As a few old-timers here may know, I spend just a little time "commenting" on news stories in the major media; The New York Times, The Washington Post, sometimes Huffpo and others.
If, and when, I have something to say, and if and when I think someone might actually listen.
I have a little request for you - which might make a difference. We all know that "economists" couldn't predict their way out of a wet paper bag - but people still keep asking them what to think. Mind boggling.
Right this very minute - the New York Times has a nice feature pointing out that the entire world has entered a "slow growth" phase. And that the "forecasters" once again didn't see it coming; and still persist in saying growth will resume very soon. We base our fiscal "policy" on these fantasies.
I made a comment. At the moment, to my surprise, it's running high in the readers "Readers' Picks"; about 6th in the list.
Basically it says "this is what ecologists have always predicted - and here we are."
The vast majority of the commenters add ideas and theories from "economics". All beautifully explanatory and contradictory - and authoritative. Despite never having accurately predicted anything.
You know - I think it just MIGHT make a difference if a bunch of the readers here added their recommendations - and bumped that comment up in the list. Perhaps a few more people might notice "- hm - economists' predictions never work out - ecologists' predictions usually do..."
I think that would actually be progress. Give it a try! Can't hurt - might help.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
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6 comments:
Done - I even created an account to do so :)
viv
Sorry Greenpa; NYT wanted my Facebook friend list, would not enroll me unless I gave it to them. I'm getting so tired of this Faustian quagmire the internet is becoming.
Thanks for the attempt, Steve - I'm entirely with you; I always refuse those requests too. I've noticed a few of those guys have moved to a request for some minimal FB access; like your profile only - which is already public, and provides them some sense of identity. But my friends list? No way.
I know you're pretty busy but I just wanted to let you know your composting toilet posts may have come in handy yet again. A friend of mine was at one of the camp sites in North Dakota and I shared the pertinent posts with him -- esp. since the ground's probably frozen solid, the design made sense to share. Also, your pages are fast and easy to load, unlike many sites today that are full of ads that never quite finish loading...
Heather G
Hi, Heather - thanks, good to know. The design does continue to work quite satisfactorily for us, after some 35 years; still haven't had to shovel it out; but I do need to replace the roof. The rest of the construction was designed to last- and it is far from worn out; but the tornado dropping the big oak branch on the roof a few years ago did not improve the roof - thin transparent fiberglas, for heat gain. I would make a few changes in the next one, all to do with getting a little more sun on it, and a little more consistent air movement through it (a small solar fan would do it- if it was in the sun...). In the right place, for the right people, I think it's pretty ok. :-)
Everything is a work in progress, right?
Oh, we finally got our solar panels installed and live. Now I'm just struggling with them getting the bill right -- it took so long that they went into the penalty phase, which means adjusting that bill downward some, thank you.
Also working on getting a greenhouse attached to the house. I'd like to do a separate one as well that would be unheated, but that's a ways down the road. We hadn't planned on a nice one but the neighbor was selling their tempered glass ones (2 that can be joined) and enclosing the porch the past couple of years has saved us some $$ and cut oil use, so... yeah, still have to get rid of the oil...
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