Comments on: Cleaned by Capitalism VIII

By: Barun

Barun — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:57:00 +0000

And it is not just keeping bacteria out. The absence of similar devices in large parts of India, including in many health clinics, has meant that 50,000 people die each year in India because of snake bites. But without the capacity to store the anti-venom medicine in such cool devices, many patients from rural India die on their way to hospitals in bigger towns.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:22:00 +0000

I agree that’s another important definition of pollution – and Don is citing examples of the kind of pollution that nobody really disputes markets deal with well (well – I’m sure there are some real crazy nutjobs that might still have Charles Dickens delusions). But you can’t rely deny the importance of internalizable pollution and the (predictably) stellar job that market has done with it.

By: Gil

Gil — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Is Don using his ‘new & improved’ definition of pollution because he doesn’t like the implication of imposition over private property holders that greenies would have over the real definition of the pollution: ‘the negative externalities of waste products being dumped into the unowned commons’.

By: Seth

Seth — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:13:00 +0000

In my business we use a sofware that greatly improves the process that use to be done by hand. People forget how hard it was to do by hand. When people complain about, we tell to go back and do it by hand and they quickly remember how good they have it.

We’re such a “what have you done for me lately?” society. It’s easy to forget the dramatic difference these mundane things have made. It’d be easy to remember if we had to do without. Regarding the clean bathrooms, I’ve walked into bathrooms in other countries that made me vomit about 2 steps in.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:24:00 +0000

Hmm. Is it an anti-pollution device or is it a clunker seeking a government subsidy program to render it inoperable?…for the long-term reductuion in energy consumption, of course.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:27:00 +0000

Since you brought it up, another nice feature would be the ability to collapse/expand selected sub-threads.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:07:00 +0000

Question regarding the greatly improved blog format:

Is there a way to expand the “Recent Comments” box to have more than 3 entries? A page of all comments sorted by most recent first would be particularly convenient.

I’m not sure where best to post questions like this.

Thanks.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:27:00 +0000

(I’m just playing devil’s advocate here).Conversely, you could say that the freon that used to be in millions (billions?) of these devices have done great harm to our health and the planet.It’s true that they have kept much of our food clean from bacteria and kept organic waste down, thereby allowing more food to be actually used. Also, modern fridges no longer use freon.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:12:00 +0000

No; the one in my house is green….

By: Economiser

Economiser — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:07:00 +0000

And here I thought that urinal was in your house!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:04:00 +0000

Or my puttering around airports….

By: erp617

erp617 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:02:00 +0000

How’d you get a picture of my fridge?

By: Economiser

Economiser — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Does anyone else think that the “Cleaned by Capitalism” series is just an excuse for Don to show off his camera phone while puttering around his house?