Posted by Kattullus

https://www.metafilter.com/210726/Trout-Mask-Replica-for-2000s-indie-kids

https://www.metafilter.com/210726/Trout-Mask-Replica-for-2000s-indie-kids

Posted by chavenet

https://www.metafilter.com/210725/None-of-us-gains-anything-if-we-keep-bowing-to-such-pressure

https://www.metafilter.com/210725/None-of-us-gains-anything-if-we-keep-bowing-to-such-pressure

Posted by kliuless

https://www.metafilter.com/210724/Why-not-just-work-it-out-civilly-Becoming-tributary-states

Tibet's waters are uniquely prone to being cut off in China. The rivers and basins of the Tibetan Plateau are clustered close together in a choke point known as the Three Parallel Rivers. At their narrowest point, the Mekong, Salween, and Yangtze Rivers are within about 32 kilometers of each other, with even shorter distances between basins. This means that if a dam or pump station were placed on the Mekong or Salween, these rivers' flows could be diverted into the Yangtze basin, changing the endpoint of the flowpath by thousands of miles. In this way, even a small intervention sufficiently upriver could have an enormous impact on the flow balance of these complex systems... Upstream nations have too much leverage to be convinced to share water resources more equitably. The solution might be to focus on reducing downstream nations' reliance on those resources in the first place... With the advent of cheap solar power, the last chokepoint that has frustrated global desalination efforts is finally loosening. The cost of the energy used by desalination plants over time dwarfs the initial cost of their construction, so the availability of cheap solar power greatly increases their viability. The ease with which countries can store water also means that solar power's chief drawback, intermittency, may be much less of a problem here than in other uses.

• Texas Water Crisis Threatens Booming Industrial Hotspot for Exxon, Koch - "The dispute erupted anew during an Oct. 7 meeting at which residents repeatedly blamed new industrial facilities such as the sprawling Exxon-Saudi Basic Industries Corp. petrochemical plant for hogging water supplies and raising residential bills."[3]

Corpus Christi, a Gulf Coast city 400 miles (640 kilometers) south of Dallas, is in the grip of a worsening drought that's already prompted lawn-watering bans and warnings that harsher restrictions may be necessary. Seven years of abnormally dry weather coincided with rapid industrial growth in the nation's biggest oil-export hub, stretching supplies of fresh water. Municipal leaders are at odds over what to do. The city council recently halted work on a desalination plant that would have treated seawater after cost estimates spiraled to more than $1 billion and sparked outrage among some residents. The issue also tapped into long-simmering resentment of the growing industrial presence of major water users such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Koch Industries LLC, Celanese Corp., and Occidental Petroleum Corp. If the drought doesn't break in the next 12 months or so, even stricter usage limits may be necessary that would curb available supplies by 25%, officials have warned. "Oh, yes, it'll impact" industry, said Brian Williams, general manager of San Patricio Municipal Water District, which counts large companies among its biggest customers. "The current drought, it looks like it's not going to let up. Everybody's considering what options are available out there." Corpus Christi has grown from a remote 19th-century trading post to a critical nexus of the global oil, natural gas and chemical sectors. Since 2010, the city of 320,000 people has seen more than $57 billion of direct capital investment, according to economic development figures. The deepwater port is an export hub for Permian Basin crude and gas while the coastline is home to six refineries, an LNG terminal and several massive petrochemical plants. About half of the city's water supply now goes to commercial and industrial customers at a time when the inland river systems that feed the region are drying up. Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi, the city's main water sources, are currently just 12% full, as severe drought conditions constrain river flows for hundreds of miles around. Lawn watering already is prohibited in the city and severe restrictions are in effect for things like washing cars and maintaining swimming pools. The two main reservoirs are forecast to run so low by November 2026 that an emergency declaration will mandate even stricter curtailments. "Everybody's worried about that date," said John Byrum, executive director of Nueces River Authority, which manages surface-water resources in the region. The struggle is pitting residents against heavy industry that provides jobs and tax revenues for schools, libraries and public safety. State climatologists aren't expecting the drought to break any time soon.

• Super-deep geothermal drilling ... with microwaves - "These are masers... So take 1,000 microwave ovens and push them down through a pipe and then evaporate the rock. Sounds really sci-fi, but it actually works and we're showing it in the field right now."[4,5]

Carlos Araque: So the first we're building, the first one now in Oregon. That one is only two miles deep. Only two miles deep. It's just really hot. It's really, really hot. So that's really the first unlock. Go hotter. Show the economics, show the metrics... Everything is replicable. The only thing that keeps you ahead is you outrun, you out-invent, you outperform. Business model, partnership models, they're all important to be in front. People eventually catch up. Nothing is impossible to protect forever. So that's not the play. The play is, can we incite that first domino to make this inevitable at tens of terawatt scales? If the company does that, it will be a very valuable company. But most importantly, as a human, we actually make a difference. David Roberts: Do you expect once you have this power plant in the field which you're building now in Oregon, how big is that, by the way? Carlos Araque: That one's 50. The site goes to a gigawatt, but 50 is the first proof point for an offtake. David Roberts: And that's how many wells? Carlos Araque: A handful. Not even five. Not even my hand. That's two, three, four wells. David Roberts: And do you anticipate, once you show that this works the way you say it works, that there's going to be a shift change in the speed and scale and investment and et cetera? Is that sort of the idea here? Carlos Araque: I think so. I think once you see the first one and you can look at it not as a vision, but as a real business with costs, with revenues, with profit margins, that's when it starts to become a thing that people will want to do at scale. And we divide the world in tiers. We don't say it's all the same. We say, let's unlock tier one first. That means that resource is within the first five kilometers. That's about 100 gigawatts. That's about 5% of the world population. Let's unlock that one. Let's do the one, two, three project. That just unlocks it. Then do the next tier. Right. For that, you need the drill to be performing at maximum ability. And that one you repeat first, second, third project, and it goes, the third tier is a world push. That to me is more an industrial push. It's not the thing that one company does... So that's how you really unlock this progressively going from shallow to deeper, but always hot. Always hot.

• Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall's Final Message To The World - "I want to make sure that you all understand that each and every one of you has a role to play. You may not know it, you may not find it, but your life matters, and you are here for a reason."[6] (Jane Goodall leaves a Maarva Farewell)

And I just hope that reason will become apparent as you live through your life. I want you to know that, whether or not you find that role that you're supposed to play, your life does matter, and that every single day you live, you make a difference in the world. And you get to choose the difference that you make. I want you to understand that we are part of the natural world. And even today, when the planet is dark, there still is hope. Don't lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic and do nothing. And if you want to save what is still beautiful in this world – if you want to save the planet for the future generations, your grandchildren, their grandchildren – then think about the actions you take each day. Because, multiplied a million, a billion times, even small actions will make for great change.

https://www.metafilter.com/210724/Why-not-just-work-it-out-civilly-Becoming-tributary-states