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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Just the other day I was asked to explain how countries like Iran become so backwards in terms of humanistic values.  A big part of the answer is they never went through what the West experienced in the 18th Century, called the “Age of Reason,” or the “Enlightenment.” Their  theocracy has endured for the last 1400 years (Islam was brought to Iran in 650 AD by the Arab-Islamic conquest of the Sasanian Empire) and shows no signs of going away.

At left we see what Denis Diderot, a key figure in the Enlightenment, had to say on the subject.  I’m not sure we need that level of violence, but his point is not lost on us.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

These people claim: Human composting is now America’s fastest growing alternative to cremation and burial. This vessel holds the soil created from that process—soil that families can use to plant, scatter, or donate to restore natural landscapes. Get an instant quote online.

Apparently, they want to sell you the equipment, which seems kind of unappealing, doesn’t it?  Do you want to keep this thing in your garage for use every decade or two?

BTW, the volume of an average composted human body is about 4 gallons; it’s not a lot.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

In this video, Trump explains why “we’re doing coal,” including the notion that solar and wind are “ugly as hell.”

IMO, this is simply an effort to energize his base of hateful morons. Trump must understand that the combustion of coal is causing not only greenhouse gas emissions, but the release of heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, selenium, mercury) and dozens of extremely harmful radioactive isotopes, sending more people to agonizing deaths with each passing year. But he needs the votes of completely uneducated people.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics


Ocean-current hydrokinetics has drawbacks, but harm to aquatic life isn’t one of them.

The real problem is the cost per KWhr of the electricity they generate.

When 2GreenEnergy was launched in 2009, the world was abuzz with the developments in a great number of variations on the theme of hydrokinetics: ocean-current, wave, tidal and run-of-river among the most popular.  Given the plummeting prices of solar and wind, all that’s left of this is the hobbyists, and the folks who are content to focus on niche applications.

If I owned the place shown below, that might as well be on a different planet in terms of access to the grid, I’d have some sort of wave or tidal solution in place in a heartbeat.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The Founding Fathers are revered by patriotic Americans because they did everything they possibly could to avoid what is happening now, 200 years after Madison.

If one had to choose a single reason for the demise of the balance of powers, it would be the corruptive influence of money on what once were democratic principles.

To those who ask: “Well, what about ignorance?  Why have Americans become so incapable of observing that Trump is a person of horrific character?”

It goes back to money.  Wealthy and powerful people have no interest in a population of well-educated people who are capable of critical thought.  Is there another reason for the destruction of our school systems, the banning of books, and the mandate of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The purpose is causing non-whites to suffer, thus pandering to hateful, ignorant people.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Interesting discussion at left.

Keep in mind that Charlie Kirk’s audience almost exclusively consists of poorly educated MAGA racists; they generally don’t come across thoughtful stuff from people like Alex Cole.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

There is a lot to look forward to about next year, 2026.  One is the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of Aptera, founded in 2006, the company that promised investors that it would build and sell the three-wheeled EV shown at left.

Are they any closer today than they were back then?  There’s no real evidence to support that belief.  In fact, it looks even sillier than it did two decades ago.

Does this deter them from hitting up gullible fools?  Of course not.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

There are two schools of thought here.  America will be a stronger country if:

1) Kids are taught the truth about our nation’s history, learn to think for themselves, and come to their own conclusions about what we’ve done  both right and wrong.  This will put our children in a solid position to do what they can to make the United States a better place to live.

If you want to live in North Korea, where all this is impossible, be my guest.

2) We ban controversial books, force kids to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and read the bible, and edit out the parts of our history that are unflattering to rich white people and evangelical Christians.

Your call, America.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It appears that approximately 10% of the working poor who are slated to lose their healthcare coverage via the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” are from Louisiana.

This deep-red southern state has a dearth of billionaires, but it has a bumper crop of poor folks whose lives are soon to be made even more miserable.

 

 

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