jadero

I was completely out of school before the peanut bans kicked in. A good thing, too, as I basically lived on peanut butter. Still do. :) Even when I was working and packing my own lunches, it was either leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches. Food of the gods (or demons, I suppose...)

I try to figure out what it means from a combination of context and etymological guesswork, then check it a dictionary. If it's a person or region or concept I'm unfamiliar with that isn't covered directly or in notes, I hit the encyclopedia or atlas (well, Wikipedia and mapping software, these days.)

That's how my father taught me to deal with stuff I didn't understand when I was a kid and I've been doing that ever since. It interrupts the flow far less than having to set it aside for other demands on my time, so it's not that big a deal.

We always had good dictionaries and encyclopedias on hand. Now, of course, it's all online or downloadable.

One of the reasons I love eReaders is direct access to dictionary, translations, and Wikipedia.

How about Saskatchewan as an example? With Alberta, we are the butt cheeks of Canada, yet in Saskatoon, you can go to the city hall website, click the accessibility button, and get the site served in 19 different languages. Yes, they're just using Google Translate, so there are no Canadian Indigenous languages, but it's a start. In addition, I think those languages and more are available for in-person service through an interpretation contractor.

There are plenty of efforts to prevent languages from disappearing. I have no problem with Quebec doing things to preserve their French, but I'm not sure it should be via removal of other language services.

On the other hand, I have no language I'm trying to preserve, don't live there, and haven't visited in decades, so I'm willing to let them make their own decisions.

Oh yeah, it has a lot of holes! Despite the effort I put in, I should have called it what it is: back of the envelope analysis. The only reason I did it was to satisfy my curiosity regarding the initial statement, then felt compelled to share it. :)

I doubt they let the logs dry at all, but the only caloric content I could find for logs assumed air-dried to 20%. I don't know enough to consider other methodologies like carbon content, etc.

My 100 km was intended as a rate of energy consumption, not an actual hauling distance, but I didn't make that clear.

There's no way cutting down a tree, shipping it and processing it requires a tree-worth of fuel.

Let's fact check that:

(TLDR: it seems you're right)

(Note on gross vehicle weights. I found everything from 80,000 kg at the high end in Canada and 80,000 pounds consistently in the US. That wide range, especially the huge difference between Canada and USA, makes me somewhat suspicious of the following calculations. But I think it still works out in favour of the original assertion.)

1 m³ of diesel contains 38.68 GJ of energy.. That means 38.68 MJ/litre.

Air dried logs (20%) moisture have 14.7 GJ per tonne. That's 14.7 MJ/kg.

Ballpark empty weight of a semi truck and trailer is 35,000 pounds (15,876 kg).

Canadian maximum weight limit for semis is 80,000 kg. I've seen numbers varying from about 35,000 kg to 80,000 kg, depending on jurisdiction, trailer configuration, and permits, so I'll use the biggest number.

That leaves an estimated payload of about 64,000 kg. That amount of wood contains about 940,800 MJ of energy.

Average fuel efficiency is 39.5 L/100 km as of 1999. That's 1,527.86 MJ.

The payload contains over 600 times the energy required to haul it 100 km. Obviously, there are considerations of actual distance, round trips, logging equipment hauling and use, etc. The numbers can change dramatically based on actual payloads, too, but it seems the lumber has "energy to spare" so to speak.

[The industry association] wants a more competitive fiscal framework for B.C. mines and smelters in line with what exists in Ontario and Quebec, saying the B.C. industry pays too much in carbon tax despite having lower emissions in comparison to other mining operations globally.

Translation: Nobody else is paying their share, so why should they?

It also wants faster permitting processes; more funding to help First Nations involvement in land-use decisions; investments to help electrify and power mines; and improvements around how to train and retain more workers.

Translation: They want to cut corners. They want help convincing First Nations that they have no choice anyway, so they might as well play along. The mines won't be as profitable or maybe not even viable if they have to pay for basic infrastructure or to develop their own stable workforce.

How about building your own carbon-free power plants and we'll consider building transmission lines to take excess production?

Maybe set up your own training centres to meet existing standards for transferrable certification. Not like the railroads that have their own welding schools, but the training and certification is not recognized on the free market. Then pay new employees to get the necessary training.

Put 50% (or whatever, recalculated annually) of revenue (not profit) into an escrow account for clean-up and remediation. Payments monthly. Missed payments come with a fine equal to double the payment. Missed payment on the fine means closure and forfeiture of the escrow. All in clear, simple, and direct language that means going to court over the issue is basically pointless. If there is money left over afterwards, we'll split it 50/50, assuming that the business is still operational, not merely shuttered and sold in a way that is designed to retain assets and eliminate liabilities.

If all that works for you, then maybe it's worth talking about how to deal with the rest in actually sensible ways. But there is no point going further if you can't make even the simplest business case without public funding.

Alternatively, if this is such a social good, then maybe it should be a social project. We can hire the relevant expertise as easily as you.

True enough. One of the teenagers on the school bus I rode required canes because of her bout with polio.

I remember as a kid in the 1960s having a mobile vaccination clinic show up in our small village in SK. They even had a fluoroscope as part of the TB screening program.

Going further back, I remember when that watts per square metre (the 2200 in your weather report) was introduced as a replacement for whatever windchill calculations they were using before.

One thing many people I know get wrong about windchill is the effect on needing to plug in a vehicle's block heater. If you normally are good down to -20C on a calm day, you'll also be good down to -20C on a windy day, despite windchill being far below -20. The engine will cool faster, not farther.

No matter how fast the engine cools off, it still won't get any colder than the actual air temperature. Of course, that also means that if you are good for 4 hours at -20C on a calm day, starting with a hot engine, then adding wind means you might only be good for 2-3 hours.

🤞

I've managed to learn that even without taking classes. Yet here we are with people supposedly so much brighter than my high-school grad ass who can't or won't figure it out. That's fine on the surface of it, nobody knows everything. But the people in government who have the responsibility to manage the country to the benefit of the population have no excuse for why they don't have the basics figured out.

... more consistency with our competitors...

They don't sound like competitors, but partners; collusion, no competition.

What happened to "competition lowers prices"?