I too wish we were weaving exotic matter metamaterials out of the aether, but until then hydrocarbons are a miracle from the heavens for their uses. A modern cedar tree.
The sun is but a poor, corrupted pun on starlight. The reflecting pool of crude shimmers with thin-film interference like nebulae on the celestial expanse.
You could argue that the sun was pretty useful, quite the “essential companion” in the Stone Age as well.
In fact, it is hard to imagine there would have been enough dead trees to make oil if it were not for the sun.
You could argue (pretty soundly) that oil is just a way of consuming the energy in trees which got that energy from the sun. So oil is just a way of extracting ancient solar energy.
Not all things are equal, unfortunately. That solar energy? Just a thin fraction of a nebula's own ancient energy. Oil's semiotics, uses and hazards are all the signature of heaven. I'm not kidding when I equate it to the cedar tree.
Oil’s potential, left deep in the crust, remains latent. Every mote of sunlight, furiously brought to life by the maelstrom, seeks inexorably for immediate purpose.
This is the inevitable result of western countries taxing oil.
The higher the taxes the lower the price of crude has to be for people to afford it. This means reduced western demand at high prices.
However this doesn't reduce consumption, it just shifts the consumption to the developing world, where there are minimal if any taxes on consumption.
If only this wasn't wholly predictable...
It's actually sad that a barrel of oil is still worth anything, but hey, what to do.
I too wish we were weaving exotic matter metamaterials out of the aether, but until then hydrocarbons are a miracle from the heavens for their uses. A modern cedar tree.
I feel they’re more a miracle from the depths of hell. Sunlight is probably the miracle from heaven.
Petroleum is a stable sunlight storage medium.
The sun is but a poor, corrupted pun on starlight. The reflecting pool of crude shimmers with thin-film interference like nebulae on the celestial expanse.
You could argue that the sun was pretty useful, quite the “essential companion” in the Stone Age as well.
In fact, it is hard to imagine there would have been enough dead trees to make oil if it were not for the sun.
You could argue (pretty soundly) that oil is just a way of consuming the energy in trees which got that energy from the sun. So oil is just a way of extracting ancient solar energy.
Not all things are equal, unfortunately. That solar energy? Just a thin fraction of a nebula's own ancient energy. Oil's semiotics, uses and hazards are all the signature of heaven. I'm not kidding when I equate it to the cedar tree.
Oil’s potential, left deep in the crust, remains latent. Every mote of sunlight, furiously brought to life by the maelstrom, seeks inexorably for immediate purpose.
It is useful as chemical feedstock, burning it is a waste.
Truly, it’s a miracle for manufacturing. I wish people would understand what a profound waste burning it actually is.
I read this "useful as automotive feedstock" which still makes sense.
The price should actually trend up as supply is choked by pollution taxes.
Every voter who votes for lower gas prices is agreeing that it's better to live inside the cruel empire than to build a world without empire
i didn't know gas prices were decided by vote.
time to sell the silverware
How about Microsoft Silverlight
https://opensilver.net/
Discussion (21 points, 23 hours ago, 23 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46396755
no paywall: https://www.wsj.com/finance/commodities-futures/an-ounce-of-...
Visible without JavaScript etc.: https://archive.ph/qUe7n (it was already there when I checked).