We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:55:20 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite. You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place... *********************************** Ah, the ides of August. My muse has fled. Too many brain-cramping meetings for course-of-action development, scenario development, and the thrice-dammed data collection management plan that underpins it all... As if Mr. Vick doesn't have enough problems... Embattled NFL quarterback Michael Vick, facing federal charges related to his alleged participation in dogfighting, has been hit... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:50:50 -0600 JTG - I agree that we are wasting petroleum products, especially when it comes to stationary power production facilities. These could be run on nuke, hydroelectric, garbage or even coal (with smokestack scrubbers). However, there is a vocal interest group out there that is opposed to any one of these. There are politicians that tell lies and half-truths about energy and the environment to pander to voters' fears. There is also a lot of domestic crude that was locked away (ANWR) by liberals that used the environment as an excuse but really want to force a foreign dependence crisis. Their goal is to abolish personal transportation as we know it and force us all into mass-transit (no, I can’t prove that, but it’s the only cynical answer that makes sense and I’m a cynic [LOL]). http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63242 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63242 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:34:38 -0600 Yeah, Oldloadr, but as I wrote above, that's beside the point. The point is, I think, that we have been using frozen sunshine in the form of petroleum for a while now, and we *are* going to run out of the stuff. Maybe not in my lifetime (I live an unhealthily dissipated lifestyle) but pretty surely in the lifetimes of the grandchildren of people of our age. What will they do without chemical fertilizers to grow their food? And Diesel fuel to transport it? And electricity to run air conditioners in places like Florida and Arizona which would be otherwise uninhabitable? I think we should build more nuclear-electric power plants, to include breeder reactors, to use thorium, and also send up some solar-power satellites to beam some power down. Save the remaining petroleum for chemical feedstocks; it's too valuable to burn, as much fun as that is. Yah, I'm not-quite-quoting Jerry Pournelle here, but I do believe he's right about this http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63238 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63238 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:33:54 -0600 I have read that 90% of the American Meteorological Society doesn't believe that Global Warming is man-made but the inevitable warming and cooling the Earth has always experienced. I also read that the end result will be some deserts will become jungles and some jungles will become deserts; some coastal cities will disappear, but some inland cities will become tourists havens. In other words a zero sum for humanity as a whole. Maybe Alaska wins and Florida looses; hey, sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes your the bug... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63229 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63229 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:12:38 -0600 To get serious: I dunno if the Gerbil Swarming thing is gonna happen, or not. We might be better off if it does happen, because there's one thing that is certainly happening, and that is Peak Oil. Whether or not one believes in the (I think it's crazy, but will listen to arguments) abiogenesis theory of the happening of petroleum, we are most definitely using up the stuff faster than we can find more of it. Western modern technical civilization was built on lots of cheap energy. When we run out of that we are gonna be in a world of hurt. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63228 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63228 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:12:57 -0600 So, if this Global Warming thing is actually true, the Northwest Passage will be an easy voyage for yachts, and Canada can avoid having to buy nuc subs? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63227 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63227 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:46:58 -0600 And in 1954, HMCS Labrador circumnavigated North America. Cheers http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63226 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63226 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:50:10 -0600 But the arctic is American, Alan! We sent the Nautilus there first. It's ours! Sigh. This whole 'who controls the arctic gas pockets and SLOC' has to be one of the sillier territorial brouhahas I've ever seen. I blame the Russians. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63225 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63225 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:35:28 -0600 Just for the record, I overlapped school with the new Minister of Defense and hung out at a cottage next to his out east at some point I can't fix. I say this for no real reason other than through my knowing where he came from as an intelligent and decent guy with decent values he is as close a call I might have to voting Conservative in a Federal election. He is also as good a person as is available to turn the public perception of the Afghan mission around. Maybe he can also finally get those ice-troopers for the Arctic that we apparently also need. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63221 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63221 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:42:51 -0600 Who in the hell could possibly believe that Vick is even smart enough to come up with a "dogs for missles" scheme??? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63220 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63220 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:09:35 -0600 $63,000,000,000 billion dollars So thats $63,000,000,000 followed by 9 zeros? :-)]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63212 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/08/hi_fires_15_aug.html#comment-63212 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:55:26 -0600