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November 3, 2015
CNBC: Jay Leno on turning sea water to fuel
Roughly 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water, with the oceans holding the majority of it. So it would be incredibly useful if scientists could somehow convert all that sea water into fuel.
Yes, it would be incredibly useful. In fact, it would be even more incredibly useful if scientists could somehow convert *all* the world's remaining forests into giant matches. Just think of the possibilities if scientists could someday do both!
Well, by using the current process, it takes more energy to extract the fuel than you actually get out of it.
Bah! It shouldn't stop us from converting all the world's sea water into fuel though. We just need to find more fuel!
Forehead. Desk. Whack. Whack. Whack.
Real Estate Newsletter Articles this Week: Existing-Home Sales Increased to
4.15 million SAAR in November
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At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:
[image: Existing Home Sales]*Click on graph for larger image.*
• NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increase...
6 hours ago
27 comments:
Mark,
I have a better solution. Since the human body is composed of 65% water it would be more desireable to use humans as fuel. The remaindeer can be used as compost. That is a winning strategy as it would certainly reduce the over population issue. I propose we start with politicians and then lawyers.
michael,
Brilliant! And as an added bonus, we can mine the gold crowns! ;)
Are human batteries more effective when hooked up in parallel or series?
Rob Dawg,
A series of trips to Golden Corral or Old Country Buffet seems to help. It's all about increasing the mass in e=mc^2.
The oceans can provide more resources than animal protein, yes.
At today's gold prices, that's a volume worth more than $150 trillion.
Speaking of gold,
http://i.imgur.com/x09W5ym.png
interesting repeat from the early 80s setting up . . .
Troy, so we can look forward to lower rates and stock market prosperity! Yeah!!
The 80s were the transition from the fiction of a hard-money economy to the fully debt-based one we have today.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=2t7X
shows the quantum jump that took place 30 years ago, the settling into the new regime in the 1990s, and the second quantum transition last decade to where we are now.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=2t80
shows how the consumer debt portion truly hit the wall last decade, but the good news is Gen Y is age 15 to 33 now and is going to start borrowing like crazy, just like the boomers did 30 years ago.
Bad news is that we've already pre-loaded them up with educational debt, but they can be made to carry more.
People think things are going to turn, but at the risk of sounding like Sebastian, I don't see it . . .
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=2t8m
is our demographic story. Red line is total pop 16+, counting retirees. They're not going to be working so much once the boomers hit 70, but they still present demand, and have incomes to spend.
The 70s was the first upswing in employment, as women started getting real jobs. Things were tough for the trailing half of the bell curve, but by 1990 the boomers all had jobs, finally.
After the 1990s recession we even went to more than full employment for some reason.
Then the dotcom bust, the bubble economy of 2004-2008, the collapse, and since 2010 we've been rebuilding, trying to keep up with population growth.
But we're still 8M jobs short of the 2008 state of the economy. Lots of retirees there, but there's still millions of jobs mission and yet to be created.
All we need is more debt and we're good to go!
The underlying serious purpose of the USN research was to develop a process to use excess power from the nuclear reactors on a carrier to produce jet fuel while underway, thereby reducing the frequency of underway replenishment for the ship while conducting operations. In that context, it's a sensible thing to look at.
The truly sad thing is that Jay Leno seizes on it, runs off at 90 degrees to the point, and makes sure nobody else gets the point either.
Forehead. Desk. Whack whack whack.
I think we should be cleverer at exploiting fallen leaves. And bird poo. And sparrow farts.
I hope everything is ok with you Mark, and that your absence doesn't reflect a bad event.
Shookie,
Thanks for your concern but all is fine. I went a couple of days withoit much to say, and then it just sort of snowballed I guess. Not sure when I'll be posting regularly again.
That said, big windstorm here in the Seattle area today (yesterday). We lost power for 6 hours and consider ourselves lucky. There are still a *lot* of people without power. Real wrath of flying spaghetti monster type stuff.
Sorry for going AWOL.
Aint no Thang Mark! Its all good!! Glad to learn all is well.
Here in Wisconsin, the wind is just moving in, with the promise of sub-freezing temps and potential snow on Saturday. On the bright side, only 6 months to go!
Glad you are ok. I was concerned too. I hope that "Peak" sarcasm is still in our future! :-)
Sarcasm performance, while brutal in the short-term, is still attractive over the long-term! Buy the dips! ;)
Double down! Lol
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=3ehh
I thought this was an interesting correlation.
Troy,
The key word being "was" it would seem, not that we would necessarily expect corporate profits to go to zero if household credit expansion stopped.
It does show that correlation does not prove causation, although there is certainly some causation in there!
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=3fbP
Fed adds in green.
Hey Mark, hope you've been well. I was messing around the interwebz and stumbled over this classic from the Statler Bros. and it made me think of you. :) Thought I would swing by and say hi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s8nRL2bPCU
Cheers.
Hey Allan!
All is goong pretty well, other than wrapping up a lengthy head cold and holding breath anxiously awaiting that rising interest rate environment the experts have continually predicted! ;)
In all seriousness, the 30-year treasury bond should hit 10% once I commit to nemory the entire contents of War and Peace. I'll get right on that, lol. Sigh.
Mark,
Glad to know that you are ok, I do stop by to see if you have posted recently. Hope Honey is doing well also.
I too miss peak sarcasm. Ain't nothing like it.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=3kII
Kuroda vs. The Bernanke
fried,
I'll prrobably start sarcasmin' again when the economy starts acceleraing to the upside, the next recession is official, short-term interest rates go negative, and/or the financial "experts" stop warning of the imminent rising interest rate environment.
Oops. Just the thought of it gave me a sarcasmasm. Can I say that in public? ;)
Troy,
Et tu Japan? NIRP, it's not just for breakfast any longer. Sigh.
So.... those TIPS overlooking pretty good right now! Congrats.
Are looking..."Darn spell check!"
Anonymous,
Yeah, that rising interest rate environment doesn't seem to be the "sure thing" that the "experts" kept warning us about, lol. Sigh.
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