On Sun, Feb 02, 2003 at 11:32:08AM +0100, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> On Sat, 1 Feb 2003, Bill Stewart wrote:
>
> > The big pollution issues with ethanol are in growing the corn, sugar, etc.
> > that's used to brew the stuff, fermenting it, and distilling it.
There's no *real* pollution (toxic em
On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 11:24:13AM -0800, James A. Donald wrote:
> --
> On 30 Jan 2003 at 12:16, Harmon Seaver wrote:
> > I'll have to find the studies, but it was the same oil
> > geologists (not enviros) who used the same model to
> > accurately predict the peak of US oil production who did t
On Thursday 30 January 2003 03:25 am, Bill Stewart wrote:
>
> Remember the Synfuel boondoggles under Jimmy Carter?
> Cracking otherwise-uneconomical oil shale might have been
> a useful technology if the price of oil were $50-100/barrel.
> (Meanwhile, we can feel nice and liberal about leaving all
On Thu, 30 Jan 2003, Howie Goodell wrote:
> Tim May wrote:
>
> > For example, the space program. The Moon Flag Planting cost about
> > 100,000 slave-lives (about $125 thousand milliion in today's dollars) to
> > finance. It distorted the market for things like single stage to orbit,
> > which mi
On Thu, 30 Jan 2003, James A. Donald wrote:
> --
> On 30 Jan 2003 at 11:31, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> > I'm not arguing pro strong state. I'm merely saying that the
> > tax funded ivory tower R&D is complementary in scope to
> > privately funded research. If 95% of it is wasted (and
> > lacking li
Tim May wrote:
For example, the space program. The Moon Flag Planting cost about
100,000 slave-lives (about $125 thousand milliion in today's dollars) to
finance. It distorted the market for things like single stage to orbit,
which might have happened otherwise. And it created a bureaucracy m
--
On 30 Jan 2003 at 12:16, Harmon Seaver wrote:
> I'll have to find the studies, but it was the same oil
> geologists (not enviros) who used the same model to
> accurately predict the peak of US oil production who did the
> one on world oil production.
Not true.
Rather, what happened is that
On Thu, 30 Jan 2003, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>Actually, VW has a plant making synfuel out of biomass. And we won't have to
> wait long before oil is $50-100 a barrel, it's at $35 right now and world oil
> production will peak this decade.
In the '80's it was "obvious" that oil production would p
On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 08:05:46AM -0800, Mike Rosing wrote:
> On Thu, 30 Jan 2003, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>
> >Actually, VW has a plant making synfuel out of biomass. And we won't have to
> > wait long before oil is $50-100 a barrel, it's at $35 right now and world oil
> > production will peak
On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 09:46:00AM -0800, Steve Schear wrote:
> At 09:59 PM 1/29/2003 -0600, Harmon Seaver wrote:
> >On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 06:38:11PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
> > Diesel, Tim, they run on diesel. Too bad MB won't import any of those
> >hi-tech
> >diesel they make to the US because
--
On 30 Jan 2003 at 11:31, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> I'm not arguing pro strong state. I'm merely saying that the
> tax funded ivory tower R&D is complementary in scope to
> privately funded research. If 95% of it is wasted (and
> lacking libertarian drive in Euland it's bound to stay that
> wa
At 09:59 PM 1/29/2003 -0600, Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 06:38:11PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
Diesel, Tim, they run on diesel. Too bad MB won't import any of those
hi-tech
diesel they make to the US because of the crummy fuel here.
I had an '87 MB 300D terrible-diesel for about 5
At 09:08 PM 1/29/2003 -0500, "Tyler Durden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Tim May wrote...
"Ask why the U.S.S.R., which depended essentially solely on "federal
funding," failed so completely. Hint: it wasn't just because of
repression. It was largely because "picking winners" doesn't work, and
co
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Tim May
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 9:52 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: the news from bush's speech...H-power
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 06:33 PM, Harmon Seaver wrote:
> On
tter of blood on my bumper: "You
fucked up my Mercedes!" Is what I told them as their last few moments of
life ebbed away
-TD
From: Tim May <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [DIGRESSION] RE: the news from bush's speech...H-power
Date: Wed, 29 J
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 11:14:56PM -0800, James A. Donald wrote:
(snip)
> Tyler said:
> and the buying up (and
> > subsequent dismantling) of lite rail systems in the LA basin
> > in the 30s and 40s apparently had a major impact on the
> > rollout of vehicles Might we have seen much better publi
On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 01:25:07AM -0800, Bill Stewart wrote:
>
> Remember the Synfuel boondoggles under Jimmy Carter?
> Cracking otherwise-uneconomical oil shale might have been
> a useful technology if the price of oil were $50-100/barrel.
> (Meanwhile, we can feel nice and liberal about leaving
at Wednesday, January 29, 2003 11:18 PM, Bill Frantz
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> was seen to say:
> Back a few years ago, probably back during the great gas crisis (i.e.
> OPEC) years, there were a lot of small companies working on solar
> power. As far as I know, they were all bought up by oil companies.
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 04:08:08PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
> > Really, Eugene, you need to think deeply about this issue. Ask your lab
> > associate, "A. G.," about why learning and success/failure is so
> > important for so many industries. Read some
At 07:52 PM 01/29/2003 -0800, Tim May wrote:
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 06:33 PM, Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 07:53:21PM -0500, Jamie Lawrence wrote:
One of the problems I think is rampant with, for instance, getting
alternate fuel sources off the ground is that govern
At 03:13 PM 01/29/2003 -0800, Tim May wrote:
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 02:24 PM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Tim May wrote:
Nonsense. What "political science" do you think was stopping Ford or
Honda or Volvo or GM from introducing a hydrogen fuel cell car by 1980?
What I
When Bush is talking about a hydrogen economy,
remember that he's really referring to Orion-engine cars...
At 06:38 PM 01/29/2003 -0800, Tim May wrote:
It's why I'll be safer when I run into Harmon on the freeways.
His heirs will appreciate his savings in gasoline for the time he owned
his Lupo.
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Eric Cordian wrote:
> Ovshinsky, the amorphous semiconductor guy, developed a relatively
> efficient photovoltaic film that could be manufactured by continuous
> extrusion by a simple machine.
>
> For some reason, that never hit the big time either.
He had several problems i
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 06:38:11PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
(snip)
> Since my life and my safety is vastly more valuable to me than saving
> $350-$600 a year in gas, I'll be keeping my 3500-pound S-Class.
Ah, yes, the old "big cars are safer" arguement. I've seen studies that went
both ways, ye
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 06:33 PM, Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 07:53:21PM -0500, Jamie Lawrence wrote:
One of the problems I think is rampant with, for instance, getting
alternate fuel sources off the ground is that government subsidies are
ensuring they don't happen
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 04:23 PM, Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 03:36:20PM -0800, Mike Rosing wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Harmon Seaver wrote:
Although canola oil is a much better source for fuel. And diesels
a much
better IC engine for hybrids. Even in non-hybri
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 07:53:21PM -0500, Jamie Lawrence wrote:
>
> One of the problems I think is rampant with, for instance, getting
> alternate fuel sources off the ground is that government subsidies are
> ensuring they don't happen by distorting the market for fossil fuels.
>
More than th
ogical ephemera come and go. Like Kuhn or Popper, these aren't
the only drivers, but they are certainly one of the axes.
So the picking of technological winners is possible, but if the technology
is actually a winner!
-TD
From: Tim May <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
S
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Tim May wrote:
> The "2-4 year payback cycle" in the electronics industry, from roughly
> 1955 to the present, was terribly important. Each generation of
> technology paid for the next generation, and costly mistakes resulted
> in companies ceasing to exist (Shockley Transi
At 3:43 PM -0800 1/29/03, Tim May wrote:
>On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 03:18 PM, Bill Frantz wrote:
>> Back a few years ago, probably back during the great gas crisis (i.e.
>> OPEC)
>> years, there were a lot of small companies working on solar power. As
>> far
>> as I know, they were all b
Time writes:
> "I am proud to announce, as your President, the goal of creating our
> national mechanical brain, a machine which will be built with one
> million relays and vacuum tubes. I am committing one billion dollars to
> this noble endeavour. We expect to have the mechanical brain operat
Tim writes:
> There is no way to control fundamental breakthroughs, whether PV
> conversion or "caburetors that violate the laws of physics!." Any of
> the above non-oil companies (and one can add Texas Instruments and
> others to the list) which develops a more efficient, cheaper to
> manufac
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 03:36:20PM -0800, Mike Rosing wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>
> >Although canola oil is a much better source for fuel. And diesels a much
> > better IC engine for hybrids. Even in non-hybrids, VW builds some pretty nice
> > diesel cars, including th
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 02:24 PM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
Feds are sure inefficient, but the random dispersal of funds does tend
to
hit the far shots now and then. The private sector tends to ruthlessly
optimize on the short run (because the long shot doesn't pay if you go
broke before you
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 03:18 PM, Bill Frantz wrote:
At 2:24 PM -0800 1/29/03, Eugen Leitl wrote:
Feds are sure inefficient, but the random dispersal of funds does
tend to
hit the far shots now and then. The private sector tends to ruthlessly
optimize on the short run (because the l
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>Although canola oil is a much better source for fuel. And diesels a much
> better IC engine for hybrids. Even in non-hybrids, VW builds some pretty nice
> diesel cars, including the Lupo, on the market for a couple years now, which
> gets 80mpg. And t
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 03:18:44PM -0800, Bill Frantz wrote:
> At 2:24 PM -0800 1/29/03, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> >Feds are sure inefficient, but the random dispersal of funds does tend to
> >hit the far shots now and then. The private sector tends to ruthlessly
> >optimize on the short run (because th
At 2:24 PM -0800 1/29/03, Eugen Leitl wrote:
>Feds are sure inefficient, but the random dispersal of funds does tend to
>hit the far shots now and then. The private sector tends to ruthlessly
>optimize on the short run (because the long shot doesn't pay if you go
>broke before you can reap the poss
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 02:24 PM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Tim May wrote:
Nonsense. What "political science" do you think was stopping Ford or
Honda or Volvo or GM from introducing a hydrogen fuel cell car by
1980?
What I meant is lack of lots of fat federal grants
On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 05:05:22PM -0500, Tyler Durden wrote:
> Mike Rossing wrote...
> "Just gotta kill off a few more arabs to extend the time when that happens
> is all."
>
> That gives me a damned good idea. Perhaps we can use Camp XRay to do some
> research on how to melt down Muslims and c
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Tim May wrote:
> Nonsense. What "political science" do you think was stopping Ford or
> Honda or Volvo or GM from introducing a hydrogen fuel cell car by 1980?
What I meant is lack of lots of fat federal grants for research on fuel
reformers, hydrogen separation, proton mem
Mike Rossing wrote...
"Just gotta kill off a few more arabs to extend the time when that happens
is all."
That gives me a damned good idea. Perhaps we can use Camp XRay to do some
research on how to melt down Muslims and convert then directly into fossil
fuels, bypassing all the middlemen...Mus
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
> Oh come on. Its all economics. (With tech changing the params)
> Fuel cells for cars are too expensive today. There is not enough
> methanol
> production/distrib infrastructure, which costs to create. [insert
> Metcalfe's law (aka fax or networ
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 10:53 AM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Tyler Durden wrote:
And don't forget his promise that we'll all be able to buy
Hydrogen-powered
cars by 2020 or so. Guess that's how long he thinks this war on
terrorism
Don't get it: onboard fuel reforming
And don't forget his promise that we'll all be able to buy Hydrogen-powered
cars by 2020 or so. Guess that's how long he thinks this war on terrorism
will last (and its probability for ending!).
-TD
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