jsarets's Comments (3039)

“Yes.

It's an artifact of the disproportional representation of rural states in the Senate.

Next to high church attendance, low population density is the second most accurate demographic indicator of Republican strength.

Senators bring home the bacon, and Wyoming and California each have two of them.”

“A majority support what they believe is a "public option".

But they don't realize that the "public option" won't be an option for most of the public.

It's not like we'll be able to choose to buy into Medicare. That would be great.

People who can't get insurance any other way will be granted the privilege of buying specially-regulated private insurance plans through a government-run exchange. That's the public option.”

“Public option is more accurate, since government-run doesn't imply an option and may be confused with government-run health care instead of just government-run health insurance.

The bigger polling impact is when Congress or Obama are mentioned. Many people support a public option but oppose the plans put forth by Obama or Congress.”

“Massachusetts doesn't have a public option.

They have a private insurance mandate, with public subsidies for low-income households.”

“This is very similar to thermal depolymerization.

Basically, in a pressure cooker at 250C and 600psi, the oxygen atoms in organic molecules dissociate as H2O, producing hydrocarbons from methane (CH4) through octadecane (C18H38).

The process is fairly efficient, consuming about 15% of the energy contained in the resulting hydrocarbons. The gases (methane through butane) can be used as process fuel.

The mixture of hydrocarbons depends on the feedstock. For turkey offal, which is roughly similar to human tissue, the process yields 78% liquids, including gasoline and diesel fractions.

This is the "brown liquid" that the article says is dumped down the drain.

They're throwing away bio-petroleum!

We can turn our departed loved ones into useful commodities, such as biofuel, lime, and potash!”

“Yes, but then you release CO2 and CH4 while you decompose.”

“Nah, just a handful of trips during early adulthood is sufficient.

The change of perspective is fairly permanent, although a reminder every few years is nice.”

“I like the part about climbing a tree to feed the birds.

Interacting with animals is usually a fun activity on LSD.

I used to enjoy chasing turkeys...

A particularly good trip was the annual butterfly exhibit at the botanical gardens.”

“If you see men conceiving and becoming pregnant, you are probably tripping..­.”

“Some folks use lower-interest credit cards to pay off higher-interest credit cards.

TBTF banks use Fed loan facilities to pay off Treasury loan facilities.

TARP was only "necessary" because you couldn't pay banks to borrow when all asset classes were tanking simultaneously.

Paulson had to sit them down and say "you're taking taxpayer money whether you like it or not!"

Now that they've got the short-dollar carry trade going, banks have a reason to borrow free money from the Fed, so TARP is no longer relevant.

The TBTF banks have access to the Fed discount window, so TARP won't lose any money on them.

But smaller TARP recipients don't, and the Fed keeps the list of elite banks a secret.

Banks that don't have access to the discount window are paying MUCH higher interest rates.

Nobody wants to lend to smaller banks, because their financial prospects are uncertain.

So these banks will likely default on the TARP loans.

Fannie and Freddie will most likely need repeated bailouts for years.

FHA will quietly tap its credit facilities with the Treasury.

But the TBTF banks are fine. Free money makes everything much easier.”

“That's how all banks work. It doesn't matter which bank issued the check. They only cash checks free of charge for their own account holders.

That's why depressed communities often have seedy check-cashing establishments to rip off people who don't have bank accounts.”

“Volt is a 4-seater.”

“Volt concept emerged in 2007, not even three years ago.

It looks different because the concept body had very bad aerodynamics.”

“The GREENHOUSE EFFECT is thoroughly proven scientific FACT.

It is NOT the only process affecting mean global TEMPERATURE.

There are also SOLAR, GEOLOGICAL, and BIOLOGICAL variables.

We are experiencing global ecosystem decline UNRELATED to temperature.

Sustainable management of RESOURCES and WASTE involves more than JUST carbon.

Cap and trade is a SCAM foisted on environmentalists by BANKERS.

The price of carbon credits will be MANIPULATED by SPECULATORS.

Government will spend revenues on CORN ethanol and other BOONDOGGLES.

We should regulate FOSSIL CARBON production/import -- not carbon dioxide emissions.

The CARBON TAX should fund a revenue-neutral ENERGY SUBSIDY.

This promotes LOW-CARBON ENERGY and treats BIOFUELS accurately.

It does NOT increase the AVERAGE price of energy.

We can use the same scheme for TREES and METALS and their respective products.

This promotes RECYCLING instead of extracting virgin RESOURCES.

Some environmental regulations MAKE SENSE. Others DON'T.”

“Yup, and they'll lose money at that price. The battery pack alone costs over $10,000.”

“I agree that the lack of any series hybrids on the market is inexplicable.

Series hybrids are simpler than plug-in hybrids in every way.”

“The Volt is right on schedule. There's been no slip at all since early 2007.”

“Marriage should be defined by religious institutions. If the spiritual leader of one's choosing teaches that gay people can marry, then it would be a violation of the First Amendment for the state to intervene in the practice of one's religion.

The state can sanction civil unions, but they can't go quoting the Christian Bible for definitions of marriage, because we don't all worship the same way, and it is a fundamental freedom in America to worship as we choose.

It's a mistake to make this argument about "equality", because the people we're trying to reason with believe that they are "more equal" than others. When we say equality, they think socialism. So we have to make this about freedom, religion, and the First Amendment. They grok that stuff.”

“There are a lot of practical limitations, the most notable of which involve taxation, banking, and health care.”

“Already done. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe7HKZPpP7M

I foresee some practical problems. First, such swap facilities are probably quite expensive. Also, I wonder how robust they are, for example if you have road crud on your undercarriage.”

“The Volt will go at least 100 mph on battery or gasoline/ethanol power. The engine doesn't respond to speed or torque, it only responds to battery state of charge.”

“The engine and the battery are powertrains. The Volt has one drivetrain.

The Volt has a fuel tank, engine, and generator that pure electrics don't have.”

“I don't know where you're getting the 12 gal figure. GM hasn't yet publicized the fuel capacity. The claim is 300 mile range AFTER the battery is discharged, and the fuel mode is expected to be 45-50 mpg.

Hence my estimate of 6-7 gal, which is the general consensus of the Volt community over at gm-volt.com”

“Butanol has higher energy density by volume, lower energy density by mass, lower octane rating, and less corrosive.

Since it's fairly easy to modify gasoline engines with ethanol-tolerant gaskets, I tend to think it's 6 to 1, half a dozen the other between the two.

For gasoline-type engines, propane is the ideal fuel, although it's not especially easy to produce from biomass.

For diesel-type engines, dimethyl ether is the ideal fuel, and it's quite easy to produce from biomass via methanol dehydration.

The EU is doing studies on bioDME. It's VERY promising.”

“It does 0-60 in about 8.5 seconds.

One problem with plug-in hybrids is the weight of two powertrains, so they're not as peppy as one might hope from an electric car.”