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Swamp Yankee

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Posts posted by Swamp Yankee

  1. On 2/20/2021 at 1:58 PM, ClearedHot said:

    The sins are not even in the universe.  Ted Cruz went on vacation during a snow and ice storm.  As a senator not much he could do more than symbolic gestures.  Optics bad, yes but he didn't kill anyone.  Cuomo is DIRECTLY responsible for many deaths, withheld information from the Justice Department and lied about.  Come on man.

    When dividing the "sides" of the media at least be relative and honest.  On the conservative side of televised media you have one player FoxNews (although newsmax is growing an audience).  On the liberal side is the VAST majority of CNN/MCNBC/CBS/ABC/NBC.  It is David versus Goliath which is why Foxnews gets higher ratings than all of the left wingnut networks combined.

    There are also a large number of additional conservative outlets available: OAN, Newsmax, Blaze, WSJ editorial, Rebel News WorldNetDaily, and of course much of talk radio.  Listener/reader/viewership is another matter; but that's up to each outlet - if they suck at their job less people will partake.  However, the outlets exist for consumers to consume.  

  2. On 2/20/2021 at 2:05 PM, FLEA said:

    This actually isnt' true. At least FOX, I know for sure, was all over Cruz for several days and even ran a side by side headline heavily critical over Cruz and Cuomo both on their main website. 

    The conflict of interest with the Cuomo family at CNN is certainly concerning to its reporting though. 

    Definitely conflict of interest at CNN (duh).  However, the NY Times, NPR, Wash Post, and networks for what that's worth have hammered Cuomo pretty hard. 

  3. 2 hours ago, Prozac said:

    Air cooled 911s are such a perfect example of accessible performance and really interesting on-limit handling characteristics. I would love to have one, but the prices have absolutely gone through the stratosphere & I can’t justify owning one & beating the shit out of it. Should I ever win the powerball, a Singer 911 would be one of my first buys. 

    A accessible 911 (though not aircooled) is the 996 variant (1996-2006).  Because of the headlights it's not considered "iconic" but it retains the 911 handling.  You can still get one at a reasonable price although some folks have figured it out and values will start going up.  

  4. 2 hours ago, Prozac said:

    Better? Maybe. But it it more fun? If you’ve never been to the website “Bring a Trailer” go take a look. Sure there’s plenty of high horsepower stuff on there but there’s also a plethora of BMW E30 M3s and 2002s, Alfa GTVs, old Porsche Boxters, Miatas, Datsun 510s, etc. Point being: a lot of people are realizing you don’t need a ton of horsepower to have fun. In fact, modern high horsepower cars can sometimes be far less fun than an older, less powerful sporting machine. Example: Dodge Hellcat. While I have to give it to Dodge for actually building such a beast, you are in license revocation territory in about 3 seconds and at the top of second gear. You just can’t use the car’s performance on the street. I’ve got a turbo NB Miata that’s been built as fast road/occasional track car. Go ahead and judge all you want about about how it’s a car. I’ll see you at the autocross. 😎 It’s plenty fast enough to have fun on the street & my running costs are a fraction of what they would be in a modern 911 or M3. Tires are cheap, brakes are cheap, suspension is cheap, and if I bin it at the corkscrew at Laguna Seca, I’m out a tenth of the cost of a used GT3. 

    $100K 5000lb Tesla as a performance/track car? No thanks. $30K Bolt as a daily driver alongside a weekend toy? Yeah, I could probably be down with that. 

    I get it.  There are separate equations for technical performance and driving pleasure that share constants but can diverge.  I have an "old" 1996 911 (993 variant - last air cooled engine with manual transmission).   It's slow by today's standards (6.0sec  0-60) but between shifting and that distinctive flat six noise the fun meter gets pegged. On a related note I'm actually in the market for a 1967 911S. Only 160hp but considered one of the iconic models.  Miata's a great car.  Very popular up here for weekend autocross.   I bought a used one (original NA with pop-ups) when I graduated many decades ago and drove it from New England to Del Rio.  Should have kept it.  Hellcat and Demon are ridiculous - horsepower, RWD, and racing slicks don't make a supercar.  Sorry to the fanboys. 

    All that said, Tesla has redefined the car and the trajectory of the industry.  Brings hypercar performance if not to the masses, then to folks without Fortune 500 CEO net worth. 

     

    • Upvote 2
  5. 3 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

    A ing MEN!

    Liberal media needs a reason to NOT report on Cuomo so they focus on Ted going on vacation.  You want to talk about lies...thankfully DOJ and the FBI are investigating the joke that is the NY Governor and his staff.  Over at the joke that is CNN Brother Fredo Cuomo has been absolutely silent about a controversy that may have caused 1,000 unnecessary deaths.  

    The liberal mainstream media largely excused Cuomo and the conservative mainstream media largely excused Cruz. I'm not saying their sins are equally mortal but those are the immediate examples.  

    We've got two sides of the mainstream media now with roughly equal viewer/reader/listenerships.  Conflating mainstream media with liberal is passe.  That might be a good thing although the two sides are getting further apart.   They want us to choose R or D and obediently stay in our little boxes. 

    • Upvote 1
  6. 4 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

    It's not hypocrisy if you're not doing something that you said others shouldn't be doing. California has had rolling blackouts for decades, as far back as I can remember. Texas had them once during a once in a generation storm. Not much of a parallel.

     

    Words matter.

     

    And I actually just listened to Crenshaw's podcast on the power crisis. The fact that wind turbines freeze is not the problem. The fact that they get preferential selling priority on the grid is.

     

    For all the ceaseless babbling about renewable energies and the green new deal, no one on the left seems interested in discussing exactly how renewable energy would have made the Texas power crisis better. Spoiler alert, it wouldn't.

    You've got to be kidding me.  Words do matter.  This is a textbook example of hypocrisy.  Cruz ridiculed California's  energy planning and his state was equally unprepared.  How many times it happened in one state versus another is immaterial.  Even Cruz himself acknowledges this. 

    I've listened very closely to Dan Crenshaw in particular as I think (thought) that he has the potential to be a great President.  He focused on wind turbine icing as if it is an inevitable problem and a major factor in the grid collapse.  Icing is easily addressed.  In my view he's trying to score some easy, though inaccurate, points with his base.

    I encourage you to be objective rather than just reflexively supporting "your guy" as the first instinct.  Politicians don't deserve blind loyalty.   Hence why I'm an independent.  Politicians have to earn every one of my votes.  

     

     

    • Like 2
    • Upvote 1
  7. 1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:

    Like I said, if we value symbolic gestures, we get symbolic leadership. If we value leaders who chose symbolic acts over their families, what hope do we have of getting politicians who place value on the American family?

     

    You don't have to give weight to a bad argument just because the opposition is making it. He does not "deserve" irrational criticism. 

     

    If the only problem with what Ted did is optics, then there's no problem at all. 

    At least Cruz is making an effort to own his hypocrisy.  I give him sincere credit as such a thing is rare for politicians on both sides.  

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/02/17/cruz-says-he-has-no-defense-for-mocking-californias-past-power-outages-as-texas-grid-falters-amid-historic-freeze/

    Let's see if Crenshaw and Abbott admit they greatly exaggerated the impact of wind turbine issues during this recent cool weather spell. 

     

    • Like 1
  8. 2 hours ago, Majestik Møøse said:

    Yeah, Ferrari used to say, “But Ferraris aren’t about the numbers, it’s about the passion!” when Lamborghini or even Corvette would make a car faster than them. Then, of course, when Ferrari had an objectively faster car they’d sure let everyone know.

    Now, to be clear, I’m a car guy. Have been my whole life, I guess. With some racing here and there. I’m half-assed in the market for a 1960s Alfa if I run across a good one (especially the big 2.0s, lol). If I had Cleared Hot-level money, it’d be an old Ferrari instead.

    Today’s cars aren’t like the old ones. Due to customer demand, everyone makes smooth, fast, roomy, efficient, automatic-everythings with enough electronic wizardry to keep everything firmly on the rails. For lack of a better word, they’re all super-tight luxury rides. And heavy as hell. Even the Ferraris - shifting and drifting in a red barchetta has turned into pulling g’s in a laser guided spaceship. And that’s totally cool, I love speed and g’s.

    While every manufacturer has been electronically tightening up their mechanical watches, the full digital Teslas come out and out-do the entire industry. Every year they improved and now there’s an 1100hp model that can outdrag a $3m hypercar. They’re beating everyone else at their own game and making the newest reciprocating engine cars look totally pointless.

    Despite the lack of pedigree, Tesla just does it better.  I've been a Porsche guy for quite some time, with a 918 as an unrealistic aspirational add to the collection. In comparison the S Plaid+ is a steal at ~$150k.   Based on my experience with a friend's Model 3 Performance, the "infinite" torque vectoring capability should also make it shine on the track. 

  9. 1 hour ago, Lawman said:


    “Greener Cement....”

    See the funny part here is Cement/concrete production is one of the most intensive single carbon related issues on our impact on the eco system so really it has almost no way to go but up.

    While this is better than “just bury the damn things” between all its other issues I would hardly call this the single fix to make wind power THE way forward some think it is.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    No one in their right mind sees any single energy source (oil, wind, coal, solar, nuclear, etc) as THE sole way forward.  All need investment and implementation for the US to have actual energy independence.

    In this specific case, concrete is a valuable building material that will continued to be manufactured. Thus, why not defray the impact?  

  10. 23 hours ago, jazzdude said:

     


    Generally agree, but Texas isn't having problems due to icing on windmills, they are having problems systemically, largely due to multiple sources of power struggling, particularly their main source of power (natural gas).


    https://www.wkrg.com/news/are-frozen-wind-turbines-to-blame-for-texas-power-outages/amp/
     

     

    Point taken and I stand corrected. It isn't a single-point-of-failure situation.  Seems like part of the problem is lack of a requirement to harden the grid.  On one hand, you could pose an argument that a largely deregulated power system is partially to blame.  Specifically, insufficient reserve margin to deal with crises and the approach that excess energy needs are filled via the open market, with huge per kW price swings:

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/17/how-the-texas-power-grid-failed-and-what-could-stop-it-from-happening-again.html

    On the other hand, perhaps the cost to build administrative and physical infrastructures for these "once-in-a-lifetime" events just isn't worth it to many. 

    That said, I can't help but notice that several "once-in-a-lifetime-events" have happened during my middle-aged life.  

     

  11. 7 hours ago, Blue said:

    My assumption is the entire Democratic Party will work together to keep the "Weekend at Bernie's Biden's" game going until the 2022 midterms (21 months away from now).  After that, 

    7 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

    I wonder what the Vegas Over/Under is how many days Biden lasts as President.  NO WAY Biden makes the full four years with Kamala waiting in the wings to invoke the 25th? 

    Dude is a mess.

    Biden Falsely Claims: ‘We Didn’t Have’ A Vaccine ‘When We Came Into Office’

    Now we need an actual moderate outsider-style candidate. Trump as a first attempt failed.  Tulsi?
    Someone from the Republican Tuesday Group? Heck, Jocko or Dwayne Johnson? (half-kidding)   Someone who can deftly broker compromise.   Neither side should expect to get everything they want if we want to get actual shit done  

     

  12. 8 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

    Sadly most folks on both sides don't realize how the price of oil impacts every part of our economy.  Killing Keystone is more than just driving up gas prices, it will impact production of goods and services throughout our economy.  I know we have a problem with emissions and we need to take action but the Biden approach is as dangerous to our way of life as the Trump approach pretending there is no problem.

    It’s going to take some compromise, which is the practical possibly-attainable version of unity.  Liberals have to accept that not every acre of uninhabited land will be kept pristine.  Conservatives have to accept that there will need to be private $spent on reasonable measures to mitigate pollution and ensure robustness.  I say that as someone who on one hand hunts/camps/kayaks and on the other started and succeeded with multiple tech businesses. 

  13. On 2/13/2021 at 9:23 AM, ClearedHot said:

    I've clearly stated I think climate change is real and we need to do something, but this is not the thing, this is a political stunt that does far more harm than good. 

    I am in favor of actual investments in science not a move that placates the wacky far left and costs thousands of jobs while doing more hard to the environment. 

    How about we use some of that unity we were promised  built a real bipartisan national strategy to reduce emissions and convert to renewables before we wreck the American economy.  Neither side will be happy int he short-term, but that probably means we have a real solution.  Instead we have an out of touch administration playing to the extremes.  What a great narrative when John "Climate Change Czar" took his private jet to the climate change summit and said displaced Keystone Pipeline workers "will have better choices” and can “go to work to make the solar panels.”  Huh...over 60% of solar panel production is in China...come on man.  We are years away from increasing efficiency and increasing large scale solar panel production here in the U.S. at a competitive price point.  These people need jobs NOW.  Oh and he made those clueless comments while defending his use of the private jet... "The only choice for somebody like me"  Come on man!

     

    Sadly, unity at this point is an antiquated concept.  Our previous president in 2016 won by nearly the same electoral margin (77 vs 74) and a smaller popular vote margin than Biden, yet proceeded forth as if he had a commanding mandate.  Energy independence needs to be our primary goal.  Without that, national security will be at risk. Second is sustainability through diversification.  As we're witnessing to some degree in TX, limiting power generation sources can have dramatic effects if a primary source is compromised (e.g. icing on wind turbines are a contributing complication ).  Greater diversification is our realistic path to a cleaner overall footprint as we can have multiple renewal resources along with fossil fuels and nuclear. 

    • Upvote 1
  14. On 2/15/2021 at 11:45 AM, ClearedHot said:

    Who ing cares? 

    We flew a plane full of cash to a country designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

    We flew a plane full of cash to a country that was supplying our enemies with EFPs that were used to kill and maim American Soldiers. 

    We flew a plane full of cash to a country that supported various Iraqi Shia terrorist groups, including Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), Harakat al-Nujaba, and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq.  KH was responsible for a series of rocket attacks against American interests in Iraq, which culminated in the death of an American citizen following a 30 plus rocket barrage in December 2019.

    We flew a plane full of cash to a country that supplied Hizballah with thousands of rockets, missiles, and small arms in direct violation of UNSCR 1701.  Hizballah has since rained those rockets on Israel killing many civilians.

    We flew  plane full of cash to a country that provided support to Hamas and other designated Palestinian terrorist groups, including Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

    We flew a plane full of cash to a country that continued supporting terrorist plots to attack Iranian dissidents in several countries in continental Europe.  In recent years, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Albania have all either arrested or expelled Iranian government officials implicated in various terrorist plots in their respective territories.

    We flew a plane full of cash to a country that has used sponsored cyber attacks against foreign governments and private sector entities.

    Come on Man.

    I'm not arguing the threat Iran poses or the bad actions it has perpetrated.  I am pointing out that simplistic, imcomplete explanations leads to poor understanding. 

    Both sides do this, but the right mainstream media is often the culprit. Simple, red-meat soundbites that are easily digested and used to sway public opinion.  We're being treated as if we can't handle the details which provide a deeper understand of our internal political mechanisms; some of which we can change with our vote. 

  15. 21 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

    He was part of the Obama administration and his approach didn't work then...unless you count flying an airplane full of cash to Iran, allowing them to enrich and signing onto a restrictions we could not verify...

    Great approach, maybe we should gas up another plane full of cash for the Mullahs. 

    That’s not accurate, or at least complete.   The $ was released from an FMS account for undelivered military equipment in 1979. An MoU at the time stipulated that the funds were to be frozen in an interest-bearing account. In that sense, it was never our money to begin with.  That said, a argument could certainly be made that this was a valuable bargaining chip that could have been held back until a real concession was to be made.  The $1.3b interest was not accrued (although presumable realized) and thus had to be paid from the judgment fund. 
    In a similar sense to the “Hillary sold uranium to the Russians” inaccurate simplification leads to inaccurate debate. 

  16. 39 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

    Biden's Pick for Iran Envoy Resurrects Bitter Debate Over Nuclear Deal

    Again, I did not like Trump but voted for him because of the damage the alternative would do and that is beginning to manifest itself.   Our new point man on Iran is Robert Malley.   If you don't now who Robert Malley is you might do a little research.  A an admittedly smart Rhodes Scholar, he has “a long track record of sympathy for the Iranian regime” and “animus towards Israel.”  When the New York Times publishes that his centrist critics describe him as "overly suspicious of American power and overly sympathetic to foreign actors including Iran and the Palestinians who have deep disputes with the West,"  you should know we have a problem.

    I saw his handiwork up close and personal years ago and while I applause his willingness to talk to extreme groups like Hezzbolah because it shakes up the gridlock and the status quote, he leans far to the Iranian side of the argument and is willing to make concessions and agreements that we simply cannot verify with Iran.  The think tank he just left to take the position just published a paper saying we should immediately return to the Iran Deal, the problem is the Iranians have already begun enrichment of uranium to 20% purity, which is FAR beyond the allowed limit in the 2015 deal and it the lowest acceptable purity for nuclear weapons.

    Iran ramps up uranium enrichment and seizes tanker as tensions rise with US

    We are going to force Israel to go it alone and the result will not be pretty. 
     

    Malley is a contrarian, who defaults to engagement-with-adversaries worldview  As a Middle East specialist, that’s where he executes this approach.  He also supported negotiations with North Korea, essentially agreeing with Trump.  
    https://carnegieendowment.org/2017/08/07/how-trump-s-iran-threats-could-backfire-in-north-korea-pub-72751

    He isn’t specifically or uniquely sympathetic to Iran. However, Iran sees itself as a major power broker and wants to be treated as such.  Robert Baer, a retired CIA officer, supports a similar approach. 

    I don’t necessarily agree with this position, but it could be a viable approach.  Nothing else seems to be working. 

    • Upvote 1
  17. 8 minutes ago, jazzdude said:


     

     


    The Tulsa race massacre/black wall street massacre was pretty bad if you don't know much about it. It was the single worst racial violence incident in US history.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre
    https://www.history.com/.amp/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre

    Estimates of death toll range from 75-300, but also 35 blocks of city were destroyed by white mobs, including 1,200+ homes and 200 businesses. Left about 10,000 black Americans homeless. Also crazy, private aircraft were used to bomb black Americans as well...

    It's a interesting piece of history that I never heard about until I was stationed in Oklahoma.

     

    I didn't know all that detail.  In fact, I only learned about it a couple of years ago due to an offhand remark on a podcast.  I guess certain folks want to let sleeping dogs lie.  

  18. 2 hours ago, Homestar said:

    After watching some of the videos presented to the Senate this week I’m convinced that Pence was in much more danger than I previously thought. Pelosi too. 
     

    In the end the government was able to resume work fairly quickly which is a testament to the strength of our institutions. 
     

    I thought the first impeachment was a partisan waste of time. The second is perfectly justified but the GOP is so full of cowards that nothing will come of it. 

    Yeah this 2nd Impeachment will backfire on the dems.  Trump will be acquitted and will be able to say "another hoax, just like Russiagate!" to keep his base fired up and maintain influence on the GOP.  It wouldn't matter if Trump murdered someone.  2/3 of the current Senate still would not convict; many would twist their minds into a no vote.  

  19. On 2/10/2021 at 9:59 AM, Lord Ratner said:

    If you can't see why my opinion is better than yours, we have nothing to talk about. 

    Well... Bye.

     

    The others have already covered the errors of your post, but one more I'll add:

     

    The race riots were far from organic, and they were not born from the George Floyd murder (murder, not racist murder). They were a continuation of social unrest where protests and riots spring up everytime a black American was killed by the police (or non-black person) in circumstances that were murky enough to exploit. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, George Floyd, just to name some big ones. Remember Hands Up Don't Shoot? Was that *blatant* fantasy an organic response as well? 

     

    What's hilarious in your response is almost perfectly timed support of my allegation.

     

    Me: The false depiction of a looming apocalypse is exactly the fear mongering tactic politicians are using to generate donations and votes. The side effect is it's making us hate our neighbors

    You: If you don't understand how the latter [i.e. your side's social unrest] is far more dangerous to our country than the former [my side's social unrest], we don't have a lot left to talk about.  

    Part of the issue is the "uniqueness" of the Jan 6th riot/insurrection/whatever you want to call it.  The country has experienced and survived riots due to racial unrest: Tulsa 1921, Detroit 1943, Watts 1965, Boston 1974, LA 1992, BLM this summer and many, many more.  Now, let me be clear, these events were horrible and cannot be excused. For example, in the 1921 Tulsa massacre up to 200 (mostly black people) were killed by (mostly) white mobs.  The underlying factors and the people involved in all of these riots do not speak well of America values.  However, sadly, we are familiar with such events. 

    There isn't a precedent for an invasion of a federal building and attempt to stop an important federal government process.  Until Jan 6th, an enemy flag has never been forcibly displayed in the Capitol.  There were armed invaders who, by their own admission, were seeking to harm those charged with conducting said processes.   Luckily it manifested as flash fire that burned out. That said, I would argue that the hot embers still exist and could flare up again.   So, yes, I do think we were close to an unprecedented precipice.  How close?  Who knows, we've never been through this before.  We've never had a national leader who has been able to whip up fervor to this extent based on lies.

     

  20. 3 hours ago, pawnman said:

    We representing minorities by removing minorities.

    Just like when Land O' Lakes repeated history by keeping the land and removing the Indian.

    What about Duck Dynasty and Honey Boo Boo ridiculing rural whites?  

    Jersey Shore ridiculing Italian-Americans?

    Or stupid husband / smart wife ads? 

  21. 30 minutes ago, ecugringo said:

    I use to follow this site when I was going into UPT and trying to get into OTS.  I still surf around and follow some conversations from time to time.  There are usually some interesting perspectives here.  I separated from the AF and work in Oil and Gas now and have had a great career for the past 10 years.  I'll add my .02 on energy from my perspective.

    Keystone XL.  There already is a Keystone pipeline.  The XL would allow more crude to flow from Canada.  Canadian Crude is heavy sulfur or sour crude.  Sweet crude is more often found in the Middle East and is just below the surface.  Most of the northern refineries and midwest burn Canadian crude.  You need special equipment to turn products out of it.  Enbridge Pipeline has several lines running across the border and even under Lake Michigan (Line 5).  The benefit of Canadian is that it's dirt cheap.  However, it is harder on equipment.  The coastal refineries dont allow it to be processed.  Their crude comes from the middle east.  The US is the largest oil producer in the world.  But US oil is really only profitable at around $40/barrel in most locations.  Middle East crude is something under $10/barrel.

    I dont know how many jobs are lost if XL is cancelled.  It's a stupid amount of steel though.  It's push against energy in general that has me worried.  There was a brain drain in the industry in the late 80's.  But with the Bakken and Eagle Ford basins there was a massive demand for bodies.  You can have a GED and make $100k.  I have 2 reports that are Navy Vets with only a GED making over $200k.  I dont think many people on the coast realize how many people make a great living in this industry and no they can't just go get windmill jobs.  We have Aerospace Engineers working with us that make more on pipeline engineering than they ever did at Lockheed.  This past year has been bad on the industry.  I dont think Biden has a clue not just cancelling XL but putting a target on this industry how bad it could be.

    Also interesting note about Nuclear Plants.  The largest plant is west of Phoenix, Palo Verde.  They use public city waste water for cooling.  Also since CA closed their plants, Palo Verde sells power into the CA grid.

    Interesting.  The technical details tend to get in the way of "simple" solutions. 

    That reminds me - a few years ago one of my teams was testing anti-vibration seating systems with trucking companies in central Canada and the northern tier of the US.  I remember pulling into tiny oil towns and seeing 20 year olds driving brand new $70k pickups, Range Rovers and G-Wagons.  They couldn't all be meth dealers.  

    Waste water for cooling makes sense. 

     

  22. On 2/10/2021 at 5:02 AM, ClearedHot said:

    Like I said the party is over and the tug of war has begun.  Will he have the stones to stay in the middle given all that unity and stuff or will he end up under the thumb of the squad...

    Joe is also pushing back on his key Stone Pipeline EO - Sen. Manchin Urges Biden to Permit Keystone XL Pipeline

    The benefits outweigh the negatives on the XL extension.   The main benefit being increased North American energy independence.  We are better off getting petroleum from North American land vs the Middle East.  Offshore carries unique environmental risks that are difficult to mitigate (busted well heads and crashed tankers).  

    The jobs will help, although the estimates vary widely.  The DoS's estimate was 40k jobs, of which 10% would be during the construction period.  When compared to a typical 180k/month job creation rate in the US, it isn't much but every little bit counts due to COVID impacts.  

     https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-benefits-from-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-and-dakota-access-pipeline-pros-cons/

    There is a technology and investment piece here also.  Tar sands are significantly more corrosive than other petroleum suspension mediums, thus risking oil leaks.  It is solvable in the near term via brute force (more metal, catchment systems) assuming the private sector is willing to pony up the funds.   

    I'd like to see nuclear power regain a viable position and grow.  Of course, there are limits regarding suitable conventional plant locations (large bodies of cooling water), construction materials (steady supply of rare metals due to neutron embrittlement), disposal, and uranium.   That said, the hysteria around safety is largely overblown.  If the Navy can run reactors on warships, we should be able to figure it out for commercial energy needs.  Due to particulate pollution, hydrocarbons affect far more people on a per-kW basis than nuclear plants.  Another 50 plants could supply 15-20% of our current electricity demand.

     

    • Upvote 2
  23. On 2/9/2021 at 10:30 PM, Majestik Møøse said:

    Yeah, I get it, $3m is the new $1m.  But there is a surprising divide, even amongst military officers, between those with no investments and those who know how to make money work for them.  So I never know which one I’m talking to, although I guess it’s the latter in this thread.

    Some pilot friends of mine were giving Biden shit for having a $9m net worth - as if it were indicative of corruption - even though he has made the equivalent of six figures since the 1970s.

    I agree on the divide.  I was actually in the former group while on active duty, although that was quite awhile ago.  Back then, $1m was an unfathomable number.  I went to grad school then entered the startup world.  I do have some play money in the short term market but even now I'm relatively conservative and long-term focused with regard to traditional investments.  I decided to keep that part of our lives simple so I can devote my effort to new technology development.  I just focus on net worth and liquid that allows a reasonable take.  After trial and error as well as some initial naivete I've been fortunate with a few home runs that have provided comfortable results.  

    True on Biden.  If anything, he has no more corruption than the typical career politician.  

  24. 13 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

    The honeymoon is over Joe, now you have to answer to your communist base.  This week the far left is holding Joe's feet to the fire on such wonderful issues as:

    1.  $15 minimum wage which will crush already struggling small businesses and cost a CBO estimated 1.4 Million jobs.

    2.  Government payments to Illegals...WTF!

    3.  Bernie openly bashing what your cohorts in Congress have proposed for stimulus eligibility.

     

    742672240_ScreenShot2021-02-09at5_04_36AM.thumb.png.cf07e5fdb8db3c8cedb2e24b67796575.png

    The income cap reduction is being championed by Joe Manchin, who is considered one of the most conservative democrats in the Senate.  In AOC's NYC, $150k family is barely middle-class.  Bernie has the same perspective, since VT is surprisingly expensive due to all that artisanal cheese and former-execs-back-to-the-landers.   

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2021/02/06/over-50-house-democrats-ask-biden-not-to-lower-income-threshold-for-1400-stimulus-checks/?sh=31b89573350e

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