The life expectancy of Japanese people exceeds that of Americans by seven full years (84 vs. 77). Seven months would have been statistically significant, but seven years? How is this possible?
We don’t know, and in truth, we probably never will, since all we have are data that speak to correlation, rather than causation. They eat better. They have fewer toxins in their environment. They have very few guns, and therefore almost no gun-related deaths. They’re not monotheistic, and thus they don’t live in fear of eternal punishment. They live honest lives with very little corruption.
Contrast this with the United States, where all these features are completely different. Take corruption. We don’t dabble in it; we bathe ourselves in it. Might not be good for the soul.
All this said, one thing that should most certainly be kept in mind is the set of life attitudes shown at left. It seems perfectly plausible that a harmonious approach to life in general creates less stress and greater spiritual, emotion, and perhaps physical health.
I met a guy earlier today who told me that wind and solar are controversial, and that some people say that the mining and manufacturing of wind turbines requires more fossil fuels that the turbines themselves produce.
I told him that I’m aware of such people; they’re called “professional liars.”
I explained the concept of EROI, energy return on investment, and surprised him by saying that the EROI of wind is somewhere between 18 and 30, meaning that each wind turbine you see as you drive along the freeway will generate at least 18 times as much energy as was required in its mining, fabrication, installation, maintenance, and decommissioning–all the way up to 30 times that amount.
The generation of disinformation of renewables has become a cottage industry. People are paid to make up and publish complete bullshit, so as to discredit the burgeoning clean energy industry, and keep Big Oil in place.
As bad as things are in the United States, they could always get worse.
Trump could succeed in his quest to be a dictator, Christianity could be taught in schools, and unvaccinated adults and their kids could trigger another epidemic.
In terms of our reputation on the world stage, however, things really can’t get must worse; the countries around the globe already regard us with a mixture of hate and derision.
Yet regardless of what the future holds, there will always be idiots who that believe that Trump is our savior, like the author of the meme above.
Good to see John Eastman disbarred in California; it’s a small measure of justice.
Criminal prosecution in the future?
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