Letters to the Editor
cwall99
Published Letters: 12 Editor's Choice: 2
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joules and stuff
[Read the article: Exajoules of hope]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Interesting thoughts regarding how many joules each of those sources of renewable resources has the potential to provide. I'm all for alternative sources of energy, but I have to question a few of the assumptions in the article, really the German article you cite.
First, despite the capacity to generate energy from alternative sources, how will those capacities be limited by competing priorities. For instance, as cool as it looks to have a high-tech Holland full of monster white windmills off in a field somewhere, I hear those things wreak havoc on migratory bird patterns. NPR did an article at some point in the last few years about just how many birds those things kill each year. Additionally, while I live tucked away neatly in suburbia, I hear about complaints that many people have who live near windmill farms have about them. Something about low-frequency noise (again, this was taken from an NPR story in the dim, but not too distant, past).
Second, I wonder if the figure for solar energy is a simple calculation based on the total surface area of the earth being hit by solar power. Recognizing that 3/4 of the earth's surface is covered with water, we might need to trim that solar energy figure by a similar amount - unless, of course, someone wants to create vast reefs of floating solar panels somewhere.
How much, too, of that solar energy figure would require using land that's already used in other ways that may not be compatible with a solar energy farm. Can't put the stuff where people farm. Can't really put the stuff where there's not a reliable source of solar power (anyone ever spend a winter in Detroit?). So, that solar energy figure may be true as far as the total surface area of the planet goes, but my guess is that when you whittle it down to usable space, the figure is substantially less than the one the Germans came up with.
Interestingly, consider where the weather is best suited for solar energy farms. What kinds of places on earth possess those types of environments? Sunny for much of the year. Sparsely populated. Land not all that arable.
Hmmmm, sounds a lot like ... Saudi Arabia!!
Again, I have to wonder: what's the environmental impact of the altermative source of energy?
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Fighting the last war
[Read the article: Is airport security futile?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All these measures being implemented in the name of erecting a foolproof barrier against terrorism smacks of the same foolishness that drove the French Army's high command, in the 1930s, to waste countless millions of francs erecting the perfect barrier against a German invasion - provided the Germans had been kind enough to fight the last war.
We're erecting a latter-day equivalent to the Maginot Line. And just like in May of 1940, our foes will find a way around it.
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Carrying stuff on a plane
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yeah, the TSA is acting silly and hysterical. I agree. Here's the thing: with very little effort, and even less expense, people who want to mess with the American traveling public can, it seems, impose huge burdens and costs on the traveling public. How much did the people in England actually spend on the products that were supposed to have destroyed all those flights? $10? $20? $100?
How much have we spent to counter this new threat? How much money has been squandered in lost productivity?
It's the asymmetrical war thing again.
Still, we can keep building Maginot Lines, but as the French found out in 1940, there's always a way around it.
Tiny investments in hair care products can cause a huge drag on our economy. Time to start using NetMeeting.
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Germans make better beer than we do? You gotta be kidding me?
[Read the article: The K Chronicles]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not talking about the American fascination for lite beer (ugghhh!!! but as someone I know once said, life's too short for lite beer). Nor am I talking about any of the swill that our mega-breweries produce, but, as even the party stores in my neighborhood acknowledge, there's been a huge explosion in microbreweries here. Bell's (I'm from Michigan), Red Hook, Brooklyn Brewing Company.... all of them produce an incredible array of tasty porters, ales, stouts, and seasonals (mmmmmm, Oberon). Germany, on the other hand, has very strict laws about what can and can't be put into a beer, leaving the vast bulk of them to taste like what Budweiser wishes it could taste like.
Overall, though, as Michael Jackson says (no, not THAT Michael Jackson, but beer and scotch drinkers will know who I mean), the American brewing business is the most creative and energetic scene for beer in the world.
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Waylay
[Read the article: Story Minute]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wow, it's like Edgar Allen Poe updated and comic-ized.