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Cake day: June 1st, 2023

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  • I have the same feeling.

    I think it’s due to how knowledgeable, practical, and yet pessimistic Watney’s inner monologue is through the book. It’s one thing to see something go wrong on screen (they did show all of the major issues as far as I recall, and a few minor ones too), it’s another to have the main character scientifically dissect exactly how fucked he is or will be if the next attempt at a solution fails.









  • Nope! And most hydrogen is fossil fuel (methane) derived and horribly energy inefficient. At this point it’s green washing at best.

    Edit: adding data:
    Steam-Methane Reforming (SMR) accounts for about 95% of all hydrogen production on earth. It uses a huge amount of heat, water, and methane to produce hydrogen.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SMR%2BWGS-1.png

    For inputs:

    • 6.2MWh of Heat
    • 2.2 tons of Methane
    • 4.9 tons of pure water

    The outputs are:

    • 6 tons of CO2
    • 1.1 tons of H2

    The overall energy in vs energy out is at most 85% efficient. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016236122001867

    Hydrolysis, the main competing method, and the one most touted by hydrogen backers, accounts for about 4% of hydrogen production.
    This method takes in only pure water and electricity, but it’s efficiency is abysmal at some 52%. In every case, a modern kinetic, thermal, or chemical battery will exceed this efficiency.

    Other methods are being looked into, but it’s thermodynamically impossible for the resulting H2 to produce more energy than it takes to create the H2. So at best today we could use H2 as a crappy battery, one that takes a lot of methane to create.




  • Whataboutism? Really? That’s the game we’re playing?

    Sure, okay, I’ll bite.

    Edward Snowden: He’s a hero, no doubt in my mind. But from this perspective, no one has attacked him since his departure from the US. Formal requests have been made to extradite him and they’ve been turned down. Once on foreign soil the US respected Russian sovereignty.

    Julian Assange: Okay personally I find Assange to be a piece of shit, but that aside, the extradition process has been followed legally.

    Chelsea Manning: Broke the law. And while her initial imprisonment situation was absolutely concerning, it was legal. The legal process was followed, and the sentence given was far short of the maximum. Her sentence was commuted by a sitting president. No foreign governments were involved, so no sovereignty was violated.

    Drake and Binny: Always were on US soil. No foreign involvement whatsoever. They were raided and Drake was changed with crimes. He received probation and community service. Once again, the legal process was followed and no foreign sovereignty violated.

    Boeing Whistleblowers: What the fuck is this arguement? You think the US is happy one of it’s biggest military manufacturers and transportation providers has serious quality issues? You think the US is taking action against the whistleblowers? Be serious.

    Basically: you’re saying the US charges people who violate the laws around information handling as criminals. Yes, that’s true. Now, I personally am sympathetic to most of these cases. I assume you are too. Whistleblowers should be better protected, but at the same time some information, like the names and personal information of government assets abroad, reasonably should be protected. It’s a delicate balance, and one I think the US could greatly improve.

    However, these are not similar to the cases in question. The cases in question are actions by governments on foreign soil or against US citizens. This is an enormous violation of sovereignty, legality, and due process. That’s the issue at hand.