[spdrun]

(1) High-level and medium-level waste from fission? Reprocess and glassify/bury what remains. Works fine for the French — they’re not as cowardly as prissy little Dumberican NIMBYs about such things.
(2) Solar panels aren’t the only way to extract energy from the Sun. Solar-thermal plants in the desert combined with pumped-hydro storage are another option. As far as upgrading the grid, that’s a problem. But if we spent half as much on that as we did supporting our military-industrial parasites, we’d get it done inside of a decade.

I’d love to see a Manhattan-project level race to change the energy infrastructure of this country to the BEST and CLEANEST in the world inside of 20 years. And yes, when we do something “good”, the rest of the world tends to follow eventually.

[spdrun]

Design the gar(b)age to be able to be surreptitiously converted to living/rental space after the town inspectors are done spooging over the final build. 1085 sf in a place where a lot of people street-park is absurd.

[spdrun]

Is “master tech” the end of the mechanic promotion line before going to management? If so, $80k isn’t that much if you think about it.

[spdrun]

Have you considered that CO2 emissions in the USA is now at their 20 -year low because of all the natural gas generated by Fracking which is forcing coal plants to shut down?

Burning “fossil farts” still produces CO2. Plus supplies are limited.

Thorium cycle nuclear and renewables are the correct answer for the long term. It’s really fucking retardedly stupid not to utilize the 100W per square foot of energy that’s basically given us for free. Yeah, conversion losses, daylight hours, and cloud cover. But even 10W per sf on a 1500 sf roof isn’t trivial.

[spdrun]

What’s wrong with doing blue-collar work in a place that you actually ENJOY living in? Oilfield jobs aren’t the only blue-collar jobs that pay — start as a journeyman plumber or electrician, save money, and start your own business by 32 or so. Added benefit: ability to meet and converse with a lot of frustrated 30 or 40-something homeowners of the female persuasion 😉

Speaking for myself, vacationing in NYC once a year would be a piss-poor substitute for actually living there! (and vacationing in other beautiful places)

[spdrun]

Same goes for the Soviet communist party 😉

This being said, I’d still not stop to take a leak if I saw an oil worker on fire. Unless I could leak kerosene that is.

[spdrun]

Except … we’re not. Thus, we have these lucrative Halliburton jobs, right here in our own country! Why wouldn’t a 6’3″ fmr HS football center NOT want to take one of these positions for a few years in order to “launch” their adult lives … in lieu of college … to take time to figure out what they want to major in first … OR to see if college is really right for them?

I’m sure careers in the Nazi party were also lucrative and carried the possibility of promotion ca. 1938. 🙂

[spdrun]

Flopping = using dirty tricks to get a bank to accept a SS for much less than real value. Once it’s re-sold by the buyer, the listing broker may (or may not) get a kickback from the buyer.

[spdrun]

I’ve currently got three young nephews (25 yrs and under) working on “frac crews” in those dreaded “flyover states.”

The pay is good, but can they live with themselves considering that they’re making a nice contribution to environmental destruction?

Oil should have been left in the 20th century — we should be 95% renewable, hydro, and nuclear energy at this point, using hydrogen for high-density storage. Really not a science problem at this point, just engineering and infrastructure. Ah well. Hoping for trouble in the M.E. and $7/gal gas will finally wake America up and force them to wean off of petroleum.

Me, I’m happily doing I.T. and (more and more) back-end web design and app design on a freelance basis, and this pays the bills quite nicely. Corp-to-corp, no middleman involved of course 🙂

I have to say that mechanic isn’t a bad trade to be in, though. At least on the East Coast, it needs a business license and auto inspection license, but it’s not like plumbing or electrical where years of experience being someone’s b*tch is required by law to be licensed.

[spdrun]

Good – should be fun to see Bennie eating that crow stew.

[spdrun]

Maybe the Middle Eastern fun and $7+/gal gas across the USA will throw a monkey wrench in that timeline.

[spdrun]

Participation has fallen to a low, though picked up a bit recently. Food and energy inflation is pinching. I’m not convinced that the average American is maintaining their power to pay off debts, or will be able to long-term.

Add to this the prospect of $6+/gal gas across the USA if the Middle East blows up.

[spdrun]

Arizona has other problems, like not having a real economy in the Phoenix area — a lot of Phoenix’s economy was due to the city building itself outward rather than any constructive activity. Plus there’s long-run risk of water shortage. San Diego could be hit by a large tidal wave. All areas have their risks and rewards.

[spdrun]

Then again, there’s an argument for not diversifying too far. Most management companies are total f–king crooks, and having to buy a plane ticket to fix a running terlit doesn’t seem worth it 🙂

[spdrun]

Sheesh, everything’s a risk. I could be hit by a taxi crossing the street. Temecula has a fault, San Diego has bushfires, Phoenix has crazies with heavy artillery, NYC and Miami have hurricanes.

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