Monday of Another Week

It is indeed Monday. I would say things are really incredibly exciting, but they're not. On the other hand, things are not involving stuff hitting the fan, so that's good. The sun is shining (for a while I was worried it wouldn't, then I realized my stupid ass woke up in the middle of the night). At any rate, I'm almost done reading Watchmen- the comic book/graphic novel. I guess they call them graphic novels as they really aren't supposed to be funny. Well, it does have The Comedian in it. At any rate, it's actually a really interesting and engaging story, involving people that aren't technically superheroes (that would imply superpowers, which, with two exceptions, there aren't) who manage to get into all kinds of weird shit. I liked the fact that gasoline engines pretty much were phased out when lithium becomes synthesizable (don't want to give away how this is done, in case anyone wants to read the book). The result is that batteries become easier to produce than gas does. Actually, they probably already are. Solar power is a viable option, although not that easily collected. You need big solar panels to do anything with, but then on the other hand, why not put them in some space that really doesn't have any other use? (Like Republican headquarters... oops, did I just type that?) Actually, perhaps the desert would be a good choice. Not that we don't need deserts, obviously they exist for some arcane reason, but why not go stick some giant solar panels there? I'm guessing it wouldn't be a desert without a good deal of sun. Some areas have wind farms- that name cracks me up, makes me think of... well, never mind. It'll come to you. At any rate, they incorporate large turbines- they look something like big propellers, and presumably work on electromagnetics. I can see that this would be a good secondary source, but to generate a lot of power you'd need either a lot of them or a really big one, or more likely, a lot of really big ones. It's strange, at least to me, how long it took us to develop hybrid engines for cars. Interesting how other countries rely more on public transportation, although this gets into the questions of city planning, whether or not you want to be in close proximity to other people, all that good stuff. Personally, I need space. I've been to New York city about three times in my life- the food's good, but there's always an overwhelming sense of being inside an anthill- too many buildings surrounding you, and not enough trees. No offense to New Yorkers, unless of course you're Yankees fans- but that's a whole other issue. At any rate, there's no reason we New Englanders can't keep our distant-from-our-neighbors lifestyle. We can do a great many things, but there just doesn't seem to be the motivation to research alternative energy sources on any grand scale. It seems to be a bit like shooting ourselves in the foot. The argument against this that comes immediately to mind is profitability- why go out of your way when you can line your pockets now? Oddly enough, I noticed one telling scene in Watchmen that also disproves this- Ozymandis, the world's most intelligent man, monitors the media and by doing this, predicts what the dominant market trends will be, and thereby where to invest. It would seem that fossil fuels won't last forever, (but then again, how many times have we heard that argument?) Regardless, it seems to be that getting fossil fuels is becoming more and more of a pain in the collective ass. Now, wouldn't it be more cost-effective to simply invest in other sources of power, that can be generated without inter-country conflicts? The conflict (not war, see previous entries) is at least in part due to oil. But I'm pretty sure no one country has a monopoly on the wind, sun or geothermal energy sources. Why not make use of them? In terms of patented technology, (hey, just look at Windows!) the profits would be astronomical. If a more efficient energy system could be patented, that company would be in a position to distribute it at a fair and affordable price, and at the same time, since they would be the only ones who could do it, would be assured of a sustainable profit indefinitely. The actual methods of collecting energy are pretty much already spoken for, but I would be extremely surprised if the process can't be improved upon. We've known how to make steel for centuries- the Bessemer process is a much more recent development.
Hopefully this isn't turning into another long, dull rant from the depths of your humble narrator's little gray cells. But at any rate, life goes on, does it not? Here's hoping I don't miss the boat...