[AKN #125] Been off my game
LIVE: A Detailed Look At Copper Mining, LOVE: Guy Wins Big On Egg Futures
Sup homies?
So you may remember that post I wrote about getting sick.
Well, here is an update: I’m still sick.
Yep, even after taking antibiotics, resting, hydrating, sleeping, and doing every God damn recommendation for sick people that they give you.
I’m now moving into Week 5 of being sick.
How fucking lame is that? Almost as lame as the name of my illness.
Yep, it’s known as “chronic sinusitis” which — and I don’t mean to impress you but here I go — in Latin means “hella long inflammation of the sinuses.”
Now I’m assuming most of you have never had a cold for a month straight so let me explain the additional care you receive after Week 4.
First thing they add into your routine is…absolutely nothing.
They do nothing differently.
There is no new exotic remedy added to my repertoire.
They just tell you to do more of the same.
“Do an extra Nasal rinse each day”
“Take an extra snort of Flonase each day.”
“That will be a $35 co-pay.”
Yep. That is the cutting edge science.
Well, not exactly the cutting edge.
You know what the actual cutting edge is? Allegra-D and Sudafed — which are 50% nasal decongestant and 100% legalized amphetamine.
Seriously. Let me tell you, I have never understood the value proposition of meth more than I do at this very moment.
Because first of all, I am in the middle of rewatching “Breaking Bad.”
And secondly, I am on a daily routine of ingesting low grade meth so I can participate in the capitalism machine another day with minimal hits to my productivity.
Really makes me think what I could do if I took high grade meth. Like I would undoubtedly change the course of human history if someone just gave me a hit of that sweet crystal.
But yea.
To review the state of virus medication in 2023:
You get COVID?
We can inject you with a vaccine which makes you immune to the virus or if you have it already we can give you an orally digestible tablet which stops the virus in its tracks.
Your sinuses are stuffed for two fortnights?
Have you tried taking meth?…Oh you have. Hm…Well have you tried taking MORE meth?
All is not lost though.
I actually saw an ENT doctor today and got a scan of my sinuses so I am hopeful that we are within a couple weeks of this thing being gone from my life.
On to the newsletter!
LIVE: A Detailed Look At Copper Mining
A hand crafted, artisanal post by me
There is a large appetite for an answer to the question “is buying an EV the ‘right’ thing to do?”
Now inside of that question are many dimensions.
Like climate wise is it net better? Like if we look under the hood of the supply chain how green is it?
And morally is it right? Most of the raw goods manufacturing for electronics is done in foreign countries with questionable work labor practices.
Honestly, this is a hard question and I have been researching it quite a bit.
As part of my research, I’ve been trying to read more resources which have a conservative slant. Cause I know the libtard argument pretty well since that is both my slant and I am ever surrounded by intolerable, virtue signaling Californians.
The account featured below is one of the better accounts out there with respect to showing the behind the scenes of manufacturing raw materials.
It really is quite shocking how much copper is needed for sustainable tech:
Solar power systems use abt 5.5 tons of copper per MW (heat exchangers of solar plus wiring and cabling that transmits the electricity in PV cells). 262 GW of new solar installations between 2018 and 2027 in North America alone = 1.9 billion lbs. of copper.
And it’s quite cool to see the behind the scenes for copper mining which is almost certainly a raw material we all take for granted in our lives despite it being ever present. Like check out the trucks we need along the way to move all the ore.
Very enlightening.
However I definitely have problems with the framing of some of this guy’s posts. I find him mostly adversarial with a “gotcha!” type slant and he always brings things back to a “nuclear energy solves this” position.
Now I am quite sympathetic to the nuclear energy cause, but saying “nuclear solves this” is clearly some bullshit.
Even if you remove EV copper demand, its not like copper demand disappears. You will still have a copper supply chain emissions problem. And they don’t make giant mining machines which run on nuclear nor powertrains which could receive energy from a nuclear reactor.
No, all heavy machinery is run on diesel and petroleum so to fix this would require a significant change to the base equipment.
So its not as easy as “just got nuclear.”
But his point is well taken that a massive amount of manufacturing must be done to transition to a green economy and that manufacturing is far from green. I just don’t think the question of “what else could we do?” is answered well at all.
Anyway.
If you have any additional resources around this topic, I would love for you to send them my way!
LAUGH: Too Real
LOVE: Guy Wins Big On Egg Futures
CLOSING TIME
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I’m Sickening,
K.Rapp