SMH that someone who's become the world's richest man *on the basis of a logistics business* thinks our planet needs to import resources and goods from space: politico.com/amp/news/2021/…
IDK is there a reason Amazon doesn't offer same-day fresh food shipping to any spot on the face of the planet?
Maybe think about that before deciding we need to start importing moon nickel.
Will there be any pollution from moving all the polluting industries to space using rockets that burn a ton of methane every second?
In truth, I sort of doubt that Bezos believes this crap. He's a squillionaire so is just spending money living out a boyhood dream.
But he obviously feels the need to dress it up in utopian/visionary garb to make it seem less self-indulgent than it is.
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Does anyone know of a good history of the German fertilizer industry in World War 1?
The Haber-Bosch process for making synthetic ammonia was invented in Germany on the eve of war, but the plants were all switched to making explosives instead of fertilizer.
Britain then blockaded German ports to prevent imports of fertilizer, causing agricultural productivity to collapse. This resulted in food riots and starvation which may have helped turned the tide of war against Germany.
Did Germany make the right choice in prioritizing ammonium nitrate explosives over ammonium nitrate fertilizers?
Could it have achieved a better outcome by trying to do both instead of focusing so heavily on explosives?
"Flout the public health orders we're making and you'll get the let-it-rip policy you always wanted."
It only makes sense if you think anti-mask types have the same perception of risk from Covid as the rest of us, so will remain compliant for self-preservation reasons.
Pretty obviously, that's not what's been happening.
I'm quite struck by this passage, which seems overconfident to me.
Nearly 1,000 people have died of Covid in Australia. We had multiple days of 20+ deaths *in Victoria alone* last winter.
Public health experts are trying to communicate age-specific risks in the best way possible so I have huge sympathy.
However, anecdotally so many people I speak to are *terrified* of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Communication isn't working effectively if that's the outcome.
Storage (owning a lot of oil tanks, or taking advantage of price rises while your tankers are steaming across the seas) has long been key to the business.
The storage opportunity in a renewable economy is enormous, whether it's buying cheap midday solar and holding it for the evening grid load peak or doing the same on a seasonal basis for summer or winter cooling and heating loads.
The immediate problem is that shipping containers are in the wrong place, piling up in North America and Europe because hard-pressed vessels have been returning to port empty so as to save time.
This shows up in the differential container rates for outbound and return voyages:
That price dislocation is a good thing, giving container lines a strong economic incentive to move boxes to where they're most needed.
Compare the price gap that's opened up on ex-China routes to the stability of the transatlantic passage on that chart: