scientator

6 ms·

1.
by scientator 3mo ago
Right. The water isn't gone from the universe, certainly. But it's gone from the city/county water system. You've then got to wait for it to come back via the natural water cycle. Whereas it's a lot more efficient t
2.
by scientator 3mo ago
Using water to cool a data center is absolutely not equivalent to using it for farming. Once you irrigate a field, that water is gone. But if water is cooling something, then it can be collected and used again. Of course, that requires a ci
3.
by scientator 4mo ago
I'm sure any wealth tax would only apply to wealth above a certain amount. For instance, inheritance tax only applies to $15mil and above. Likewise, when you sell a house the first $500K (I believe) in capital gains from the sale is ta
4.
by scientator 4mo ago
Why would environmentalists be concerned about shading canals?
5.
by scientator 4mo ago
The underlying problem is that the number of representatives hasn't increased in about 100 years (not counting addition of Alaska and Hawaii). Increase the number of reps, as was regularly done up until early 20th century, and a lot of
6.
by scientator 10mo ago
The idea of rent suggests that you're paying a use fee to an owner. But if you live in a house that you own, and therefore lose the potential rental income, who are you paying that use fee to? Is the loss of potential income really the
7.
by scientator 1y ago
Water for people isn't the problem. It's water to grow food for cows that's the problem.
8.
by scientator 1y ago
https://mashable.com/article/ac-units-climate-change-carbon-...
9.
by scientator 1y ago
I believe the royal society for the protection of birds studied whether cats are a threat to bird populations and concluded that they really aren't. Obviously cats do kill birds, but overwhelmingly the major threat to birds is habitat
10.
by scientator 1y ago
Biblical scholar Bart Ehrman argues that there are many versions of Christianity, and there always have been since its inception. What you are representing as the "core teaching of Christianity" is the version that was primarily a
11.
by scientator 2y ago
We also know there's rampant fraud in the business world: Enron, WorldCom, Madoff, Lehman Brothers, S&L scandal, etc. etc. Now the billionaires are gutting the government's oversight ability. Business fraud will go through the
12.
by scientator 2y ago
I think he is wrong that predictions 100 years out are almost always going to be wrong, because city and government planners routinely do this kind of stuff. They predict future growth rates and plan accordingly. They invest in reservoirs,
13.
by scientator 2y ago
Their government pay is meaningless to them. They can legally trade on insider information. That's their real paycheck.
14.
by scientator 2y ago
In his book "The Deep Hot Biosphere" Thomas Gold argued that life probably originated deep underground. Gold is a pretty controversial figure, but this hypothesis makes sense for a number of reasons: the underground environment is
15.
by scientator 2y ago
I was agreeing with you up until trash pick-up, which I think is a bad example, because there are obvious reasons why it makes sense to have the city contract with one company for that service, rather than having multiple companies with mul
16.
by scientator 2y ago
Although the Big Bang is widely referred to as a theory, cosmologists actually categorize it as a model not a theory. Does that mean it's not scientific? No. It's just that a lot of cosmology isn't testable, per se. The same
17.
by scientator 2y ago
We have no reliable information about the identity of Homer. All we have are a variety of legends. But there are some decent arguments for thinking that Homer might have been a woman. We just don't know.
18.
by scientator 2y ago
Yes, after billions of years you would move outside of the sight horizon of the long-lived observer on earth and disappear from view. For you, the traveler, this would happen in mere minutes. But you wouldn't have crossed the universe
19.
by scientator 2y ago
The edge of the visible universe functions for us like a cosmic event horizon. Similar to the event horizon around a black hole. A particle leaving earth at light speed can never reach or go beyond that horizon. Even in infinite time. That&
20.
by scientator 2y ago
Actually, you couldn't cross it in a matter of minutes. In fact, you would never even reach the edge of the visible universe. This is because the edge of the visible universe is expanding away from us at faster than the speed of light.
21.
by scientator 2y ago
This sounds like the old Marxist argument of Capitalists appropriating (or parasitically leaching) the surplus value of the laborers they employ. But in the case of social media, people get paid not only in money but also with attention and
22.
by scientator 2y ago
Getting the best price they can would be fair in a competitive marketplace. But when consolidation leads to fewer competitors, more monopoly, then the constraint of fair competition has been removed. The stores are free to raise prices and
23.
by scientator 2y ago
It used to be that immigrants would simply invent a fake SSN in order to get a job. The e-verify system may have complicated that, but I imagine it's still pretty much the same for smaller businesses. And especially agricultural work,
24.
by scientator 2y ago
They're being offered loans, which they'll have to pay back. This won't cost taxpayers anything. And anyway, these undocumented migrants ARE TAXPAYERS THEMSELVES. I fail to see any reason to be outraged about this.
25.
by scientator 2y ago
I once read a book on primatology (can't remember the title, wish I could) that observed that over 8 million people live together in NYC. For the most part peacefully. But if you put 8 million chimpanzees together in the same space the
26.
by scientator 2y ago
The tradition in parasitology of self-experimentation -- swallowing unknown larvae to see what they do to your body -- perhaps might deter new recruits from entering the field.
27.
by scientator 2y ago
Many drugs promote socialization. To the point that you have to question the distinction between drugs and food/drink. Take sugar. It's often the focus of social gatherings. But the bad effects of sugar arguably outweigh those of
28.
by scientator 2y ago
Alcohol can have large benefits for helping people to bond and socialize. The article itself pointed this out. Of course people can socialize without alcohol. But I think it's plausible to argue that alcohol in moderation can improve a
29.
by scientator 2y ago
The Hollywood versions of Greco-Roman mythology aren't the same as what you get in Ovid's Metamorphoses. References to Ovid's Metamorphoses can be found on almost every page of Shakespeare, and if you haven't read Ovid (
30.
by scientator 2y ago
Updating it wouldn't eliminate the original. It would simply give many people an accessible introduction to the work, and perhaps inspire them to explore the original. I really don't understand the resistance to providing people w

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