BTU’s Don’t Always Equal Carbon Output

Wired.com has an article on why it’s better to buy a used car than to buy a new hybrid.

The author’s argument states that it takes 113 Million BTU’s to build a Prius hybrid, leaving it having to travel 100,000 miles to make up the debt, as compared to a used car, which has already paid back its debt.

There’s a problem here, he’s talking BTU’s, when the global concern is about carbon emissions.

What’s a BTU? It’s a British Thermal Unit. It’s a measure of heat, having nothing to do with carbon output.

Case-in-point, thermal solar panels work by collecting the suns heat and transmitting it to a liquid medium for use as a heat source. This activity produces BTUs, yet there is no carbon production. Still the author continues to do the math relative to the amount of BTU’s released by gasoline, and makes the assumption that there must be a larger carbon footprint because of a higher level of BTU’s.

WRONG!!!!

This is a completely dis-associated mathematics, because most assembly plants run off of electricity, which could be provided by nuclear or water based sources, leaving his founding premise without any viable weight.

Are we in such a panic that we’re willing to jump on any idea that sounds cool?

[ Read the Article ]

But what do I know?

DOH!: Kids, Hookers and XBox 360

Kids goes on a spending spree with dad’s credit card, orders XBox 360, Dr. Pepper and 2 Hookers. Okay… I’m at a loss for words…

[ Read This Article ]

I wonder what he calls his mommy?

DOH!: The Airforce Has Finally Said It Out Loud

Scary article from Wired.com:

The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it “access” to — and “full control” of — any kind of computer there is.

Oh dear… I need a beer.

[ Read the full Wired.com Article ]

The Pentagon Engaged in Propaganda?

There’s an interesting article from the New York Times that exposes a part of the Pentagon’s propaganda machine that is easily overlooked by the viewing public. Former high-ranking military personnel that contract to the major networks as military analysts.

[ Read the N.Y. Time Article]

This approach to propaganda plays on at two major rhetorical fallacies:

1. Appeal to Authority – These analysts are former military personnel. Of course they know what they are talking about.
2. Appeal to Belief – Because all former/retired/ex military types are no longer associated with the military, and are allowed to speak on issues that are sensitive in nature without retribution.

These fallacies overlook some important facts. Like the supposed authority that these people are providing is coming from a system that brainwashes its members into believing that the system is right and just. Additionally, the members of said system are legally owned by the system for the duration of their term and are not allowed to question the system for fear of retribution. These men are life-long members of the military, even in retirement they are hard pressed not to adhere to the requests from the military.

And for the marginals who might have a moral-complex with the whole situation, money can fix everything. The military has the ability to pay out in sums far greater than the wealth of all the networks combined.

Additionally, we assume that that the military has no hold over these people in other forms because they are now “civilians”. Pick-up a military handbook from any branch of the government. These are life long contracts of non-disclosure that prevents the “civilian” from truly representing their experiences in the military, especially when they’ve reached ranks of a classified nature.

In short we’re hard pressed to find former military personnel that can speak publicly and not have a bias toward the military-industrial agenda.

NOTE: Check out The Nizkor Project for information about rhetorical fallacies and their applications.

Take That FBI!!!

In another attempt to suppress our civil liberties, the FBI subpoenaed the Internet Archive to release private information about one of its users. They fought back. They won.

[ Read the Wired.com Article ]

Interesting point of discussion about the issue. The FBI itself warned that the NSLs (National Security Letters) were to be used sparingly. Meanwhile, they cite that they can only estimate the number of times they have been used since 2001, but that they had “issued tens of thousands of NSLs since 2001.”

Why aren’t they limited by law? Why are our liberties at their discretion? Isn’t this supposed to be the land of the free?

LOL: This is Awesome!!

So Cool!!

I call My Mommy Pam.

Okay… This is interesting in the way that a car wreck is interesting…

Watch this:

Then watch this:

The first one was posted on April 28, Chris Rock said that in 1999.

DOH!!: From Upset The Setup

The war in Iraq is over…. uh??

[ Funny post from Upset The Setup ]