What do Saudi Arabia and California have in common?

[Elok]

Never did PnP; how come the d20 ruleset lets you play as "chaotic evil," but has no race of traditionally malevolent type aside from "half-orc"? Nor a dedicated evil base class equivalent to the Paladin. Is it like WoW, where for the longest time nobody wanted to be a Horde member b/c all the races looked fugly?

[DaShi]

Can't they just release hydrazine over an iridium catalyst and then vent pure oxygen over a wooden stick and add an electric spark?

I mean, come on, this isn't rocket science!

[DaShi]

Never did PnP; how come the d20 ruleset lets you play as "chaotic evil," but has no race of traditionally malevolent type aside from "half-orc"? Nor a dedicated evil base class equivalent to the Paladin. Is it like WoW, where for the longest time nobody wanted to be a Horde member b/c all the races looked fugly?

They have drow as a traditionally malevolent race. However, then someone wrote a book with a nice drow in it and now every drow is a dual-wielding chaotic good ranger.

As for the anti-Paladin. The Blackguard was meant to fill that role.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

and people ask, did you read my post?

so from water to geekville in 4 posts. ok....

[MrFun]

Who were the dumbfucks in California who first came up with this GREAT IDEA to develop wineries and produce farms in water scarce areas??

[giblets]

It's a great idea if you're the only one doing it... but if lots of people do it then it doesn't work so well

[Elok]

I don't think wineries are the biggest problem; they usually cite stuff like avocados and nuts as thirsty crops.

[Dinner]

Who were the dumbfucks in California who first came up with this GREAT IDEA to develop wineries and produce farms in water scarce areas??

You are an idiot. Grapes are one of the least water using crops out there which is why they were first farmed in places like the mideast and north Africa. The big water hogs are fruit and nut trees, cotton, and rice.

Why do those get farmed? Simple because farmers get virtually free welfare water from the state and Fed government and since it costs them virtually nothing they have absolutely no incentive to conserve it. That is why most of them are using the least efficient irrigation method imaginable (flood irrigation) instead of more efficient forms of irrigation (like broadcast sprinklers or drip). The more efficient systems would cost the corporate farms some money to install but using the cheap wasteful flood system doesn't cost them anything. Thus they don't care about conserving.

[Dinner]

I don't think wineries are the biggest problem; they usually cite stuff like avocados and nuts as thirsty crops.

Exactly. Almonds and avocados are water hogs in terms of water used per kilo of farm output produced. That said, avocados and nuts also have some of the highest value per pound thus farmers want to keep planting them.

[pchang]

If everyone had to pay the same price for water, the problem would correct itself.

[KrazyHorse]

You are an idiot. Grapes are one of the least water using crops out there which is why they were first farmed in places like the mideast and north Africa. The big water hogs are fruit and nut trees, cotton, and rice.

Why do those get farmed? Simple because farmers get virtually free welfare water from the state and Fed government and since it costs them virtually nothing they have absolutely no incentive to conserve it. That is why most of them are using the least efficient irrigation method imaginable (flood irrigation) instead of more efficient forms of irrigation (like broadcast sprinklers or drip). The more efficient systems would cost the corporate farms some money to install but using the cheap wasteful flood system doesn't cost them anything. Thus they don't care about conserving.

I agree with almost everything here except for the epithet "corporate"...

[KrazyHorse]

If everyone had to pay the same price for water, the problem would correct itself.

Assuming that price was set at a level consistent with sustainable usage, I agree.

[Dinner]

I agree with almost everything here except for the epithet "corporate"...

That most "farms" are owned by corporations, many of them vast billion dollar concerns is simply a matter of the factual record.

I would like to add one more crop to the water hog list though. Alfalfa. If you go to the Imperial Valley, which is a true desert, they have hundreds of thousands of acres planted in alfalfa, the majority of which gets exported to China, and which is a low value added crop which consumes vast amounts of water. This is only possible due to virtually free welfare water provided by the state.

[Dinner]

One possible solution to reduce water usage is dry farming. Which some small producers are trying though mostly because they do not own water rights.

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/06/28/in-face-of-drought-san-luis-obispo-farmer-advocates-dry-farming

The big problem with that though is reduced yield per acre and generally smaller, and thus according to market price inferior, fruit or nuts. So less yield and lower prices for what is produced. :/

I would prefer to copy Australia's water laws which have a sliding scale for water prices based upon supply and demand thus encouraging conservation. Using market discipline they were able to dramatically reduce water usage yet still increase the total value of farm output. It just stopped the wasteful use.