Tag Archive for technology

Mound of Plastic in the Back Yard

You probably recycle those plastic bottles and anything else with the recycle symbol on it.  I know I do.  It’s a little thing we can do to help our environment.  Except that there’s a problem.  That is, many U.S. “recylers” haven’t been processing it (or electronic waste) here but shipping it to China, where it’s cheaper to deal with because they toss it into a landfill.  China, drowning in our plastic, is wising up and saying NO MORE!  They now have a Green Fence Policy, which says that they won’t be importing most of that plastic any longer.

What are our recyclers going to do?  And those in Europe, Japan, and Hong Kong? They don’t know yet.  And it’s a big problem–China imports 70% of the 500 million tons of electronic waste and 12 million tons of plastic waste each year that the world creates.

This will be costly (labor, technology, environmental safety standards), but it’s past time to actually recycle  the waste rather than letting it pile up in landfills in China’s–or our–back yard.

 

 

Hawking on Machines and Equality

Will machines make our lives easier and more comfortable in the future?  Maybe it depends on who you are.  In today’s Thursday Thought, Stephen Hawking takes a look into the future.

“If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.”

Windows vs Ford

I’ve been cursing my computer (again) this week.  So when I received this from Linda Younts this morning, I just had to pass it on to you.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX),Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.” In response to Bill’s comments, Ford issued a press release stating

If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

  1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash………twice a day.
  2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
  3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
  4. Occasionally, executing a manoeuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
  5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.
  6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.
  7. The airbag system would ask, “Are you sure?” before deploying.
  8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
  9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
  10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to engine turn the off.

PS [came as part of Linda’s email] – I’d like to add that when all else fails, you could call “customer service” in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!

Cute but Thought-Provoking Quote from Eddison

I love my computer and understand my friends’ umbilical-cord tie to iPads and such, but I can’t help agreeing with Alan M. Eddison, director of Green Earth Affairs headquarters based in Zimbabwe:

Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.

 

Snoopy Americans

So, we’ve been snooping into the business of 35 other countries’ leaders.  And they’re mad as a wet bloodhound at us.  I don’t blame them.  On the other hand, I can’t help wondering if they’re upset because we’re snooping or because their technology to do so is behind ours.  Is the U.S. in trouble because we’re doing something totally against what others would even consider doing–or because we got caught?