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netfire commented on Asian countries take a stand against the rich world’s plastic waste   latimes.com/world/la-fg-a... · Posted by u/ilamont
pen2l · 6 years ago
This might be a dumb question, but: why don't we do glass-style bottles? I live in America now, but when I used to live in Pakistan 20 years ago, I remember that I would buy pepsi or coki in a glass bottle... and if I wanted to buy a second one, I would go back to the store and give them the old empty bottle, and they would compensate me a few pennies for it -- and the bottle then is presumably washed and reused. It's simple, fun, and environmentally friendly. Why don't we do this with... milk, juice, etc.? Why not do this with everything really?
netfire · 6 years ago
The problem with glass is that it isn’t biodegradable. If it gets broken, it can cause a hazard for humans and wildlife. If it gets thrown away, it’s not going to break down. Glass is good for the ideal case, but not great for the other use cases. For milk and juice, it’s seems like thick paper might be a better option, since it’s biodegradable and recyclable.
netfire commented on Amazon in Its Prime: Doubles Profits, Pays $0 in Federal Income Taxes   itep.org/amazon-in-its-pr... · Posted by u/djoldman
skookumchuck · 7 years ago
Amazon doesn't elect politicians, voters do.

For example, Hillary outspent Trump 2:1, yet still lost.

netfire · 7 years ago
Just because Hillary’s campaign contributions were not as effective at persuading voters enough to win a electoral college majority does not mean that Trump (or other politicians) are not influenced by those contributions. It seems clear to me that businesses are getting a return in investment for the money they are spending in politics, otherwise they wouldn’t do it.
netfire commented on All U.S. National Parks Are Free to Enter on Sunday   atlasobscura.com/articles... · Posted by u/chablent
drstewart · 7 years ago
>Charge extra to non locals if you’re so inclined

These are National Parks, not state parks. Locals don't pay for them, we all do.

netfire · 7 years ago
How about international visitors? Since they don’t pay taxes to help maintain the park should they have to pay a higher entrance fee?
netfire commented on All U.S. National Parks Are Free to Enter on Sunday   atlasobscura.com/articles... · Posted by u/chablent
outworlder · 7 years ago
In many (most?) cases you can. But you may need a permit to enter some areas, which may or may not require a fee (if it does require a fee, it's usually pretty small). For instance https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wpres.htm

Usually these fees are for multiple days. For Yosemite: car fee is valid for a week(there are other deals if you want to stay for longer or visit multiple times an year). The wilderness permit... I don't really know. You do have to submit start and end dates for each trip, but the fee covers the duration.

EDIT:

Also Yosemite: it appears that foot traffic is charged too. https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/fees.htm

That highly depends on the park.

netfire · 7 years ago
It’s $5 for a group wilderness permit application plus $5 per person per permit. I think it’s another $5/person if you want to add on the Half Dome summit.
netfire commented on Climate change and the 75% problem   gatesnotes.com/Energy/My-... · Posted by u/adenadel
plopz · 7 years ago
I wonder how long it would take to scale up production of seaweed/algae if that turns out to be effective.
netfire · 7 years ago
The linked article indicates that only a small amount of seaweed needs to be added to their diet to be effective and that seaweed is easy to grow, so it doesn’t sound like it would take long to scale.
netfire commented on Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore   fastcompany.com/90227154/... · Posted by u/Impossible
netfire · 7 years ago
Several states already ban payday loans and some don’t allow lotteries (let alone state sponsored lotteries that are used to fund things like education). Personally, I think setting an effective interest rate cap (including loan fees) at around 15-20% a year would be very effective at preventing the kind of lending that can lead someone to multiple years of high-interest debt repayment or eventual bankruptcy. More education in high school about how to manage your finances wisely could also prove beneficial.
netfire commented on Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore   fastcompany.com/90227154/... · Posted by u/Impossible
netfire · 7 years ago
Per https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-credit-card-debt#income... the lower income earners in the US have almost 10% of their income in credit card debt. Per https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-shee... 12 million people spend $9 billion in payday loan fees and people spend billions of dollars each year playing the lottery. Poor financial decisions and money management is definitely playing a role in this as well.

We really need to include suggestions for adding programs and laws for encouraging saving, removing predatory lending, and incentivizing responsible spending in articles like these. There is too much focus on consumer spending and not enough on household stability and having money in the bank for emergencies.

netfire commented on Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?   nasa.gov/feature/goddard/... · Posted by u/shreyanshd
natep · 7 years ago
It seems like you want to discredit NASA now ("shouldn't melt") vs some imagined possibility("won't melt" but it does). With the amount of design, analysis, testing, and independent review and verification of the systems, backup systems, triply redundant systems, and autonomy, we can be as sure of it not melting as we can be sure of anything. And we certainly spent a large amount of money on this (about 1/10th of the World Cup), but in performance and value per $, it's a great deal.
netfire · 7 years ago
I also didn’t intend on “shouldn’t melt” to be taken sarcastically. I was trying to show how I would like something changed in the article. Probably a bad use of quotes on my part...
netfire commented on Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?   nasa.gov/feature/goddard/... · Posted by u/shreyanshd
natep · 7 years ago
It seems like you want to discredit NASA now ("shouldn't melt") vs some imagined possibility("won't melt" but it does). With the amount of design, analysis, testing, and independent review and verification of the systems, backup systems, triply redundant systems, and autonomy, we can be as sure of it not melting as we can be sure of anything. And we certainly spent a large amount of money on this (about 1/10th of the World Cup), but in performance and value per $, it's a great deal.
netfire · 7 years ago
Not at all. I expect NASA has done as much due diligence, planning, testing, and verification as possible. I just don’t think they are being upfront as they should be about the possible risks for a previously unattempted scientific endeavor. We’ve had massive failures (including NASA itself), in environments that are much better understood and with systems that have actually had exposure to those environments.
netfire commented on Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?   nasa.gov/feature/goddard/... · Posted by u/shreyanshd
dawnerd · 7 years ago
Either way we’re chucking lots of money at the sun so if it fails we still learn something, not to mention developed a lot of technologies along the way.
netfire · 7 years ago
For sure, but it would be a shame if NASA lost confidence and trust (and possibly funding) with their stakeholders (the public), because they weren’t more upfront about the potential risks. As a scientific organization that has experienced significant (and expensive) failures before, I expect better.
n

u/netfire

KarmaCake day244October 3, 2011View Original