Random political stuff - old news, or not news

[AndyRM]

View: https://youtu.be/pXc8CbSoPsw?is=bRzdyVloOzHAaBkF

 

[briantrumpet]

This is the same person who said that a London MP should stand against Burnham in the leadership contest to see what Burnham has to offer London. I assume he has no need for the rest of the UK, and doesn't understand how countries work. Or even, London, for that matter.

 

[C R]

This is the reason why I'm skeptical about the demands for more money for defence

View: https://youtu.be/_Dl8zdB2klQ?is=RZC4f13ZCwSfxIu1

 

[briantrumpet]

'Carbon capture' increasingly looks like it'll be a dead-end

https://projects.propublica.org/why-carbon-capture-cant-solve-climate-change/

For more than 40 years, oil companies have been funding research at prestigious universities into climate change “solutions” that would not require the public to stop using oil and gas. Among their favored fixes is carbon capture and storage.

An investigation by ProPublica and Drilled has found that boosters of CCS have ignored evidence of the technology’s limitations, or overstated its potential, and convinced the world it could be effective.

They’ve promoted this idea despite the fact that for CCS to work at the scale now envisioned, the world would need to devote almost unimaginable resources. Even if that were done, it might still prove impossible to trap so much carbon dioxide inside the earth.

Optimism has reigned, however, because small tests have worked and because slow global response to climate change has left few other options.

 

[briantrumpet]

[As an aside, that website presentation is quite clever if infuriating, and in my boring way I'd just prefer it as normal text with stationary graphics. On the plus side, at least it isn't a 10-minute video with
s o m e o n e
s p e a k i n g
v e r y
s l o w l y
o v e r
o m i n o u s
m u s i c.]

 

[PurplePenguin]

'Carbon capture' increasingly looks like it'll be a dead-end

https://projects.propublica.org/why-carbon-capture-cant-solve-climate-change/



View attachment 16036

The thing with climate change is it is necessary to back multiple things knowing that not all will be successful.

The massive reduction in the cost of solar panels, despite the EU's best efforts, is a massive success beyond anyone's expectations.

I don't think that means all carbon capture attempts are pointless. For example, it currently takes a lot of energy and money to turn degrading wood chippings into a more stable form, but it used to cost a lot to make a solar panel.

None of that means the oil industry is a reliable commentator on the subject.

 

[First Aspect]

There are lots of technical solutions, but I have never believed any of them are scalable. It will probably find a place to allow isolated processes claim to be carbon neutral. e.g. aviation. I can imagine adverts of shiny white painted installations together with an airline logo. Move along, nothing to see here, carry on as normal.

 

[briantrumpet]

There are lots of technical solutions, but I have never believed any of them are scalable. It will probably find a place to allow isolated processes claim to be carbon neutral. e.g. aviation. I can imagine adverts of shiny white painted installations together with an airline logo. Move along, nothing to see here, carry on as normal.

It's just that the longer it goes on, the tinier the fig leaf becomes, and the more it feels like a token effort to excuse keeping a toxic industry sustainable. The rapid development of cheap solar and wind at scale (plus the Strait of Hormuz stranglehold shock) has just accelerated the process. I guess that those who have invested heavily in carbon capture will unhappy.

 

[First Aspect]

You can't get around the issue that aviation and to an extent shipping, has an energy density problem. By volume for hydrogen, by mass for batteries. All aviation can do in the medium term is knock the corners off with some expensive "green" solutions for short haul which will more likely than not be based on hydrogen.

In my view it is naive to expect demand for aviation to fall, and so conceivably if you put up with fossil anything, that is what you have to pick. So if you can scrape up biofuels and CCS enough for those, it's not a waste of time.

Nostalgia based internal combustion engine usage, and arguments about changing times and waits for other transport modes will probably Peter out sooner than we think. And renewables plus nuclear can cover most other things.

 

[briantrumpet]

Hmm, if you put it like that... I still don't get why, apart from carefully sequenced sets of lights, pelican crossings don't just have a minimum interval in between red lights for the main carriageway, if it's a busy road, and they really do want to keep it moving. Some in Exeter trigger straightaway, but the one I use most often has something like a 30-second delay in the daytime if there is even just minimal stuff on the road.

 

[briantrumpet]

Re the previous discussions about Private Equity and SEND provision for children...

https://www.theguardian.com/society...equity-uk-public-services-care-homes-children

 

[Mr Celine]

Hmm, if you put it like that... I still don't get why, apart from carefully sequenced sets of lights, pelican crossings don't just have a minimum interval in between red lights for the main carriageway, if it's a busy road, and they really do want to keep it moving. Some in Exeter trigger straightaway, but the one I use most often has something like a 30-second delay in the daytime if there is even just minimal stuff on the road.

View attachment 16065

The one I use most often I press the button and keep walking. I'm 80m nearer home by the time the lights change, at which point I can easily cross the road.

 

[briantrumpet]

Not news, and not AI (as such - probably algorithms at work), but the tale of two Max Planck papers being withdrawn for spurious reasons:

https://www.science.org/content/art...story-s-most-famous-physicists-been-retracted

 

[Pross]

The one I use most often I press the button and keep walking. I'm 80m nearer home by the time the lights change, at which point I can easily cross the road.

Same with the one I use to cross the road from my house to the shop. I only use it if there are no breaks in the traffic and even then I've usually crossed and nearly entered the shop before it goes green. No idea why it takes so long, it's very simple to programme the controller, they could also have kerbside detectors to cancel the call if a pedestrian crosses before they get a green man. It's alos possible to have the green man come up quickly but to be slower if it has been called previously within a certain time so that traffic flow isn't constantly disrupted if that's a priority. This crossing isn't used very often so I don't see why it isn't set to give a green man as soon as possible once called.

 

[briantrumpet]

It's alos possible to have the green man come up quickly but to be slower if it has been called previously within a certain time so that traffic flow isn't constantly disrupted if that's a priority. This crossing isn't used very often so I don't see why it isn't set to give a green man as soon as possible once called.

This surely should be the default. I suppose on really busy roads, you could programme it for a longer delay in between crossing green lights during busiest times (that would make sense on the Exeter one I mentioned), but that should be the exception.

I saw a video of a lovely Norwegian one on a bike path that has sensors for bikes, so the lights change in time for bikes to cross without stopping at all! Now that'd be something for UK car drivers to moan about 🤣