Comments on: The zillion-piece jigsaw puzzle in my head

By: dof

dof — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:44:57 +0000

Thanks Chas!
“Twenty inches of shelf space, 10″ x 12″ books. Small print.”

Sounds right. Does that include things like standard foot-candles and reference voltages?

“Will the last drop of gasoline be burned to take some 7 year old to baseball practice five blocks from home?”

I think (hope) that gasoline will get progressively more expensive, so that communities will be re-shaped for less commuting, muscle-powered transportation will become fashionable again, public transportation will become popular again, and alternative power will achieve economies of scale. And the 7-year-old will walk his own self to baseball practice.

OK, that’s the best-case scenario. As to the likely scenario…

By: Chas, PE SE

Chas, PE SE — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:53:45 +0000

DOF:

Good post.

For a real, material (sorry) take on this subject, look at the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) standards books. It’s about twenty inches of shelf space, 10″ x 12″ books. Small print.

The other thing that I always thinks is that, 1,000 years from now, they’ll look back and think we were mad. The sheer amount of time, materials, and resources we expended so that we could use 3,ooo pound, four rubber-tired vehicles to transport ourselves. Also asphalt and concrete roads amd sundry wars to guarintee the supply of oil and raw materials. Which we are going to run out of, eventually. What do you think? Will the last drop of gasoline be burned to take some 7 year old to baseball practice five blocks from home?