. Years later, when I figured out how to muddle some music together and record things, I dug this out of my notebook and gave it this rendition below. I think it may remind many of you of our grade school days, so I thought I would send this out as a Christmas greeting to you guys. Merry Christmas.
If you're arriving from out of town for Labor Day weekend 2022, you may want to make hotel reservations soon.
Many of you stayed at The Hyatt Place on Yard Street in Grandview Yard for our last reunion.The new Columbus Hilton tower downtown, attached to the Columbus Convention Center, in the Short North, should be completed by then, but will be pricey. The Greek Festival is in that area. There is also a new hotel on Lane Avenue, not far from Destination Reunion AKA Clare's ! Homewood Suites, a Hilton hotel is at 1576 Lane Avenue, across from Lane Avenue shopping center.
The Crew soccer team and the Columbus Clippers baseball team may be playing that weekend as well as the Buckeyes.
Byrne's Pub in Grandview will likely be slammed (in more ways than one) with all the "Domers" in town. Guessing they won't be serving green beer though! =)
Thank you Monica. Nice to have our very own class "Trip Advisor".
As a bit of a part-time student of land develoment and city planning, I have marveled at the grwoth in Columbus on recent trips. Especially some fo the inner city re-development projects - in locations we would never have dreamed before.
It's my understanding that Biden's cancellation of oil drilling leases was all in the ANWR (Alaska Natural Wildlife Refuge), and area with huge reserves, but where we have not yet begun to drill. Yes, there were some job losses of what I will call "anticipatory jobs" - jobs created for an anticpated use - but not yet actually existing. But there was no oil being produced in this area yet. In fact, our Alaska oil production had been declinig for many years before the current election. See charts below from our U.S. Energy Information Administration.
(note; an additional slowdown reason is due to warming of the permafrost and the sinking of some areas of the soil, causing sections of the existing Alaska Pipeline (from Prudho Bay to Valdez - in existance for years) to crumble the supports, and alter the slope of the pipe and cause a slowdown in the flow.)
As for electric car charging battery issues, your information used to be correct. But faster charging stations are currently coming on line. And as we speak, Ford Motors is working with Purdue University to devlope a cooler battery charging system. It should be in production within a few years. All of this battery and charger technology is on the verge of bursting onto the market. (Do I hear "new jobs"?) There are also new designs on electric car batteries that are simply removed and exchanged in minutes at a changing station.
Speaking of electric car battery charging stations, maybe it's time for us to take a serious look at some charger manufacturer stocks - though my guess is that it's still a bit early to get into these stocks;
(of course there are already companies like Tesla who are putting charging stations in parking lots alll over around here. You park and go into shop at the local supermarket, and come out to a charged battery - voilla!
Or would this area of technology cause too many of us to lose money on our investmetns in buggy whips and horse carriages?
So, all that said, let’s take a look at these seven EV charging stocks. These stock picks look very attractive from a long-term investment perspective.
I'm not investing but this is a straw in the wind that has been giving me hope lately, Dave. If the money-makers are going in this direction, clean energy has a chance.
We old Anglo guys have a bad habit of grabbing the check after lunch and I realize it’s a macho power move, dismissive, marginalizing, elitist, sexist, oppressive, colonialist, and a number of women have told me over the years, “You shouldn’t have done that,” but I notice, now that I’m old and slow and not so grabby, that they don’t reach for the check and it sits there in plain sight for several minutes before Anglo Man picks it up, when perhaps a woman says, “Won’t you let me contribute something?” and I say, “It’s my pleasure,” which they take to mean, No. End of story.
I’m not complaining. I enjoy inconsistencies and people who say one thing and mean another. My father, whom I knew as solemn and righteous, could be very funny and charming around young women. My mother, though a devout evangelical, adored comedians. I, though I may appear capable, am lost without my wife and after a week of separation I fall into a black hole and am incapable of doing business.
In my grievous isolation, missing her voice, her hand on my shoulder, I put on a CD of the Bethel Gospel Quartet, a male quartet from Bethel AME church in Mobile, Alabama, who recorded for Victor in the late Twenties, and listened to them sing “We shall walk through the valley in peace” and was stunned by the gorgeousness of their singing, the big bass, the baritone lead, the two tenors, unaccompanied singing, the stateliness and the joy of it, four men weaving brilliant harmonic turns. And then I was blown away by:
The blind man stood in the road and cried,
The blind man stood in the road and cried,
Crying, “Oh Lord, show me the way,
Show me the way to go home.”
Four lines that sum up my whole situation so beautifully, sung by four Black men in Alabama who clearly love singing together, who are living in a cruel society where they must walk a careful line, avoiding missteps that could easily lead to lynching, but none of that is in their music. In their music, they are free as angels. I suppose Victor paid them some money for the recording session, and then they went back to being stonemasons or cooks or drivers, and here they are in full glory on my CD player in 2021, and the racists who stood ready to kill them have left nothing behind and are wholly and deservedly forgotten.
I am a white guy, except for some reddish patches and brownish hair, and I admit to being privileged. One privilege is the fact that you are reading what I’ve written. I admit that I sometimes fly first class, which I feel sheepish about because I’m from Minnesota where we are brought up to be self-effacing to the point of invisibility, and when I stride down the express lane past the mile-long queue of peasants in the Economy line, I feel apologetic, and want to hand out cards that say, “I fly first class because I have a painful back injury suffered while rescuing small children from the upper story of a burning orphanage,” but I walk along, eyes averted, face mask pulled up, and through the X-ray and I board the plane.
I am all in favor of diversity and inclusivity in theory, but when the pilot comes on the horn and welcomes us from the cockpit, I want to feel that he or she is a Republican. I want to hear authority in the voice, a growliness that comes from having shouted orders at people. I do not want my pilot to come on singing “Off we go into the wild blue yonder” and if he does, I’m off the plane. If it’s a woman pilot, I want her to be crisp and chill, not warm and caring. If she mentions turbulent conditions ahead, I don’t want to hear concern in her voice. I do not want her to thank us for flying — that’s for the flight attendants. I prefer my pilot to be a Republican with military service, preferably at the rank of captain or higher, preferably as an aviator, not in the Quartermaster Corps. I’m a Democrat and I’d be leery of a progressive Democrat pilot whose concern about air pollution might make him reluctant to use full power on takeoff. I don’t want anyone like me up front. No deep thinkers. A high-flier, please.
From the left the guy in the ND shirt is Steve Arnold (DeSales '67) a friend of Al Morse. Then Al, Mike Boulware, Chuck Kaps, Janie, Mike DelBianco, Larry Foster, me, Keith Groff, Kevin Ryan, Kevin Cull, Lynn Royer (Steve's widow), Bill McCray, Clare, Jack Besanceney, Ray Browning & Brian McNamara.
