Comments rufwork has made

  • "Lemme see a politician sell that."

    I believe that politician was named Ross Perot.  But then aren't you proposing the same thing when you say, "But that shortcoming can easily be remedied by pairing feebates with higher gas taxes"?  Are you Ross' buddy or not?

    I guess I'd argue that gas use is an elastic demand when taken with a long enough horizon.  Though profits went through the roof for oil companies with higher prices a year or so ago, I'm guessing people still drove less.  I'm also guessing that if there was no reason to expect prices to drop, people would do more long term planning, and make at least a lateral move into a similarly priced smaller car for personal use. I didn't see diesels or 55 mpg speed limits make their comeback during this "gas crisis."  It wasn't enough to show the power of increasing gas prices.

    And I'm betting the Efficient Vehicle Leadership Act is only for new cars.  Until you make it for used cars in some format, it's the same as a regressive tax.  Unless you believe in trickle-down "feebates", such a system won't help the many Americans who depend on used vehicles to get around.  I mean, now that I own part of GM I'll all about new cars, but let's be real.

    I wonder if systems like the one you only implicitly propose (where people drive the hatchback the most miles) favors leases -- and the forced continual "upgrade" for cars that we see with conventional consumer goods.

    Finally, I think the real lesson of cash for clunkers is that too many American households have extra cars.

    On Like Cash for Clunkers? You'll love feebates! posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago 5 Responses

  • Hrm, seems like I read a comment to this effect earlier on in the thread.  ;^)  Follow the money, right?

    On How to shut down 93% of coal without building new plants or reducing power supply posted 6 months ago 27 Responses

  • "Obviously, that is very sensitive to fuel price assumptions, but this range is hardly unreasonable for current markets."

    So no way to judge if there'd be a significant impact on the price of gas from the increased demand of maxing capacity?

    On How to shut down 93% of coal without building new plants or reducing power supply posted 6 months ago 27 Responses

  • Good idea by me

    Langdon Winner's "Do Artifacts Have Politics" might be worth a good read if one doesn't like the Smart Car Garage idea.  There's a bit in there accusing some part of Long Island (iirc) of building bridges too low for city buses to pass through, effectively eliminating a certain sort of folk from entering the high scale neighborhood.

    That's obviously a nefarious use of technology, but the small garage seems less so.  It's not like you could only put a Smart Car in there there; I bet a 60 mpg motorcycle fits fairly well too.  And this could contribute to a new size standard smaller than the lanes we're used to today, slowly doing its part to encourage car makers to create more Smart-sized cars, potentially with much better mpg, parked in these sorts of spaces in the future.

    I guess the practical question becomes if there are enough alternatives that folks in this condo do something else with their garages.  That is, is there long term, full sized parking nearby that would likely turn the garage into storage for many would-be condo owners?

    In any event, I'd agree with the initial blog; there's nothing particularly bad about helping folk think small when they think auto.On Asheville developers go big with eco, at the worst time ever posted 10 months ago 3 Responses

  • Odd behavior

    That's odd.  I think that's the same URL you used.  It's truncated in Chrome, but shows up in full in Firefox unless I try to use the version for printing.  All I can think of that I do wacky there is run FlashBlock.

    Go figure, I guess.On Interesting food articles from around the web posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago 2 Responses

  • Cargill article URL

    Thanks as usual for the nuggets, Tom.  Doesn't take the WSJ long to put articles under subscription wraps, but they seem to reprint it here:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123189501407679581.html?m ...
    On Interesting food articles from around the web posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago 2 Responses

  • Living Daylights?

    "I still like the grittiness of Daniel Craig -- his Bond is much more like Ian Fleming imagined in his books than anyone since the Sean Connery of the early movies."

    Dalton's first was quite good along these lines.  ;^)  Second not so much.On WALL-E takes top honor and Quantum of Solace disappoints posted 11 months ago 8 Responses

  • Two words

    Used books.

    (The library is obviously a good idea, but they don't take as well to marginalia.)

    I'd also think if you were planning on re-reading over several years the book comes out better.  Either that or you'll need to factor in the price*s* of buying Kindle 2.0 in a few years...On Umbra on e-books posted 11 months, 3 weeks ago 9 Responses

  • WaterConsNYC's link is money.

    Thanks for the link to Home Energy Magazine Online, WaterConsNYC.  That articles rocks (and is perfectly detailed).On Umbra on turning down the heat posted 12 months ago 21 Responses

  • My two semesters of physics wish to be heard...

    "Because as we all know, it takes more heat to keep a house at 68 than at 58."

    It might be more precise to say, "When it's colder outside than in, that cold will leech away the heat in your house more slowly if your house is at 58 than 68 because there's less heat from your house to leech."

    Of course being accurate doesn't mean it'll read nearly so well.  ;^)  Still, I think the amount of heat/energy needed to heat a gas of volume X (surrounded by a perfect vaccum, let's say) by one degree is going to be give or take the same no matter what temp it is, right?

    Ah, vive la physics.On Umbra on turning down the heat posted 12 months ago 21 Responses

  • It's not unfair; which have you vetted?

    It would be unfair and irresponsible of me to recommend a rainforest adoption program...

    I'd disagree.  If you've vetted a program so that you're happy enough with it (and, alternately, vetted some and eliminated them), no reason not to share that work with the rest of it.  I'd be comfortable assuming most Grist readers can decide which are worth their cash without being unduly influenced, and if they are influenced, well, there's a reason this is called, "Ask Umbra".  We're clicking through for your opinion.

    Don't shirk!  About the only reason I can think of for not recommending one or three, even unofficially, would be to ensure you don't annoy potential Grist sponsors.  Is Grist really that easily influenced?  Ouch.  T-Shirt selling time, I guess.On Umbra on rainforest-protection gifts posted 1 year ago 6 Responses

  • No, really, how long did it take you?

    "I can already hear folks saying, "Sure, but how long did it take you?" Yes, it took a little longer than the drive-thru, but it is important to recognize the value of spending time preparing a good home-cooked meal. How is it, after all, that with all the modern conveniences afforded us in the 21st century, we still don't think we have the time to do something everyone had time for until the middle of the 20th century?"

    That sounds good, but really, how long did it take you?  And, "as a professional chef", I'm betting it's less likely that you botch the chicken.  I've got to figure there's a 30% chance I'd fry the $7.94 into carbonized oblivion!  ;^)On How I beat KFC's 'family meal' challenge posted 1 year, 1 month ago 46 Responses

  • Was that an Atari?

    Seems the vote no "prices rising" sound effect came from Pitfall falling down a, well, pit.  Nice sampling.

    Is it evil to suggest an embargo on out of the country eggs?  How much does Cali pay for eggs now, anyhow?  And what specifically does the CA NAACP say is the motivation for weighing in, and reasoning beyond price of eggs, or was that enough?On California's Prop. 2 spurs big-bucks battle over farm-animal treatment posted 1 year, 1 month ago 9 Responses

  • The permeable poop

    Our diaperless kids can poop on the floor but "There's no way I could have a gravel driveway!"?  Priorities, priorities...On Umbra on driveways posted 1 year, 1 month ago 9 Responses

  • Cute puppet

    ... though I worry for his safety.  How many liters of CO can a puppet ingest and still function mentally?

    I think it might be worth adding some sort of bike advocacy link.  I know DC has a pretty mature association (http://www.waba.org/), and it's probably worth finding one locally.  Riding in a bike lane is nice, but often still quite nerve wracking.  I always wondered why my cat on escaping to the street once jumped in the air towards a car when she got scared -- until I biked to work.  It really can be unsettling.  

    Advocacy groups that build dedicated bike trails -- we have a nice rails-to-trails one in West Ashley near Charleston, SC (http://sciway3.net/outdoors/park-westashleygreenway.html) -- that are useful for commuting make for a much less stressful experience.On Umbra Fisk on commuting by bike posted 1 year, 2 months ago 5 Responses

  • Oooh, clever.

    "huge panes in the glass" -- Well done.  ;^)On Umbra on being an energy-efficient renter posted 1 year, 2 months ago 15 Responses

  • Cooling Towers

    Though I'd tend to agree those look nuclear (as if I'd know), apparently they are used in coal, sure enough.

    http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/07/02/citi ...

    Pretty good picture of a big GA coal plant with two cooling towers.

    From Wikipedia about the plant in that picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_Bowen_Coal

    "Plant Bowen is a coal-fired, steam-turbine electric generating facility located in Euharlee, GA - approximately 9 miles WSW from Cartersville, GA. Bowen ranked 3rd in the nation for net generation in 2006 producing over 22,630,000 MWh. Plant Bowen is connected to the southeastern U.S. Power grid by numerous 500KV transmission lines.
    ...
    The Bowen plant is the third largest producer of greenhouse gas via power generation in the United States, emitting 20.5 million tons of CO2 in the atmosphere each year. [1]"On Landmark ruling halts Georgia coal plant on basis of CO2 emissions posted 1 year, 4 months ago 7 Responses

  • Caps and quos

    "The cap should be lower than the status quo."

    How often does that happen?  That is, and I ask this respectfully, was the above quote a political statement or an accurate rendering of how cap systems routinely work?On Umbra on carbon trading posted 1 year, 5 months ago 7 Responses

  • No mention of Bronner's?

    Looks like they were on top of the dioxin deal, even filing a lawsuit against those that included it and called themselves organic.

    http://www.drbronner.com/PR/pr_4-28-08_lawsuit.html

    I suppose Bronner's markets itself a little too broadly to be considered a dish specialist, but it'll do the deed.On A test of six green dish soaps posted 1 year, 5 months ago 18 Responses