Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 3
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Then and Now
[Read the article: Total systemic breakdown, then and now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Andrew You can't seem to get away from the serious stuff, but then reading Wakeman Jr.'s masterwork is hardly leafing through an old collection of The Far Side.
It is startling how much economic patterns seem to repeat themselves, how often we humans don't seem to remember that Booms are followed by Busts and these cycles can be recognized in other countries, through out history.
Mr. Senter's comments "silver and inflation" seem to have some merit, but are wrongly directed at you instead of Wakeman whom you quoted. Also, even Wakeman was hedging on the causes of inflation and in your next quote of him, gave a whole slew of social woes that could skew the economy of that time (or ours) towards inflation, or depression or stagflation.
There are so many economic and social mechanisms that push the economy in one direction or another it hard to figure out which factor will win out, a bit like watching a rugby scrum.
What do you mean by "HTWW"?
It's a shame you never give a brief comment or two back about comments posted about your articles.
Nice little historical comparison, wayne
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Science - Saviour or Daemon
[Read the article: Is humanity running out of technological tricks?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I enjoyed this little nugget and have the same concerns you worry about. When I questioned Nassim Taleb recently at a Long Now Foundation lecture in SF about technology he said simply, I fear Science."
Having recently heard Craig Venter at another Long Now Foundation talk, and having read his book, it is easy to get seduced by the incredible possibilities of technology. One could posit that Venter’s microbial fuel production or Nanosolar’s film solar cell technology and other as yet unborn technologies might be our saviors. But the laws of unintended consequences are hard to figure out in advance. Look at the corn for ethanol disaster. BUT, even if we can imagine finding all the right technological solutions, we still have the really almost insurmountable problem of stopping CO2 emissions into the atmosphere before we pass some unforeseen horrendous tipping point and end up as Hansen postulates with irreversible catastrophic consequences to the planet, well, for all life currently on the planet. Oops, that includes us.
We may just be too smart for our own good, but not smart enough to know that.. Humility is a seriously lacking human trait. Hubris is our “H” word.
We, civilization, have thrown ourselves into the technological future at a rate far beyond our current ability to recognize all the problems we’re causing the planet. We will probably have to sink or learn to swim; die off as a species or figure out how to balance our technology within nature’s own systems. We’re still infants in our understanding of Nature’s complex systems. We’re really been just thrashing around, making up things without understanding their complex impacts on the planet.
Presently we’re more like Kudzu than the Guardians of Gaia.
wayne
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Pity The Home Owner
[Read the article: Them walls, them walls, them dry walls]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All you desperate Drywall sanders out there. You don't need a hazmat suit, just a good shop vac with a 3 micron filter and a special drywall sanding tool and hose attachment (OSH or Home Depot) with the right sanding screens. I don't even wear a mask as all of that fine talcum (gypsum plaster) dust goes into the shop vac instead of up my nose or all over the floor... Still, it is an art to sand Drywall mud and not leave more marks and lines. The art is in the gentle circle.
But I think you were a bit disingenuous to pass so quickly over the taping (usually 3 coats; sometimes 2). If you learn how to do this right, sanding is minimal, but hand taping and mudding with a set of drywall blades is a real art; not for the casual home owner.
Stop moaning and hire someone who know what they are doing..
Proper drywall installation is really outside the range of your average do it yourselfer.
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