We are running out of coal too

Conservative politicians insist that the United States is the Middle East of coal, and that we have no energy worries if we could only just get over our global warming worries. They often claim that the United States has enough coal to supply us for 250 years. They also insist, without any basis, that there is a way to burn coal cleanly, economically, and efficiently. There are many reasons to doubt these claims of conservatives, but let's assume that they are correct about all of them. Those who want to base our energy policy on coal have another huge problem. The November 18, 2010 issue of Nature available online only to subscribers) warns that recent forecasts suggest that coal reserves are running out much faster than most people believe. Therefore, "energy policies relying on cheap coal have no future." Authors Richard Heinberg and David Fridley indicate that "world energy policy is gripped by a fallacy--the idea that coal is destined to stay cheap for decades to come." They give two reasons for their urgent warning:

First, a spate of recent studies suggest that available, useful coal may be less abundant than has been assumed-indeed that the peak of world coal production may be only years away. One pessimistic study published in 2010 concluded that global energy derived from coal could peak as early as 2011. Second, global demand is growing rapidly, largely driven by China.… Since 2000 it has been surging at 3.8% per year… Economic shocks from rising coal prices will be felt by every sector of society.
Yet, most energy policies assume a "bottomless coal pit." The authors point out that in terms of energy output, "US coal production peaked in the late 1990s (volume continued to increase, but the coal was of lower energy content)." They point out that two key mining regions in the United States "show rapid depletion of high-quality reserves." They urge the federal government to complete a new national coal survey. It is their conclusion that it is unlikely that world coal supplies can continue to meet projected demand beyond 2020.

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Impressive math in his head

In December, 2007, Mathemagian Arthur Benjamin put on quite a show at TED. I was looking for a microphone in his ear, but didn't see it, and there frankly wasn't enough time for him to cheat. As the show went on, he look more and more legit and increasingly impressive. At the 11:20 mark, he talked out the process going through his head as his did his on-the-fly calculations, and he revealed that he uses a word/number system to do his magic. It was a phenomenal wrap-up to his show. Arthur Benjamin is a math professor during the day (at Harvey Mudd College). He has written and lectured extensively on math agility and mental math.

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“Lying is Not Patriotic”

Ron Paul gave a brief speech in the House Thursday, December 9th about Wikileaks. You can watch the YouTube embedded in this post, or read Paul's remarks here. Paul ended his remarks with the following nine questions:

1. Do the American people deserve to know the truth regarding the ongoing war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen?

2. Could a larger question be: how can an Army Private gain access to so much secret material?

3. Why is the hostility mostly directed at Assange, the publisher, and not our government’s failure to protect classified information?

4. Are we getting our money’s worth from the $80 billion per year we spend on our intelligence agencies?

5. Which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths; lying us into war, or WikiLeaks’ revelations or the release of the Pentagon Papers?

6. If Assange can be convicted of a crime for publishing information, that he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the First Amendment and the independence of the internet?

7. Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on WikiLeaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy of empire than it is about national security?

8. Is there not a huge difference between releasing secret information to help the enemy in the time of a declared war—which is treason—and the releasing of information to expose our government lies that promote secret wars, death, and corruption?

9. Was it not once considered patriotic to stand up to our government when it’s wrong?

Thomas Jefferson had it right when he advised: “Let the eyes of vigilance never be closed.”

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Stumbling around tonight

I took a few moments to Stumble around tonight (at Stumbleupon.com). I found a most unusual bedroom. And then this delightful worksheet on Fibonacci numbers. I learned a lot about stress over at Psychology Today. It's "worse than you think."

The experience of stress in the past magnifies your reactivity to stress in the future. So take a nice deep breath and find a stress-stopping routine this instant. . . . We may respond to stress as we do an allergy. That is, we can become sensitized, or acutely sensitive, to stress. Once that happens, even the merest intimation of stress can trigger a cascade of chemical reactions in brain and body that assault us from within. Stress is the psychological equivalent of ragweed. Once the body becomes sensitized to pollen or ragweed, it takes only the slightest bloom in spring or fall to set off the biochemical alarm that results in runny noses, watery eyes, and the general misery of hay fever. But while only some of us are genetically programed to be plagued with hay fever, all of us have the capacity to become sensitized to stress.
How does one best relief stress? Here are several tried and true ways. But then off I was, learning how to close a bag without a bag clip. And I learned in disarming detail how the TSA is keeping us "safe." And then I stumbled onto an article told me how to disappear. And here is a really cool photo of Albert Einstein Marilyn Monroe. Speaking of illusions, it is claimed that this cube illusion will work on you only once, and I believe that. But the last thing I stumbled onto tonight was the most spectacular. These are 24 scanning microscope photos from a book called Microcosmos by Brandon Brill. These photos are stunning. Thank you, Brandon Brill. Thank you, Stumbleupon, for a delightful 30-minute journey.

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