tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post6799308653476183136..comments2024-02-20T13:32:06.704-05:00Comments on Resource Insights: Apollo 13: A Guilty Pleasure in the Age of ScarcityKurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-74401463637379859142009-03-05T21:21:00.000-05:002009-03-05T21:21:00.000-05:00Our leaders could not possibly commit such colossa...Our leaders could not possibly commit such colossal blunders, could they? But in reality, such colossal blunders have been repeated ad nauseam throughout history. And our leaders haven't learned a thing. So, welcome to the latest installment.Rice Farmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09172342023074235356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-45670539347953666632009-03-04T15:45:00.000-05:002009-03-04T15:45:00.000-05:00MSNBC describes the situation with low oil prices ...MSNBC describes the situation with low oil prices and tankers serving as oil storage, as Kurt did in his Feb. 1 post. <BR/>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29495753/ <BR/><BR/>Again, I think we need to draw the distinction between peak oil and climate change. One too plausible scenario is that oil peaking will ameliorate climate change and obviate the need for things like Kyoto treaties. Just look at Weisman's book, The World Without Us, and the History and NatGeo channel takeoffs.<BR/><BR/>My own peak oil blog,<BR/>thin by comparison to Kurt's, is:<BR/>http://thesparecan.blogspot.com/John Weiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12163688483249436222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-44024871857403167222009-03-02T19:14:00.000-05:002009-03-02T19:14:00.000-05:00Actually, I took a different lesson from Apollo 13...Actually, I took a different lesson from <I>Apollo 13</I>. Not that with the right technology we can flourish in a push-button world, but that with the application of the work of many people, and the minds and creativity of many more, if there's a crisis we can <I>just</I> scrape through and survive. <BR/><BR/>After all, the "success" of the Apollo XII crew was not that they landed smoothly on the Moon after a comfortable journey, but that there was a crisis which nearly killed them, but they <I>just</I> managed to survive. <BR/><BR/>It cost a lot of money and effort to put them in a place where they almost died and managed to do no useful science at all. If that's a "technofix" it's not a very impressive one. <BR/><BR/>Looking at resource depletion and climate crises, then, we can expect that by extreme effort and creativity we can just manage to survive; not that we can cruise along easily without effort into a push-button world. <BR/><BR/>When we look at the past, I think it's important to draw the right lessons from it.Hanley Tuckshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13047638048463160737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-10487562689836451772009-03-01T21:32:00.000-05:002009-03-01T21:32:00.000-05:00Yeah, I'v seen it about five times too! "Houston,...Yeah, I'v seen it about five times too! "Houston, we have a problem!" "With all due respect Sir, this will be our finest hour." And they were still using slide rules for crying out loud. Now, in 2015 we will glide the spacecraft New Horizons out to where no man has gone before, between Pluto and its satellite Charon for a photo op. Yet none of that magic could have happened then and will not happen in the future without prodigious quantities of plentiful, cheap, and easy energy, primarily oil. "Those were the days my friend, we'd sing and dance...."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-54643353662598369172009-03-01T20:26:00.000-05:002009-03-01T20:26:00.000-05:00I deal with similar attitudes. They just can't see...I deal with similar attitudes. They just can't seem to get it through their heads that "technology is not energy". It's a concept that eludes them.<BR/><BR/>Or the classic "we'll think of something". It's sad. I try to explain to them that it doesn't matter if "we think of something", and they look at me like I'm some kind of a doomer/crazy person.<BR/><BR/>We know where all the energy is (fossil fuel, solar, wind, nuclear, tides, hydro) Hydro and wind are (technically) aspects of solar power. Nuclear is a "kind" of fossil fuel, it's just a fossil from a supernova 5 billion years ago. Then there's the "breeder" reactor crowd, and yes, it has possibilities, but it requires massive computer support and the motherboards are made of what? Oh, that's right - oil... And the frames are made of what? Soem weird metal? Which is found in what? Some obscure sands in Florida or rock formations in Khazakhstan or Congo? And how exactly will this rock get dug up? And how will that rock get melted? And how will the metals be separated from the silicon, aluminum, salts, and other crap? That's right, using electrodes, and where will that electricity come from? In Congo? <BR/><BR/>It's frustrating when people don't see how it's all so tightly connected, and I have to talk to crown men like they're children because the obvious facts of the matter when stated in the language of fact leaves them so unimpressed.<BR/><BR/>Argh.Henry Warwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16051313050545406852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-20181917306342777632009-03-01T17:22:00.000-05:002009-03-01T17:22:00.000-05:00Your computer friend's logic is exactly the sort b...Your computer friend's logic is exactly the sort by which fresh water consumption has been allowed to go off the chart and which will likely result in significant violence and death.<BR/><BR/>Or maybe we'll learn how to catch water and mineral filled asteroids just in the nick of time, perhaps even accompanied by an appropriate musical score.Jerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354640729644229842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-85877047194638805322009-03-01T17:19:00.000-05:002009-03-01T17:19:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354640729644229842noreply@blogger.com