Richard M. Stallman is glad Jobs is gone

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Thomas Milne <thomas.bruce.milne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>

| Seriously?? Can't he keep his mouth shut for 3 seconds? Guy needs to
| learn to choose his battles.
| 
| http://stallman.org/archives/2011-jul-oct.html#06_October_2011_(Steve_Jobs)

Stallman did say that he wasn't glad he was dead, just glad he was
gone.

GOING SERIOUSLY OFF TOPIC:

BTW, I had never seen his blog and didn't realize all the other issues
he speaks about.

    06 October 2011 (Protesters Arrested)

    100 protesters against the planet-burning Keystone tar sand oil
    pipeline were arrested in Toronto.

    This article omits the reason why this pipeline must be stopped:
    because extracting and burning that oil will commit Earth to an amount
    of warming that is catastrophic.

I hadn't actually heard this elsewhere (probably my fault).

"planet-burning" is an odd metaphor.  What do we burn that isn't part
of our planet?

I don't know all the details, but my best guess is that

- we (humanity) will burn all we can get our hands on, sooner or
  later.  So the tar sands* will be exploited.

- the pipeline to the gulf coast is "needed" because it is expensive
  to build heavy oil upgraders and they already exist in that area to
  handle Venezuelan (and Trinidadian?) heavy crude which is in decline

- without the pipline, upgraders would be built in Canada and we would
  capture more of the "value chain".  The output could be sold
  anywhere, not just to the US gulf coast.

- the ability to sell anywhere seems to be valuable.  There are two
  crude oil indices: WTI (based on West Texas crude) and Brent (based
  on North Sea crude).  WT crude is cleaner and lighter and should
  cost more than Brent, but Brent is currently US$23 more a barrel!
  Apparently that's because of lack of transportation facilities (not
  their cost)
  <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/brent-vs-wti-a-crude-oil-smackdown/article2185001/>
  Conveniently, most Canadian oil sells against the WTI benchmark
  whereas we (in Toronto) pay for gasoline somewhat based on the Brent
  benchmark -- not good for us.

So: building the Keystone XL pipeline is better for the US than it is
for Canada.

* "tar sands" is a misnomer, but I've been using that term since the
mid-1960s and I'm not going to change just for politics.  Technically,
I think the stuff in the sand is bitumen.
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