Greenpeace not happy with Apple; Apple not caring

[christopher_wolf]

Latest Communique from our comrades at Greenpeace;

http://www.theregister.com/2006/09/26/g ... _campaign/

...Really?

Imagine that; Clean Design != Clean Product. This is, apparently, a revelation to our re...green comrades at Greenpeace.

Who would have imagined that their Apple laptops, which has all the appeal of a large designer piece of candy as well as minimalist elements, could contain any of those *icky* chemicals? This is not, obviously, hypocrisy and knee-jerk impulses. Not at all.

And, no, I am not bitter about the hijacking of the word "Organic" to mean something other than, simply put, "Made with Carbon atoms"...At least not today.

[mattbiernat]

hybrid-engined battle tank

i love this quote! it exactly describes how greens work. they are often more problematic than helpful.

[christopher_wolf]

hybrid-engined battle tank

i love this quote! it exactly describes how greens work. they are often more problematic than helpful.

The Germans, during WWII, actually had some advanced King Tiger (a misnomer according to some historians, but their nomenclature for the tanks was *very* complex) tank prototypes that used electric transmissions and drives, for both the Henschel and Porsche chassis/turret versions.

The difference between this and a hybrid-battle tank from Greenpeace? The King Tiger electric prototypes actually *worked* many years ago to begin with, even though they required essential materials for the transmission and other parts special to them that germany was in shortage of during the war (hence the decision upon the variant that didn't use it).

[leoblob]

I sure wish we didn't have threads like this on this board.

[mattbiernat]

The Germans, during WWII, actually had some advanced King Tiger (a misnomer according to some historians, but their nomenclature for the tanks was *very* complex) tank prototypes that used electric transmissions and drives, for both the Henschel and Porsche chassis/turret versions.

I find it amazing how war can speed up progress in science. World War II saw a number of inventions such as radars, jet engines, rockets.

I sure wish we didn't have threads like this on this board.

why not? i 've just learned something very interesting about german tiger tank and this is in the off topic section.

[christopher_wolf]

There tends to be a small trend in Wars and the progress of Technology. Ever since the first world war, quite a few technological inventions have been developed and have found useful niches in the market; one of the biggest examples of this was the Cold War. It didn't go hot (most of the time), but it sure did spur on research and space exploration. It was one of the reasons that there were quite a few firsts made pretty far away from earth (the moon landing comes to mind) as well as the launches of many probes that provided valuable scientific information. So while wars are generally considered "bad," they also have a silver lining in that they sure are one heck of a motivation for technological progress; given that necessity is the mother of innovation.

[leoblob]

Because, in my opinion, the original intent of this thread was to engage in a political discussion. I'm on several message boards--none of them with the high standards were have here--and all of them do not permit any posts with religious, political, or sexual nature... even in their Off-Topic section.

The fact that this post is turning into a discussion of technology does not change my mind that the original intent was of a political nature... Quoting from the original post, "Latest Communique from our comrades at Greenpeace," and "...could contain any of those *icky* chemicals? This is not, obviously, hypocrisy and knee-jerk impulses. Not at all."

I don't see how you can deny that there's any sort of political agenda in the original post, or that it's a politically-motivated shot taken at a group with a potentially political agenda.

If politics/religion/sex are OK in the Off-Topic area of this board, that's up to the folks running the show here. I just didn't realize it.

[440roadrunner]

Tiger tanks were nothing at all to do with hybrid drive, the idea of which is to save braking energy in the battery so it can be "re used." They may have been advanced for their day, but somewhere, there was a truck way back in the 20's that I've read about that used this technology, and when electric motors and generators were far less than they were in WWII

German tanks were nothing more than what is known here in the US as "Diesel electric" drive, where the mechanics of a complicated transmission and shifting mechanism is simply replaced by a generator at the engine, and electric motors at the wheels.

In many ways, for huge heavy equipment such as the (in)famous Letourneau equipment, virtually all US railroad engines, and a few other things here and there, such as large mining shovels, Diesel electric power is much simpler than a hydraulic or mechanical counterpart.


Probably a closer match to modern hybrid drive is a Diesel submarine, but they don't even fit as applied to the modern context.

[mattbiernat]

Because, in my opinion, the original intent of this thread was to engage in a political discussion.

you know this is the only forum on the internet that i decided to join and participate. i've noticed there are two kinds of forums on the internet:
1) those that are overly restrictive and you can't talk almost about anything because of fear of retribution from the moderator
2) those that are not moderated end up behaving like uncivilized group of monkeys
I found this forum not to belong to any of these two groups. Many people in here are highly educated. Perhaps if you believe that green party is doing a very good job rating environment friendly companies, you could enlighten us why you think like that.

EDIT: LOL that's what happens when im half way asleep! I meant green peace and not green party.

[leoblob]

What is the "green party"?

[GomJabbar]

What is the "green party"?

For general information such as this, www.wikipedia.org is a good place to search to get an overview. Read a little about "green party" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_party

[leoblob]

I asked a moderator, and I was informed that political topics and discussion are OK on this board. I apologize for disrupting this thread.

Bob

[skitty4gzus]

This is not only captivating information to me, but its something I dont necessarily know much about. Keep pumping us with your knowledge and one day maybe some of it will bleed through the screen and magically make me closer to genius. Maybe then I could get an icon of a parrot with a crown on its head? Its gonna be a few years before that happens.