tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post3755663304647469161..comments2024-03-29T10:02:52.586-04:00Comments on Politics and its Discontents: The Limits Of TechnologyLornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-2959176587584986212016-06-10T17:41:09.749-04:002016-06-10T17:41:09.749-04:00That folly seems to go back a long way, Owen. When...That folly seems to go back a long way, Owen. When I taught The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I always injected into it an environmental component. It seemed to me, since Coleridge never tells us why the mariner killed the albatross, that he did it because he felt like it, assuming that nature was there as his servant, not his master. And we know how that turned out. Perhaps a parable for our times as well?Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-65447117083960350412016-06-10T17:37:37.162-04:002016-06-10T17:37:37.162-04:00Thanks for the information, BM. it's always go...Thanks for the information, BM. it's always good to hear from you.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-41254281538590653982016-06-10T15:55:16.036-04:002016-06-10T15:55:16.036-04:00We assume that Nature is ours to control, Lorne --...We assume that Nature is ours to control, Lorne -- an assumption which is pure folly.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-23659858210671929582016-06-10T14:18:44.063-04:002016-06-10T14:18:44.063-04:00In a normal piston engine as in a car, when the en...In a normal piston engine as in a car, when the engine is warmed up, the inlet and outlet water temperature from the block is not more than 15 degrees Celsius, and usually less. If it were more, you get warpage due to differential expansion.<br /><br />A ship would have a cooling circuit and "radiator" that itself was cooled by sea water. I would therefore surmise that this heat exchanger is seriously undersized for the heat rejected by the turbines. So RR is basically admitting they screwed up by saying the ship wasn't really designed for tropical use. <br /><br />Based on nothing at all but an engineering guess, since I is one, mechanical, ret'd. Just crappy Brit design. Their contact cement glues cannot stand being let out of Britain either, in my experience. The average Brit has got about as much idea about temperature extremes as a Californian designing an electric vehicle in the San Francisco area within a few km of the coast, where it is temperate year round.<br /><br />BMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-37685086829639133682016-06-10T13:35:30.405-04:002016-06-10T13:35:30.405-04:00There is little doubt, Mound, that our capacity to...There is little doubt, Mound, that our capacity to meet the 'brave new world' of our own creation is severely limited. When that is fully realized, perhaps our collective hubris will finally be at an end.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-81653524788322029142016-06-10T13:28:01.117-04:002016-06-10T13:28:01.117-04:00And so it goes. I wonder how much modern military ...And so it goes. I wonder how much modern military kit can withstand the changes setting in. It's the same story only on a far more critical scale for civilian infrastructure. The materials and design of much of our infrastructure was chosen to meet a climate that is taking its leave even as climate change is creating needs that were never envisioned by our designers decades ago. We are definitely straddling a tiger here, Lorne.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.com