Robert asks…
Why does consumer conservation cause higher prices every single time?
The City of Long Beach California has just announced the raising of water prices by 20% beginning this fall. Reason given the conservation efforts in saving water by the citizens of the city have so drastically reduced their income from the sale of water they now need to raise prices to restore the cities income to previous levels. The same thing happened a couple of years ago with natural gas. So if we get charged more for conserving why should people conserve. Also our mayor was one of the three energy company leaders that helped set up deregulation in California and allowed the Enron scam to happen.
I am going to ad a couple of relevant points that seem to be ignored by politicians and utility people all over and especially here in California. Currently the only water from rain that gets saved and used for drinking or irrigation is snow pack and what soaks into the aquifer to be pumped out or rise as springs. The rain that falls in the city that does not soak into somebody’s yard goes down the drain to the ocean. Probably close to 80% of our meek rainfall goes straight to the sea without performing any useful duty except for washing down streets and gutters.
Also as far as I have been able to learn most of the output from local sewage treatment plants goes straight to the sea instead of being pumped to the soak areas of the aquifers to ease our dependence on imported water.
adminsta answers:
Because the utilities have a huge fixed cost infrastructure that needs to be maintained. This take a certain amount of funds. When conservation methods are used, the utilities revenues are decreased, but they still have this enormous outlay of cash they have to make to keep the utilities flowing.
Another way to look it is from a supply and demand perspective. Some people will say, well demand has decreased, so therefore price should decrease, but that isn’t really the case.
What in fact has happened is demand has increased and increasing demand caused the conservation initiatives in the first place. If measures were not taken, then demand would have exceeded supply. This is why conservation was required. Everyone needs utilities, but the amount they need varies, and there is certainly a lot of waste.
The utility companies have been rather stupid from a Public Relations perspective. They should have raised prices to control demand initially, and then implemented a conservation strategy in order to reduce households’ monthly bill to previous levels. Then everyone would have been happier.
Linda asks…
Prove me wrong Atheists, God does exist?
God does exist. For proof please read below:
The Laws of science states they were always there and cannot be change. Evolution without a God states nothing exploded and made everything. This is extremely unscientific because it breaks many scientific laws of nature, including the Laws of Conservation of Energy and Mass.
The Laws of Conservation of Energy and Mass are the two basic laws of science that you will study in an academic science class in high school because all reactions, whether it be simple as turning a light on/off or burning a piece of paper on fire, follows these laws. The theory of evolution breaks these two laws making it 100% impossible to happen without a God because evolution without a God claims that nothing created everything from nothing naturally. This is impossible because mass and energy cannot be made or destroyed; only converted. Since cosmic evolution, the first part of evolution that attempts to explain existence, claims that nothing exploded and created two elements that later evolved into the other elements violates these laws. So it is impossible to happen without a God.
However, these are not the only things that disprove evolution that states man evolved from animals. The lack of evidence for evolution is overwhelming. There are many considerable differences between animals and humans, there are no links that showing animals evolved from one kind to another, and there is no observation or test showing nonliving things, such as Hydrogen or Helium atoms, can produce cellular life. In fact Charles Darwin once stated that if evolution is true there will have to be hundreds of thousands of fossils showing the evolving state of animals turning into different kinds of animals over time.
The Judo-Christian God of the Bible is the One and True God because He is the only God that has with stood the test of time, science, history, and prophecies of the Bible. This can be seen through the Dead Sea Scrolls that were written over 2000 years ago; proving that it with stood the test of time because it matches up word-for-word of the Hebrew Bible today. Verses such as Leviticus 17:14 stating “For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.” and Isaiah 40:22 stating “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:”. These verses in the Bible are proven to be scientifically true thousands of years after they were written! The Israelites being enslaved to the Egyptians 3000 years ago and the Israelites spending 40 years in the desert is historically accurate proving that the Bible stands the test of history. And the test of prophecy is being fulfilled right now by the world leaders discussing and making plans how on they, the leaders of the world, are able to unite the world through a global government and economy. This is written in the Bible in verse of Revelation 13:7 “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” and in Revelation 13:16-17 “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”.
After looking over all the evidence for life’s existence, it is only possible that only a God could have created the universe and all the life that is in it.
adminsta answers:
Sweet Coyote, you can string all those words together, yet have no idea what you’re talking about.
There is no such thing as “the laws of science”. There are specific laws which refer to scientific principles, but you seem to fail to understand they only apply to the Universe in which we live.
The Big Bang was the inciting cause for our Universe, and if you actually bothered to do very much research about it, you would discover that a) nowhere does it state that “nothing exploded into everything”, and b) that the fundamental forces of our Universe, much like the fundamental material for our Universe, existed in a unified state, making any distinctions you tried to make using our current standards utterly meaningless.
As for the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy, do you have some proof that it has ever been violated, or that anything in science suggests it has been? Bear in mind the Universe is a closed system, so that particular law only applied once the system was closed… Hence it has only applied SINCE the Big Bang, and we have nothing to suggest it has been violated since then.
Second, do your research before making declarations about paleontology. There aren’t any fossils showing animals evolving from one kind to another? Seriously? Start with the theraspids, work through the eucynodonts, and continue on through archaeopteryx and tiktaalik. Those cover the high order fossils for the transition from reptile to mammal, reptile to bird, and fish to amphibian.
And who is the Judo-Christian god, might I ask? Is he some famous martial artist Bruce Lee god we just weren’t aware was tooling around ancient Judea? It’s Judeo-Christian… But let’s do it.
Let’s see… Is the the only God that has withstood the test of time? Well, there is Lord Shiva. He’s still worshiped by nearly a billion people, and he was around before the Hebrew god was. There’s also Uhura Mazda, who is said to be the first monotheistic god, and Zoroastrianism is still alive and well, so you’ve failed to make your case on that front. Other gods have withstood the test of time.
Has he withstood scientific scrutiny? Well, there’s no proof he even exists, but let’s take the Bible and compare it with the current scientific understanding, shall we?
According to the Bible, the Earth is 6,000 years old. According to science, it’s about 4.54 billion years old. That’s a bit of a discrepancy. According to the Bible, animals appeared as is. According to science, they did not appear as is, but evolved over time (in fact, it’s part of your rant). According to the Bible, we all started with Adam & Eve and haven’t changed one lick since then. According to my Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian neighbors (I’m Native American, myself), we seem to have changed just a little bit… And according to science, we’re much older than 6,000 years. Heck, even my culture predates 6,000 years. I defy you to go tell the Chinese and the Egyptians the Hebrew culture predates theirs.
Your assertion the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians isn’t actually supported by any evidence, nor is their Exodus.
While we’re at it, let’s check on a couple of other things. The Bible says God put a light up in both day and night, but we know the moon generates no light of its own. It reflects the light of the sun, so that’s a scientific fail. The Bible says God destroyed the world in a massive flood, but we know one never happened. That’s a massive fail. The Bible says the sun orbits around the Earth. We know the Earth orbits around the Sun. The Bible says bats are birds, we know they are mammals. It says rabbits chew cud, we know they don’t… Do I really need to go on?
Lizzie asks…
Atheists, I know why god exists?
Its lengthy so be prepared to read.
I believe God exists because the Laws of science states they were always there and cannot be change. Evolution without a God states nothing exploded and made everything. This is extremely unscientific because it breaks many scientific laws of nature, including the Laws of Conservation of Energy and Mass.
The Laws of Conservation of Energy and Mass are the two basic laws of science that you will study in an academic science class in high school because all reactions, whether it be simple as turning a light on/off or burning a piece of paper on fire, follows these laws. The theory of evolution breaks these two laws making it 100% impossible to happen without a God because evolution without a God claims that nothing created everything from nothing naturally. This is impossible because mass and energy cannot be made or destroyed; only converted. Since cosmic evolution, the first part of evolution that attempts to explain existence, claims that nothing exploded and created two elements that later evolved into the other elements violates these laws. So it is impossible to happen without a God.
However, these are not the only things that disprove evolution that states man evolved from animals. The lack of evidence for evolution is overwhelming. There are many considerable differences between animals and humans, there are no links that showing animals evolved from one kind to another, and there is no observation or test showing nonliving things, such as Hydrogen or Helium atoms, can produce cellular life. In fact Charles Darwin once stated that if evolution is true there will have to be hundreds of thousands of fossils showing the evolving state of animals turning into different kinds of animals over time.
The Judo-Christian God of the Bible is the One and True God because He is the only God that has with stood the test of time, science, history, and prophecies of the Bible. This can be seen through the Dead Sea Scrolls that were written over 2000 years ago; proving that it with stood the test of time because it matches up word-for-word of the Hebrew Bible today. Verses such as Leviticus 17:14 stating “For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.” and Isaiah 40:22 stating “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:”. These verses in the Bible are proven to be scientifically true thousands of years after they were written! The Israelites being enslaved to the Egyptians 3000 years ago and the Israelites spending 40 years in the desert is historically accurate proving that the Bible stands the test of history. And the test of prophecy is being fulfilled right now by the world leaders discussing and making plans how on they, the leaders of the world, are able to unite the world through a global government and economy. This is written in the Bible in verse of Revelation 13:7 “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” and in Revelation 13:16-17 “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”.
adminsta answers:
Your first paragraph is nothing more than a mere straw man.
Your second paragraph shows truly how little you know about science. Try posting that on the Physics section of the website and see how epically you get owned.
Your third paragraph once again demonstrates the gap in your head where the understanding of science you claim to have should be. You neglect to mention the fact that, for one, fossilisation doesn’t always happen, and that we haven’t *found* every fossil. I’m appalled by your inability to accept an already proven scientific principle which we can still see today. Here are two examples of easily observable evolution, without delving into fossil records.
Notice there are almost no more red squirrels in Britain? That’s because red squirrels weren’t suited for our environment, and thus red squirrels slowly began to die off over here, and we’re left with grey squirrels, who are better adapted to live here.
And what about bacteria? When you use antibiotics on bacteria, you kill off all the bacteria that cannot resist the antibiotics. But when, by pure chance, one or two bacteria spring up that are resistant to antibiotics, these ones quickly multiply and cannot be killed by antibiotics. Thus, you are left with bacteria who have evolved to be resistant to antibiotics.
Your fourth paragraph uses unsourced baseless assertions; ipse-dixitisms, like “the Israelites spending 40 years in the desert is historically accurate proving that the Bible stands the test of history”. “world leaders discussing and making plans how on they, the leaders of the world, are able to unite the world through a global government and economy.” This is electioneering, just because politicians use fanciful words to try and win the favour of the public, why does that make the Bible, which uses similar language, valid?
Your argument is weak and pathetic; negligent of scientific principles and facts; failing to source your claims; equivocating and drawing links where there are none and ignoring links where they are present, and based upon appeals to authority. If you honestly think anybody but yourself is convinced by this fallible straw man, you need to get help.
George asks…
Will The Majority Please Stand Up?
I honestly don’t see how the Republicans are not quick to migrate to a leader who will actually: glue foreign relations, end foreign dependency on oil, push alternative energy plans, talk to countries before fighting them (could save lives you know) (does it hurt to do so?) will keep jobs in America. Is it any wonder that when Clinton left office after 8 years that we were a country that was: good in foreign relations, financially rocking the house? Many people that vote Republican don’t understand that the more the middle class and lower class make and spend, the stronger the economy. This is because they make up a very very large part of the country. Now if you are one of the top 3% wealthyiest in America, it might not help you as much by voting Democratic. But if you are in the top 3%, do you really NEED help? Shouldn’t the bottome 97% reflect the majority? How can this even be close? If you are not very wealthy then Bush has not and McCain will not lower your taxes. Shouldn’t the ones that acutually need the money (as you can see our economy going to crap) get the TAX BREAK? If McCain votes inagreementt with Bush 90% of the time then you are basically continuing the currentt term. Based on the numbers below, that is not what about 70% of America wants.
Presidential Approval Ratings – Averages
These are the average APPROVE rating received by George Bush in polls taken since the beginning of June 2007.
State Since 6/1/07
Ohio 29.0
Pennsylvania 23.0
North Carolina 36.0
California 26.3
New York 24.0
New Jersey 21.0
Wisconsin 19.0
Arizona 50.0
New Hampshire 19.0
Michigan 22.0
South Carolina 35.0
Florida 32.0
Only one of these states are over 36%. Over 64% are saying that it is time for change!!!
Source(s):
http://www.presidentpollsusa.com/
bigdaddy-source?
jwthough-source?
adminsta answers:
Yesterday economic report states that the economy is up 3.3 percent.and really if you know politics you would know the chief force on controlling economy is congress.who controls congress?
The only point i agree with you is relations with other countries
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