Comments on: Time to Eat The Dog http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/2009/10/26/time-to-eat-the-dog/ Genetics: Studying the Source Code of Nature Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:50:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: James http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/2009/10/26/time-to-eat-the-dog/comment-page-1/#comment-3705 James Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:07:52 +0000 http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/?p=604#comment-3705 This is a joke, but thought it would be funny to actually work it it out: I have no idea how to estimate the energy cost of fabricating a netbook and hamster ball, but netbooks typically run off of only a 30 watt powersupply and since that's charging the battery while running the computer, we let's assume a netbook in hamsterball could power both its computer (constant) and movement (intermittent) on an average of 30 watts 24 hours a day. That works out to 263 kilowatt-hours per year or ~1 gigajoule. Using the authors number of 135 gigajoules of energy per hectare (no idea how they came up with that), and .84 hectares for a medium sized dog, a netbook in hamster ball uses ~1% as much energy per year as a dog (although producing dogs is much more energy efficiently and are biodegradable when it comes to that. This is a joke, but thought it would be funny to actually work it it out:

I have no idea how to estimate the energy cost of fabricating a netbook and hamster ball, but netbooks typically run off of only a 30 watt powersupply and since that’s charging the battery while running the computer, we let’s assume a netbook in hamsterball could power both its computer (constant) and movement (intermittent) on an average of 30 watts 24 hours a day. That works out to 263 kilowatt-hours per year or ~1 gigajoule. Using the authors number of 135 gigajoules of energy per hectare (no idea how they came up with that), and .84 hectares for a medium sized dog, a netbook in hamster ball uses ~1% as much energy per year as a dog (although producing dogs is much more energy efficiently and are biodegradable when it comes to that.

]]> By: Greg http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/2009/10/26/time-to-eat-the-dog/comment-page-1/#comment-3703 Greg Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:14:18 +0000 http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/?p=604#comment-3703 I wonder what the ecological impact of a robotic hamster ball is. I wonder what the ecological impact of a robotic hamster ball is.

]]> By: James http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/2009/10/26/time-to-eat-the-dog/comment-page-1/#comment-3674 James Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:51:53 +0000 http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/?p=604#comment-3674 You're right. The dog food they used in the study was more than a third dried meat, with the rest grains. But translating dried meat back to fresh weight gave them 50% more meat than grain. After work I should probably check if anyone has studied the maximum amount of a dogs diet that can healthily come from plant sources. You’re right. The dog food they used in the study was more than a third dried meat, with the rest grains. But translating dried meat back to fresh weight gave them 50% more meat than grain.

After work I should probably check if anyone has studied the maximum amount of a dogs diet that can healthily come from plant sources.

]]> By: Matt http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/2009/10/26/time-to-eat-the-dog/comment-page-1/#comment-3671 Matt Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:34:33 +0000 http://www.jamesandthegiantcorn.com/?p=604#comment-3671 Great post! (though arent cheap dog foods mostly rice?). It's a good point that dogs and cats eat scrap meat, though Im not sure they do as much now as in the past. Our local horse farms have recently had a problem accumulating horse carcasses since NY recently forbade their use in pet food! I wrote about this pet topic from a different (vegetarian) perspective a few months ago (link in name) Great post! (though arent cheap dog foods mostly rice?). It’s a good point that dogs and cats eat scrap meat, though Im not sure they do as much now as in the past. Our local horse farms have recently had a problem accumulating horse carcasses since NY recently forbade their use in pet food! I wrote about this pet topic from a different (vegetarian) perspective a few months ago (link in name)

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