(The Luddites were proto-revolutionaries against industrial law.)
I responded to a comment in an earlier post. And the more I thought about the comment, the more intensely I disliked the comment. The comment showed--and shows--a disturbing lack of education. And it preys upon the weakness of others.
What passes for debate among those who oppose the proposed LNG pipeline is nothing more than preying upon the weakness of others, and that weakness is endemic among the chattering class of Clatsop county. These are the people who see nothing wrong with telling an adult that he must wear a helmet to ride his bicycle. These are the people who see nothing wrong with telling an adult that he may not supersize his fries. These are the people who eschew individual choice and risk and would supplant individual accomplishment and satisfaction with community goals and a sense of servitude.
And the tool of their method? Hysteria.
My disdain for the thought process demonstrated by this political class cannot be overstated.
Here is what one commentor thought passed for a bright idea:
"Not that I'm trying to scare anybody with misinformation but let's try 1740 Pounds per square inch on a 36" dia, High Pressure Natural Gas Transmission Pipeline." (Copied and pasted. Sic is therefore unnecesary.)
Has this maroon ever had a job beyond telling children in a classroom to "open your books"? Has this maroon ever been on a boat, a crawler, even in a car? Imagine, pressing the brake pedal in your car and generating 2000 psi!
Or, operating a hydraulic winch. In tiny little hoses, down to 3/8ths of an inch, with as much as 4000 pounds per square inch.
Worse yet? The harm we place in our children's way. Every time you take you child to a circus, or to a fair or the zoo, chances are you could see your child killed before your very eyes. Sure, to the child it's simply a shiny balloon. But you should be very afraid, because there, right before your eyes is death in the form of an helium cylinder, filled with a benign gas at killer pressures of 2000 pounds per square inch! Inches away from your child!
This silly hysteria preys upon the uneducated. It points out one "risk" while hiding all the others that you live with every day. Why no mention of the incredible danger presented by our nation's high power transmission lines? 157,000 miles of high voltage lines criss-crossing our country, with loads in excess of 230-thousand volts! That could kill a child, I tell you. And those lines are everywhere!
This is what passes for informed discussion among the Luddites who live among us. If you would like a rather more disspassionate discussion of piplelines, I recommend this. If you prefer a more passionate discussion of the mistakes we are making in a modern industrial society, I offer you this.
You need to choose the type of person you want to be, and what type of person you want your children to become. It's your choice. Far be it from me to expect you to make a reasonable choice.
14 comments:
The answer to your queries about my mechanical aptitude and experience is an affirmnative to all.
The post and paragraph you are referencing in your presumed intellectual but, misguided musing was in response to misinformation on LNG pipelines posted on "Your", "This" blog and it reads; Put another way, a LNG pipeline is kind of an oxymoron. LNG is returned to a gaseous state before pipeline transmission, and natural gas pipeline pressure is generally around 2 ppf. Opponents are, quite simply, uninformed scare-mongers.
2 pounds per foot pipeline pressure, I believe, is incorrect and uninformed.
The average 36" diameter high pressure Natural Gas pipeline pressure is (+/-)1740 pounds per square inch.
Use as many comparatives as you wish but, it will not change the fact that the average pressure on that 36" dia. High Pressure Natural Gass pipeline is (+/-)1740pounds per square inch.
And now, T. Boone Pickens, lengendary oil man, says we don't need imported LNG at all, we have ample Natural Gas to wean ourselves off those imports.
And by the way the appropriate use of the word, and I'm certain you being the intellectual you are, already knows this, is "Moron"
McGee is a proud liar, He says thats his constitutional right. To lie to you to make his point and to convince you to come to the dark side. I'd wager its closer to 2 than 1740 psi to move something lighter than air. I could be wrong, been wrong before, I used to believe there was some good in Patrick McGee.
Boys--
You wanna throw mud? Do it somewhere else.
Anonymous...you are a boor. Start your own place. Just enter "blogspot" and get started. You can say whatever you want.
Mr. McGee...you are a boor. Find another place to pick a fight.
Both of you guys need to get a grip. Remember the Sermon on the Mount? Sometimes even I forget. Pick up a Bible and do some reading. It will be good for your soul.
I apologize to all my readers for my guests' boorish behaviours.
.
apology accepted!
Pick a fight "Tommy Boy"?
Is that what you call correcting blatantly inaccurate and unqualified information, especially in a conversation on a critical, upcoming referendum (4-131) where you accuse others of presenting falsities?
You should apologize to your few readers for your conduct, I agree.
And now, unbelieveably you stoop to the level of manipulating content?
Sad, sad, sad "Tommy"
Mr. McGee--
You are no longer welcome here. You are toxic.
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Who is Tommy?
I figure its some kind of reference to a Kipling poem.
Who knows what roils the grey matter of some folks? Perhaps we'll never know.
"You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
"We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
"Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
"The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
"For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!'
"But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot;
"An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
"An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!"(Rudyard Kipling, Tommy, "Barrack-Room Ballads", 1892.)
Wow! The 1740 psi is nothing compared to the pressure in that thread.
Mr McGee's original comment was roughly the equivalent of the sign you sometimes saw in a freshman electronics lab:
Danger!!! 1,000,000 Ohms!!
Without knowing the burst strength and the safety margin, it's not information, it's just data.
You can see ome evidence of the emotional nature of the argument by just doing a Search for "lng pipeline".
When all else fails, some experts suggest going to the facts. Here's an exerpt from Wiki:
"Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas (primarily methane, CH4) that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. Liquefied natural gas takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas at a stove burner tip. It is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive.
...
The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure (Maximum Transport Pressure set around 25 kPa (3.6 psi)) by cooling it to approximately −163 °C (−260 °F)."
Really, is Wiki such an exotic source?
Next?
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