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What Would You Make?

12/29/2023 12:21 PM

Imagine you are offered unlimited resources to make your most useful/ideal/dream/best/ invention.

What would you make?

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#1

Re: What would you make?

12/29/2023 4:23 PM

A Time Machine!

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: What would you make?

12/29/2023 4:29 PM

Good answer.

Probably the ultimate dream machine.

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#3

Re: What would you make?

12/29/2023 10:11 PM

It's already been done...the internet...enables real time collaboration with the whole world, it's the ultimate educational resource...and for doing business, a real time and resource saver...It has changed the world in the most dramatic way in my lifetime....

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#4

Re: What would you make?

12/29/2023 11:44 PM

A source of electric energy compact and cheap enough that each household could have its own, yet capable of powering a reasonable number of devices for a complete home, even in low-income areas around the world.

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#5
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Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 1:45 AM

You mean like a generator? They got those....already

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#8
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Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 12:13 PM

Oops. Although I was thinking it, I failed to specify a nuclear energy source.

And, although I am fortunate to own a generator considerably smaller than the one you show, it is only for occasional use during power outages, not for continuous use.

Also, the purchase price was reasonable for me, but it wouldn't be for people of low income here in the USA, and certainly not for many people in other countries.

...and that is before the fuel costs, not to mention the pollution.

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#9
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Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 12:31 PM

I am steeling myself for the next Biden administration dictum requiring gensets be zero carbon emission battery powered devices.

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#23
In reply to #9

Re: What would you make?

01/02/2024 4:07 PM

Bite your tongue!

They're listening to us.

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#29
In reply to #9

Re: What would you make?

01/03/2024 11:14 PM

Be careful what you joke about; you could have the insurrectionist make it legal again to dump poisonous waste in your back yard. Again.

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#28
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Re: What would you make?

01/03/2024 7:02 PM

..."Oops. Although I was thinking it, I failed to specify a nuclear energy source."...

Oh you mean an RTG, or Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, like the Soviets used back in the day....and we use today to power satellites for long periods of time....a nuclear battery...

Does not look cheap....!

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#30
In reply to #28

Re: What would you make?

01/03/2024 11:36 PM

Obviously NOT.

In my original post, I said inexpensive. These certainly do not fit that requirement.

Clearly, I should have said something about safety!

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#32
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Re: What would you make?

01/04/2024 2:54 AM

Yes well safety is a sticking point...How about a thorium powered laser for producing intense heat to power a turbine, maybe a CO2 turbine eh?

..."Charles Stevens, a researcher at the Massachusetts R&D firm Laser Power Systems, is creating a prototype of a thorium-powered laser that can be used to generate enough energy to power a vehicle while producing zero-emissions, according to an article in the Txchnologist. Rather than a small-scale thorium-powered nuclear reactor--as floated by the Cadillac concept--the prototype system Steve is designing uses a proprietary high-intensity "MaxFelaser" laser that is fueled by thorium.

According to the article, the MaxFelaser laser beam turns water into pressurized steam, spinning a turbine and generating electricity. The system can produce a total of 250 kilowatts (equivalent 335 horsepower), weighs about 500 pounds, and can fit under the hood of a car. That sounds great, but how realistic is this?

Thorium has been touted by several nuclear scientists, and some have given lectures at Google and TEDx promoting thorium as a better nuclear fuel source than uranium. Less radioactive and more plentiful than uranium, thorium is being tested by researchers in China as a potential fuel for nuclear reactors. Swapping uranium for thorium in a nuclear reactor is one thing, but putting a radioactive element in moving vehicles is another.

While small-scale thorium-powered nuclear reactors are theoretically possible, none have been designed that could fit in a car. Stevens' system uses a thorium-powered laser to turn water to steam, which could be used in a car. Although no photos or studies on the feasibility were provided in the article, Stevens told the Txnologist that he built the MaxFelaser in 1985, and is now working on integrating it with a modified Tesla turbine and generator that he fabricated.

Stevens hasn't set a date on when his prototype will be completed, but whether this technology will ever see the light of day is a valid question. Judging from his past online posts in forums and news sites, he's been touting this system for years despite his claim that auto manufacturers could have it working in vehicles within two years. And even if Stevens manages to pull off a thorium-powered car, it's likely to raise safety concerns."...

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/is-a-nuclear-powered-car-in-our-future/

..."In 1987 the first MaxFelaser was developed by Charles Stevens in 2007 Laser Power Systems, LLC was founded to develop a Ultra Hi-Out Put MaxFelaser turbine generator system this can provide practically unlimited energy production. These systems have been under development for many years and consist of three major subsystems:A Ultra High out put MaxFeLaser that makes it possible to generate power with zero emission NO GREEN HOUSE GASES. The laser utilizes the power in “Rear Earth Metals” and a new laser plumbing system to flash water to steam and drive a tesla turbine high speed generator producing clean emission free energy for just about any power system requirement or application: large central power systems distributed power systems small in home or business Transportation: cars, trucks or just about anything that now uses an internal combustion engine."...

https://slideplayer.com/slide/7062177/

https://terralab.tripod.com/id14.html

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#33
In reply to #32

Re: What would you make?

01/04/2024 3:10 AM
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#59
In reply to #33

Re: What would you make?

01/17/2024 2:10 PM

Here's a possible starting point:

https://newatlas.com/energy/betavolt-diamond-nuclear-battery/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=04c8969e7e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_01_17_02_49&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-04c8969e7e-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

It currently only provides a fraction of a Watt, with a one-Watt unit in development. but many great things start small.

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#6

Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 7:57 AM

This sounds like one of those useless, outdated, and irrelevant job interview questions.

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#7

Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 10:54 AM

I would invent a device that would create wormholes and a black hole generator. I would use them to build a tropical pocket dimension where I could go to get away from the current insanity on Earth. This dimension would be an entirely self-sustaining universe, however much smaller than ours, where time would run at a fraction of the speed of our time. I would re-enter our universe from time to time to see how insane our planet has become. I would stay away until sanity returns, or the earth begins a new cycle of life. Otherwise, I would just stay there forever.

Or maybe I would just repair the probability drive on my vessel and go home.

Well, you asked!

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#10
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Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 2:27 PM

Oh you don't need all them fancy science gizmo's...just a bus ticket...

To Yazoo city...

Nestled in the Southern Mississippi Delta region...

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#11

Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 2:57 PM

1. A remote lie detector that causes the liars pants to catch fire.

2. a brain wave smoother to help manic people relax.

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#12
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Re: What would you make?

12/30/2023 4:29 PM

When silvCrow gets his device working, I would like to have the trouser concession in Washington, D.C.

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#63
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Re: What would you make?

01/26/2024 7:19 AM

I would like the fire to start in their underwear,a little closer to the source.

I don't think the fire would start very quickly while knee deep in the swamp unless you started it higher up.It would also help to roast the pigs with their noses in the pig trough... and the under wear.

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#13
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Re: What would you make?

12/31/2023 2:00 AM

" 2. a brain wave smoother to help manic people relax...."

Yeah, we got that.....ketamine shot...

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#14
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Re: What would you make?

12/31/2023 11:54 AM

I am thinking something a lot safer with lower side effects. There are some interesting theories about brain wave modification using slow moving high power magnets.

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#15
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Re: What would you make?

12/31/2023 1:34 PM

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#16

Re: What would you make?

01/01/2024 10:47 AM

Children

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#19
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Re: What would you make?

01/01/2024 5:35 PM
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#17

Re: What would you make?

01/01/2024 2:02 PM

I have designed a new airship made of PETG with a tunnel drive. Cheap and useful, first one would be one-manned, for search and rescue. Great for searching dangerous places like jungles or the Grand Canyon.

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Re: What would you make?

01/01/2024 3:09 PM
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#20

Re: What would you make?

01/02/2024 3:33 AM

Seriously I think I would make a nuclear multi-plex gen IV based complex along the coast someplace that would desalinate seawater to provide clean drinking water, and also in the complex have another reactor that produced hydrogen as stored energy, and a filtering system that removed needed minerals from the seawater, like radioactive materials for producing more fuel as well as other useful minerals....and also include a nuclear fuel recycling or reprocessing unit and storage area....and electric production from a fast reactor using co2 rather than steam based turbine generation...capturing the oxygen for bottling, and a hydrogen pipeline for distribution...I would use the hydrogen distribution system to power fuel cells in community settings that could distribute the hydrogen as fuel for cars and other vehicles, and feed fuel cells for electricity and heat for local use...The complex would produce electricity, heat, fuel, clean drinking water, and valuable minerals, be self-sustaining and low emission...

...and I would make it attractive and stylish...not industrial at all...

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#21

Re: What would you make?

01/02/2024 6:51 AM

The thermal equivalent of the diode.

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#22
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Re: What would you make?

01/02/2024 8:40 AM
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#24
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Re: What would you make?

01/02/2024 5:15 PM
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#25
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Re: What would you make?

01/03/2024 4:49 AM

I believe this can be achieved by converting the heat to electric...I worked on this concept a while back, but haven't kept up...had to do with quantum tunneling, gap jumping, and the gap was very small, just a few atoms wide if I remember correctly...the secret I thought was in the design so that as one side heated up it would expand into a formed geometric shape maintaining the gap distance...very tricky to manufacture...

https://www.fkf.mpg.de/7322379/71_Electron_Tunneling_at_High-Temperatures_Ngabonziza

https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.195420

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep21425

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#26

Re: What Would You Make?

01/03/2024 10:51 AM

An antigravity flying craft. I would patent it and let the news media know. I'm betting the government would buy it from me to keep it out of production because they probably already have one. Or maybe I would suddenly disappear!

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#27
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/03/2024 12:28 PM

Already exists...

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#31

Re: What Would You Make?

01/04/2024 2:53 AM

I would make a device that would remove hate,anger,prejudice,greed and envy from every human being on the planet.

Then the world would be at peace and with everyone working together there is no telling what could be accomplished.

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#34
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/04/2024 4:21 AM

Without hate there can be no love, without anger there can be no joy, without prejudice there can be no sense of community, without greed there can be no generosity, and without envy, well there can be no change for the better...at least that's the way I see it...

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#35
In reply to #34

Re: What Would You Make?

01/04/2024 10:41 AM

I am glad I do look at the world through your lens.

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#65
In reply to #35

Re: What Would You Make?

01/26/2024 7:45 AM

What I mean to say was: I am glad I do not look at the world through your lens.

I missed that point when I first proof read it.

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#64
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/26/2024 7:42 AM

IMHO:

Dark is the opposite of light.Hate is the absence of love.Greed is the opposite of generosity.Anger is the opposite of joy.Tolerance is the opposite of prejudice.

Light banishes darkness,and love banishes hate,generosity banishes greed,tolerance banishes prejudice.

We live in a world of technical light,but spiritual darkness.

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#36

Re: What Would You Make?

01/09/2024 11:46 PM

A white laser.

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#37
In reply to #36

Re: What Would You Make?

01/10/2024 1:28 AM

Here's one.

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#38
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/10/2024 4:40 AM

Designed and built a solar powered one a long time ago, could never get it to work though, it kept melting the end of the fiber optic...the surfaces have to be perfect and the alignment needs to be perfect...you have one large dish collector that focuses on a smaller reversing reflector, that focuses the light through the dish center into a focal point that aligns the beam with a transition lens that collates the beam to a fiber optic carrier...

Something like this...

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#56
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/17/2024 1:11 AM

Research team uses water as a nonlinear medium for ultra-broadband white laser

https://phys.org/news/2024-01-team-nonlinear-medium-ultra-broadband.html

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#39

Re: What Would You Make?

01/10/2024 8:06 AM

I would make a satellite system that detected illegal logging and it would zap anyone that tried before they got started on the first cut.

I would reforest all the areas of the world where clear cutting has taken place and experiment to find the best woodland grazers for each environment.

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#40
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/10/2024 3:35 PM

First, everybody would starve to death if you did that, second, nobody would have a house to live in...

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#41
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 10:04 AM

Sort of a fatalist observation, innit?

Always with the negative waves Moriarty, always with the negative waves.“

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#42
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 3:07 PM

What he proposes has already been done anyway....mostly

..."U.S. land area covers nearly 2.3 billion acres. The proportion of the land base in agricultural uses has declined from 63 percent in 1949 to 51 percent in 2007. Gradual declines have occurred in cropland and pasture and range, while grazed forestland has decreased more rapidly.

In 2007, 408 million acres of agricultural land were in cropland (down 17 percent from 1949), 614 million acres were in pasture and range (down 3 percent), 127 million acres were in grazed forestland (down 52 percent), and 12 million acres were in farmsteads and farm roads (down 19 percent). Nonagricultural uses have increased from 37 to 49 percent of the land base, largely due to a fourfold increase in National Parks and National Wilderness/Wildlife areas, particularly in Alaska."...

Wood is used to build houses....Farmland is used to grow food...

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2012/march/data-feature-how-is-land-used/

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#43
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 3:32 PM

..."The bottom line is that successful silvopastoralism requires active and intensive management, mainly to ensure that grazing areas are controlled and rotated and that there are long rest and recovery periods between grazings, Chedzoy noted. “That’s what distinguishes silvopastoralism from woodland grazing of the past with its relatively unmanaged, prolonged access by animals – and its negative impacts.”

On Chedzoy’s New York farm, for example, he’s grazing cattle on over 400 acres (including six conifer plantations) of well-drained soils. “The grazing areas are six to seven acres in size and we manage our livestock to promote the best trees. We typically move our cattle daily, so the rest and recovery period of each paddock may exceed 100 days. I say ‘may’ because nothing is written in stone with adaptive grazing, and sometimes plans change,” he explains."...

https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/silvopatures-northeast

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#44
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 5:33 PM

..."There are more trees in the U.S. now than there were 100 years ago (while the population has tripled). For ever one tree Georgia-Pacific uses, at least one is regrown. to helping maintain healthy forests for generations ahead.Nov 10, 2022"...

https://www.3blmedia.com/news/georgia-pacific-more-trees-us-now-100-years-ago#:~:

..."Scientists have found that in response to elevated CO2 levels, above-ground plant growth increased an average of 21 percent, while below-ground growth increased 28 percent.Jan 27, 2022"...

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/01/27/how-climate-change-will-affect-plants/#:~:t

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#45
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 6:00 PM

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#48
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 8:24 PM

Interesting, but it would be a lot more interesting if there were a legend telling exactly what the colors indicate, and which years are involved.

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#49
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/12/2024 3:53 AM

..."A NASA animation shows the 12-month cycle of all plant life on Earth - whether on land or in the ocean. Rather than showing a specific year, the animation shows an average yearly cycle by combining data from many satellite instruments and averaging them over multiple years."...

..."On land, the green color represents plants and forests. In the oceans, it’s tiny floating plants called phytoplankton."...

https://www.carbonbrief.org/video-nasa-satellites-show-our-breathing-planet-in-action/

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#52
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/12/2024 11:45 AM

Thanks for the link. ...and I watched it long enough to understand the text saying it is multiple years combined into one data set.

What I didn't understand 'till I watched it again is that it's a loop, showing that one combined set of data over and over. It shows nothing about climate change over the years of data.

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#53
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/12/2024 12:17 PM

Well climate change is very gradual taken in a historical perspective, probably wouldn't even be noticeable...With co2 increasing we would expect the greening to become more expansive to the north and south over time, and I think the seasonal fluctuation to be less pronounced as well... In any case barely noticeable...This animation is about the temperature effect on plant growth, which is dramatic...

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#57
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/17/2024 12:19 PM

"Well climate change is very gradual taken in a historical perspective, probably wouldn't even be noticeable..."

That depends on how much history you observe. I've lived long enough to notice considerable change, especially in the amount of ice stored in glaciers. Google Earth Pro has clear historical images going back to around 1985, so anyone can compare. The images prior to that were mostly of much poorer quality, so I don't use them for comparison.

I visited the Athabasca Glacier in Alberta, Canada in 1963, and they were already complaining about how fast the glacier was receding. Here are the images of that area comparing 1985 to 2022:

Unfortunately, the 2022 image was taken early in the day, so the shadows of the mountains obscure the southern part of the glacier. Also, the '85 image was taken in late December, while the '22 image was taken in mid October, so it's not quite a valid comparison.

In 1966, I was fortunate to visit the ski resort in Portillo, Chile. Here are similar comparison photos of that area in 1985 and 2020 (the latest currently available):

These images were both taken in December, which of course is summer there. You can look at images of any mountainous area, and you'll see a similar reduction in the amount of ice.

Historically, the 35-37 year periods shown are very short times.

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#60
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/17/2024 6:08 PM

You could probably find as much evidence to the contrary...like I said, barely noticeable...Patterns of precipitation change over the years, do to winds...this is not climate change necessarily, but climate variation that is naturally occurring in the system...The deck is stacked against glacier growth vs glacier shrinkage, the ice can melt much faster than it can grow, it takes many years of accumulation for a glacier to grow....

In a study of 1260 glaciers:

  • 78% are less than 5 square kilometers
  • 64% are in Canada
  • 5% show “marked advance” and the other 95% show “slight advance”.
  • The largest is an unnamed glacier in Greenland with an area of 1565 square kilometers. The second largest is Pio XI in Chile (1265 sq km).
  • There are no American glaciers on the list (incl. Alaska).
  • The sum total area of all advancing glaciers on the list is 22,387 square kilometers.
  • 68% of the glaciers are unnamed (mostly in Canada, Greenland or Antarctica).

Note: There are 25,855 glaciers which are in “marked retreat” or “slight retreat” which is 20 times the number of advancing glaciers. The total area of retreating glaciers is nearly 150,000 square kilometers which is 6.6 times the area of the advancing glaciers. The largest glacier on the list of retreating glaciers is an unnamed glacier in Greenland with an area of 8395 square kilometers.

It seems clear to me that all these glaciers were created from some global event that plunged the Earth into an ice age, the retreating is the natural return to the balanced state which we are currently in, as the glaciers lag the current state of the climate in a warming cycle...So to me this is just a naturally occurring phenomena....

https://nsidc.org/data/glacier_inventory/

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#47
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 6:59 PM

These citations are all well and good. I’ve heard most of these sorts of points in the past, and in general I believe them to be truthful.

Trees4Life does specifically call out timber cutting activities that are illegal.

Inasmuch as the system described may be adaptable to also include car thefts, arson, assault, robberies, and maybe even grade school bullies... I would deem this a noble wish, beneficial to all of mankind (except carjackers, arsonists, strongarm robbers, and their assorted ilk).

Reclaiming and returning to original state any land that has been clear cut... ever... agreed, this is going to be a tough one.

This is, after all, just a wish list.

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#50
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/12/2024 4:06 AM

What is legal and illegal in harvesting timber is often political and debatable...saving a forest and managing it poorly just to watch it burn down at some point, seems like a waste....and we see it all the time...

...."For 2022, 66,255 fires burned 7,534,403 acres"...

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/fire/202213

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#46
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/11/2024 6:41 PM

"In North America, about half the forests in the eastern part of the continent were cut down for timber and farming between the 1600s and late 1800s, according to National Geographic. "

"Today, most deforestation is happening in the tropics. Areas that were inaccessible in the past are now within reach as people build new roads through the dense forests. The world has lost about 10% of its tropical tree cover since 2000, and nearly 47,000 square miles (121,000 square kilometers) were destroyed in 2019 alone, The New York Times reported in 2020.

The World Bank estimates that about 3.9 million square miles (10 million square km) of forest have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century. In the past 25 years, forests shrank by 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) — an area bigger than the size of South Africa."

https://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html

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#51
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/12/2024 4:30 AM

Most of the trees that were cut down have been replanted...

...."Scotland planted over 22 million trees last year, smashing goals"...

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/448428-scotland-planted-over-22-million-tree-last-year-smashing-planting/

The trillion trees project....restoring forests all over the world...

https://trilliontrees.org/

President Trump Signs One Trillion Trees Executive Order, Promoting Conservation and Regeneration of Our Nation’s Forests

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#54
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/15/2024 9:35 AM

Illegal logging has detrimental impacts, including deforestation and, consequently, global warming.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_logging

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#55
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/16/2024 4:32 AM

Trees are a renewable resource, therefore they can be replaced....however theft of wood is a criminal act, and must be determined in a court of law...A lot of the value of wood is in the labor to cut and process it into lumber, so it's not as cut and dried as it may seem...

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#58
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/17/2024 2:05 PM

Actually, Most of the timber harvested is cut and dried!

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#61
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/17/2024 7:51 PM

Yes, and as such, is contributory to the economy as building materials, and bolsters the GDP, so it has positive impacts as well...

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#62
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Re: What Would You Make?

01/22/2024 5:50 PM

Interesting point of view. But like always, big money can exert big influence and if you are not one of the well-connected elitists, you're screwed. Sounds familiar, c'est pas?

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