hahahaha, the last two comments make it sound like nuke and coal plants don't enjoy government subsidies of any sort...

not to mention, all the government planning which encourages sprawl coupled with super-low gas taxes discourage energy efficiency.

Europeans jumped on energy efficiency since using power is way more expensive over there. But why talk about how to improve things when it's so much easier to criticize people and repeat tired old political tirades?

What more, he's actually bashing government money shuffle boondoggles in the vid itself - did you guys even watch it?

>> ^MarineGunrock:
Dumb. This would be so much cheaper and energy efficient if you just put four fucking wheels on it.


Building a "teeter-bot" is a common entry-level robotics project - you have to program up a "brain" that reads sensor data (the gyro/accelerometer), and reacts to the data accordingly. Depending on scale, you could spend about a grand doing it all from scratch. This builder had the mindset of "if I'm spending that kind of money on a robotics project, it'd be nice if I could at least ride it." And I'm inclined to agree with that mindset.

Dumb. This would be so much cheaper and energy efficient if you just put four fucking wheels on it.

>> ^cheesemoo:
That's probably neglecting friction. With air/rail friction, you wouldn't quite make it to the other side.

You could counter this by creating a vacuum in the tunnel and levitating the craft on magnetic rails. But it is still just an interesting mathematical idea. It could never be done unless some hyper advanced technology comes along. No drill can withstand the temperatures and pressures down there, let alone a tunnel.

A better idea is to make an above ground (or slightly below ground) vacuum tunnel with maglev trains. In this scenario the craft could keep accelerating until it reaches the midpoint where is will have to start decelerating. Depending on the G forces the occupants find acceptable, you could go faster than the 42 minute scenario. It would also be very energy efficient because there are only slight losses to air friction (a perfect vacuum is impossible) and maintaining the vacuum. Most of the energy expended in accelerating can be recovered in the deceleration phase.

Lyrics:

EG: where all the shawties on the court?

JS: It's ridiculous, one woman on the Supreme Court, uh, doesn't seem right to me.

EG: Ain't nobody have a breakfast with all sausage and no eggs.

MG: We need a shawty with a hot body and sexy legs.

EG: When the court convenes it's an ancient sausage festival.

MG: Only two ovaries, sixteen testicles..

BB: There are so many qualified women out there.

MG: Qualified to get low in they apple-bottomed robe.

MB: I completely agree with you.

EG: And I complete agree, too.

MG: How does Ginsburg stand being the only woman who ain't a man?

BB: Judge Ginsburg said, she's really very lonely without another woman.

MG, EG, BB: Without another woman, lonely without another woman!

EG: I know what it's like with a woman gone, cryin in the nude with the curtains drawn.

MB: Breaking news!

EG, MG: Oh snap! News is broken! Breaking news, in ya face!

MB: Obama has picked Sonia Sotomayor.

EG, MG: She's a shawty, She's a Boricua!

EG: Jurisprudent!

JS: With soft thighs!

MG: And other soft features, that Ginsburg can appreciate, stayin up late, makin sure to thank
heaven above.

EG: because she ain't

All: lonely without another woman, lonely without another woman!

EG: Listen up, y'all, Joe Biden's got a shout out!
This one goes out to all the serbians
And also the ladies
But mostly the Serbians

JB: And until the Serbian people
Look themselves in the face
Understand what their leaders have done
And convinced them of
Until that moment arrives
Serbian people will not
Be able to shed this notion of victimization
That all of their leaders prey upon
And manipulate them with
Until that moment arrives
Until the Serbian people look themselves in the face
Until that moment arrives
Until that moment arriiiiiiiiives

KC: April showers bring May flowers
But what do May flowers bring?
AG: Romance for a shawty
KC: Possibly lead poisoning
AG: ::Barf::
KC: Lead poisoning
AG: ::Barf, barf:: I'm gettin sick like
::Barf, barf, barf, barf, barf::
KC: Before you dig in and start to enjoy all the
Fruits and vegetables of your labor
AG: Shawty
KC: You'd better get your soil tested first
AG: Oh
KC: Your soil tested first
AG: Oh, I live in the ghetto
So I'll expect the worst
KC: Paint chippings and old pesticides
May be buried insiiiiide
AG: Me, oh my
KC: Raising the level of lead in the soil
The tests are inexpensive
And some local health departments
Do them for freeeeeeee
AG: Even for a talking head thug like me?
KC: Once you're in the clear
Mary, Mary quite contrary
Plant away
AG: Okay
And when asked how does your garden grow
Tell them it's healthy, green and lead-free
AG: I'll say it's healthy, green and lead-free, shawty
KC: Healtheeeeeee
AG: Healtheeeeeee, believe me
I ain't tryna munch on a poison zucchini

NG: This bill actually has the secretary of energy
Regulating jacuzzis
Now, the ideastrikes me
As close to being nuts

AG: I agree--I'm an angry gorilla and that makes me angry

JI: The only jacuzzis this will regulate
Will have to produce 2,500 mega watts of energy

AG: You made me angry with lies
Hurt my angry gorilla pride; I'm angry

NG: On page 233, uh
Line 5: portable electric spas

All: Portable electric spas!

MG: No spa is above the law!

NG: Now, I don't know what a portable electric spa is
I was told it was a jacuzzi
But that's in this bill

AG: So it's true!
I'm no longer angry at you
My original anger's renewed

JI: We will give you a hot spa
That is energy efficient
I hope that doesn't offend you

AG: He might have a point
My anger's makin a switch
Cuz you're being a little b*$&
But maybe not
Maybe you're just defending freedom and justice for jacuzzis
ohhhhhh
What's this? a single tear that is wet that i shed

When an angry gorilla cries
Who's gonna be there to dry his eyes?
And when an angry gorilla's depressed
Who's gonna heal him with a soft caress?
Ooh ooh ah ah, the tears are rolling down my cheeks
Ooh ooh ah ah, liquid sorrow that my eyes excrete

And I'm a soulja, but a soulja's got feelings,
Don't know whom to lend my anger to,
And that's why I'm crestfallen and confused

In fact I think his project fall short for what I would have liked. I would have said 45 miles per gallon by 2015 because cars like the Honda non-hybrid has proven it can be done. So there is not excuse to keep on delaying that situation.

I would also have created a very aggressive insulation and energy efficient building code. Such all the building/houses moving forward have all the key technologies to safe energy, insulation, water, etc. I would also have included solar power for them as mandatory. To help start build the idea of energy decentralization. Which is good for many reasons.

I would also have announce that we are looking into defining a Manhattan project for the USA to help us be energy independent by 2030.

^'Big government' is a vague and meaningless political slogan, that seems only applicable to social services that actually benefit the general populous. I don't think I've ever heard you complain about the gazillions of dollars given to military industries over the last few decades, but drop a dime for an energy efficient car and you're up in arms.

Sustainability would be a great choice for a new channel..
& ask dag to run the channel (or even better, the whole site:)) on an energy efficient server running on sustainable energy..
(BTW: I don't know the specs of the current VS server and its energy sources)

How can you not love the logic of Obama? He says all of the things that I believe but cannot put quite so eloquently, and he does it unscripted. How is this race even close? It boggles the mind.

My favorite example from the interview...
"[After 9/11, in] the United States, there was just this outpouring—you remember, people wanted to do something, and, you know, George Bush asked them to shop, and if we had instead said, 'You know what, we are going to reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil,' or, you know, 'We are going to create the kinds of energy-efficient economy that will allow us to weaken the forces of terror,' that could have made an incredible difference and I think you could have mobilized the American people around bold plans on energy that would make sure that we weren't continuing to be in the situation we're in today."

When I remember the outpouring of international support for the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks, even in many middle eastern nations, and I consider how we squandered that support and turned it back into disgust and hatred with an unjust and unprovoked war based on lies and deceit...

Words cannot describe.

Thanks for saving the environment guys. I'm sure all those subs, lcds, lasers, and glitter showers are energy efficient.

The doorway to the future of American energy efficiency points to a blend of 80% highly combustible snowy owl feathers, in easy to haul bundles made from mountain cougar hide.

^
The common conclusion is that the planet is warming. That's all anyone is saying with any certainty.

As to the cause, well, take your pick.

When we discovered that the amount of lead in the atmosphere was due solely to the lead being added to petroleum in cars, the entire motor industry changed overnight.

Global warming is different. It's political. The energy industry IS the government in America.

If you truly believe that global warming is man made, then get rid of your car, change your lifestyle, and be proud of yourself for doing something that actually will make a difference.

Energy efficient homes? Go out to Cambodia, or visit a village in Peru, or stay with a tribe in the Amazon. And it'd all be wiped out tomorrow with a big fucking McDonalds in the middle of it if corporate america could get away with it.

>> ^Irishman:
It's corporately funded studies/PR, government funded studies/PR on BOTH sides.
Listening to the conclusions of both sides is exactly what the scientific method is.


Actually, the scientific method requires reproducible results from a methodology that withstands peer review. Who counts as a "peer" is a bit of an elitist meritocracy, but suffice to say ad hominem arguments like "Exxon-Mobile funded you" don't factor into the critique of these so-called studies. Generally, the critique of these studies comes from methodology that is either demonstrably flawed, or not explained within the study (which makes the study worth less than the paper it's printed on).

The fact that those junk studies are often funded by oil and coal companies is more of an argument for the political arena.

But since we're at the "I have experts who agree with me, and so do you, so obviously it's just a matter of personal belief" impasse that gets manufactured into this debate, let's try a bit of Pascal's wager.

Maybe Global Warming might not be real. But what if it is? What if doing nothing will cause global famine, and skyrocketing energy prices? Wouldn't you rather try to conserve, and support government incentives for clean energy, in order to prevent it?

If you're wrong, all you have is cleaner air, more efficient use of energy around your home & office, and potentially a source of renewable energy that isn't reliant on finite fossil fuel resources. There'd also be an economic expansion into "green industry" that works on things like carbon offsets, energy efficient homes (and home improvement), and alternative energy which would create jobs and bring profits to investors.

That's more or less the rhetoric John McCain used, before he became Mr. Driller (and likely will continue to use despite that).

The resistance to addressing environmental concerns seems very short sighted to me, even when it comes from those who stand to benefit directly from a continued reliance on fossil fuels.

"The (unfortunately, largely forgotten and still extremely under-appreciated) Serbian inventor, genius, and true scientist Dr. Nikola Tesla invented the fluorescent light bulb (as well as Neon lighting and several other lighting inventions). At the time, his invention was largely ignored. In fact his fluorescent light bulbs were vastly superior than the ones we have now: they were far more energy efficient due to the lack of ballast transformers and capacitors, they needed no starter capacitor, and lasted literally forever as there was no filament necessary and nothing was consumed. Tesla is however better known for his monumental invention of AC current generators, motors and energy transmission systems - which to this day still power the entire civilized world in exactly the same way. As with almost all Tesla's inventions, his fluorescent bulb was brilliant in its simplicity, durability and efficiency, as well as easy to produce. Tesla also invented numerous improvements on the common (and extremely inefficient) incandescent light bulb for which Edison commonly is credited, although even that is disputed - Edison clearly could not stand in the shadow of the likes of Tesla and Edison is known to have shrewdly taken credit for many inventions he in fact did not produce himself."

Kinda makes you think doesnt it?

>> ^choggie:
built better, and probably cleaner that most homes today....def. more energy efficient-


Your home loses 30% of its heat from its corners.