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shadowkatDifficult work day, heck difficult work week, topped off with a lengthy seemingly endless debate over fossil fuels with a guy who I don't know and have never seen before. But I assume he's an engineer with some consulting firm. Looks ancient. So, a Baby Boomer with some consulting firm (ancient and still working = Baby Boom Generation). Now what I know about fossil fuels I could put in a thimble.
But I sort of held my own. I'm not sure he knew much more than I did.
We got on the topic because we were talking about Kansas, and how it had corn, ranches, oil, frakking, wind energy, and coal -- so why wasn't it a rich state. (Because it is run by idiots? It is. I used to live there and interned in the Kansas State Legislature, they are dumber than shit and conservative and libertarian Republican..so redundant. But I didn't say any of that. My workplace is conservative, and I had a headache.)
Old Engineer: Frakking produces natural gas which is the cleanest fuel available.
Me: Actually air, sun and water are cleaner, not to mention cheaper.
Old Engineer: Cleanest fossil fuel available and there's no evidence they are cheaper.
Me: I switched over some time ago and my bills went way down.
Old Engineer: If I had a dollar for everyone who is going to tell me something is cheaper. This is a brand of energy we shouldn't dismiss.
Me: But you can't get it without severely damaging the environment in the process.
Old Engineer: But it provides lots of jobs.
Me: But it hurts the environment and you can get jobs in another way...
Old Engineer: It's like coal -
Me: Coal is a horrible energy source.
Old Engineer: It's still being used.
ME: It's been outlawed in many States and Countries and is proven to be unhealthy and ineffective in comparison to other fuel sources. There's no justification to continue using coal.
Old Engineer: But we can't just do away with it, what about all the people who work in the coal industry what are they to do.
Me: They need to find a new job.
Old Engineer: But they can't. A recent report on NPR showed that most coal miners, even though they are suffering from black lung and bad conditions would rather continue mining and working in the industry which is all they've ever known than get a new healthier job.
Me: Tough. That's what a 100 or so people.
Old Engineer: More like a thousand. And you can't just ignore them. They are across the US.
Me: A minority.
Old Engineer: a vocal minority. Who deserve jobs.
Me: But do they, and at what cost? A 1000 vs. what a million people's lives and our environment? The cost-benefit analysis weighs against them. (Actually after he left, I did a little checking, it's in reality 50-75,000 across the US, and dwindling.)
Old Engineer: But what are you planning to do about them? Leave them without an income, no job? You can't just do away with coal. What you need to do is bring new job opportunities, better ones in, and as they move away from working for Big Coal, you do away with it.
Me: But what about the damage to the environment and other's health -- shouldn't that be a concern?
Old Engineer: All energy has it's problems. The Wind Spors have their damage to the environment, it's minor, but there...and soon we'll find something even better, but we need to provide for the people who lost their jobs.
Me: I think we should be coldly logical about it.
Old Engineer: What - do you want to do away with them? Exterminate them? Leave them with nothing?
Me: Welll.. (at the moment yes, but I was in a mood, and sick of people) Also, weighing them against the needs of the millions who don't need coal and whose health is affected by it..not to mention their own health...it makes sense to do what we did during the Dust Bowl. Give them a compensation to stop mining.
Old Engineer: No, we need to stop fighting and find a way to give them jobs to replace the ones they have, instead of just ending mining.
ME: I don't know. I think we should protect the environment, the time for coal is long past. Adapt.
Like everyone else. If you can't, tough. It's cruel. It's cold. But there it is. (I had a headache by this point and was wondering who is this guy and why won't he go away? Also, I had to redefine myself more than once to get a job and went at least two years without a job, and several in my twenties. I'm having troubles caring about coal miners. And I traveled to Wales in the 1980s and saw what happened there when they closed down the coal mining industry. One of the former miners was giving ghost tours of historic sites in Swansea. We had a long chat about it. Tiny guy, he was in his thirties and he came to my waist.)
I got saved by someone who asked me if I coded at a video game developer. I told them no, I was creating a royalty database for them and it was the worst company I ever worked for in my life. And if I were coding video games, I wouldn't be doing this for a living. My brain doesn't work that way. My life would have been much easier if it did.
The weather is making everyone cranky and irritable. And today especially because it's in flux. We're going from the 90s to the 70s again. It's humid with a heat index of 103, and feels like a sauna. Better today than yesterday.
And I had a couple of work wins this week -- two battles I'd been fighting off and on all week long, I won. The third project, the biggie, had two change orders that I'd either awarded or authorized that popped back at me from the vendor, proving my project managers are idiots and not doing their job, and neither is the vendor.
But I sort of held my own. I'm not sure he knew much more than I did.
We got on the topic because we were talking about Kansas, and how it had corn, ranches, oil, frakking, wind energy, and coal -- so why wasn't it a rich state. (Because it is run by idiots? It is. I used to live there and interned in the Kansas State Legislature, they are dumber than shit and conservative and libertarian Republican..so redundant. But I didn't say any of that. My workplace is conservative, and I had a headache.)
Old Engineer: Frakking produces natural gas which is the cleanest fuel available.
Me: Actually air, sun and water are cleaner, not to mention cheaper.
Old Engineer: Cleanest fossil fuel available and there's no evidence they are cheaper.
Me: I switched over some time ago and my bills went way down.
Old Engineer: If I had a dollar for everyone who is going to tell me something is cheaper. This is a brand of energy we shouldn't dismiss.
Me: But you can't get it without severely damaging the environment in the process.
Old Engineer: But it provides lots of jobs.
Me: But it hurts the environment and you can get jobs in another way...
Old Engineer: It's like coal -
Me: Coal is a horrible energy source.
Old Engineer: It's still being used.
ME: It's been outlawed in many States and Countries and is proven to be unhealthy and ineffective in comparison to other fuel sources. There's no justification to continue using coal.
Old Engineer: But we can't just do away with it, what about all the people who work in the coal industry what are they to do.
Me: They need to find a new job.
Old Engineer: But they can't. A recent report on NPR showed that most coal miners, even though they are suffering from black lung and bad conditions would rather continue mining and working in the industry which is all they've ever known than get a new healthier job.
Me: Tough. That's what a 100 or so people.
Old Engineer: More like a thousand. And you can't just ignore them. They are across the US.
Me: A minority.
Old Engineer: a vocal minority. Who deserve jobs.
Me: But do they, and at what cost? A 1000 vs. what a million people's lives and our environment? The cost-benefit analysis weighs against them. (Actually after he left, I did a little checking, it's in reality 50-75,000 across the US, and dwindling.)
Old Engineer: But what are you planning to do about them? Leave them without an income, no job? You can't just do away with coal. What you need to do is bring new job opportunities, better ones in, and as they move away from working for Big Coal, you do away with it.
Me: But what about the damage to the environment and other's health -- shouldn't that be a concern?
Old Engineer: All energy has it's problems. The Wind Spors have their damage to the environment, it's minor, but there...and soon we'll find something even better, but we need to provide for the people who lost their jobs.
Me: I think we should be coldly logical about it.
Old Engineer: What - do you want to do away with them? Exterminate them? Leave them with nothing?
Me: Welll.. (at the moment yes, but I was in a mood, and sick of people) Also, weighing them against the needs of the millions who don't need coal and whose health is affected by it..not to mention their own health...it makes sense to do what we did during the Dust Bowl. Give them a compensation to stop mining.
Old Engineer: No, we need to stop fighting and find a way to give them jobs to replace the ones they have, instead of just ending mining.
ME: I don't know. I think we should protect the environment, the time for coal is long past. Adapt.
Like everyone else. If you can't, tough. It's cruel. It's cold. But there it is. (I had a headache by this point and was wondering who is this guy and why won't he go away? Also, I had to redefine myself more than once to get a job and went at least two years without a job, and several in my twenties. I'm having troubles caring about coal miners. And I traveled to Wales in the 1980s and saw what happened there when they closed down the coal mining industry. One of the former miners was giving ghost tours of historic sites in Swansea. We had a long chat about it. Tiny guy, he was in his thirties and he came to my waist.)
I got saved by someone who asked me if I coded at a video game developer. I told them no, I was creating a royalty database for them and it was the worst company I ever worked for in my life. And if I were coding video games, I wouldn't be doing this for a living. My brain doesn't work that way. My life would have been much easier if it did.
The weather is making everyone cranky and irritable. And today especially because it's in flux. We're going from the 90s to the 70s again. It's humid with a heat index of 103, and feels like a sauna. Better today than yesterday.
And I had a couple of work wins this week -- two battles I'd been fighting off and on all week long, I won. The third project, the biggie, had two change orders that I'd either awarded or authorized that popped back at me from the vendor, proving my project managers are idiots and not doing their job, and neither is the vendor.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-01 08:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-01 11:12 pm (UTC)