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To put this in perspective, each Btu can heat one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. There are approximately 632 billion pounds of people on this planet composed mostly of water. If we were to burn all of that energy at once each year, then we could heat every person on the planet by roughly 823 degrees Fahrenheit.
I suggest that we do not do this though, but instead continue to act responsibly when it comes to energy usage. You know, much like locusts act responsibly as they feed.
For what it is worth, I am no better than any other locust. I'm burning energy to create this post. I burn energy to heat my home. My car often has only one person in it, as does my girlfriend's car.
I doubt any of us truly believe that there won't be long-term consequences, if not necessarily for us then for those who come after us. And yet, we do it anyway. The desire to swarm remains high.
Speaking of the desire to swarm, Black Friday is only a few days away. Enjoy the plague!
December 6, 2010
Black Friday's plague
The problem with Black Friday, and all the black days to follow until the Christmas buying spree has run its course, is that it confirms the notion that our economic health depends on a continuously extracting materials from the Earth's diminishing supply. Planetary sustainability is threatened when we shop. Yet retailers depend on it.
Source Data:
EIA: International Energy Statistics
11 comments:
Mrs Dawg is bugging me to light the pilot on the wall heater.
Rob Dawg,
I can't recall the last time our house was above 67. Summer seems like a distant memory.
Sixty-Seven?
Damn you lucky guy. Eighty-effin-Three degrees tomorrow.
Whenever you want to gloat use the nearby zip code 93066.
Rob Dawg,
My girlfriend and you should switch locations for a week.
I run the house cold at night (57 degrees for a low). She dreams of eighty-effin-three degrees!
That said, when it was eighty-effin-three degrees, she looked forward to winter. Well, it's here! Hahaha!
My personal take on it is similar to yours though.
When it's cold, more clothes can be worn. There's always a hot bath or shower to enjoy as well.
When it's hot, there's a limit to how many clothes can be removed. Further, I have never found cold baths and showers all that enjoyable.
At the risk of being indulgently tedious... I dropped of my thesis (Oct '83), borrowed $250 from my uncle and rode my motorcycle every state on the east coast and southern border and stopped when I got to the Santa Monica Pier.
Turned out to be a decent idea.
Rob Dawg,
Nice! No risk of being indulgently tedious here! I set the bar pretty high. Hahaha! :)
My girlfriend started off in Tennessee and ended up in Washington state. She might have ended up in California but I think she's was looking to maximize the distance by moving diagonally.
When I graduated in 1987, I also drove west until I hit water. It wasn't that long of a trip. I never left the state.
I modeled my trip after an old joke.
A man sees a boy with luggage circling the block. Over the course of a day, round and round he goes. At some point, filled with curiousity, he asks the boy what he's doing. The boy says...
"I'm running away from home but I'm not allowed to cross the street!"
Spelling failure:
Curious -> Curiosity?
WTF! As a math guy, sometimes the English language sucks monkey balls.
(That one gets me more times than I care to admit. ;))
An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. First one orders a beer, second a half a beer, the third a quarter beer, the next an eighth and so on. The bartender sighs, pours two beers and says, "You guys ought to know your limits."
"Burn, Baby, Burn". Why; what has the jury concluded?
Rob Dawg,
Hahaha! Nice. :)
dearieme,
Just as funny!
Until the reality sets in, of course. Then it is amazingly tragic.
Gallows humor works too. Sigh.
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