Nobrainer’s Think Tank

Warning: multiple bird deaths on tape.

[CollegeHumor]

Ouch.

[CollegeHumor]

I’m not one for taking drugs (alcohol and caffeine being notable exceptions) unless I feel like I actually need them. Still, I have to wonder why no one told me about Modafinil, which apparently “was developed to treat people who involuntarily fall asleep.” If you know me, you can attest that I fall asleep. A lot.

What about the side effects? Just increased concentration and ability to solve problems.

Sign me up!

Who hasn’t wanted to have a helicopter drop you off onto high voltage lines hundreds of feet in the air?

Let my start by saying that since environmentalism is just a human “-ism,” this is more broadly just a short rant about people.

• Irritation: Politicians who vigorously support green energy, and who vigorously rail against high energy prices.
• Ponderance: It seems that some people are being paid to plant trees. Maybe this is supposed to be a carbon offset, or maybe it is a purchase by some city dweller who wants more trees in the world. What are the actual economics of this? Are we paying people to plant trees that would otherwise grow on their own? Or that would otherwise be planted? Is it possible that the planters will actively prevent new tree growth until they are paid? What’s the carbon cycle for actively planting a new tree? There has to be a carbon cost for seed collection, transportation, irrigation pumping costs.
• Irritation: the fawning of environmentalists over piddly shit. Someone will create some contraption that never has a chance at commercial viability, and the media will report on it and include some completely over-the-top quotes about how it is going to save the world blah blah blah.
• Irritation: The IPCC. From a Reuters article today:
  

  Mahi Sideridou, climate policy director at environmental group Greenpeace, rejected criticism of the IPCC.

  “Saying that the IPCC is not balanced is probably the most ridiculous claim that anybody can make,” she said, stressing the group’s reports were based on scientific consensus.

  The IPCC findings are approved unanimously by more than 100 governments and will guide policy on issues such as extending the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, the main U.N. plan for capping greenhouse gas emissions, beyond 2012.

  It is fair to argue that many, or even most, of the countries are much less democratic than the United States. This is especially true if you accept the Bueno de Mesquita argument that true democracies have fair and open elections in addition to freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Thus it is with only a small dose of cynicism that one concludes that those governments will approve anything that strengthens their own positions and not necessarily anything that serves their citizens nor that makes the world a better place.

  I suspect that there are a minority of countries that truly care, and a lot of countries that will care upon receipt of their expected bribes foreign aid.

That’s all.

The first rule of engineering, “keep it simple, Stupid!”

I can’t believe I never thought of this:

“The best cooler – it’s easy to drain and clean.” (from CollegeHumor)