I've had this discussion around here before... Now if anybody here is up on the cars that are on the road today... you would know how much more efficient they are compared to cars that were on the road 20-30 years ago. I realize that they still not a efficient as some say they should be. But it's really hard to beat today's latest creation of an internal combustion engine. Let me give you an example. My truck will be 47 years old this December. It's a 1974 model. It's allowed 850 ppm of hydrocarbons at idle. My wife's Dodge Durango is required to put out no more than 16 ppm at idle. I've modified my truck heavily in these last 47 years. In fact, it puts out almost four times the horsepower over the stock engine it came with... and it gets better mileage... with less pollutants than required by the State of California. I remember growing up in Orange County California in the early- mid 60's. I walked to school. On foggy mornings when the dew was falling, it would burn your eyes because of the pollutants in the air. Your lungs would hurt by the time for the walk home. And your eyes would burn because the smog was so bad. That doesn't happen anymore... and there's way more cars on the road. What should Biden do? Let the free market dictate the tech to make electric cars work. It will happen. You can't force stuff like that on people. Eventually the tech will catch up. Subsidizing the industry/ welfare just causes more corruption. There's all kinds of examples of that going on. And it allows lazy people to continue to sponge off of the ones who work hard for a living. Like I've said many times before... I'm all for helping people who need a hand... there's plenty of them around. But I'm VERY prejudiced against lazy losers.
Sorry for the rambling... it's past my bedtime. And I need to get up at 4:30.
I'm with you on some of the other stuff on fuel costs and supporting the wrong people. But here I can't help but say WHAT? CAFE standards were HUGE in improving the efficiency of cars. And remember when we had 49 state cars and California cars? That was in response to California emissions regulations, but the market and economics spoke and now car makers make nearly everything to California's standards. The free market was leading us to worse outcomes (because they were cheaper), but government regulations resulted in more efficient cars and eventually the automakers caught up and managed to make good(sometimes) cars that also met environmental (and safety) standards. And oil/fossil fuels have been subsidized for decades (and they continue to be), I'm not really for electrical subsidies per se, but saying our energy market is 'free' is laughable.
HIV/AIDS. I went to wiki to look for a number. An estimated 20.6 million had died from the condition between the early 1980s and 2020. Source.
Wiki also reminded me that the Roman Catholic Church opposed the use of condoms.
And every generation throws a hero up the pop charts. Here's someone to know from that generation:
The Dr. Fauci of the HIV period was a guy who looked remarkably (to me) like Brando - Dr. Paul Volberding of USCF. You'll see his face appear ever so briefly when they do a montage of how UCSF is working on the COVID thing. He really deserves more than that. I wouldn't say "hero" but he was damned important in getting things to happen. He was brand new at the job (oncology) when someone told him he should check out this 22 yr old man with Kaposi's sarcoma - something extremely rare/weird. Of course, he didn't realize that he was looking at AIDS. And from there, an uphill battle.
If you've never seen/read "And the Band Played On" then you must. It amazing, heartbreaking, and prophetic. And familiar, if you've been following COVID.
These folks all searching for the common thread, the nature of the infection. It takes time and mistakes get made, even with the brightest at work. It really pisses me off something bad when laypeople start in with the "and look at all the mistakes the idiots at the CDC make!" They really have no clue, and should basically shut up.
And lastly, the silence regarding Biden. Inexcusable when compared to the scrutiny given Trump. Or all I can conclude otherwise is that everyone here who voted for Biden is 100% satisfied with their vote and how he is doing his job. If that is the case, own it and state your support of Biden. I did so of Trump openly and took all of the slings and arrows that went with it.
Don't you think the rise in prices is primarily due to people driving more after covid hunkering down? And I'm a bit confused because you seem to be saying Biden is responsible for increasing fuel prices but your previous post seemed like it was criticising him for trying to keep prices down by importing more. What should he be doing?
Sorry I didn't respond to the comments sooner. I've been really busy with work, and my time here comes third or forth in my priorities. And I don't like hanging out in these type of forums because my opinion is a major minority. I much prefer the music or mechanical side of discussions. Besides... I'll never get most of you to even consider what I think is relative. Even though I always give most people the "benefit of doubt" and listen with an open mind. That being stated... I can't believe the silence when it comes from the stupidity being put out there in this political climate. When Trump was spewing his stupidity... there were all kinds of bellowing going on everywhere. And rightly so. But now when the stupidity spews from this administration, there's nothing but excuses. Gas prices... They effect all people who work for a living. Where I live, the Hispanic population is heavily involved in the service industry. Whether it be hotel/ condo/ private homes/ pool service/ yard maintenance/ construction/ etc. etc. I would be included in that category. And I'm now a minority in that field. When the price of fuel goes up... I raise my prices accordingly. I will lose some jobs because I compete against some really cheap competition. Thankfully, I have somewhat of a reputation of showing up, being on time and am very quick and clean with what I do. So, most people know my work, and will use me because I can do a job in less than 7/8 the time. And do it right the first time. Unlike some other guys running around. Those other guys will struggle big time when fuel goes up. And lose money. Not very helpful to a group of people this administration courts for votes. And what, for an example, are those gardeners going to do when they can't get gas powered lawn mowers/ edgers/ blowers/ etc. to do their work??
Yes, I feel the policies of this administration have affected the prices of everything. When fuel prices go up... so does parcel delivery, food and every type of supply item out there. It's a well known fact... they want to outlaw gas burning anything. And push the electric vehicle format. One of the ways that happens... tax the living snot out of fuel. It happens continuously here in California. I can see it. And they say it. This administration says they want to eliminate the production of fossil fuels. Yes? So that's their goal. And it's happening because Biden is courting Saudi Arabia for fuel we still need. Not for keeping cost down. I've had this discussion around here before... Now if anybody here is up on the cars that are on the road today... you would know how much more efficient they are compared to cars that were on the road 20-30 years ago. I realize that they still not a efficient as some say they should be. But it's really hard to beat today's latest creation of an internal combustion engine. Let me give you an example. My truck will be 47 years old this December. It's a 1974 model. It's allowed 850 ppm of hydrocarbons at idle. My wife's Dodge Durango is required to put out no more than 16 ppm at idle. I've modified my truck heavily in these last 47 years. In fact, it puts out almost four times the horsepower over the stock engine it came with... and it gets better mileage... with less pollutants than required by the State of California.
I remember growing up in Orange County California in the early- mid 60's. I walked to school. On foggy mornings when the dew was falling, it would burn your eyes because of the pollutants in the air. Your lungs would hurt by the time for the walk home. And your eyes would burn because the smog was so bad. That doesn't happen anymore... and there's way more cars on the road.
What should Biden do? Let the free market dictate the tech to make electric cars work. It will happen. You can't force stuff like that on people. Eventually the tech will catch up. Subsidizing the industry/ welfare just causes more corruption. There's all kinds of examples of that going on. And it allows lazy people to continue to sponge off of the ones who work hard for a living. Like I've said many times before... I'm all for helping people who need a hand... there's plenty of them around. But I'm VERY prejudiced against lazy losers. Sorry for the rambling... it's past my bedtime. And I need to get up at 4:30.
+1000
On the second bolded. We both experienced this same childhood at the same time in Orange County and every single word you said is true. Living directly on the coast with an unobstructed view of Santa Catalina Island, I have memories of when the Santana winds blew all the smog out the San Fernando Valley where it settled on the island and the smog was so thick it looked like the rings of Saturn surrounding the island. Only these rings were brownish orange. And then when the winds shifted back out of the west, all that smog blew back directly onshore into Orange County. You really could not go outside when the winds shifted back onshore. A side bar regarding the recent oil spill offshore. Nothing new. Tar balls were common at Huntington and farther south. We had to scrape our feet and use gasoline or kerosene to get the tar off of our boards at the end of the day. Now a week later, Huntington is open again and life is moving back to normal. The ocean is a very dynamic organism. The oil is actually food for certain marine organisms. And if we had some more people working the docks, unloading the cargo ships and driving the trucks to move the containers inland, we would not have ships parked in strange and unusual places waiting to be offloaded where their presence could damage our infrastructure such as this pipeline with is located on charts.
On the first bolded. My thoughts exactly over the past day or so after you brought up the electric lawnmower mandate. Down to the effects on the Hispanic community that is very heavily involved in that sector. I'll add to this by saying how can a state make itself more dependent on electricity when the power is cut off every time the wind blows so as not to start fires ? And this power line / fire circle has been going on in the state for over 100 years and P,G & E still hasn't solved the problem. The first fire of this sort on record was in Berkeley and I have told of it at least a couple of times here in the past. In fact it is getting worse not better. And how is the bulk of electricity generated ? With petroleum fuels of course. How are you going to charge the batteries of your Tesla, let alone your lawnmowers when it's windy ? You can have all the windmills and solar panels you want, but when the transmission lines are shut off because of wind, it doesn't matter how you generate the electricity.
And lastly, the silence regarding Biden. Inexcusable when compared to the scrutiny given Trump. Or all I can conclude otherwise is that everyone here who voted for Biden is 100% satisfied with their vote and how he is doing his job. If that is the case, own it and state your support of Biden. I did so of Trump openly and took all of the slings and arrows that went with it. And still do because you all are still shooting them.
Either state your approval or displeasure of Biden and take what comes with it. How or what did someone say about the complicity and cowardice of silence ?
Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
Oct 12, 2021 - 6:40pm
haresfur wrote:
Don't you think the rise in prices is primarily due to people driving more after covid hunkering down? And I'm a bit confused because you seem to be saying Biden is responsible for increasing fuel prices but your previous post seemed like it was criticising him for trying to keep prices down by importing more. What should he be doing?
Sorry I didn't respond to the comments sooner.
I've been really busy with work, and my time here comes third or forth in my priorities.
And I don't like hanging out in these type of forums because my opinion is a major minority. I much prefer the music or mechanical side of discussions.
Besides... I'll never get most of you to even consider what I think is relative. Even though I always give most people the "benefit of doubt" and listen with an open mind.
That being stated... I can't believe the silence when it comes from the stupidity being put out there in this political climate. When Trump was spewing his stupidity... there were all kinds of bellowing going on everywhere. And rightly so. But now when the stupidity spews from this administration, there's nothing but excuses.
Gas prices... They effect all people who work for a living. Where I live, the Hispanic population is heavily involved in the service industry. Whether it be hotel/ condo/ private homes/ pool service/ yard maintenance/ construction/ etc. etc. I would be included in that category. And I'm now a minority in that field. When the price of fuel goes up... I raise my prices accordingly. I will lose some jobs because I compete against some really cheap competition. Thankfully, I have somewhat of a reputation of showing up, being on time and am very quick and clean with what I do. So, most people know my work, and will use me because I can do a job in less than 7/8 the time. And do it right the first time. Unlike some other guys running around.
Those other guys will struggle big time when fuel goes up. And lose money. Not very helpful to a group of people this administration courts for votes.
And what, for an example, are those gardeners going to do when they can't get gas powered lawn mowers/ edgers/ blowers/ etc. to do their work??
Yes, I feel the policies of this administration have affected the prices of everything. When fuel prices go up... so does parcel delivery, food and every type of supply item out there.
It's a well known fact... they want to outlaw gas burning anything. And push the electric vehicle format. One of the ways that happens... tax the living snot out of fuel. It happens continuously here in California. I can see it. And they say it.
This administration says they want to eliminate the production of fossil fuels. Yes? So that's their goal. And it's happening because Biden is courting Saudi Arabia for fuel we still need. Not for keeping cost down.
I've had this discussion around here before... Now if anybody here is up on the cars that are on the road today... you would know how much more efficient they are compared to cars that were on the road 20-30 years ago.
I realize that they still not a efficient as some say they should be. But it's really hard to beat today's latest creation of an internal combustion engine.
Let me give you an example. My truck will be 47 years old this December. It's a 1974 model. It's allowed 850 ppm of hydrocarbons at idle. My wife's Dodge Durango is required to put out no more than 16 ppm at idle.
I've modified my truck heavily in these last 47 years. In fact, it puts out almost four times the horsepower over the stock engine it came with... and it gets better mileage... with less pollutants than required by the State of California.
I remember growing up in Orange County California in the early- mid 60's. I walked to school. On foggy mornings when the dew was falling, it would burn your eyes because of the pollutants in the air. Your lungs would hurt by the time for the walk home. And your eyes would burn because the smog was so bad.
That doesn't happen anymore... and there's way more cars on the road.
What should Biden do?
Let the free market dictate the tech to make electric cars work. It will happen. You can't force stuff like that on people.
Eventually the tech will catch up. Subsidizing the industry/ welfare just causes more corruption. There's all kinds of examples of that going on. And it allows lazy people to continue to sponge off of the ones who work hard for a living.
Like I've said many times before... I'm all for helping people who need a hand... there's plenty of them around. But I'm VERY prejudiced against lazy losers.
Sorry for the rambling... it's past my bedtime.
And I need to get up at 4:30.
just a thought if covid or a variant kicks back up and causes folks to require medical attention/service we will need someone to give that care (or regular care for the elderly too) isn't there currently a shortage of nurses/workers now? banning the very professionals you desperately need at this moment may not be the best strategy if med workers are testing regularly and they're properly masked/donned up wouldn't that be enough? i don't know...i'd hate to see this backfire and cause problems if we can get through the current crisis we can demonize them later, no?
I don't want it to backfire either but there is evidence that health professionals were spreading covid through hospitals in New South Wales, although the government hushed it up to the point of not informing relatives of patients in hospitals that were exposure sites. The problem with delta is that people have spread the disease by the time they find out they have it.
I can't help but remind people that, thirty-something years ago, the medical profession spent a long time wondering what this thing was that they called GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) although it was in Haitians, hemophiliacs, heroin abusers, and homosexuals. Referred to as the "four H's" at the time.
Politics prevented us from writing the diagnosis in the medical record - really, literally. We had to create euphemisms. "24 year old man from SF with immune compromise..." and there was no treatment, no cure, no hope. It was a quick, painful, lonely death sentence.
None of the way we diagnose/identify the disease was obvious immediately. Treatment options were slim to none. Only with perseverance did things change into the way HIV is treated today. But, man, were there uncertainties and mistakes for years at the beginning. And, like I said, politics...
So some forgiveness is in order. The CDC is staffed with experts, but sometimes things aren't laid out obviously, and some take time to understand - while the press pushes hourly for news and information and then publishes whatever the hell they want in order to get eyeballs.
It's very nice to have an actual medical professional in the forum. Your perspective is much appreciated.
What matters is how quickly the institutions in charge evolve as new information comes in the door. In that respect I would argue that the CDC has done a good job. A really good job. To the benefit of not only Americans but for folks living outside the USA.
I can't help but remind people that, thirty-something years ago, the medical profession spent a long time wondering what this thing was that they called GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) although it was in Haitians, hemophiliacs, heroin abusers, and homosexuals. Referred to as the "four H's" at the time.
Politics prevented us from writing the diagnosis in the medical record - really, literally. We had to create euphemisms. "24 year old man from SF with immune compromise..." and there was no treatment, no cure, no hope. It was a quick, painful, lonely death sentence.
None of the way we diagnose/identify the disease was obvious immediately. Treatment options were slim to none. Only with perseverance did things change into the way HIV is treated today. But, man, were there uncertainties and mistakes for years at the beginning. And, like I said, politics...
So some forgiveness is in order. The CDC is staffed with experts, but sometimes things aren't laid out obviously, and some take time to understand - while the press pushes hourly for news and information and then publishes whatever the hell they want in order to get eyeballs.
There is no honor in âfightingâ a vaccine mandate. Weâve required them for decades. These are people easily led through social media by Americaâs enemies to refuse medical care for a preventable infectious disease. This isnât about âfreedomâ but really about propaganda aimed at the most gullible. And they exist at all levels.
just a thought if covid or a variant kicks back up and causes folks to require medical attention/service we will need someone to give that care (or regular care for the elderly too) isn't there currently a shortage of nurses/workers now? banning the very professionals you desperately need at this moment may not be the best strategy if med workers are testing regularly and they're properly masked/donned up wouldn't that be enough? i don't know...i'd hate to see this backfire and cause problems if we can get through the current crisis we can demonize them later, no?
We want big, but also effective, Gov in certain things, right? I think Gottlieb's point is, the CDC does a lot of good things, but it wasn't ready, or built to deal with a pandemic. So while not blaming the CDC directly, it's a failure of oversight by our elected officials of our bureaucracy.
But we were lucky we had the mRNA vaccine work as far along as it was.
And I suppose your point may be, things could have been a lot better, if we had let them be.
There is no doubt that things could have been managed better, but the reality is that nobody wants to invest in planning for something they've never experienced and don't quite understand. See Global Warming.
There is a difference between making mistakes and sabotage, and I think the CDC is trying to do the best they can without much support from "decision-makers" for the first half of the pandemic.
You have to throw in a dose of incompetence at the CDC.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a recent interview with CBS News that the CDC was never prepared to handle a crisis on the scale of COVID-19, and that the U.S. government suffered from "a failure of vision" since the start of the pandemic. The agency thought to be the gold standard for public health is better equipped for data analysis than decisive action, he said.
