NoLasagna

This post is a reply to this tweet I saw. In case it gets deleted, San Francisco implemented a bylaw requiring all new construction to have solar panels in use. Sean is asking why Calgary doesn't have this when we have over 200+ days of sun (we actually have roughly 332 days of sun on average per year ). I want to present very important information, speaking as an electrical engineer. The main arguments for solar panels is that it is good for the environment, is renewable energy (the sun) and that it is good for our pocket books in the future. My goal is to share information about solar panels, as an engineer, to show that solar panels don't live up to the argument for it. Why use solar? It's best to start by listing out the important points raised for why we should be using it. It isn't all just environmental. Whether you or I disagree (ethically or morally) isn't the intention of this post. The argument and reasoning for doing something is a totally different disc

 Anarcho-Capitalism is a political ideology that falls under the category of libertarianism . I’ll state now that I’m against this idea and I want to do my best to not build a straw man. I want to accurately describe the ideology, which I’m going to do now. A libertarian society is one with a government that is in charge of protecting rights and that’s the only role. The government does this is through a legislative branch, an executive branch, and judicial branch. This means laws that are designed to protect individual rights, police and military to protect these rights from violators, and a courts to prosecute those that violate rights. This society has retaliatory force (ie: the force used to protect rights) held in a monopoly by the government (aside from immediate self defense). The anarcho-capitalist society is the same as the libertarian society, but the big difference is that the operations of government (police, courts, laws) become market players. Putting it simply, the monop

 Small government is a term that I see used far too often. When a question of government comes up, smaller is the answer and I find that this is advocation of nothing good. Do I want a small government? Yes, but it’s not a position to advocate. This will be a relatively short topic as this is a pet peeve for me. My big issue is that small government isn’t really a position, other than smaller. When people use this term they don’t literally mean smaller government. Today, the size of government is relatively large, so of course smaller is the goal. But this doesn’t answer how small the government should be. Where is the limit? What should a small government be doing? These positions, the more important positions, are left undefined. I’ve personally seen people advocating very stupid positions because smaller is better. Limited Government Here’s the big difference; advocating for something rather than some abstract view like smaller government creates understanding. When one talks of lim