The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[mickEblu]

Has anyone here who had Covid dealt with dry cough? Except this is a weird dry cough that kind of feels like a tickle or like your choking on gas for a couple seconds. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a cough quite like it. It’ll come sporadically for a couple seconds a few times a day.

At its worst COVID was like a really bad cold or flu for me but what’s different is the amount of time it lingers. 3.5 weeks later and I still have days where I can feel kind of winded. Which is weird because their are days where I’m more physically active and feel anything at all.

 

[No Name]

Wind turbine technicians and solar panel installlers are predicted to be two of the top three fastest-growing jobs over the next decade, while the number of jobs in coal and oil are decreasing. Yet people in West Virginia will heavily defend the latter out of fear of change, and heck, it’s the West Virginia senator who recently put the nail in the coffin on the largest environmental bill in US history. It’s a tough road ahead.

 

[TP2000]

First of all, fracking is a bad practice that uses a lot of water, causes earthquakes, and releases pollutants… causing cancer, birth defects, and helping produce the kind of chubby wubby men you didn’t find 60 years ago!

At least that's what they told us in all those fashionable documentaries on Netflix about ten years ago. Whatever happened to all that drama, anyway? There are over 300,000 Fracking sites in the USA today, and we've been Fracking large scale for over 15 years now.

But don't tell that to Sacramento. Even in California, they allow fracking all along earthquake faults. (Although, the Newsom administration ended new fracking permits in California in 2021. But that's a decision that can be reversed by a future governor, if he or she ever wants to stop buying oil from Saudi Arabia instead of Bakersfield.)

In recent years there have been over 700 individual Fracking well sites throughout California.

Here's a map of where the current Fracking is mostly centered in California, in the southern San Joaquin Valley west of Bakersfield. The yellow dots are existing Fracking wells, the red dots are the newest Fracking wells approved by Sacramento regulators. The black dots are the older, more expensive regular oil wells.

 

[TP2000]

Has anyone here who had Covid dealt with dry cough? Except this is a weird dry cough that kind of feels like a tickle or like your choking on gas for a couple seconds. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a cough quite like it. It’ll come sporadically for a couple seconds a few times a day.

At its worst COVID was like a really bad cold or flu for me but what’s different is the amount of time it lingers. 3.5 weeks later and I still have days where I can feel kind of winded. Which is weird because their are days where I’m more physically active and feel anything at all.

I have a friend with the same symptoms this winter. He was Vaxxed and got tested for Covid twice, and both times he was negative. His doctor says there's a few unusual colds going around this winter in the Western states, and everyone is very concious of them because the focus on Covid.

 

[TP2000]

Actually believe it or not the US is not as self sufficient as you believe it is. And not everything boils down to talk about lack of oil.

Fresh water is one resource that could be a potential issue in the near future for a lot of countries. And while maybe not an issue here in the US directly, indirectly it'll put pressure on the US as various populations try to migrate to where fresh water reserves remain.

Rare earth minerals is another resource which is starting to dwindle, with approx. 80% found in China. The rest are scattered across the global, with zero mines currently running in the US. These rare earth minerals are used in everything in our daily lives with things like computers, cell phones, the internet, TV, radio, the power grid, cars, your washer/dryer, etc. Pick up something that has some electronic piece in it and it has rare earth minerals in it. And even if the US started up mining again (last mine shutdown in 2017) there is not enough of it in the US to handle global demand let alone demand in just the US, so no we don't have more than enough.

Point is that we all share this planet and the resources is offers, the US is not alone on this planet and cannot go it alone.

You'd probably get a kick out of reading these hysterically funny and profoundly inaccurate predictions from "experts" and "doctors" and "scientists", even a US Senator, made just over 50 years ago. Back in 1970, within a decade or two we were all going to starve to death, then freeze to death from no oil, then choke to death on pollution, then probably starve to death again.

Experts! Top men in their field! Professors! Academics!

https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/18-spectacularly-wrong-predictions-made-around-the-time-of-first-earth-day-in-1970-expect-more-this-year/

13. Paul Ehrlich warned in the May 1970 issue of Audubon that DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons “may have substantially reduced the life expectancy of people born since 1945.” Ehrlich warned that Americans born since 1946…now had a life expectancy of only 49 years, and he predicted that if current patterns continued this expectancy would reach 42 years by 1980, when it might level out. (Note: Life expectancy in the US in 2020 was 78.8 years).

15. Harrison Brown, a scientist at the National Academy of Sciences, published a chart in Scientific American in 1970 that looked at metal reserves and estimated that humanity would totally run out of copper shortly after 2000. Lead, zinc, tin, gold, and silver would be gone before 1990.

There's 16 more hilariously bad predictions from "experts" at the link above.

 

[Disney Irish]

You'd probably get a kick out of reading these hysterically funny and profoundly inaccurate predictions from "experts" and "doctors" and "scientists", even a US Senator, made just over 50 years ago. Back in 1970, within a decade or two we were all going to starve to death, then freeze to death from no oil, then choke to death on pollution, then probably starve to death again.

Experts! Top men in their field! Professors! Academics!

https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/18-spectacularly-wrong-predictions-made-around-the-time-of-first-earth-day-in-1970-expect-more-this-year/

13. Paul Ehrlich warned in the May 1970 issue of Audubon that DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons “may have substantially reduced the life expectancy of people born since 1945.” Ehrlich warned that Americans born since 1946…now had a life expectancy of only 49 years, and he predicted that if current patterns continued this expectancy would reach 42 years by 1980, when it might level out. (Note: Life expectancy in the US in 2020 was 78.8 years).

15. Harrison Brown, a scientist at the National Academy of Sciences, published a chart in Scientific American in 1970 that looked at metal reserves and estimated that humanity would totally run out of copper shortly after 2000. Lead, zinc, tin, gold, and silver would be gone before 1990.

There's 16 more hilariously bad predictions from "experts" at the link above.

Nice deflection, but none of that has anything to do with the fact that the US is still not as self sufficient as you believe it is. There are just certain things that we as a country rely on that cannot be produced here in the US, such as a lot of the rare earth materials that make up electronics.

And while scientists and experts may disagree, and sometimes get things wrong. In the long run I trust them over any politician any day of the week and twice on Sunday's. The scientific method is tried and true. And so while some predictions of time frames might end up being wrong, the end result is still the same. When you have a finite resource there is still only so much available, once its gone its gone since no more is made. Better to prepare early to find an alternative for that finite resource than to wait until the last minute and potentially risk catastrophe.

The US cannot go it alone, despite what some in the political arena claim. And in the end we shouldn't want to. We should want to work as a species for the betterment of the whole planet that we all share, even if it means working with others across some imaginary border. Once we learn that those imaginary borders in the end are an outdated concept from feudal societies we'll truly be one planet and ready to travel beyond this 3rd rock from the sun.

 

[TP2000]

Nice deflection, but none of that has anything to do with the fact that the US is still not as self sufficient as you believe it is.

It's no deflection. It's just a gentle reminder from an older person that people shouldn't be so dour and serious in this glorious modern age. While there is serious concern right now, but short-term, about inflation and other woes, overall the human condition today is fabulous. And it will only get better!

Cheer up, kids, it may never happen! And don't believe the "experts"!

There are just certain things that we as a country rely on that cannot be produced here in the US, such as a lot of the rare earth materials that make up electronics.

There are certain things this country has given up on over the last 20 years to Communist China. Rare earth minerals are one of those things, semi-conductor computer chips are another. But that doesn't mean we can't retake those commodities back from Communist China.

There are a lot of rare earth minerals here in the USA. Our good friends and Capitalist neighbors to the north, Canada, have a lot too. But it's going to require displacing some wildlife and trees to get at them. Better we do it ourselves with common sense environmental rules, than just keep letting the Communists in Beijing do it with absolutely no environmental regulations whatsoever.

China Wrestles with the Toxic Aftermath of Rare Earth Mining

China has been a major source of rare earth metals used in high-tech products, from smartphones to wind turbines. As cleanup of these mining sites begins, experts argue that global companies that have benefited from access to these metals should help foot the bill.

e360.yale.edu

This is exactly the type of infrastructure development our federal government should be focused on. Don't give in to China! And for gosh sakes, cheer up! Things can be great, if you let America do it!

Leading Supplier of Critical Materials | USA Rare Earth LLC

With its development of the first rare earth and critical minerals processing facility in the US and ownership of the only permanent neo magnet manufacturing system in the Western Hemisphere, USA Rare Earth is poised to become the leading domestic supplier of critical materials for the green...

www.usare.com

 

[TP2000]

Once we learn that those imaginary borders in the end are an outdated concept from feudal societies we'll truly be one planet and ready to travel beyond this 3rd rock from the sun.

Oh, dear. You've been binge watching Star Trek: Discovery again, haven't you?

 

[Disney Irish]

It's no deflection. It's just a gentle reminder from an older person that people shouldn't be so dour and serious in this glorious modern age. While there is serious concern right now, but short-term, about inflation and other woes, overall the human condition today is fabulous. And it will only get better!

Cheer up, kids, it may never happen! And don't believe the "experts"!

There is a difference between saying ignore the future its always gonna be there and just enjoy what you have today versus enjoy what you have today but figure out how to make it better so that there is future. I rather we be in the latter camp than the former.

There are certain things this country has given up on over the last 20 years to Communist China. Rare earth minerals are one of those things, semi-conductor computer chips are another. But that doesn't mean we can't retake those commodities back from Communist China.

There are a lot of rare earth minerals here in the USA. Our good friends and Capitalist neighbors to the north, Canada, have a lot too. But it's going to require displacing some wildlife and trees to get at them. Better we do it ourselves with common sense environmental rules, than just keep letting the Communists in Beijing do it with absolutely no environmental regulations whatsoever.

China Wrestles with the Toxic Aftermath of Rare Earth Mining

China has been a major source of rare earth metals used in high-tech products, from smartphones to wind turbines. As cleanup of these mining sites begins, experts argue that global companies that have benefited from access to these metals should help foot the bill.

e360.yale.edu

This is exactly the type of infrastructure development our federal government should be focused on. Don't give in to China! And for gosh sakes, cheer up! Things can be great, if you let America do it!

Leading Supplier of Critical Materials | USA Rare Earth LLC

With its development of the first rare earth and critical minerals processing facility in the US and ownership of the only permanent neo magnet manufacturing system in the Western Hemisphere, USA Rare Earth is poised to become the leading domestic supplier of critical materials for the green...

www.usare.com

In reality that type of undertaking would require not only the political will but public will as well. One thing that caused a lot of the mining industry to shutdown in this country is the "Not in my Backyard!" (NIMBY) mentality that sweep across this country in the 70s and 80s, and its not on one side of the political spectrum. Plus I have serious doubts on the amount of rare earth materials that are available long term in this country. If we only have 20-30 years worth of rare earth mining in this country, that doesn't change much in terms of overall reliance of these materials from other countries such as China. Plus call me sentimental, but I rather not completely leave this country a barren waste land after completely mining and gutting out all the natural resources. I would rather have the beautiful landscapes of this country for my great-great grandchildren to experience, rather than this:

BTW, this is in California in the San Bernardino mountains not China.

 

[Disney Irish]

Oh, dear. You've been binge watching Star Trek: Discovery again, haven't you?

Nope, but it is something to strive for is it not....

We should learn that petty squabbles over imaginary borders really doesn't gain anyone anything as we all still live on the same planet. It really is one world that we all share, no matter what demagoguery about nationalism people try to cling onto.

 

[Mac Tonight]

Lol, yeah. We really shouldn’t waste our finite Earthly time concerning ourselves with silly made-up things like “borders”… or “laws”… or “rights”. We’re all just sentient meat sacks unwillingly shackled together on this dying rock and one day we’ll all be gone.

Enjoy the ride. Go to Disneyland. Eat at Joes.

 

[TP2000]

There is a difference between saying ignore the future its always gonna be there and just enjoy what you have today versus enjoy what you have today but figure out how to make it better so that there is future. I rather we be in the latter camp than the former.

No, that's not what I'm saying at all.

I'm saying keep letting the Free Market system invent and experiment and discover new technologies and new products to make our lives better. Make fracking better. Make computers better. Make space travel better.

American Free Enterprise made us the greatest nation on earth, and Free Enterprise in general has lifted Billions of humans around the world out of poverty over the last 200 years. Keep it going!

In 1970 the academic "experts" were inherently pessimistic and many honestly thought that the world was ending, that technology had reached its end or could never keep up and it was all downhill from there. It wasn't.

The tech revolution of the 1980's took off, the profit motive inspired lots of investment in future tech, and here we are today in 2022 with more natural gas than we know what to do with, and middle class teenagers now carry around iPhones that have a couple million times the computing power of an Apollo moon mission. Surprise!

Keep America rolling into the future! Don't give up! Work hard, make a buck. and be happy!

In reality that type of undertaking would require not only the political will but public will as well. One thing that caused a lot of the mining industry to shutdown in this country is the "Not in my Backyard!" (NIMBY) mentality that sweep across this country in the 70s and 80s, and its not on one side of the political spectrum. Plus I have serious doubts on the amount of rare earth materials that are available long term in this country. If we only have 20-30 years worth of rare earth mining in this country, that doesn't change much in terms of overall reliance of these materials from other countries such as China. Plus call me sentimental, but I rather not completely leave this country a barren waste land after completely mining and gutting out all the natural resources. I would rather have the beautiful landscapes of this country for my great-great grandchildren to experience, rather than this:

BTW, this is in California in the San Bernardino mountains not China.

Good! We need that. I'd seen that the only rare earth mining company in the US now is based in California. And I don't see a lot of homes in that photo. So keep on digging!

And then open up similar rare earth mines in Wyoming and Utah and Canada. We can replace the supply from Communist China if we want to.

 

[TP2000]

Nope, but it is something to strive for is it not....

Wake me in the 32nd Century.

Meanwhile, in 2022... I'm selling a bunch of risky stock before the crash, selling my home to an investment firm, camping at the family beach house for the next few months, and then moving out of state to stop paying California taxes. Reality!

 

[Disney Irish]

No, that's not what I'm saying at all.

I'm saying keep letting the Free Market system invent and experiment and discover new technologies and new products to make our lives better. Make fracking better. Make computers better. Make space travel better.

American Free Enterprise made us the greatest nation on earth, and Free Enterprise in general has lifted Billions of humans around the world out of poverty over the last 200 years. Keep it going!

In 1970 the academic "experts" were inherently pessimistic and many honestly thought that the world was ending, that technology had reached its end or could never keep up and it was all downhill from there. It wasn't.

The tech revolution of the 1980's took off, the profit motive inspired lots of investment in future tech, and here we are today in 2022 with more natural gas than we know what to do with, and middle class teenagers now carry around iPhones that have a couple million times the computing power of an Apollo moon mission. Surprise!

Keep America rolling into the future! Don't give up! Work hard, make a buck. and be happy!



Good! We need that. I'd seen that the only rare earth mining company in the US now is based in California. And I don't see a lot of homes in that photo. So keep on digging!

And then open up similar rare earth mines in Wyoming and Utah and Canada. We can replace the supply from Communist China if we want to.

Who do you think actually is the ones to "invent and experiment and discover new technologies and new products to make our lives better", its the new generation the ones who are worried enough about the future to try to fix it today. So you're saying relax let the free market fix it, yet its the same people who you're telling to relax that are the very ones that will fix it.

 

[Disney Irish]

Wake me in the 32nd Century.

Meanwhile, in 2022... I'm selling a bunch of risky stock before the crash, selling my home to an investment firm, camping at the family beach house for the next few months, and then moving out of state to stop paying California taxes. Reality!

Well you do that while the rest of us will try to strive for a better future instead of just cashing in and leaving town.

 

[chadwpalm]

Has anyone here who had Covid dealt with dry cough? Except this is a weird dry cough that kind of feels like a tickle or like your choking on gas for a couple seconds. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a cough quite like it. It’ll come sporadically for a couple seconds a few times a day.

At its worst COVID was like a really bad cold or flu for me but what’s different is the amount of time it lingers. 3.5 weeks later and I still have days where I can feel kind of winded. Which is weird because their are days where I’m more physically active and feel anything at all.

I'm at day 10 from when my initial symptoms started. I have a lingering cough....sometimes it's a dry cough, but more often it's because I still have some drainage from my nose because I'm still producing some phlegm. It's a lot worse when I lay on my back. I only had fevers between days 1 and 5. Any sickness for me tends to linger with coughing for a few weeks.

One symptom I dealt with a lot this week is lack of appetite. That seems to be fading though since I had a pretty decent-sized dinner last night. I didn't experience the lack of taste or smell that a lot of people had gotten.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

I haven't been, but friends have mentioned lately that the listed ride times seem inflated well above the actual waits. Friends saw Space Mountain listed at an hour, they waited 20 minutes, saw Rise at 1.5 hr, waited half an hour etc...

We're under the impression Disney is keeping wait times on the fat side to coax people into buying genie/lightning things whatever.

Also of note, they had to visit guest services at DCA last weekend and mentioned while they were there a father was next to them and was beyond upset practically screaming at guest services because "I bought this damn genie lightning thing for my family and there's nothing for us to do here! All the other stuff is in the other park!". They mentioned he was extremely upset and multiple CM's were trying to explain things to him... they quietly snuck out after their chat with their CM and hoped no one would be killed...

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Y'all had a convo about mining and didn't invite widdle old me?????

I would rather have the beautiful landscapes of this country for my great-great grandchildren to experience, rather than this:

BTW, this is in California in the San Bernardino mountains not China.

No it's not. This is Mountain Pass in the Clark Mountains off the 15. That's the Mescal Range on the horizon and beyond that is the mysterious Kokoweef Peak and its caves (TP2000, look up Kokoweef Cavern and its infamous underground river of gold... the quirky story may be up your alley).

Around 25 million people drive right by this every year and I'm willing to bet that 99% of them don't even notice a thing. Oh, and if you hop off the freeway, once off the mine property, there is a plethora of untouched beautiful Mojave desert to hike through and explore. I've done a fair amount of rockhounding in the Mescal Range (actually just in the hills in the left side of the photo) for some beautiful syenite (you've seen this stone if you've ever walked around downtown Los Angeles and looked at some of the older buildings, they used it rather extensively for a while). The mine itself is a host of some very unique rocks and minerals and I've personally collected some great specimens of carbonatite and shonkinite along with some little pieces of bastnasite for good measure. I've visited some of the old claims in the area as well as the mine itself (yes, I've been to the bottom of the pit in the photo).

The advantage of mining is that it does not just happen anywhere... it's not like the entire California desert is going to turn into an open pit if companies weren't 'kept in line'. Mountain Pass is a world class deposit and our government stinting its growth and in turn sucking off of China has been an unprecedented environmental disaster for the world. Instead of allowing mining to grow and mature (which it has been) and to operate mindfully, companies (not all but most) were choked and shut down so that uneducated people could pat themselves on the back cuz' 'mining bad'. Instead of us leading the world in production and learning and showing how to do it mindfully, China has taken over and has absolutely destroyed its environment anywhere NEAR one of their mines. But hey, mining is only bad when we do it right? Out of sight, out of mind I guess. It's ok for China to do it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've personally logged several thousand of feet of core from another nearby rare earth deposit across the CA/NV border in the New York Mountains. Nice mineralization, rare earth concentrations similar to or exceeding Mountain Pass (I ran XRF analysis on the samples myself), but it is still untouched. It is untouched because even thinking of trying to start up mining has been turned into a nightmare by people who pat themselves on the back cuz' 'mining bad'.

And while scientists and experts may disagree, and sometimes get things wrong. In the long run I trust them over any politician any day of the week and twice on Sunday's.

Awesome! Scientist here... I'll keep it simple. If you can't grow it, you have to mine it.

 

[Disney Irish]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Y'all had a convo about mining and didn't invite widdle old me?????


No it's not. This is Mountain Pass in the Clark Mountains off the 15. That's the Mescal Range on the horizon and beyond that is the mysterious Kokoweef Peak and its caves (TP2000, look up Kokoweef Cavern and its infamous underground river of gold... the quirky story may be up your alley).

Around 25 million people drive right by this every year and I'm willing to bet that 99% of them don't even notice a thing. Oh, and if you hop off the freeway, once off the mine property, there is a plethora of untouched beautiful Mojave desert to hike through and explore. I've done a fair amount of rockhounding in the Mescal Range (actually just in the hills in the left side of the photo) for some beautiful syenite (you've seen this stone if you've ever walked around downtown Los Angeles and looked at some of the older buildings, they used it rather extensively for a while). The mine itself is a host of some very unique rocks and minerals and I've personally collected some great specimens of carbonatite and shonkinite along with some little pieces of bastnasite for good measure. I've visited some of the old claims in the area as well as the mine itself (yes, I've been to the bottom of the pit in the photo).

The advantage of mining is that it does not just happen anywhere... it's not like the entire California desert is going to turn into an open pit if companies weren't 'kept in line'. Mountain Pass is a world class deposit and our government stinting its growth and in turn sucking off of China has been an unprecedented environmental disaster for the world. Instead of allowing mining to grow and mature (which it has been) and to operate mindfully, companies (not all but most) were choked and shut down so that uneducated people could pat themselves on the back cuz' 'mining bad'. Instead of us leading the world in production and learning and showing how to do it mindfully, China has taken over and has absolutely destroyed its environment anywhere NEAR one of their mines. But hey, mining is only bad when we do it right? Out of sight, out of mind I guess. It's ok for China to do it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've personally logged several thousand of feet of core from another nearby rare earth deposit across the CA/NV border in the New York Mountains. Nice mineralization, rare earth concentrations similar to or exceeding Mountain Pass (I ran XRF analysis on the samples myself), but it is still untouched. It is untouched because even thinking of trying to start up mining has been turned into a nightmare by people who pat themselves on the back cuz' 'mining bad'.


Awesome! Scientist here... I'll keep it simple. If you can't grow it, you have to mine it.

Awesome, happy for your input. The point was missed however.

The point is this along with other types of mining, digging, pumping, etc., of our natural resources is going to leave this country looking like a barren wasteland.

What we really should be investing in is space mining and leaving our home's natural resources alone. Don't mess up our own habitat when you can get it from elsewhere in our little solar system. There is literally gold mines floating in space right now with an over abundance of minerals that we could mine with very very near term technology. All we need is the global will to do it. The first country that invests in this enterprise will literally win the space race, shouldn't the US be the one to do it and lead this enterprise?

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Curious you took my practical world scenario, scaled it up to future currently unattainable setting, and regurgitated it.

You're comparing apples to oranges... quite foolishly I might add. Not sure why you're going off about asteroid mining... you're dreaming of the future and not focusing on the now. While you dreamily look into the night sky and long for a world with no borders... China is still destroying its environment mining materials for items you use on a daily if not hourly basis.

With that said though, we are quite actively advancing toward asteroid mining both government and private industry, it's very exciting I agree. Technology is advancing its way there and it is certainly a goal that is well known and being worked towards.

Now having said that... where do you expect all the resources to come from while we work on getting to sustainable asteroid mining?