Yes, people are idiots

[digitaldiscipline]

... which is a belief I hold, and which the author merely reinforced. ;-)

http://tacit.livejournal.com/371690.html

However, despite fucking up some census statistics (476,000 is nowhere near 11% of the US population; I smell a dropped digit or two, as did another commenter), I did learn, via link chasing, that HOLY SHIT COAL POWER IS WORSE THAN I KNEW. Jeez.

It also, of course, reaffirmed my belief that the abolition of political parties, and the requirement that any candidate for public office go on the record with their positions on each issue, and run independently, denying voters the lazy, intellectual shortcut of "voting the ticket" is, ultimately, a good thing.

I grudgingly agree that the author's central article, about framing a conversation, is something that folks I tend to agree with politically tend to suck at, relative to people with whom I disagree on that spectrum.

Nothing new to see here, please move along.

Comments

Coal

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Yeah.... I was fairly anti-nuclear for a number of years until I went to graduate school. During my education in Landscape Architecture, we learned a LOT about coal. And slag. And mountain top mining.... all sorts of things.

There's no one perfect solution (just yet) - the energy thing has got to be a million little decisions. But coal is NOT the solution and there's no such thing as "clean" coal. Or natural gas (fracking?!)!

Makes me feel despair sometimes.

N.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I concur; I was fortunate, growing up, to be near a huge hydroelectric plant (Niagara Mohawk, which was able to use gravity, the Niagara River, and the drop of Niagara Falls) to provide much of the local juice. Moving away from fossil fuels and towards more renewable, sustainable, and cleaner options seems like a no-brainer... but even when people try to do the right thing, by burning waste to drive turbines, it's still not a truly clean solution (though it does fight landfill creep).

I'd love to build a house with solar cells embedded in the roof and maybe even a modest wind turbine and underground heat pump (the fact that the walls would be autoclave-aerated concrete, for both insulation, security, sound-deadening, and fireproofing, not to mention any damn shape imaginable, is just gravy).

My dad's a retired LA; he's currently contenting himself with trying to tame my shrubbery while he and my mom visit... at least, when we're not spontaneously repairing my futon or replacing major appliances. *laugh*