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On Slime and Water
Slimy
Just saying the words, “Pink Slime” gives me the creeps. I’m not pleased to learn that I’ve been dining on this swill for the past sixty years. The US Department of Agriculture has made an interesting response to the public outcry about slime. (Link) Starting in September, every school district in the country will have the right to chose whether to buy burgers with or without slime.
Think where this goes. Beverly Hills schools will have no slime, while East LA is all slime. Scottsdale will go slime free, while Phoenix has slime-fattened burgers. Westchester will definitely go "No Slime", but I'm guessing the schools in the Bronx will opt for slime. Same for Bethesda versus the District of Colombia.
Should we see this new form of “red lining”, income disparity will be a topic of discussion. When school rolls around again, it will be at the height of the election. It will be interesting to see how the candidates handle slime.
The FDA left it up to restaurants and grocery stores to deal with slime as they wish. Without any rules, the public will decide what they want in their burgers.
Some tony restaurants have already changed their menus to assure their customers they are not eating slime. (If the menu has be changed, does that mean they were dishing up slime before?) It’s just a matter of time until more eateries follow suit. This has some interesting implications.
A fellow walks into McDees:
Can I have a quarter-pounder with cheese, fries and a coke?
Yes sir! How would you like that burger? With, or without slime?
It’s funny how a word can make a difference. I’m a big burger guy, so I went and bought a meat grinder and some chuck from the butcher. Delicious, made all the better knowing it wasn’t slimy. Very "Old School".
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Peak Water
Twenty thousand folks from all over the world showed up at the World Water Forum in Marseilles, France this week. For those who lose sleep at night worrying about peak oil, I suggest they re-direct their stress to Peak Water. Peak oil may scare us to death, but peak water will be what kills us. In less than forty years, two out of three people will be living in areas described as being in Severe Water Stress.
There are two ways of looking at consumption of water on a global basis. The first is per capita: (Total per capita use = Agricultural + Industrial + Municipal + Individual consumption / Population
The USA is the world’s water glutton based on this measure of consumption, due to our industrial water use. GDP is directly correlated to total water consumption. A second way to look at water consumption is by comparing total gallons used.
By this matrix, China and India are the truly big users. Now look at geographic areas that are “water troubled.” China and India jump out as problems. (Mexico too?) Most of India and substantial portions of China are already stressed:
With a population of 1.2 billion, India is already facing a water crisis in some areas.
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The US is in a very favorable position when it comes to water. There is adequate rainfall in most areas; the Great Lakes hold 22% of all fresh water. If water is to be the difference in history, then the USA will probably be the last country drinking. Unless we screw it up….
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That Frack, Baby, Frack following that was priceless.
Fracking uses 400 tanker trucks and 1-8 million gallons of water. Add to that 595 chemicals totaling 40,000 gallons of carcinogens poured down the well
Yeah, Very Nice to see CONSERVATIVES/REPUBLICANS coming over to
EPA-CLEAN WATER-GREEN-LIBERAL ideas....
Its only taken, lets see, 40 fucking years....
CLEAN WATER ACT 1972 / CLEAN AIR ACT 1970 / 1ST EARTH DAY 1970
All LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE IDEAS.
Nice to see that a guy of your staggering intellect and sophistication was able to avoid repeating themselves like a slack jawed idiot.
YEAH Nice to See CONSERVATIVES/REPUBLICANS are coming over
to EPA-CLEAN WATER-GREEN-LIBERAL ideas....
Its only taken, lets see, 40 fucking years....
CLEAN WATER ACT 1972 / CLEAN AIR ACT 1970 / 1ST EARTH DAY 1970
All LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE IDEAS.
The 4.5 million gallons of water needed to drill and fracture a typical deep shale gas or oil well is equivalent to the amount of water consumed by:
New York City in approximately seven minutes
A 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in 12 hours
A golf course in 25 days
7.5 acres of corn in a season
Michael DeGroote’s Naples beachfront estate in 44 days
1 cubic mile = 1.10111715 × 1012 US gallons (1.1 trillion gallons)
volume of Great Lakes 5,439 cubic miles of water or enough to keep Mike's beach house in the green till the sun explodes
Nice to See CONSERVATIVES/REPUBLICANS are coming over to LIBERAL ideas....
Its only taken, lets see, 40 fucking years....
CLEAN WATER ACT 1972 / CLEAN AIR ACT 1970 / 1ST EARTH DAY 1970
All LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE IDEAS.
That means another 40 fucking years until you get Global Warming.
Them's fightin' werds. I'm a Libertarian!
Yeah it shows....
So why isn't the free market coming up with your pet solution to the worlds issues?
If it is so great, why is it only dirigiste states that are actively pursuing the technology?
Nice straw man fallacy asshole.
But since you asked: I'll sum up the Libertarian solution to pollution thusly - YOU DON'T FUCKIN' DUMP TRASH ON YOUR NEIGHBOR'S LAWN, AND IF YOU DO, YOU CLEAN IT UP AND PAY THEM FOR THEIR TIME AND TROUBLE, AND IF YOU CAN'T, YOU PAY SOMEONE TO DO IT, PLUS FOR THEIR TIME AND TROUBLE; AND IF YOU CAN'T PAY SOMEONE AND MAKE REPARATIONS, YOU FORFEIT YOUR PROPERTY AND GO TO JAIL.
And as far as the "free market" is concerned, we are so far from a free market right now the term is literally doublespeak.
Go fuck yourself.
Good... We agree about responsibility....
Are you going to be the ones to force that to the coal companies? The chemical cos.?
You sound pretty confident in knowing where to draw the line....
THORIUM, BABY, THORIUM!!!
www.energyfromthorium.com
Thanks for the link, LP.
Any new source of info on thorium interests me.
The more people know, the more they will come to appreciate, and support, the technology.
I encourage everyone here at ZH to direct some attention to the possibilties:
Good stuff SR!
Important to note: China and India are developing thorium reactors.
Assuming the US undergoes a collapse, and we get some real political change, we'll only be a few years behind... And with the proper bureaucratic enema, we'll be able to bring this resource online 'toot sweet'.
for all the money dumped in the black hole of banker greed, thorium reactors could have been built around the world....
Well at least until Niagra escarpment erodes away... about 10,000 years or so...
On a long enough timeline every lake's survival rate drops to zero.